IMAZ Race Report -UPDATED with #s
This year was very different, I was coming to Arizona as a Veteran. I signed up for this race a week after finishing IMAZ ’10. Why so late? Why a foundation slot instead of onsite? Simple answer: My original goal was to spend a bunch of years checking the boxes on doing every North American IM, but then I had my first EN experience. I travelled to Tempe alone in ’10, having drinks after the race in Rula Bula, Rich asked me where my family was, I simply replied that I came alone and that EN was my family! The time I had with the team, knowing that many of these people, especially my new friend, John Stark, were coming back in ’11 made me realize that I needed to do this to.
I had already signed up for IM Louisville in August, which went really well, see my race report at:
Keeping the intensity between the two events became problematic. I chose IMKY because it fell at the end of my kid’s camp season. I was able to do the highest volume training while they were away and I as a divorcee had lots of single parenting duties. It is those same duties and other items in life that got in the way of doing things as I should have post IMKY to prepare for IMAZ.
In October because of the people I met in Arizona and Al Truscott’s generosity of opening his home to EN, I participated in an informal Aspen Training camp where all but one attendee were doing IMAZ. The week leading up to IMAZ was busy at work, I was spending a lot of time with my kids and I didn’t even get to pack until the night before leaving. Thankfully I had the EN training of working off lists! It was on the plane in Westchester County Airport that it hit me, I was truly excited, like little kid the night before something big excited, to see my friends. True friends, the group from last year, the group from Al’s Training camp & Coach Rich.
Walking into the Monti’s restaurant Thursday night and seeing many ENers, high fiving, strong handshakes and big hugs all around, really solidified this feeling. Getting comments from people who hadn’t seen me in a year on the weight I dropped, THAT was awesome! Meeting more ENers and establishing what I am sure will become new and long friendships was as great as it always is. Friday was admin day, got to registration early to find that they opened ahead of schedule and that there was no line! Picked up my bike from Tri Bike Transport, went back to the hotel, organized the bike, started to lay out my bags with contents on top and went off at to meet teammates at 1 PM for a group ride on the Beeline. More great times with Team EN! Back to the hotel to shower, we went back to the expo to drop the bike with the shop for some overnight work and just chill out before the welcome dinner, I wanted to attend that since I hadn’t gone to one at either of the previous two IMs. We dined with Greg Van, and the three of us ended up leaving early to hang with the EN peeps at Rula Bula.
Saturday was an easy day as it should be, I skipped the practice swim, picked up bike from the shop, dropped it in transition, which included a fun wait on the line with John Stark, dropped Transition Bags, went off to Four Keys. After Four keys, went for a relaxing lunch. eventually back to hotel, took a long nap from 3 – 7 PM, went out and got a subway sandwich for me & sushi for my Sherpa. Back to sleep around 9:30. Woke up at 2 for a carbo loading shake, and never fell back asleep…
The Numbers
Swim (not sure which # to use, Race clock said 1:52, results say 1:55, Al T & Coach R say to knock of 13 mins for pro start on race clock, so 1:40 which makes sense.
T1 5:16
Bike 6:06
T2 3:39
Run:5:28
Entire workout (136 watts):
Duration: 6:06:49 (6:07:23)
Work: 2994 kJ
TSS: 251 (intensity factor 0.642)
Norm Power: 141
VI: 1.04
Distance: 114.255 mi
Elevation Gain: 1450 ft
Got to Transition around 515, took care of bike, waited online for the portajohns, eventually bumped into Jonathan Needell, hung for a bit, back to the now insanely long porta john lines and then finally put on the wetsuit. Last year, when they herded us through the TYR arch to the dock you jump into Tempe Town Lake from, I stood apprehensive about going in for what seemed like eternity, this time I just jumped right in and swam over to the start area. While waiting I saw the guy next to me check his watch and I asked the time, he replied that he didn’t have it, and we looked at each other and it was none other than Matt Samojeden! High fives & final good luck wishes, off went the gun and the frenzy began.
The thrashing this year was much worse than I remember. For anyone who has read my past race reports, the swim is the part I dread. I am not afraid of the water, I just always seem to get to a point where my psyche plays with me and I convince myself I shouldn’t be out doing this. In past IMs it was way later in the swim, this time it was in the first five minutes! I think I convinced myself I was going to swim to the wall and climb out. Fortunately, there is something in my drive that doesn’t let me quit anything, I kept at it, worked on counting strokes, focusing on form and before long was in the zone. The biggest problem with this IM I anticipated was that I had lots of time issues this fall and the thing that seemed to suffer the most was my time in the pool. I barely swam between IMKY in mid august & now. It began to show about half way through the swim, I could feel that my arms were tired, shoulders, lats, etc… I knew this wasn’t going to be a good swim time. I am not fast to begin with. I did 1:36 a year earlier and a 1:22 at IMKY in a non wetsuit swim. I hoped I would at least get to where I was last year. When I swam the last leg over to the ladders, which was a lot longer than I remembered, I noticed a serious lack of other people around me. I got out and saw the race clock, 1:52, OUCH! But I took the attitude that “it is what it is.” Got help from wetsuit strippers, and trotted off, which I was unable to do last year, so that is good. Moved through T1, saw Coach Rich at the Bike out arch, got some positive encouragement and off I went. edit/add - per conversations with others, the race clock was off and the was timing the pro start approx 13 minutes ahead of us, so now i dont feel so bad about a 1:40 swim...
