GH IMAZ2009 race report

congratulations to all the IMAZ EN athletes and thanks to Rich and Patrick for being there to cheer us on. 



i dedicated this race to my mom (see EN IMAZ roll call blog section), who passed away on Oct 27, 2009 after a long bout with breast cancer.  my race did not go exactly as planned, slower than last year and missed my overall goal of finishing at sunset. however, i raced with all i had on race day and managed to make proper adjustments on the fly to finish strong in 12:11:39. 



the swim:

my prior PR was 1:21 in IMAZ 2008.  this year my testing (x 1) had me at 1:13:30 in a 50m pool for 3800m. in 2008 i decided to avoid the pack and swim near the edge of the lake and swim the tangents (i.e. the swim course goes straight, then veers right a bit, then left a bit before the turn around).  this year i figured i would try to draft for the first time so i placed myself smack in the middle.  big mistake!

i was clobbered twice straight in the right eye, full force. it was semi crowded all the way to the turn around, where once again it was a clobber fest. at this point, despite all the pounding in the group, i actually thought i was on a good pace.  this my fifth IM and i had never before been on my way back to the swim exit with so many people around me, so i figured that i must be swimming faster...wrong!  when i exited, my watch read 1:25, slower than

last year.  not only that, but i think the clobbering had me somewhat tense and on the steps to exit the swim i got a hamstring cramp.  there went my plan to try to get through t1 as fast as possible, as i was stranded on the steps trying to get the cramp to pass.  hopefully, i continue to improve my swim technique for next year, but not exaclty sure how to learn to follow feet properly?



t1:

once again, i was absolutely shocked to get to the tent and have it absolutely packed. so packed, there were like 20 to 30 people changing outside the tent. this must have been due to more entries this year because typically the field is faster.  anyway, i found an open space and changed. with my hamstring cramp not completely gone, i was more focused on not triggering that again, than on speeding through the transition.



bike: 

my ft leading into the race was 265.  my gears were set.  i had one chance to do a rehearsal ride and clocked a 6:14 ride.  however, that rehearsal ride was a disaster, with some bike mechanical issues and failed to give me an accurate assessment of my fitness.  for race day, i planned to ride 40miles at 1st gear and then go up to my actual goal wattage from there on in.  the first lap went by as planned.  not much perceived wind on the climb up to the turnaround

and soft pedaled most of the way back at 28mph and above and with 1st gear enough to keep me at over 22mph, when not at 28mph.  19.1mph average for lap1.  however, on the way back out i started to realize that it was going to be a challenge to keep my goal watts.  i fueled up throughout, so i was not bonking.  i was in aero, so i was not wasting energy.  also it seemed to me that the wind picked up on the way up and was not as strong of a tailwind during laps 2 and 3 or maybe that

was just my fatigue kicking in.  it was after lap 2 that i realized that i had to shift my gears to lower watts and stay stuck in the aero bars at all costs.  it worked.  i felt better and maintained a similar pace as lap 2, only at lower overall wattages.  my final ride time for the bike was ~6:08 at 18.1mph.  once again, slower than last year.  for this course, it is absolutley key to stay in aero and my desire to not lose my goal watts on the second lap had me sitting up a few times to generate more power, but each time i did

my speed would drop significantly.  next year, i need to get a shorter nubbin' stem or a bike with a shorter top tube, because i was way too stretched out when i saw the race video my friends took. 



t2:

once again, it was packed.  weird.  3 minutes.  slower than last year.



run: lap1; lap 2;  lap3

at this point it was clear that across the board up until now i was slower than last year.  however, i was hopeful that my run would help make up some of the difference.  my vdot is 53 and i did manage to put together like three weeks worth of a typical EN run schedule with 18 to 19 mile runs in 2.5hrs for the long runs.  i set out to run the first lap at around 8:20min/mile pace.  mission accomplished: 8:24 or so according to garmin.  next i wanted 8:05's or so for the remainder of the run with

a strong finish.  as i started lap 2, however, i started to realize that i was going too fast for my how i was feeling on that day.  i fueled properly, but my body was feeling fatigued.  so, i slowed to a pace that i felt i could maintain all day with proper fueling and without walking, except at the aid stations. the second half of lap 2 was pretty miserable for me, but i battled through.  i imagined my mom seeing through my eyes and so i looked around more to take in the scenery and tried my best to wave to my friends and to the coaches. 

the last lap split was faster than

the second and i completely emptied my tank in the last two miles to finsh strong.  i had zero in the tank when i crossed the line. 



it was an extremely emotional day or me.  the most meaningful ironman for me to date, as it was the first without my mom.  it was slower than last year, but i truly gutted it out and left nothing at the end.



i am signed up for IMAZ2010 and looking forward to it.



GH