Options
IMFL Race Report (long version)
I tend to dissect my races like I dissect my flights...in great detail and with a critical eye towards mistakes as well as things I have done well (if any). Attached is my RR...enjoy.
Edit: No way to attach a file (?) so I'm including it in my post.
Disappointment at Ironman Florida
Before I start my race report, first of all, CONGRATULATIONS to the EN IM team, especially those first timers. I don’t recall who all was a first timer, and I didn’t see everyone on the course, but nonetheless, it was nice meeting up with everyone at the dinner, and my congrats to each and everyone who was out there. And now, on to the race report.
It’s tough to convey to friends and family how after completing Ironman Florida I could be disappointed. Most people consider merely finishing a great accomplishment, and I know that I am proud to have finished my second Ironman in as many years. However, most of us here in Da Haus also can relate to the idea of having some goals to reach during the completion of an Iron Distance event, thus the disappointment of not reaching those goals. I’d ask anyone who has the patience to read through my IMFL RR and give me some feedback. I’ve got some questions at the end of my report that I am doing some serious soul-searching for answers, and I value Da Haus’ collective opinions.
First: the metrics. Going in to IMFL, I had done two very solid Race Rehearsals, one of which was completed on the IMFL bike course itself. I had set my FTP at 250 and decided on a .73 IF which put me at 184W. On both my RRs, I got around 177W which was acceptable. My two RRs were quite different, the first was awful, attributed to low hydration and high temps/humidity on the run. My second RR run was spectacular, averaging 8:17/mi for 6 miles when all I was looking for was 8:40s. So I had a lot of confidence in good pacing on the bike and having plenty of mojo for the run. I was hoping for a 3:50 marathon or so which would put me at 8:50s which I thought was attainable. Was hoping to finish in 11:00 or less, ideally at around 10:45.
We all hope to be fully gassed up with a finely tuned engine on race day and while I feel that my engine was rarin’ to go with good fitness, my gas tank was unfortunately a bit low. Two days before race day I developed a bug of some sort; mild congestion, a stuffy nose, scratchy throat and deep chest cough. Not too bad, but enough to where I knew I wasn’t 100%. More damaging though was the fact that I only got about 2 hrs of sleep on Friday night. My condo guests were quite enthusiastically making support signs well into the night which unfortunately kept me up. Even once the noise died down, at that point I was in the death spiral of “I have to go to sleep” and “I can still get 4 hours of sleep…” then “I can still get 3 hours of sleep…” etc. Not to be, I remember seeing 2:15 on the clock and I woke up at 4:20.
I actually woke up mentally sharp and ready to go. Drank my OJ, prepped my bagel with PB & honey and packed my banana and other last minute stuff and headed out the door. Transition was only about a mile away, so a good chance to stretch the legs and acclimatize. Temps were cool but not cold and the winds were light.
I got body marking done and proceeded to transition where I loaded up my Bento with my 3 biker bars and loaded my Speedfil with water. I stashed a pack of Clif Shots in my bike jersey as well as a bottle of Gatorade and a dispenser of Endurolytes. I didn’t expect to need them but thought I’d have them “just in case”. A long trip to the Porta John and by the time I got back to T1, it was a quick once over for all my equipment and time to get undressed, spray on Tri Slide and don the wetsuit. Out the door of the condo I made a game time decision to go with my long sleeved WS vice the farmer john.
Shuffled towards the beach about 5 minutes before they closed transition. It took a while as I was with “the herd” that was all meandering down to the beach, but eventually I got there. I was fortunate enough to run into JEFF on the beach, and we gave each other some encouragement. Mike Reilly was doing his thing and they began to play U2 “Beautiful Day” and at that moment I got pretty pumped because it WAS a beautiful day! Great temps, breezy, sunny and clear…a great day to do what we were about to do.
Jumped in the water at the gun without a huge sense of anything other than focusing on trying to avoid the worst of the washing machine and finding some clear water. It didn’t take long. I started well off to the right and the mass of humanity entering the water all at once was actually not too bad. I was able to angle toward the second buoy and by the time I got there, it was thin enough to where I could go pretty much straight on to the turn buoy where it got pretty interesting. There was a pretty solid swell straight out of the east, I’d say 3-5 feet. It would pick you up, generally just as you were breathing then slap you down as you were trying to inhale. It wasn’t as easy as the day before when I had been on a practice swim. But before you know it I hit the second turn and was heading back in. The trip in was difficult because the sun and the swell were both from the east making sighting and breathing to the right difficult. At one point I completely lost sight of the next buoy but of course, just followed some nearby swim caps in to the finish of the first lap. My time on lap 1 was 45 mins and change…much slower than I wanted. I grabbed a quick cup of water to rinse out the salt and headed back out.
The second lap was different than the first lap. There were far fewer people to contend with, but I think the swell was worse. Outbound it wasn’t too bad, but the turn across and the swim in were more difficult. In any case, I did better on the second lap apparently, because my overall swim time was 1:16:48. Either that, or the first lap was slightly longer than 1900m (which is my theory).
