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Oceanside 70.3 race report

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This was my 2nd year doing Oceanside. Having just come off a successful Ironman Los Cabos 2 weeks prior, I had no idea what shape I would be in. My plan was to swim hard (and see if my poor swim in Cabo was an anomaly or that my swimming has regressed), bike hard and then run whatever I could manage.

Swim: 30 mins (4 mins faster than 2012 but shorter course, actual pace slightly slower)
Bike: 2:26 (9 mins faster than 2012, 15W more, and 3.4 w/kg vs 3 w/kg)
Run: 1:35 (4 mins slower than 2012)

The day before the race was a slight disaster. I flew into San Diego at midday, with ample time to get to Oceanside and register. Tribike Transport had shipped my bike directly from  Cabo to San Diego, so I picked up my bike and then started my journey up to Oceanside.  However the Friday traffic was insane and it took me over 1.5 hours just to get to Carlsbad. I first checked into the Sheraton so I could drop my bike off, and thought I’d just inflate my tires and take it for a quick spin. This is where things started to go wrong. My tire wouldn’t inflate, so I took off the valve extender, to deflate the tire first. It slipped as I pushed it, and fell through into my wheel. I tried everything I could to deflate the tire but nothing worked. I took it with me to registration, to see if the mechanics could deflate  it, but they couldn’t either. Ok so it was time to trash a new $20 latex tube. A quick poke and it was deflated. We took the tire off and saw that the valve extender has actually fallen into the hollow area of the Zipp 808 wheel. It was just clanking around in there with no obvious way to get it out. The mechanics  just laughed when they saw what had happened. nice… I spoke to the Zipp people and they said I should just ride with it – after all Zipps are designed to be pretty much indestructible they said!
I continued the checking process, walking around with my clanking carbon wheel. I got my numbers and stuff and headed back to the hotel. It was way after 6 now, and I still had to test my bike out. I quickly replaced the tube, inflated both tires and headed out for a quick spin. 5 mins into the ride and whooooosh! puncture on the rear! $20 Latex tube #2 gone… time for lucky #3! This time it held up, but it was getting late so I kept my ride to a very short 5 mins and went to get the rest of my stuff ready. I quickly put all my numbers on my bike, helmet, race belt, and then got to the gear bag stickers. Ummmmm ok where are my gear bags? It seems that they didn’t give me any! A quick email out to my Triforce teammates confirmed that you actually had to go somewhere else to pick up the gear bags, which nobody told me. This was just bad on the organizers part – I’ve done a lot of races and I just take it for granted that my stuff is all going to be there. Anyway, it was after 8pm so nothing I could do about it now, so I settled in for my dinner of chicken, salad and rice, got my final things packed and turned in for an early night.

I slept like a log, woke up at 3:30, an hour before my alarm but I was awake, so figured I’d just eat, get ready and go. It’s a very quick drive from the Sheraton to the race parking (about 10 mins) so I was there with plenty of time to spare. I picked up some extra gear bags, set up my run stuff in T2 and then rode my bike down to the swim start and T1 (about 10 mins ride). I quickly racked, got ready and then headed down to the start.

The conditions were a lot better than 2012. The water was warmer and calmer, the weather in general was mild / warm, and I think the wind on the bike course was the same, or possibly a little windier.

My swim went ok. 30 mins which was 4 mins faster than 2012, but the course was long last year (or at least I possibly swam it long). As you can see from my training peaks file, in 2012 I swam over 2300 yards at an average pace of just under 1:30/100y and in 2013 I swam 2100 yards in just over 1:30/100y. Maybe I get points for consistency, but I did put a lot of work into my swimming in 2012, and I had improved a lot by November, yet I seem to be back where I started now (poor swim in Cabo and in Oceanside).  As an example, here is my file from Big Kahuna last September where I averaged 1:23/100y with less effort than yesterday at Oceanside. I need to figure this out, but at least I know what I really have to work on before Kona!

Bike: The bike was good. I just rode hard the entire way. The sensible way to ride Oceanside is take it easier on the first half and keep some energy for the way back (hills and wind). However, I was in Ironman shape so figured 56 miles would be ok to go hard the whole way. I felt great for the whole bike.

2:26, 23mph avg speed, 254 watts NP,  3.4 w/kg (based on avg power not normalized) – here is my file

Run: The run started really well. I was feeling very comfortable and hitting out the miles at 6:30/mile which was on plan. I actually thought I would manage a bit faster than that, but was expecting the possibility of going slower. I held this pace for the first 5 miles, and then suddenly the wheels came off completely. I had fueled well, but my body was just very fatigued (lower back, hamstrings) and I could barely hold 08:30/mile. I just held it together (barely) to the end and came home in 1:35 for the run, 4 mins slower than 2012 but I’m in much better run form. I was hoping this wouldn’t happen, but for me 2 weeks is just too soon after an Ironman to give it a hard effort again.

OverallI was happy with my day, obviously disappointed that I couldn’t man up enough on the run to bring it home, but happy to be done and now HAVE A BREAK for at least a few weeks!

Team Triforce wins the small clubs division at Oceanside 70.3

I was really happy to be there with a top bunch of guys from the Triforce team. We really had a blast, winning the division 5 club category (small tri clubs) by over 11000 points! We naturally celebrated post-race in Triforce style with a speedo party in the hotel hot tub!

 

 

 

 

bike

Mexican Revenge!

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Ironman Los Cabos Race Report

Los Cabos

Short Version
Ironman Los Cabos, 17th March 2013
My 3rd attempt at Kona qualification, this time nothing went wrong!
Total time 9:42
2nd in M35-39 AG, 5th amateur, 26th overall
Swim 1:09 (9 mins slower than planned)
Bike 5:07 243 watts normalized power, avg HR 140 bpm link to TP file http://tpks.ws/Lfmg
Run 3:19, avg HR 147 bpm

I swam easy/relaxed, biked like an animal and ran comfortably. I was super happy to qualify for Kona. Although obviously the highest achievement was receiving IMTalk’s Age Grouper of the Week award ;-) see http://bit.ly/AGOW2013

I nailed my nutrition in this race. Here is a link to my nutrition report.

