I truncated the entry into this to spare some reading… hopefully it still makes sense. 
Things didnt go very well but I still had fun and would definitely recommend this race to anyone… it is very beautiful up in that part of the country and i would not mind doing this race again.
R****ace Day: Awoke at 2am and ate 3 bananas then went back to sleep before waking at 4:30 to stretch, eat a bit more and prep for the day. At this early hour it was already light outside as well as quite chilly (coldest morning we were there) but at the same time it was evident that it would be a beautiful day to race. Got down to the start, got body marked and then went about prepping the bike and dropping of special needs bags before settling down to rest up for the swim. 20 minutes to the start I slipped out of my clothes and into the wetsuit as I prepared for the long day ahead. In deviating from the latest practice of allowing the pros a 10 minute head start, IMNA instead allowed them about a 30 meter lead or so, most likely because there would be no pro women in the field. It was impressive to stand at the edge of the water and look faaaaaar down the shore and just see a mass of wetsuit clad athletes on the cusp of their respective Iron-day’s. 7am BOOM!!! The cannon sounded and we were off. I took the first 200-300 meters hard, probably harder then I should have before settling down a bit. I was anxious because I was really hoping that I would be able to close the gab on the pros and perhaps find Simon or James’s feet. About ¾’s of the way to the first turn I realized that I was going to have some age group company on this journey and as I felt that my companions were quite swift, settled in behind two guys to begin cruising the swim with hardly any effort. The swim lead boat with flag attached was not getting any closer and thus I gave up any idea of trying to close the gap and instead decided to play it smart and conserve. As we approached the half way point we came upon one last pro who turned out to be James which left me thinking… “Damn, Simon is really moving!” Another easy lap of sitting in on the draft and we were done. Out of the water, we tore into T1 where the peelers/strippers snapped off our wetsuits. I quickly found my stuff and once inside the tent didn’t even sit but rather dumped it on the ground… glasses, helmet, beltà GO! Shoes in hand (stupid IMNA no shoes on bike rule L) I ran into the bike compound and found my beautiful QR TiPhoon and took off for the mount up line where I was chided by an official who was thinking I was a pro that didn’t know how to do a flying mount. I gave him a quick, terse response about my feelings on the age group shoe rule before clipping in and tearing out onto the streets of CdA as the first amateur. Having had trained with watts for so long I was a bit unsure about how to regulate myself on the bike but had come to the conclusion that capping my HR in the low 150’s would probably keep me okay for the day. The first section of the bike I took fairly easy and had the chance to witness getting smoked by many of the pros who I had passed in the water… man those guys fly on the bike. The bike course (two 56 mile loops) is incredibly beautiful and scenic and diverse. You go from towns to hills to lakeside to forest to even an office park and farms. This aspect of the ride really breaks up the bike into manageable pieces and thus does not really “feel” like a 112 mile ride. The wind was light, the temperature cool (coming from Austin… 80 is cool) and the sun shone brightly as athletes took to the roads of Northern Idaho and Eastern Washington. I had no issues with my nutrition or hydration or sodium intake and was pleased to find everything going down smoothly. The decision to forgo wattage came about because of the discovery one week out that I was severely over trained and that it would be better to judge the ride off my HR then a, currently, unsustainable wattage. I rode back into town at the end of the first loop still as the lead amateur which made for one happy Wendy (TYR) and her dog Lilly as I came across them just before hitting the “hot corner.” This is where I got my one appearance on IronmanLive.com for this race… “French Pastry Quality Control Tester is in the lead.” J you betcha! Got any Eau Claires in need of testing? Back out into the second loop I relinquished the amateur lead around the 75 mile mark (Albert B.) but continued to press on. After another very scenic and enjoyable loop of the bike and having only had fleeting “dark moments of struggle” I rode back into T2 and began the contemplation of whether or not I should go on due to the stress fracture in my heel that i was still getting over and that had prevented me from running for the past 2.5 months. I sat in T2 and spoke out my thoughts to the volunteer who was kind enough to listen and actually help with the thought process. In the end I decided that I would try the first mile and a half out and back along the lake before hitting town and see where I was at. Heading out onto the marathon I could only manage about 30 steps of running before my lungs would swell shut and breathing became nearly blocked (very asthma like). I battled this for the first 2 miles before it finally gave way and I found that I was able to start jogging (plodding) along at 9 minute miles or so. Running, for lack of a better term, through town was a great experience as both sides of the street were packed with spectators screaming and cheering. Completing the race was something I was very determined to do. I know that if I had dropped out many would have called it smart, for the chance of re-injuring myself was too great. However, I personally would accept nothing but completing the task regardless of my physical condition because it was something that I felt had to be done. I also thought that should I put myself through such a humiliating act that it would only add fuel to my fire of determination to become a better athlete in the future and avoid such an embarrassment from happening again. After 5.5 hours out on the course my race came to a close and I was quite happy that I could say that I had finished the race and a small smile crept across my face. I happily devoured a couple pieces of pizza, soaked my legs in the cold lake and chatted with some friends before gathering my things and riding back to the hotel with my buds. A big mouth bacon burger and a beer at Chile’s capped the day nicely. Back to the hotel and crashed with no trouble at all.
