Rob Mohr NYC Ironman Race Report - slightly overdue...
Rob Mohr's U.S. Championship of Ironman (New York City) Race Report
Coming to you way late... I took a long vacation following the race and upon my return was immediately intimidated by the length of these reports. Anyway, hopefully it’s better late than never.
TOPLINE SUMMARY
- Age 26 doing my first full IM in my “backyard” of NYC
- Emotional rollercoaster on day prior with Entourage-TV-show-esque happy ending
- Race opening with a very fast swim, followed by a slow T1 with Listerine involved
- Crowded bike ride with power meter troubles and a minor bike issue; bit slower than expected
- Strong, but cautious run on soggy feet; solid, goal-besting finish
- Time: Swim 47:28 / T1 9:06 / Bike 6:26:46 / T2 5:43 / Run 3:54:06 --- Total 11:23:08
- Beers to celebrate with family, and not-too-crazy soreness in days following
NYCIM was my first full distance IM. I had done two 70.3 prior, and while both had gone OK (5:50 in each), I had trained for each in an unconventional (read as clueless) way – minimal on-the-road biking (TIS = Time in Spin-class), a focus on running, and a few laps at the pool. The training had two commonalities: little overall direction and high day-to-day intensity. (Yes, I drive fast when I’m lost.) In signing up for the NYCIM, I knew my typical 3-month, fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants plan wasn’t going to cut it. I stumbled upon EN during an online search and was quickly impressed by the user feedback and results. I also liked that efficiency was stressed through high intensity over high volume.
I joined in November 2011 and started the OS, quickly getting into the swing of things. Fast forward 9 months and I found myself staring down the barrel of my first 140.6.
Day Prior to Event
So, while I’ll try to keep it short, I feel it necessary to quickly share the happenings of day, t minus 24hrs ‘til showtime. Hopefully in doing so, this type of day can be avoided for all ENers henceforth.
And with that, I begin… Like any good ENer, two days prior to the race I made sure to check in at the expo, buy any last minute items and do all the final steps to allow for an easy-breezy, carefree day prior. I had my checklists, my nutrition mapped out (this freaking webcast is so amazing – I’ll hype it again later on…), and my super cool NYCIM bag locked and loaded with my filled transition bags.
So, on the day prior, I woke up feeling prepared. (While still very anxious… On top of the typical nerves, the prospect of having trained for an “I-almost-did-an-Ironman,” 138.2 duathlon due to a Hudson River sewage leak was causing me to lose my cool. Still I repeated the “control what you can” mantra and hoped for the best.)
After a carb-heavy Bubby’s pancake breakfast at 7AM, I just needed to drive bike and my gear to transition (a lengthy 20 miles, and an hour in NY traffic, from my apt). I would then be able to focus on carb loading and keeping off my feet. After picking up the car I was borrowing for the morning, I grabbed my bike and NYCIM bag with gear inside and began loading the car. Illegally parked and facing typical city obstacles along with some light rain, I loaded my bike inside the SUV and did a quick check to make sure it was stable. Directions queued and my girlfriend sitting shotgun, I jumped behind the wheel and started driving. My NYCIM bag – yes the bag with my helmet, bike shoes, run shoes, race number, etc., etc. – sat dutifully at the curb as I peeled out.
Only once at transition in New Jersey did I realize my bag was left behind. Left behind on a street corner. A NYC street corner. A NYC street corner where people tear open garbage bags looking for 5 cent recyclable cans. Once realizing this – while glancing over the folded-down car seats, unloading my bike in the rain – I had a life-flashing-before-my-eyes type of moment. I thought first of everything that was in the bag, and then of all the people to whom I’d have to explain that the race was off for me. I stood in the rain on the verge of a meltdown.
Thankfully my girlfriend helped me pull it together. I could still race as long as I had a number (priority one for replacement) and most of the things in the bag were replaceable (priority two). While it might not be with my fancy helmet, shoes, Garmin GPS watch, I could still race. I checked my bike into transition, and we jumped back in the car and headed towards NYC – I would work on replacing everything; she would search for my bag.
Returning to the expo, I was able to get replacement transition bags and a new race bib. The race directors were incredibly nice and even gave me their phone numbers in case I needed anything else. I then quickly set out to buy the gear needed. By this time, the expo had been cleared out. Hailing a cab in the rain, I headed towards the nearest sports store.