Long version
On November 25th 2012, when I pulled into T2 after 112 miles of biking without being able to keep down food or liquid, I quit Ironman Cozumel without even attempting the run, and returning to Mexico was the very last thing on my mind. I’d had a very long season, with pretty much no break since my first Ironman (Switzerland in July 2011). I had planned on qualifying for Kona at IMCdA in 2012, but was hit by a car 5 weeks before, breaking 2 ribs. I still gave it a shot but I was just not in good enough shape to make the cut, missing a slot by 15 mins. Ironman Cozumel was meant to be my redemption race. I flew to Mexico in the best shape of my life, but I got slammed by a virus the night before. I still gave the race a go, but the GI bug resulted in 5 porta potty stops during the bike and my subsequent withdrawal from that race. I never wanted to return to Mexico, but within a few days, I found myself online, booking my spot at the inaugural Ironman Los Cabos. I vowed to return fitter than ever and christened this race my “Mexican Revenge”…

I decided that this time, I would spend as little time in Mexico as possible, to reduce the chances of contracting a bug before the race. I took all my own food, drank only bottled water, and lived like a hermit in our condo, briefly venturing out only to collect my bike and my race packet, and to buy more bottled water. In retrospect this was all overkill. San Jose del Cabo is much more “first world” than Cozumel – it’s basically just an extension of California including the familiar comforts of starbucks and McDonalds, not to mention a large grocery store called “Mega” which is larger and better stocked than most US supermarkets.

Leading up to the race, there was much speculation on the unofficial Facebook page, a fantastic resource that brought more than 400 of us together in anticipation of this “never-done-before” race that nobody knew much about. There were debates about the bike course elevation – some said it was 3900ft, some said it was 7400ft… and boy am I  glad that I trained for 7400 ;-)

People wanted to know if it would be windy, if there would be sharks, whether wetsuits were allowed, were disc wheels allowed? What cassette size to use etc.

First of all let me say this was the toughest IM course I’ve ever done (this was my 6th). It’s very similar to Ironman Coeur d’Alene, except the swim is warmer, with less contact and better visibility (and only one loop). The bike is a bit tougher and slower. The run is about the same. The weather is a lot hotter and there was more wind in Cabo this year.

We stayed in a condo in a complex called “Alegranza” which is just above the golf course, on a hill. It’s about ½ mile from the finish, and about 1 mile from the Grand Faro hotel, which is where the expo / registration happens. I slept pretty well on Thursday night. Friday night was different. I was nervous. I’ve never been nervous before an Ironman, not even on race day. I was definitely feeling the pressure to perform here. I had invested so much time and effort in my past 2 Ironman races, made so many sacrifices and put so much on the line to achieve my goal, that I couldn’t face a 3rd “unlucky day”. That night I dreamed that someone stole my running shoes from T2 and that I had to run the marathon barefoot. I duly instructed Michelle to take my extra pair of running shoes and leave them in the stroller on race day in case that happened!

After setting 4 alarms for 3:30am, I went to sleep at about 9pm Saturday night.  I slept ok, woke up 30 mins early at 3am and ate my signature rice pudding breakfast, consisting of white rice mixed with 1 x EFS Liquid shot (Kona Mocha flavor). I got dressed, picked up my bags, made a double espresso and headed out the door. I was feeling really good, and calm yet excited. I walked down the road to the Best Western (one of the host hotels) and just missed the bus. I waited in the lobby for about 30 mins with some fellow athletes for the next one to arrive. After a 15 min journey we were dropped at the top of the road, and walked about 10 mins in the dark down to the swim start. I quickly put my nutrition on the bike, then took it over to the mechanics to get my tires pumped. They inflated them higher than normal (115 PSI) which I’d be grateful for later. Time flies when you’re having fun, and before I knew it was already 6:15. I put on my wetsuit then headed down to the warm up area, a small bay adjacent to the starting bay, the same area where we would finish. I only had time for about a 5 min warm up then walked over to the start. We watched the pros go off and then 15-20 mins later we lined up and the siren sounded! Our long day had finally begun!

This was one of the most pleasant swims I’ve had in an Ironman start. I started in the front, 3 rows back to the right of the beach. I had zero contact over the first 500m to the first buoy, before we turned parallel to the beach for the long 1500m back straight. At some point in the middle of this it got a bit congested. A guy was coming from my right, pushing me to the left, where there was another guy. So I was making contact with both of them (unavoidable). The guy on my left then got fed up with me, stopped swimming, turned around and physically pushed my head under the water. Having played water polo in school, my first reaction was to pull his leg back and punch him in the face, but I calmly just let it go – you don’t want to get agro about some idiot so soon in the day! Secretly I do hope he had a really tough day… The rest of the swim was uneventful. I could feel a bit of current on the way back to shore, but it didn’t seem too bad. I was shocked when I got out of the water and saw the clock reading 1:09. I was expecting a swim time of an hour, maybe 1:05 if something went wrong. But 1:09 was ridiculous for me. To give you an idea, I do my slow “cool down” set in the pool, without a wetsuit, faster than that!

Fortunately for me, the swim is the shortest part of the day, and I had plenty of time to make it back. I took off my wetsuit as I got out of the water, making it easier to run up the hill to T1. I grabbed my bag, ran into the changing tent, put my wetsuit in the bag and ran to the bike. My shoes were already clipped in, and my helmet was waiting on my bike, so I put it on, grabbed my bike and headed out the transition area. I jumped on the bike, and then headed up a steep little hill with intermittent cobble sections until we hit the main highway. As I hit the highway I put my feet in my shoes and eased into the long part of the day.. In the past I’ve experienced severe glute cramps if I don’t ease into it, so I kept it steady / easy for about 5 mins before building up to my race effort. The good thing about a slower swim is you pass a lot of people on the bike! I came out of the swim in 223rd place so I had some catching up to do…

