Robin MacLaughlin Sarner . Arizona. 2018.
Robin Sarner. Ironman Arizona 2018.
Will try to be brief and hit the highlights. Have been away for two years due to life events. So will start two years ago.
July 2016. Ironman Canada. Second for age.
October 2016. Kona Ironman. Struggled but finished. Great to make it to and do the show.
November 2016. Ironman Arizona. Finished.
November 2018. Ironman Arizona. 52 yo. 15th for age. 10:55. 18th Ironman start. 17th finish.
Had a pretty good build. I did a time effective and compacted schedule. Similar to my build for Canada but a bit less average weekly hours. Training moved even more to the indoors. Swimming on the vasa ergometer which worked well for Canada. Biking on the Kickr. Treadmill running but with some key runs outride.
Felt pretty good physically going into the race.
Swim. 68 minutes.
Thought I might swim closer to 60 minutes. Shoulderproblems in the weeks before the race may have contributed.
Bike. 5:35.
Was hoping the closer to 5:00. The bike generally was a fiasco::: mechanicals, flat tire, computer died right at the start, can’t pee on the bike anymore. And after being out of it for two years maybe some mental focus lacking.
After the first lap gave my coat to @tim cronk and got a cheek kiss from him. Thanks for the loan Heather. Finished up near @kent gavin
Run. 4:00.
Was hoping for closer to 3:30. Didn’t feel terrible just didn’t seem to have the normal snap for the middle miles. Didn’t walk. And maybe mental issue knowing the kq was off the table because of the bike. In retrospect it might have been fun, with nothing to lose, to push the first half more and see how I would hang on.
Saw @jason brandt near the beginning looking good. I saw @al Truscott on my second loop strong.
I am glad I got back down there to race in the sun. Arizona has become a special place especially now that we have property outside Tucson. Kind of a wake up reminder of what is needed to get to Kona again. Already have training adjustments in mind for future builds.
Have been fairly sick the last few days with a viral respiratory type infection. So I may have had this starting to brew on race day and this could account for some of the lack of zip. And I have not been doing nothing for two years, but I definitely did lose something from not racing Ironman regularly.
So somehow I signed up for Arizona 2019. Thanks @al Truscott, @tim cronk, @heather webber.
Then may do Santa Rosa in 2020. To try the course as a prelude to aging up in 2021.
I have Mallorca april 2019 to look forward to and to get me ramping up.
Thanks all.
Comments
Nice to have you back with us. Why did you need a coat? was it really cold? What did you borrow from Heather ? the coat or Tim? Always eager to hear what changes smart guys are making? Congratulations on your race.
@Robert Sabo thanks.
water was colder than normal. And air was 50. I am a cold wimp.
i borrowed tim from heather.
Well done Robin - always learning re: cold, eh? Glad to see you're staying in the ring and look forward to following your exploits. Mallorca should be an AWESOME boost! Cheers!
Nice Race big man , thanks for the kiss, cant wait to see you guys at Christmas and race you IMAZ 2019!
Short and sweet RR, Robin! It wasn't a KQ performance, but it was still pretty damn good. It's a long time until IMAZ 2019 so you can take a long, slow build to perfection. Wish I could go to Mallorca, but my schedule is jammed.
@robin sarner Reflections on your day from your post-race comments and this report. I'm not going to tell you what to do, but some things worth re-assessing I believe are: level of commitment, both internal (mental, emotional) and time (indoors vs outdoors) required for optimal performance; impact during the race of bike fiascos on motivation for the remainder of the day; value of doing some July/August/Sept short course races (there's one every week in western WA) to fertilize the competitive juices.
I really like the idea of heading towards Santa Rosa 20/21, and keeping Arizona on the radar each year. Doing 2 a year (Coeur d'Alene/AZ) from 2008 thru 2010 really brought me to a peak.
@Al Truscott, what are your thoughts about how much outdoor time is needed for an optimal IM?
@Jenn Edwards
thanks. Sorry you won’t be in Mallorca. Get that leg in shape.
Thanks @tim cronk . Thanks for making me sign up for Arizona 2019. I think.
@Paul Hough thanks. Yes having the race a year off is a good goal for me. I will try to have fun in Majorca.
@robin sarner despite mechanical issues, being absent for a couple years and dealing with the cold, you still killed it. Congratulations
Thanks @Al Truscott . I had started cogitating on what do do moving forward. And all your points had actually already come to mind.
ironman works for me with my knee limitations. I generally function in life better if I have a goal of one in the future. Have to sort some things on the home front to allow me to keep emotional energy in the game - as do we all.
indoors versus outdoors. My best race, Canada 2016, was based on moving even more indoors - swimming to the garage. Though before the 10 week build I did do a big bike few days at whistler. I enjoy gravel riding on the long trails we have in the area so I plan more of that.
plan on doing some local races.
i have had several years of 2-3 races per year. But being two years removed from that I have to consistently rebuild.
My best run to date came after a flat tire. Then I ran the marathon for the fun of it. Yes another scenario to think about.
Thanks for your thoughts on which I will think further.
Thanks @Jorge Duque I do plan to get in the pool a bit. (Swimming mainly on the Vasa these days). So hopefully see you at the ymca sometime.
Congrats Robin! Sounds like you made the best of the day despite it not going absolutely to plan. Kiss from Tim was a big bonus! ;)
Looking forward to you being back in the game and may even join you at Santa Rosa in 2020.
I have no experience trying to do an Ironman while relying primarily on indoor cycling. So my thoughts are simply that...thoughts. There are examples of pros who do very well with most training indoors: Ken Glah, Andy Potts, Lionel Sanders, to name those I'm aware of. There was that Dr. from Alaska who won the US Women's Olympic Trials in the marathon some time ago, training only on a treadmill. Most of us do most of our swim training indoors, and use indoor cycling for a part of our build-up, as well as spend time on the treadmill.
So I suspect it's primarily a matter of mental discipline, for those who have previous experience racing outdoors. But, IMO, even though triathlon cycling is all about being steady, the nuances of terrain changes require some ability to make continual micro adjustments in gearing in order to avoid burning matches, and that can only be learned on varied outdoor terrain. Along with learning how to deal with uneven pavement.
I plan to ride and run outdoors if at all possible in my lead up to ITU LC WC in early May. I can juggle days to avoid rain, so I'm hoping to get all my long rides in outdoors. And I dislike the treadmill enough to juggle my run time to avoid the late winter/spring rains I will surely encounter here in Pac NW.
But if circumstances of life - work hours eating up the daylight - precludes outdoor rides, I think doing them on the trainer will work as long as one can handle the scenery never changing.
I'm going to start a new thread on this topic...
thanks @Trish Marshall .
see you in Santa Rosa.
@Al Truscott
thanks for the thoughts. Add pro Matt Russell, and his comeback, to the indoor success.
yes good topic to discuss.
i am adding some zwift racing. That should help with the power adjustments.
To complete the simulation of outdoors, indoors, I would probably have to add a trainer or suspension board that can move side to side. Like the Kinetic or rigs by DC Rainmaker and GP Lama.