Ironman Texas Race Report- 2013

First of all, I want to say that I So enjoyed training and racing with the IM TX group. We didn’t all always train together but it was really fun the times we did. There were plenty of long epic indoor rides over the winter, pouring rain outdoor rides, and other fun stuff. Excited that pretty much the whole crew is signed up for Roth!

Pre-race banquet of TX crew. I was sleeping already when this pic was taken. Sara, Rick, Tim,  Ted, and Klo. Missing from this pic were Paul and Jim Linck

Also, want to thank the amazing support crew. First off, John was awesome. He took the Sherpa-ing to a whole new level this race, shuttling me (and Ted, and whoever else) around TX and anything else that needed to be done. Also, he did something SO cool that you guys will probably see on TX footage, he hung the ATC banner on the bridge that crosses the canal everyone swims over. It was so cool to see that.. look for in TX video and pics!

Check out that banner!

Also, it was awesome having the Gills, Casey, and the other families out there on the course. What a great boost it was to pass you guys! Part of the loop on the run was really tough, exposed and similar to the state park at Gulf Coast. It was great to look forward to seeing everyone under the bridge. 

Gills in their festive cheering attire

The Swim 

Expected time: 1:10 plus/minus 3 minutes
Actual Time: 1:10

I swam as far to the inside as the kayaks would let me. I think I avoided some of the violence that way although it was one of the most physical starts at the beginning I’ve experienced. I like to play a little game when I’m swimming in a race. (Or maybe like is a strong word, it’s more that I force myself to play a horrible game    )  I try to go the whole swim with no breaks in stroke, little change in cadence, etc. If someone whacks me, which happened numerous times, I just keep on going.. no breastroke to site. Nothing. I have to keep swimming like my life depends on it and it’s very uncomfortable. I try to pretend that I'm a 'swimming machine' and I won't stop for any reason. The swimming machine doesn't waste energy trying too hard to find clear water, or weave around trying to find a good line, or break stroke  when people grab it and dunk it. The only thing the swimming machine can do is swim exactly the same.   That’s the rule.  So I got pretty punched and pummeled but I just forced myself to keep going no matter what. 

Looks like there is plenty of space before you see everyone funnel into a single  path!

John actually got a picture of me swimming!

After the turnaround it opened up a good bit and based on the crowd around me I was starting to realize I was having a good swim. I didn’t intentionally try to catch a draft because it was too hard to see and I felt like I was getting an inadvertent draft just because of the crowd. I was dreading the canal a little bit but when I got there, it actually wasn’t too crowded and that was the nicest part of the swim. 

John had hung the ATC banner on the bridge which was AWESOME! It gave me a lift and I wondered if he could identify me from above through my slightly gimpy stroke, which I assumed was magnified because of fatigue. 

When I got out I lost my footing and fell on my face but no worries. I was fine with it. Got into transition and was surprised by the bikes on the racks and the pretty empty change tent.

The Bike

Expected Time: 5:30 plus/minus a few minutes
Actual Time: 5:44

Got out on the bike and was prepared to work my plan. I know my bike strength is way better than it was the last two years. My target wattage was 10% higher than any previous IM's and I was hitting it right on target.The issue I have is my shoulder/ back seizing up/nerves firing/muscle weakness leading to inability to stay in aero. Would actually love any advice as I have pretty much reached my wits end and my ability to manage it. 


I have the bike fit angle covered. Matt (from Podium, best bike fitter ever) has helped me a TON and my position is better than ever thanks to numerous bike fit tweaks. I have also gotten a lot of help from Greg (mechanic at Podium) with my setup. Small changes in where I put my computer, bottles etc. actually make a huge difference. Finally,  I have also gotten a ton of help from my PT (Ben at Benchmark Physical Therapy Perimeter) All that has been enough to keep me riding and get me to the start line of all these Ironmans whereas I’m pretty sure anyone normal and reasonable would have (wisely) decided to quit cycling a long time ago. 


The good news is that I was able to maintain a positive attitude and I am able to maintain a much higher output than previously. I realized I’m going to have to look a this as progress on a continuum and not whether I can stay in position perfectly or not, thus rendering the whole thing a failure.  The problem is I’m always looking at the bike as “I should have been able to do x time, if only I could hold my position”  So that was the bike. Legs are strong and could have kept pedaling forever. Rest of body was weak and falling apart.  

