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Re: I DNF'd IM Chattanooga. What now? [thanimal] [ In reply to ]
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thanimal wrote:
This past Sunday was my first Ironman. After 40 weeks of structured training following Don Fink's Be IronFit book and training plan I felt calm and ready to go on race morning. I did a sprint race in Clemson, SC back in May, the Chattanooga Waterfront Olympic in June, and the ToughMan Alabama 70.3 (my first 70.3) in August getting better, stronger, and learning more about my nutrition needs along the way. I had a plan for IMChoo and felt prepared and ready to execute.

I decided to wear my Garmin for my last swim workout the Thursday before the race because I suspected the pace clock at the Y was off (unfortunately I was correct, and my 100 yd times hadn't improved by 20 seconds over the previous two weeks...) and jumped in the hot tub after the workout. I didn't realize it until I was already in Chattanooga Friday afternoon, but the hot tub had killed my Garmin. No shop in town stocked anything between $70 Timex lap watches and $300+ Garmins and Suuntos. Since I just had the lowly Garmin FR70 I couldn't justify a $70 glorified stopwatch or spending $300+ -- to myself or my wife -- and decided I'd race on feel and ask volunteers for the time.

I killed the swim (for me) and the first half of the bike course. When I stopped for a pit stop halfway on the bike and got the time from a volunteer I figured I had ridden the first half of the bike course 2 mph faster than I meant to, so I slowed it down for the second half to save it for the run. When I got to T2 I realized that even if I had to walk a bit on the run I could finish near 13 hours, and if things went well I could finish sub-13, which was even better than I had hoped for. Then 2.5 miles into the run I started to feel a tweak on the outside of my knee. Just after mile 3 I was walking, absolutely unable to run. That walk turned into a hobble, then into a limp. When I got back to Veteran's Bridge on the second loop, just after mile 20, my paced had slowed to the point that I had no chance to limp to the finish line in time. I know I overcooked the bike (though HR and RPE felt fine) so I'm guessing that aggravated my IT band or the peroneal tendon. I'm hoping to get to the PT today to figure it out.

I can't walk away from the last year of training with a DNF. IMFL and IMAZ only have charity slots and Los Cabos and Cozumel would be more expensive than the charity slots after airfare and lodging, so I'm thinking of putting together my own course around Atlanta and just knocking it out solo. How should I structure my training to accomplish this? Once my knee/IT band/PT band is healed, should I just put in a couple of weeks at my taper level and give it another go, or should I put in another "mini-build" period for a few weeks? Who has experience doing two IMs relatively close together?

I suggest you book it to Kona and bandit the race next week, if it starts getting rough, just pull out at the airport, get on the next flight and do the same thing the next morning in Louisville <----pink
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Re: I DNF'd IM Chattanooga. What now? [thanimal] [ In reply to ]
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thanimal wrote:
I did a sprint race in Clemson, SC back in May, the Chattanooga Waterfront Olympic in June, and the ToughMan Alabama 70.3 (my first 70.3) in August getting better, stronger, and learning more about my nutrition needs along the way. I had a plan for IMChoo and felt prepared and ready to execute.

IMHO you jumped to the full IM distance too quickly. I'm sure you had valid reasons, but you entered the season of your first IM never even having done a single half. Your IT band said 'We're not ready for this'. Maybe I'm too cautious but I didn't do a full until my 5th season of tri's and having finished 8 half's.

Proud Member of Chris McDonald's 2018 Big Sexy Race Team "That which doesn't kill me, will only make me stronger"
Blog-Twitter-Instagram-Race Reports - 2018 Races: IM Florida 70.3, IM Raleigh 70.3, IM 70.3 World Championships - South Africa, IM North Carolina 70.3
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Re: I DNF'd IM Chattanooga. What now? [thanimal] [ In reply to ]
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I have a relate story on the timing piece, I ran Pigman 70.3 this year without any time piece. No watch, and my bike computer wasn't reading anything, I leaned forward to push the sensor in while moving and it clipped a spoke, snapped the brace and sent it flying into the woods. I cut the hell out of fingers, this was a quarter mile into my ride. Hill out, 4 loop course with 8 climbs over this single good sized hill, then back in and up a hill to transition.

