IMTX 2015 Race Report
LEADUP:
IMTX was to be my 5th Ironman (3 IMFL, 1 Kona). Preparation would be different this time around due to changing family and work circumstances. Of course the actual plan is very detailed, but the short version was I would sleep much less than usual and try to train as much as possible to be ready. Kona 2014 wasn’t what I wanted, and I intended to give everything in preparation for IMTX to get another shot at the big island.
I managed to have new CTL peaks for run/ride/swim, I matched my best FTP, my peak run times were looking pretty good and I had some of the best swims I had done in years. On the down side, I had real trouble getting to race weight.
I can train hard, I can cut calories, I can miss sleep, I can even do 2 of those things simultaneously, trying to do all three wasn’t working and what had to give was the calorie deficit. As soon as I let that go, training picked up and I thought I would be ready. Besides, 143 at 5’7” is not exactly huge and it wasn’t fat that I was gaining either, I am pretty sure it was swimming muscle (more on that in a minute).
I was a little scared of this race. I proved to myself that I could run in heat and humidity at Kona, but that was in October following months of SE Louisiana summer that made Kona look like a fall day. I tried to simulate some of that in the lead up to IMTX, but I knew that the simulations were just not the same as July/August in New Orleans. I wanted to race aggressively and I knew the risk was that I might suffer at the end of the day, but nothing ventured nothing gained, I would leave everything out there and not have to worry that I went too easy at some point of the race.
RACE MORNING:
Race morning was the usual stuff (breakfast, hydrate, and bathroom) with the exception that I wouldn’t see my wife before the gun. Ironbaby adjusted our routines and while that good bye kiss before the gun is my second favorite moment of the day, I was happy to think that Ironwife and Ironbaby were warm and snuggly while I was pumping up the tires in the mud hole that was transition. They got me to the start line of another Ironman and that was more than I could ask for, I thought about them the whole time I was getting ready and all I could really think was that I hoped they were sleeping well and would have an easy time getting down to the run course later.
It rained all week at The Woodlands and the grass transition area was an absolute mud hole. That slowed things down some, but a little mud isn’t that big a deal, we all carried on and got ready and then took the long walk to swim start.
SWIM:
Swim start would be a self seeded time trial this year. I got there just in time to see the lady pros leave and to get myself into the area around that 1 hour banner. Here is a little pet peeve of mine. I am standing at the 1 to 1:10 sign. I am not a super-fast swimmer, but I am very predictable and consistent. 5 ironman swims (plus the practice swim at Kona) all between 1:01 and 1:06 - wetsuit, no wetsuit, fresh water, salt water, ocean, hot, cold whatever, very consistent. I am standing at this 1 to 1:10 sign and there are probably a few hundred people in front of me standing beyond the “sub 1 hour” banner. After the race I would check how many AGs went sub 60 minutes, it’s about 50 people. This my complaint about the time trial start. It would be very easy to seed people based on previous swims; mini rant over.
Mike Reilly starts yelling “GO GO GO,” no cannon for us and we are off. As expected, I spend about the first 10 minutes or 600 meters in a washing machine passing people. After that is finished, things start to settle down and everyone seems to be similar pace, we all just cruise along for a while. Eventually I see the red turn buoy (which appears a little right of the line of other buoys) so I vector toward it and really have no contact until I make that turn and the next one and head toward the canal.
This side of the course is a little narrow, so I can see people on land cheering, which is cool and helps pass the time. I always find IM swims pretty dull and boring. I am cruising along for what seems like forever, I feel fine, I think I am swimming around my 1:30 SCY pace, which in open water might be a little faster/slower with a speed suit and the draft.
We hit the canal and it is not as congested as I was expecting, which indicated to me that I must be swimming pretty well and beating the masses to the turn. Canal goes quick and I am running with my T1 bag before you know it. Goal time was 1:05 and I swam 1:02:31. Not an IM Swim PR, but for the conditions, it was definitely my best IM swim (no wetsuit, fresh water, can’t see squat, etc). The extra few pounds I am carrying helped on the swim; how it would affect the rest of the day remained to be seen.
T1
Transition was simple, swim skin down, bag open and helmet on while running. Hit the tent, skin off, jersey on and run like hell in the mud while zipping up. Shoes were allowed on the bike at this IM, so that was one less thing. T1 goal time was 4 minutes and I was out in 3:46. Everything was on schedule.
BIKE
I intended to take a risk on the bike at this race. I knew that I needed to have a great race to get my Kona slot and I knew that in previous IMs, I was able to negative split the 26.2. I always thought that was nice, but that it probably meant that I left time on the bike. This time I was going to be more aggressive, not stupid aggressive, not suicidal aggressive, just push things a bit. I planned to push 80%FTP. Which should have put me right at 200 watts.
