IM Lousiville 2011 Race Report
IM Lou 2011 Race Report
Executive Summary
I aged up into the 55 – 59 AG this year. This is my 5th IM, 3rd time at IMLOU. I have been doing Triathlons for 3 seasons and this is my 3rd season with EN. 3.5 years ago I was a total corporate couch potato and was 76 lbs heavier than I am now.
My 6 goals for race day were to improve each segment slightly, swim, T1, bike, T2 and run. The last goal was to ride a VI of 1.05 vs 1.06 the prior years.
I achieved 5 of my 6 goals and finished with a new PB of 11:36:26, 7 min faster than last year. A faster run was the only goal that eluded me, but the run was a huge victory in and of itself.
IMLOU Year |
Swim |
T-1 |
Bike |
T-2 |
Run |
Overall |
2009 |
1:14:06 |
08:25 |
6:06:26 |
06:33 |
4:52:21 |
12:27:50 |
2010 |
1:12:03 |
08:23 |
5:43:44 |
07:20 |
4:32:00 |
11:43:30 |
2011 |
1:09:25 |
05:19 |
5:42:25 |
05:36 |
4:33:26 |
11:36:26 |
Chg 10 to 11 |
0:02:38 |
03:04 |
0:01:19 |
01:44 |
0:01:26 |
0:07:04 |
I placed 10th in my AG and 454th overall. I think 2010 for me was a stronger race in hotter conditions. This year’s race preparation and the race taught me many things that will lead to an even faster race next year.
Back Story
I had a great 2010 season. I did IM CDA, IMLOU, got a Kona slot and then did Kona 6 weeks later. This was 3 IM’s in 15 weeks. The left knee buckled 3 times at Kona but I made it across the finish. My head still thought I was 30 something; I took 3 weeks down time before starting the November OS. My ART specialist advised that I add strength training to help with muscle firing, knee stability, core strength and overall power levels. I started twice a week strength training sessions. Through December and January the knee and IT band continued to complain. I was seeing major gains in strength and power and knee stability. In early February Plyometrics were added to the workouts. By the end of February, the OS work load and the added impact stresses had the knee saying uncle. An MRI showed I had bruised the Femur and was well on my way to a stress fracture. The doc said he rarely sees this because something else usually gives before you bruise this big bone. So I was told in no uncertain terms NO running or impact of any kind for 6-8 weeks. Even flip turns in the pool were out.
I ended up with no running for 7 full weeks and then slowly building up the run volume. I did not make it up to full advanced plan run volume levels and knew the run would be a challenge at IMLOU this year. I had hoped the knee would hold together to finish the day.
Race report
Fitness Stats FTP =265 w, weight 160 lb, w/kg = 3.65, vDOT ~ 48
Pre Race
On the drive from St Louis to Louisville I listened to all the long course pod casts. That coupled with Patrick’s great delivery of the 4 Keys talk on Saturday helped me get my race targets back to should, not could levels.
The team dinner Friday night was fun. What an excellent group of real people!
Friday and Saturday nights I had ~ 3 hrs sleep each night – ouch! Saturday evening, I was still staring at the ceiling at 1:00 a.m. so I decided to do my 2:00 breakfast (protein shake and a banana 500 cal) then and set the cell to alarm for 3:45. I finally got to sleep. I awoke and looked at my cell it said 3:00. Something did not feel right. I looked at the hotel alarm and it said 4:00???? How could the cell have changed time zones to 1 hour ahead of ET? I turned it off and on and it reset to 4:00. Wow some one was watching over me! I got on the scale and saw I was well hydrated and was up 2 lbs over the prior days. I knew I needed to hurry if I was going to be at the transition area by 4:30. Drank 300 more calories, got race kit on, grabbed the rest of my gear and out the door I went.
At 4:45 they let us into the transition area. I pumped tires and added fluids, spun the wheels one last time and on to the swim line up. I think I got there maybe 5:05 and wow the line was already long. I had a friend from STL and we found our spot at the end of the line. A fellow EN mate offered a spot earlier on but I did not want to make any bad karma by cutting in line.
I had water with me which I sipped all the way up to swim start. I knew the 86 degree waters would cause me to lose ~ 4 lbs of fluid in the swim. The Pros started at 6:50. That was my signal to down a gel and drink the last of my water. At 7:00 the AG’s started into the water, I was in within 5 min of the start.
