Ironman Coeur d'Alene. Robin Sarner
Brief::::::::::
Overall a great and mostly satisfying day.
Comment::::::::::::::
Appreciated meeting the various ENers. The value of having folks to shout at or wave to on the course can not be over estimated. Breaking out of the self focus at times to acknowledge others is a great thing. Extra bonus of having coach there. Had a dream thought that it would have been neat for the ENers M45-49 to get three Kona slots. me. Jeff B. who had a tough day (see his report). Todd M. who missed the rolldown by about 20 seconds.
Less brief:::::::::::::::::::::
swim. 1:05. goal 1:00 which is typical for me. So did fine here with the conditions.
bike. 5:48. goal <5:30. Regensburg last year on same elevation change 5:31. Significant disappointment here.</span>
run. 3:29. goal maybe less than 3:30. Previous personal best on a flat course at Regensburg 3:38. Happy about this!
10:31 total.
Fourteenth in my M45-49 age group.
18 minutes from fifth place that got the one Kona rolldown.
Almost top 5% for my age group.
Longer:::::::::::
Live six hours from the race so drove there. Great motel right on Sherman and seventh. Came in healthy and ready to go. My shin splints seemed well healed. No issues with gear before or during the race.
Swim. Bit slower than I wanted but did great considering. 100 meters into the swim I was well ahead of the folks I lined up with front and a bit to the right. Took a big splash of water right into the mouth. This never happens to me. Biggest panic fit of my five races. But despite that, did not stop swimming. Just kept me head out of the water for a bit, told myself to calm down, and concentrated on breathing. Got things under good control within a few minutes. swam a bit wide to get some open water. Adjusted my head and body roll to get good breaths with the increasing swell. So was happy to finish the swim just a bit off goal. Somehow I escaped the hypothermia genie unlike many others.
Bike. T1 of 5 minutes not too bad considering getting into long sleeve shirt, gloves, and socks. Goal of NP 250. plan 230 first half hour. 240 next half hour. then 250. By the way, I’m 185 lbs with an estimated ftp of 340-350.
Ended up with:
TSS 242
TSS 242
NP 227
VI 1.06
rpm 96
19.2 mph
I.F. 0.64
I’ll probably ask coaches and all in another section about my bike in general and what to do moving forward.
So what happened?
My newish nutrition plan seemed to work ok judging on how I felt on the bike and how I did/felt on the run. Changed from 300/cal/hr of Infinit to 500+/cal/hr of Perform +(at least two bottles of Perform per hour plus about 200 cal/hr of Infinit (or gels or bananas).
I generally felt ok on most of the bike. With lots of long downhills, the high VI and lower average to be expected? My NP for the first loop was 230 some. For the second loop 220 some.
With the lowish TSS, I am guessing I had more to give on the bike. I am thinking a lot of my problem on the bike is mental. I do not have a problem hurting myself for 3-4 hours of running. I do have a problem, I think, with maintaining the lower level of discomfort and concentration needed over an ironman bike, especially in the last half. I think I am also afraid to apply the watts I have earned over the whole bike course. In my five races, my running wheels have never fallen off completely.
I thought my bike fitness and preparation where better this year.
Why the drop from 5:30 to 5:50?
My aero position is even better this year I think with shorter cranks.
I still am 6 foot 6 inches so I will always have that drag factor.
I have the same titanium round tube travel bike. A bit heavy and a bit less aero than others.
Maybe my FTP estimate is too high but looking at WKO curves…
Maybe I just need to suck it up, concentrate for the five+ hours, and do the watts on the day that I have earned? Even if I am a “runner”.
the run:
Near the end of the bike I had the typical negative thoughts. Can I really run a marathon after this? What is my motivation now that kq is out of the picture? I turned those thoughts around mostly before coming into T2 thinking about my various “one things”. T2 ok at 3 minutes.
So did my pace plan for the first two miles and then right into goal pace (7:40 not including the station stops). Felt GREAT from 3 miles to 14 miles. Felt light with no significant pains, etc. Felt much better than the previous races. From 14 miles on had the typical worsening discomfort but never felt really bad. I did not feel I slowed down that much for the third quarter but guess I did. But the last quarter of the run, I had significant negative splits.
