IM Louisville 2012 Race Report
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IM Louisville Trip Report – Long J
Introduction
I have participated in triathlons since 2009 and have been on the Endurance Nation team since 2010. My first year was spent learning to swim (still trying!) and racing in a number of local sprint tris. Year 2 I moved up to Olympic distance and my first, very painful, HIM in Muskoka. 2011 I was beset with injuries culminating in breaking my collar bone in a bike accident 2 weeks before last year’s Eagleman. The rest of the year was dedicated to getting healthy and enjoying running. Fortunately I’ve had a good (injury free) OS and completed Eagleman earlier this year.
I always had in the back of my mind the prospect of attempting a full Ironman but really needed that ‘one big thing’ to push me over the edge. That happened this year when Val (a friend’s sister) died from cancer just a few months before going to watch the Tour de France. I was to go with her, my friend and his wife. So it became very personal for me. After some thought I decided that this was the push I needed to try an Ironman and raise money at the same time – so here we are.
Pre Race
Thursday
I travelled from Virginia to Louisville via Charleston WV and arrived in Louisville around lunch time. Went straight along to check in at the Galt House hotel (race HQ) and the lines were pretty short and was in and out in less than 25 minutes. After that I made my way over to Harvest restaurant for lunch (very good) before checking into my hotel, the Seelbach Hilton which is right next to the finishing line on 4th street. Unpacked, stretched, rolled and rested before heading out for an early dinner at Rasa which was excellent.
Friday
Woke early and got my run in on the marathon course. Back to the hotel, rolled my legs, stretched and then headed down for breakfast. Really lazy day planned. Checked on the weather to see what temps I may be facing and starting to get my race gear together. Made sure nothing had been left behind ;-) Headed out to the museum district for lunch at Proof on Main (again very good, my restaurant research was paying off!) before having a look into the Louisville Slugger factory. Back to the hotel to pack my bike and run transition bags. After that took a nap (doing nothing is hard work) before heading over to meet the team for dinner. Great evening. Food was good (Old Spaghetti Factory) and it was terrific to reconnect with some of the folks I had met at the Louisville camp earlier in the year as well as meet the other team members and their families who had travelled down for the event. Patrick gave us an inspirational talk and took us through what we should expect to see on Sunday. As you will see below he was absolutely correct!
Saturday
No run today so woke up rolled and stretched before breakfast. I did not take advantage of the swim. I’d leave the brown Ohio water for tomorrow ;-) Off to breakfast no pancakes available (it was the free Hilton buffet) but a large quantity of bagels and eggs were consumed. After that checked again on the temps (perhaps a little obsessive?) before walking down to the Four Keys talk. Patrick of course did a fantastic job of carefully explaining to the large crowd the main tenets of the EN philosophy. Every time I hear it I pick up a new nugget. Having now heard both Rick and Patrick give the talk I really feel that I have a good grasp of the whole approach.
After that it was back to the hotel and then out for lunch, Harvest again. As ordered had a large lunch including – shock horror – a bread pudding dessert. It was fantastic. Then it was off to the airport to pick up my significant other (Linda) who had been working in Atlanta all week. It was great to see her and it gave me a real boost. So back to the hotel to pick up the bike and gear bags. She helped me with the last minute checks to make sure everything was in the correct place. Then it was off to walk down to the transition area. As to be expected from a WTC event this all went very smoothly. When I arrived my bike was first taken from me to be photographed. It was quickly handed back and I was introduced to my own personal volunteer to step me through the whole process. My rack was the last rack which made finding the bike out of transition very straightforward. We walked backwards through the transition area so next stop was the changing tents. As she explained these would get very hot during the day and she was absolutely correct, again see more below. Finally I dropped my bags off in numbered order on the ground, There were no racks, simply numbered rows. That was it. All pretty straightforward. So it was back to the hotel, picked up a Starbucks and Linda ordered me to take another nap. I agreed J
I wanted to get an early dinner with as little hassle as possible. Originally I had planned to eat at Mozz about 10 minutes drive away. As they had a sister restaurant in 4th Street Live (Mozzarella) I decided to swap the reservation. Went in as planned at 5:30 and the place was a zoo. Managed to get to a table by 5:45. Our waiter was very apologetic but they had already run out of a number of items. Being the flexible folks that we are we managed to find a pizza and some simple pasta and were able to get out of there by 6:30.
Back to the hotel, finished off the last minute checks and went to bed at 8 before turning off the lights at 9.
