IM Louisville Race Report - the mile 18 that never came
2012 IRONMAN Louisville Race Report - aka “The Mile 18 That Never Came”
BACKGROUND
So I will start out by letting you know that I had the pleasure of sharing a room with Coach P for the days around the race, which means I had an unlimited amount of triathlon knowledge at my disposal (thanks P!). I’ve been a runner for about 6 years and that is definitely my strength. My longest triathlon to this point had been a sprint, so although I had done my homework on all that the EN Wiki has to offer, and I put in the work, I was still very nervous about this race.
My goals were as follows: 1. finish the race 2. run well off the bike and do the run leg in 4 hours. As far as time goals/expectations, based on the training, tests,and race rehearsals up to this point, I was thinking about a 1:35 swim, 7-7:30 bike, and 4:00 run, so was expecting a 13 hour finish (would have loved 12+ and would have accepted 14 hours). I was thrilled with my finish time of 11:38. All the stars lined up for me and I had a spectacular day.
Here's how it all went down:
The high was supposed to be 92 degrees that day and no wetsuit on the swim. I only live an hour north of Louisville, so I was used to training in the heat. Thankfully the humidity was lower the day of the race, so it did not feel bad to me at all.
SWIM
Not much to say about the swim except I'm slow and can't swim straight. I knew I wouldn't have any trouble making the swim cut off, but still got in line very early for the time trial start and I think I jumped in around 10 minutes after the start of the race. This part of the race is not scary to me at all, but it is absolutely not fun. I get in people's way, people get in my way, I get beat up and just try to make it through. After a lot of water in my eyes and a few sessions of backstroke to rest, I was pretty happy looking at my watch that said 1:25 as I got out of the water.
T1
I wore a tri top and shorts in the river, so T1 was uneventful: put on my bike shoes with no socks, halo on, sunglasses, helmet, ran through and got sunscreen on and ready to go in 6:39.
BIKE
I got on the bike and this is where the fun really began. I do not have power and was using heart rate to stay in zone 1 on the bike. Since I projected to be on the bike for 7 hours or more, I pretty much wanted to stay in zone 1 the entire ride, but low zone 1 for at least the first hour or 2. Heading out of downtown Louisville on river road is flat and pretty fast. I was doing like 18mph (fast for me) but sure enough (just like R & P said) everyone took off and went out in front of me. Since I was “doing the opposite” I felt like I was doing the right thing. Since I had been in the water 1.5 hours, I was hungry and decided to start taking in some calories so I ate a Powerbar and started to drink.
My hydration set up was a cage on the down tube and one between the aerobars that were loaded with Perform, and and single empty cage that I had behind the seat that I thought I might use for emergency purposes only. This was the first time in my life going through aid stations on a bike and that was quite the learning experience for me. It took me 3 stations before I got into a rhythm with this and was able to get all the “work” done. This included grabbing a water bottle and immediately squirting my sunsleeves and back with water, trying to get some into my helmet and on my shorts. I would ditch the water bottle and my 2 empty perform bottles and reload with 2 performs.
Nutrition
I took in a lot of calories on the bike, pretty much religiously following the plan laid out in the nutrition webinar. Overall I took in 12 bottles of Perform, 2 Powerbars, and 4-5 gels. This ended up being just under 600 cal/hour - much more than what I done in my race rehearsals. But I felt better than those race rehearsals, and my heart rate was staying down.
In addition to my heart rate I was looking at my average speed for the ride and it was up 1-2 mph throughout the race. Knowing that I hadn't been hit by any fast fairy dust a magical fast stick, this had me a bit worried. Although in addition to my increased calorie intake, I had a compact crank installed a month before the race that I did not have during the louisville training rally. I also had rented carbon clincher race wheels from TBT and, no matter how bad my neck and shoulders hurt, I made a point to stay aero unless I was under 15 mph. I also think that I had improved my execution of riding hills a bit since my last time on this course. So I trusted the HR monitor and was pleased with the newly found speed and hoped that I wouldn't turn out to be "that guy" - relegated to the hoods and struggling for the last 30 miles back in to Louisville.
Peeing
I knew I was hydrating properly because I pretty much had to pee the entire time I was on the bike. I had only practiced peeing on the bike one time, long before race day and I was not good at it. In fact, during the Louisville training rally I only peed once (at the gas station) during the 112 mile ride, and I needed to re lube myself and race shorts at that time. I made the decision on that day that it would be better if I just stopped for a bathroom break on race day. But here I was with the thrill of the race and I did not want to stop. So I gave the peeing while riding thing another try. And another. And another. In total I peed 5 times while on the bike, but only 2 of these felt "adequate" to me as the others either got interrupted or just didn't relieve enough bladder pressure to feel satisfactory. I was happy with my hydration, but knew I would have to pee again in T2.
