Matt Limbert - IM Santa Rosa 2018 - Race Report

Race Report – IMSR – Matt Limbert

Result: 9:55 (Swim: 1:02, Bike: 5:18, Run: 3:23) Transitions: T1: 6:04, T2: 4:17

Kona Qualification from roll down - how cool is that!

Stats: 6th in 45-49 Age Group - (4 slots total, 4rth declined, 5th former pro qualified already)

If you are considering IMSR: The race is held in Sonoma County wine country, about 1:40 drive from San Francisco. Smaller age-group only field, (1580 registered – down from 1850 in 2017) most likely due to the negative reviews of the rough pavement on the 2017 bike course in 2017. Split T1 and T2 makes is a bit more involved logistically for bike check-in and bus to the start on race day. The swim is wetsuit legal and a 2x loop in Lake Sonoma. **Public Safety Announcement #1: Swim to T1 has a 400+ meter, 8-10% climb up a boat ramp/road to T1. The bike is scenic wine country, rolling hills and +3,327 of climbing. **Public Safety Announcement #2: This course was an “improvement” from 2017, but I guess-estimate 25%+ of the course is still some pretty challenging pavement. It is never just one section, it comes in 3-5 minute sections distributed throughout the course so you are always looking for something in the pavement as well as the grade change. Oh, and not all the roads are closed to traffic.) Finally, the run is 3x loop on a paved/flat dirt trail along creek in downtown Santa Rosa with a good mix of shade and sun. 50 degrees F (11 C) at the start, 82 degrees F (28 C) in the afternoon. Great volunteers and town.

Pre-Race: It took me a few days to sort out my mental strategy. I posted my race plan, which focused on staying patient, aerobic pacing and nailing fueling/hydration basics – something I failed to do at IM AZ last fall. I got a lot of great feedback, most of which focused on the mental side of racing and cranking up the intensity based on my fitness potential. This shook my confidence a bit because I always considered myself a mentally tough racer.  So, I re-wrote my plan and thought about how to best incorporate the feedback while staying true to my race goals. *** This step was key for me – I restored my confidence and I committed some key statements, phrases and ideas to memory for portions of the race and would draw on them when it mattered most.   

My wife and I arrived in San Francisco on Wednesday, and it was an easy drive from the airport north to Santa Rosa. I checked in Wednesday afternoon and on Thursday morning we drove out to Lake Sonoma for a short practice swim and check out the “climb” to T1 from swim to transition. This was my first open water swim since IM AZ last fall. This visibility was good for a lake swim, about 1-2 feet past my extended hand. I got a feel for the water and practiced the jog up the boat ramp. We drove a good portion of the bike course and my takeaway was that there was always something to do on this course – either a grade change or dodging rough pavement. (I have a confession here - am a pavement snob – I dislike dodging potholes, asphalt patches, chip seal, rough pavement water bottles, road kill etc, especially in the aerobars. Leave the rough surface for mountain biking.) I met Peter Noyes at the athlete briefing and it is always fun to meet EN’rs in person after reading all about them. On Friday, I met with Shaughn Simmons, Peter Noyes and Amulya Parthasarathy (who was doing his first IM – finished in 13:41 BTW – Congratulations, Amulya. You are an Ironman!) at IHOP for a carb loading breakfast of pancakes. The rest of the day was easy, lots of reading, low fiber food, followed by Scratch Hyper Hydration.

Race Morning:

Race breakfast of: 2x Naked juice, PowerBar, 2x Stinger waffles, left at 3:45 AM to get in line and catch the first swim shuttle at 4:15 AM. Drank another bottle of Scratch Hyper Hydration during the 45 minute ride to T1. Got my nutrition and bottles set up, use the bathroom etc, synched my bike computer and pumped tires etc. I had plenty of warm clothes for the swim start.

Swim: 1:02, 12th in age group.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1568401967

I lined up just behind the 1 hour swimmers and felt good for the first 4 minutes. Perfect, I didn’t freak out and was on my way to finding a good rhythm. Then, I noticed I was starting to breathe a bit faster and started to freak out. I recognized it early and worked through a desire to stop swimming. (You can see the bump in heart rate at the 3-5 minute mark in my data). Here is where I focused on advice from Mike Roberts. I focused on “What do I need to be doing right now?” and counted strokes, exhale fully, concentrated on my hand entry, pull and tight core. I got my thought process back under control and found the rhythm I was looking for. Win! I swam buoy to buoy, counting buoys on the way out and back. I would periodically find some feet to draft, but focused on staying close to the buoys. There was a short exit for the second loop, more traffic and some contact on the second lap but really pretty tame for open water. At the ¾ mark, I re-evaluated my effort and consciously re-focused “What do I need to be doing right now?” – at the time the swim felt like my race rehearsals. I wore my watch (because I wanted the data) but I never looked at it.

T2: 6:04 (20th in age group)

No I didn’t take a nap. There is a 400+ meter climb at 8-10% grade from the swim to the transition tent. I jogged up, got my wetsuit stripped. Limited volunteers in the transition tent – pack you own bag. My helmet visor came off and it took a bit to get it snapped back in. I was paranoid of a flat from the rough pavement so I was stuffing 2x tires and cartridges into my jersey pockets.