I immediately focused on my watts. My FTP is only 220, my target was 147-153, I was going to allow myself to be as high as 170 for the slight hills, but that was it, I am pretty confident that I stuck to this on lap 1. I kept getting concerned that i was hammering because i was constantly passing people for the first lap and a half. every time i passed someone, I looked down at my joule and knew i was not hammering. The passes were the result of being so far back in the swim. The IMAZ bike course is a 3 lap affair that is really a total of 37ish miles as an out and back, about 40% of it is on town roads that are arranged on a grid and take you out to a highway called the beeline, the remaining distance is up the beeline and back. There is a rise of approximately 800 feet on the way out over about 12 miles, the hills do require you to gear down a bit to keep your watts down, but are by no means a “climb,” that said you could easily toast your day by riding them too hard, three times around. On the beeline the first thing I noticed was that there was only slight wind at our faces as opposed to the typical strong wind at our backs. As a former sailor, I think I am more attuned to the wind directions and patterns than most. The weather forecasters called for 5-10 mph winds on this day. We all know how good weather forecasters are…
Anyone who read my race report last year will remember that I have a nick name from sailing days as “tiny tank” referring to my inability to hold fluids like a camel. I made 7 pit stops in Porta Johns on the bike in IMAZ ’10. I took one natural break on the side of the road on the way out to “break the seal” and never got off the bike again for the ride. After the turnaround, I was pleased that the wind had not yet changed direction and went screaming down the hill back to town. Once completing the first lap, it became apparent that I was not going to hit a 5:45 bike time as I hoped. As with my swim time, I simply said, ride my plan and the numbers will sort themselves out. I stayed on my watts on lap two, though I did start to feel my left hamstring, something that bothered me on my long runs and that I noticed during Friday’s practice ride. It wasn’t that it hurt, just that it was giving me a shout out saying, “I am here.” When I went by special needs, I made contact with the volunteer that was handling my number and told her I would need my bag in about 2 hours…
On the second downhill, it became apparent, VERY apparent, that the wind shifted and built, I think there was a low to mid teens wind in your face on the downhill and was more of an issue at the end of the beeline where it is flat and when you are heading into town. People say that IMAZ is easy because it is flat, I disagree, the flatness requires you to be in your aerobars, ALL the time, no breaks, no sitting up, no change in position for SIX hours. A hilly course allows you to adjust much more often sit up on the hills, etc. I generally felt good on the bike and continued on. I stopped at special needs for my second bottle of Concentrated Infinit, thanked the volunteer (ALWAYS thank the volunteers!) and continued on. On the final leg of the back portion a guy pulled up next to me and introduced himself as a recent EN team member taking a break from the team for a bit, we chatted and rode for about 20 minutes together, his name was greg, from San Diego and he has a son that is at an elite level as a junior, I think. REALLY nice guy as I remember from the forums and certainly so in person.
Finished the bike, did something I hadn’t done yet in triathlon which was to remove my feet from my shoes and leave them clipped to the pedals and rode in with my feet on top of my shoes for the last 1/3 of a mile making it easier to run through transition. Had a very quick transition and got off on the run. Mentally it was like “OMG, I have to run a marathon.” But really, I don’t think of it that way, it is something we do, a 26 mile run and tick off the miles… How life changes in those miles…
Mile 1 – feeling very good, too good. Looking at my Garmin GPS pacing watch, I assumed the pace was off as I just turned it on in transition and I thought it hadn’t yet synced with the satellites. Usually when that happens you get a slower pace time, my watch was showing 8:45! I was supposed to be running a slow first six miles at 11:00 and then run the remaining 20 at 10:30, THAT was the plan, HEY SCOTT, SLOW THE F DOWN!!!!! I did manage to get mile 2 going slower which was aided by the fact that I came across my EN buddies Kurt Andersen & John Stark, two people I always enjoy hamming it up with. That was a huge help in the slow down factor. I finished this lap up with solid miles in the 10:30 – 10:45 range except for the one big hill in Papago Park (which it seemed like everyone else was walking), that mile was about 11:15. Ever present was my left hamstring reminding me that it was there….
At the beginning of lap two I felt fine, not great, not bad, fine. Reflecting on the prior year and how I made it through mile 20 without doing any real walking, I hit the slight incline around mile 8.5 and felt the need to walk. I knew I wasn’t setting records in this IM for myself and I knew that my hamstring was going to become a bigger and bigger problem as it was now very tight, I walked for two minutes and got on with things.
