Race Report IMFL 2006
I actually had a decent sleep the night before the race, which was a little surprising since this was my first IM. I stretched and hydrated well before I went to bed at about 9:30.
Race Morning:
Had the alarm set for 4am and as expected I didn’t need it. After getting out of bed and feeling pretty good I had a bowl of cereal, bagel with peanut butter and honey along with some chocolate milk. All in all, things went pretty smoothly as I got to the transition for body marking. Once I got over to the bike and was getting things ready I tried pumping the tires up and had a little issue with the pump. Not sure if the air wasn’t going into the tire because of being quite cold out or not. Thank god the tires had air in them already.
Swim:
It was a pretty long wait standing on the beach in what felt like close to freezing temperatures. The water was warmer than the air and being in the water was the only way to keep warm. I was a little nervous about the mass swim start so I seeded myself what I thought was about mid pack. Once the cannon went to start the race is was a pretty smooth entry into the water. I have heard stories about people getting punched, kicked and all sorts of horrible things. I found the swim to be not too bad. I just tried to stay relaxed, keep breathing and find my space without worrying about how fast I was going. The first lap went pretty quick even with the pretty choppy conditions. On the run to shore after the first loop my hamstring cramped. Not sure what this was all about but with a quick stretch it went away and I just tried to keep reminding myself to stay relaxed through the second loop. There was much more open water to get a rhythm going in the second loop. After coming out of the water I did feel that I could have swam a little harder on the second loop. This being evident by a 33min/37min split. Overall not as bad as I have heard or had expected, pretty enjoyable really.
T1:
This is where I really could have saved some time. I was 10mins, very slow. Although the tent was extremely busy with no spot to sit, things could have been done differently. Next time I may wear my cycling shorts and top under the wet suit to save a few minutes there. That will probably depend on the temp. in the morning and if I feel that I won’t be too cold riding in wet gear for a while. Also if it is cold and I use arm warmers, I would just get them started by having them on my wrist as opposed to putting them all the way on. Also if I don’t wear the cycling gear under the wet suit I should probably take the 30 seconds longer to towel off a little better. Have sunscreen put on before getting in the water may save a minute or so too. With all the commotion going on in the tent I forgot the salt pills. This would be something that I would put on the bike the night before or as soon as I got into the transition in the morning.
Bike:
The bike turned out to be a pretty tough first half. All into the wind. I made sure I kept an eye on my effort by perceived and by HR. I feel now that I probably could have pushed the effort a little harder into the wind with little repercussions. I stuck to a pretty good nutrition plan, eating cliff bars and gels on a regular basis and mixing it up between Gatorade and water. With aid stations being every 10miles you could probably get away with only one bottle on the bike at a time to save a little weight. I found that when the aid stations where coming I was chugging back a little extra fluid to either get a little a head or to stay on track. Maybe having only one bottle at a time would keep me on a more regular drinking schedule. Once we turned down wind around mile 60 I kept the effort pretty conservative and now think I could maybe have pushed just a little harder. After all I was feeling pretty good. The legs weren’t tired from the wind so probably could have handled a little more effort down wind to make up a little time. Overall I felt that for my first IM bike everything went well and was enjoyable. Bike time was 5:39 at 31.7km/hr. On this course I feel that with a little less wind 33km/hr is well with in me right now and possibly more.
T2:
Overall this went pretty well. Found my bag quickly got a seat in the tent and was able to get changed fairly quickly. The longest part was putting on the pads for my pinky toes, which is a must anyway for me to survive the run. Again maybe the thing that I would do different is not completely change and just change the shorts.
Run:
Once I got out running my legs felt good. I kept a steady pace for the first lap stopping only at aid stations to hydrate and grab some food. I wasn’t feeling tired at all on the first loop which made me think I probably could have ran a little faster but being how this was going to be my first marathon I had no idea how I was going to feel on the second loop in the later miles. Once the second loop started I had to hit the port-o-potties for a pee. For the first half of the second loop things went well and I had a nice steady pace going, legs feeling good. Around mile 17 I think I had to hit the bathroom again this time with a little more urgency! I wasn’t prepared for the diarrhea, but you deal the hand your dealt. I was hitting the bathroom from then on every two miles and having to wait in line the odd time definitely slowed things down. Between bathroom breaks on the last 6 miles I was running really well and felt strong. I picked up the pace and ran hard between aid stations again stopping to hydrate and for bathroom breaks. The last 6 miles I took in only coke and chicken soup. I think the soup is a miracle worker. I seemed to have all kinds of energy that I didn’t expect to have that late into a marathon. I wasn’t hurting at all. With the first half 2:05 and the second at 2:10 with how I was feeling I believe I’m capable of sub 4 hours for the run. I feel now that I could have run faster the first half without suffering too much. I definitely negative split the run if you took out the bathroom breaks which probably added up to 10 mins.
Overall it was a great experience and I look forward to doing it again with a little better time overall. 11:22:36, 36/128 and 491 overall. Very happy, it’s a great sport!
Thanks to all the volunteers, you guys are awesome and a tremendous help for everyone. You may not hear it enough but you are appreciated.
Any suggestion from vets of IM on how to imporve in TR1-2 or anywhere else is always welcome.