Pace/speed
My heart rate continued to stay down in Z1-2 & my speed continued to stay up to average about 18 (1-2mph above what I had planned). Throughout the ride I continued to hear EN blurbs playing over and over again in my head. I would hear Rich tell me to to the opposite of everyone else and how to approach the hills relative to the competition. I would hear the nutrition webinar with Jesse say "at the end of the day.....if at any point during an IRONMAN you feel good, use it to take in calories, not to push the pace. .... If you don't pee 2 times on the bike, you are not going to be able to run to your potential....and that's the honest to God truth...." And I could hear coach P’s “3 bullets to IRONMAN Louisville” video in my head setting me up for those “anything but free” miles back into Louisville before the run.
Second half of bike ride
So there I was at like mile 60+ and my neck and shoulders were sore, and my butt hurt, but my legs and HR were just fine. I took a couple of Tylenol hoping it would help me forget about the pain and stay aero for the rest of the race. I decided to skip special needs since I was getting all my nutrition via Perform and what I carried with me.
I made it to the 33 miles to Louisville sign, and still felt good. Tylenol must have kicked in. This last leg of US 42 usually causes me problems, but today I was determined to say aero and get it done. Still felt like I needed to pee again, and had one 1/2-hearted attempt, but knew I would have to go fully in T2. The 30 miles back into transition is fairly flat and net downhill. I maintained 18 mph throughout the 112 miles. During the middle of the ride, through all the rolling hills, I passed many of the riders who went out too fast. Most of those people looked a little unfit or IRONMAN newbies (like me!). Now at the end of the bike I continued to pass a lot of people except now I could tell that these people were very fit, skilled riders. They did not like me passing them, and this provided me with even more power to get to the end of the ride.
As I approached the last 5-10 miles on the bike, I concentrated on keeping my cadence up and having it "feel" very easy to get my legs ready for the run. I'm a runner, and one of my main goals for this IRONMAN, was to complete the run in less than 4 hours.
T2
I was not changing any cloths for the run, but got on my socks and shoes and hat, stuffed a few gels and CLIF Bloks in my pocket, took a long pee in the port-a-let and was out of T2 in 7:17.
RUN
At the training rally 6 weeks prior to race day, after I did the 112, I ran for 1 hour and was miserable. Could not keep the pace under 10min/mile. This has never happened to me. That was the longest bike ride of my life to that point, so I attributed it to the increased distance, but in retrospect it was definitely the lack of nutrition during that practice ride. At that point I was keeping it at 200-300 cal/ hr and that just wasn't enough for me. I basically bonked and my run suffered horribly.
I was not going to let that happen on race day and that is why I came off the bike with a full belly of food. My belly wasn’t feeling great, but I knew I had taken in sufficient calories and was well hydrated. My easy pace is 8:30, so I added on about 20 seconds/mile since the temperature was in the low 90’s. I planned to run about 9:10/mile for the first 6 miles and then drop into a 8:50 pace from there. I got to see my wife for the first time on race day in the first couple of miles heading out over the bridge towards Indiana and then again on the return. I smiled and faked that I felt good at that point. I told her to “order me a Guiness” and that I would be back in a few hours. Maybe because I now had some fans to watch me and I was pretty excited with my faster-than-expected bike split, my first couple of miles were a bit faster than I wanted to be running, but not too far off. I decided the best way to slow the pace down was to linger at the aid stations longer. I was typically running at a pace just over 8 min/mile, but spent a long time (likely a full 30 seconds) at each and every aid station grabbing ice, pouring water on my head, and hydrating.
I had taken in a lot of calories on the bike and I was not nauseous, but my stomache did not feel that great either. After the first couple of aid stations I switched from Perform to cola and water and I took a couple of SaltStick capsules with those. Although I had taken some CLIF bloks and a couple of gels with me on the run, I felt like it would be awhile before I could push any more calories in.
Those first 6 miles did not feel easy, and I was starting to wonder whether or not the pace I kept on the bike was too much and that I might at some point blow up on the run. Although I felt I was pushing it, I wanted to stick with my original race plan for the run, so I dropped the pace after the first 6 miles. It was doable, but I was still hoping it would feel easier at this point, and it still just didn’t feel like my normal running self. I still wasn’t ready for any gels/bloks so I decided to eat a piece of a banana and some more cola after mile 7. I continued to stick with my pace in the high 8min/mile range.
I’m not sure if my stomache settled down, or my legs finally got in the groove, but after mile 11, I remember the run getting easier. I felt better and started to take in some CLIF bloks and began drinking chicken broth at the aid stations. At this point on the Louisville run course is where you come back into town close toward the finish line before heading back out again. I then got to pass my wife again and a few other friends of mine at that point which was nice. They were as excited about my pace as I was.