The ride starts off with a good bit of twisting and turning so there wasn’t much peddling to do, when things finally settled in, I was at an NP of 188 watts. I figured that I would try to keep the 3s power around 200 and let the NP catch up.
Early on there is some passing here and there, I see very little traffic generally, I only see one blatant drafter, I do see several course marshals keeping it clean out there. Many of us were riding near each other, but keeping it clean. Honestly, there were way more hills that I expected or am used to, so I am sure that I crept into a draft zone here or there, but me and the guys and gals around me were keeping to the spirit of the law all the time and the letter of the law nearly all of the time.
At one point a Big Sexy Racing Team mate of mine blows past me like I have a flat tire. I knew him and he was in my AG. When he went by I said . . . that must be what a Kona slot looks like and I have nothing like that today. He was LONG GONE.
Nutrition plan was same as Kona, slam the fluids and the salt and the calories. For me that meant 1 bottle at every aid station (11 total) plus my concentrated calorie/salt/caffeine bottle. That was going well as I was filling/emptying my bladder the whole ride. Over 400 cals per hour and 48 ozs as well.
NP dipped to around 183 around the half way point (some crap pavement out there was really sucking the life out of me), but once we cleared that, I felt great and begin to pull it back up again. By the time the ride was closing, I was feeling my strongest of the day, the NP was up around 186 and I was happy. I didn’t hit the 200 target, but I attributed that mostly to coasting down the long descents where I would empty out the bladder some and also get off the saddle to relieve the beating I was taking from the pavement.
I cruise into transition with the usual IM feeling: " Damn I am happy to be off this bike, I wonder if my legs really can go run a marathon now." Bike goal was 4:53, I did 5:04:08. Honestly, my goal was not realistic, I had no idea that this “flat” race was this hilly or that the winds would be so consistently brutal. For the watts that I rode, the split was solid and I was still on target for what I thought COULD be a borderline Kona Qualifying time.
T2
I run right into T2 with my bag without skipping a beat. Plan is to put on socks and shoes, swap jerseys and run with everything in my hands and deal with that as I go. Me and the volunteer have a little communication issue and I probably lose 30 seconds with him unpacking and repacking my bag. No big deal, I am grateful he is volunteering and doing his best. I thank him and I am out. Goal was 4 minutes and I was out in 4:24. Not bad considering at this point that the change tent looked like monster truck rally had taken place in there.
RUN
I have run a 3:25 off the bike in really good conditions, I ran a 3:4x in Kona last year. I wanted to run 3:3x today and I was going to push to try and make that happen (no risk no reward). I started running and soon realized that this course is not a very easy course to run fast (not referencing the weather, but the actual path). I let that bother me some on the first lap.
There is a steep grass and dirt hill that you have to navigate around 0.25. There is a mini aid station at the top of the hill, but then you zig zag back on forth through what seems like a parking area. By the time I get to the first real aid station, I am begging for ice and water to dump on myself. This day is going to be nasty and I should have started to ease up right then (how cruel hind sight can be).
I am cruising along; when running, I am at 8:00 pace, when the aid stations get averaged in, I am holding on to probably 8:15 all through the first lap. I am getting it done, but it seems WAY harder than it usually would be for me at this point. There is AWESOME crowd support around mile 5 or 6 and then again around 8 and 9, but I find that the aid stations are not really a mile apart and I spend the first lap getting used to this, some seem a good bit further than others, of course it seems like that happens on the hottest part of the course too.
On the first lap, I get to see the Ironwife and Ironbaby twice. I choke back the tears that these moments always try to draw from me and I keep it moving. I know how much they give to get me in these races and it always hits me when I am out there killing it and they are there waving. I hit the Big Sexy Racing crew near the end of lap one and they give me a good boost. It's the end of lap one and things are still holding together.
Sometime around this point, I pass the team mate that toasted me on the bike. I wish him well and realize that this day is going to have a very high attrition rate as the temps and humidity are already starting to take their toll on some really outstanding athletes.
Around mile 10, things started to get tough. Tough like I have never dealt with in a race before. I was definitely hydrated, I had urinated during the run, I thought I was pacing properly, but maybe for this temp/humidity I was wrong (80 to 85 degrees dew point over 70). I thought I had been hitting my calories, but I couldn’t be sure because I wasn’t thinking all that clearly at this point. I hit a couple extra gels and kept filling up the shirt with ice and kept moving. Pace was really starting to suffer now.
