Tom’s Ironman Coeur d’Alene 2009 Race Report.

I had my fastest Ironman time of my 5 finishes, beating last year’s Lake Placid results by just over 18 minutes. I beat my IM CdA 2006 time, which had an easier bike course, by over 90 minutes.

My goal was to finally break 11 hours in an Ironman, which I did in 10:54:35.

I was happy to be done and felt great at the end.

I had two other sub goals, which I did not meet and I’m a little bummed about. The first was to try to negative split the swim, bike and run portions. I didn’t manage that on any of the parts. I also wanted to get closer to a Kona slot this year. Not a chance. Last year’s CdA qualifying times for my age group were around 10:30:00. This year it was 10:15:00 or better. Just incredible.

Details:

Weather wise it was a pretty tough week. Cool, overcast and lots of thunder and lightening. The wind was gusty at times, causing the lake to be choppy. Race morning was all of the above, except for the thunder and lighting part. Rain was expected in the afternoon, and it showed up around 5:00 pm.

Nutrition wise I did pretty well leading up to race morning, pretty much following EN guidance. I’m not sure the couple of beers over the last few days really fit protocol, but they were good!

The Swim:
Goal - 1:15 – 1:20
Actual - 1:27:27 (2:18 100/m)

I’m not that good of a swimmer, but this was my worst performance of any IM to date. The water was very choppy and I was not very happy. I had enough open water experience, but mostly on a glass-like lake. Most triathletes have their dark moments of despair on some lonely part of the bike path or 18 miles out on the run. I had mine 20 yards off shore on the first lap. I purposely started out to the right and midway back. The water was really choppy, I couldn’t get a good site like I had planned, and I took in a rather large mouthful of water, and then proceeded to get run over by everyone. I completely panicked, found some open water and just stopped to get control. I started up 30 seconds later only to have the same situation occur 20 yards later. I pulled over again, totally stressed and waited almost a minute to get my composure back again. It was a really dark moment. I wasn’t sure I could finish the swim. It took a ton of mental work to get back in the box again and get moving, but I did. I made it to the end of the first lap. As we were crossing the timing mat, the guy in front of me asked the volunteer what the time was, and he replied that he thought we were around 40 minutes or so. I was thrilled, as I thought I was heading for a 1:45 swim. I got back in, made the second loop easily. When I got out and saw 1:27 on the clock I almost died. At first I couldn’t believe it, and then it occurred to me that the volunteer had gotten the time wrong on the first loop. I was glad he did, because it got me back mentally. I figured the swim was done, and it was time to get on with the race. I had 1487 people in front of me and it was time to get moving.

After analyzing the race results a day or so later, I found out that volunteer was in fact correct. My first loop, 40:34, my second 46:53 for a 1:27:27. I’m still kind of in shock that I positive split the swim by 6 minutes. Just can’t figure that one out.

The Bike:

Goal: Execute well, average watts around 217, maintain a low VI, IF around 0.71 and have a split time around 5:35 to 5:40

Actual: Executed OK, power was 205 watts, VI 1.05, IF of 0.67 and 5:31 bike split

I passed 1065 people on the bike. That says a lot about my swim, and a little about the bike.

I worked hard on my bike fit this year. I removed all but one of my bar spacers, got a front race wheel, used a wheel cover for the back, had an aero helmet and was in the aero bars for over 111 miles. My race rehearsal went really well and I came within a watt or so in all my target ranges throughout that day.

Today I started out just a little too hard. I overshot my first gear goals by about 6 watts over the first hour. Not terrible, but not perfect. I tried to up the watts a bit in each of the next hours, but I ended up just slipping backwards a bit. Power dropped 12 watts from the first half until the second half. Not what I had planned, but the time was pretty good so I didn’t complain loudly. With about an hour to go I was pretty sure I would be in around 5:30 even though my watts were slipping.

Nutrition: I stuck to the plan of about 200/250 calories per hour. I consumed 4 bottles of Cytomax over the course, with one bottle on the aero bars, one on the down tube, with refills in transition. I also took in 5 gels; one each hour. I used water from the course and felt great at all times. I averaged 221 calories per hour.

Hill execution was good. Typically most riders charged up the hills, got out of the saddle midway up and then stopped pedaling at the crest and just coasted down the other side. I granny geared it up the hill, over the crest and kept pedaling until I hit 30 mph or so, flying by everyone who passed me going up. Two riders passed me 4 times on the first four hills and then commented that they would probably be seeing a lot of me today. I kind of joked that I didn’t think so, and in fact, powered past them on the downhill and never saw them again.

Overall power was a little miserable. I just didn’t seem to generate enough power on the up-hills to make up for the down-hills. I just couldn’t seem to find my race rehearsal gear rhythm; first hour gear one, middle hours, gear two, last hour, pick it up. Watts just kind of kept falling hour by hour.

Overall, I was happy with my bike time, not thrilled with the execution. I positive split the second loop by about 6 minutes. How much faster would I have been if I held my race rehearsal watts of 217, instead of the 205 I actually did and negative split the course?

The Run:

Goal: 3:37 (8:17 pace overall)

Actual: 3:47 (8:39 pace)

Just as I was leaving T2 I looked up at the clock and new that I would make my goal of finishing the race in less than 11 hours. I was feeling good and my legs were set to go.

I tried my best to follow EN guidance again: Real easy for the first 6 miles (race pace plus 30 seconds), race pace for the next 12, and then have at after mile 18. Walk 30 steps in each aid station for recovery and fuelling.

In reality, I averaged 8:38 for the first 6 miles instead of the 8:47 planned; just a little too fast. For the next 12, it was 8:20’s rather than 8:17’s; pretty close. At mile 18, I just started to fade. I felt great, but legs just couldn’t seem to go any faster. The last 8 miles were planned to be at sub 8:17’s, but ended up at 8:57’s, leaving about a 5 minute positive split of the two loop course.

Here is a video af me at about mile 21 or so: here

Nutrition wise, I consumed a bottle of Cytomax, 2 gels, some Gatorade at the aid stations and water when necessary for a total of about 500 calories. Felt good.

At the end of the race I was thrilled to be done and have my 11 hour goal met. When I first started this sport, I couldn’t imagine me ever going so fast.

When I crossed the finish line I didn’t bother getting a warming blanket. A few minutes later I realized that was a huge mistake. The drizzle was turning to rain and it was getting cold. I started shaking badly. I ate a couple pizza slices and then had my family help me back to the hotel. I took a very hot shower for 20 minutes, crashed on the bed for about an hour, and then started feeling a whole lot better. I ended up meeting the EN crew for a beer or two, a burger and fries. Later a bunch of us headed back to the finish line to watch and cheer for the last hour. It was totally inspiring and it is what these races are all about. Nothing better to hear than “You are an Ironman”!

As to the Kona slot dream, last year I finished 24^th out of 268 in my division; this year, 35^th out of 241. Not quite as well as I’d hoped.

As I ponder next year’s race I’ve decided I must put in the time to become a better swimmer. I need to practice maintaining bike pace on hilly courses and I need to figure out how to speed up at mile 18 of the run.

As I final thought, I want to thank Rich and Patrick for creating Endurance Nation. The race week in Coeur d’Alene was the best. I really enjoyed meeting all the EN members and look forward to the next big event.