The one thing about the Arizona Run is that it isn’t as flat as people think. The run in Louisville is completely flat for 24 of its 26 miles, with ever so slight inclines on it. The Arizona course is a three lap affair and each lap has three loops like a twisted pretzel, there are various noticeable short hills, lots of long 1-2% grades and one real hill in Papago Park that lasts about .6 miles.
At about mile 10, I saw coach Rich at the beginning of the Mill Avenue Bridge, we had a short chat about something he brought up at dinner on Thursday and again at Four Keys, “This is a game…” I asked him how that related to my hamstring & he gave me good advice to run at the edge of where it feels ok. I did that, now running 12:15s and otherwise feeling good. Somewhere in the next few miles I had a few episodes of my left leg (the hamstring leg) giving out from the hamstring not supporting it, at this point, I am seriously walking hills, inclines, etc… Again, for those that have read my report from last year, when I walk, I don’t mosey along. I am not defeated, I am not out of energy, I have a physical problem that is preventing me from running. I do a long stride very fast lunging walk, using my arms, and very determined. I pass lots of people who are walking the defeated walk…
Around mile 15? crossing one of the bridges, i felt a hand squeeze my shoulder and a very friendly hello from Al Truscott who was on his final push of his victory having just recently passed his competition for the lead in his AG. Thanks for the encouragement Al, next time, a simple hello would have been enough!
After the big hill in Papago Park, I set out with new determination and strung together some good segments of multiple mile runs. My psychology was simply that this IM hadn’t gone the way I wanted it to, and there was nothing I could do to change that. But, it remained paramount in my mind that I listen to coach Rich and that “this is only a game” and not getting hurt was important. I am planning on a lot less skiing this year and having a super high quality outseason, I did not want to do anything that would jeopardize starting that on Jan 2 in good health.
I soldiered on, doing my mostly run and sometimes walk thing and was now probably averaging 13 min miles. And then it happened, at mile 22 I started to feel my IT band on my right leg. For anyone that ever had an IT band problem, which I had in training for the ’94 London Marathon, the only cure is not to run. With the January OS in mind and the advice of coach Rich in my head, I decided to walk in the last four miles. Doing my fast walk I was making 14 minute miles and I figured that a walk/run at this point would have been slower than 13, so I just pushed on. I did try to run a couple of times, but felt that doing so was going to cause damage and quickly stopped. In mile 25 I chatted it up with an uber fit looking doode that was pushing along with me, seems he had a brain hemorrhage at this race a year ago and came back and was finishing what he started. THAT was uplifting and a good reminder that I am reasonably healthy, fit and finishing my third Ironman.
Got to the exit for the finish line, feeling good, happy that this was ending, but not defeated. Ran the finish chute high fiving some folks on the side and holding my hand high up in the air with three fingers up. Now was able to walk, just mosey, collect my finishing gear, get a couple of slices of pizza and take care of my admin stuff before meeting the team at Rula Bula.
Lessons learned and moving forward.
1-if anyone thinks that there is such a thing as an “easy” ironman in the Florida & Arizona events, well, there is no such thing as an easy ironman.
2-train right, train hard, train as scheduled. Not getting the swim time in and assuming I would hold an endurance level of IMKY in August through to Late November was a big miscalculation
3-Listen to your body, this is ONLY a game and if things don’t go as planned, you can come back and fight another day.
4-in a two IM season, stay focused after IM#1 – do the workouts in the transition plan, don’t just put your feet up and think 1-3 quality workouts a week is enough.
Not only did I hear it from Coach Rich in his talks, but my mom left me a voicemail before I left for Arizona, she simply said: “how you finish isn’t important, just have fun” – AND THAT I DID!
I am looking forward to a super high quality outseason as well as working on my swim stroke with a coach this winter. I have again planned for a 2x IM season next year and I will not be slacking off between the two, I can’t, I was challenged by Jonathan Lieberman, and well, that should be enough to keep me pushing hard!
Goals for 2012 –
-Still lighter, I am now a trimmer mid 170s, down about 30 lbs from a pre ironman peak of 206. My goal is to race IM Mont Tremblant in the Mid 150s, the same weight I was at for the 1994 NYC Marathon when I know I was at a good race weight.
-Higher FTP & Vdot, intention is to do a high quality outseason, hacked with specific big hill repeat days when weather allows for them. Have some great high incline hills chosen for this.
-way more fun – planning on doing Wildflower with some of the west coasters, IMMT with my kids attending their first IM & IMFL with an online training partner & competitor in Jonathan Lieberman, hopefully some in person big training weekends as well!
Comments
It was pleasure getting to know you this year. I have no doubt that you will kill it at IMMT next year. Great report and great race on a tough day.
Scott,, bro, keep dropping the pounds, keep the spirits high, and back at it next year.
Hey Scott!,
Great to meet you and do dinner. Keep working it man, faster and faster you will get. Best of luck to your significant other too! Great report!
PS: I still dont pee on the bike.
GV