If you read my previous blog post from Ironman Whistler you know that I got sick during my overload training and never quite recovered. Furthermore, I got sick again just before race day which in turn led to my DNF. Well now 3 week later I was toeing the start line again. Even though the preparation wasn’t that great, I trusted my ability to finish an Ironman and I even told myself that I could perform well.
The race plan called for an hard, but aerobic swim. With a comment from my coach, to not over think it just focus on turnover. Instructions for the bike was to push 210-215 watts, and to be mentally ready to push the 2nd loop hard. For the run we did something new. For the first 1/2 of the Marathon I should run 8bpm higher than what I averaged on the bike. 2nd half I should go as hard as I can, evenly dosed out.
The best guidance for the race he gave me was the overall goal: “Get the best out of myself’
Swim:
Swim start from top
This race features a unique wave start for the Ironman distance. I was excited since I expected it to be less crowded and therefore less body contact. As it turns out I was completely wrong. I was in the first age group wave which consisted of about 600 people. This doesn’t sound too bad, except the swim start area is only 20yard wide. As a result there was lots of body contact right away. I got kicked in the face and the right eye of the goggle was full of water. I couldn’t stop to fix it without risking to get swum over and just continued on.
I mostly breathed to the left because that was the eye I could see something. Not being used to just breath on one side I didn’t swim straight. In addition with the slight current, I was constantly drifting to the left away from the buoys. So for once I might have been the annoying guy who was swimming into everybody else 🙂
Race focused unlike the IM Whistler picture…
Once again, considering how much body contact there was, I thought I was swimming slow.
I overtook the first pro women before the turn around which was a little surprising (she started 3min ahead of me). But than a guy from 2 waves behind me overtook me just before the turn. This meant he made up 6min on half the course. Assuming that he was a really good swimmer meant I was on a ~65min pace. Which didn’t sound too bad. I tried to draft off some people who overtook me from the waves from behind me and made some progress. But it never quite felt right. I kept telling myself “Get the best out of myself” Even if the swim is a few minutes slow that doesn’t matter for the overall day. I finished the swim in 65min which is an okay time for me.
T1:
I got out of the water and started running towards transition. I knew it was far away and running on bare feet after an hour plus swim always feels funny. Silly me exptected them to put out carpets. Well, we had to run on concrete which really made the water soaked feet hurt. I guess this is not the best for a heal striker. I quickly changed in the tent and made my way to the bike. As it turns out I was one of the faster guys covering the distance. After only 4min 30sec I started the bike ride.
Bike:
This is at the very start of the bike. Cold and foggy, but I liked it.
At the beginning of the bike it was 14C (58f) which is rather cold with just a tri kit and arm warmers. But after all the hot races I truly enjoyed being cold. Right of the start I was trading position with David Welby (QT2, same age group) a couple times. But eventually we settled into our paces. On the first out I felt like I was going slow. But it was slightly uphill with a headwind and I just kept focusing on pushing my 210Watts. I checked my watch and calculated my expected bike time every time I saw 10k mark. While riding into the wind it looked like the ride would take me 6h. But once I turned around on the downhill with the wind I knew that my time would be faster. I enjoyed the fact that I hardly saw any drafting violations.
About 1/3 into the ride Stan Kroder (QT2) overtook me. We were passing each other back and forth a couple times over the next couple hills. We had a few quick chats with the obvious topic if we are hydrated enough. He told me he already peed more than once, while I had to admit that I didn’t have to pee yet. His advice to me was to force and make it happen 🙂
Once we went by T1 we had a quick out and back on the hilliest section of the course. A couple steep climbs and a fast decent back. I finished the first loop in about 2:44.
As planned for the 2nd loop I started to focus on pushing hard and keep the power up. My goal was to average 215Watts for the 2nd loop. I re-overtook Stan and proudly told him that I was able to pee. The wind felt much stronger the second time around. I wasn’t sure if it was actually stronger or if I was just getting tired. Either way I kept focusing on my watts and that my goal was to get the best out of myself today.
This is after 100miles and I’m still looking okay.
Another change for this race was that I started consuming caffeine earlier on the bike, which certainly helped maintain my power on the bike. Even with consuming 250mg of caffeine in my system I felt that my legs were tired and I was getting a little worried, that I couldn’t run anymore after such a hard bike effort. But I ignored it.
I rode past T1 and did the hilly out and back one last time. The downhill was scary this time, because I had to overtake some people, who were still on the first loop. It was a surprising speed difference between us going downhill.
I finished the 2nd loop just slightly slower than the first one with an overall time of 5:30. However I achieved my goal power wise. I averaged 213Watts with a heart rate of 140bpm. First loop 210W, 141bpm. Second loop, I pushed 216W and despite that my heart rate was only 140.
With that the goal for the first half of the marathon would be to maintain 148bpm.