6.6 mi |
6.6 mi |
53:04 |
7:55:38 |
8:02/mi |
|||
13.4 mi |
6.8 mi |
52:00 |
8:47:38 |
7:38/mi |
|||
19.5 mi |
6.1 mi |
53:15 |
9:40:53 |
8:43/mi |
|||
26.2 mi |
6.7 mi |
50:45 |
10:31:38 |
7:34/mi |
|||
Total |
26.2 mi |
3:29:04 |
10:31:38 |
7:58/mi |
A bit before I completed the first half, I started thinking that I had a personal best run in me. Despite what had happened on the bike, I was getting significant joy just being in the running moment knowing I was getting to my running potential. So I hung in there from 18-20 miles. Then at 20 miles onwards gave the extra juice I apparently had left.
Why the good run?
1) improved nutrition?
2) left some potential on the bike course?
3) better run fitness (had bad shin splints and did my last 2.5 hour run in the pool (and other runs too). this recovery maybe was a good thing)?
My guess, combo of all the above.
So overall good day out there. Happy to see wife Lisa Watson finish solidly moving well on the run and in better shape at the end then the previous three (despite her significant hypothermia issues (theme of the day)). Her fourth ironman. My fifth.
The quest goes on with positive energy moving forwards. Thanks to all the ENers and their help out there.
0
Comments
You'll figure out the bike. My guess is that you held it back too much, and can push harder to get those 20+ minutes back. IF of 0.64 is pretty low for a strong dude like yourself.
Great job, very impressive.
Hey Robin,
Great race and way to hang in there after not meeting your goals on the bike! You didn't give up and where consistently one of the stronger runners I saw out there all day. It's always difficult, if not impossible, to compare bike course to bike course. It might be better to figure out your percentage finishing place on the CDA bike and find that same time on the Regensburge course, that may be a better a comparison. By all accounts it was windy out there and you're definitely at that height that makes it much harder to hide from wind.
Congrats!
I agree with what Rich said about the wind and not comparing equal-seeming bike courses. Except, of course, if you need a solid reason to buy any fancy aero wheels, or other things to help you duck out of the wind.
Are you really doing Tremblant and Arizona, too?! Bike experiment time!
Awesome job out there, you looked so incredibly strong on the run. Glad to hear you turned in such a great run time! I'm sure you'll figure out how to get more out of your biking strength, but it was pretty darned windy out there and that can really add to the elevation when you're factoring in course difficulty.
Two things, doc:
• My belief is that reaching full potential at Ironman racing is at least a 5-7 year proposition, given the complexities of the race (like pacing and nutrition) and the physical changes needed to suceed. While the heart and muscles can adapt pretty quick, neurological and endocrine systems take longer.
• Remember Coach R's advice to Coach P, another well know Big Dude - "Why are you doing these hilly courses, man?" Patrick took the advice, went to Texas, and won the thing.
Two words: Ironman Arizona.
Great Job Robin
Good to meet you and see you out there
Big thanks all.
Yes I wonder how tall the tallest guy to make kona is.
Yes my bike percentage placing was better in CDA then Regensburg. But I still do not understand why some of our folks with similar watts to kg output for the day went 20+ minutes faster then me. I think I will check directly with the coaches to problem solve the bike.
This is my fourth year at this. So yes need to be patient. Last hilly course in my career may be Tremblant next. And I am doing Arizona this year! So flat here I come.
Aerodynamics
This bike course is very unique in that:
So CDA affects riders in different ways:
Just thinking out loud here.
Coach. Ok thanks. I can work with those good concepts.
Matthew. Yes i find that. Though i needed to put out my goal watts this past race and held back too much.
Paul. Looking forward to arizona. Small matter of tremblant before then. Family gatherng in tremblant. Will recover and see how the two month gap goes. Then three months to arizona which works well.
2013. Looking at frankfurt in july and one of the flat november races. Ariz or florida or coz.
Sweden would be great being flat but small amount of slots.
Perhaps texas.
Cabo would be good too but just too early after my full 2012.