IMWI Race Report - Daniela Williams - First and last IM, so happy it was a good one!
Sorry for the delay in posting this. After the race we stayed in Madison through Thursday, then spent some time at my grandparent’s house through the weekend. I tried to jot down notes as I thought of them so I wouldn’t miss anything in the RR. This also made for a VERY long RR. Thanks in advance to those that make it all the way through!
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Background Info
From July 2007 through February 2010 I have been injured more frequently then not injured with adductor issues. Prior to signing up for IMWI, I had not had a good HIM and wanted to concur that distance before signing up for an IM. I also wanted to be a year injury-free. My SO on the other hand was ready to be done with formal triathlon training, but wanted to get an IM out of the way first. I was overruled, and the day after IMWI 2010, we signed up for 2011. While standing in line, we met, and talked to, Becky Hirselj and shortly thereafter signed up with EN.
Five weeks out from IMWI, I was swimming in a lane with another person when the lane next to us opened up. I quickly grabbed my gear, turned, pushed off the bottom, and OUCH! I twisted my knee. Up until this point, training was going GREAT! I took the summer off work, and therefore do not have health insurance. I spoke to a few people, and general coconscious is I bruised/tore my meniscus. To not make it worse, I skipped the last long run and only put in 2.5 total hours of running during the last 5 weeks. I also cut the biking in about half. I could feel my FTP plummeting. I did get in just about all of the swim workouts. Three weeks out, we were out of town for 4 days, and I didn’t work out at all during that time. The one good thing was that the more I used me knee, the better it felt. As long as I biked or swam before running, I had no pain while running. But, I didn’t know if there would be a point at which it would change and hurt no matter what. I knew it would be better to go in to IMWI less trained then more injured.
Current Test Data:
FTP of 211 watts (pre-injury) – 3.8 w/kg
VDOT of 47.1 (EP is 8:57 min/mile)
Time Data:
I came up with estimates based on riding the course, swimming MOWS, looking up times for similar athletes that I know, and a hope to be under 11:30. Since this was my first IM, I didn’t want to make ‘goals’, but it was hard not to. I settled on 11:30 because I thought 11:15 would be impossible.
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|
Estimate |
Actual |
|
Swim |
1:06:00 |
1:03:34 |
|
T1 |
0:05:00 |
0:05:17 |
|
Bike |
6:00:00 |
5:48:47 |
|
T2 |
0:03:00 |
0:02:21 |
|
Run |
4:15:00 |
4:07:05 |
|
Total |
11:29:00 |
11:07:04 |
Bike Data
First Half:
Duration: 2:54:15 (2:54:19)
TSS: 124.8 (intensity factor 0.656)
Norm Power: 138
VI: 1.03
Distance: 56.918 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 362 134 watts
Cadence: 46 150 90 rpm
Speed: 4.5 45.3 19.5 mph
Temperature: 66.2 87.8 73.8 Fahrenheit
Second Half:
Duration: 2:54:47 (2:55:09)
TSS: 126 (intensity factor 0.659)
Norm Power: 139
VI: 1.04
Distance: 56.462 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 249 133 watts
Cadence: 38 191 89 rpm
Speed: 0 45.3 19.3 mph
Temperature: 75.2 91.4 83.5 Fahrenheit
Entire workout (134 watts):
Duration: 5:48:37 (5:49:03)
TSS: 250.4 (intensity factor 0.657)
Norm Power: 139
VI: 1.04
Distance: 113.242 mi
Elevation Gain: 4811 ft
Elevation Loss: 4628 ft
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 362 134 watts
Cadence: 38 191 89 rpm
Speed: 0 45.3 19.4 mph
Temperature: 66.2 91.4 78.7 Fahrenheit
Split Info
|
SWIM |
BIKE |
RUN |
OVERALL |
RANK |
DIV.POS. |
|
1:03:34 |
5:48:47 |
4:07:05 |
11:07:04 |
176 |
5 |
|
LEG |
DISTANCE |
PACE |
RANK |
DIV.POS. |
|
TOTAL SWIM |
2.4 mi. (1:03:34) |
1:40/100m |
180 |
3 |
|
|
||||
|
BIKE SPLIT 1: 54 mi |
54 mi (2:47:55) |
19.30 mi/h |
|
|
|
BIKE SPLIT 2: 94 mi |
40 mi (2:12:47) |
18.07 mi/h |
|
|
|
BIKE SPLIT 3: 112 mi |
18 mi (48:05) |
22.46 mi/h |
|
|
|
TOTAL BIKE |
112 mi (5:48:47) |
19.27 mi/h |
222 |
3 |
|
|
||||
|
RUN SPLIT 1: 8.9 mi |
8.9 mi (1:21:49) |
9:11/mi |
|
|
|
RUN SPLIT 2: 13.2 mi |
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Comments
Great job Daniela!
