Jan's IM Canada Race Report
What an experience!! Could not be happier with the location we chose for our first IM. Thanks to EN and all its members for the guidance, coaching, motivation in getting me prepared for this event. My wife and I weren't able to attend the EN dinner on Friday night, so we did not get to meet everyone racing, but it was great to meet Dave and Jenn on Monday at the awards ceremony. Congrats to all EN’ers on great performances on this tough course.
Everything went according to plan. Athlete check in, bike course recon ( Callaghan Valley climb, road to Pemberton and climb back to Whistler), bike and run gear bag drop offs, morning breakfast, got to T1 around 5am and got everything ready. Only problem that morning was the fact it was really cold outside. Got on the wetsuit early to try to stay warm but the shivering never really stopped.
Swim: 1:11:37
It was a mass start. Started towards the middle and swam hard to the second buoy and then settled in to my pace. Sighting every 6 strokes. My RR times in the pool were 1:10-1:11, so my execution was pretty good.
At some point in the middle of the second swim loop, I got very, very cold. I began having a hard time moving my arms , my ankles and knees were hurting from the cold and more and more people began passing me. This was somewhat discouraging but I tried to stay in the zone and have warm thoughts going through my mind. Once out of the water, I was very disoriented. In the T1 tent, I needed a volunteer to help dump my bag and find my gear. The cold water really got the best of me. My hands were cramped up from the cold water and I walked out of the tent with a bunch of chamois cream on my sunglasses. A volunteer showed me to my bike, and I felt bad I had to ask him to use his tshirt to clean my glasses. T1 = 5:44
Bike : 6:12:12
The first 45’ were awful. I was so cold and shivering on the bike.. At the 30’ mark, I tried to eat 1/2 power bar, like I always do in training. I was unable to chew because both my TMJ were locked up from shivering. It did not help there are many downhills in the first 10 miles, all still in the shade. Once we made the left turn onto the Callaghan Valley climb, we were in the sun and things started to improve.
My goal NP = 159, IF =0.69. I tried to spin up the hills as much as possible, but with a regular crank set this was difficult at times. For those doing IM Canada in the future , a compact is definitely recommended, however my budget ran out and I just couldn't spend more $$ on more bike equipment. I definitely didn't ignore the advice that others had given me about this, but cant have everything. Ended up with IF 0.706, NP= 162, VI 1.081, TSS 306. Defenitely room for improvement. I held back a little bit on the Pemberton flats to save the legs for the final 20 mile climb back to Whistler. These last 20 miles are the hardest of the course. There are a few breaks from climbing , but the majority of the time you’re going uphill. details for this climb: 1hr 28 min, NP 164, avg HR 151, avg speed 13.8 mph, VI 1.06
The bike course here is beautiful, but very challenging. I felt good the whole ride, stuck with my nutrition plan. Used SN for sunscreen and enjoyed every minute of it. Met a bunch of fellow Belgians on the bike and saw a lot of people struggling during the last 20 miles.
T2 was nothing special. 4:35. Probably could've been 30 sec to a min faster if it wasn't for a blister on the bottom of my big toe. I asked volunteer for a band aid and he came back after 30 sec or so with no band aid. Thankfully it didn't bother me much after mile 1 on the run.
Run: 4:43:12
My first 6 miles were perfectly according to plan. 9:28,9:54, 9:56, 9:19, 9:49, 9:47,9 :48 min/ mile. 30 steps at the aid station. 2 sips of diluted perform. I didn't take a gel at mile 5 like I always do. My mind was telling me No way!! So i stuck with Perform the whole time. After mile 7, things began going downhill. I lost my pacing buddies ( 3 of us came out of T2 together and we all ran the same pace. The other 2 dropped off and I was left alone). Mentally this was tough and I stopped running as well. Gradually the ‘get going again’ became harder and harder and a few times I just stood still and looked around and thought ‘this is impossible. This sucks right now. Still 19-18-17-…miles to go’
Somewhere around mile 12 , I saw my wife going out on her first loop. She said ‘ Jan, dont quit. you got this’. Another competitor came up to me and said ‘Comon man, you're not really quiting are you? I said no. So he said, my day is shot, but I cannot let my family down and all the ones who support me’. This gave me courage and then getting back to Whistler village, seeing all the fans was exactly what I needed. I said screw my paces, I am going to do a 3/1 run/ walk. I did this for 13 miles. My pace gradually improved and I passed a lot of people doing it this way. http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/551621169
Overall : 12:17:40.