Then there was the matter of the heat. I wasn’t too concerned about it beforehand but it felt pretty hot out there. One other thing I will change going forward was my hydration setup. I basically only used one bottle with my backup bottle of coke for a mid-ride boost. I was okay with this because I thought the aid stations were every ten miles. They pretty much were, expect for one time (either 80 or 90) when they skipped one, then I refilled my aero with the coke till the next aid station. The next aid station my bottle was then full so I stuck some water in the back bottle cage and it later fell out. SO I was without anything hydrating for an hour plus. At mile 100 I was starting to feel pretty woozy and bobbing/weaving a bit.  Also my hamstrings were starting to cramp, which has never happened to me and I was on the verge of getting chill bumps. I kindof shut it down even more at that point because I realized I was looking at a bit of recovery before I could run. 

The Run
Expected Time: ~3:45 due to heat
Actual Time: 4:09

Got to the run and wasn’t thrilled about my time but it was a race of attrition at that point. I have never had cramping issues previously and thus was pretty darn dehydrated. Could only take very small steps to keep hamstrings from seizing up altogether. At that point I knew it was going to be a jog from aid station to aid station.  Several girls passed me the first couple of miles and amazingly I was still able to keep a positive mental attitude. I told myself that they would be slowing down later while I would be speeding up.

I’m not sure what’s up with the splits on the tracker website because that’s pretty much the opposite of what I experienced. I started off very slowly and gradually built my pace throughout the run, as I recovered.  The tracker says that I gradually slowed down. I think where they decide those timing mats are is completely random ☺ 

Anyway, the run was pretty hot. I had stuck my Garmin in my top and it filled with water and shut off. It was okay, I really didn’t want to look at pace because I didn’t want to become discouraged. I could tell by the women around me that I was still in the relative front-ish of the age group field and most of the women around me were running on a mission. I thought some of them may fade and I thought I could recover and rally. It was definitely a race of survival. I drank water, perform, and coke at every aid station and walked for probably 15-45 seconds apiece (which I normally don’t do) to try to reset my legs for the next mile. 

My calves are often the limiter on these runs. They tighten up and almost feel like they’re tearing and I usually have a significant amount of muscle damage there post-Ironman. So I was starting to feel those along with my hammies and it was frustrating because my RPE and heart rate were very low after I ‘recovered’ the first five miles. (Most of) my body and mind were mostly ready to pick it up but I couldn’t in any significant way. 

Sara on the bike looking happy!

After my first loop, I saw Sarah starting out on the run which in my head I calculated roughly that she was having a great first race with or without hot conditions. Next, 
it was amazing seeing everyone from ATC under the bridge. That was a seriously huge pick me up and the best part of the course.  The neighborhood part sucked as it was exposed and sunny and there were a lot really really minor twisting on the path which normally wouldn’t mean anything but today just the minor change  in muscle firing pattern had me cramping up.  At mile 12 my hamstring seized up entirely and I had to stop and stretch it out. 

The 'happy' part of run.

After that I was pretty concerned and I was surprised that I could stretch it out and keep jogging at all. I kept up the same pace and noticed some of the women that passed me before starting to come back to me. On the first loop folks were passing me and moving quickly. On the second loop people started to come back to me, and on the third loop not many people were running. 

I had asked John before the race that I really really needed him to tell me what place I was in. He wouldn’t be able to tell by folks passing because of the three loop run, but I wanted him to look at the tracker and tell me. I asked him on the second loop and he told me fifth. So that gave me a boost that it was possible to finish in the top three but the problem is I couldn’t speed up because if I lengthened out my stride I would cramp up!

At about mile 22 I saw Ted which I knew meant that he was not having a good race and I was bummed for him. I invited him to run with me but he had gotten even more dehydrated and was taking it slower. I also saw Rick, who was hurting in the heat and had gotten horrible blisters in the bike to run transition on the pavement  (I actually read about that happening to several people, the pavement was pretty hot!) 


Finally on the last lap I decided to risk not being able to continue at about mile 23 and started to pick it up (again, opposite of what tracker says.. strange!) I’m pretty sure that’s where I finally passed the last couple of girls in my division to get to third. I was really really happy to be done. 

Overall, I think my training was good for this race. The recovery has also been great due to the fact that I wasn't able to run hard. I have also been drinking Chuice (drank in the days before and after) which I think is helping me recover faster and feel better. My execution, however, was poor to fair. The good news is that (at least sometimes) execution stuff is easier to fix. The more of these races I do, the more I realize that you’ll have some good to awesome races, a few horrible races, and mostly medium races. I would say that this was a ‘medium’ race and I enjoyed it still. Overall, I’m making improvements on the swim and bike, which was my plan this past winter. I’ll put it all together soon enough. 

