IMAZ Race Report
Race Week
Prioritized sleep and held race wt (178lbs at 5'10... Beefcake Baby!!)
Workouts were short race intensity sessions
Followed Friel’s Your Best Triathlon book Race Week plan minus 3rd and 4th run sessions (didn't really follow the rest of the book but liked his race week approach)
Race Day
3:30am up to eat
2 ensures, bagel, banana then back to bed. 4:30 Woke up then left hotel around 5:15ish with Mary and Mom
Swim Blue Seventy Helix, Aqua sphere kaiman grey lens (sun wasn't an issue because I was following feet till the turn around)
Lined up in the middle about 2 rows back
Breathed mostly to the right (every 2 strokes)
Took a kick to the right goggle but was able to readjust without a water leak! The way back was lonely. It was hard to find feet to follow and I felt like I was all over the course.
Overall tried to keep a steady effort. Felt Good:)
Swim time 1:05:20
T1 5:29
Wetsuit ripped off (literally in half) by wetsuit gorillas. RIP Helix
Bike
Cervelo P4
Front H3 with 20mm vittoria corsa evo cx and latex tube @100-105 psi, rear Renn 575 Disk 23mm vittoria corsa evo cx and latex tube @105-110 psi
Aerobar bottle holder, no rear bottle holder
Flat kit in P4 bottle, extra tube and CO2 under seat
Spent most of the first 30min trying to pass people so I could settle into my goal power, pushing way too many watts in the process
When I tried to settle into my goal power I felt like shit... my quads were achy, tight, and heavy.
I thought “Oh No! I’m in for a long day”. Next thought was “Yes it’s a long day so back off and take in some nutrition”. After few gels, some sips of perform, and about 20min I was feeling good. This was a key moment in the race for me. The beauty of a long race was I felt like I had the chance to set things right with some patience.
Lap 1 (217avg watts, 89avg cadence, 137avg HR)
Eased off the watts going down the B Line and once I hit the flats I was settled in.
Lap 2 (226avg watts, 87avg cadence, 145avg HR)
Picked it up a touch as I planned.
Missed a water bottle pick up on the last aid station and felt dehydration kicking in
Lap 3 (209avg watts, 82avg cadence, 146avg HR) (Last leg around 200watts)
Got to the first aid station and stocked up on 2 bottles (2nd bottle in my butt crack bottle holder (copyright Faris Al Sultan). Kept it steady up to the the last turnaround then began to ease off the watts.
Power Avg 216
NP 222
HR Avg 143
Cad Avg 88
Coming into T2 I loosened up the kicks and out of nowhere cramped my right hamstring. Another “Oh No” moment.
T2 1:50
Run
Newton Distance
Started off strong and right hamstring felt good (despite almost locking up when putting on my kicks). Actually I felt great and it was a struggle to focus and slow down the pace.
I was concentrating on keeping my cadence up rather than on my pace (>100-105 for the first 5-8mls), naturally cadence came down to around 95 for most of the remainder of the run. Up until around mile 18 things were uneventful, but slowly I was having trouble taking in my gels or even water. Without holding down any nutrition my day was going to come to a screeching halt so I flipped to plan B, which was to walk the aid stations to help stomach nutrition. Even with this gels and perform weren't working so I tried cola (never worked for me in 70.3s). The only thing I could keep down and not cramp on was cola. OMG I F'n love Sam's cola!!!! Each aid station I walked and pounded the cola then off I went, no cramps, back to sub 9min miles. I was shocked... it was working!
Something I noticed while looking at my Garmin data after the race was that my heart rate dropped from the 150s to 140s after I started walking the aids stations and stayed there for the rest of the run. Not sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing but I was able to hold it somewhat together so I guess it's a good thing.
Soon enough I was along the lake coming home! A shout-out to my Girl and my Mom in the stands, the Blazeman-Roll and "You Are An Ironman"!!!
Run Time 3:41:53
Pace 8:28
HR Avg 149
Cad Avg 96 (including walking aid stations)
Total Time 9:44:48
Overall I'm crazy happy with my day. I was aiming for 9:30, but truthfully it was more of a dream than anything else considering this was my first IM.
A Big THANK YOU to all the volunteers, you guys were amazing! A Bigger THANK YOU to my Mary and my Mom, you guys are even more amazing!