Me and my bloody fingers decided to ride for "comfort" but I was blowing people away up the hills, thought it's because I ride hills often but I was simply overdoing it. I bonked hard on the run, 3 miles in I went to a half ass jog mixed with walking, overindulged at the aid stations, limped across the finish with a bad time. It was a nightmare.

Shook it off and got back on the horse 2 weeks later. Good with the bad, lessons learned. There's some really great advice here in your topic - I'd heal up then start diving back in. Make next year a race of redemption and dominate that 13 mark.

Regards,
J. Smith
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Re: I DNF'd IM Chattanooga. What now? [thanimal] [ In reply to ]
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get the knee looked at and rehabed then start a sensible recovery for it and start your training over again. You're far fitter than you were last year. You'll do fine on the next race. Just think of this one as a training session and nothing more.


---------------------------------------------------------
The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits. -- A fake Albert Einstein "quote"
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Re: I DNF'd IM Chattanooga. What now? [thanimal] [ In reply to ]
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I am sorry and I don't mean to be a dick. But how do you get to mile 20+ of an IM run, with 4-5 hours left on the clock and not finish?

I've had ITBS; it hurts. But you let yourself down by being mentally weak.

I DNF'd IMWI in 2013. I was fat, slow, and trained stupidly. The best thing in my endurance hobby has been the DNF. I lost weight, got faster, and more educated about training.
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Re: I DNF'd IM Chattanooga. What now? [KingMidas] [ In reply to ]
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KingMidas wrote:
I am sorry and I don't mean to be a dick. But how do you get to mile 20+ of an IM run, with 4-5 hours left on the clock and not finish?

I've had ITBS; it hurts. But you let yourself down by being mentally weak.

I DNF'd IMWI in 2013. I was fat, slow, and trained stupidly. The best thing in my endurance hobby has been the DNF. I lost weight, got faster, and more educated about training.

If ITBS is bad enough, you literally cannot straighten your leg because of the inflammation. You basically have to circumduct the leg like somebody with a severe stroke. It makes rapid ambulation quite difficult. Try it.
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Re: I DNF'd IM Chattanooga. What now? [solitude] [ In reply to ]
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I get that. You can still crawl, hop, stop, walk backwards, whatever for 5 miles in 5 hours.
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Re: I DNF'd IM Chattanooga. What now? [KingMidas] [ In reply to ]
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Perhaps it wasn't clear in my first post, but I started walking/limping about 8 hours into the race at mile 3 on the run. I didn't quit until over seven hours and 17 miles later, when I had a little over an hour left to limp 6 miles. It wasn't going to happen, even if I had crawled. Trust me, I was seriously thinking about crawling.
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Re: I DNF'd IM Chattanooga. What now? [lanceman] [ In reply to ]
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Agreed. I've been pleasantly surprised by the constructive criticism and feedback I've received.

A trip to the PT on Friday diagnosed my pain as bursitis on the outside of the knee, underneath where the IT band and peroneal tendon and muscles attach. He said my glute medius muscles were actually fairly strong, so it's hard to pinpoint exactly what led to the bursa inflammation during the race. When I bought my bike the fitter put a shim under my right foot that was supposed to keep my knee in line while cycling, but it also has the effect of putting the peroneal muscles in tension -- I'm wondering if that was part of the root cause as well.

In any case, the PT said it'd be about three weeks before I'm running again so any chance at a "quick turnaround" IM is out. I'm still debating doing my own IM course but with the recovery period and necessary time to get some more training back in it looks like the earliest I'd do that is December. A "Winter Solstice Ironman?" I do live in Atlanta so it wouldn't that bad...
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Re: I DNF'd IM Chattanooga. What now? [thanimal] [ In reply to ]
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Walk it off. ;)

I had a similar first IM race experience at Whistler in 2014. I had dabbled in triathlon up to HIM distance over maybe 6 years or so, and finally took the full IM plunge. I trained with RPE, so didn't have the excuse of not having my garmin working through the race, but, I definitely did not plan for the heat that day, didn't drink enough, and was thoroughly cooked upon arrival in T2. My run sounds like yours... run turned to cramping, limping and hobbling along. I was originally thinking 11:30 was a reasonable time for me, I ended up walking/limping most of the run and finishing in 13:13ish. I'm certain I had heat exhaustion and was purple from such a bad sunburn (forgot sunscreen in T1... rookie move!).