I am not 100% sure why my T1 was so slow. There were a LOT of people exiting the swim right then clogging up the lane running up to the transition area. I found a wetsuit stripper just fine but had a hard time understanding why one gentleman stopped under the shower and was almost taking a luxurious shower (?!!!). In any case, the only problem I had was my voice wasn’t working due to my scratchy throat, so instead of bellowing out my bib number to the volunteers, the best I could manage was a dry croak. It was kind of funny.
Took my time in the changing tent and decided to go with my Under Armor long sleeve shirt under my jersey. I cannot STAND to be skin cold so I took the extra time to put it on. I buckled up and carried my shoes to my bike stand. Donned shoes and headed out the chute onto the course.
From the word “GO” I was thinking watts, watts, watts. My plan was to go easy for 25-30 miles then see where I was on the course, I was expecting easterly winds so I knew that Hwy 20 would be a bit of a challenge, but was ready to take it easy until much further along the course. And it worked out great. My technique is to punch my lap timer every 7 miles which gives me about 20 min of data to average. By doing this, I am able to keep a handle on my wattage for that time period, and to remember to eat and drink on schedule. Also, towards the end of the ride, it gives me nice box that I can control (just make it to the next lap timer!) so hopefully Rich would approve of this method. Here are my 7 mile splits:
7 136W (Pnorm 147W) 20.1 mph WARMUP
14 160W (Pnorm 166W) 20.6 mph WARMUP
21 156W (Pnorm 160W) 21.9 mph WARMUP
28 164W (Pnorm 168W) 20.4 mph WARMUP
35 161 W (Pnorm 166 W) 20.3 mph WARMUP (stop to tinkle)
42 191 W (Pnorm 193 W) 19.5 mph Hills/Wind
49 190 W (Pnorm 194 W) 19.2 mph Hills/Wind
56 181 W (Pnorm 191 W) 21.8 mph Hills/Wind/Tailwind
63 186 W (Pnorm 190 W 24.0 mph Tailwind
70 182 W (Pnorm 186 W) 20.9 mph Tailwind
77 177 W (Pnorm 181 W) 20.8 mph Tailwind
84 166 W (Pnorm 172 W) 22.7 mph Tailwind
91 167 W (Pnorm 174 W) 22.5 mph (Sacrifice W for speed)
98 159 W (Pnorm 164 W) 23.6 mph (killer tailwind!)
105 167 W (Pnorm 172W) 22.0 mph (surprising tailiwind)
112 (113.45 mi) 149 W (Pnorm 161 W) 19.9 mph (should have pushed a few more watts!)
Overall Pa was 168W, Pnorm was 176W VI: 1.05 Cavg: 84 Ride time: 5:21:43 (stop time 3:25) Total Time 5:25:07. PM distance: 113.45 mi TSS: 250 PM Vavg: 21.2 (official Vavg 20.7).
Hwy 20 was as predicted with winds and some rolling hills. There was (for lack of a better term) large draft pack I got caught up with and could not shake. I wasn’t about to crank up my watts to above FTP to pull ahead of them (see RnP’s talk about passing a paceline!) nor was I about to put on the brakes and fall too far back (only to be passed by another and another and another). I did the best I could and although there were a LOT of penalties handed out by the refs, I was not on the receiving end of one. I did have to make a quick pit stop at about mile 34 to pee (I used a porta potty). I timed it and it only cost me about 45 seconds.
Once we made the turn onto Hwy 231 it got really really fun. My iBike showed a tailwind of 3-6 mph and I was able to dial up the speed without costing any watts. It was gratifying see 23-25 mph and wattages of 160-175. Camp Flowers Road was equally pleasurable although the eastbound turn of 388 was painfully bumpy and cracked. I did notice that I was passing a lot of riders and at this point, no one was passing me. Yeah for steady pacing!
On the turn back to the west on 388, I knew it was my time to fly. I deliberately sacrifed wattage for speed. Knowing that I’d turn South on 79 at mile 100 (and somewhat into the wind) I was determined to get a lot of speed out of the wind I had so I keep the RPMs high, kept eating and drinking and keeping an eye on my PM which was giving me good news. Stopped one last time at about mile 80 to pee AGAIN and took a little extra time to remove my Under Armor shirt for comfort. Total stop time was about 1:30 or so.
The results page shows me as finishing in 5:25:07 at a speed of 20.7 mph. My PM shows me at 176W, .704 IF and TSS of 265. Time was right on schedule of where I wanted it. In fact, I could have easily put out more watts on 388 and Hwy 79 but chose to go a bit easy and still get good speed. Would have liked to get IF up to around .72, but was happy with .70. My bike computer shows a speed of 21.3 mph and a distance of 113.45 miles. If you use my total time (including my pee stops!) and the distance of 113.45 then my bike speed was actually 20.9 mph which is very close to what I was shooting for (21.0 mph). I’d love to hear if anyone else in Da Haus showed the bike course as being a bit long. Not that I mind, it’s just that it does skew the numbers somewhat.
