IMFL Race Report - Brian Pautsch (1st Ironman)
Brian Pautsch
36 yr, 6'2", 192 lb
1st Ironman: 11.5.2011
Ironman Florida
|
Times |
Goal |
Actual |
|
Swim |
1:10 |
1:13 |
|
T1 |
0:10 |
0:11 |
|
Bike |
6:00 |
6:10 |
|
T2 |
0:07 |
0:09 |
|
Run |
5:00 |
5:23 |
|
Overall |
<12:30</span> |
13:07 |
Read the PDF version (with pictures)
Wednesday
Flew SWA from Midway ($50 bike box fee) with fellow EN’r Brian Comiskey. Arrived at 1:30 pm and checked into hotel. I opted to stay at the Boardwalk (host hotel) solely because of the location. There were no lines at IM check in, so I took care of that right away and then shopped the IM store a little. Being my first IM, I was apprehensive about buying anything, but also didn’t want to miss out on anything I liked. I then met up with everyone at the organized EN dinner at Uncle Ernie’s. Then headed back to the hotel to take it easy the rest of the night.
Thursday
Got up at 7am and headed to the beach to swim in the wetsuit. Saw dozens of jellyfish. Went back to the hotel room and put the bike together. Then went for a quick ride to make sure everything checked out. No problems. Grabbed some dinner and called it a night.
Friday
Met up with Brian Comiskey and we registered for IMFL 2012. I was 100% certain I was going to sign up, but a few people asked, “Don’t you want to do the race first and then decide if you want to do it again?” Good point…maybe that’s why early sign up is the day BEFORE the race. Didn’t matter…I knew I was signing up. We then headed to the back of the Boardwalk hotel to listen to the Four Keys talk by Coach P. I’m really glad I did that. I’ve watched the DVD a dozen times, but it was really good to hear it again in person…especially since a large part of Coach P’s talk was IMFL-specific.
My mom and dad flew in for the race this morning so I headed to their hotel to pick them up. We grabbed some lunch at Subway and they dropped me off back at the hotel while they went and picked up my wife and kids at the airport. I headed back to my room to get my bags ready and checked them in with my bike. My family arrived and we went to Uncle Ernie’s for dinner. They all ordered things I couldn’t order and had plenty of wine. Me: grilled chicken, veggies and water. Boring, but safe.
Saturday (Race Day)
2am: 2 Naked Juice (440 calories)
4am: 1 Naked Juice, Banana, Coffee
5:30am: Headed to transition to get body marked, put bottles on bike and adjusted tire pressure.
6:30am: Walked out hotel room (1st floor, right in front of swim start), saw some friends walking to the beach and joined them.
Swim
Gear: EN Singlet, Zoot Ultra Tri Shorts, Speedo Vanquisher Plus Goggles, Zoot Fuzion SL Wetzoot and Body Glide
I took some advice from Brian C. and lined up behind him just right of the buoy line. Turned out to be a good spot, although I wish I had lined up closer to the front to avoid more swimmers. The first 1/2 mile out had a good amount of contact. I kept my cool, paused and let people go by a few times and played a little defense with my arms when necessary…no need to get an arm or foot to the face. My plan was to swim it very easy…treat it like a warm up. Fortunately, swimming is my strength so this is a reasonable plan. On the way back on the 1st lap, I felt a stinging on my right bicep. Jellyfish sting? I looked right away and didn’t see anything. The burning was minor and I moved on. It bothered me a little during the swim, but wasn’t a big deal…and I forgot about it by the time I hit the bike. At the halfway point, I saw the clock…35 min…right on schedule! I thought the 2nd lap would be faster/easier, and it felt like it, but somehow it was a bit slower. I hit the beach after lap 2, stopped for a wetsuit strip and then stopped in the shower for 10 sec to wash off as much salt water as possible in a brief period of time.
Next year: Line up closer to the front to avoid more contact and plan to swim 5 min faster to get out a little earlier. Also, more Body Glide maybe. I put a lot on but still got the wetsuit neck burn.
T1
The changing tent was already a mess. Lucky for me, I saw Brian C. and EN’r Jeff Shoemaker (volunteering). The guy right next to them got up and I got a seat. That was lucky. Jeff was on a mission to get us all of out there ASAP. I started getting my socks and shoes on while he pushed on my arm warmers. He told me to leave everything and he’d do the bagging…that was so nice to have done!
Next year: I felt like I was moving fast. I’m not sure I can go much faster. Maybe get through the showers quicker. J
Bike
Gear: Speed Concept 9.9, Zipp 808 front, Zipp 808 rear with PT SLC+ and Wheelbuilder Wheel Cover, Conti GP4000S @ 120 psi, Garmin Edge 800, Giro Advantage 2, Oakley Jawbone, Shimano SH-TR71 shoes, Pearl Izumi toe covers, Pearl Izumi Gloves, EN Arm Warmers and Body Glide.
Special Needs: 1 tube, 2 CO2 cartridges, 1 Honey Stinger Waffle, 4 GU Rotane gels, 4 salt tablets
Nutrition: 2 bottles of Infinit @ 730 cal/bottle. Refill aero water bottle 4-5 times. 1 Saltstick tablet/hr
I was feeling good and ready to ride. Only problem, my computer data fields were all wrong. The mph was kph, the power field was missing and there was no cadence. I tried to reset the computer, but no luck. I was going to be on this bike for 6 hrs and was not going to ride blind. I stopped, took the 3-4 min and fixed the data fields. That sucked, but oh well.