We're done! All smiles...

I ended up third in my division and there were two kona slots. For whatever reason, I wasn’t bummed, probably because I felt like this was a ‘medium’ race so I wasn’t expecting to get one. I really like doing these races so for me it’s about a long journey  of improvement over years rather than how this or that one race goes.   I was looking forward to doing Louisville and Augusta and now I’ll get the chance to go!

John and Brian, who came to visit/cheer from Dallas

Female 30-34 awards with Jen Vogel, who rocked it!

KLo getting 3rd AG in the 50-54 group. Great job!

Dog Jog and Mountain Madness Relay Weekend!

The Dog Jog

Saturday, May 4th was the Dog Jog. Sadie was going for first female again. She has won in the past three times maybe? I can’t quite remember but she was very concerned about defending her title.  J

The weather was super cold and rainy and we were driving down with my parents from a cabin in Blue Ridge in the morning.  In the past we had successfully convinced lots of folks to join us but this year was a tough sell with the timing and weather. We did know some folks though, Sheryl and her dog, Tim and his dog (a Vizsla) and Leah with her two small dogs.

Sadie down but not out

Sadie’s training had been shaping up nicely for a PR this winter as she was logging anywhere from 3-5 runs a week November through March. However, recently she cut her paw and was relegated to a head cone and no running for two weeks! That plus the fact that I was planning on the bike leg of a Mountain Madness relay the next day led us to readjust our goals. J We decided that instead of trying to PR, we would just do whatever was necessary to ‘defend’ Sadie’s title J

All lined up and ready to go. Sadie was ready while Bailey keeps trying to run the other way

Prior to the two mile race is the one mile race. When the one mile run started Sadie started yowling and trying to chase afterwards. She knew she was there for the race and hated being left behind!

Our stategy was to have Bailey in front with John because Sadie will kill herself trying to keep up  and Bailey is less likely to pull John’s arm off.

We started running behind Bailey and John and at first the pace felt pretty easy. I knew my legs were really tired from that week's training and I didn't want to have to dig too deep because I wanted to save any remaining energy for MM. The first mile wasn't too bad and we were right on pace at exactly 6 minutes flat or just under. I had forgotten that there is a lot of uphill and turning in the second mile that slowed us down a lot at the same effort. Overall, not our best effort but within the range I had expected and we weren't tired or sore afterwards.

Tim and his dog "drafted" off of us the whole time and pulled ahead at the finish!

Bailey and proud daddy at the awards ceremony

 Mountain Madness Relay

My parents were nice enough to babysit their 'granddogs' at the cabin all day.  I was nervous and hoped they were sufficiently worn out from the day prior. Within ten minutes we got a call that Sadie had found and eaten basically en entire large pizza. Whoops! Sorry mom and dad!

Post pizza party 5 AM snoozing

On the way to the race we were debating the pros and cons of participating. Weather was awful and I felt sure they might change the course a bit since descending a mountain in torrential rain didn’t seem smart.

Turns out DNR wouldn’t let us in the water due to poor visibility, plus they took the mountain out of the course. It ended up being a TT start to the bike with riders going off every 15 seconds or so. 

My goal was to have some fun and get some data. Not having to run,  my strategy was to ride fast when the course was slow to a higher degree than I normally would in a triathlon (ie go harder on the hills)

I had some fun with that. I ignored my power meter and ‘accidentally’ blew through my previous 1 min, 5 minute, and 20 minute PBs in the first thirty minutes. Sweet!

Overall my normalized power was within the range of what I would shoot for for a half (IF.86-.87) but my effort was much less even and I am sure I netted a slightly faster time than I would have had I paced it more evenly. I was actually aiming for about .9  but I faded a bit the last thirty minutes because of my opening efforts. Again, it was a relay so no real consequences. 

Relay teams "Race Team Relay" and "Parks and Wreck" Overall, a great race with or without the swim and the mountain and I hope it comes back in future years. 

Also, I was in a relay with Eddie while John was paired off with Andrew. John and I were the cyclists and Andrew and Eddie were our runners.  I knew I had to let John not get too far ahead on the bike so that Eddie would have a chance to catch up with Andrew. They are both good runners but Andrew's only training lately has been secret training. As it ended up, Eddie did catch Andrew but our overall relay times were very close. Rematch time! Also, we both got beat by the Podium relay team so I am seeing a future throwdown with them on tap...

Race Report Rundown - Spring 2013I

Last blog was fall 2012, so yes I see that I'm a little behind. Lots of stuff happening in triathlon world though. Here's a rundown of training and races as of late.