In any case, made it back to T2 feeling GREAT! I was happy with a moderate swim (although unhappy about my slow T1) and VERY happy with a well-executed bike. I felt good still, although I had been blowing my nose about 10 minutes and I still couldn’t manage more than a croak. It was so bad that no volunteer even knew I was there and had to get my own Run Gear bag (not a problem, I had rehearsed it and knew the location). Got into the tent where I found a volunteer and methodically tried to quickly get ready for the final challenge. First thing I did was strap on and turn on my GPS. I then stripped off everything and got into my running singlet, socks, running shorts and shoes. Grabbed hat and sunglasses and jogged off feeling great. It took a while for my GPS to lock in but that was no big deal. By the time it finally acquired I was a half mile in to the run…no biggie. I simply hit the lap button at the first official mile marker I saw and let it go from there.
I had real issues with going slow on brick runs so I was hawking my Garmin every 30 seconds keeping my pace low. I promised myself to give RnP 3 minutes in the first 6 miles in order to have a mo’ bettah race overall. And so it went. I had made the mistake of not eating and drinking very little in the first 7 miles of IMLP last year, so I made sure to get some water and some small snacks at the aid stations. Walked 30 steps just as instructed and made it out to the first 6 miles feeling like a million bucks. Here’s my lap times:
1 ??
2 ??
3 9:11
4 9:12
5 9:13
6 9:10
Coming back to the finish it was time to start thinking ahead and assessing. I knew at this point that my hopes for a fast marathon were probably not going to happen and that was OK. I was happy to accept a “regular” marathon but I still felt very confident about finishing in sub 11 (which was one of my “one-things”). The next six miles went by pretty much without incident. Run run run…aid station…decide what to eat…walk 30…run to the next aid station! My diet varied to keep it interesting. Pretzels, water, coke, water, some Gatorade; I mixed things up. Stomach felt good, no sloshing, no hunger. However, one thing I could feel coming on that I was unable to do much about: I was getting sooooo sleepy tired!
About mile 13-14 it really hit me hard and I could feel myself being just drained of energy. It was practically all I could do to keep moving; honestly all I wanted was to lay down right there on the road and take a nap! My lap times from these miles were unfortunately very inconsistent:
(7) 9:14 (8) 9:17 (9) 9:01 (10) 8:33 (11) 9:01 (12) 9:06 (13) 8:43
The next six miles I was feeling pretty dejected. At mile 16 I realized I had 10 miles to go and based on my times thus far, I was not going to make it to my sub-11 goal. I had a hard time overcoming this mentally and I think this was probably my darkest place. Mile 19 I had to walk for about 120 steps or so, and mile 20 was the same. But it was at this point I guess the caffeine from all the cola I had kicked in just enough to give me a lift and help me realize I was only 6 miles away from the finish line, and despite the fact I had started out as less than 100%, I was going to make it. I can’ say I ever thought I wouldn’t ever finish, but at around mile 21, about all I could use for motivation was the thought of BED! LOL.
(14) 9:50 (15) 9:05 (16) 9:31 (17) 9:28 (18) 10:10 (19) 10:04 (20) 8:25 (this was not an accurate mile per my GPS)
(21) 10:39 (22) 10:46 (My low point!) (23) 10:01 (24) 10:15 (25) 10:49 (extra ice at the aid station!) (26) 10:02
Last few miles were fun. I knew I was running slower than I wanted, but I was able to run between every aid station, hit the station, grab something and move on. I found that ice chips were good; it gave me something to do in between stations and helped keep me hydrated enough.
Coming down Surf Drive was a great feeling. I wasn’t in too terrible shape, I had begun to perk up mentally and my legs were still holding up on me pretty well. Made the turn onto Front Beach and now I could see the lights and hear Mike Reilly’s voice. There was a U-turn at Front Beach then you branched right to finish and left for your second lap. There were a lot of people who went left and all I could think of was how happy I was to be heading down the finish chute!
My final stats:
11:09:50 496/2400 overall, 109/385 AG so top 21% overall, top 28% AG. I came out of the water 1090th overall so I passed 594 people on the bike and the run. Overall, I am happy about some things, very unhappy about others. My swim has always been mediocre, but I can accept that. I kind of go with the EN philosophy that more pool time doesn’t net you that much gain. Even with my (relatively) slow swim time, if I had done better on other portions, I would have been fine. My T1 I really can’t explain. I didn’t think I was moving slowly but clearly that was what was happening. I can fix that for the next race. My bike I’m very happy with. I hit my targets for watts and speed (even if the official stats don’t fully reflect that! ?). I had a good T2 and a good run up until mile 13-ish and that is where it somewhat came apart on me.
I have spent a lot of time digesting my race and trying to answer this basic question: did I have a good bike followed by a bad run? I know that we in Da Haus say that’s not really possible, but that uses the assumption of an athlete with no extraneous factors. I had two (illness, lack of sleep) but the $64,000 question is were those two factors enough to cost me a good run, or did I grossly overestimate my FTP and ride too hard? Based on my RRs I don’t believe that to be true, but at this point, I can concede that I did and that in fact, I had too good of a bike and cooked it for the run.
I am in turmoil over what to do next. I am happy to have finished my second IM but at the same time, I am VERY disappointed to have not had the day I “should” have had under conditions that were ideal. The winds were great…my bike computer showed a net 2 mph tailwind for the course. The run was flat and nice and cool temps. I felt really really good off the bike. Did my lack of sleep/illness catch up to me or did I not do it right? If I didn’t do it right, I guess the only thing to do is decide if I want to try it all over again next year. If I did it right but the external factors were enough to cost me a good run, I guess the only thing to do is to get over it and tri again at IMFL or another race next year!
