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2017 IMLP Race Report. Wanna be FOP
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Background: Long time lurker only a few posts. Thought I would share some feedback and get some free advice. About me I am 28 y/o male with a small athletic background. Mostly played Ice Hockey and Lacrosse, I was ok at best. Never had any formalized swim training, and didn't really start swimming until 5 years ago when I started this Ironman mess. Got into as I always thought it was neat, and at the time I was a bit heavy and needed to lose some weight.

Training: This was one of my best builds ever. Nothing really ground breaking. Just months of average weeks that lead to some really good weeks and sessions in the end. I live much closer to work now which I think helped keep away injuries. In the past I have struggled with my left leg (IT, Hip, Piriformis, etc). I used to commute 1 hr each way, now I am at 15-20 minutes. During the 16 weeks leading up to IMLP I race a 13.1, Olympic Tri, and Eagleman 70.3 (Got my first ever worlds spot). Average weekly volume was right under 17hrs, with a couple of 22 hr weeks. I really focused this year on bike volume and got in several 280 mile weeks with still a good amount of intensity in there. I have also been swimming the best this year I ever have. Not only have I been much more consistent with my swimming but I think the bike focus also allowed me after a while to go into my swim sessions less tired as I had a general higher level of fitness across all 3 sports this year.

Pre-Race: Got into LP on Thursday. Checked in, got in a quick bike and run to loosen the legs from the drive. Took Friday completely off and did a little sight-seeing with the family. Nothing major and very little walking. Saturday I did my usual swim and short bike to check all systems off. Was feeling really good. Morning of the race up at 3:50, 3/4 cup coffee, dry cereal (lactose in tolerant), banana, water.

Goals: This was 2nd Ironman. I did Mont-Tremblant last year and have raced a bunch of halfs. Simply I wanted a Kona spot and was laser focused all year on this. Goal times were 1hr swim, 5:10 bike (240NP, current FTP 345), 3:10-3:15 run. Heading into the race I am 6', 160lbs.

Swim: As I said earlier I have been doing times in the pool this year that I have never seen. I also put in a big open water block a few weeks ago while on vacation at the Jersey Shore. I did several swims that week in my wetsuit of 1-1.5hrs. I put myself in the 60 minute coral and off we were. It was the calmest start I have experienced before in a race. I focused on good form, breathing, and holding a steady pace. I exited the water on the first lap and saw 28 minutes on the clock. I was really happy because it felt very effortless. Onto lap 2 and after about 400-500 meters we hit lap traffic and it was a bit of a zoo out there. I stayed focused and gave up time by avoiding to try and not get kicked in the face, or have to pick up the pace around a lot of people. Exit the water in 58 minutes! I was happy it felt relaxed and this was a 6 minute PR over Tremblant last year. I knew I was setup for a good bike.

Swim Total: 58:09

Bike: This course was really going to suit me. My fit is still ok on the bike so the lack of aero penalty would help. I also really like a course with varying terrain, and my w/kg ratio was decent heading in and I've always been a strong climber. On both laps I got stuck behind draft packs on the out and back before Wilmington. Every time I tried going off the front they would cover like a bike race and sit wheels. Realizing I didn't want a 400 watt effort for several minutes to drop them I sat legal distance off the back until the climbs. I had scouted the bib list before and one named I recognized from previous races Dan Szajta. On this same section I saw him and it looked like he was the only guy ahead in my AG (25-29) and had about a 4 minute lead. I made it through the first lap in 2:35. On the second lap I still really had to pee. I had gone on the bike a few times but I had to go bad. I stopped at the aid station on bob run road real quick to use the bathroom. I saw then that I was now only 1 minute down to Dan. On the decent into Keene the wind really picked up. By the out and back I had caught Dan. We rode legal all the way back to transition. I had dropped my power a little and I think he may have picked up the pace. As we made the right turn after the 3 bears we exchanged some words about thinking we were both 1st and 2nd, and agreed to have a good run for a while and not blow each other up. It was right after that he blew by a good portion of people in the no pass and opened a couple second lead. Touche. My power overall was ok, but I was happy with how I felt coming off the bike. Very relaxed and energetic which was a very new feeling coming into T2.

Bike Total: 5:15 NP: 230 VI:1.07. 4 Bottles of Infinit, 2 Bottles of water.

