IMFL Race Report - Brian Comiskey (New PR and nice bump in AG placings)
Brian Comiskey: 42 yr / 5'11" / 180lb / FTP: 290w / 3.6w/kg/ VDot: 46 / IM #5
IMFL 2011 (11:05 – PR of 12’ and went from top 25% in AG to top 16% vs IMFL 2010)
Social/Fun Stuff:
Wednesday: Arrived at 1:30pm and went straight to registration and got that done super quickly. Bought some BSN stuff and other things at Expo and then got the hell out. Went to EN team dinner with my friends (and new EN members), Jeff Shoemaker, Barb Shoemaker, Melanie Neumann at Uncle Ernies. EN’r Brian Pautsch also joined us at our table. I had a great time and thanks to Jonathan M. for organizing. On the ride back to PCB, managed to complete 4 Facebook drive-by check-ins (Tan Fannies, Gold Nugget, Toy Box, and Condom Knowledge) before getting to Walmart to buy food for the next few days. The PCB Walmart has it’s own custom air brush section - sweet.
Wednesday: Arrived at 1:30pm and went straight to registration and got that done super quickly. Bought some BSN stuff and other things at Expo and then got the hell out. Went to EN team dinner with my friends (and new EN members), Jeff Shoemaker, Barb Shoemaker, Melanie Neumann at Uncle Ernies. EN’r Brian Pautsch also joined us at our table. I had a great time and thanks to Jonathan M. for organizing. On the ride back to PCB, managed to complete 4 Facebook drive-by check-ins (Tan Fannies, Gold Nugget, Toy Box, and Condom Knowledge) before getting to Walmart to buy food for the next few days. The PCB Walmart has it’s own custom air brush section - sweet.
Thurs: I did my morning swim in front of condo (Shores of Panama). There were some pretty decent swells with current parallel to beach. While swimming into the current I saw several hundred spotted trout looking silver fish and then a DOLPHIN about 6’ away from me. This was in very shallow and clear water and sent my heart rate racing. Wow. I then went back to the room and took the bike out for a quick spin to make sure everything was working.
Friday: I met Brian Pautsch at Boardwalk and we registered for IMFL 2012. Next, I watched Coach P do the 4K talk to about a 100 people. Afterwards, I gave him a totally rad custom air brush red EN team color hat from the PCB Walmart that said “CoachP” and then Panama City Beach on it. Got bike and bags checked in afterwards. I picked up my wife, Michaela, at the airport and then we went for lunch at Panera (I had Fuji Apple Chicken Salad with Extra Chicken). Later had dinner with EN members, Jeff Shoemaker, John Molchin, Kim Chaput, and their SO’s. Had some nice pad thai at Ketana and went to bed at 10pm.
Race Day: Pre-Race
Nutrition:?Shotgun 2 Ensures at 2:00am for 500 cal and go back to bed. Wake up at 4am and eat breakfast of 2 cups unsweetened applesauce with one scoop protein powder added and another Ensure. Total cal of about 530 + 500 = 1,030. Had 3 Starbucks Via with 8 oz water. Interestingly, my Ironman body clock alarm had me up at 1:56am and 3:56am exactly. Went to transition at 5am to get body marked, put bottles on bike, and air up tires. On bike nutrition consists of aero drink with water in front, 2 x 750 cal bottles of infinit. Brought a banana with me for just before the race. Chilled out inside Boardwalk on ground level.
Gear Choices:
Swim: Speedo Vanquisher tinted goggles with J&J baby shampoo for anti fog, DeSoto Forza Tri Short, EN Singlet, Blue Seventy Synergie wetsuit, Body Glide.
Bike: Craft Arm Warmers, Giro Advantage 2, Oakley Radar Paths, Sidi Ergo 2 shoes w/neo toe covers, Sweat GUTR, DZ Nuts, Garmin Edge 500 Computer, Cinqo Quarq Power Meter with 50/34 cranks and 11-23 cassette, Zipp 808 FC CC Front, Zipp 900 Cincher Disc rear, Vittoria OC EVO CX tires with 700x20 front and 700x23 rear. Michelin latex tubes at 115psi.
Run: Newton Distance Racers, Xtenex Tri Laces, Balega Enduro Socks, Garmin 310XT
Swim: Goal Time: 1:10-1:15 / Race Time: 1:12 (2' slower than 2010)
I waited to line up until the pros went off. Lined up right on the buoy line about 25 people back from front and swam on inside. Started counting jellyfish as I thought it would keep me interested in the swim. In the first 800 yards counted at least 30 and after that I did not really want to know the exact number. Yikes. Minimal contact and swam pretty straight. I noticed my head felt colder and realized I lost my swim cap during last 800 yards. T1 was crazy crowded and could barely move (might be a reason to try to get 5’ – 7’ faster on the swim as I think it might get me some speed in T1 too). EN’r Jeff Shoemaker was volunteering and got me out of there as quickly as possible.