Not only did my legs continue to feel better at this point, but this was about the point in the marathon, when I knew I was going to finish this race. I was passing a ton of people (both the walkers and the runners) and was seeing a lot of ENer’s out there. I stayed at my planned pace, which, including my long aid station cool down routine, was about 8:45/mile. I started smiling more at this point because not only was I in a bit of a groove, but I knew if I was able to keep this up that I would be finishing this race way earlier than I expected. I tried not to think about my total time for the race and keep my head in my “box,” but it was difficult. So I waited for “mile 18” to come and hoped that I would never blow up or have to resort to walking.
I did everything I could to hold onto that pace. I focused on my running form and keeping my legs relaxed and letting gravity do the work. I thought about my one thing a lot. I had a head full of songs that I ran through in my head and sang outloud (by the way, blowing by other runners at 8min/mile singing outloud during an IRONMAN really makes them unhappy). I waved at a lot of the spectators on the course. I repeated a mantra a lot (mine is “I am a runner”). I was just trying to pass the time more quickly until “mile 18” showed up.
But it never really did. I was passing a TON of people – way too many too count. I was thrilled with what my race time was going to look like. Seeing other ENer’s and Coach P out there provided its own mojo. I was ready to get this thing done.
My legs were feeling good and I was continuing to go slightly faster with each mile. Coach P and ENer Jeremy Behler were at mile 18/22 on the run and when I approached mile 18 I jokingly yelled to to coach P:
“Hey Coach, do I have permission to race yet?”
At that point he was on the other side of the street so I did not hear his response, but I knew I was looking fairly fresh and I knew he was smiling. I kept the pace up to the turnaround point around mile 20 before coming back into downtown Louisville. Knowing I only had a 10K left to run, I picked up the pace a little more.
I do not want to give you the impression that this run was easy for me. I was indeed hurting everywhere and I really wanted this long day to be over. But I was able to ignore the pain and suffering because it was race day and the sooner I got to the finish line, the sooner the pain would end.
At this point I was taking in mainly chicken broth, had a few pretzels here and there, but mainly concentrated on stuffing ice and sponges everywhere at the aid stations.
At this point I was still spending a significant amount of time at the aid stations, but when not walking there, was keeping the pace in the 7:30-7:45 range. So I was flying by most people. At this point in the race there are a lot of people out on the course and it is hard to know who is in their 1st or their second loop. It didn’t matter though, because I was passing them all. I saw Jeremy and Coach P again at mile 22 and yelled:
“Hey Coach, what’da you say we negative split this marathon? I’m ready to be done with this thing.”
He ran alongside me for about 20 yards and yelled “sub-12, sub-12!”
At that point I knew I was having a great day, but I had no idea what time I had actually jumped in the water, and had no idea a sub-12 was possible for me. Having 4 miles left, I was already running fast and I just tried to keep the pace so that I had something left in me for the last mile.
Mile 24 came... a friend of mine who had done it last year and who I did some trainiing with this year was a volunteer this year and I ran into him and he yelled, “Rob you are crushing this race!”
Having 2 miles left I was looking for my last aid station before stepping on the gas for the finish line. The crowds started to become more dense as I got into downtown and it felt like I was flying. My last aid station stop was a pretty quick run-through and I took off.
My last mile was by far the fastest of the day and the last quarter mile I was focused on the finish line and sprinting. Saw my wife, friends and family about a 100 meters before the finish and smiled and flew past. Hoping that I wouldn’t have some kind of cardiac event, I was very excited about my day, and had a great finishing kick in me. The crowd downtown was cheering loudly as I sprinted over the finish line and heard them announce my name.
AFTERTHOUGHTS
I could not have asked for a better day. Everything went better than expected in a way that I cannot explain. I owe the day’s success to training with Endurance Nation over the last year, all of the resources available on the site, what I learned at the EN training rally in Louisville, and especially to the nutrition plan outlined in the recent webinar.
What’s next for me? I still consider myself a runner, so I’m not sure what the future of triathlon holds for me. Now that I’ve purchased a bunch of really cool, expensive bike gear for the IRONMAN, I will probably put it to use in some shorter races and work on my swim and bike over the next year. Thinking about a 70.3 next year or maybe a 100mile trail run. We’ll see. For now I’m just very happy doing nothing but reliving the thrill of my first IRONMAN finish over and over again in my head.
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Comments
Awesome race! 11:38 is proof of incredible execution.
After you are done with your transition time, be sure to go have fun with your fitness.
Way to execute that Ninja plan Rob. Do ya fell just a little guilty passing all those people, come on just a wee bit?
---Ann.