I think Rich will be jealous of your T1 time - ha! And geeze Louise you are FAST! Sorry you missed the Hawaii slot but so happy for you that your one IM (so you say... bet you'll be back!) was so successful!
Congratulations!!!
As for your race report, certainly no criticisms on my part in terms of length or thoroughness, telling my story to completeness always seems like a necessary final step for me to decompress after a big race. And as for your race itself, well boy, I wish I wasn't such a tubbie, I'd love to have a bike split like that on 140 pNorm! But you had great execution, a VI of 1.04 on the IMWI course is no easy feat, that's certain. For your run, looks like you had really steady and solid pacing, you looked great out there every time I saw you, and frankly, all I could ever ask for in an IM run is to just enjoy the damn thing (as much as is possible). To run without having to constantly bargain with myself to keep one foot in front of the other would be mission accomplished. So definitely more kudos to you there, my splits last year started out a little more aggressively, then got really rough in the middle, then finally recovered towards the end. I'd take steady across the board any day.
Notice I didn't mention your swim, because I'd rather not embarrass myself further by contemplating how thoroughly you whipped me in that department.
Ultimately, whether you do another one of these or you don't, you sure did kick this one's ass, especially for a first time racer your execution was just phenomenal. Not that we expected any less of course. Congratulations again, you certainly proved that you have what it takes to be at the top of the AG game at the Ironman distance... if you only wanted to.
Daniela,
Great race and excellent result. If you don't want to do another IM that's fine, stick to the race distaces you want to do. IM will be here in the future if you ever get the desire to do another one.
Gordon
Wow, what a fantastic race, hard to believe it was your first. Enjoy relaxing and maybe we will see you out there again for some fun rides such as HHH or Dairyland Dare.
@Goardon - Very true! It will take a while to forget about the training involved. Then maybe...maybe. Before I raced IMWI, I had a lot of respect for those that trained and raced, and now I have even more.
@Trevor - Ron is my idol. I loved running with him (for at least his WU) at lunch, and miss that about leaving my job. I do wonder if he will change his mind after doing long course worlds. Anyway, you've seen me at my best. I have several failures at HIMs leading up to this year, with most of the run's hovering around 2 hours. I'm not saying that 2 hours is a bad time, but I knew I had potential for better, just not the endurance. I'd just rather be passing people instead of being passed by that point.
@P - Thanks! I owe so much of it to EN. Even though the knee gives me pain each morning, it never hurt while training or racing, so I was very lucky in that respect.
@Mary - So great to see you as well! I would love to do any of the rides around Madison. It's such a beautiful area! I'll keep them in mind for next year.
@Matt - I'm glad I didn't know at the time I was kicking some ass. I would probably have dug myself into a hole on the run. My attitude going into the race was that it was going to be a long, fun workout. I've never had that feeling before. I always put a lot of pressure on myself and end up being stressed for most of the week leading up. It was a very nice change!
Just wanted to say I really enjoyed watching you race online - you were awesome and I was cheering very loudly at the computer! Congrats! As everyone has indicated - many of us can only dream of having such a great race, nevermind a first one!
Great race Daniela and very nice write up! If or when you decide to take on another IM I have no doubt that you will be challenging the very best in the sport.
What really struck me about your race report is that it included a reference to me! I was the guy on the red/white CD0.1 who complemented you on your high velocity downhill peeing. Thanks for reminding me that I took that opportunity to spray the guy who had been sitting on my wheel for the past few miles. I've done 28 Ironman races since 1992 and that was a first for me.
Thanks and good luck!
Bernie