IMLOU Race Report - Jason Clishe
Swim: 1:54:25 (2010 time: 1:59)
T1: 9:14
Bike: 6:14:31 (2010 time: 6:42)
T2: 12:58
Run: 5:13:18 (2010 time: 6:28. LOTS of walking)
Total: 13:44:26 (2010 time: 15:34)
Division Position: 216 / 423
Overall Position: 1415 / 2865
1:50 improvement over last year!
Swim
The swim is by far my weakest discipline but I wasn’t nearly as concerned about it this year, since I had completed it last year. My goal was simply to follow Endurance Nation principles, maintain form, slow and steady, and approach the swim as nothing more than transportation to get me to T1 – where my real race would begin. I got a decent slot in line and made it into the water around 7:10. I had a really difficult time getting into a smooth rhythm and had to swim over to a dock, get my composure, and push off to start again. The same thing happened last year. The combination of early race nerves and running down the ramp to jump in the water elevates my heart rate enough that it impacts my breathing requiring me to stop to catch my breath. I need to work on this. Once I got going again the rest of the swim was pretty uneventful. There was some occasional contact as we swam up the channel but after we made the left turn around the buoy to go back downstream I was able to find a clean line and it was an easy, straight swim into T1. Just long.
T1
Uneventful. Socks, shoes, helmet, sunglasses, gel and Endurolytes into the back pocket, consume a gel and water, towel dry my face, grab my bike and go.
Bike
I’m a heart rate athlete (hopefully will upgrade to power next year) so my intention was to follow EN guidance and go zone 1 for the first hour and low zone 2 for the remainder. On the way out on River Rd I was quickly into zone 2 but my RPE and speed were telling me that I was at typical zone 1 effort. I was definitely at “Just Riding Along” pace. I tried slowing down even further to let my HR drop to zone 1 but it just felt way too slow, certainly slower than both of my race rehearsals. So I picked it back up to my estimated zone 1 based on RPE and maintained that up to the first big downhill on the out and back (and my HR had slowly eased its way down into zone 1 by then). I had already decided that the hills on the out and back would be where I would flip the switch into zone 2. The first big downhill was a little hairy. I was deeper into the field at this point than I was last year (started at the very end of the swim line last year so the first 3rd of the bike was kinda lonely) so going down the first big downhill we were riding 3 wide at almost 40 MPH with me on the far left, and the oncoming riders were also 3 wide on the way back up so it was tight. I rode aero but had my right hand over on the rear brake just in case.
I’m 6’4” and my race weight was about 198 pounds so I pass a LOT of people on the downhills. On the way back through the out and back I was in the left side of the lane passing big groups of riders at a time, and apparently I was hanging out on the left side a bit too much because towards the end of the out and back an official rode up next to me on a motorcycle and showed me the yellow card and said I didn’t move back to the right when I had a chance. Doh! So I was a guest of the penalty tent just before LaGrange for a quick stop and go.
At about mile 70 my legs started feeling a bit fatigued. Even though I’d been keeping my HR where I wanted it and I knew I could maintain pace for the remainder of the bike, I didn’t want to cook my run so I decided to back it down a notch for the next few miles until I passed the “33 miles to Louisville” sign where Coach Patrick had given us permission to start making up some time 
Once I saw that sign I was feeling fresher from taking the last few miles a little easier so I picked it back up to mid zone 2 and rode on in.
From a nutrition standpoint, about halfway through the second loop I didn’t like the way Perform was tasting so I cut way back on that and relied on water, gel, and bananas at the aid stations.
I was amazed at how often the Ricky Racer episodes played themselves out, exactly like Coach Rich and Pat said it would. Every uphill there were guys passing me standing up, blowing up their watts, and as soon as we crested they would sit down (upright) and coast to catch their breath while I stayed aero, grabbed gears and blew by them on the downhill. I wanted to tell them that they’re working the wrong side of the hill but figured I’d just keep that to myself, more positions for me
My time ended up being 27 minutes faster than last year at an average HR of 5 BPM lower. Thank you EN!
T2
Again, uneventful. I was developing cuts around my armpits from my jersey digging into my skin (strange since this didn’t happen in training) so I loaded up my armpits with Vaseline and they never bothered me on the run. Made a stop at the sunscreen applicator girls and another stop at the porta potty and I was out. This one ended up being a lot slower than I expected so I’ll have to see what I can simplify here. I think I was just moving too slow.
Run
Immediately found my target pace and felt OK. Took about a mile to get my legs but after that, miles 2 – 8 or so were business as usual. I took a gel at mile 2 and it barely stayed down. Perform was already out of the picture since ruling that out on the bike, and now gels weren’t an option. Someone at PowerBar needs to realize that their “Ironman” products are junk in real Ironman events. So I had to switch up my nutrition strategy and I went to water and oranges at every aid station and also took a cola at every other aid
station. This seemed to work fine. Then I started feeling funny around mile 8. Couldn’t pinpoint exactly where I felt funny, but my body was telling me that it wasn’t business as usual anymore. I slowed a bit but kept moving. I had a bottle with First Endurance Pre-Race powder in my special needs bag that I had originally planned on mixing with Perform, but that wasn’t going to happen since I had long since cut off Perform. So after I got the bottle out of special needs just before the halfway point, I stopped at the next aid station to mix it with water. Ever mix Pre-Race with water? Don’t. It’s galactically disgusting. But it was like a shot of adrenaline directly into my bloodstream and my mood and pace immediately picked up and I felt good through the final turnaround at about mile 20. From mile 20 on everything was slowly deteriorating but I knew that it was going to be manageable and that I’d be able to run it in without slowing too much. To be honest that last stretch seemed to go by pretty quick, I think knowing that you’re in the home stretch boosts your mojo. Those final 100 yards through the chute felt awesome and I think I picked it up to my 5k pace without even trying. To top things off I saw my wife and family directly in front of the finish line on the right side of the chute.
There’s a ton of great things I could say about being on Endurance Nation this year, but the team atmosphere that surrounds the race was just awesome. It was great seeing so many other EN kits on the run – it literally seemed like almost every other mile – and the EN gang sign flashes from non-EN kits and even the occasional “go EN!” yell from spectators. I will repeat.
Comments
Great job, Jason! It was good to meet you and see you on the course. Looking forward to seeing all your pix!
That's an impressive improvement, Jason! And it sounds like you still have some opportunities to get faster.
Great to meet you over the weekend. You represented Morrow, OH well! Amazing improvement and I am sure there is more in there. Congratulations!