I’m writing this race report to give a perspective to those who are on the fence about hiring a coach, maybe my experience will help someone make that choice. I’ve been in the sport for 3 ½ years and never thought I would hire a coach. After three 140.6’s I realized I wasn’t tapping what I felt was my potential. After a closing on a business deal, I had some extra funds that kept me from that guilty feeling of investing in my hobby so I contacted Matt Hanson Coaching because he was fast, is a fast runner and actually only lives an hour away from me in the cornfields. I was able to see much improvement in a short 6 months of coaching.
IM history being self coached:
IMTX 2015 – S 1:36:30 B 5:42:30 R 4:27:14 -12:04:00 (Road Bike, No clue, Painful run/walk!)
IMTX 2016 – S 1:30:13 B 4:34:19 R 3:48:00 -10:03:32 (Short course, 15 min flat change, storm break, 11:00 equivalent?)
IMTX 2017 - S 1:32:05 B 5:14:07 R 3:34:43 -10:35:19 (Slightly short course, 10:40 equivalent?)
With a coach:
IMLOU 2017 – S 1:06:28 B 5:28:02 R 3:24:21 -10:09:28
SWIM – As you can see, my swim made incredible improvements from IMTX to IMLOU. Yes, there was a current and this was the first wetsuit legal swim, but there were improvements made in my swim strength in order to get a 24 minute swim PR. The constant argument I see on ST is whether one needs to work with technique or put in more time. Obviously both would be great, but being in the middle of nowhere, my option was more time and it paid great dividends. I had previously swam 60-90 minutes a week in an endless pool but with coaching I was assigned intervals and different technique skills with kick, pull, etc. I never just had an easy swim for a set time. Every workout included intervals and it paid off. The technique just came with time in the water as I did learn the ‘feel’ of the water. I still suck compared to most on ST but in 6 months I’m very happy with my improvement.
On the swim I wore an ORCA S6 with my Castelli sleeved jersey on underneath. Even though I was slow in the past I did line up at the back of the 1:00-1:10 group with the plan to get behind fast swimmers and hammer until the turn around. I failed and ended up swimming by myself but found myself keeping up with everyone as I passed as many as I was passed by. I never felt I was pushing in the 1:06 effort and truly think the wetsuit was a huge aid, I just need to figure out how to get my drag down when I can’t wear the wetsuit. My only complaint during the entire swim was ingesting some type of fuel about half way back down the river. I thought the swim was better than IMTX as the course was more spread out and never as crowded as the canal in Texas.
T1 was uneventful and fast as I had my jersey on, all I had to do was slip on my chest HR monitor and my socks and shoes. I’m using Giro as recommended by T Gerlach and it is very efficient.
BIKE – Again, no more easy rides during training. My intensity was increased and coach Matt worked on different aspects of my riding from endurance to power to turnover. My time in IMLOU is not impressive, that is mostly due to my only riding indoors against coach’s advice. I ended up not having the skill or confidence on the hills and in the wind last weekend. I ended up riding at a lower HR goal than was prescribed because I was fearful of my legs getting chewed up for the run. I’m lightweight and in local races do well on hills but for some reason I just couldn’t get in a rhythm in Louisville. I feel I left a lot on the course and should have pushed to the HR range as prescribed, but it is what it is. I lived off of the course in regard to fluids and this works well for me as I train with Gatorade Endurance. I attempt to get one bottle at every station and then injest around 200 calories of Cliffblocks every hour on top of the Gatorade. Now if I could just learn to wee on the bike I’d be set. Because I need to go to the bathroom I slowed my input the last hour of the ride, my totals were approximately 135 ounces of liquid and 1400 calories during the 5:28 ride. I previously rode a 2013 Cervelo P3, but I ended I upgraded to a QR PRSix a couple of months before IMLOU.
T2 – I was lucky, I literally got in the tent when the severe winds hit, really feel for anyone left on the bike course at that point. I was quick in and out only changing shoes, watch and shirt. I like a fresh comfy shirt for running, I can’t imagine running a marathon in a bike jersey or tri top.
