Tom’s Ironman
Texas Race Report
First, the
details!
2900 registered athletes. About 375 didn't show. Another 408 didn't finish. Average finish time was 13:40, 22 minutes slower than last year. Heard the heat index was 108.
For those as old as me, there were 157 of us with an average time of 13:56. 18% didn't finish.
As for me, a time of 11:11 netted me 7th in my age group and 208th overall. No Kona, but happy with the results (now!)
My earlier post:
Executive summary:
• Ironman #10, 3rd time in Texas
• Hardest/hottest/darkest yet
• Finished in 11:11, 7th in age group out of 157; 208th overall out of 2,842. Swim 1:28, bike 5:14, run of 4:14 and transitions of about 7 minutes each
• Mixed results in swim; not as fast as hoped for, but top half the field and not out of the mix for the first time ever
• Bike was stronger but slower than previous years. More wind this year and a flat at mile 100 cost 7 minutes. Temperature reading on my computer hit 97 degrees
• Run was all about holding on and fading away. Hoped for 8:00 min/mile pace quickly faded to 11 min/miles. All about mental focus.
• Drank regularly and still dropped 10+ pounds on the day
• Thought I finished 20-30th in my age group, so very happy to finish top 10 again
• All my family out to cheer me on during the day, so great fun and motivating to see the cheering section on a regular basis
• A week of rest, relaxation and recovery coming up!
If you've had enough, you can stop reading, the rest are just details. :)
Pre Race Stuff
Technical stuff for data folks - most should move to next paragraph :). 12 week build went according to plan mostly. More swimming done than in past years. Still erratic. Hard to swim hard and complete long runs and hard bikes. Bike was all about shorter miles but pushing hard. Longest ride was one 5 hour trainer ride. Longest outside was 85 miles. Most in the 50-75 mile range, working hard. Running all about consistency. Forty miles per week every week from February 1 forward. Five long runs in the 16-18 mile range.
Good stats coming into the week. TSS/day high of 138, almost 20 points higher than last year. TSB on race day of 36. Resting well all week with a Zeo sleep score in the mid to high 90's. Race weight near mid 150's and around 4% BF. Resting HR of mid 50's and SPO2 of 98. Well hydrated and eating well. Minor cold two weeks out, but really not sick in a very long time. No injuries all season. Felt very good coming into race day.
Stayed downtown at the Hyatt Marketplace. It was awesome hotel and highly recommended. I arrived on Wednesday, Dianne and the boys on Thursday and Kira / Oscar on Friday.
It was also great to see some of Dianne's co-workers that all used to work together in Germany. Lots of catching up to do all weekend!
Always good to have excellent support crewJ
Early morning prep was uneventful. Drop off goods at transition, air in the bike tires and body marking.
The Swim
I was hoping for big things in the swim this year and significant improvements from the previous couple of years. The good news was that after the first 800 yards or so of bumping and getting run over, I settled into a very comfortable pace and just cruised along. I felt great coming out of the water, totally relaxed and not wiped out like previous years. The bad news – I was totally relaxed and very comfortable! After seeing my time I was shocked I was so slow. I should have pushed a whole lot harder – it’s a race after all! The 1:28 was better than prior years, but I could easily have swum 5 minutes faster.
The Bike
I don’t feel like trolling through all the lost IM pictures to try and find one with the bike, so this is what you get!
BTW, the great thing about taking your wife to the event was that she could see my 6-year-old bike was is desperate need of an upgrade J
Best described as methodical. Hot too! Very even power for most of the event. 193 watts was slightly higher than the previous two years. Some other technical details included – IF of 0.67, VI of 1.0, cadence 85. Heart rate tracked along with power, averaging 124 bpm. The blue line on the graph below was temperature. While not completely accurate, you can sense the rising heat, topping out at 97 on the bike.
I could sense that I needed more fluids as I came off the bike, but generally felt very good. I was even feeling better about the flat at mile 100. At first I was thinking, "Ain't nobody got time for that" but it ended up I pulled a giant piece of glass out of the tire, so even though I lost 7 minutes, there was really nothing I could have done differently.
The bike started with two bottles of Cytomax mixed with two scoops, which I replaced at special needs. In between I drank the Gatorade Endurance offered on the course. Drinking was done every 10 minutes and I went through a bottle every 30 – 40 minutes, so probably 8-9 bottles for the bike. Gels every 30 minutes.
I could still feel dehydration coming on. It was just really hard to get more than that into myself. Emptied the bladder in T1/T2 and once along the bike course.