Swim
Target 1:10 Actual 1:09:25
I stayed toward the left of the channel hugging the island trying to take the shortest path. Congestion was the worst in this section, trying to swim around slower swimmers was the biggest challenge. Body contact was controlled and relatively light. I went out easy and built to race pace after ~500 yards. I swam the buoy line to the turn buoy out in the channel. Once turned, I notice the goggles had fogged enough to not be able to see the bridges. I cleared the goggles and headed down the river. Just like last year, the buoys were in a slight U shape. A straight line path was a couple of hundred yards better than following the buoys. I set my line and worked to hold the straight line. Pace was good, breathing in control and no leg cramps yet. I made good progress passing more people. With about 500 yards to go the calves started to cramp causing the foot to be like a brake in the water. I slowed the pace down and managed to keep cramps to a minimum until the swim exit. Upon exiting the water I looked at my watch and saw I had a 1:09:xx and was very pleased. On the trot to the transition tent, I picked up 2 glasses of water to start the hydration process again. A good swim, arms were not tired, there is more speed to be had, need to raise the effort level a notch and find a way to totally eliminate the leg cramps.
T1
Target 0:06:00 Actual 0:05:19
Last year Al T. rightly commented how much time I was giving up to my completion in the transitions. So this year one of my goals was to improve this!
The transition thread in the Wiki helped me simplify and move tasks that could be done on the way to the bike. I jogged from the swim to the tent, found a spot toward the exit. I notice how wet the ground already was so I made the change in plan and decided to put on bike shoes now rather at the bike mount line. This was a good decision; I toweled the mud and grass off the feet and had clean feet in the shoes. If I had gone with my original plan I would have had a bunch of junk in the shoes. Putting on my arm coolers seemed to take the most time (I need to try this on the bike). No complications in T1 as I ran past the sun screen team I had one last coat added to the shoulders and neck. I had put on Scape the night before and a second coat this AM after body marking. No sun burns all day!
Bike
Target 5:38:00 Actual 5:42:25
I knew I had better bike fitness coming into the race. My brain wanted to push the bike harder to makeup for what I knew was going to be a challenging run. The week before the race, my goals for the ride were an IF of .72. I had ridden these levels or higher in my race rehearsals in hotter conditions. Listening to the podcasts on bike and run execution and the 4 keys talk, I talked my self down to a .70 target. Also I had looked at adjusting the IF profile during the day to compensate for the higher heat sections. The good news was the lower temps made this mostly a non factor for the forecast conditions.
This year I changed my hydration / nutrition bottle setup on the bike to be more aero. Last year I carried all my nutrition and got water on the course. This year I was relying on the Perform drink for 70% of the calories and supplementing that with Perpetuem tablets to get some protein in to the system.
I eased out of transition and out into the first fast flat section. All was good, the legs felt solid. I slowly built my watts to target level by the end of the first 60 min. The normal hammer up the hills events were going on all around me for entertainment. I just smiled! The out and back was fun, I managed to hit it at a relatively low traffic time and bombed down it at >45 mph. Flipped and repeated. So far so good, out onto the main course. I enjoy the endless rollers of this course. I lost concentration going into one up hill section and shifted in the small ring way late, dropped the chain and did not have enough momentum to catch it before I had to unclip. Calmly dismounted, fixed and got moving again. I made it around the fist loop with all going to plan.
In the 4 keys talk, Patrick said – you will run into some problems on race day – it will happen. My right aero bar extension was loosening up. It would turn side to side and after a while it would slide in and out – wow this is not totally stable way to go down hills at 40+ mph. I must have unconsciously shifted my weigh over to my left side. Within 30 min my leftshoulder was sore, and in an hour it was really complaining. Now the left bar started to loosen – this added more fun to the picture. I tired to tighten the couplings by hand by to no effect. The bike had just been completely rebuilt onto a new frame (under warranty) 3 weeks before. Luckily by this point I was through the big hills and most of the tight turns. Just continue on and I told myself be careful.
While that was unfolding a parallel challenge was building. The small contact spot between me and the saddle had developed some extreme sore points. I stopped once and added extra lubrication that helped some for 10min. Then it went back to feeling like I was sitting on razor blades. This had happened in my longer rides and I had worked to resolve the issue with no luck. So knowing this was likely to reoccur on race day I looked for a plan B. I found a topical numbing cream and tried it on a longer ride when the situation developed and it worked. Great – a back up plan! By now my shoulder also began to scream and I could barely sit on the saddle. So I stopped and applied the numbing cream to the saddle sores and got back on the bike. Within 5 min the saddle pain was gone! Wow what a relief.