Now calmer than before, I went through my checklist and loaded up my basket with the bare essentials necessary to compete. As I was at the counter, I received a call. It was the race director. My bag had been turned in to the NYPD, and they had contacted Ironman – Thank you See Something, Say Something!!!
Long story short, I got my bag back. I drove it to transition and checked my gear in alongside my bike just minutes before it closed at 4PM. While I still needed to check in at my hotel, prepare my fuel, eat some carbs, and get some sleep, I was elated. I felt like I had already completed the race. Any anxiety I had was out the window and I was happy just to be able to compete in what had just been announced as a full SWIM, sewage and all, bike and run Ironman.
I slept like a rock.
The Race (the easy part…)
After taking down a nice apple sauce/whey protein/banana concoction per fueling webinar counsel, I was boarded onto a boat to take me to transition at 4AM. Once at transition I made my way through some standard checks, topped of my water bottles with Infiniti, and loaded onto a different boat at about 6:15AM. Next to a bunch of soon-to-be Ironmen, we chatted about other races we’d done (I hear Beach to Battleship is awesome btw) and what we expected from the race. Watching the pros go off, we quickly realized it would be a fast swim.
Swim
The helicopters and other fanfare quickly raised my energy as the start to the long-awaited race day sunk in. During the swim, I focused on my form and counted strokes, occasionally swimming over people and getting bumped and kicked along the way. I remember thinking – Holy crap! I’m doing an Ironman!
No more than 25 minutes into the swim I realized I had hit the halfway mark, way in front of my goal. The current was strong and I cruising. I kept kicking to a minimum, if at all, and stayed focused on form. Before I knew it, I was approaching the dock and exiting.
Total Time: 47:28 / Goal Time: 1:20:00
T1
Now nearly 30 minutes ahead of my goal, I kept the Four Keys speech and advice received from others top of mind, moving – almost creeping – through T1. I dried off completely, applied ample sunscreen, and even Listerine-ed the taste of the Hudson River out of my mouth! (Thanks to the guy next to me in T1 with a bottle of Listerine.) Before mounting my bike I make sure my fuels were in place and tires were squared away.
Total Time: 09:06
Bike
My goal on the bike was to ride at a steady wattage of just under 140. Weighing a lean 138lbs on race day with a well-equipped 2011 Cervelo P3, I figured this would put me at about a conservative 06:10:00 ride time.
The hill out of transition was steep, and as I had anticipated, people began blasting past me. After a couple miles of slow climbing I was out onto the Palisades Parkway. Immediately I realized how crowded the race was going to be for the first 25+ miles. (While having posted a strong swim time, I had been towards the end in entering the water.) With one eye on my CycleOps and the other on the ten plus bikers around me, I rode slowly trying to keep my own pace and ignore the others on the road.
Even at 25 miles, it was still crowded. I was slowly passing on straightaways, getting dropped by many riders on hills, and was FLYING by people on the downhills. While hitting top speeds on the downhills (upwards of 40mph; maxed out at 46.5mph!!) I was yelling at people to get over as they slowly coasted toward the left on the extremely tight Palisades. Going mid-40 on a downhill was new to me. I was both terrified and amazed. The new gear – including a new HED front wheel, Corsa EVO race tires, and a Torhans bottle in lieu of a clunky Profile Aquacell – added about 5-10mph to my downhill speed.
At this point – about 25 miles in – it started to get pretty hot. I continued to take in about 24oz of fuel (at this point still Infiniti) every 30 minutes. I also realized – or reaffirmed – that I am a horribly unsteady biker. Getting bottles from my downtube or behind my seat was a challenge, not to mention trying to spray the fluid into the Torhans. Living in NYC had made it tough to frequently get out on the road and off the trainer, resulting in some poor bike skills. While I stayed hydrated, it wasn’t pretty.
About 30 miles into the race I noticed that my CycleOps was giving me unusual readings on flat ground. I would be pedaling with a decent resistance and normal cadence, and the watts would jump from about 50 (a wattage I’ve rarely/never seen when pedaling with any resistance) to then reading in the single digits. Once I got to hills, the watts would spike as expected and the comfortable resistance would be back around 140 watts. As this continued for about 5 miles, I restarted the Joule hoping that it would remedy the problem. Unfortunately, it did not. I continued to watch my wattage, however, largely ignored the readings in the 50s and even single digits that were appearing on many of the flat portions of the ride. Determined not to lose my cool, I rode at a comfortable pace, slow on the ups, stead on the flats, and hammering the downhills. (I would love some thoughts on why this happened. Happy to send across my WKO+ files etc. I had not had any problems with my Joule/CycleOps on any rides leading up to the race. Maybe the potholes and gaps in the road brought this on? I also have not checked it since the race. It’s been a nice five weeks without any biking J .)
