Shawn Thompson aka 'Bill' IMFL 2011 race report
Basic info
37yo, 5'10", 163lbs
FTP 220
vDot 46.5
Background
I have been with EN for a year and only 2 years doing triathlons. I used to be a gym rat and preferred big biceps over fast run splits. Then, in Mar 09, I had an artificial disc implanted in my low back. I did my first sprint in June 09 and another in Aug. I bought a tri bike and dove in headfirst. I completed two HIMs in 2010. I walked over 10 miles of the run in Orlando and at least half the run in Racine. I could write an eBook outlining all the mistakes. And even after the horrible performances I still signed up for IMFL. Luckily a friend turned me on to EN. I was in JAN OS and followed EN training and execution for Steelhead 70.3 this year. I had some GI issues during the race and ended up walking again on the run. Very frustrating.
Goals for Race
1) RUN the marathon!
2) Execute pre-race and race nutrition plan
3) Enjoy the day.
Pre-Race
Wednesday: drove in around 1400. Went to athlete check-in while wife and son napped. Got in and got out. Went to team dinner that night then straight to bed.
Thursday: 0700 swim for about 30 minutes then went to condo and packed my bags. I went out for a 30 minute JRA ride after putting disc cover on wheel. I was in bed early again that night.
Friday: Slept until I woke up then lay in bed and watched TV. I brought my bike and gear bags with me to the 4 keys talk. After talk turned in equipment then hit the ART tent to work out my neck and left leg. Those guys were awesome. Picked up lunch and dinner take out then hit the couch. I was really concerned about GI tract race day and ate very light today. Yogurt and fruit for breakfast, salad with grilled chicken for lunch and a cup of soup for dinner. G2 throughout the day. Went to bed around 1930.
Race Day
Woke up at 0200 and slammed two naked juice smoothies went back to bed until 0415. I felt full and was feeling the nerves so only coffee for breakfast. Coffee provided the intended response, twice. I was at body marking line by 0500. Got through quickly, set up my bike, then headed back to the parking lot to meet family. Hung out with them until around 0630ish.
Kit worn under wetsuit: Desoto shorts (lubed chamois with Aquaphor night before), EN singlet, CEP calf sleeves, HR strap.
Swim
Not a strong swimmer so goal was to survive and get to bike relatively fresh. Predicted a 1:20 to 1:30. 2 x gels at 0630. Crossed the timing mat around 0645. Weather was great, no wind, water was calm. Lined up about 50 yards to the right of the buoy line approximately 10 people back. Didn’t really ask anyone about times to seat myself. Pretty comfortable in the water so figured I would let other people work harder to get around me. Got a little beat up on the way to the first turn buoy, then the field spread out and had plenty of room. Tried to count strokes, but never really made it passed 30. 27..28..oh just got punched in the face, restart. 20…21…hey look at the size of that jellyfish, restart. 25…26…holy crap I am swimming in an Ironman, restart. Things pretty much stayed that way for both laps. One didn’t feel anymore difficult than the other, however first was faster than second.
Final time: 1:10:35 evidently counting jellyfish makes you faster!
T1
Swam until I couldn’t take a stroke and stood up. Passed several people that were trying to run in their wetsuits. Crossed the mat and started removing gear. It was a long run up to the bags. I passed a someone getting help from the wetsuit strippers and he looked like a sugar cookie. So I skipped them and took my off further up the path on a concrete section. Grabbed bag and tried to get as close to the exit of the building as possible. Very crowed but found a spot on the floor close to the exit. Put on gear in this order: Helmet, race belt, arm warmers, vest, socks, shoes. Shoved wetsuit in bag and tossed to volunteer. Ran to bike and un racked it myself, but first hit the power button on my garmin. Ran to mount line and it was crazy tight so kept jogging about another 20 feet before mounting.
Time was 9:52. Was focused on being warm so took my time.