Run: Coming out of T2 I could still see Dan just 10 seconds or so up the road. My support crew told me I was actually in the lead by 7 seconds (rolling start) and 3rd was at least 10 minutes down. I took the downhills easy to not blow up my quad right away. I have also had GI issues in the past and I know a slower start helps. I forgot to start my watch right away but it was showing a pace of around 7:10-7:15 heading out of town. I held a 7:10-7:20 pace through most of the first lap. Taking water at every aid station, and Gatorade every other. However climbing back into town I felt my stomach start to bloat. I know what that means and I started doing everything I could to delay the inevitable. I slowed my pace and grabbed my special needs bag that had Imodium in it. Took that, a bunch of water and backed the pace down to 7:30. Leaving town I was told I was 1:30 down to leader, and 3 minutes up on 3rd. I was going to try and hang on as long as I could. Made it to river road on the second lap and all hell broke loose from there and started to vomit. Tied walking and run but the lights were going out. I saw 3rd pass me and that was a pretty low moment. Mile later I was hurrying to get in the bathroom for a pretty upset stomach. After that it was a 10 mile death march/walk. I had a 2, 23:00 miles in there. I wasn’t sure if I would finish. In the end I walked in a 4:52 marathon. Alive. In the end I lost nearly 10 lbs out on the course, yet still had to pee.

What's Next: I have 70.3 Worlds in September. After that there were some pretty dark moments out on that run course that I am starting to get emotionally over. I am debating signing up for IM Louisville in October. The goal there wouldn’t so much be a KQ, but a podium and a strong run. I need to figure out my nutrition issues. They have plagued me at 70.3 and 140.6 distance. Last year I was having a great race at IMMT and had the same thing happen on the run. I switched this year to an all liquid diet on the bike and that seemed to fix it at the 70.3 distance. I think I may need much more sodium, less calories, and maybe slightly more water. I've gotten a few recommendations for sports nutritionist but looking for more in the NYC area. My buddy made a comment that he had never seen anyone with salt stains on their running shoes before. I am a very heavy sweater and tend to have large salt stains on my gear.

Now time to debate, IM #3 in Louisville or not. I am very fit right now and I don't want to wait another year to try and KQ to only find out I didn't fix my stomach issues.
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Re: 2017 IMLP Race Report. Wanna be FOP [MtbTri] [ In reply to ]
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MtbTri wrote:
I need to figure out my nutrition issues. They have plagued me at 70.3 and 140.6 distance. Last year I was having a great race at IMMT and had the same thing happen on the run. I switched this year to an all liquid diet on the bike and that seemed to fix it at the 70.3 distance. I think I may need much more sodium, less calories, and maybe slightly more water. I've gotten a few recommendations for sports nutritionist but looking for more in the NYC area.

My two cents is that you need WAY more salt, WAY more total calories, and also more fluids. I weigh <130lbs and took in more of all that stuff than you did. I would recommend checking out QT2/Core Diet as nutrition planning/prep is probably their best strength. You can buy a race fueling plan on the core diet website for under $200, which sounds like short money given what you've been dealing with in these races.

Dimond Bikes Superfan
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Re: 2017 IMLP Race Report. Wanna be FOP [ericlambi] [ In reply to ]
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Congratularions, on the race as well. Hope you had a good day out there.

Thanks for the recomendatio . Looking through it now and it looks pretty good.

Yes, it would be a drop in the bucket compared to what I went through. Im not leaving any ideas off the table. Ive been self coached and done alright. Clearly I need some help now to get to that next step.
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Re: 2017 IMLP Race Report. Wanna be FOP [MtbTri] [ In reply to ]
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First off, congrats on almost pulling off the KQ. Enjoyed your write up.
I don't feel like I know enough about nutrition to address your concerns there. The times I have had mild GI issues going into the run on IM events, I have had to slow the pace and give my gut a brief break on fluids and nutrition, then it seems to settle. But I guess the question is, how do you prevent the gut bomb to begin with...
You seemed to indicate that your swim and bike fitness were good. How about your run fitness: did you feel similarly prepared?
Anyways, good luck in your future races. I tell my kids all the time that I learn more from my failures than my successes. You obviously have the motor, desire and dedication, so stick with it: I see a KQ in your future!