I’m still sick, but my body feels amazingly good. I was telling my friend that I think in some ways, training is way worse! I’ve been tapering for 1.5 weeks and the only thing I had to do was the race. I’m probably going to join the local group for a group ride this Saturday just to keep the cycling muscles loose. I’m debating a February marathon and also trying to decide what to do for next year…several 70.3s and work on speed, thinking of a return to IM in 2011? Or jump right back into IM once I decide on which one to do? So many questions….lots of time for answers.
Edit: No way to attach a file (?) so I'm including it in my post.
Disappointment at Ironman Florida
Before I start my race report, first of all, CONGRATULATIONS to the EN IM team, especially those first timers. I don’t recall who all was a first timer, and I didn’t see everyone on the course, but nonetheless, it was nice meeting up with everyone at the dinner, and my congrats to each and everyone who was out there. And now, on to the race report.
It’s tough to convey to friends and family how after completing Ironman Florida I could be disappointed. Most people consider merely finishing a great accomplishment, and I know that I am proud to have finished my second Ironman in as many years. However, most of us here in Da Haus also can relate to the idea of having some goals to reach during the completion of an Iron Distance event, thus the disappointment of not reaching those goals. I’d ask anyone who has the patience to read through my IMFL RR and give me some feedback. I’ve got some questions at the end of my report that I am doing some serious soul-searching for answers, and I value Da Haus’ collective opinions.
First: the metrics. Going in to IMFL, I had done two very solid Race Rehearsals, one of which was completed on the IMFL bike course itself. I had set my FTP at 250 and decided on a .73 IF which put me at 184W. On both my RRs, I got around 177W which was acceptable. My two RRs were quite different, the first was awful, attributed to low hydration and high temps/humidity on the run. My second RR run was spectacular, averaging 8:17/mi for 6 miles when all I was looking for was 8:40s. So I had a lot of confidence in good pacing on the bike and having plenty of mojo for the run. I was hoping for a 3:50 marathon or so which would put me at 8:50s which I thought was attainable. Was hoping to finish in 11:00 or less, ideally at around 10:45.
We all hope to be fully gassed up with a finely tuned engine on race day and while I feel that my engine was rarin’ to go with good fitness, my gas tank was unfortunately a bit low. Two days before race day I developed a bug of some sort; mild congestion, a stuffy nose, scratchy throat and deep chest cough. Not too bad, but enough to where I knew I wasn’t 100%. More damaging though was the fact that I only got about 2 hrs of sleep on Friday night. My condo guests were quite enthusiastically making support signs well into the night which unfortunately kept me up. Even once the noise died down, at that point I was in the death spiral of “I have to go to sleep” and “I can still get 4 hours of sleep…” then “I can still get 3 hours of sleep…” etc. Not to be, I remember seeing 2:15 on the clock and I woke up at 4:20.
I actually woke up mentally sharp and ready to go. Drank my OJ, prepped my bagel with PB & honey and packed my banana and other last minute stuff and headed out the door. Transition was only about a mile away, so a good chance to stretch the legs and acclimatize. Temps were cool but not cold and the winds were light.
I got body marking done and proceeded to transition where I loaded up my Bento with my 3 biker bars and loaded my Speedfil with water. I stashed a pack of Clif Shots in my bike jersey as well as a bottle of Gatorade and a dispenser of Endurolytes. I didn’t expect to need them but thought I’d have them “just in case”. A long trip to the Porta John and by the time I got back to T1, it was a quick once over for all my equipment and time to get undressed, spray on Tri Slide and don the wetsuit. Out the door of the condo I made a game time decision to go with my long sleeved WS vice the farmer john.
Shuffled towards the beach about 5 minutes before they closed transition. It took a while as I was with “the herd” that was all meandering down to the beach, but eventually I got there. I was fortunate enough to run into JEFF on the beach, and we gave each other some encouragement. Mike Reilly was doing his thing and they began to play U2 “Beautiful Day” and at that moment I got pretty pumped because it WAS a beautiful day! Great temps, breezy, sunny and clear…a great day to do what we were about to do.
Jumped in the water at the gun without a huge sense of anything other than focusing on trying to avoid the worst of the washing machine and finding some clear water. It didn’t take long. I started well off to the right and the mass of humanity entering the water all at once was actually not too bad. I was able to angle toward the second buoy and by the time I got there, it was thin enough to where I could go pretty much straight on to the turn buoy where it got pretty interesting. There was a pretty solid swell straight out of the east, I’d say 3-5 feet. It would pick you up, generally just as you were breathing then slap you down as you were trying to inhale. It wasn’t as easy as the day before when I had been on a practice swim. But before you know it I hit the second turn and was heading back in. The trip in was difficult because the sun and the swell were both from the east making sighting and breathing to the right difficult. At one point I completely lost sight of the next buoy but of course, just followed some nearby swim caps in to the finish of the first lap. My time on lap 1 was 45 mins and change…much slower than I wanted. I grabbed a quick cup of water to rinse out the salt and headed back out.
