I was just going to complete the swim: IMLP 2012
I woke up Sunday morning confident that I would only complete the swim. I like to swim; I’m good at it and I’m confident in the water. The other 3000 people in the water with me, just a few training buddies.
I line up just off the dock about 6 people back. I would like to be up a little closer but it’s not worth fighting to get up there at this point. Gun goes off and the mayhem begins. The goal was to get to the inside of the line and keep the tow rope in view. This plan works marvelously until the first turn bouy. Wow, that is a lot of people to put around one bouy at once. I end up wide after the first turn and decide to just go with that for the remainder of the loop. Hit the beach and clock says 41:XX. REALLY?!?!? Good thing I’m only swimming today because it is not my day. Head back in the water thinking all these folks around me are not my speed and I really pick up the pace. I end up wide again because I am out of my box. Just before the turn, I run into a Mermaid with what felt like 3 inch nails grating on my palms, still WAY out of my box. I make the final turn and finally get into a groove, kicking more than normal and pushing the pace. The scenarios of how to avoid getting on my bike are bouncing around in my head. Hit the beach and clock says 1:03:XX. Duh. The split time was the pros time!
Running to transition, still not sure how to avoid getting on my bike, I feel good though. Get in / out of the change tent and there is a lovely volunteer holding my bike at the end of my row. What service, how can I not get on? Hit the mount line and head out of town. Well, now here I am on my bike.
So far so good, stay to the right and let all of the bikers go past. I am not in any hurry out here. I’m watching the watts, eating, drinking as scheduled. Bomb the descent to Keene, but not as fast as I would like due to bike traffic. Then onto the flats. I think I feel a tail wind and the numbers I am seeing are encouraging for speed. I have learned though that when the speed is good most likely the wind is playing a role. I know the ride won’t get hard again until after the out / back so decide to see where this takes me. Things are working like clockwork. I’m able to get the necessary bottles at the aid stations and I’m not in agony. I feel mentally alert and ready to go. Take the sharp right to go up the steep hill and just keep it easy. I drop my chain and stop very briefly to get it back on. I few miles up the road someone is looking for CO2 and I have a spare and stop to give it to him. I’m feeling a bit of a lost puppy feeling up the Notch and along the river with the rock wall. Somewhere in here, I am plotting how to get out of doing the 2nd loop of the bike. What story sounds plausible enough? I settle on that one of my contacts has fallen out and I can’t continue. It’s really a safety issue. I even go so far as to consider taking out one of them; however I really am blind and the thought of riding without one scares me! Surely we must be getting close to town again. Isn’t the road surface poor here, is this a Cherry? Finally hit the Bears and there are people!!! Cheering people, people I know, cheering just for me!! This is such an emotional boost and enough to keep it moving through town.
Once out onto the 2nd loop I resign myself that I will finish the bike leg and it is a given to me if I finish the bike I will finish the race. I am not afraid of a marathon. I feel good until about mile 90. At that point my legs are starting to complain about all of this biking. I kept waiting for the Notch climb but do not remember it. I got lost again in the rock wall area, looking and hoping for those BEARS!! I am also mentally encouraged that there seems to be people with me still. I am not the last person to get off of the bike course. There are the Bears, and there are people still cheering on them, and for me! As I continue on into town, I am getting very nervous that I have overcooked this bike ride.
Hit transition, remember to take my Garmin off of my bike and with me on the run. Big plus and something I was worried about. I can’t really run into transition as the bike saddle had been pushing on my adductors for awhile and they were not very happy about running. Got it done in transition and out on the run course at a somewhat painful trot. I could feel it was hot and knew that I would need to dial down the pacing. I passed Coach P on the hill out of town and he told me to get soaking wet. That sounded like a really good idea and I know it helped immensely. I got out to River Rd and focused on heart rate. I knew from my training runs that below 150 bpm was ok for me, above that and I was working too hard. I focused on getting what I needed at each aid station and then moved on. Water, Perform and sponges were great, then tried Coke which was a no-go for me. I hit the turn around on River Rd and felt like it was really early, but hey, they measured the course right? I met up with Coach P at the top of the hill into town and I walked it. I was running off HR and running that hill spiked my HR over 150 so it was a no-go. I power walked with my visor pulled down so I could only see the ground in front of me per Coach Rich trick. Told Coach P my plan and he seemed to be good with it. My stomach started to get a bit off around mile 16, just about the time the aid stations seemed to have chicken broth. That was the best! A cup of water and chicken broth at every aid station after that, kept me going. I got to mile 18 out on River Rd and felt ok. I got to mile 20 and only a 10K to go. I was still running, I was keeping my HR below 150 and knew my pace was acceptable for me. I kept hearing a recent podcast in my head about not bringing ‘the suck’, let it come to you, Ironman will get hard on it’s own. About mile 22, it did get hard, I hit the hills in town and walked again. I wanted to let my legs go the last few miles but I was really afraid that it would be too early and I would have nothing to finish with. I did feel good into the finish and even heard Mike Reilly announce that I was an Ironman.
This was the IM race and finish I had really never thought possible for me and I had accomplished it. I finished with a 2:16 PR from my 2010 IMLP race. As evidenced from the first sentence of this report, it’s about taking it one step at a time and at the end of the day, you can complete an IRONMAN.
***ADDITION***
I intentionally wrote my race report in a somewhat left brained way. I am now in the process of engaging my right brain to analyze the numbers. I thought I would post this in addition, I case anyone would be interested.
I will start with the swim, although most people I find just view it as “punching the ticket to get on the bike”. I am a former AG swimmer and had a fair amount of success swimming when I was younger before blowing up with burnout. My last test was:
05/23/12 1000 yards 00:14:15 1:34 /100 meters 1:26 /100 yards
Here is where I was on race day:
Total 2.4 mi 1:03:50 1:03:50 1:38/100m (16 division)
I feel like I still leave a lot on the table on race day. I have more difficulty swimming through people than actually swimming. I think the lesson learned here is to start even closer to the front (like first or 2nd row). I was about 5 people back this year.
I have never tested my FTP outdoors for a variety of reasons. This is my last true FTP Test at the end of the OS this year on the trainer:
03/25/12 112# 20 miles 00:42:00 28.6mph 156bpm 144W 2.8 W/kg
Here is race day:
Power File:
Entire workout (97 watts):
Duration: 6:53:45 (6:54:26)
Work: 2397 kJ
TSS: 380.2 (intensity factor 0.744)
Norm Power: 107
VI: 1.11
Pw:HR: -1.41%
Pa:HR: 1.88%
Distance: 110.969 mi
Elevation Gain: 4466 ft
Elevation Loss: 4420 ft
Grade: 0.0 % (43 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 279 97 watts
Heart Rate: 122 165 145 bpm
Cadence: 10 170 83 rpm
Speed: 0 44.1 16.1 mph
Pace 1:22 0:00 3:43 min/mi
Altitude: 561 2230 1275 ft
Crank Torque: 0 821 103 lb-in
30 mi 30 mi 1:30:23 2:39:04 <
Comments
It was also very nice of you to help someone with the CO2...nice job creating positive karma!!!
x2 what Keith said about good karma
Also liked your mental approach to the race.
Congrats on the huge PR!!!
Well done.
---Ann.
I'm sure one step at a time will be a great mantra for me next year!