On the second loop I saw 3 close calls, almost crashes, each time it was someone with minimal bike handling skills swerving off line and almost taking out a faster rider over taking them. Also the car traffic level went up significantly. Oh yes most saw the big truck hauling the huge boat down the road through the cyclists – amazing!!!! RnP I stayed in my box most of the time and only passed one idiot driver on the left! This traffic held down the watts and pace for a while.
During the ride I took 2 Endurolytes salt capsules each hour. I had no cramping issues on the bike – yes!
The 4th challenge was my battle with Perform as my main nutritional supply. My target was 250 calories per hour. As the day went on I wanted less and less Perform. In the last 90 min my watt level was below my targets, partly due to traffic but now in hindsight I think do to low calorie intake. The last section into town was fast and the strong winds kept building. This was by far they windiest year of the 3 on the bike. I stayed aero all the way in passing many that were sitting up and were toast. That made the shoulder hurt just a bit less. I made a smooth hand off of the bike at the dismount line and left the shoes on the bike. I did the post bike shuffle / jog to my run bag and into the transition tent.
Bike Data |
2011 |
2010 |
2009 |
FTP Watts |
265 |
260 |
230 |
NP Watts |
178 |
177 |
161 |
AVG Watts |
169 |
166 |
152 |
VI |
1.053 |
1.066 |
1.059 |
IF |
67% |
68% |
70% |
T2
Target 0:06:00 Actual 0:05:36
I found a helpful volunteer – he got me some cold water and added water to my fuel belt bottle of Perpetuem which was my nutrition of choice for the run. Socks, shoes, hat on and out the door. Wow where did 5 min go?? Out onto the run course we go.
Run
Target 4:20:00 Actual 4:33:26
I was not even out to the main road and I noticed wow something is wrong in a big way! The area that had the numbing cream on it for the bike was now screaming at the top of its lungs. There was an intense burning sensation like you were on a 600 degree grill. Wow this made the razor blade feelings from before feel like an itch! The brain was reeling, what to do, how to fix, can I continue, should I continue? I tried moving the shorts around, this was of no help. Just then I came to a table with water and Ice. I took 2 cups of ice and poured them down my shorts. The volunteer gave me an interesting look! That helped a little so I said just keep going!
I started up the bridge and now the body said you need a porta potty NOW. Well I was lucky they had some on the bridge. In I went, I got a bunch lighter and saw that hydration levels were good. Back on with the run. I came off the bridge and saw my wife and other EN spouses. I motioned to my wife that things were a bit rocky today. It was good to see the supporting faces.
My target pace for the first 6 miles was 10:00 per mile. The first on was 12:56 due to the bio stop then 9:27 then settled in to the next 4 at 9:52 – 9:57. Once the Perpetuem made it into the system I felt a bit better. The arm was still yelling and the fires still burned below. Through mile 13 the pace stayed at 10 or slightly better.
It was getting hot and had been doing my routine of ice sponges front and back and under the hat at each aid station. Every other station I would put ice under the hat and freeze the head. I stayed hydrated and after mile 13 added coke to the mix. So far the legs were doing what I had asked them to do. The knee had no issues at all. When I would do my running form check down and get posture, stride and lean all right, I would look at the watch and see a 9:15 pace. Hey this works! About mile 15, the legs started to have some cramps. When this would occur, I would slow the pace back down so I could continue running. In a couple of minutes I would pick it up again and a new cramp would appear in a different spot. The cramps rotated around between muscle groups and between legs. This was the game for the last miles to the finish. My hydration and salt levels were good. My legs were just suffering from the lack of running volume do to the knee issue earlier in the year.
I did not want to know this number before the race, so post race I added up my total run miles for the last 20 weeks leading up to this race and compare the volume to last year. Note that this 20 week period does not include 4 added weeks of zero running this year. The net result was this year had 60% of the run miles on the legs as last year. That is significant in our relatively moderate EN run plans.
From mile 13 on I was amazed again at the number of people walking. Not the EN team. It was great to see so many of the team on the course and they were always running and yelling “Go Matt” that helped a lot especially in the final miles. One other thing I noticed was very few people ran the tangents on the corners. Any thing I can do to run less distance to the finish line is a good thing. Yea this may have only added up to 10 – 15 seconds over the course, but it was free time for the taking. The chicken broth in the last few miles always works for me so I was happy when I heard “Chicken Broth” shouted out at a later aid station.