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Re: 2017 IMLP Race Report. Wanna be FOP [IL2tri] [ In reply to ]
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the true question is if you made any changes from IMMT to IMLP. if not, what did you expect to happen? do you do a ton of long rides with runs afterwards? they are great for simulation. IMMT last year was downpours, IMLP was warmer weather.

i don't know about you, but if i was racing IMLP, i would be taking in about 800mg of sodium per hour (i'm 123lbs race day), on a hot day (imchoo last year) i take in 1k per hour. on a colder race day (immt last year) i take in 600 per hour.

sounds like you have an "idea" of what you need and stick with it for all weather scenarios. give yourself another ironman or two, do more long rides (centuries) with 5-6 miles runs post ride, and you'll get the hang of it.

i would say do IMlou and use it to test things you have practiced from now till then.

hope to see you there!
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Re: 2017 IMLP Race Report. Wanna be FOP [MtbTri] [ In reply to ]
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great race report, i know dan wel as a local
member of my tri club, i was on the hil part of the buffalo tri club. great race saw you come off 2!nd at the top
of the bears
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Re: 2017 IMLP Race Report. Wanna be FOP [MtbTri] [ In reply to ]
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Sorry your race didnt turn out the way you would have liked. I am also a very good friend with Dan and part of the Buffalo Tri Club. Lake Placid is like our home turf and Danny Boy was defending well. Dan and myself will be racing at Worlds also. See you there and hope you have everything figured out.
By the way, not sure if you remember but I was the guy running out on the Keene hill when you went out on your second loop the you might have seen me on the bears when you came in.
Last edited by: cannedham1: Jul 26, 17 6:13
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Re: 2017 IMLP Race Report. Wanna be FOP [cannedham1] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks for all the responses! To answer a few questions.

Yes, Dan put up a good fight. It was a lot of fun out on course. Not sure how much I remember really of the 2nd loop of other people as I was focusing pretty hard on keeping things down. I will say the excitement around the town during the run is very surreal.

As for the changes here it goes:

2015 -- First year I was trying to really be competitive. I had a fairly serious asthma attack on course at Eagleman that prompted me to get some testing done. After this I was able to fix a lot of my allergy and asthma issues. Later this summer I would go to Challenge Maine 70.3 and put down a 4:14. I thought after that performance I really had things figured out.

2016 -- First year to try and KQ. I went back to Syracuse 70.3 for some redemption and dehydrated bad. Going into IMMT later that summer I did some testing work while training. I realized I needed more water, and during my long rides more fuel. For IMMT I used my 2 Bottles of Infinit, 4 Picky Bars, 3 Bottles Water, 2 Bottles Gatorade. I was having a great race until mile 6 of the run, where I had, well "the runs." This happened a few more times though I was able to run decent between aid station bathrooms until I finally hit the wall around mile 18 from not keeping anything down.

2017 -- Realizing my past mistakes and learning I knew I needed to make some changes both nutrition and wanted to get some higher volume training in. I often battled stomach issues even on long runs. Overall I have a very sensitive stomach and I am lactose intolerant as well. I prepared on my training rides by going to an all liquid diet as I knew even on say a Sunday long run I would have issues if I ate to close to running. I used this strategy at an Olympic (long bike 32 miles), and Eagleman 70.3 I have never raced a 70.3 well in June so when Eagleman went well this year I was happy. I suffered a bit out on the course with the extreme heat and still not drinking enough water. But given that I barely tapered I was happy.

Training -- I would say my run fitness was as good as my swim and bike. Overall I felt I was as fit as I have ever been. The biggest change I saw this year was actually feeling rested heading into all my training sessions. Some example workouts leading into the race are: 6hr Bike (235 NP, 2 x 1 HR @ 250) w/ 6 MI OTB @ 6:50, 2.5HR Bike ( 3 x 30 @ 300 W/5R), 10 MI W/ 8 @ 6:20, 18 MI @ 7:05, 16 MI W/ 8 @ 7:10, 6 Build (6:55-6:40). These are just samples that were done in the last few weeks before taper. I built up to all of this over the previous weeks. Leading into the IM I had 4 x 6hr Rides , 1 x 5hr (w 4.5 @ Race Pace), 1 x 5.5hr, 7 x 4hr, all with 4-6 miles OTB and various amount of IM-HIM intervals during.

I would say I did try and scale my HIM race plan to IM. At HIM I would take 2 Bottles Infinit, and 1.5 Bottles Water (Yes I know I should have taken more water at Eagleman). To 4 Bottles Infinit at IM. This is in comparison to now NOT taking Picky Bars on the bike this year. I also raced the 70.3 Bike leg at 270-280. I targeted 240 for IM, and backed off to 230 during the race just to be careful. In comparison my typical bike week I would do 2-2.5HR rides Tue/Wed/Thur with a AVG/NP higher than this not counting my long rides on the weekend.

Having always been self coached with no endurance sports background I thought I would finally start talking about what I am doing so people can poke holes in my strategy!
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