The second lap was different than the first lap. There were far fewer people to contend with, but I think the swell was worse. Outbound it wasn’t too bad, but the turn across and the swim in were more difficult. In any case, I did better on the second lap apparently, because my overall swim time was 1:16:48. Either that, or the first lap was slightly longer than 1900m (which is my theory).
I am not 100% sure why my T1 was so slow. There were a LOT of people exiting the swim right then clogging up the lane running up to the transition area. I found a wetsuit stripper just fine but had a hard time understanding why one gentleman stopped under the shower and was almost taking a luxurious shower (?!!!). In any case, the only problem I had was my voice wasn’t working due to my scratchy throat, so instead of bellowing out my bib number to the volunteers, the best I could manage was a dry croak. It was kind of funny.
Took my time in the changing tent and decided to go with my Under Armor long sleeve shirt under my jersey. I cannot STAND to be skin cold so I took the extra time to put it on. I buckled up and carried my shoes to my bike stand. Donned shoes and headed out the chute onto the course.
From the word “GO” I was thinking watts, watts, watts. My plan was to go easy for 25-30 miles then see where I was on the course, I was expecting easterly winds so I knew that Hwy 20 would be a bit of a challenge, but was ready to take it easy until much further along the course. And it worked out great. My technique is to punch my lap timer every 7 miles which gives me about 20 min of data to average. By doing this, I am able to keep a handle on my wattage for that time period, and to remember to eat and drink on schedule. Also, towards the end of the ride, it gives me nice box that I can control (just make it to the next lap timer!) so hopefully Rich would approve of this method. Here are my 7 mile splits:
7 136W (Pnorm 147W) 20.1 mph WARMUP
14 160W (Pnorm 166W) 20.6 mph WARMUP
21 156W (Pnorm 160W) 21.9 mph WARMUP
28 164W (Pnorm 168W) 20.4 mph WARMUP
35 161 W (Pnorm 166 W) 20.3 mph WARMUP (stop to tinkle)
42 191 W (Pnorm 193 W) 19.5 mph Hills/Wind
49 190 W (Pnorm 194 W) 19.2 mph Hills/Wind
56 181 W (Pnorm 191 W) 21.8 mph Hills/Wind/Tailwind
63 186 W (Pnorm 190 W 24.0 mph Tailwind
70 182 W (Pnorm 186 W) 20.9 mph Tailwind
77 177 W (Pnorm 181 W) 20.8 mph Tailwind
84 166 W (Pnorm 172 W) 22.7 mph Tailwind
91 167 W (Pnorm 174 W) 22.5 mph (Sacrifice W for speed)
98 159 W (Pnorm 164 W) 23.6 mph (killer tailwind!)
105 167 W (Pnorm 172W) 22.0 mph (surprising tailiwind)
112 (113.45 mi) 149 W (Pnorm 161 W) 19.9 mph (should have pushed a few more watts!)
Overall Pa was 168W, Pnorm was 176W VI: 1.05 Cavg: 84 Ride time: 5:21:43 (stop time 3:25) Total Time 5:25:07. PM distance: 113.45 mi TSS: 250 PM Vavg: 21.2 (official Vavg 20.7).
Hwy 20 was as predicted with winds and some rolling hills. There was (for lack of a better term) large draft pack I got caught up with and could not shake. I wasn’t about to crank up my watts to above FTP to pull ahead of them (see RnP’s talk about passing a paceline!) nor was I about to put on the brakes and fall too far back (only to be passed by another and another and another). I did the best I could and although there were a LOT of penalties handed out by the refs, I was not on the receiving end of one. I did have to make a quick pit stop at about mile 34 to pee (I used a porta potty). I timed it and it only cost me about 45 seconds.
Once we made the turn onto Hwy 231 it got really really fun. My iBike showed a tailwind of 3-6 mph and I was able to dial up the speed without costing any watts. It was gratifying see 23-25 mph and wattages of 160-175. Camp Flowers Road was equally pleasurable although the eastbound turn of 388 was painfully bumpy and cracked. I did notice that I was passing a lot of riders and at this point, no one was passing me. Yeah for steady pacing!
On the turn back to the west on 388, I knew it was my time to fly. I deliberately sacrifed wattage for speed. Knowing that I’d turn South on 79 at mile 100 (and somewhat into the wind) I was determined to get a lot of speed out of the wind I had so I keep the RPMs high, kept eating and drinking and keeping an eye on my PM which was giving me good news. Stopped one last time at about mile 80 to pee AGAIN and took a little extra time to remove my Under Armor shirt for comfort. Total stop time was about 1:30 or so.
The results page shows me as finishing in 5:25:07 at a speed of 20.7 mph. My PM shows me at 176W, .704 IF and TSS of 265. Time was right on schedule of where I wanted it. In fact, I could have easily put out more watts on 388 and Hwy 79 but chose to go a bit easy and still get good speed. Would have liked to get IF up to around .72, but was happy with .70. My bike computer shows a speed of 21.3 mph and a distance of 113.45 miles. If you use my total time (including my pee stops!) and the distance of 113.45 then my bike speed was actually 20.9 mph which is very close to what I was shooting for (21.0 mph). I’d love to hear if anyone else in Da Haus showed the bike course as being a bit long. Not that I mind, it’s just that it does skew the numbers somewhat.