Thoughts on the race in general:
For the first 4 weeks after Ralph’s I was confident that I would have a solid race at CdA, this view quickly disappeared when I suffered a stress fracture in my left heel in mid-April. At that point I was committed to getting myself into the best bike fitness I could to complement my already strong swim. As the workouts progressed and late April became early May I became excited as my ability to sustain high wattage farther and farther into long time trial sessions became clear. I also completed a CP60 of 320 watts (160lbs.) in late April, just adding to my already brimming confidence. I had performed a CP30 in mid July of last year and registered 260, so the improvement over the trailing 9 months has been quite surprising. The long rides were primarily composed of a 30 minute WU followed by one to three hours of some form of low cadence strength work and then a series of TT close to 90% of HR cap that could be 6x30min with 5 rest or simply 2.5 hours steady state. On multiple occasions I was able to sustain right at 300 watts for my 30 minute sessions and 250+ for the long steady states. These repetitive weekends were combined with some focused neuro-muscular and speed work during the week for quite the package. It was around mid-May that the words “tired, shitty, crappy” and “drained” began to appear in my training logs. This only got worse after I started my new job and moved back to Austin. Despite “feeling” like everything was going great, I awoke everyday feeling slightly more drained than the previous. Sometimes after very hard workouts (rides after work in 95+ heat) I would be too tired to sleep. All the while I was hammering away at my job because it really is that much fun for me. Basically I was running at full steam for 24/7 for about 3 weeks before coming home after one VERY VERY tired speed session and deciding to create my own graphs for my power tap data rather than rely on the cruddy software provided by Saris. What excel spit out was nothing short of cause for panic as CdA was, at this point, 11 days away. What I basically found myself looking at was a long slow progressive climb getting higher and higher from February on to mid-May where it plateau-ed then dropped like a rock in early June. Thus going to CdA, I had completely dismissed any thoughts of “racing” but rather saw it as an opportunity for a unique form of fun. One of the things that I feel I missed that was of great importance was solid hard core… off weeks. Easy rest weeks where I simply let the body absorb what had taken place and where I could let it heal. Having only been “going long” for about 8 months now (minus NOV and DEC), and having come from a non-weight bearing sport I think my body more so than perhaps other athletes, needs the extra time to adapt to that which my cardio-system is capable of.
I have kind of come to the conclusion that I will return to racing half’s, as I seem to have a good idea on how to “race” them, but to continue building a base and economy for fulls to come further on down the road. I am really not interested in continuing to go into long races and not perform to my potential but would rather wait and attempt the distance again when I feel as though I am quite fully prepared. I also need to perfect my run both technique and economy-wise and feel that perhaps knowing how to run-run should precede learning how to IM-marathon-run.
Thanks for reading folks…if you have any advice for me on how to go forward I’d greatly appreciate it. Feeling a bit lost now, but still loving the sport and very thankful that I have the ability and the means to endeavour in this type of enjoyment… no matter how crazy other people might think us to be. J
**Mark Van Akkeren** **<u>www.MarkyV.com</u>**
Triathlete
Financial Analyst - Tocquigny
