"Live to Race Another Day" IM LOU RR
After finishing IM FL last year I struggled to find a reason to get out and train. I tell people I don't exercise...I have to be training for something. I saw that Matt S. (whose sad story still gets me worked up) had finished 10th in my age group and had actually gotten a roll-down slot last year in Louisville, and I jumped on that as a goal. Later in the season, I realized that the Kona thing is much more about who shows up, and what they do, and is not something I have any control over, so I settled on a goal of a top 10 finish in my AG.
I have done reasonably well in the swim...a 1:06 at FL, but my bike is not up to speed (LOL) and I have been steadily working at increasing my VDOT. My biggest successes this year have been 1) learning to train and race through dark painful places, 2) learning and practicing a better nutrition plan (really enjoyed Jesse's webinar recently), and the BIG success: 3)successfully peeing ON THE BIKE! Woohoo! I lost about 15 minutes in portajohn stops in FL and figured this was easy money.
SAT: stayed well hydrated all day, peeing like a racehorse (it is Louisville, after all). Ate big early in the day, lighter later. Mostly liquids. Trying to control an early morning issue if I've eaten too much fiber....TMI?
SUN: up at 2:30, downed 2 Ensures, Peform, slept a little more, then up and to the start. Drank Perform there and waiting. Peed three times prior to the start. Clifbloks just prior to start.
Swim: started maybe a mile from the start. Holy Cow, I've never seen such a line. Could barely hear the cannon. Started around 7:26 I think. I was looking forward to NOT having to do a mass start, but honestly had more traffic issues than FL. I think during a mass start the first 400 years layers people out, but in this deal, there are ALWAYS people running you over or worse: blocking your progress. Nonetheless the Floridian in me enjoyed the warm water. I finished in 1:13, but was 5th in my age group (same as FL)
I'm proud of my 4:37 T1...I had planned to save some time there. Not too proud though...I FORGOT TO TAKE OFF MY SWIM SKIN. I noticed the Desoto Tri shorts seemed a little bunched up about a 1/4 mile down the road, the looked and realized I had stripped my TYR swimskin to the waist, and had never removed it. I decided to live with it, and maybe lose it at Special Needs, or if I needed to stop somewhere else first.
My main goal was hydration. My plan started with two bottles of Perform, and I picked up two bottles at every aid station. I also took in Bonk bars about every hour, and Saltstick tabs on the the hour as well. I planned to follow Jesse's advise of sticking with sport drink and not water.
I followed the EN plan for the hills (which I have only some experience with) but was limited by not enough gears (and not enough watts/kg either...I am too big for what watts I produce, and pay for this going up the hills. I pushed hard to maintain those few watts going down though, and leapfrogged with people the whole race who charged up the hills just as everyone says. I don't have a VI to report, but probably not as respectable as it should, but I did push more watts that I planned even in the lowest gear on some hills. I rode with a standard crank and a 12-28 cassette. Probably could have used a compact crank...
I knew I was getting into trouble on the bike when at the 1/2 way point I had not yet peed. At special needs I took of the skin, although the volunteer ASSURED me they would throw away the SN bags and I would NEVER get it back, so I stuck it a bottle cage behind the seat....it cost $200 bucks for god's sake!
By 5 hours, I still had not peed. I started taking water hoping to increase my fluid this way, but I had already been taking in between 3 and 4 bottles of Perform every hour up to that point. In the end I took in about 15 bottles of Perform, 3 bottles of water, 8-10 saltstick tabs plus some solid food. I made to through T2 before I peed, and then not at lot. Just before the end of the bike my heart rate was going down, as was my steady watts. Not a good sign.
After T2 I started to run but knew right away something wasn't right. Breathing was a chore. I felt my lung capacity was cut by half, and taking a deep breath led to coughing.