In any case, made it back to T2 feeling GREAT! I was happy with a moderate swim (although unhappy about my slow T1) and VERY happy with a well-executed bike. I felt good still, although I had been blowing my nose about 10 minutes and I still couldn’t manage more than a croak. It was so bad that no volunteer even knew I was there and had to get my own Run Gear bag (not a problem, I had rehearsed it and knew the location). Got into the tent where I found a volunteer and methodically tried to quickly get ready for the final challenge. First thing I did was strap on and turn on my GPS. I then stripped off everything and got into my running singlet, socks, running shorts and shoes. Grabbed hat and sunglasses and jogged off feeling great. It took a while for my GPS to lock in but that was no big deal. By the time it finally acquired I was a half mile in to the run…no biggie. I simply hit the lap button at the first official mile marker I saw and let it go from there.
I had real issues with going slow on brick runs so I was hawking my Garmin every 30 seconds keeping my pace low. I promised myself to give RnP 3 minutes in the first 6 miles in order to have a mo’ bettah race overall. And so it went. I had made the mistake of not eating and drinking very little in the first 7 miles of IMLP last year, so I made sure to get some water and some small snacks at the aid stations. Walked 30 steps just as instructed and made it out to the first 6 miles feeling like a million bucks. Here’s my lap times:
1 ??
2 ??
3 9:11
4 9:12
5 9:13
6 9:10
Coming back to the finish it was time to start thinking ahead and assessing. I knew at this point that my hopes for a fast marathon were probably not going to happen and that was OK. I was happy to accept a “regular” marathon but I still felt very confident about finishing in sub 11 (which was one of my “one-things”). The next six miles went by pretty much without incident. Run run run…aid station…decide what to eat…walk 30…run to the next aid station! My diet varied to keep it interesting. Pretzels, water, coke, water, some Gatorade; I mixed things up. Stomach felt good, no sloshing, no hunger. However, one thing I could feel coming on that I was unable to do much about: I was getting sooooo sleepy tired!
About mile 13-14 it really hit me hard and I could feel myself being just drained of energy. It was practically all I could do to keep moving; honestly all I wanted was to lay down right there on the road and take a nap! My lap times from these miles were unfortunately very inconsistent:
(7) 9:14 (8) 9:17 (9) 9:01 (10) 8:33 (11) 9:01 (12) 9:06 (13) 8:43
The next six miles I was feeling pretty dejected. At mile 16 I realized I had 10 miles to go and based on my times thus far, I was not going to make it to my sub-11 goal. I had a hard time overcoming this mentally and I think this was probably my darkest place. Mile 19 I had to walk for about 120 steps or so, and mile 20 was the same. But it was at this point I guess the caffeine from all the cola I had kicked in just enough to give me a lift and help me realize I was only 6 miles away from the finish line, and despite the fact I had started out as less than 100%, I was going to make it. I can’ say I ever thought I wouldn’t ever finish, but at around mile 21, about all I could use for motivation was the thought of BED! LOL.
(14) 9:50 (15) 9:05 (16) 9:31 (17) 9:28 (18) 10:10 (19) 10:04 (20) 8:25 (this was not an accurate mile per my GPS)
(21) 10:39 (22) 10:46 (My low point!) (23) 10:01 (24) 10:15 (25) 10:49 (extra ice at the aid station!) (26) 10:02
Last few miles were fun. I knew I was running slower than I wanted, but I was able to run between every aid station, hit the station, grab something and move on. I found that ice chips were good; it gave me something to do in between stations and helped keep me hydrated enough.
Coming down Surf Drive was a great feeling. I wasn’t in too terrible shape, I had begun to perk up mentally and my legs were still holding up on me pretty well. Made the turn onto Front Beach and now I could see the lights and hear Mike Reilly’s voice. There was a U-turn at Front Beach then you branched right to finish and left for your second lap. There were a lot of people who went left and all I could think of was how happy I was to be heading down the finish chute!
My final stats:
11:09:50 496/2400 overall, 109/385 AG so top 21% overall, top 28% AG. I came out of the water 1090th overall so I passed 594 people on the bike and the run. Overall, I am happy about some things, very unhappy about others. My swim has always been mediocre, but I can accept that. I kind of go with the EN philosophy that more pool time doesn’t net you that much gain. Even with my (relatively) slow swim time, if I had done better on other portions, I would have been fine. My T1 I really can’t explain. I didn’t think I was moving slowly but clearly that was what was happening. I can fix that for the next race. My bike I’m very happy with. I hit my targets for watts and speed (even if the official stats don’t fully reflect that! ?). I had a good T2 and a good run up until mile 13-ish and that is where it somewhat came apart on me.
I have spent a lot of time digesting my race and trying to answer this basic question: did I have a good bike followed by a bad run? I know that we in Da Haus say that’s not really possible, but that uses the assumption of an athlete with no extraneous factors. I had two (illness, lack of sleep) but the $64,000 question is were those two factors enough to cost me a good run, or did I grossly overestimate my FTP and ride too hard? Based on my RRs I don’t believe that to be true, but at this point, I can concede that I did and that in fact, I had too good of a bike and cooked it for the run.