Bike
Gears were
1st 146
2nd 154
3rd 162
4th 169
Nutrition:
Water only for first 30 minutes then 2 sips from 750cal infinit bottle every 10 minutes. 1.5 to 2 bottles of water an hour. 1 S cap every hour.
Data from ride:
Work: 2991 kJ
TSS: 270.6
IF: 0.678
Norm Power: 149
VI: 1.06
HR: 128
Speed: 18.9
Cadence: 96
The start of the bike was chilly with a head wind that never seemed to let up. I rode 1st gear for the first 30 miles. I was a little nervous that I was doing something wrong because I was actually passing a lot of people. But I was riding very steady and not busting my target watts, so just rolled with it. It was a pretty uneventful beginning.
After mile 30 started pushing up to 2nd gear. Now the draft packs and general traffic were increasing. Just after mile 40 ended up and a peloton that was unavoidable. So I enjoyed some free watts for quite a while. Again other than the wind, everything was going as planned. Coach P hooked us up in the 4 keys talk. He mentioned how the out and back at the mid point was a very bumpy road where all you thought was ouch my junk, ouch my shoulders, ouch my back. So I couldn’t get that out of my head.
I stopped for a minute at BSN. Swapped out my infinit, took off my vest, and headed back out to the bumpy road.
So things started to get hard around mile 75ish. I had a hard time staying in 2nd gear. For some reason I kept pushing harder, about 15 watts harder. I kept telling myself, “you have to back off or you are going to implode on the run.” Yet I was still going too hard. So finally I just dropped to my small chain ring and that seemed to keep me in check. I rode like that for another 10 miles or so then went back to large ring and everything was fine. After mile 100 I took a GU Jet blackberry, love the 2 x caffeine and just stayed with water to get ready for the run.
Overall ride went as planned. I did stop to pee 4 times on the bike. So that bumped my VI up, but the small breaks helped reset the muscles and really didn’t cost me anything.
T2
About a 100 yds from the dismount line I came out of my shoes. Hit the line, passed off the bike and went straight to my bag. Big bonus to know where my bag was ahead of time because I ended up getting my own. In the building I dropped helmet and glasses. S caps and gels in back pocket, put on shoes and hat then headed out. I had to pee again before I got out of T2, like I said well hydrated.
Time: 5:22
Run
Goal: Do not walk between aid stations and hope for a 10min/mile pace.
For the first 6-8 planned on a 10:30 walking 30 steps at each aid station then pick that up to 10min/mile pace and see how it felt. If ok, keep that until mile 18, then push for a 9:30 pace coming home.
Planned Nutrition: 2 cups of water and 1 cup perform at each aid station. Every 3rd aid station coke instead of perform, if GI issues switch to coke early. After mile 18 chicken broth and coke
So now it was time to make some money. Started running and looked down to check my pace, Garmin not functioning. So while jogging kept playing with it. I thought it was good since I could see my pace. Except when I got to the 1st aid station my auto lap didn’t go off. Oh well I could see my current pace, but knew my lap pace was off. Decided it wasn’t important and kept running. Started having some gas and thought oh no not again. I was afraid my stomach was starting to shut down. But actually need to poop. So had an extended stop at mile 3 which involved having to wait for what seemed like an eternity because all the porta-johns were full.
So now I am feeling a little lighter and I was back on pace. Somewhere around mile 6 I was finally able to think and realized I just needed to press the start button on my Garmin. Wow look at that all is functioning well.
After mile 6 I started picking up the pace then exquisite pain in the ball of my right foot with every step. Mentioned that to my buddy who was following me around the course and got some great words of wisdom in response. Well aren’t you supposed to be hurting? Enough said and I kept running. Nutrition was going as planned and really had no issues. Got to RSN and put my rolled up arm warmers in pocket and tied my LS shirt around my waist. I knew that when the sun would start to go down I was going to get cold quick and wanted to have options. Around mile 16 was getting chilly when running in the shade so put on the arm warmers while running and kept the shirt in reserve a little longer.