Here's where I spend a good portion of my time lately, at the Energy Lab! Here's a great group of cyclists and triathletes getting ready to avoid the rainy weather with an indoor ride. 

One of my goals for 2013 was to race a lot more. During IM Texas training this cycle, I have had lots of fun hitting all kinds of local races, using them as speedwork, key workouts, or even just participating for fun. It's a little hard to get over the mental barrier of not going for/expecting a PR, but after you get over that hump, it becomes a lot more fun especially when you successfully integrate them into the  plan. Here's some of the races we've done this spring in picture form.

Started off the year with a few 10ks per the usual. I think this is from the  Charles Harris 10k. Trying to get that run speed back for a forced layoff over the winter... 

As I was explaining to someone the other day, in order to  not 'race' a race, it's a good idea to ditch your chip, or wear a costume! Costume runs are always a blast.. try it.. takes away All the pressure!

Steeplechase '5k' Actually, it's more like a 3.5 mile race where you jump over horse jumps! Lots of fun.. here's John and I finishing one of the last obstacles.

We did it without injuring ourselves! :)

We attempted to get cleaned up afterwards...

SEE-ME fashion show. Yes, I realize this is not a race. It's  just a picture  I actually like. I need to hire Dave Martinez to screen some of my atrocious facebook candids.

Chattahoochee Challenge April 14th. Managed to nab 1st Female which was pretty cool. Low key, fun race.

Proof that I have done a flying dismount. This is from the John Tanner Sprint last weekend. 

Sooo tired from Texas training and Chattahoochee Challenge the week prior. 

Female OA podium (I actually got second, the pic makes it look like I won)

This takes it through April 27th. Next up is Dog Jog and Mountain Madness from this past weekend. What a double that was! :) 

Chattahoochee Challenge Race Report- 2013

  

Pre-Race

I was highly stressed about the cold and I really didn’t want to wear my full sleeve wetsuit.  In the end I got psyched out into wearing it because everyone else had one on.. Except for the folks who had on nothing. Seriously, that is pretty hardcore. The air temp had to be close to 40 and the water about 64. One guy actually showed up in his underwear to race. Boxer briefs and a mountain bike.. huge props! No lie.. I hope he finished. That would be quite a story to brag about someday. 

ATC Contigent of the Chattahoochee Challenge

I hadn’t done a triathlon this small before. Though they had said three hundred were registered, I’m thinking all of them didn’t show up because it seemed smaller than that. It was very casual. You got to choose your own transition spot, too, which I thought was neat since I nabbed a good one!  Also, it seemed weird to know so few folks.. there was Ted, Rick and I plus Rich Heidal, Christian,  and Robert Murphy who were racing with Team in Training. Besides them, though I barely knew anyone out on the course. 



The Swim

You could see the current moving pretty quickly.  The flip side is that you got to go downstream for awhile then had to go three quarters of the way back up. I got out pretty strong and there was one decent looking drafting possibility from my wave. I barely touched her toe like twice and she actually stopped to give me the stink eye. Figured that meant she wasn’t likely to be a good long-term drafting candidate anyways, so I just moved on. 

Felt smooth and pretty good overall, despite having to wear the full sleeve.  I have been swimming a lot more this year. Don’t think I’ve really gotten any faster, but I must say I feel better. I actually enjoyed the swim and felt confident. Saved some juice for the turnaround so I could get over to the side and out of the current more for the upstream part of the swim. The water was definitely still flowing but it wasn’t too bad. I didn’t have a watch on me at this point, but I could tell that it wasn’t as fast as last years swim supposedly was, the perceived time felt about like a normal half swim.  I did end up beating Ted’s swim by 7 seconds, thankfully keeping my streak alive of beating him in races even though I can’t beat him in the pool.  

Really long, extended run to get to the transition. Was feeling a little cold but the temperature ended up a non-factor as I knew it would. Grabbed arm warmers but didn’t even put them all the way on and was off. I was kind of lazy I didn’t even both with clipping shoes in… I was relatively close to the exit so I figured it didn’t matter much and it was one more thing to go wrong the first race of the year. 

The Bike

Got going and the temps had really messed with my power meter. I needed to re-zero because of the wide swing in temps but it didn’t occur to me until about twenty minutes in. So I spent the first twenty just trying to get the power up and thinking wow, the swim must have Really taken it out of me. Finally thought about it logically and realized I needed to re-zero. Then I was able to get right on target. 