I think that if it had been only the lack of pee (I would have tried to increase water first 6 miles of the run at slow speed) or the breathing (I would have hoped it to resolve with some time) I probably would have gone on. But my brain was spinning with a couple of not so pleasant possible diagnoses, including an unlikely but scary cardiac cause, so I turned around and headed for the Medical Tent.
There, my heart rate was 63, my BP was 100/60 (lower than usual, I take a low dose BP med, not diuretic). The EMT thought I might have reactive airway to something prevalent in KY, but the inhaler made no difference. I short, I bagged it and left dejected for the hotel room. My breathing got better in about two hours.
The next day I had no residual symptoms, and I have no great answers to what happened. I have never done a sweat test, but probably should. I didn't weigh myself before and after, and regret that. I guess I probably just didn't take in enough fluids, but I'm not sure I could have taken more before or during. I'm open to the expert opinions of the haus.
Everyone in EN gets how disappointing a DNF is. Train all year, spend the money, then don't finish. Sucks. But my support at home thought I had made the right decision, and they are right. They all say, "live to race another day".
I was thinking this might be my last 140.6, but I'm not going to have my last be a DNF, so my plan is to figure this deal out, then plot a course for redemption.
Thanks to R&P and all on the team for driving and educating me to the start line.
Comments
Jim...it was great to meet you and sorry you had such a difficult day and disappointing end to the day....but as we say...this is a game...and it is better to be safe than sorry........you made the right decision given the conditions and issues of the day.
I don't think I was far behind you, and if you read my report you will hear the same issues/concerns regarding hydration...I had my own episodes but luckily it was just far enough from the edge to pull myself back.......it is a thin line for sure.
Rest, Recover, Review, and Renew...I know you will...Best of Luck
Hey James — sorry to hear you DNFed. But as we know it's just a game we like to play.
Just a point to keep in mind about dehydration is that sodium and carbs help the body absorb H2O — so the general advice I would give is that if you get halfway through the bike without a big pee (ie wet your socks) I would just keep drinking sports drink (perform) and stay away from water.
And if you can't drink enough to pee, then you need to slow down until you can drink enough to start peeing.
But I note that you had 15 bottles of Perform, so I am not sure waht was going on?
Have you done a sweat test?
Perhaps someone smarter than me can shed some light on this?
And that is the bottom line, right there.
I like what Joe L. had to say -- Rest, Recover, Review, and Renew. While you are figuring out next year's plan, I would follow the mantra of 'go have fun with your fitness.'
I will second Joe, do something really fun with all the work you have put into your fitness!
Wow, that's a little scary. I'm glad you had the presence of mind to stop. Did they listen to your lungs in the med tent? Were your ankles swollen? Did you weight yourself the morning after to see if you'd gained weight? Given all the NaCl you wee getting it, I guess hyponatremia is off the radar screen.
That's a lot of fluid to take in, though, and I wonder if you were retaining it for some reason, leading to mild pulmonary edema? You might want to talk it over with the doc who helps you manage your BP issues, to see if that med has any effect on how your kidneys function under stress.
Glad you are ok.
Let us know what you sort out.
Thanks everyone's input. I was feeling a little like a wuss for stopping, and the validation is reassuring. I have an appointment with a cardiologist although I doubt anything will come out of it.
@Al: your thoughts exactly mirrored mine at the time I quit. My take now, however, is that I really must have just sweat out more than I took in. The evidence came in the 12 hours after...not only did I not have any swelling, and my BP and P were lower not higher (as probably would have been with overload) but I never opened up and peed in the hours that followed. I believe that the resolution of symptoms that followed about 2 hours later would have been accompanied by this if overload was the culprit, and pulmonary edema was the cause of the problems breathing. It was, admittedly, what went through my mind in T2. I suspect now, though, that if I had just pushed through and increased intake and run slowly, all would have been OK. 20/20 hindsight of course.
I'll let you know if anything else comes of this...might help someone down the road. I'm scheduling a 70.3 for October, and will likely do FL or AZ in 2013...redemption and all.
Cheers.