I am in turmoil over what to do next. I am happy to have finished my second IM but at the same time, I am VERY disappointed to have not had the day I “should” have had under conditions that were ideal. The winds were great…my bike computer showed a net 2 mph tailwind for the course. The run was flat and nice and cool temps. I felt really really good off the bike. Did my lack of sleep/illness catch up to me or did I not do it right? If I didn’t do it right, I guess the only thing to do is decide if I want to try it all over again next year. If I did it right but the external factors were enough to cost me a good run, I guess the only thing to do is to get over it and tri again at IMFL or another race next year!
I’m still sick, but my body feels amazingly good. I was telling my friend that I think in some ways, training is way worse! I’ve been tapering for 1.5 weeks and the only thing I had to do was the race. I’m probably going to join the local group for a group ride this Saturday just to keep the cycling muscles loose. I’m debating a February marathon and also trying to decide what to do for next year…several 70.3s and work on speed, thinking of a return to IM in 2011? Or jump right back into IM once I decide on which one to do? So many questions….lots of time for answers.
0
Comments
Before I dig too deeply, what was your "perfect" scenario for the run and for overall time?
P
First off congrats on the finish.
I am new to power and the Haus so take these comments with that in mind.
Things I saw in the report:
1) Why did you think you could hold 184W when you two race rehersals you hit 177W? That would give you an IF of .71 on the RR's.
2)When I plug the number in to the power calculator a your 250 FTP with .73 IF give gives gearing watts (gear 1, 2, 3, 4) of 173, 183, 192, 201. You hit gear three (192 watts) for miles 42 through 70 (186 here). If your IF was .71 like your RR this means you went to hot for most of these miles. An FTP of 250 and IF of .71 gives gearing watts of 169, 178, 186, 195. That means that you were at or closer to the short hills watts (gear four) of 195 for the better part of these miles.
3)The TSS of 265 puts you right at the border of the safe zone and Good range for the IM TSS. With the lack of sleep and sickness perhaps your IF should have been backed down even further to .68 or .69. It's hard to say how much this also contributed to the slower run.
Those were my thoughts.
Gordon
With all respect--and I do mean sincere respect--I have not ready many--if any--race or training reports of yours where you are not disappointed. I believe your ultimate goal time for IMFL was in the 10:55 range, and you went 11:09. I'll let the guys geek over your gearing and your IF and TSS et al, but I'll point out that in an IM race--a race of more than 10 hours--you were 2.1% off your goal. Dude, 2.1% on an IM day. That's the accuracy of a Computrainer.
I think you had an outstanding outing, and I extend sincere congratulations. Do you think being sick for days beforehand did not affect you? You're a smart man, James. You know it did. It's also, what? Your second Ironman? How many did Patrick do before he nailed his ultimate goal?
I just feel sad when I read someone with your talent, drive, and ethic be consistently disappointed in this game we play. Don't let distress lead to unfulfillment in a place that should be filled with gratitude and joy. Absolutely dissect the race to learn what you can, and where to improve. But in the end, we can never really know, or completely predict any outcome. I hope you can find joy in the day, and in the all you gave it from start to finish in all of 2009.
“Far better it is to dare mighty things,
To win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure,
Than to rank with those poor spirits
Who neither enjoy nor suffer much
Because they live in that gray twilight
That knows neither victory nor defeat.”
- Theodore Roosevelt
I want to add +2 on Linda's thought process of your success at this race. No question it's disappointing to miss a number you've set out for yourself. However, given the illness that was obviously affecting you (if you can't speak more than a dull whisper, it's not just a garden-variety cold), you had a tremendous race. Staying within that margin of your goal pace for all but a few miles of the run is remarkable. Your body was hard at work dealing with something, and you still rung an 11:09 out of yourself.
Role of lack of sleep is hard to figure. In my college rowing days, very few of us ever slept well the night before a race. Most of us brushed it off, safe in the knowledge that "it's the night before the night before that really matters." But the role of an illness is a lot easier to figure. It's going to take its toll.
Congrats. You deserve it. That was a heck of a performance.
Mike
I do one IM a year, so if it doesn't go as planned, there is no opportunity to try again.
I find the best thing to do is hang the bike in the garage for a period of time to regroup mentally, get on with everything else in your life and then come back with the usual passion later. I find that I think much more objectively several months after the race has ended.
Walk around the house with your finisher medal on for a while and come back in February to talk about next year's plan.
Congrats on a great race!
My 2 cents.
tom
In any case James. Congratulations! Hold your head high- that was a good race and you got yourself through a pretty dark spot and out the other side without really impacting the end result by very much. It's been a loooooooooong year of training for you with a lot of pressure leading up to this race. Enjoy some down time and let your head clear about all of this. You can make 2010 and 2011 goals in Jan or Feb! For now- enjoy the holidays!
r/Paul
Thanks Patrick.
On a perfect day, I would have rocked 9:10s for 6 then sped up to 8:50s for 14 or so, hoping to speed up to around 8:40-45 for the last 3. I was able to assess myself at mile 6 and realized that was going to be a stretch. Still, I didn't expect to go as slow as I did.