So something I knew about last year was that Paul said it was easy to get off course and in fact, he himself had gone off course a good bit. Prior to this years I had that in the back of my mind but I figured I wouldn’t be in a situation where there wasn’t someone I could follow. Obviously I didn’t think it through (or study the course very well) because it was much different than I pictured. The first several miles were on a path like the silver comet, except for really windy and with lots of wind debris on it (logs and such) there were also lots of little intersections, segues, onto roads and back. Basically, much more technical and hard to navigate and with no one else around.. you know where this is going. At one point I got on a nice flat road, and I’m thinking, this must be the road we were traveling to and now we will stay on that road. With that mindset I missed one of the little direction signs that basically served as 80% of our directional cues and just like that I was off course. I went about a mile and saw a chain link fence blocking a gravel road. Now I knew that wasn’t right. Thank goodness the fence was there otherwise who knows how long I would have kept riding down that road! I had to stop, get my bearings and head back the way I came. 

At that point I had to mentally reevaluate and remind myself of my goals. I wanted a solid effort and  a benchmark of where I’m at, no need to stress about a lost 5 or 6 minutes.  I had an aggressive power goal and a conservative run pace goal. Then back to hit the last couple weeks of TX training hard.That’s it. I could still meet both of those goals even if I lost the chance for a PR.  Got back on track and it was a lonely and windy ride. I had to pay really close attention to the signs to make sure it didn’t happen again and my shoulder started spasming from the unfamiliar position. Got to the turnaround and it had been so windy and slow to that point I was expecting a tailwind on the way back. No such luck.. the headwind on the way back was very surprising and I was slated to have ..I’ll have to check but I think my slowest half time.. coupled with my best power average ever! To put it in perspective I averaged ~15 watts higher than Macon last year and had the same time. Very strange just because I was expecting the course to be really fast. 

The last few miles I finally saw some other folks. Saw Rick and ended up going back and forth with him (legally, of course) There were several of us at one point and I was so happy just not to have to look for the directions for once. So I was basically blindly following the guy in front of me. Well suddenly I was on grass, then gravel , then dirt, then mud. We were off roading on our TT bikes! Not sure if he just misread a sign or what but that’ s the second time I went off course.  Thank goodness no one went down as three more folks behind me blindly followed US into the woods.

Finally, we were nearing the end and I started picking it up, missed a sign again and went off course Again! Fortunately, a police officer who was sitting in his car nearby honked at me so this time was only a minor detour. Very frustrating, though!

To keep from getting totally frustrated, I had to remind myself about fifty more times that I was here to have fun and enjoy myself. In the spirit of having fun, I proceeded to forget any sort of nutrition or electrolytes for the run. I actually didn’t care that much, normally I am happy to live off the course, save for the fact that I didn’t think they would have any caffeine. 

The Run

I was running strong, but in full on fun mode for the run waving to folks, cheering on people, and asking for directions as I was paranoid about going the wrong way again. A couple folks had said I was in first place and I didn’t see any challengers, so I figured I’d better enjoy it as who knows if it would ever happen again! I put away the Garmin, because I knew if I looked at it I wouldn’t be able to help but obsess about pace and kill myself trying to get every last possible second. Instead, I enjoyed running by feel and watching everyone else’s races unfold. 

I saw some fast guys who had started in front of me and I couldn’t tell if Ted was in front or not. I saw Kate a Tnt-er who comes to EL running strong, but I thought I had heard she was in a relay. I also saw Robert and Rick, both looking good, and Rich, who was farther back than I expected. (Turns out he had a bike mechanical)
           
Running without a watch does have its downsides. With no real mile markers the finish came up sooner than I expected and suddenly I was done. Certainly that has never happened before (normally the last couple of miles stretch on forever) I crossed and felt great! (I have definitely never said that before either!) It was really fun getting the opportunity to lead the race, and I thought the whole thing was very quaint. There was a really neat finish festival going on after and the whole scene reminded me somewhat of Chattanooga. I think it would be fun to get a big group for this race. The time of year probably kills it as a half in April is likely more than most folks want to take on.

I thought it was really neat experience that Ted and I had both won overall for ATC.  Rick put up a really good performance too.. he actually started in the wrong wave so his time is wrong, FYI. He was faster than recorded, although we're not sure by how much. (Don't tell him I told you that, as he didn't want to make a big deal about it) Also, new ATCer, Rich had a heroic race, he actually had a mechanical and ended up having to carry his bike back to transition. Tough guy award for sure! All in all, a fun day, and as always happens after you get that first race under your belt, I feel ready and excited to race again!