Race
Morning
Woke up at 2am for my first Naked Smoothie. Gulped that down and was able to get back to sleep. Alarm woke me at 3:45 and the sudden realization that today was the day. Very weird feeling! Got the coffee on and downed another smoothie followed by a coffee with 2 sugars. Got dressed, got my gear together, said farewell to Linda and headed out for transition
As you may know the Louisville swim is a time trial swim. It took until around 8am on race day to get everyone in the water. So if you believe you need the extra time it is certainly worth getting in line early. Transition opens at 4:45. Pumped up my tires, dropped off my nutrition, and headed out. Met up with a couple of EN folks on the way but the line was still awfully long when I made it past body marking. Fortunately I was able to meet up with Ken Smith (thanks Ken) and was able to get a reasonably good spot. Once the gun went off the line moved fairly swiftly and before I knew it we were moving down the ramp to the water. There are two lines and both seemed to be moving well, so much so that you end up jogging the final 25 yards. Saw Linda on the side of the ramp, a quick wave, and then I jumped into the brown Ohio River and the swim was on.
Swim
Estimated Time: 1:30
Actual: 1:27
After listening to John Withrow’s podcast from last year I planned to follow his approach of staying close to the island on the way out. I also have problems swimming straight and I used the island as a landmark which avoided too much sighting in the early stages. There was a fair bit of contact but as someone had said in the past it was more similar to a HIM than the battles that seem to occur in mass start IM races. Felt in the box and my form seemed ok. Making the turn into the main body of the river I started to struggle a little more. Not sure why but navigation seemed more difficult and also the contact, when it happened, more violent. I believe I had a pretty good line on the buoys and perhaps that is why when the packs of faster swimmers came along I was ‘in the way’. A few kicks, grabs and punches later I found myself in sight of the red finishing buoy. There is no natural ramp at this point so a large ladder (stairs?) are lowered into the water. Volunteers grab you as you swim up as I believe it is unlikely that you can do it on your own. They did a fine job and soon I was on dry land. Happy to be out of the water and time ok.
Made my way across to pick up my bag and jogged into the tent. It was really hot in there so it was a good motivation to not stay in there too long. As directed in the wiki I made my way through to the end of the tent, found a seat, on with the helmet, socks, shoes and glove and then off I went.
Bike
Estimated Time: 7:30
Actual: 7:25
I knew this was going to be a long ride. With my two race rehearsals and one on the course everything was pointing to a 7:30 time. Based on all the advice from the team I choose to be very conservative with my power and save as much as possible for the run. It was also going to be pretty hot and I knew that would take a toll on me.
So I moved through transition in just over 7 minutes. Picked up the bike, moved well past the mount line and started the ride. Linda was on the corner and it was great to see her. Settled into aero and started eating and drinking. River Road is perfect for this as it is pretty flat with no real technical turns. The caution is that (a) it is pretty bumpy in parts (more on that later) and (b) most people are flying past at this stage so you have to remain aware of your surroundings as you go through your admin tasks.
I had my first real problem of the day when I came up a small bridge, it had a metal lip and as I came over it I noticed a large number of bottles on the bridge, I steered cautiously reached the other side and – bang - I hit a lip on the the bridge and my Joule disappeared. Not a good situation! I pulled over and walked back, after searching for what seemed like forever I decided that the Joule must have vanished over the bridge. Being a power based athlete this presented me with some interesting challenges. Should I continue to search or could I ride just with heart rate? I know what my heart rate should be on the ride so I felt, although it would not be optimal, that I should proceed with heart rate only. So I set off and then after a minute it dawned on me that I could use my 910XT as a power display – Duh! I do not use it in that way in training but decided to see if I could navigate through the Garmin menus while riding along. It took me a few minutes but finally it detected the power meter. Phew! By then I was climbing the first hill of the day after the left turn off of River Road. This was when the coaches’ first prediction became true. So many riders out of the saddle pushing hard up the hill. Amazing. I had my power numbers to hit so I just settled back and spun up the hill.
The next milestone was the out and back. Having ridden that in the camp I knew that this was likely to be a bit ‘sketchy’ with a large crowd of riders all on this small part of the course at the same time. The hills in particular were ‘interesting’. I was able to get a decent speed on the descent of the first hill as it was only 2 a breast. However on the return I decided to stay to the right and be cautious as it was way too crazy.
This pattern repeated itself over the next 50 miles or so as I made my way out onto the 2 loops of the course. Steady up the hill with other riders hammering and then as I crested the hill they would sit up and I would get into aero and peddle down the slope. By mile 70 I started to see the results. Many guys were sitting on the side of the road, under trees, next to their bikes. By now it was getting into the 90s. My nutrition and hydration had been going well. I ate a bonk breaker at the start of the ride, and then mostly stuck with perform from the aid stations. In addition I would take a bottle of water, have a quick swing and then pour water over my arm coolers, my neck, and my head. The Rudy helmet has two convenient ports on the rear and I found that a great place to pour water! I did not quite meet the John Withrow target of peeing 10 times on the bike but made a good effort. I think the count was seven ;-)
Turning left through Sligo I saw the sign for ‘Louisville 33’ and that was a great boost. I settled down for what I knew was going to be a long series of rollers into town. Unfortunately about 10 miles further down the road I started to notice my heart rate rising, my power dropping and a very queasy feeling in my stomach. Not good! I did not have any salt or Tums with me at this point so I knew my options were limited. I tried another Gu, no luck, some more sips of Perform, maybe a little better but then the nausea would return. I decided the only thing to do was to sit up a little, let the power drop and try to get the stomach to settle down. This actually worked but after I returned to aero and tried to push up the power the symptoms would return. This was the pattern all the way back into town. I was a little disappointed not be able to finish strong on the bike but I remember being coached not to follow the power numbers into a brick wall and I felt that being cautious at this point would help me on the run.