Bike: 5:18, NP: 176, IF .59, HR: 132, VI: 1.1, Pwr:Hr: 2.62% Speed: 21.08

https://www.strava.com/activities/1568397946

Out of transition, within the first mile I lost a water bottle to bump (fell out and spilled)  – so I needed to adapt my hydration and fueling strategy for the first hour before the next aid station at mile 18.There is steep, no aerobar descent out of T1, followed by a 3-4 mile climb of 300 + ft. After that initial climb, I focused solely on maintaining a steady effort and cross-checked it with heart rate and power. Despite my lost bottle, I stayed on my hydration schedule (1 GE bottle / hr) and 1 shot block per 15 minutes for the entire ride. I made some “micro” adjustments of when to drink or eat during that 15 minute window, based on how my gut was reacting. If I felt full or burping I would wait just a few minutes and try a smaller dose but generally stayed on that fueling schedule. On the downside, I knew my power was “low” based on my race rehearsals, and decided early not to chase a power number. I was also concerned about a little tightness in my lower back and I noticed my cadence was a bit low early. I increased my cadence that helped my back. My VI looks terrible at 1.1, but if didn’t feel like I was varying my power wildly. I felt the effort was pretty consistent if anything it was a bit too easy in some places. On the upside, I peed 4x times. On the downside, I peed 4x times and slowed to pee every time – so learning to pedal and pee would certainly help. On the upside, my heart rate was under control for all the major climbs, never getting above 149. If anything my heart rate was a bit low. Parts of this course took some serious patience and discipline from me to work through my own little personal battle of “Matt vs. pavement” or “Matt vs. grade change” – I tried to stay present by constantly asking myself “What do you need to do right now?.” I did pick up quite a few places in the last 17 miles of the bike – there a was a semi-draft pack that was mailing it in as the wind picked up during the last few miles of the bike and I passed them maintaining my same effort. Post-race, looking at the data I really liked that my Power to Heart Rate ratio (Pwr:Hr) was below 5% and shows that I was producing consistent power relative to my heart rate. It a means that I only "faded" by 2.6% for the second half of my ride and stayed aerobically coupled (not fading and staying consistent) was a pre-race process goal for me. I was able to handle and execute all of my nutrition on the bike, which was another pre-race goal. I wanted to get off the bike fueled and hydrated. During IM AZ, I aerobically decoupled at produced less power with a higher heart rate and more perceived effort – all bad. So this was definitely a win. Other training software calculated a VI of 1.06 – better than the Training Peaks ugly 1.1, but my perceived effort felt pretty even so the truth is somewhere in-between, but I know have some work to do to ride steady. I also might have some room to increase the effort (measured by IF) and heart rate, while staying efficient but that will surely make a tradeoff and impact the run – but that is something I can work out in future race rehearsals.

T2: 4:17 (20th in age group)

Ran off the bike. Grabbed my go bag (hat, number, gels, sunglasses etc). Nothing unusual or interesting.

Run: 3:23 (6th in the age group) IF .76, TSS 223, Avg pace 7:48, EF 1.6, NGP:HR 2.1%

https://www.strava.com/activities/1568403381

This is probably the most interesting part of the race. 3x loop. I had a minor lower abdominal ache early in the run, which was a little unsettling considering I didn’t have any problem on the bike, so I focused on running easy and it slowly went away after the first 3-4 miles. I immediately set my watch to heart rate only and I ran by perceived effort. I used heart rate as my cross check to my effort. I wanted that effort to be easy for at least the first hour. I was not concerned about pace and didn’t really care what the pace was as long as I was running and the effort and heart rate were sustainable. I focused on my running rhythm, cadence, fueling at the aid stations with either gel or GE. Again I continued to ask myself “What do you need to do right now?” I was passed sometime on the second loop by two guys in my age group. I saw them again during an out and back portion and I made a deal with myself at this point that I could run harder for an hour and see what happened. I didn’t know where I was place wise, I could have been 3rd or 103rd but I was going to start racing. So, I decided to slowly crank up the intensity for the last lap and see what happened. My cadence responded and I felt competitive. It got a little harder to take on fluid and calories at that intensity, but I didn’t have any gut distress. I caught both guys in my age group with 6 miles and 4 miles to go. At this point, I was pretty motivated. I felt that if they were going to make a late charge on me, then they wanted their placing back they would have to come take it from me and they have to scrape me off the pavement. At this point I drew on all the competitive advice I got on my race plan. It was the right advice used at the right time. I hung on for the last two miles and those were the toughest – I wasn’t cramping but I wasn’t taking on any fuel or hydration either. It was a great first step in racing IM. Post race, the data analysis showed that I stayed aerobically coupled on the run (Pa:HR). My normalized graded pace (NGP) relative to my heart rate for the first half of the run stayed within 2.1% of the second half of the run, which was another pre-race process goal to run a balanced marathon (keep it under 5%) and be competitive on the run. Running at an IF .76, with 77% of the run (2:36) at Z2 HR TRP, 23% (46 min) at tempo Z3 HR, gives an objective baseline of what a competitive run for me looks like. My cadence was 178 for the entire run. All this gives me a good baseline to compare future race rehearsals, if I want to experiment with changes in intensity to find the combination of perceived effort, HR and power where I aerobically decouple, lose cadence and sacrifice overall performance. Overall, I was pleased with my execution and getting lucky with the roll down slot along with the opportunity to race in Hawaii - makes it even better. There is a long list of those who helped and I hope you share this win with me. Thanks. I look forward to doing it again.

Splits: 7:46, 7:50, 8:03, 8:02, 8:04, 8:05, 8:01, 7:54, 8:12, 7:53, 7:52, 7:54, 8:06, 8:05, 7:59, 8:01, 8:01, 7:28, 7:32, 7:17, 7:13, 7:34, 7:20, 7:30, 7:43