You start with an out and back section from Palmilla to San Lucas where you turn around. The road is continually rolling (with some short steep sections too), and there is no flat part at all. Before long the pros started coming back towards us, and I started counting. Kevin (my coach) had said that I should aim to be top 100 at the first turnaround, top 50 on the 2nd lap and then work my way up until the end of the bike. At the first turn I had worked my way up to place 103. I passed another 20 more people and then was alone for a long time, until we hit the long toll road hill going up to the airport close to the end of lap 1. When you look at the elevation map, this looks like it’s going to be the worst hill but it’s actually one of the mildest, even though it’s about 4 miles long. I passed a lot more people on this hill and on the exposed section in the desert out n back section. There is a very exposed bridge where I nearly got blown off my bike by the gusts of wind, but I managed to hold on for dear life. Then it’s back down the long hill and on to lap 2. I went through half way in around 2:34, so at that stage I thought I was on track for a sub 5 bike split. I had averaged 241 watts, and I was planning on riding lap 2 just above 250 watts, which I thought would get me back a fair amount of time. Onto lap 2 and I put down the gas. Again I was alone for about 20 mins, before I started hitting the small packs of female pros. I was now flying, tucked into a very aero position and cranking out 260-275 watts on most of the short hills. There was a headwind on the way to San Lucas but it didn’t really bother me. The turnaround came in no time, and then I was riding back to San Jose with a nice tailwind/ rear crosswind. The wind picked up quite a bit on the 2nd lap. The long toll road hill was tougher this time around, and I stayed out of aero on the exposed section, which cost me some time but prevented a possible crash! At the far turn around, I almost came to a complete stop because the wind was so strong. I had to get out of the saddle and really stomp just to get going. I saw a few backmarkers still on lap 1 drafting each other here. To be honest I don’t think it was malicious, just a case of survival! There was one short hill (10% grade) and then a long downhill between me and the final ride into town. At this stage I could see that a sub 5 was not going to happen, but it was clear that I had still had a decent ride.

When I arrived in T2 it was like a ghost town. There was nobody in the change tent and the run bag racks were full. So I knew that I must have made up some good time. Unfortunately, the volunteers couldn’t find my run gear bag. I thought my Friday night dream was coming true and that I’d have to run the marathon barefoot! I was grateful for that one day when I did a 15 miler in my Vibrams… at least that was some preparation. After about 1.5 mins, the “manager” came and eventually they found my bag. Into the change tent, I made up some of the lost time with 7 little mexican kids helping me put my shoes on, take my helmet, pass me sunblock, give me my water bottle. I still made it out in 2.5 mins which is not bad, but without the delay I would have had a super fast T2 time.

This is the first time I’ve started the IM run quite high up the field (I was now top 30, although at the time I had no idea what place I was in my AG). It’s kind of a strange experience; the road is empty, and the crowd + volunteers have all this pent up excitement that gets unleashed on you. The crowd support really amped me and found it pretty difficult to hold back at first. I glanced down at my garmin to see my pace, and it was showing “00:00”. I use my avg pace view a lot in Ironman racing because my pace somehow feels different than it does in training. At the start of the run I often go out too fast, so I use the pace to hold myself back. And then from half way I use the pace to push myself harder (I often think I’m running faster than I am). This non-working Garmin was a distraction I didn’t need right now. I tried resetting it but that didn’t help. I still had heart rate and lap time, so I decided to just run according to feel, and manually hit the lap button at the odd mile marker to check my pace. I used heart rate as a very rough indicator of effort. I was at around 156 bmp which is 6 bpm higher than my target cap. But it was very hot so I gave myself the 6bpm “credit” since I was feeling very comfortable and relaxed.

My target pace was just over 07:00 per mile, so I was a bit surprised when I went through 3 miles averaging 6:40 / mile. I knew this would not be sustainable so I immediately slowed down, aiming to get my HR back down to around 150 which I knew would be closer to my intended pace. After 6 miles I passed a guy who I thought was in my AG who was now walking. Soon after a guy in 30-34 flew past me – he must have been doing close to 6 min/mile! Soon after I saw Michelle and she told me I came off the bike 2nd in my AG. Since I had just passed that other guy I thought I was now in the lead, but I wasn’t sure. Either way, I knew that I was 1st or 2nd, and since my goal was to get the Kona slot, I was assured of achieving my goal as long as I didn’t screw it up! My strategy changed immediately – I eased up to a steady pace and stopped “pushing”. The only thing now standing between me and my slot would be cramping, seizing quads, or something else that could result from running too hard. I focused on steady intake of fluids (I drank only Pepsi the whole run), a little salt, and keeping myself cool. The aid stations at this race were PHENOMENAL. By far the best Ironman aid stations I’ve ever seen (yes, even better than the super-organized IM Switzerland). They were placed every km, and were fully stocked with ice, ice-cold water, pepsi, gatorade, gels, bananas and lots more stuff. I took 2 waters at every station and drenched myself to keep cool. I must have thrown about 5 buckets of ice down my tri suit in total. And it was easy to keep my bike bottle topped up with fluids without having to stop once.

The run is 3 loops of over 8 miles, it’s flat and rolling with a few easy hills that break it up nicely. Some people said the run was boring but I thought it was great. On each lap, you run half way down the finisher chute, which is packed with spectators. It’s a huge boost to get the cheers of the crowd to keep you going, and is something to look forward to each lap. I was still feeling good as I went on to my 3rd lap. I just kept running, refilling my bottle with pepsi and keeping cool with water and ice. At this stage I still thought I was winning my age group, but nobody had passed me yet so I was still just running comfortably. About 1 mile from the end, a guy in my age group came past me. This woke me up out of my daze and I put my foot on the gas. I accelerated past him and did the last mile in about 6:40. He must have been on a different lap, because when I checked the results, 3rd place was more than 10 mins behind me, but at least I had a strong finish! I was elated to have finally nailed my Kona slot, and to have had my best race ever, with a PR on the toughest course I’ve done.

The finish area was great. I skipped the food, had a quick ice bath and then headed to the massage tent which was empty except for a few pro women and a lot of bored massage therapists. I offered to help them out with their boredom, and I had 2 of them working on me for about 40 minutes! They were really good and I’m sure that helped alot with my recovery.

There were some mexican kids who obviously mistook me for someone else because they all wanted my autograph, and to have their picture taken with me :-)

Another possibility is that they had already heard the rumour that I would become Age Grouper of the Week on IMTalk, the world’s premier Ironman podcast!

All in all this was a great race, but a very tough race. It was very well organized and the crowd + volunteer support was amazing. The swim was really great although too long (many of us measured over 4.2km on our GPS watches). The bike is tough, which is fine as long as you expect that (there was no official guidance on the course prior to race day, just speculation). The run is awesome. Nice and rolling which breaks it up a bit compared to a pancake flat course. The only improvements that come to mind are to fix the speed bumps and potholes on those few sections of the bike course. Besides that, the road conditions were very good.

