Race Report Rev3 Cedar Point 140.6
Fat Man to Ironman, what a journey.
Ok, so this first paragraph isn't really so much a race report, more of a how I got here report, but keep reading the RR is coming I swear. I started to get in shape just about 2.5 years ago when I realized how unhappy I was with my current self. I began to slowly (really slowly) run, and over time set small goals for myself to help to stay motivated. Over the next year I dropped 70+ lbs and those goals became bigger and next thing I knew I was crossing the finish line at my 1st HIM in 5:56. That day I set my next goal, and Ironman. As I began training in the off season I made the decision to hire a coach in order to do it right and to have something more than some random downloaded plan from the Internet that I chopped up to make work. In February I decided to join EN, and I couldn't be happier with my decision. In a few short weeks on the OS plan I watched my run speed and bike FTP increase dramatically and started to feel like I was in the best condition of my life. I competed in the same HIM from the year before and managed to PR by almost 30 minutes (5:28), the biggest gain coming with shaving 22 minutes off the run. All the hard work and training was paying off and Cedar Point Full was only a handful of weeks away.
Not sure if this is odd or crazy or what, but I never got nervous for Cedar Point, I only ever felt very anxious, I just wanted to get the race started. We made the drive out to Ohio on Wednesday in order to get plenty of time to scope out the course ahead of time. Thursday morning I drove the entire loop of the bike course and tried to take mental notes of the hills so I could be prepared for them on race day. After the drive I hopped onto the bike for a nice easy spin around a small section of the course just to shake out from the driving. I also managed to walk down along the beach to check out the water, it was warm and flat. Friday I headed down to the beach and tested out the water and got in my last swim before race day. The first hundred or so yards of the swim were very shallow and I had concerns that it might be hard swimming around all of the people that I knew would be walking. Walking/running thru the water takes so much more energy than swimming so I knew I would have to make sure I was at the front of the pack. After checking into the race hotel I grabbed some lunch and headed out for an easy 3 mile run. I felt amazing on the run, it felt easy the entire way and no knee pain what so ever (more on that to come later). Saturday was an easy day, bike check in, bag drop, athlete meeting, more carb loading, and early bed time. I still had no nervousness, which I kept debating whether this was normal or not, anyone else feel this way?
Night before:
I made some changes to my race day gear the night before, don't worry it wasn't anything new I was going try, it was all stuff I had used in different training rides so I could be prepared for any kind of weather. The forecast for race day was low of 55 high of 70, so I knew that the morning was going to be cold. I chose to not swim with a tri-top under my wetsuit fearing I would freeze for the early part of the ride, so I tossed my EN bike jersey into my S-B bag and tossed a tri-top into my B-R bag. I knew this change would slow my transition times down a little, but that little bit of time out weighed the potential for freezing until the sun started to warm things up.
HELL YEAH!! Its Race Day!!! Woke up around 3:30 and killed a bottle of Roctane and a big peanut butter and banana sandwich then fell back asleep for a little while. Alarm went back off just before 5, grabbed my stuff and headed down to transition to check on my bike. I also had to drop my SN bags off, I had pre-mixed bottles in my bike SN bag so I didn't want to drop them off the night before and then went back to the car to relax for a little while and sip some more Roctane. Around 6:25 I headed down to the beach and got in a little warm up swim, the water was flat. It's almost GO time and still no nerves, still asking myself if this is normal.
Swim:
it was an in the water start, but due to the shallow depths the water was just about knee level 50 yards from shore. As planned I tried to make my way to the front of the swim and managed to make it into the second row right on the side of the buoy. As predicted when the gun went off people started walking and running, including the small pack in front of me. I took a few steps, found a clearing, and dove in. I managed to swim thru the walkers and made my way to clear waters. The swim was 2 loops and really un-eventful, though the water was a bit choppy on the second loop. I felt as though I was having a good swim, as I just tried to keep a nice steady pace and rhythm the entire way. Next thing I knew I was running up the beach headed into T1 and ready to take on the bike course.
Swim Stats:
Time - 1:10:26
Division - 6/36
Overall - 48/359
T1: 4:17
Un-eventful, changed and headed out for a nice 6 hour ride, though I did struggle to get my socks on which has never happened before. I don't usually wear them but the cold temps dictated that I had to. No big deal.
Bike:
Goal for the bike was to ride steady and keep to my power goals for the day of 175w. The first loop of the bike was great, the wind was in our favor and I just kept working. There was a good stretch of road that lasted about 10-15 miles, pretty flat with a tail wind. On the first loop I was putting out 165w pushing 26mph, so I decided to not push the 175w since I felt 26mph was a great speed and I could save more energy for later in the race. Made my way thru the first 50 miles averaging just under the 175w goal and was still amazing! Just before the bike SN aide station the HIM riders merge onto the same roads, this made for a very congested bag pickup at the aide station, but it didn't cost me to much time. With my speedfill replenished I was back to the roads. I was coming up quickly on the fast section of the course I mentioned just above, and I was getting a little excited. Up the hill, turn the corner and ready to hammer at 26mph for another half hour or so, except, not so much! The winds had shifted and at this point I was pushing 175w and only managing 16+mph. Glad I had my power meter, it made sure I knew what was going on. I saw a bunch of people cruise past me, for me to only catch them about 2 hours later as they were struggling to get up the smallest of hills. I am glad I had saved some power early in the day, I was still feeling great. The bike route was constant rollers with no real sustained climbs, but that of course mean there are no descents to recover, so maintaining my power goals throughout were key. Around mile 75-80 my right knee began to have some small pains flowing thru it.