RUN – This is where I felt the most gains with a coach. I am a runner at heart, a former sub 2:25 marathoner 18 years ago, so I have an engine but haven’t used it for the past 13 years since my twins were born. The challenge here was getting my legs moving again without injury. I did suffer two minor injuries which kept my mileage down around single digits for a few weeks in the summer. As time moved on I was doing fartlek, buildups, and pace work during long runs. My last long run was over 16 miles a couple weeks out and I averaged 7:04 so I knew I was in shape considering that was off a 3 ½ hour ride at race intensity on that day.
I run in Mizuno Wave Riders. I was happy to hit a BQ time at IMLOU but didn’t quite hit what I hoped for due to the common mistake of going out ahead of the pace prescribed. As a side, I finally found an open porta potty at the first run aid station and my life was much better at that point. But the crazy thing was there was a syringe in the porta potty. I keep hoping it was just for insulin and not some sort of in race doping. Out of transition the wind was still crazy with the front coming through but the temps were great for running, I was hitting sub 7 the first few miles and averaged around 7:20 when the 90 second bathroom break was averaged in, but in my excitement I failed to consider the first miles were uphill so my effort was much higher even though I didn’t realize it at the time. I hit 1:35 at the half marathon but around mile 10 I realized I wasn’t going to hold it the whole way, but kept pushing because I really wanted to break 10 hours. But it wasn’t to be. I slowed to 8-9 minute miles for several miles from 15-23 and was running between aid stations and walking to get fluids and calories at the aid stations as I was feeling depleted. On the run I tried to get a cup of water and Coke at every station. During the tough part I was also taking in chips and pretzels. Calculating my finish the final miles I realized I could get under the BQ time of 2:25 (not that it counts) so was able to drop my pace to around 7:30-7:45 the last few miles and finished strong.
SUMMARY – I learned a ton by having a coach for the past 6 months and give credit to Matt Hanson for pushing me to a big PR – over 25 minutes! I realize part of my improvement was due to consistency over several years, but I am confident I wouldn’t have been close to where I ended up without a coach. If I would have been more disciplined in following the race plan I may have been able to get closer or hit the 10 hour mark. But it’s Ironman, always room for improvement.
IM history being self coached:
IMTX 2015 – S 1:36:30 B 5:42:30 R 4:27:14 -12:04:00 (Road Bike, No clue, Painful run/walk!)
IMTX 2016 – S 1:30:13 B 4:34:19 R 3:48:00 -10:03:32 (Short course, 15 min flat change, storm break, 11:00 equivalent?)
IMTX 2017 - S 1:32:05 B 5:14:07 R 3:34:43 -10:35:19 (Slightly short course, 10:40 equivalent?)
With a coach:
IMLOU 2017 – S 1:06:28 B 5:28:02 R 3:24:21 -10:09:28
SWIM – As you can see, my swim made incredible improvements from IMTX to IMLOU. Yes, there was a current and this was the first wetsuit legal swim, but there were improvements made in my swim strength in order to get a 24 minute swim PR. The constant argument I see on ST is whether one needs to work with technique or put in more time. Obviously both would be great, but being in the middle of nowhere, my option was more time and it paid great dividends. I had previously swam 60-90 minutes a week in an endless pool but with coaching I was assigned intervals and different technique skills with kick, pull, etc. I never just had an easy swim for a set time. Every workout included intervals and it paid off. The technique just came with time in the water as I did learn the ‘feel’ of the water. I still suck compared to most on ST but in 6 months I’m very happy with my improvement.
On the swim I wore an ORCA S6 with my Castelli sleeved jersey on underneath. Even though I was slow in the past I did line up at the back of the 1:00-1:10 group with the plan to get behind fast swimmers and hammer until the turn around. I failed and ended up swimming by myself but found myself keeping up with everyone as I passed as many as I was passed by. I never felt I was pushing in the 1:06 effort and truly think the wetsuit was a huge aid, I just need to figure out how to get my drag down when I can’t wear the wetsuit. My only complaint during the entire swim was ingesting some type of fuel about half way back down the river. I thought the swim was better than IMTX as the course was more spread out and never as crowded as the canal in Texas.