Lastly, the awards ceremony on the Monday evening was the best that I’ve ever been to. It’s in an outdoor waterfront area in Cabo San Lucas, with loads of restaurants, bars etc. around it. There was a great buzz with cool music and just generally a great atmosphere.

In closing, I’d highly recommend this event, as long as you don’t underestimate the difficulty of it. If you want an easy Ironman, this isn’t the right one for you. But if you want a challenging race in a great location with amazing support, do it!

See you in Kona!

Ironman Cozumel Race Report (DNF)

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This was 5th Ironman, and my first Ironman DNF. So what’s the point of a race report? Well, hopefully it’s helpful to others who may be considering this race, and it’s probably most useful for me to get this disappointing result off my chest!

 

Pre-swim on Friday morning

Going into the race I was in the best shape of my life. I was pretty much set to qualify for Kona without having to race too hard. By the numbers I would have been close to a time of 9 hours. I’ve spent a lot of time improving my swim, my power on the bike is at lifetime best, and my run has been consistent and good enough for an Ironman run of a little over 3 hours. This was my comeback after I got hit by a car a month before IMCdA, and I had drawn up a very detailed plan of my race which had me on track for a decent time…

Arrived in COZ feeling ready!

This was my race prediction based on the plan:

  • Swim: 59 mins based on my pool times (1:20/100y steady pace in the pool), and a 1:02 I swam in an easy open water training swim in Hawaii 3 weeks before the race
  • Bike: 240w average which would give me a bike split of around 4:40
  • Run: 07:00 – 07:10 per mile getting me through the marathon in around 3:10

So give and take 3-5 mins in each transition and some margin for error, I was projecting a time in the low 9′s (not as good as Coach Coady’s recent 8:56, but hopefully still decent!)

Kevin's amazing IMAZ time from one week before

The amount of prep I put into this race was significant. I put in 15-20k of swimming a week, 40 miles of running a week, and since Cozumel is a flat and hot bike course I did most of my bike training on an indoor trainer in the aero position.  Most weeks were 20+ hours of training, meaning I often had to get up at 4am. I had no social life. I did everything to prevent illness, including doing stuff like obsessively carrying around hand sanitizer! It was all worth it – with a week to go I was in the shape of my life, healthy, well rested and ready to race! I even arrived in Mexico early, to reduce travel stress, get familiar with the course and make sure all my gear was in working order, without any time pressure.  Given the potential for dodgy food and water in Mexico, I even brought all my own pre-race meals (oats and whey protein) and only drank bottled water. We even brushed our teeth with bottled water. I avoided public places and made as little contact as possible with other athletes.

I took an easy ride around the island on the Thursday, and felt great. I kept it easy, averaging under 210 watts. I took it up to race pace a few times and I struggled to hold myself under 260 watts. Hitting my target of 240 watts on race day would be pretty easy and would leave me plenty of juice for a great run.

The preparation was perfect. Then with 2 days to go everything changed. My 1 year old son was up all night vomiting. It lasted less than a day then he was ok again. My wife got violently ill on the Friday night, and she couldn’t move all of Saturday. I was still feeling fine, although at the back of my mind I had the sinking feeling that I would get this GI bug too, I just hoped that it would be on Monday and not Sunday! I was also a little concerned since I had lost my appetite and not eaten since 3pm, however I just put that down to being full from the tons of carbs I had eaten the day before…  I was still hydrating and getting in plenty of salt. I estimate I took in 12-13 Nuun tabs throughout the day and 4+ L of water.

I had finished my race prep by 5pm; bike was racked ‘n ready, bike and run gear bags dropped off at T1, power bars cut into quarters, dusted with whey powder to prevent “sticking”, 2 x EFS liquid shots mixed with water in a bottle, ready to transfer into the Shiv bladder in the morning. All race gear was ready to just pick up and leave. By 6pm I really didn’t feel well. I went straight to sleep without eating. I woke up at 11pm with a bloated gut, weird since I hadn’t eaten in over 8 hours. I started cramping and then it hit… I spent most of the remainder of the night on the toilet, interspersed with a few hours of sleep. It’s not unusual to sleep badly the night before an Ironman, so this didn’t bother me. Besides I had gotten plenty of sleep in the days before. When I woke up at 4am I couldn’t face solid food. I just drank 2 x starbucks pre-made frappucino drinks (200 cals each) which I knew would be enough to at least get me going. I also took 2 x immodiums in an attempt to stop the squits. Our condo was near to a host hotel, so I walked across and got on the bus. I was feeling much better now, and was determined to at least complete the swim and attempt the bike. I couldn’t let all this prep go to waste without even trying.

I arrived in transition around 5am, where we got body “re-marked”. They had already marked us the day before so it was just a case of touching up. I then went and set up my bike nutrition, took my bike to the mechanics to get the tyres pumped, and then set up my rack ready to go: I would be riding in socks since I had a bad blister on my heel, so I coated the inside of my socks in vaseline and put them on my towel, ready to slip on after the swim. I also set up my shoes attached to my pedals for a quick exit from T1. One quick mention on the organization – this was the best transition area I’ve seen to date: plenty of space – at least 2m each side of my bike and volunteers everywhere ready to help.

I then did a final toilet stop. I brought my own TP since I’d read reports of them running out in previous years. I’m glad I did since the toilet I chose was sans TP and in my “current condition” that would have not been a very good thing! Unfortunately the Immodiums had not seemed to take effect, so I took another one after that. Our race started at 7am, so I took a gel at 06:15 then another at 06:45. I struggled to keep them down but I managed.