As I neared the halfway point, I had run through all my Infiniti – which I had anticipated. I grabbed only one bottle of Powerbar Perform (again, grabbing these from volunteers was somewhat challenging – which I had also anticipated) and was looking forward to reloading at the Special Needs area. I rode up to SN and was quickly greeted with my bag. I grabbed my ice cold Infiniti-filled bottles – I had more or less frozen them – and loaded up my bike. I also took a minute to stretch and enjoy a few seconds off the saddle before setting off again.
Even by the 56 mile mark the ride continued to be a bit crowded and passing on the downhills was difficult. The many gaps in the road and potholes (mostly small) were also a challenge while racing downhill. I was making OK time – a bit slower than my goal. Having reset the Joule I wasn’t 100% sure about my time or average speed, so I instead focused more on how I was feeling and what my watts were when the Joule appeared to be working (mostly on uphills).
For the next 30 miles I felt great and was averaging about 18mph. I was doing well with hydration and was amazed that the first 80 miles of the ride had already come.
Only a few miles later however (around mile 85 or so), something wasn’t feeling right with my bike. While my watt readings were still all over the place, I noticed that I was also slowing down on straightaways, and that my cadence and RPE felt off. I’m not really sure what I noticed specifically, but things just weren’t feeling right. As this continued for about an hour, I made the decision to get off my bike to see what was going on. From past conversations with Ironman athletes and the 4 Keys Talk, this seemed like the right thing to do.
After climbing a hill near the 100 mile mark, I got off and did a quick examination of my bike. As it turned out, I was right. My XLAB water bottle wing had gotten dislodged at some point during the ride, likely around mile 80. As a result, my two water bottles and my tool kit/spare tire were sitting literally on top of my back tire. Unable to fix the XLAB wing and not wanting to ditch the $200+ attachment with only about 12mi left in the ride; I removed the water bottles (placing one on my downtube and draining the other into my Torhans) and velcro-ed the XLAB wing to the seat post in a make-shift way so that it would no long drag on my back tire. I then rode on, feeling pretty good and happy to have taken the two minutes or so to check my bike.
The last mile or two of the bike ride was great. Lots of fans, and almost entirely downhill. Cruising into transition, I felt pretty good. I had hydrated really well and, despite a faulty power meter and some bike troubles, I had come in pretty close to my goal.
Total Time: 6:26:46 / Goal Time: 6:10:00
T2
Entering T2 was a huge lift. I saw friends and family as I came down the hill, and was pumped to be done with the bike stage. I got off my bike – which was quickly grabbed by a volunteer – and picked up my run-gear bag. After taking some time to pee, get my shoes/socks on, and strap on my Fuel Belt, I started to head out of transition. Before doing so however, I loaded my shirt up with ice since there was plenty to be had and it was pretty warm.
Total Time: 5:43
I started the marathon with a slow trot up the hill that led us out of transition. Again seeing friends and family, and dishing out some high-fives, helped to boost my energy and I was feeling good. That said, despite being a strong runner with 4 marathons under my belt, I started the run very cautiously (I had run the first 8 miles of the run course a week prior and was well aware of the steep elevation changes) and set out running at a 8:30/mi pace (hammering downhills at about 7:00/mi; uphills at 10:00/mi) which was in line with my plan.
I also stuck to my nutrition plan. Surprisingly, I knew very little about in-race (or even pre-race) fueling before watching the CoreDiet Webcast. Looking back on the races I’ve done, I’m amazed at how I more or less “winged” the nutrition portion of the race. A GU here and there, while sipping occasionally on some Gatorade or water. While this lack of knowledge didn’t kill me in the cooler climate races, I certainly paid the price in hot weather races. For example, I ran a 3:07:36 marathon on a 50-degree day in NYC, taking in little fuel and mostly water. However, in running Boston in April of this year, I didn’t have the same luck. On an 80-degree day, I foolishly took in only water until very late in the race causing me to blow up at mile 18, going from 8:00/mi to about 12:00/mi. Now at the NYCIM with temps in the high 70s to low 80s, I was not only extra cautious in my pacing, but was also hyper focused on taking in the necessary sodium and calories at every opportunity and doing all I could to stay cool. This meant that I walked every aid station, taking in Perform, pouring water on my head, putting ice down my shirt, and sucking down the occasional Roctane GU.