Mile 18 comes and I am psyched. I get to race and count people I am passing. Well never really started because there were too many people. I was a 10min rock star. You would have thought I was running a 7min/mile pace at the rate I was passing people. Big confidence booster and a needed burst of energy late in the race. My buddy met me again around mile 20 for some more motivation. He said we should have some sort of audible alert when we pass people. So instead of counting I was coming up with different kinds of alerts in my head.
Around mile 23 I realized I was on track to break 12 hours and yet again another burst of energy and was able to pick up the pace a little. I don’t remember exactly when but sometime before this I had put on my LS shirt. So in the last mile I pulled off the shirt to get ready for finish line photos and started looking for my wife and son. Oh and high fiving anyone that had a hand even close to being out. I was getting ready to be an Ironman!!!!
Final Run data:
|
RUN SPLIT 1: 5.75 mi |
5.75 mi (1:03:15) |
11:00/mi |
|
RUN SPLIT 2: 13.1 mi |
7.35 mi (1:14:37) |
10:09/mi |
|
RUN SPLIT 3: 18.4 mi |
5.3 mi (52:34) |
9:55/mi |
|
RUN SPLIT 4: 26.2 mi |
7.8 mi (1:16:16) |
9:46/mi |
|
TOTAL RUN |
26.2 mi (4:26:42) |
10:10/mi |
So final time was 11:46:56. This was almost 45 minutes faster than I was predicting if everything went right. I know there are always things to improve, but what a first Ironman. I executed like an EN Ninja. Stayed smooth on the swim, smart and steady on the bike, and focused on the run. Oh and negative split the marathon on my first Ironman. Thanks EN!!
Lessons Learned
Starting closer to the front of the pack in the swim was a positive. I didn’t have to work to get around anyone.
The power meter and 4 Keys made my race!
During the run made a conscious effort to stay mentally engaged. I was looking for EN jerseys and yelling something every time I saw one. I read every sign on the side of the roads and chalk on the road. Also thanked every volunteer I could. This seemed to keep me moving. I never felt like I was running but not going anywhere like other long runs I have done. Maybe it was just first timer endorphins, but it was my magic feather.
I am still riding the high 4 days after the race. During the 4 Keys Patrick said good or bad you never get your first IM back, so make sure you look up and take it all in. I was fortunate to have, to me, the perfect race.
Comments
PS take a look at Tim D. and John McKenzie run splits as well. I dont know there goal pace's but look like perfect EN execution like yours with nice negative splits!
Question, did you RR the swim? Any explanation on how you were so much faster than expected? Were there currents or were you able to draft the whole time?
What was your bike split time?
Well done.
Incredible execution. I'm in awe! Congrats.
PS: He looked like a sugar cookie??? LOL Love the description.
I am not sure about the current. I can't say any one leg of the swim was easier than the other. However the water was calm. I mean no swells calm. And although I am not fast I am very comfortable in the water. Completed a military dive course where they helped get you comfortable with near drowning experiences. So I really think starting closer to the front of the pack and letting other people work harder to get around me paid off. I never once thought about drafting so probably not a factor.
@Jeff...glad you like the sugar cookie reference. that poor guy had to be chaffed by the end of the day because there is no way he got all the sand off before starting the bike.
@everyone else that has commented.....Thank you so much!!! Seeing the responses has kept the post race high going. I am sure people around me are tired of hearing about it. One of my soldiers asked if all I owned now was Ironman finisher gear. I didn't by that much, however can probably sport something for 4 or 5 days before I have to wash and repeat.
BIKE SPLIT 1: 55 mi 55 mi (2:57:47) 18.56 mi/h
BIKE SPLIT 2: 95 mi 40 mi (2:02:19) 19.62 mi/h
BIKE SPLIT 3: 112 mi 17 mi (54:19) 18.78 mi/h
TOTAL BIKE 112 mi (5:54:25) 18.96 mi/h 815 163
What a great job! Now we know how to nail the run - just don't start your Garmin!