Al T had often said you need to be prepared to go to a very dark place in those final miles. I kept pushing the cramp threshold and it would smack me back, this game intensified in the final 3 miles. I was now in a dark gray place – the cramps would not let me go any faster or the legs would lock and I would be walking. This was the first race where I felt like I did a decent job of pushing to what I was capable on the run for that day. The body was screaming when I made it to the final finish stretch and I ran for the line. The crowds and this finish area are fantastic, such energy! I gave the EN sign and raised my arms in victory. I stumbled into the catchers’ arms and took a min to get the body back together. I looked up and saw a smiling face – Coach Patrick was in the finish area helping the team as they finished. He said “great race”, I responded “this was even harder than Kona”, I had taken hurt to a new personal level.
Race total
Target 11:20:00 Actual 11:36:26
In this race I did not hit my overall time expectations but it convinced me that I can get close to an 11:00 race in the future. I need to go back to a bike nutrition plan that worked and get the run miles into the legs and then let’s see what happens. More importantly in the build up to this race, I navigated though a significant injury and came out the other side stronger overall. The knee was great the entire race.
I think it was my second IM when I commented that it was probably going to take me about 10 IM’s to figure out how to push the body to get the most on race day. That still seams about right. This race moved me a step closer and I can’t wait for the next learning experience! See you in AZ.
Lessons learned
- 1 night of little sleep is ok, 2 nights and you will pay.
- Focus on hydration in the days before the race and before the swim. (I only lost 2 lbs the whole day)
- Retighten everything on the bike cockpit before the race.
- Give slower riders a lot of room on hills and aid stations.
- NO numbing cream!!!
- Don’t use Perform as main calorie base on the bike.
- Simplified transitions are faster.
- Run volume is a must have.
- The strength training helped all 3 sports; it sure made a difference in the stability of both legs and improved my running form.
Post Race
I found my STL ironman friend Curtis. He had a great race for the first time in 26 ironman races executed using the EN bike and run pacing approach. He PRed this race with a ~30 min improvement. He was ecstatic.
I cleaned up and met some of the team back at the finish line around 9:00 for dinner and celebration beverages. We stayed to watch the final hour of people finishing as an Ironman. That is always a magical time! A great way to finish off a good day.
Matt
0
Comments
Matt,
Excellent race and report. I also think one of the keys to getting to the race was actually backing down and taking care of the injury. It's a difficult thing to do. Great exectuion given the lack of running and other issues you faced.
Gordon
Great race execution despite the challenges and informative race report as always! Thanks for being a role model. Super to see you and Sandra again though we did not get to chat much. Looking forward to how all your learning translates into speed at Arizona!
Great race and thanks again for all you do for EN....
X2 on what JT said!
Loved reading this and love your approach to the sport. Very well thought out. Thx for all you do for EN!
I enjoy the process of learning. This sport of triathlon and the IM race sure presents so many things to learn. Swim, Bike, run training and execution, recovery, nutrition, hydration, mental factors…. Boy that’s a big list! This we keep me busy for a while!!! One of the many things I like about the EN house is so many people helping other people. EN got me to Kona and fulfilled a dream. In my view, I still owe the house a lot more give back from my side to even start to get even up!
@Tim, yes I plan to do AZ this year. Last year used the recovery thread in the wiki for the first 3 weeks post each IM. After that depending on how the legs felt I dropped into the remaining weeks of the IM build plan. Be extra cautious about the long runs. Last year after IMLOU and 3.5 weeks before Kona I crushed a 2 hour run and hit a pr for 13.1 in the process with a bunch of hills. The legs never made it back after that effort! You may want to lose 20-30 min off the longest ones. Also on the race rehearsal days, your just did a full IM so don’t feel you need to do a full RR again. Consider a 4 hr bike at an the 1 hr run.
Matt,
Great, thoughtful report (I may need to borrow the format) and way to execute on all of your goals. I’m impressed by the detail on how you broke everything down- a great model to emulate! And thanks for all of the "Wicked Smart" contributions you have been making to the team. I hope our racing paths cross one day.
Outstanding. As always I learned so much. Congratulations!
Great job Matt. I expect nothing less from our resident EN execution ninja! We are all learning from you and the other WSMs and thanks for all you do for us.
I'm already looking forward to tracking on you at IMAZ. Rest up and get back to it!
I'm willing to bet, Your good bike position + execution skills have you in the 10:45 ish range plus or minus a few w/ out much problem.
I agree. Matt has a sub-11 in his future, especially somewhere with conditions better than Louisville.