IMFL race report-Brian Kelly
Brian Kelly, Age 55, 5'10, 155 lbs.
Summary--This was my 2nd Ironman this year. Did IMOO 8 weeks prior in 14 hrs, 12 min. Did IMFL in 11 hrs, 47 min. 2.5 hrs faster at Florida, and I did not slack at IMOO. I was toast after that one! The most important thing I did was to quit fighting everything, and instead mesh with the swim, currents, wind, bike. Today, you hear people describe Aaron Rogers of the Green Bay Packers as being in the zone. I have been in zones in sports, and I was going to get in them today. When that happens, production (pace) increases, output (HR in this case) decreases. it becomes easy
Swim--1:08. Totally supriised with this time. Was hoping for maybe a 1:15 to 1:20 swim. Did some drafting, just relaxed, went with the flow and the current. Wa s crowded for 800 meters, but once it thinned out, it was beautiful clear water to swim in. Had a difficult time trying to figure out where to line for the swim start, due to the openess of it. Was probably in to tight, but I dealt with it. Felt great coming out of swim. 1st swim ever where I was not praying for it to end!
T1- Very crowded. Took 13 min. to get out on the course. I did not want to leave T1 underdressed, due to the weather. I wore EN tri top, vest, and arm warmers, and neoprene toe covers on my shoes. Worked great.
Bike- 5:45 Always seems to be my most difficult segment. Was going to try a new strategy for this race. Was going to go in the 130-144 BPM on my HR monitor. At Madison, I kept it at 120-130. So, i was planning to push it up a bit. Also, I was going to flow with the wind, let it envelop me and move me along, instead of fighting and calculating where it is coming from. I got totally relaxed in the aero position for pretty much the entire ride. At times I was wondering who is actually pushing this thing forward, I have never done 112 miles in 5:45 ever. Maybe the closest might be 6-6:15. I never got tired on the ride, and justkept listening to my body, and was able to push it better than I had ever done. A very Zen like ride.
T2- quicker that T1 by a mile, legs felt so good coming out of the tent.
Run- 4:32 started out at 9 min miles for about 6 miles, wanted to go slower, but was just going with it. Made the decision if this is the pace, lets go. slowed down 8-13 miles, and had a bit of a slowdown to 20-22 miles. I was just cruising along, enjoying the day and the surroundings. At 22 miles, i was going to just enjoy the crowd on the way home. One thing I know for sure today, Is that I can go faster on the run, but I did not want to go to the edge and risk crashing, but I do know that more is in the tank.
Summary--cut 2.5 hrs of MY PR. Gotta be happy with that. Kind of hard to believe. Some keys seem to be that I went in totally rested. Between IMOO and IMFL, did 2-3 hrs rides that both sucked, but did mostly 30-40 min. high intensity workouts on bike. As for running, again, hight intensity, longest time maybe 2.5 hrs. Finding the zones was the most important factor. I could tell when it all became so easy at different parts of the day. The most facinating thing was that pace increased, HR decreased..just cruising. Going to spend some time analysing that whole thing
Comments
Brian - remember The Doors - "Break on Through to the Other Side"? - That's what you've done. You've learned how to race, and you've learned how much more you are capable of than you imagined. All it took was letting everything go, just focus on the process, and the results take care of themselves.