Bike: Goal Time: 5:05 / Race Time: 5:14 (1' faster than 2010)
My plan:
• Gears: 1st = 200w, 2nd = 212w
• 1st for first 30 miles and then to 2nd
• S-Caps: 3/hr
• Aid stations: drink one bottle water every station
• Mile ~ 85 - have 2 x 200mg caffeine
• Low VI and be locked into aero bars
For nutrition, I drank water only the first thirty minutes and then two sips of infinit every 15 minutes to average out to 285 cal/hour. The weather was perfect in terms of temperature for me (50’s and 60’s) but very tough in terms of wind. Winds were primarily from the northeast at 15 mph with gusts to 20mph. The course is basically a loop with all roads being NSEW so lots of crosswind. The upside to this was I knew that the last half of the bike course would be very fast (except for Front Beach Road at the end which is directly into the wind). The downside is that riding in this kind of wind takes more effort to keep the bike straight and is going to be slower given the same power output. I know I have to do more work to ride 200 watts with 20mph crosswinds than 200 watts with a 5 mph wind. Not in terms of turning the cranks, more like upper body work. Another unexpected benefit was the wind really broke up the large packs of riders drafting as people were forced to ride to their ability more than prior years. There were a couple times where I got stuck in situations that I could not easily get out of involving lots of riders and lots of cars at the same time. This is one of those things I can’t control and just have to be patient about. There were a decent amount of marshalls on the course and a guy on my wheel got a penalty (I hope no EN members were #1551).
Here is the data from the ride:
Hour |
TSS |
IF |
NP |
VI |
Temp |
CAD |
MPH |
1 |
42.2 |
.651 |
189 |
1.05 |
54 |
85 |
21.1 |
2 |
44.4 |
.687 |
199 |
1.04 |
59 |
83 |
20.2 |
3 |
46.2 |
.713 |
207 |
1.05 |
63 |
84 |
19.4 |
4 |
46.4 |
.701 |
203 |
1.03 |
65 |
83 |
22.4 |
5 |
47.8 |
.691 |
200 |
1.02 |
67 |
83 |
23.4 |
6 |
10.1 |
.646 |
187 |
1.04 |
69 |
82 |
20.5 |
238 |
.686 |
199 |
1.04 |
84 |
21.3 |
This includes bathroom stops at 1:36/2:26/3:24 into the ride for 3’ each for a total of 9’. I guess this helped keep my TSS very low since I really was only on the bike for 5:05. Back to the wind, the ride was a lot harder than a 238 TSS – like 10%+ higher. I know if a rode a TSS of 270 or 280 out there I would not have had a good run. Too bad there is not an app to account for crosswinds.
Overall, felt really good when I came off the bike and passed 570 people (net). I was happy with a VI of 1.04 and was able to execute some EN hill riding skills on the few rollers on the bike course. I rode the first 56 miles at a NP if 196w and 20.0mph for a 2:48 and second 56 miles at 203w and 22.7mph for a 2:26 which is a pretty nice negative split. Since I had a good bike split, T2 was not so crowded and got out pretty quickly.
Run: Goal Time: 4:15 / Race Time: 4:20 (7' faster than 2010)
With temps in the low 70’s the heat impact said my best heat adjusted marathon time would be a 4:12. I kept telling myself “just don’t slow down, that is all that matters.” I took two bathroom breaks totaling about 4’ at 56’ and 2:02’ into the run. Full disclosure: I wanted to get them done in first 13.1 to try for a negative split on the marathon which I think is the Holy Grail of race execution. My VDOT easy pace is a 9:06, so plan was to run at 9:36 for first six miles and then settle into easy pace. I had the Garmin set to auto lap at 1 mile intervals. Heat App says the adjusted pace is about 4% so should have started out at 10:00’s and went to 9:30’s.
I was very focused on staying hydrated and cool as it felt kind of warm when in the sun. I had ditched the arm warmers in T2 so was dressed as cool as possible. Put ice in my hat a few times. Nutrition on the run was basically coke and water at every aid station with 3 S-Caps every 45’. Popped 400 mg caffeine around mile 18. No tummy issues at all. A little bit of a side stitch but mellowed out.
I broke the run down to the following segments including 2 bathroom breaks:
Miles |
Pace |
Temp |
CAD |
0-6 |
9:33 |
69 |
86 |
7-12 |
9:27 |
70 |
86 |
13-18 |
10:22 |
70 |
84 |
18-26.2 |
10:07 |
67 |
86 |
Total: 4:20 |
9:56 |
Lessons Learned:
This was my third Ironman since joining EN in July of 2010 and I have gained a lot of confidence with EN race strategy and my ability to execute. The strategy really works and I totally trust it. Although not a huge delta, I managed to get a new Ironman PR by 10’ and a new marathon PR by 7’ under tougher conditions than last year in Florida. Moreover, I went from being a top 25% finisher to a top 16% finisher in my AG compared to last year. I really need to work on becoming a faster runner and will focus on becoming a fast 5K and 10K doode between Jan and April.
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Comments
looks like some good execution to me
Brian - POWERFUL work, especially in the bike. 13' in the Porta-Potti? You've either gotta work on the efficiency of your pit stops, or learn how to go on the go.
Great report once again - well done on a very solid race! Relax and recoup and then the OS will be here soon enough!
Brian - great report - the gear section is a nice twist! A well executed race, congrats on the PR!. I know the traffic on the course can cause uneven pacing at times and the wind can create an added chalange. Given all that a VI of 1.03 is doable. This plus Al's point on bio breaks (9 min on the bike) and you have a 11-15 min upside on the bike. Or bank 1/2 of that and crush the run! Recover well!
@Al/Matt: I know I need to work on my "going" problem. I peed on the bike at IMWI this year and it was not a good experience. Need "mind over bladder" work.
@CoachP: I do not like the pooch I got going on in my race pics and being 5-7# heavier than my target weight. I am committed to better body comp for 2012 and getting to sub 175 for my A races.