Dave Mehl Ironman Louisville 2019 Race Report

Ironman Louisville 2019 Race Report

October 13, 2019

Cold Start (40 deg F) warming to mid-60’s by the run

Light wind to start increasing to 10-15mph on the return trip to town on the bike

Swim: Canceled due to toxic algae

Disappointing, yes, but not that disappointing to me. I did a 2.4 mile warm-up run before going to transition instead. I suppose it did warm me up as I was sweating under all my layers afterwards, but I still was feeling the cold in transition waiting to start the bike.

Bike: 6:57 173/206 M40-44

My race plan was to ride easy until mile 80 then a little harder to the finish. I wanted to reduce my TSS from Lake Placid and keep on my nutrition plan to set up a better run.

So this was not quite the bike I was planning on. I decided to layer up instead of wearing a long-sleeve jersey. My race wardrobe included a sleeveless UA compression shirt under my EN kit, two pair of EN socks, toe covers, two pair of arm warmers (one the disposable sock variety), mid-weight full-finger cycling gloves from the expo and a disposable pair of gloves over those. I also wore a beanie under my helmet.

The first part of the ride went fine, mostly flat with a tailwind out to the loop. The first section on 393 is like a rollercoaster and quite fun, I thought. Some decent hills past La Grange that I tried to spin up as much as possible. I was staying in my target zone of 160-170 watts except on the steepest hills.  

My nutrition plan called for two bottles/hour of my new E-fuel sports drink with GE to supplement until special needs. Rinse and repeat for the second half. I got the first four bottles down as planned, but had to pee like crazy. It was quite uncomfortable. But I didn’t want to risk dehydration like at Lake Placid, so I tried to press on. I think in hindsight when the temperatures are that cold, it may be best to dial down on the fluids.

Having fun on the second pass on 393 and as I downshift at the bottom of one of the last hills before special needs, say around mile 60, my chain jumps the cassette toward the wheel side and everything locks up. Luckily I was already starting to go uphill and thus not very quickly, so I was able to stop safely and pull to the side of the road. I un-tangle the chain but the wheel will not turn with the pedals. After a few choice words I realize that I have a broken spoke. Not going to lie, starting to freak out a bit that my day was over. I had stopped just past a driveway to a home and their entire family was out cheering and the dad and kids were very nice to come over and make sure I was ok. They went as far as calling (someone?) to get me some assistance. Several other athletes also said they would tell the folks at BSN that I needed help. Thankfully Tech Support arrived and was able to swap my rear wheel out. I was also thankful that nothing else on my bike (chain, derailer, etc) was damaged. I thanked the tech many times and was back on my way. Also in hindsight, I was pretty frustrated for the mechanical since I had just had my bike in for a final tuneup two weeks prior to the race and everything seemed to functioning just fine the last couple of training rides.  

I stopped at BSN, got new bottles of E-fuel, and resumed the ride. I knew it would be a longer day, but I knew I could still finish, too. I ended up pushing higher watts to try and make up some time on the rest of the ride, but I was feeling pretty good after my unintentional break, so I went with it. I also backed off on the fluids, but still stopped at almost every aid station to pee. It was disappointing to see an almost 7 hour bike ride and a much higher TSS than planned when I got back to transition. But I was definitely happy to be back and get off that bike.

T2: 12:52

Wow the run to T2 was pretty long. Just the run from dismount to bike drop-off seemed plenty long to me, trying to juggle my shoes and hold onto my bike. I was feeling pretty gross from all the peeing on the bike, so I decided to do a full change on the lower half. Put on my EN run shorts, fresh socks (the best feeling!) and my Hoka Rincon’s. Trucker hat, fresh sunglasses, and a running belt filled with E-gel and I was ready to go.

Run: 4:52 151/206 M40-44

My goal on the run was to actually run between aid stations and stay as steady as possible. Mission accomplished. My new nutrition strategy was to drink water at every aid station and take a 150-cal E-gel every 3 miles. Mission accomplished there, too, and it actually worked! So all in all I’m happy with the run. It was slow, but steady.

I didn’t realize we passed the timing arch and thus the start of the run just past the porto-potties in transition. I kept looking for a timing mat to start my watch, then eventually realized I’d missed it about a quarter of a mile back. It was actually manual time recording as I recall now.

I changed my plan at the end of the bike to start running at 210w instead of 220w since the bike was long and TSS high. I actually started running closer to 220 and felt pretty good (thank you manageable temperatures!), so stuck with it. I felt pretty good for the first lap and even ran the couple of hills on the course. A couple of them were at the end of a short out-and-back (very short) and I was thinking they couldn’t have found a flatter quarter mile to do this out-and-back on?

I kept up with my nutrition plan until about half-way or so, perhaps even through lap 2, I don’t remember exactly. Then as planned I switched to coke and water. I was quite happy with the way the nutrition plan worked. The only thing that didn’t work was multiple bathroom stops to pee. Still over-hydrated from the bike I guess? I wasn’t drinking gallons of water per aid station. Very frustrating.

My one thing ended up being that I didn’t come to Louisville to walk the marathon like Lake Placid. So every time I got tired or wanted to walk, I told myself that I didn’t come here to walk. And it worked, as I kept on running my steady pace through the finish line.

Total time 12:02

Moving forward I’m looking forward to some recovery from a double IM season (plus one 70.3) and then the January Outseason. Body composition will be my biggest focus for next season – I’ve raced faster in prior years lugging around less weight. So I know I can improve, just need to work hard. I also need to determine my path in this triathlon game and where I want to take it. There is so much I can learn and so many areas to improve on. See you in the Outseason and next year at 70.3 Traverse City. And if I can convince my wife, Ironman Wisconsin. 😊