I’m very happy with this. When I started doing triathlons 5 years ago, IM seemed impossible. Now it is no longer impossible. There are many things I learned in the build up to this race, during the race and from my post race analysis. I don't know when my next IM will be, but I feel a sub 12 hrs is definitely within reach.
Thanks for reading.
Comments
I'm sure you can crush 12 hrs on the next one!
Given the challenges the weather posed early in the day, you had a remarkable result for a first IM effort. A steadier bike (it might be a good idea to submit your file to Coach P for a Crucible analysis, and.or post it here like you did your run?) and a deeper willingness to holding your pace the last 1.5 hours of the run seem to be the next steps for you.
I don't think I underestimated the difficulty of the marathon, but I guess you don't really know what it's like till you do it. The mid is powerful and I wasn't as prepared as I thought I was to fight it. Now I know for the next one.
I'll post my bike file later when I have access to a computer.
Here is my bike file. Any feedback, advice is all appreciated. Anything I can learn from is good.
Mark, thanks for pointing that out. here is my Garmin file http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/551550656
I also attached a more detailed bike file from Golden Cheetah.
Jan - I've taken a quick look at your bike file on Garmin Connect. It seems to me you made the classic error a lot of us have in working too hard early on, even if "only" for a short time, like 15-20 minutes or so.
Details: your fourth interval - miles 15-20, up the first serious hill - was @ NP of 191 for 22 minutes. Your FTP is 230, no? So that's a sustained 0.83 IF, which is HIM+ territory. Within that interval, between 1:01 and 1:14, you spent all your time between 200 and 240, appearing to be riding close to 0.90 IF - Olympic distance effort. Believe it or not, that's what buggered your run, not some mental focus failing, late race nutrition issue, or lack of run durability. I've done that twice myself, and DNF'd each time - the fact you were able to run as much as you did in the second half is a testament to your fitness, your mental fortitude, and your attention to your nutrition.
I know 15-20 minutes at that high effort level, when done around 60-75 minutes into the bike, does not seem like it should have the major impact it does. But the marathon is littered with the shuffling bodies of countless IM athletes who have made that very mistake.
Ideally, you should have been riding that hill, which takes over 15 minutes to climb, at no greater than 170 watts at any time. Next time, keep to the training plan and nutrition plan you already have, and employ more rigorous discipline in following the race execution strategy of going no higher than 5% above your planned overall IF when riding up sustained hills, especially early in the bike. It really is that simple.
@Al, thanks for your time, feedback and advice. I was definitely not careful enough with my power and rode too hard in the 4th interval. etter gearing may have helped with that, but I had to do with what I have. My goal power for hills like that one was 167, as per the EN calculator, so I went way too hard.
I am still not sure how I was able to keep my power more under control in later intervals ( 19 and 20). Is it due to going slower or because of fatigue and I was not able to produce as much power?
How are you able to break down my data into smaller intervals then the 5 mile intervals Garmin gives you? I try to zoom in on the graphs but then I seem to be missing data points on the graphs? While I am slowly learning about using power when riding , the post ride analysis still needs a lot of work and I could probably learn a lot if I knew how to analyze this data better. I generally look at how I rode the set intervals ( 5 miles) . Not sure if I have the correct software to break down hills or flats or other sections.
Jan, I did not create a specific interval; I just ran the cursor along the power curve, and read each of the power #s which appeared. Not the best method, more quick and dirty, so the resulting IF is not exact. But close enough for the purpose of this analysis. Garmin Connect does not seem to allow the creation of intervals for this type of analysis. Other programs I use are able to. EG, TrainingPeaks (online or WKO+) and PowerAgent (for PowerTap/Joule files). It's probably possible to open the Garmin file in one of those, but I haven;t taken the time to learn how.
You noted you have Golden Cheetah. I have not used this, but I would bet it has the ability to create intervals within a power file. There are some GC power users on the team who may be able to help with learning the finer details of how to use that program. A query in the Power/Pace forum might yield the info.