Swim
At 06:50 I made my way out onto the pier and jumped into the water. We had not been allowed to warm up so I did a few sprints. I started making my way over to the left had side, in order to line up a few rows back, but very near the front, on the inside line. We had about 800 yards to swim before the first turn, so plenty of time to settle in before the inevitable “first turn mayhem”. As I was making my way towards the front, everyone suddenly started swimming. I figured I must have missed the start siren so I quickly started my watch and launched into a sprint. After about 30 seconds, a pair of jet skis scooted in front to try and stop us.  False start! They pushed us back a bit, then patrolled up and down so keep us at bay. About a minute later the real siren went off and we were underway. I expected this swim to be non-violent because there is great visibility and lots of space. How wrong I was! I started a few rows back, on the inside line, and the contact was very rough. It was complete white water for at least the first 5 mins. Even though the visibility was close to 100ft, I could see nothing but white. I swam over a few slow people who had seeded themselves at the front. If that was you I’m sorry, but next time you’ll probably not make that mistake again – it’s happened to all of us. About half way to the first turn, I had swum past the slower people and was in clearer water. I was on feet almost 100% of the time, and I didn’t need to sight since you can see the long line of swimmers under the water, and you can see the buoy lines from at least 60ft away. We were swimming over the coral reefs so there were lots of fish to see, not to mention the submarines and divers along the way. I was feeling great – the water was rough but I was holding down the gel and it felt like I was swimming at a good pace. Effort wise it felt like I was swimming around 1:20 / 100y.  As we approached the first turn I could feel the current surging a bit, but it didn’t feel that bad. We then turned and headed down the long stretch (with the current). I couldn’t really feel any difference in the current. I found a good set of feet and just stuck there down the back straight. I went through half way in 28 mins, a little slower than expected but still on track for sub 60 mins (so I thought). We headed around the final turn, to head back towards the pier.  I immediately felt the the difference in speed due to the current. Progress was slow. The feet I was following got a bit erratic and was zig zaging a bit, so I swam across to find some more feet. I knew it was critical to draft here because of the current, so I swam extra hard to get to a group in front of me. I consciously worked my arms and shoulders hard. They were burning now, but I worked them even harder, telling myself that I wasn’t going to use my arms for the rest of the day. It felt like an eternity before I saw the pier approaching. I glanced at my Garmin and saw 1:06:xx – at first I thought this was some type of mistake – how could I be more than 10 mins off my pace? I swam even harder, got to the exit, and the clock confirmed my fears – 1:10:xx – one of my worst IM swim times ever, and I was in the best swimming shape of my life!

Swim time: 1:10
Pace to first turn (against the current): 800 yards, 1:52/100y
Pace along back straight (with the current): 2000 yards, 1:02/100y
Pace back to pier (against the current): 1400 yards, 2:20/100y

The exit into T1 was simple and clean. I unzipped the top half of my swim skin, grabbed my bag, headed directly to the bike, but was sent back to go through the change tent (you need to go through the tent even if you aren’t using it). You also need to leave your bike bag in the tent, so I ended up quickly putting my helmet and glasses on before chucking my bag down and heading to my bike. I put on my socks, stuffed an EFS liquid shot down the front of my top, stuck 2 gels in my pocket, then ran off with my bike for a swift T1 exit. I saw my coach Kevin Coady just before the exit. He shouted that it was a very slow swim and that I was at least in the top 10%. All was not lost! I jumped on the bike and then slowly started making my way through the field.

Bike
The plan was to ride easy for the first 10 mins (220 watts or so) until my legs and glutes ease up. This all went according to plan and I spun lightly at a low steady effort through the large groups of bikers. I decided to check that my gels were properly in my pocket, and that’s when I felt a weird piece of material fluttering around in the wind. I couldn’t make head or tail of it until I looked down, and realized that I had left my swim skin on! Frikking idiot!!! What the hell!? I guess the problem is that it’s so unobtrusive, you kind of just forget that it’s there. I tried to look on the bright side, that at least it was probably quite aero. I decided to put on the top half again, zip it up and then just go for it. Luckily for me it wasn’t too hot, and I was actually ok riding in it. It seemed to keep moisture on the surface and was actually pretty cool. Having said that, I would not recommend riding in a swim skin!

I took in half my EFS liquid shot in one go (200 cals) and settled into my pace. I was struggling to hit my power numbers. 240 watts usually feels quite easy for me, and I was putting in a lot of effort to get near to 230 watts. I then decided to ignore my watts and just ride by feel. The most important thing for me is to not overdo the watts in the beginning, and clearly this was not going to happen. My speed was good – I was averaging just under 26 mph while riding less than 220w. When I rounded the island to the windy east side, my speed dropped as expected, but by the end of the first lap I was just under 24 mph… so on track for around 4:50 or faster, and if I could ride the 2nd half closer to my target wattage I’d be on track for 4:40 or faster, getting me back on track after that terrible swim. Besides the swim skin issue I was still feeling ok, but as I started lap 2 all of that changed.

I couldn’t keep anything down. I started the first lap with a mixture of coke and BCAA in my bottle between the bars. I finished that after 25 miles and switched water. I had power bars cut into 1/3rds in my darkspeedworks bento, the plan ws to eat 1/3 every 20 mins. I just couldn’t stomach any of it.  Water: came back up. Bars: came back up. EFS: came back up. I then started bloating really badly. I wasn’t sure what was causing it since I wasn’t taking in any food. Maybe it was the 3 immodiums I had taken… I had no idea. I was just getting worse and worse. Hopefully I could ride it out till the end of the bike and then visit the porta potty in T2. Soon I could no longer remain in the aero position, my stomach was just too bloated and painful. 15 mins later desperation kicked in… I needed to find a port potty, and pronto! After what seemed like an eternity, the aid station arrived and I made a beeline for the toilet. The volunteers were great and rushed over to hold my bike while I visited the loo. Inside that portaloo, it was like armageddon taking place. I literally exploded as I sat down. This was diarrhea like nothing I’ve ever experienced – like an endless supply of water just gushing out. I have no idea where it all came from since I had already been on the toilet all night, and I hadn’t eaten in over 20 hours. I sat there for about 5 mins, and eventually the bloat had subsided. I got my bike back from the volunteers who had kindly restocked my drinks while I was “busy”, and started back on my quest again. Ok, 5 mins is not too bad, I can make this back quite easily, I thought. How wrong I was. I got back on the bike and started riding again, but couldn’t even manage 200w.  For me this is pretty poor, bearing in mind that my lower steady training rides average about 210w. I went through 56 miles in 2:25, which still put me in contention. However it was pretty much downhill from there… For the remainder of the ride, it was pretty much the same story, but progressively slower; take in water/food, some of it comes back up, stomach bloats, stop for toilet, repeat. On lap 3 I saw Michelle, so I stopped to give her my swim skin – at that stage an extra stop was not going to really matter, and at least I’d be a little more comfortable for the remainder of my suffering. About half way through my final lap I had decided that I would not start the run. Not only was I out of contention, but I was now severely dehydrated and pretty much on zero fuel. Running a marathon would not only be miserable but also dangerous.I “limped” my bike through the final half of the lap, very relieved to finally be at T2. The bike course measured a little long at 113.5 miles.