T1 was uneventful and fast as I had my jersey on, all I had to do was slip on my chest HR monitor and my socks and shoes. I’m using Giro as recommended by T Gerlach and it is very efficient.
BIKE – Again, no more easy rides during training. My intensity was increased and coach Matt worked on different aspects of my riding from endurance to power to turnover. My time in IMLOU is not impressive, that is mostly due to my only riding indoors against coach’s advice. I ended up not having the skill or confidence on the hills and in the wind last weekend. I ended up riding at a lower HR goal than was prescribed because I was fearful of my legs getting chewed up for the run. I’m lightweight and in local races do well on hills but for some reason I just couldn’t get in a rhythm in Louisville. I feel I left a lot on the course and should have pushed to the HR range as prescribed, but it is what it is. I lived off of the course in regard to fluids and this works well for me as I train with Gatorade Endurance. I attempt to get one bottle at every station and then injest around 200 calories of Cliffblocks every hour on top of the Gatorade. Now if I could just learn to wee on the bike I’d be set. Because I need to go to the bathroom I slowed my input the last hour of the ride, my totals were approximately 135 ounces of liquid and 1400 calories during the 5:28 ride. I previously rode a 2013 Cervelo P3, but I ended I upgraded to a QR PRSix a couple of months before IMLOU.
T2 – I was lucky, I literally got in the tent when the severe winds hit, really feel for anyone left on the bike course at that point. I was quick in and out only changing shoes, watch and shirt. I like a fresh comfy shirt for running, I can’t imagine running a marathon in a bike jersey or tri top.
RUN – This is where I felt the most gains with a coach. I am a runner at heart, a former sub 2:25 marathoner 18 years ago, so I have an engine but haven’t used it for the past 13 years since my twins were born. The challenge here was getting my legs moving again without injury. I did suffer two minor injuries which kept my mileage down around single digits for a few weeks in the summer. As time moved on I was doing fartlek, buildups, and pace work during long runs. My last long run was over 16 miles a couple weeks out and I averaged 7:04 so I knew I was in shape considering that was off a 3 ½ hour ride at race intensity on that day.
I run in Mizuno Wave Riders. I was happy to hit a BQ time at IMLOU but didn’t quite hit what I hoped for due to the common mistake of going out ahead of the pace prescribed. As a side, I finally found an open porta potty at the first run aid station and my life was much better at that point. But the crazy thing was there was a syringe in the porta potty. I keep hoping it was just for insulin and not some sort of in race doping. Out of transition the wind was still crazy with the front coming through but the temps were great for running, I was hitting sub 7 the first few miles and averaged around 7:20 when the 90 second bathroom break was averaged in, but in my excitement I failed to consider the first miles were uphill so my effort was much higher even though I didn’t realize it at the time. I hit 1:35 at the half marathon but around mile 10 I realized I wasn’t going to hold it the whole way, but kept pushing because I really wanted to break 10 hours. But it wasn’t to be. I slowed to 8-9 minute miles for several miles from 15-23 and was running between aid stations and walking to get fluids and calories at the aid stations as I was feeling depleted. On the run I tried to get a cup of water and Coke at every station. During the tough part I was also taking in chips and pretzels. Calculating my finish the final miles I realized I could get under the BQ time of 2:25 (not that it counts) so was able to drop my pace to around 7:30-7:45 the last few miles and finished strong.
SUMMARY – I learned a ton by having a coach for the past 6 months and give credit to Matt Hanson for pushing me to a big PR – over 25 minutes! I realize part of my improvement was due to consistency over several years, but I am confident I wouldn’t have been close to where I ended up without a coach. If I would have been more disciplined in following the race plan I may have been able to get closer or hit the 10 hour mark. But it’s Ironman, always room for improvement.