One more point was the large number of people with flats. It sounds like this may have been the result of some vandals throwing tacks on the road. This made me extra cautious as I made my way back into town.
I was soon back into transition, saw Linda with a huge smile on her face and again I got a great boost from seeing her. Dropped off the bike, picked up my bag, and made my way into the tent. It was hotter than Hades in there by then. Not sure what I did for the length of time I was in transition (10 minutes) but I dried off my feet, put on some talc, on with my socks and shoes, grabbed the visor and sunglasses and made my way out.
Run
Estimated Time: 5:30
Actual: 5:07
I saw Linda again on the way out of transition, stopped to say Hi, told her I felt fine and made my way over the bridge. The run course at Louisville is pretty straightforward. Out and back over the bridge towards Indiana and then two out and backs of 6 miles out past Churchill Downs. The nutrition approach on the run was pretty simple. Clif Shot Blocks, water, supplemented with salt as necessary
Going over the bridge there were already a few people walking. It was pretty hot at this point, little shade, but at least I felt some breeze over the river. Back off the bridge and there was Linda again. Again a quick stop to confirm that everything was ok and headed off on the first loop. It was all pretty flat with well stocked aid stations every mile. Thank goodness fro the ice. That went up my arm coolers, iced water over the top and down my neck. Tipped my head forward as instructed by Coach P to avoid getting my feet soaked. I had run my pace through the TIRP calculator and I knew I was going to be out for 5 hours plus. I settled into the TIRP pace and after the first 6 miles decided to keep that pace all the way. The pace felt comfortable and the heart rate was steady. Saw Coach P on the side of the road and headed up to the turn . Now started seeing fellow team members looking strong on the run all headed home. Got a great boost every time I saw one of them on the opposte side of the road. The encouragement was terrific.
The first loop went well and I was soon back into town. There was Linda again, what a star!. Quick discussion and audit on my condition, and then it was off to special needs to pick up some more nutrition. As I started the final loop I noticed two changes. By now 90% of the field were walking. To use a Coach P quote “it will be like a charity walk” and it certainly was. The second thing was that my knees and stomach were starting to complain. Fortunately I had picked up some extra salt, Tums and ibuprofen at special needs. So the chemistry experiment that was my stomach commenced. I started with salt and tums for my stomach. Magic that felt better! Then for my knees one ibuprofen with water. Again good results. So as the symptoms reappeared I would attack them as necessary with one of my pills and it seemed to work.
By now I was close to Mile 18 which was the furthest I had ever run. Quick check at this point all felt fine. Onwards we go with the scene around me getting worse. Maybe 2% of the field were now running with many sad sights on the side of the road as people were feeling the effects of the say. I got to Mile 20 and said I’ve had enough let’s get this over with. I decided I would pick up the pace. My target was to see what pace I could hold at Zone 3 heart rate. I was soon dipping below 10 minutes per mile and in fact I ended up averaging10:15 for the last hour which was my fastest of the day!
It was a terrific feeling to be running back into town. The crowds got larger, you could start to hear the cheers, and you knew there was a great finishing line waiting for you. I started to think about my journey, how much Linda had sacrificed for me to be able to get all my training in, and how we had raised so much money for cancer research as result. Before I knew it I was turning left then right and there was the finishing line all lit up. What a sight! I had passed 500 people and negative split my first Marathon! I just about held it together until I crossed the finishing line, was caught by a volunteer, then saw Linda on the side and that was it!
Post Race
How to sum it all up?. So grateful to Coaches Patrick and Rich for their help and support. Of course what makes EN so special is the great support, encouragement and indeed the coaching from your fellow team members. As Ken Smith and I discussed while waiting in the swim line we would never have been able to do this without EN. Many, many thanks to all of you. What a great team!
Comments
Ian it was great to meet you and CONGRATULATIONS on a wonderfully executed IM!..You are an EN IRONMAN!...Great RR!
Well done Ian, you are an Ironman!
Ian,
Great job! Congratulation! You are a IRONMAN. It was truly a pleasure meeting you. I look forward to seeing you in the future. Thank you as well for assistance with the restaurant and the photos.
Ian,
Great work and excellent job finish the run so strongly!
"...we had raised so much money for cancer research as result. Before I knew it I was turning left then right and there was the finishing line all lit up. What a sight! I had passed 500 people and negative split my first Marathon!..."
What an overwhleming feeling that must have been for you, just an awesome finish for your race.