Bike Time: 5:38, 184w NP, 20 mph

Lap 1: 205w NP, 23 mph
Lap 2:  184w NP, 21 mph
Lap 3:  155w NP, 17.5 mph

I dismounted, gave them my bike, ran to the porta potty for my final stop of the race. I then tried to explain to the medics that I was dehydrated, but all they did was send me to an ice bath! I then tried to find coach Coady and his wife Caroline, but I was without my phone so had to just walk through the crowds in the hope of finding them. This quest was unsuccessful, so I just got my bike and headed back to the apartment, where I spent the rest of the day trying to get some fluids down (and keep them down).

 

Recovery time on the Mayan Riviera

The next day I still couldn’t keep anything down, but finally on Tuesday afternoon I managed to eat something and keep it down. I had been hit with a 48 hour stomach virus on the only 2 days this year that it really mattered! To say I was disappointed is an understatement, but I’m now over it, ready to move on, and I will be back to take Mexican Revenge on March 17th 2013 in Ironman Los Cabos. This time I will arrive as late as possible and will be bringing all my own food with me!

 

2012 Ironman Coeur d’Alene race report – 10:05

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In the moments before you die, they say that your life flashes before your eyes. For me it was a little different. My fingers clamped down on the brake levers in a vice grip, as my bike skidded in a futile attempt to avoid the Mercedes that had just turned directly into my path. In the split seconds before impact I instinctively turned my back towards the windshield, which probably saved my life. The last thought to go through my mind was “this is sure going to ruin my training session”. I lay motionless on the road, struggling for air, unable to move. I tried to wiggle my toes. At first I felt nothing, then slowly but surely movement began to return. The driver was standing next to me shouting “oh my god, I’ve killed him! I’ve killed him!” which to be perfectly honest was not very helpful to me right then. I was reasonably sure that I was still alive, but for a moment I wondered if he was right, that maybe this is what happens when you die. Fortunately he was wrong – after a bumpy trip to the ER I was diagnosed with broken ribs, at the back a few inches away from my spine. Based on the vehicle damage, the paramedics said that I was lucky to be alive. My small backpack packed with work clothes absorbed some of the shock, and probably did a good job of protecting my spine. Someone upstairs was definitely looking after me :-)

GPS file of the crash... love the "spatter effect"

I was hit by the car on May 23rd, a month before Ironman Coeur d’Alene which was on June 24th. I had been The trip back from the hospital was excruciating. Any bump would send a hot knife stabbing through my mid-section. I had no idea how I would be able to race, but I was determined to make it. I trained so hard all through winter, and was just getting back on track after overcoming a case of extreme saddle sores that rendered me unable to do ANY training for 2 weeks. How was I going to train with broken ribs, and would I even be able to race on June 24th???

TSS, CTL, TSB and other fine acronyms
My goal was to qualify for Kona, which meant aiming for a time of around 09:30 at IMCdA. I knew what I had to do in terms of preparation. I’m a trainingpeaks user, and this year coach coady had me really train to the numbers.  To be in KQ shape, I would need to peak at around 150 Critical Training Load (CTL) which is based on TSS (Training Stress Score). TSS is a training stress score give to each swim (pace), bike (power) and run (pace + elevation) workout. Your CTL is the average TSS per day over the last 42 days (customizable). This means building up your volume, incorporating rest + recovery in a smart way, and gradually improving over time. I didn’t really have an off season, so I had been training since my last IM race in september 2011 (Challenge Henley). You can see my CTL as the blue line in the graph below. I peaked at 138 CTL just before Oceanside 70.3 – after which things went a bit downhill when an infection put me out of action for a few weeks. I was just getting back on track when I got hit by the car…

Rehab
With broken ribs, I couldn’t swim run or walk and I didn’t ride my bike outdoors once until IMCdA. I was intent on doing whatever I could to salvage all the hours I’d put into my training over the winter. All I could do was ride on the indoor trainer, keeping as still as possible. This was painful, very painful, but sitting on the bike was actually less painful than lying down on my back. Having been sidelined for 2 weeks following Oceanside, I was grateful to at least be able to do something. So I endured multiple mindless hours on the trainer for the next few weeks. I managed 12-14 hours per week on the trainer, some weekends I did 4 hours each day indoors! I was finally able to swim and run (in pain) during the 10 days before IMCdA. All I could do was run slowly on the treadmill at 11:00 per mile, so I just cranked up the gradient in order to add extra effort.

A few days before IMCdA, I had to make a call as to whether or not I would race. I was pretty nervous about the high contact swim that IMCdA is notorious for, but in the end I decided to go for it. My actual race plan was determined for me – I didn’t have much choice: I would have to avoid all contact during the swim, push it on the bike, and then go at whatever pace I could manage on the run.

Logistics
We flew up to Spokane on Thursday evening, and stayed at the Davenport hotel (nice place but far). I headed over to the expo on Friday to register, pick up my bike and make sure everything was in working order. We then headed back to Spokane for an early night. I was in bed by 9pm and up early Saturday morning (3:30 am), just like I would be on race day. I drove over to CdA early, went for a swim and short ride before racking my bike. For a change, I was done by lunchtime (instead of the usual 6pm) meaning I had good time to chill out and relax for the rest of the day back in Spokane.

Pre-Race Nutrition:
On Saturday I ramped up my carb consumption, avoiding fibre where possible, taking in greek yogurt, non-fat pretzels, white bagels, chocolate milk and plenty of raw oatmeal. I also took in a lot of electrolyte solution (maybe 6 Gu Brew tablets) in order to boost hydration. I prepped all my final race day nutrition, stopped drinking at around 5pm (pee avoidance strategy) and was in bed by 8pm. I got a few hours of sleep before waking up at midnight, 2am, 3am, then getting up at 4am. I kind of expect this type of sleep pattern before race day, which is why I try to get plenty of sleep in the days leading up to the race. The good thing about waking up so often is that I continued eating during the night.