James
Thanks Gordon, for your thoughts.
I didn't think I'd necessarily hit 184W in the race, but it was a goal. True, I didn't hit that number on either RR however, neither RR were done on rested legs or in the race environment. 7W is well within the measurement error or any PM as well! From the IM pacing chart, I used an IF of .73 and gearing associated with that. True, on I think, 3 sections of the course, I put out 7W more than intended, however, for every single other section of the course, my Wattage was well below (meaning, my average was pretty well on target). I'll let someone else smarter than I say if those sections at only 7W above my target would cook me that badly...I honestly don't know, but my RPE and my gut and my experience say "no" however, I'm open to suggestions!
To be honest, I didn't even consider backing down the IF/gearing on the bike (in considering being slightly sick and no sleep). In retrospect, perhaps that would have not been a bad idea, but to be honest, on race morning, it didn't occur to me! Next time...it will.
Thanks a lot for your inputs!
Thanks for your input Linda. It's always welcome.
I do tend to be hard on myself. It's part of my culture in the Navy. I try to set reasonable goals and am goal oriented (I guess). When I don't make those goals, I do get disappointed. Like Chumbawumba, I get knocked down, but I get up again!
It's very true that it often takes people many attempts to "nail" a race, and that is why Da Haus is so valuable. We can use the mistakes of others as learning points to avoid them and hopefully have fewer "mistake" races until at last we nail ours. I was genuinely hoping that IMFL would be that nail race. I WANT to think that my extraneous factors (sleep, illness) are what prevented it, and if so, that sucks, but I can accept it and try try again. However, to think that I've spent hours and hours training and learning only to have my well thought goals be out of reach is a hard pill to swallow.
Thanks for your congrats and encouragement. I am still dissecting and learning and working on a plan for next year. Dunno yet what it will entail, but like TR said, I am truly not one of those who have never dared (even if I didn't attain the level of sucess I hoped for!).
James...less than a 3% miss from your goal while being sick? Please. You were spot on and the illness was the difference.
Vince
Thanks Mike, Very much appreciate what you have to say.
I agree that lack of sleep is usually not too bad. I am aware of a sleep study on Olympic athletes that essentially states that sub normal sleep before a major competition was not a precursor to poor performance. However, I don't know what duration event those Olympians were competing in...perhaps not an 11-hour event! I can usually always get by on 4 hours of sleep, no matter how long or stressful my day is. It's been a while since I had to work on like 2 hours of sleep and all I can say is that at one point I truly wanted to lay down on the run course and snooze!
The illness thing I know affected me...just have no idea how much. A week later and I'm still feeling the affects....still a bit congested and coughing up stuff (but my sinuses are clear thankfully). Have no idea what I had (have) but I'm sure it did take it's toll on me.
I keep telling myself that not everyone that started to race on that day finished, and it's not everyone that can do what we do. Still, I have high expectations of myself, and can't help but think of what might have been. Now I'm turning my attention to the future and what I can do on another day and another IM course.
Thanks again for your kind words.
Thanks Vince. I guess I can always take the tack that sickness and sleep cost me 3%!
James -
Hard to give more than has been given already (does Team EN rock or what???) but I will say that given your solid execution on the bike (pretty close to perfect) and the early stages of the run, that latter sleepy fade is a function of blood sugar / food intake....most folks avoid it because they aren't sick, but given your pre-fatigue it showed up early in your day. Really doubt that backign down by 7watts (good catch gordon!) would have saved your run, rather, it was going to happen only a matter of when.
We all have come close in an IM. I have gone 10:01 once, 10:04 like 5 times. I have missed a Kona slot by 4 seconds. Someone reading this has similar heartbreak. But it's not these near misses that define us, but rather how we respond to them. I know you'll be back bigger badder and stronger than ever in 2010!
P
Thanks Nemo. To be honest, the thought of backing my plan down due to illness/sleep never even occurred to me. Not because I'm stubborn it just never ever occurred to me. Don't know if I would have had the wherewithal on race day to recalc everything anyway. Oh well. It does suck a lot to get that close and yet not get there at all...And as Tom said, when you only have one A race a year, that's your one shot to make it happen (or not) and you put everything into that one shot. As Eminen would say: "You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow, this opportunity comes once in a lifetime." Or something like that.
OTOH, I did push through some adversity to complete the race which isn't chump change. I'm pretty proud to have made that happen.
Thanks for your kind words.
Hell Yeah you should be proud!!! BTW- I listen to that tune during my warmup before almost every FTT- totally motivates me!
James-
Not sure I could add much other than understanding. On anyone's best day at an IM they are going to contend with the "unkown" whether that be weather, competitors, stomach, etc, etc. My belief is that pretty much like me or anyone else who does this, there is some "A" type personality that is alway searching for "why didn't I go faster", "what could I have done different", etc. To be honest beiing within 2% of your stated goal is pretty remarkable. What makes it hard was the desire to go sub-11 and not quite get there. Given the stellar execution you had I would suggest that sleep/sickness played larger role than you suspect. Be proud dude...you rocked it!