Now including the stations I was only holding about 8:35 to 8:45; to compound matters, the lap traffic was starting to build at the stations so it was getting harder to get what was needed let alone do so in a hurry. I keep on pressing and somehow manage to finish lap 2 (only saw the family for a brief second that time, which sucked). I am really suffering now and all I can think is that there is solace in giving everything, there is nothing more you can give and that is what I was going to do. At this point, I wasn’t thinking of KQ or sub 10 or anything other than keep running, run to the next aid station, run to the next turn, just don’t stop running, left, right, left, right, left.
Somewhere around mile 20, I tell myself you can run 6 miles hard in your sleep, stop being a lazy sack of crap and go finish this thing. Around this time we go into the shade on a wooded path, it also feels downhill. I am once again moving well. Around then I see Chris McDonald riding a bike toward me (he was DNF with a mechanical) and he tells me I am crushing it. Damn right I am crushing it, I am in the shade with 10k to go and this is downhill.
I come out of the shade and turn to an open area towards an aid station. I am still feeling OK, but I have no delusions that I can press like this until the end, the sun hits me and again I am in survival mode. I walk the aid station and try to fill up on ice and water, but it is tough with all the people on the course at this point. The choice was to stop and get aid or to walk through and grab whatever you could without pausing. I wasn’t going to stop because I didn’t know if I could start again.
I push and press and pray I am still pushing 8:40s but some a little slower. Around mile 24 I see the next aid station, I tell myself, just get yourself there and worry about the last two miles after that. At this point, I am usually flying home, but not on this day! Aid station 24 is just cruel, you have to run up a hill toward it, then put you back to it and run away from it, then turn around and finally run back at it. At this point, it was crushing me mentally.
I get through that station and tell myself to bust ass and work these last two miles, but the legs just won’t go. It takes me a little coaxing but finally I get moving (that mile took me 10:28!) I ran as hard as I could that last mile. Again there are problems with this course that really make it tough to run hard (around here you had to navigate a couple flights of stairs and there were some back and forth winding through an ally of sorts). I turn into the final chute (slight downhill) and I make a U-turn at the bottom.
I am going to run hard this last 100 yards, then right as I hit the carpet, my left hamstring locks up. For a split second, I panic and think that I am going to have to go “Julie Moss” on this god damn race. Mike Reilly is yelling at me, there is no one else coming through and I figure out how to peg leg hobble across the line like Jack Sparrow or something (video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8IbTaSRyrA)
I get it done and immediately get “caught” by the volunteers and start to joke with them about how great I feel. We all have a good laugh and I see my Ironwife pushing the stroller off to the right and I know that all is well with the world. I have no idea what my time is (the time trial start had the clock showing something that I knew was wrong), I didn’t know where I was placed in the AG, all I wanted to do was get through the chute, get cooled off, and kiss the Ironwife and Ironbaby.
Run time 3:48 final time 10:03
AFTERMATH
As it turns out, even with all the excitement, noise, music, cowbells, etc., Ironbaby was passed out fast asleep in the stroller. He was not a witness to nor impressed with Dada’s struggle to get across the line!
Post-race is like most others, I try to eat something (fail), try to drink something (almost fail), try to get to the massage tent and get lucky to have someone work on me a little. For some reason there are no chairs and no shade setup in the post-race area, so I grab the morning clothes bag, get changed and head for a celebratory cheeseburger with the Family.
This race destroyed me. I crossed the line and really asked myself what the hell I was thinking and why the hell would I consider doing this again. Those thoughts have of course subsided and I am already thinking of the next challenge.
I don’t think I want a piece of IMTX again. The logistics were pretty tough on the family (race hotel is a walk from transition which is a walk from swim start); the bike course really had some rough areas and the run course (while it has amazing support in some places) really wasn’t much fun in others (stairs, alleyways, out and backs).
I did attend roll down the next day on the off chance of a miracle occurring (which it didn’t). I gave everything I had at this race, but my performance wasn’t good enough and it also didn’t help that my AG was stacked and loaded this year (62nd Overall Male Amateur, but 19th in M35-39).
No idea what is up next, but I am proud of the effort and grateful that I had the chance to race IMTX. Soon I will sit down with the Ironwife and figure out what we can do next.
I am so grateful for the Big Sexy Racing Team, their on course cheering section, and the amazing sponsors that they have put together for us (Cobb Cycling, Spy Optics, Zoca Apparel, Ruby’s Lube, and many others). Truly lucky to be a part of such a kick ass crew.
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Last edited by:
Jim Martin: May 22, 15 8:47