Race Day:
I woke up at 4am, ate 2 x white bagels with honey and drank one of those cold starbucks coffee drinks. The taxi picked me up at 4:30 – Michelle and Tyler would drive the rental car through later in the day to support me. I arrived at T1 around 5:15, took my bike to stand in line for the air compressor, and sorted out my bike nutrition while waiting in line. 2 x 5 oz EFS kona mocha shots (400 cals each) in the Shiv Fuelselage, topped up with 10oz water. In the bottle between the bars I had 3 x scoops IM perform + 2 scoops Scivation Xtend (BCAA). 2 x chopped up cliff bars and 3 x gels in the DarkSpeedworks bento box.
Once the tires were pumped, I racked my bike and put on my wetsuit. I also saw that Brian Taylor (we connected on G+ because of IMCdA) was racked near to me so I went to say hi. It’s really great to finally meet online friends in person – he was looking calm and collected – check out his race report… I headed over to the swim start – and had to squeeze through the crowd of athletes to get down to the water. We were not allowed to warm up, so I just submerged myself underwater to get used to the cold. I recommend that you at least do this, otherwise the shock of the cold could cause panic. There will be plenty of other things to make you panic so take care of this and make it one less thing to worry about!

Swim:
Within a few mins of submerging myself, it was time! I started near to the front, but far to the right in order to avoid being swum over, and to avoid having to swim over others. This meant an extra 200m of swimming but I think it was worth it. There was a lot of jostling and contact, even where I started. This congestion continued for the whole swim, but at least I was swimming at a comfortable pace. At each buoy, things would get crazy again but then settle down a bit. After lap 1, I looked at my watch and it said 35 mins, so I knew I was in for a slower time than expected. I picked up the pace on lap 2, but to no avail as I finished my swim in 1:13… one of my worst times ever.

T1
I took T1 much easier than usual (like 5 mins versus the normal 2). I didn’t want a repeat of my Wildflower “ass seizure” getting onto the bike. We were also not allowed to keep our shoes attached to the pedals, which meant putting them on first. I took off my wetsuit, stuffed it into the bag, put on my helmet, glasses and arm warmers, picked up my shoes and went to retrieve my bike. I ran with my bike to the mounting point, stopped, put on my shoes and then mounted. This felt much more clumsy than being able to do a smooth flying mount onto the bike, but hey the rules are the rules.

Bike
My glutes were really tight getting onto the bike, so I purposefully kept my power < 180 watts for the first 10 mins or so, until they eased up. After that I hammered it down to try and make up some time for my bad swim. I capped my watts at 255 but caught myself spiking up to 265/270 at times. I settled down by the time I hit HWY 95, and stuck at around 230-235 watts for the first lap. Nutrition wise, I finished most of the EFS on lap 1, and took in 1 x bottle of IM perform per aid station. This was a little too much and I started to bloat a bit – so I switched to water for a while towards the end of lap 1. I did my first lap in 2:34 (avg power 226 watts), then picked up the pace a bit for lap 2, aiming for a negative split. Things were going well untill I hit the hills on HWY 95 again. The wind had picked up and it was hot. I just sat in the saddle cranking it out at a steady pace into the wind but it was hard work. I had a few guys drafting off me all the way up the first set of hills, but I finally managed to lose them before the turnaround. I ate most of the cliff bar (broken into 1/6ths) during lap 2, plus 2 x gels and the remaining water. I didn’t get my negative split, and came back into town for a 5:15 bike split, at an average of 221 watts.

T2
My T2 was 2 mins, a lot quicker than T1. I just dumped my helmet, put on socks and shoes, some sunscreen + hat and a bottle of flat coke. I then headed off into the unknown – would I be able to run with my broken ribs!!??

Run
I started off at what felt like an easy pace. I saw coach coady on the sidelines, and figured he must have crashed out or something (he was on track to win our age group). I later found out he was hit by a van! He shouted out that I was really high in the field, and that I should keep steady. I went through 2 miles in just over 14 mins, which I thought was a little too fast. I slowed down a bit, with the goal of running the first half easy and then hammering for the final 13 miles. However, after mile 3 I slowed to around 7:50 and settled in there. I had to stop for a toilet break (I’ve never made it through an IM without this happening – I need to figure that out!). I pretty much stuck to that pace as far as possible. The hills before the turnaround slowed me to about 09:30/mile, but I made up a little on the downhills. On the way back I saw Michelle and Tyler on the side of the road, there in full support! Michelle said that I had come off the bike in 10th place. This gave me the energy to keep going and not stop at all till the end of the race. I saw Kevin again as I went through halfway, and he shouted out that the others were not running well. I was hurting a bit at this stage, and just had to push myself through to mile 16. I was chugging down coke where possible (they didn’t have it at every aid stations) and I grabbed Gu gels where possible (they mostly had strawberry/banana flavor which is disgusting, so luckily found a few tables serving vanilla / raspberry / chocolate mint). I kept a steady pace for the next few miles. The ribs were holding up but I just couldn’t speed up. At mile 23 I upped the effort considerably. Michelle shouted that there were 2 guys in my age group 5 mins ahead. However I was still only managing about 7:40 / mile. Nevertheless I pushed as hard as I could to catch them. I put in my best effort and crossed the line in 10 hours 5 minutes. Although this was a personal best time for me, I was disappointed to have not gone under 10 hours. Having said that, I knew that I was not going to be able do a 09:30 with broken ribs, so I felt satisfied that I had at least managed to finish in a decent time.

Even though I missed my goal of Kona qualification, and missed my target time by a long way, I gave my absolute best possible effort on the day and left nothing on the table. In the coming months I would also realize that those endless trainer sessions would provide a step change in my future training capability. So in some sense, there was much good that came from a bad situation.

 

Some notes on the course

Coeur d’Alene is a beautiful town, nestled on the shores of Lake Coeur d’Alene in Idaho, about 45 mins east of Spokane, WA. The race has been run for the past 9 years, and will continue to run at least until 2017.

Race Entry: IMCdA seems to sell out within a few weeks of opening (early July). Ironman Foundation slots are usually available right up until the race (at least they were in 2011).

Where to stay: Everything decent in CdA was sold out by the time I booked, so I stayed in Spokane. I’d say this is probably a little far, but very much an option. On race day I took a taxi to the start. It picked me up at 4:30am and I was at T1 by 5:15. However I’d say book early and try to stay in CdA or nearby.

I found it to be a tough course, but not overly tough. The swim is cold and rough, the bike is fairly hilly (but still fast) and the run is flat with 2 hills at the turnaround.