The Run
I really like
the IM Texas run course. It’s a 3-loop course through town and along the canal
system. Like most competitors I had come into the race with certain finishing
time expectations. By mile two they were
long gone! The race quickly turned into
a “hold on dear life” kind of day. My
8:00 minute mile pace slowly turned to 8:30s then 9:00s then 10:00s and
longer. I kept reciting the Endurance
Nation slogans in my head about staying in my box and thinking about the
12-minute mile rock stars. Never dreamed
that 12-minute miles were fast, but walking was going to be 20:00 min/mile +. There were lots and lots of walkers, even on
the first loop.
The run started
with Cytomax and then I alternated Gatorade Endurance, water with gel, water
for 20 miles before stopping gels and alternating water with sports drink every
mile.
Looking at the
data you can see the continuous downward slope of my speed. I’ve been giving some thought to my pacing
strategy of going out fast and fading away.
Given my vDot score and heat-adjusted time from the EN database, I don’t
think I could have run faster, but could have run more evenly paced.
The Done
Nutrition
Thoughts – Did I poison myself??
I felt great
nutritionally the entire week of the race and thought I was prepared for race
day. The day before was pancake
breakfast, pasta with white bread as the late meal. Plenty of water and sports drinks keep me
hydrated all day.
Morning of race
day was applesauce with a scoop of protein powder, a banana and a sports
drink. I consumed one gel before the
swim and one gel after the swim.
Total calories
consumed on the swim, 200 (one gel before and one after), the bike were around
2,500 and about 800 on the run for a total of somewhere around 3,500 calories.
By the end my
stomach had had enough. Not bloated but
just really tight. I couldn’t put
anything else in there. Of course the
kind volunteers at the end really wanted me to consume more sports drink and
water. I did manage to get around a half
bottle of water down. While showering up
45 minutes later my stomach rebelled, spasming for 3 or 4 minutes and empting
the remaining clear liquids down the drain.
TMI, I know :).
Turns out I am
well remembered in the medical area! As
I as sitting in a wheelchair at the end, someone came up to my wife and asked
if she knew me. She went on to say that
she had volunteered in the medical tent for the past three years and had always
remembered me as the very gracious and polite person who said “thank you” a
lot. Next year I’m working on staying away from the finish line!
I couldn’t get
anything down until 3 am, when I knocked back a large glass of apple
juice. In the morning it was Starbucks
and by 9:00 or so I was good for a large breakfast. Energy and fluids returned quickly and
amazingly I felt better!
I’m still
thinking over the nutrition issue. Not
sure I could have drank much more – my stomach is only so big. Pre-race hydration was good and calorie intake
seemed reasonable.
I’m guessing I
lost close to 10 pounds and it’s evident in some of the before and after
pictures. I was a little freaked out
looking in the mirror with my top off in the hotel – counting bones in the
ribcage was not a problem! Not sure dehydration was a huge problem though. On both the bike and run my run, my heart
rate was very consistent. I averaged 124
bpm on the bike and 126 bpm on the run. As I slowed on the run, my heart rate
dropped. I would have thought that it
would have started to spike if I was over heating and dehydrating badly. Also, my run time, although much slower than
last year, was still respectable compared to the top 10 in my age group.
I have come to
find out that every gel I consumed as well as every one one of the 8 scoops of
Cytomax contained 100% of my DV of vitamin C.
Add to that the morning applesauce and other minor amounts in other
products get me to 25-30X my DV. The
number one issue with too much Vitamin C is stomach distress. Not sure what to
think of this yet.
No additional
sodium on the course. I don’t think it
was an issue.
Anyway, more
thinking to do on this one.
Other Thoughts –
Looking Forward to Next Time:
Always looking
to get better so every year, I take a look at the top 10 in my age group and
see if there are some obvious messages to take away. I have discovered that there is always a big
gap between the first two or three and the next bunch. I think the key to the top few is talent :). You’ve really got
to be good across the board. Still
giving away too much time on the swim.
For the bike, I was 2nd in 2011, 3rd in 2012 and
5th this year, 3rd without the flat.
Not too much room for improvement. For the run, I was 5th in
2011, 4th in 2012 and 6th this year. Best case scenario
this year I could have gone a little faster on the swim, not had a flat and
moved a little faster through transitions netting a total of somewhere around
10-15 minutes - still not in contention.
Guess I’m left with working on the talent piece for another year!
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