IM Louisville 2011 Tim Cronk
Tim Cronk , 49old , 3yrs tri experience , 2nd IM Both IMLOU 2010 and 2011, 120lbs race weight, FTP 212 , Vdot 47.7 , EN member since oct 2010 , completed OS , partial marathon hack for Boston , 8 weeks HIM plan for Mooseman, 12 weeks IM plan for IMLOU.
Total Finish 10:54:55 PR 45:05 minutes over last year 11:42:00
Breakfast 4am--- bagel, almond butter, 2 dates, coffee, 20 ounce perform sipped until swim , 16 ounce water and gel 1/2 before swim.
Swim 1:10: PR over last year 1:16:58 --- Usually swim 3 times a week , one EN workout, one masters, and one OWS. I do at least the EN tests and vary the speed/endurance workouts. Also added some semi private lessons recently from a 70 year old female masters coach focussing on stroke technique. Swim was warm and smooth not much to add or say there.
T1 5:18 PR over last year 8:04 --- Focussed on keeping it simple. Eliminated towel, and sunscreen by applying scape the night before and again in the morning after body marking kept me from buring all day and highly recommend it.
Bike 5:31:41 PR over last year 5:56:54---- My power meter quit working the week before the race and I opted to race via RPE with no HR. Focussed on breathing and listened to a coach in my head. My 1 thing popped up early on in the bike and my front derailer wouldnt shift down to the small cog without me pushing the cable down with my thumb. This got increasingly more difficult to do as the day went on and caused me to ride some hills in bigger gear than I normall woulda have. Learned to pee on the bike which is easier said than done but got it done and went at least 4 times. The last couple pee's actually hurt and I was concerned but this did go away in the run so it must have been from riding a bike for the longest ever without stopping for even a second to get off. My race rehearsals were both 5:40 riding time with 6-7 minutes pee and fuel stops allowing for some relief. Nutrition on bike 5 bottles perform , 1 gel , 3/4 of cliff bar, 6 shot blocks for 1380 calories.
T2 3:37 PR over last year 4:32-----slow is smooth and smooth is fast---- sit down , socks , shoes, grab hat and glasses go... simple
Run 4:04:08 PR over last year 4:15:32----- Felt much better than last year at the beginning of the run with the exception that I needed a portapottie. Didnt want to stop but this was the #2 thing from 4th key in the 4 keys talk pun intended. That taken care of got back on focus. Forced myself to slow down but then I really feel like I could speed back up again. Listened to RPE and coaches in my head and all Matt's work on the heat and how I felt last year and just let it happen. Stomach felt good but not great . Run nutrition was water and sipped powerbar gel's out of a flask that I had added salt sticks too. This way I was able to meter little 50 calorie injections of sugar,salt, caffeine washed down with lots of water. Total calories were around 500-600 counting 4 gels and estimating coke and this was the lowest I have ever consumed during a marathon. Aid stations cooling with water ice drinking etc. Keep running. Mile 21 switched to coke, and chicken broth. I had to stop at least 3-4 more times during the run for pee stops. I was thinking about hypontremia but I had consumed 600mg of sodium per hour all day so it musta been overhydration. I was able to run the whole marathon and was even speeding up towards the end again with only having drifted slower in the middle splits.
After Race notes--- I weighed myself the night before the race 120.2--- pre breakfast race day 117.6 (this was probably back to 120.2 by the time I started swimming, hour after race with only a few snacks, some water and broth 120.6 (so I managed to actually gain overall weight . Or did I??? Pigged out later of course drank tons of fluids, got up to pee all night, next am after race and before breakfast 115.6 lowest I have ever weighed. Been eating waffles, pancakes ,peanut butter , etc every 2.5 hours for the last 2 days .
Bottom Line --- EN rocks and I am very happy with my training and results. The 4 keys talk the day before hit home yet again and was a great reminder to execute. Patrick called the course to a tee from the traintracks, to ricky racer, to the winds on the bike and run , to how to execute the course . He was in my head all day and also showed up all over the course. I saw him on the bike once, twice on the run, and at the finish. The loss of my PM didnt bother me and I feel I executed the bike well with even RPE and splits. Did I overbike just a little? Well maybe because I was hoping for a better run of about 3:40-3:50 vs the 4:04. My EP pace is 8:52 . Matt's calculator will probably say I executed fine. Could I have given up 10 on the bike and make 20 on the run I really feel I overhydrated???? I know for sure I left 6-7 minutes in portapotties LOL. The good thing is I have IMFL in 9 weeks to find out stay tuned.
Thanks EN, RnP, Chris, Matt , IMLOU peeps and all EN members
Comments
Great race report and execution Tom. Congratulations!
Nice work Tim. When a guy who weighs 60 pounds less than me eats more on the bike and run I think I may need to re-visit my nutrition plan. I was also way off my E pace and even my heat-projected pace and I'm trying to figure out why.
I'll be interested to see how you fare at IMFL where big FTPs are king due to the pancake flat bike course. Good luck and keep us posted. What's your plan for recovering from Louisville and training for FL?
That must have felt great - it's amazing when he end result goes even better than espected. 5:31 on the bike - followed by a run which reflects your VDOT ... wow!
Wow, the gains you made in your splits are inspiring! I wish I had met you and more ENers at the race, but nonetheless, excellent job!
Thank everybody for directly or indirectly helping as well. So much is picked up just reading others questions and comments.
@ Al I read just about all your posts and have pulled several nuggets out .
@ Matt the list is endless Oh and it was 47 min not 45 just saying.
@ Chris. Funny you mention the calories cause I see the posts of the big guys eating so little and I just cant imagine it. Last year I was 300 per hour on bike 200 per hour on run this year 250 bike 150 run and I think that is about perfect for me. I am going to play with liquid only nutrition breakfast and bike pre IMFL but keep calories same. The plan to recover is to swim first week starting today 1.2 mile ows easy probably repeat for a few days and walking too , add short bike and run on the weekend. 2nd week adding more but easy and I have a OLY race end of week 2. From there reading guidance on what to do but plan another huge 2 week taper(I probably only did half the stuff in taper weeks with lots of rest and days off) I hate em but I love em. I will have PM back next week so will focus on training flat roads if I can find any in NH. The big FTP's are gonna crush me in IMFL but I will focus on my best bike which should set me up for the RUN I know I am capable of. I certainly had an advantage in IMLOU and disadvantage in IMFL the times to qualify in IMFL are ridiculous.