Swim:
The water is cold, and the swim start can be pretty violent. If you’ve done many mass start tris before, you will be used to the mayhem, however in past races I’ve done, the mayhem usually lets up after the first turn and everyone settles into a rhythm. This race was different; I started all the way to the right since I had broken my ribs several weeks before and wanted to avoid contact. This meant swimming extra distance (I swam 4.1km in total) but I missed the very violent chaos of the middle and left. However there was still a lot of contact, and it continued throughout the race. There were even people swimming over each other as we exited the water! The water is also cold (it was 58F). The cold combined with chaos means there is a high likelihood of panic. There were quite a few waves that had picked up, and I took a few breaths of water during the first 800m. I’m the last person to panic, but I did start to freak out a few times. It took all my strength just to relax, slow down, breathe deeply and recover my composure. My recommendation is that you mentally prepare for this stressful scenario – don’t pretend it’s not going to happen! I swam a 1:13 – my pace was 1:46 / 100m and I swam 4100m (300m over). I was expecting to swim around 1:05 so the swim was slower than planned.

Bike:
The main change in 2012 was to the bike course. Basically you start in town, do an out and back along Coeur d’Alene Lake Drive to the Higgins Point cul de sac, then out and back on highway 95. I found the course to be hilly but relatively fast. The first out and back is pretty quick. Then there is a no pass zone going across the bridge onto the 95, before hitting the rolling course out to the turnaround and back. The way out is a fair amount of steady climbing, and the way back is pretty quick – a few hills but in general quite fast. The wind picked up for the second lap which made things harder on the on the long steady climbs… I also picked up a few parasites that stuck on my rear wheel without taking a turn in the front. Secretly I hope they cramped up on the run ;-)

Run:
The run course is quite fast, but there are 2 hills at the turnaround which will slow you down a bit. My pace was 1:00 to 1:30 per mile slower going up these hills. On a normal day they would be fine but after 112 miles on the bike they feel pretty tough.

link to race files:

swim, bike, run

Race Report: Morgan Hill Marathon

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Sore legs and a new Personal Best!

On Sunday 23rd October I took part in the Morgan Hill Marathon, a beautiful & scenic race taking place around the town of Morgan Hill, which is about 25 mins south of San Jose in Northern California.

Uvas Reservoir

It felt strange to be running a marathon without first swimming 2.4 miles and biking 112 miles! Psychologically, this makes a big difference because you know that the distance is not going to be a problem, and it turns into more of an actual race against the clock. More than anything I was curious as to what time I’d be able to do in a straight marathon compared to an Ironman marathon leg.

As the name would suggest, the Morgan Hill Marathon is pretty hilly. The first few miles are relatively flat, and then you climb up to the Uvas reservoir, have rolling hills until about 15 miles, then a really steep downhill before hitting the final 10 miles which is pretty flat.

morgan hill marathon course elevation

course elevation, pace, cadence and heart rate

I wanted to test my limits, so my race plan was to head out as fast as possible, running at a heart rate of 1-2 bpm below threshold for as long as possible (my threshold is around 170, and I was averaging about 168). I would aim to run at this pace until I broke. Easy plan to stick to…

Pre race I didn’t  do much tapering. It felt like enough of a rest that I didn’t have to ride 112 miles first ;-) but I basically did a hard workout the weekend before and took 1 week of recovery, doing very little running and a few long bike rides. In terms of nutrition I was on high protein, lowish carb for most of the week, with a relatively carb-heavy day 24 hours before the race (no sugars, mainly raw oats & veggies, with a homemade pizza thrown in for good measure). The day before I also did some pre-race sharpening as prescribed by my taskmaster Coach Coady.

On race day, I got up at 5am, had a large bowl of rice crispies and a latte at home before driving down to Morgan Hill. I got there an hour before the start which was enough time to get another coffee + powerbar at the local Starbucks/Safeway. As a warm up I re-did my race sharpening workout (3 x 1 min @ marathon pace + 2 x fast strides) and some stretches. I packed my gels into my tri vest according to my race nutrition plan I tried to take in a little more compared to Ironman races, mainly because I would be running at a much higher intensity. At 168 bpm I’d be burning a lot of glycogen, whereas during an Ironman I don’t run much above 145 bpm, where I am using a high % of fat stores and am therefore less carb dependent. My planned intake was 1 gel every 15 mins, which worked out fine for me.

I started out pretty fast, but not too fast, about 7 min/mile. I was part of a small group of 3 that would run more or less together until the 19 mile mark. I stayed at a consistent pace of around 6:55 or so for most of the first half, going through halfway in just over 1:30. I felt very good at this stage, like I was holding a little back. The other 2 guys were about 45 secs in front of me at this stage. From here on I picked up the pace a bit to around 6:50 min/mile, with the goal of running a negative split. However, I did take the time to look around – the scenery was just stunning – such a beautiful course! Just before the 16 mile mark, we met the half marathon runners who were at around 8 miles. The course went up a pretty long hill before plummeting down (90 meter altitude drop in 2km). Once we hit the flats I was feeling super strong. I could see the 2 other guys in front and I set out to catch them, which I did at about mile 18. One of the marshalls called out that we were in positions 8,9 and 10th. Although a top 10 was nice, I was more concerned with keeping up this pace so that we could get there in a sub 3h. We were flying along the flats now at around 6:40 and I felt invincible. At 20 miles one of the other guys faded so it was just the 2 of us now. I was still feeling good. I was constantly measuring my pain on a level of 1-10, and it was around a 2 or 3. Suddenly, shortly after mile 21, I just started slowing down and the other guy dropped me. I just couldn’t go much faster than 7:15 / 7:30. By mile 23 the time was about 2:41, and I couldn’t get myself faster than 7:00 min/mile so I knew I’d miss the sub-3. I still pushed though, and the pain level escalated from 3 to about 7 in a very short space of time. The last mile felt like an eternity although I did it just under 8 minutes, it was very painful.

I crossed the line in 3:06:37, in 9th place overall and 1st in my age group. This was a new personal best for me, 17 minutes faster than I did Florence Marathon a year ago. I know that sub-3 is within grasp with a little extra distance in the run training! I would at least be very happy with a 3:06 at IMCdA next June… must just get off my butt and train harder!

PS: Post race, I actually feel worse than after an Ironman. It’s 2 days later and I still can’t really walk down stairs!