Ironman Arizona Race Report
Ironman Arizona 2011 Race Report:
My training was going great until through October. I had a PR HIM at Superfrog with 5:00 (00:34 swim, 2:27 bike, 1:50 run – 50% on the sand and the rest transitions). I had gotten vdot to 51 (sub 20 5K) and bike ftp to 236 maybe even 240 since the last test. Then after about four weeks I had a major hip injury. I had some left hip tendonitis and tore some hip flexor muscles. Because of this my volume and intensity dropped off dramatically in the last eight weeks. As a matter of fact I did not run at all for the last eight weeks and had only one long ride with weak power – 150. While my bike ftp seemed to hold up my endurance for over two hours was affected dramatically. This was my first Ironman and while I originally had great time expectations my goal by race day was to finish as I did not know if my hip would allow me to run. Therefore my race split goals were 1:10, 5:40, and starting the run at 7:00 so that if I had to hobble the marathon in 10:00 I could.
Race Day:
Got up at 4:00 and had half a bagel with peanut butter, a banana, 16 ounces of HEED and was on the shuttle from the hotel at 4:50 for a 5am arrival at transition. Dropped off my special needs bags handed and double checked my transition bags. Put my bottle of HEED in their aerobar holder and checked my tires and then headed to the swim start.
Swim:
Met Scott Dinhoffer in the swim que and another friend of mine racing which was nice and soothing for my first IM. I started about 20 yards from the outside wall and about 3 people back from the front. As soon as we started I just tried to stay even with the wall and in somewhat clear water. The swim was crowded and I kind of wanted to watch it as well as be in it with that many people in a water start. I had lost some swim fitness since my hip injury and no kicking in the water for the last eight weeks of training. Therefor I knew my original goal time of 1:06 was not attainable. My goal on race day was 1:10 and I ended up at 1:17, while that was not great I was happy it was over and I had paid the admission of the swim on race day. I don't think my heart rate breached 130 duirng the swim so I knew I kept it in check.
T1:
I thought I was efficient in T1 and frankly I do not know where the time went. I will have to have less in my T1 bag and more on the bike in the morning. Time: 9:40
Bike:
I was happy to be on the bike. My goal was to start at 160 watts and hold that power, maybe increase by 5 watts a loop if I could. It became apparent on the first loop that my power was off. I decided to take what the day gave me and just try to keep my pace through the day. I took it fairly easy the first 60 minutes until the turn around at the Beeline Hwy, I had a lot of fun with the tailwind coming back into town and overdid it a little (160 watts out and 165 back). The 160 watts on the way out built up from 130 to 160. On the second loop the wind changed and became a headwind for section coming back to town. I had a couple of people ask me how I was feeling on the bike with the disk wheel in that wind. It is really the aero jacket. Even one of the pro women asked on their way passing me. It was great when the wind was with me and brutal when it was a cross wind. On the last loop stopped at the Porto-johns as I have not mastered the peeing on the bike. I had no wait to pee and also made a stop for special needs and my frozen new 24 oz. HEED. I ended up a little slower on the bike than I wanted at 5:50. My TSS was 244 and my IF was 0.65. By loop it was about 1:48, 2:00, 2:00, but my normalized power was 160, 165, 155, 153, 139, and 141 with an overall Np of 15.2. Heart rate was 138, 143, 141, 142, 139, and 138. From a heart rate perspective it was about right to a bit low. I was going to have a hard cap of 145 on heart rate and 180 on Np. Now the last lap was very speedy for the Np, but I believe that maybe my position was better in the wind or because of the wind change. Normally 0.65 IF coming off the bike would give me a great run but with my hip I still did not know what would happen.
T2:
This was slow. I made another pit stop in the Porto-johns. Also I had to double back to try to get my bag after I realized the Garmin was not on my wrist. I couldn’t find the bag so I just kept going. The Garmin never made it out of the bag and I was frazzled. I used my Timex regular ironman watch as a backup anyway and with my hip I knew my heart rate would never reach a high level and I was not worried about running too fast either. I still didn’t know if I would be running. Remember I had not run a step for the last eight weeks because of the hip. Time 5:46
Run:
I stepped through the run start and was running. Not fast but running. I walked the aid station and the first mile marker came up at 10 minutes. I was kind of encouraged and made my first goal to run the first loop. My pace slowed a little all because of some pretty decent hip pain. I was averaging eleven minute miles for the first loop. Then I decided my next goal was to run through the first half. Again I slowed and my average was around twelve minute miles for the first half. My hip was stiff, very sore, and now the concrete was taking its toll as I had de-trained my feet with now pounding runs in the last eight weeks. I gutted the next six miles out to 17.5 miles at a 12 minute mile. Started to slow a bit more and realized that some people were walking faster than I was running. I decided that I was going to finish between 13 and 14 hours anyway because of the hip and to try to mitigate any long term damage and walk it in. When I noticed people walking a fast as I was running I failed to realize they were healthy hip people and could walk a 15 minute mile whereas my hip got cold and tightened up more with walking so that meant 18 minute miles. One other big learning experience was peed 9 times on the run. The liquid calories were too much fluid at the slower pace so I ate a little which helped. Time: 6:25
I was very happy to be at 7:23 coming off the bike. The run was going to be what it was no matter what. For my first IM I am happy to finish even at 13:48:41. Next time with a happy hip I will be looking for 1:10, 5:30, and 4:00 and with transitions around 11 hours. It may be a mighty goal, but given the bike and run I had with the injury and IM NYC coming up that is what I am going with as my next goal.
Comments
Al,
thanks for the encouragment. I have to admit, while you wouldn't know me - you are hard to miss on the run course. When I saw you, you were going strong. Your race report (the long one) is insperational.
Thanks,
JN
Way to grit it out. I cant imagine doing something like this with a hip injury. I wish you a happy recovery and return to full health. Congratulations!
Congrats to you as well. Given it was my first IM and I prepared for soooo long I felt I had to gut it out. My race plan was to swim and bike to around 7 hours so if I had to walk the whole maraton I could. Have a good recovery.
Thanks,
JN
Scott,
It was very soothing to see you there at the start in particular. See you next time.
Thanks,
JN