Brian Hagan's 2017 IMKY Race Report

Overall my experience with this year’s Ironman Louisville was great!  Special thanks to @Scott Dinhofer for taking on the Super Sherpa role.  Also, thanks to @Kellie Moran-Jones for having the team over for dinner on Friday.  We really had an awesome group of EN athletes to share the experience.

I followed my plan in the morning of waking up at 3:30 and eating 2 Vega bars and a Naked Fruit Boosted Smoothie (Blue Machine).  I slept a little more,  got dressed and went to T1 at 5:00 (short walk from hotel).  I pumped my tires and then added my Amphipod fuel belt with gel flasks to my T1 bag.  I went back to the hotel, bathroom, then grabbed my wetsuit and morning clothes bag and headed down to swim start.

I found @Paul Curtin and @Jeff Kane in the 1:00-1:10 area.  Once the pros got going we were quickly moving up to the swim start and ready to go.

Swim: Goal 1:10 – Actual 1:03:24 – 45/289 (45-49) (16%).

Fuel – One gel 20 minutes prior while sipping GE

The swim is broken into 3 sections.  1) Against a slight current (if any) between and island and the shore (marina). 2) The other side of the Island with the current 3) with the current, past the Island, under 2 bridges to T1.  

Per @Paul Curtin’s advice,  I jumped in from the right deck and stayed to the right of the herd that wanted to be close to the island.  I had a little contact but not much.  I did my best to follow @Mike Roberts advice and keep the hands on the gas (high cadence, no gliding) up the current.  You really could not feel the current until you got past the island.  I was also surprised at how far past the island we went.  My Garmin auto laps every 200 yds in open water, and I averaged 1:38 pace (faster than plan of 1:40). After turning down river, for the section where I had the island on my left, I started getting some help from the current and averaged 1:22 pace.  I never swim that fast, especially for 1600 yards.  When I passed the Island and started heading to T1 for the final 1220 yards (I may not have been in a straight line) I averaged 1:13 pace.  So, we definitely had help from the current.

The good news is I finished in the top 16% of my age group.  The best I have ever done was 31% at Muskoka in 2015.  I have worked hard on my swim, and am very happy with this result.  @Paul Curtin and I exited the swim together.  He asked me the time for the swim.  I said “1:03”.  He said “No effing way!”

T1 – Goal – Efficient as possible – Actual 5:35 – 26/289 9%

Wet-suit Strippers, grabbed T1 bag, dumped in tent, helmet on, wet-suit cap and goggles in bag, grabbed shoes, grabbed fuel belt and put on waist, handed bag to volunteer jogged to bike.  I Ran to my bike.  Put shoes on, ran to mount line.

Bike – 5:57:05 – 77/289 – 27%  

Fuel – 9 24OZ GE (3 in first hour) + 1 water mid-way + 12 Gels + 2 salt pills

The plan was what Best Bike Split calculated.  However, I know that my FTP does not correlate with my 5 hour power.  I believe if I would have stuck to this, my run would have been terrible. 

As soon as I exited T1, I noticed my front tire was flat.  I pulled over to get out of everyone’s way and examined the fire.  Thankfully, @Julian Cass was nearby and he really helped me keep calm.  I had ridden on the tire before, so I know there was no pinch.  There were no signs of any damage, so I took a chance and just used a CO2 and inflated it.  Luckily, that’s all it took.  I was on my way.  The delay was about 4 minutes.  

I had about 35 minutes of coasting (including the tire issue).  If I break my ride into 4 sections, you can see that I was pretty steady for the first 60 miles.  I had the BBS plan loaded in my Garmin and was really using it as a guideline.  I pedaled easier than plan up hills (had me maxed at 230) and harder than plan down hills.  BBS had my target between 170 and 230, and I tried to smooth them closer to the middle.  Everything was going just as we talk about in EN.  People would pass me on the up hills and I would pass them back on the down hills.  The wind really picked up on my second loop of La Grange it just wore on me.  I really got a lot of negative thoughts in my head and just wanted to get off the course.  For the final 30 miles, I was heading directly into 20 MPH winds with 30 MPH gusts.  At this point, I was biking under plan and obviously a bit slower.  Here are the high level splits:

I have mixed feelings on my bike performance.  I have worked very hard on my bike the last 18 months and really thought it was going to be my strength.  I did improve from top 33% in AG at Texas to top 27% in AG at L’ville.  I really thought I would be in the top 20% of my age group.  Maybe I was close to where I should have biked than where I could have biked.   

I guess also, there was a lot of downhill for the last 20 miles, the power numbers will be down because of coasting and pedaling at lower watts.

T2 – Goal – Efficient as possible – Actual 6:13 – 33/289 11%

I could have run down the sidewalk to the T2 bags, but I chose to walk because my bare feet were hurting with all the debris that had blown on the sidewalk.  Once I hit grass, I started to run. Grabbed bag, dumped it in tent. Put helmet in bag. Put on socks and shoes.  Grabbed hat and race belt and took off.

Run – Goal – Run a marathon with sustained to increasing RPE – Actual Ran the marathon with sustained to increasing  RPE!  Actual 71/289 25%

Once I got out on the course, I saw @Julian Cass and I realized I felt great!  I failed to mention that during the last 2 hours of the bike, it dropped 18 degrees Fahrenheit.  For me, this was perfect weather to run.  It started at 60 degrees and got colder quick.

After 3 miles or so, @Francis Picard caught up to me.  He said that he needed to run slow for the first 10K, so he would stick with me…..  The time flew by while we were together.  We separated at the 6 mile mark and I was averaging around 8:50 / mile at that point, but the HR was at bike HR.  For the first nine miles, I averaged 9:15 pace (I had planned on mid 9’s).  After nine miles I averaged 9:57 for the remainder of the marathon, but I really did not slow down until 20 mile.  Mile 20 to 23.5 was 10:14 pace and 23.5 to the finish was 10:52.  I only walked aid stations after mile 20, and that was for a short period to get in red bull and gels.

I did get in three gels in the first hour and stuck to water and Gatorade Endurance for the first half of the marathon.  After that, I started mixing in Red Bull and occasional gels.

Just before the finishing shoot, some guy passed me.  I noticed he had a 46 on his calf (my age).  He was looking over his shoulder at me.  I did the best I could to sprint past him and beat him, but I realized the finish was a little further than I planned and could not keep up the pace.  He eventually sprinted past me and finished before me, but it was fun to be able to do that at the end of and IM.

Overall – I finished 11:26:32 58/289 in the top 20% of the Male 45-49 AG.  I was hoping secretly in my head to get closer to that 11:00 mark, but I know I will soon enough.  I certainly made progress as you see here:

I was not planning to do a full IM in 2018, but this race has me wanting to do another!  We will see.  For now, I will rest and then focus on Ultraman Florida.