I suppose now is a good time to mention that I had partially tore my meniscus about a year and a half ago but the Ortho advised against surgery until the tear was larger. I rehabbed all of last winter and up until about 2 months ago I was pain free. The pain over the last 2 months was growing little by little, though only ever appeared during long runs, this would be the first time it bothered me while riding. Oh well, I'm 82+ miles into the race, time to suck it up and keep moving. My know knee issues are also part of the reason I didn't push harder on the first loop of the bike, just felt 26mph was fast enough and no need to push my body harder at that point.
The knee pain wasn't to bad, just there, as I finished up the bike section. I turned onto Cedar Point drive and saw the sign, 4 miles to Cedar Point, that meant 4 miles until run time. I was sad to see my bike go, I felt great and could have kept pedalling for hours.
Bike Totals:
Time - 5:58:47
Division - 10/36
Overall - 78/359
Power Avg - 172w
T2:6:09
T2 was interesting. I racked my bike, grabbed my B-R bag and headed into the changing tent. I pulled my stuff out of the bag and began changing. This just include changing from a bike jersey to a tri-to, applying some glide, dry socks and shoes. This really should have been pretty fast, right? So why the 6:09 time you ask? Well half way thru changing I went grab my socks and sneakers from the bag and put my bike crap into it when I couldn't find it. The handy volunteers in the tent had already taken it to "help out". Then they spend an hour looking (OK, I'm exaggerating a little) looking for where they put it. Once they found it, I finished up and headed out.
Run:
Depressing!! That's the best way to describe it! As I headed out of T2 I continued to feel amazing. Energy level way high and I knew I had what I needed left in the tank to complete this thing well within my goal of sub 13, shit, sub 12 was well within my grasp. Though I knew in the back of my head that my right knee could have other plans for me. As I started out of T2 my knee hurt, but the pain was very manageable and I cruised thru the first 4 miles in 41:47, right on target at 9:36 pace. The pain in my knee was slowly increasing and by mile 7 my pace was down to 10:59. By the time I hit 10 miles the pain was more than I had ever experienced from it. The most depressing part was my body felt good and kept trying to run, but every step just hurt more and more. I decided to walk for a couple of miles to see if it would calm down the pain, but not so much. All that walking managed to do was put my body into recover mode and every muscle in me started to stiffen up. I tried to employ run/walk to different telephone poles, which helped mentally for a while, but the pain in my knee was just unbearable. I knew in the back of my head this kind of run was a possibility, but I never envisioned it this bad. I watched my splits continue to slide and the sub 13 goal with them. Earlier in the week I realized sub 13 would have meant finishing in daylight, I that had excited me, but that got painfully crushed. The last 2-3 miles back into the finish line run right along the shore, with the sun setting right in front of you. The most depressing part of the day was watching the sun set right in front of my eyes and there was nothing I could do to beat it to the finish. It hurt to watch. Soon enough though I would be coming up to the last tenths of a mile, and there was no pain in the world that was going to stop me from running by the cheering spectators and crossing that finish line as strong as possible. I sucked it up, ran thru the crowds, crossed the line, Ironman done! Hell Yeah! Oh wait, it was an Ironman, I forgot, I had just joined the Revolution!!! That's what Rev3 has to say since they can't use the word Ironman.
Run Totals:
Time: 5:56:41
Division: 24/36
Overall: 200/359
Recap:
I knew going into the day that the chances my knee wouldn't give me issues was slim to none, just didn't imagine that it would give me that much. Long training bricks of 6hours/1hour never lead to that much pain, very little pain actually, but it is what it is. As depressing as the run became I did my best to not let it ruin my accomplishment. I also never once had thoughts of not doing another IM distance race, as a mater of fact, during the run all I could think about was getting back out there and doing it again. Which is good since I was already signed up for Mont-Tremblant for next summer. I feel my race execution was dead on. Nutrition was perfect, no GI issues, and I felt incredible energy levels all day and night. It was hard having that amount of energy left at mile 130 and not being able to use it. Now it's time to see another Orthopedic and get a second opinion, and get this damn knee healed up, it's almost time to hit the OS plan hard and get in gear for next year.
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Comments
A stark contrast of bike positions in the photo above (yours being MUCH better). Get the knee right and sub 12 is yours!
Congrats on your transformation over the last 2 years!!!
What a positive attitude! I hope you can get that knee cleaned out so you can use it for the full distance; if not, you may have to take what it will give you - like stick with HIM