The aftermath was a tough one. Everyone I knew (non-triathlete) was patting me on the back like I had just cured cancer by finishing, but, I felt embarrassed and let down. It was tough to see that year of training go to waste like that. The physical recovery took far longer then expected. I think I really did some damage to myself by limping/hobbling the marathon. I gave it 3-4 weeks, started up slowly again, and little injuries just kept popping up and hampering my recover. I kept getting sick. Around Christmas time, while trying to push through, I got pneumonia. After that, I got an infection that required hospitalization. My doctor was worried that I had cancer or something because I just could not stay healthy! It's just over a full year later, and only now do I feel fresh enough, both mentally and physically, to even think about giving long course another shot.

My only advice would be to not beat yourself up over it. Listen to your body, and don't force something just to prove a point to yourself. When you make something a focus for so long, it's hard to give up, but sometimes it's best just to focus on recovery. I was 31 and very healthy when this happened, and up until that point had rarely seen the inside of a dr's office in my life. You just never know when you need to shut it down and focus on rebuilding yourself.

Good luck!

Long Chile was a silly place.
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Re: I DNF'd IM Chattanooga. What now? [BCtriguy1] [ In reply to ]
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I did the race as well-had a similar issue-loaded my bottles at special needs, a few miles later reached back for a bottle couldn't grab it, odd...tried the other side, same thing...person behind me rides up and says "oh ya, you lost the entire rack about 2 miles ago"...awesome, now I have 50 miles to go without my nutrition that I trained with...onto gels and water, tried some Gatorade, it didn't sit well...backed way off on the bike, 15-20 watts, cadence the same, lowered heart rate...still had a pretty good time going and felt I could hit my goal and then 4 miles into the run my quad cramped BAD-didn't overcook the run, backed off because I knew I was down on nutrition...chowed gels, and enduro's the entire time...the thought of having to walk 22 miles was mind numbing...I walked, jogged, and ran when I could-it sucked, not the ending I wanted but I after the first hour of being pissed I realized it is what it is-deal with it the best you can-finished a lot later than I planned, still a respectable time but yes as another person said every time I get a great job that's awesome, it sucks because it wasn't the day I planned-1/2 was, the ending sucked-I'll figure out if it was the nutrition or did I over cook the bike even if I thought I was okay on the numbers, etc...if they open up Maryland I may jump in because as the OP said, "don't want it to end like this"...I did a lot of longer runs after my rides so I don't think it was that, I think it was just "one of those things"...I have 2 more on the calendar for 2016 so its not like I wont be back in the saddle soon-just don't want a long winter thinking "what if"...Maryland->Fingers crossed...

Pots
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Re: I DNF'd IM Chattanooga. What now? [thanimal] [ In reply to ]
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thanimal wrote:
Agreed. I've been pleasantly surprised by the constructive criticism and feedback I've received.

A trip to the PT on Friday diagnosed my pain as bursitis on the outside of the knee, underneath where the IT band and peroneal tendon and muscles attach. He said my glute medius muscles were actually fairly strong, so it's hard to pinpoint exactly what led to the bursa inflammation during the race. When I bought my bike the fitter put a shim under my right foot that was supposed to keep my knee in line while cycling, but it also has the effect of putting the peroneal muscles in tension -- I'm wondering if that was part of the root cause as well.

In any case, the PT said it'd be about three weeks before I'm running again so any chance at a "quick turnaround" IM is out. I'm still debating doing my own IM course but with the recovery period and necessary time to get some more training back in it looks like the earliest I'd do that is December. A "Winter Solstice Ironman?" I do live in Atlanta so it wouldn't that bad...

My apologies. For some reason I thought you had 6 hours to do that 6 miles. But I agree. When shit hits the fan, an hour isn't enough to do 6 sometimes.

Shake it off and keep working out. To me, working out is the end itself; not a mean to an end (race). Race is icing on the cake.
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Re: I DNF'd IM Chattanooga. What now? [thanimal] [ In reply to ]
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I think your pacing was probably fine.. You have IT band issues and in a long run of any IM, the IT band may flare up if you had issues with it before. Lots of people walk it limp portions of the run regardless how they pace the bike.
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Re: I DNF'd IM Chattanooga. What now? [125mph] [ In reply to ]
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Should have pounded a redbull - I hear they give you wings.
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