Brian Quarton's Ironman Wisconsin Race Report '18
Brian Quarton's Ironman Wisconsin Race Report '18
Swim: (part splits 1:20-1:17) 1:19:50, 60th place, 60th fastest
I came out of the water fresh, but my time was nothing special. I had some trouble at the second turn. I ended up inside the buoy line. I think someone else mentioned this. I probably didn't swim straight and that was unfortunate because my results didn't validate some hard work. At this point I was in 60th in the 50-54 AG.
Transition 1: (6:46-6:29) 7:08, 44th place, 7th fastest
Although this was my slowest T1 at IMWI, it was longer than usual because of the longer run to the helix. I was quick and efficient. I ran with my shoes and put them on before the mount line. I passed 16 in my AG and left T1 in 44th place.
Bike: (6:05-5:40) 5:37:26, 11th place, 9th fastest
My goal was 162 to 164 watts and 137 to 140 BPM. Actual was 162 watts and 142 BPM. After previewing the bike course I was scared to death. But then I remembered that I always feel this way and after the race I am always happy and relieved. So everything went as expected except 2 things. On the first lap I dropped my chain twice. Both times it was at the top of hills and happened right after I shifted from the small front ring back to the large. This cost me about a minute plus momentum. It really caught me by surprice. I have eTap and this only happened once before, but I knew what it was. I wasn't completing the shift before shifting the rear derailleur. I got too eager . So the second loop was fine. The other event happened on the stick around 100 miles. There was a stretch of fresh asphault they opened for the race. A small car went past in the center of the road and stopped at the bottom of the hill and flipped on their turn signal. I was coming down the hill at about 30 MPH. I had zero confidence that the driver was going to wait for me, so I locked up the rear wheel and slid. I couldn't stop. I shouted “no, no, no”. Fortunately the car stayed put and I rode on. There was an officer at the intersection. I appreciate his service and I'll leave it at that. By about 105 miles I though, “boy, I'm tired.” But then I remembered, that's how I always feel. About a mile from the finish I passed a guy in my AG with a Brazilian flag on his calf. I recognized this guy as a Kona alum. So I finished with a bike PR at Madison in 11th place in my AG.
Transition 2: (2:31-3:46) 1:55, 11th place, 2nd fastest
So this was a T2 PR!. Practicing putting on my socks helped. I had the second fastest T2, but I didn't pass anyone.
Run: (4:07-3:29) 3:42:07, 7th place, 5th fastest
The first 4 miles of the run I always go too fast if I had a good bike. If I over biked it's already over, so the fact that I was trying to slow down was a relief. So I just did my thing and waited. From miles 5 to 13 my gut shut down. Ultimately slowing down and Base salt brought me out of it. By about 19 miles I was in 9th in my AG about 9 minutes out of 5th. Finding this out really lit my fire and got me going. I caught a couple more somewhere in there and finished 7th in my AG. I was seconds behind a guy that went sub 10:10 at Roth and less than 2 minutes off the podium.
Final thoughts: There are several positives I take away from this race. My goal was to finish in under 10:50 and I accomplished that. Most years that would give me a chance at a top 3 finish. Unfortunately some fast guys from outside the upper midwest showed up, but that's how the game works. Another positive is that I showed that my game plan can reproduce success on race day. And lastly I managed to do all this while still supporting my family.
So where does this leave me for the future? I think the next order of business is to translate the OS bike fitness into a stronger bike split. Attaining ~4W/Kg is not the problem, it's translating that over to 5 hour power. Let me know your ideas for this. I would like to try an early to mid summer race, rather than a late summer race like IMWI.
My youngest son is in 7th grade. He will graduate in 2024. My youngest daughter starts college in 2020. The next 4 years I really need to be there for them. They will be out of the house in a blink and I will have a lot more flexibility. I have seen from my older girls that having mom and dad around really makes a difference. The 70.3 distance is much easier to manage. I need to refocus on my speed and strength. Endurance is there. Around 2023 I'll give 140.6 another shot, but I'm not sure where. Thanks for reading.
Comments
@Brian Quarton Impressive performance once you got out of T1. A 5:37/3:42 on this course is the real deal. An undercurrent in your report is the sense that you'd really like to get to Kona. Your bike/run shows you have the chops, if you're willing/able to put in the focused work.
To start with, you were less than 2' off the podium. T1 + Bike chain more than accounts for that, so you are starting from a very good place. What to work on between now and the next IM? You know this, I'm sure, but my rule always was, focus first on my worst discipline. Over the years that has included at one time or another, trying to improve all five of them (Swim, Bike, Run, Nutrition, Transition), as well as reviewing equipment choices and fine-tuning race execution. I'll only mention the first two, 'cause that's where you've got the most to gain.
Your time and AG place in swimming is an outlier compared to what you are clearly capable of from an athletic perspective. There are others here in EN who have taken a mediocre or worse swim and turned it into a KQ race. Seek them out for advice about how to turn that around, eg, Tom Glynn, Mike Roberts, and, though they might not admit it, Dave Tallo and Tim Cronk. I bet there are ten minutes worth of low-hanging fruit there for you to find this winter/Spring. And the good news is, swimming is neither time-consuming nor energy depleting, so it leaves you room to work on that bike.
Yes, getting a bit stronger FTP-wise between now and 24 weeks before your next IM is the place to start. But putting that power to work over 112 is your stated goal. I would break the 24 weeks before the IM into two blocks. The first three months, at least once a week, and twice if you can handle it, work your way up to 2.5 hrs +/- of non-stop work @ about 0.82-0.85 IF. Sounds tough, but over three months, you can get there. Then, when the IM training plan kicks in, just follow the plan's progression for level three in the bike-focussed plan. That's all you'll need if you do it as written, IMO.
Don't worry at this point about what your w/kg , or race splits should be. Just head down, go to work, and get stronger on the bike, and faster in the water. Come next summer, see what that turns into on race day. Getting back into training mode within 2-3 weeks and staying consistent throughout multiple years is what worked for me and many others here who gained that KQ success.