T2:
I had a pro like transition. I only needed 1:46 from getting of the bike till I started running. With this time I even beat TJ Tollakson (race winner) and Andreas Raelert transition time 🙂
Run:
Beginning of the run with the Banana in my hand. I’ll spare you all the picture where I chew with an open mouth 🙂
I felt crappy on the run right away. Most runs I’m excited to start and it feels easy to cruise along. Often I even have to focus not to start to fast. Not this time, even with eating the banana and running up a steep hill my heart rate was below my target. It took me over 20min until I was able to push my heart rate up to 148bpm. Had to remind myself: “Getting the best out of myself”.
I remembered a quote from Matt Fitzgerald: “Unlike in regular marathons, Ironman marathons usually don’t turn ugly at 20 miles. They start ugly.”
Another guy liked my pace and asked if it was okay if he would just follow me. I agreed. Despite me leading I felt like the guy was helping me maintain my pace. I focused on nutrition and consuming a caffeinated shot block every 3km (no mile marker). I started to feel better and getting into a rhythm. While my heart rate was where it needed to be my pace wasn’t all that fast. I settled in just slightly below an 8min/mile. Running along the trail was funny, I swear it felt like running downhill in both directions. Initially I was worried that since I was running downhill for several kilometer that it would be a slog uphill. But once I turned around it also felt like I was running downhill. After 50min I consumed another double caffeinated gel. Somehow the sugar had crystallized in that gel from the heat and it was rather gross to eat. I knew it needed to be done so I just swallowed it. My goal was not to walk at all during the Marathon, with all the drinks I was taking I knew that would eventually lead to a challenge. To my surprise I was able to just pee while maintaining an 8min/mile. I guess the pro advice I got was right: “Once you broke the seal it is easy to do it again”. I finished the first loop in 1h 42min which was slower than I hoped for but not too bad.
Start of 2nd loop, not looking that fresh anymore…
According to plan, I was supposed as hard as I can for the 2nd half. Well I was struggling enough with just maintaining my pace. Thanks to staying on top of my fueling and caffeine (at that point about 400mg) I was fully aware and in control. I just focused on the moment and kept moving on. 30 kilometer into the run, I noticed that my stomach also started to get unhappy so I held off on the next gross crystallized gel and started drinking coke.
I was getting warm in the sun and than suddenly it started raining. It felt like a blessing, I truly enjoyed every rain drop. Around that time I fell into the zone for a while and was making good progress but that didn’t last too long.
Throughout the whole run I was able to maintain my lead on David Welby but with me struggling more and more I was worried he would close in. My goal was just to get to mile 23 which means there is only a 3miles (5k) left. I figured I would always managed to run the last 5k. I noticed that I had a harder time to focus which was an indication to me that I should force down another of these crystallized gels.
I kept on pushing and once I hit 37km and though I was ‘safe’, I started cramping. Not full on cramps but these weird muscle spasms. I walked for a few seconds. It was hard for me, since my goal was to get the best out of myself and walking interfered with that. I checked the age on each person who overtook me and not before long I started running again.
Finisher pose. Nope, I’m definitely not smiling 🙂
At the next aid station I walked again to get some more coke in. Fortunately, it was on a slight downhill and I just told myself to man up and keep running. The whole downhill really hurt, with my quads constantly cramping. I reached the big hill with less than 2 kilometers to go and decided to power walk it, but as soon as I was on top I forced myself to run again. I started to push harder and harder and tried to run through the cramps. It help that lots of people were cheering me/us on. the last uphill with some turns and I was in the middle of the city. I knew it was only downhill and I just pushed on. I was so ready to be done. At the point were we turn towards the finish line I saw a guy turning with the same age as I. I knew what had to be done and increased my pace. I was hurting bad, but I did not care. I was mentally in control and ran past him with about 50 yards to go and wouldn’t slow down to the finish line. I was happy and relieved to be done with this race.
We both look happy after a successful race were we both gave it all!
Once again, I do not remember much of the finish line nor mike announcing my name. The two helpers who caught me brought me straight to the medic tent. Apparently, I didn’t look that good. After a few minutes of rest I assured them that I was doing okay and it was just cramps in my quads. I ate some food got a massage and showered and was back the finish line just in time to see Amy finish with a new PR. I’m so proud of her!
Aftermath:
I finished 14th in my age group with a time of 10:08:45. I achieved the goal of getting the best out of myself. Unfortunately, the last Kona slot went to the 8th place.
I’m happy with my race considering the lead up to it. However, I question if I will ever be fast enough to qualify for Worlds. I have gotten close a few times, but it seems that everybody else is also getting faster every year. I’m taking my yearly training break and will think about it, if I want to continue racing Ironman or if I should just focus on shorter distances which would require less training volume.
T1 transition run (Because it was sooo long 🙂 )
Thanks for sharing. I always enjoy to read your post’s.