Sticking with a relatively consistent pace of 8:30/mi I continued through the running feeling good – staying hydrated and cool with ice and sponges. However, unfortunately around mile 5 my shoes got very wet as I ran through an aid station with a leaking misting fan. I remember Coach P talking about the annoyance of wet shoes during the 4 Keys speech in reference to pouring water over the head. No surprise, he was right – a marathon with soaked shoes is not ideal.
Thankfully I had a pair of dry socks in my Special Needs bag. As I ran miles 5 through 13, I focused on keeping my pace of about 8:30/mi and dreamed of putting on dry socks as blisters started to develop on the bottom of my wet feet. The constant ups and downs of the course were not helping the situation.
Upon reaching the 13-14 mile mark, I had largely gone numb to the discomfort of my feet. Though I still went for Special Needs bag and got my new socks, I was aware that they weren’t going to make much of a difference. With half the run done, I didn’t care. I took a minute or two to stretch, changed into my socks, and got back on my way.
Miles 14-16 were very hilly including the 70+ steps up the George Washington Bridge and then back down after crossing. I walked the steps up quickly ran the bridge trying not to lose too much time and then walked down the steps on the other side now knowing that the vast majority of the elevation change was behind me.
While I had been passing people throughout the run, I remember passing a large the majority of people between mile 18-22. Running at just slightly under a 9:00/mi pace during this portion, I considered speeding up to 8:30/mi or even 8:00/mi. However, with 8 miles to go, I still had the Boston Marathon on my mind and was not willing to take any risks. I was feeling decent but not great – my knees were hurting (unusual for me but likely due to the quick downhills and big uphills of the first 16 miles) and all I wanted was to drink water (and NOT Perform!). I knew I could finish a sub-4 hour marathon if I stuck with the pace, so I did.
After a tough mile 23 through the park with more stairs and uphill climbs, I could now feel the finish line approaching. With more and more fans cheering and the climbs behind me, I decided to hit the last 2 miles with all I had left. I tossed my Fuel Belt at the next aid station and really started running. I crossed the finish just over 16 minutes later, having passed a total of 643 people on the run.
Total Time: 3:54:06 / Goal Time: 4:00:00
FINAL TIME: 11:23:08 / GOAL TIME: 11:45:00
AGE GROUP RANK: 22 / GOAL AGE GROUP RANK: Top 25
After finishing, I quickly made my way to a medical tent to have my feet looked at. The med students that checked me out were great. My feet had some serious blisters and the ball of my right foot was split down the middle. While it sounds pretty bad, I found myself pretty lucky having heard about much worse.
About an hour or two after the race, I was feeling good and made it out for a dinner with family and friends following a long, long shower. I continued to hydrate – taking in a lot of recovery mix – and got to bed at a decent hour. Even on the days following I continued to feel pretty good, and was not abnormally sore. I attribute much of this to the hydration and fueling throughout the race.
After taking three full weeks off, I started running again. So far I’ve been feeling great, running as fast as I ever have, and will be racing again soon. I’ll be doing the NYC Marathon on Nov. 4 and hope to run my first sub-3 hour marathon in doing so. After that, I can again focus on IM, or more likely HIM…
THANK YOU – It would be impossible to close this without giving a HUGE thank you to all of you within EN. I have been continually blown away by the amount of knowledge passed through your insights, your genuine interest in the success of others, and your drive to push yourselves to the max. The information, motivation, and every between that all of you provided me with was truly invaluable and I thank you all for helping me reach my goals. Seriously, thank you.
Comments
With everything that could have distracted and totally derailed your day, that was a great effort.
Best of luck with your NYC Marathon.
@JT - The crowds and the cheering in and around the park were awesome. Great having fans out there and imagine you were one of those that kept me pushing! And I owe the nutrition to the webcast! I'd have been sunk without it. Drinking only concentrated Infiniti and Perform + Salt Stick left me pleading with myself for a gulp of water, but allowed for a strong finish. So did repeating - slow is smooth, smooth is fast...
@Withrows - Thanks so much! The insight that you both provided on the layout of the course - amongst other things - helped tremendously. Happy you both rocked it and relieved to here that John is now back in commission.
@John - Thanks, man! Hoping the marathon will be less eventful but as successful! Marathon Hack should help in continuing to improve and reaching the goal.