For the first 30 min, I drank water only. The rest of the ride consisted of sipping Infinit and washing it down with water every 10 min + salt. My previous race was Vineman 70.3 in July. I took in too few of calories and fluids, and got light headed and cramped a lot on the run. I learned a lot from that race and wasn’t going to screw that up again. But this time, I think I drank too much. By the halfway point, I already stopped for a bathroom break 2 times. That’s alright…better than the alternative. The temperature outside was great. A little cool, but not cold. But the wind…that sucked. It felt like we had headwinds and crosswinds the entire way out to the turnaround. I was really hoping we’d get a nice tailwind on the way back, and we did somewhat, but it didn’t seem as helpful as it was hurtful on the first half. I stopped at special needs and grabbed the Honey Stinger Waffle. It was something nice to look forward to. The trip back was pretty uneventful…oh, except for the girl in front of me peeing as she rode. I barely dodged that one.
My plan was to ride comfortably…JRA. I know I could have ridden lot faster, but I really needed to save it for the run. I was still working through a hamstring injury and running is my weakest event. There was no point in getting a faster bike split to end up walking the marathon. This was my first IM. I wanted to finish strong and enjoy the day. I am usually very competitive, but there will be many more races. I really wanted to learn from this race, not blow up and push “the line” as close to the finish line as possible.
Next year: I need to work on my bike strength/speed in the OS so I can ride faster next year. After getting through my first IM, I now know what to expect and know what I can handle. I know I can push the bike faster and not suffer on the run. I should be able to cut off 30+ min next year. I also think I can take in a bit less fluids to cut the bathroom stops from 3 to maybe 1 or 2.
T2
As expected, the changing tent wasn’t too bad this time. I grabbed a chair, swapped my gear and took off.
Next year: I didn’t move nearly as fast as I could. I could easy shave off 2-3 minutes.
Run
Gear: EN Visor, Newton Gravitas, CEP Calf Sleeves, Feetures! Socks, Garmin 310XT and Body Glide.
Special Needs: 1 Honey Stinger Waffle, 4 GU Rotane gels, 4 salt tablets, Long Sleeve Tech Shirt, Socks, Visor
Nutrition: Water every aid station. Alternate IM Perform and Coke each aid station. 1 GU Roctane and 1 Saltstick tablet every hour.
For me, this is where the race really started. As I mentioned earlier, I was still working through a hamstring injury and didn’t get the mileage or intensity that I wanted/needed in my training. The good news is that my leg only hurts when I run fast (8:00 miles or faster) so I was optimistic. And I’m glad to say my hamstring was not an issue all day.
Fortunately, my plan to swim and bike comfortable and save it for the run was executed as I planned. When I got on the run course, I felt pretty good. My goal was to average 11:00 miles. Per EN, I was to run the first 6 miles at 11:30. I tried but every minute or so I’d look at my watch, see I’m running 10:30 or faster and force myself to slow down. I ended up averaging 10:53/mile through the first 6 miles but felt good. During the next 6-7 miles, I started to slow down a bit, but didn’t feel too bad. I knew I was fatiguing, but I kept pushing…but not too hard as I knew I had another 1/2 marathon to go. I ended up averaging 11:57/mile through miles 6-13. I saw my family at the turnaround and stopped for hugs and kisses. That helped. J
The next 5 miles continued to get tougher, but I kept running. I knew I was on track to be close to 12:30 and running the entire marathon would be a big achievement on its own. I kept grinding away, but slowed to a 12:49 pace for these miles. I walked some of the aid stations more than I would have liked and stopped for bathroom breaks. Regardless, I hit mile 18 and was ready to push as hard as I could. Mile 18 was good. I picked the pace up to a 10:22 mile and felt OK. My plan was to hold this pace for 3-4 miles and depending on how I felt, hopefully pick it up a bit more.
But just as quickly as I picked up the pace, a problem arose. At mile 19, I got a severe pain in my right knee. It hurt so bad, I had to stop running and walk. I walked a bit to hopefully walk it out. I tried running and again it hurt like hell after 4-5 steps. I walked more…walking didn’t hurt at all. I tried time and time again to run, but the pain was unbearable. It quickly became apparent that I wasn’t going to be able to run the rest of the race. Walking didn’t hurt at all, so I walked as fast as I could. Around mile 22, a fellow EN’r ran by and said “You’re at the line. Find your reason.” That was really cool, but unfortunately that wasn’t the problem.
Those last 7 miles were long. Knowing that you’re going to be walking for an hour and a half is tough to swallow. I was not going to be under 13 hours and that was OK. It just makes my PR next year that much bigger! I ended up averaging 13:30/mile for the last 8 miles. During the last mile or so, I told myself that no matter the amount of pain, I was not going to walk the finish. When I had about 3 blocks to go, I started to jog. It hurt like crazy, but it had to be done. Fortunately, the crowd and finish is so overwhelming, that it helps distract you from the pain.
Next year: I’m planning to take a lot of Nov and part of Dec off to try to fully heal my hamstring and knee. My running is my weakest discipline and I can certainly gain the most time from it. I’d also like to drop 10-15 lbs and get some “free speed”.
Post-Race
So what do you do after an Ironman? Rest? No way. Disney World! Yeah, that wasn’t the smartest idea. My knee still had some pain especially when walking inclines and stairs, but I was able to get by fine. As soon as I got back, I saw my personal trainer. He thought it might be a stress fracture. Yikes! I didn’t go to the hospital for an X-ray just yet. I had an appointment with my physical therapist and she took a look. She was able to confidently rule out the stress fracture, but did find that where the tibia connects into the fibula was out of place. With some manipulation, she was able to “pop” it back into place. She believes my running form started to degrade during the run (primarily in my right foot) and this affected my leg into my knee. She told me to keep off it for a week and see how a jog feels then. If it still hurts, get the X-ray. Wish me luck.
Next year: Let’s be honest. The kids are going to want to go to Disney again. Maybe I’ll rent a scooter.
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