I figured since I have never posted a “Critique My Fit” or “What Wheel Should I use?” post I would go one step further and throw my in depth race report out here for my first IM and expose myself to all of the ST “experts”. I believe some of you are full of great knowledge and have taken bits and pieces over my short 3 years in this sport and have applied it to my bike set up, training, and just simple advice along the way, so first off thanks Dan for this great place to find some amazing advice. So here goes nothing, putting everything out there for everyone to tear it apart……………
Pre Race-
I was originally signed up for IM China and got caught up in that whole debacle. After adjusting my leave and re scheduling flights and travel I signed up for IM Korea. Luckily I am stationed in Korea so in theory it would be a great plan to race it. Well I had to go home before the race for my cousins wedding which put me traveling from the US to the race. I flew out on Wednesday from California and landed in Seoul on Thursday, then went from Incheon to Gimpo and arrived to my hotel in Jeju around 2130 Thursday night. Not ideal but it is what it is, all in all it was about 24 hours of travel. I was lucky enough to fly business class from SFO to ICN, so that was a huge help in being able to sleep and be comfortable.
Swim- I am by no means a swimmer and it is my weakest point. It was the focus during the off season and it has been a work in progress. This was the first big mass start that I have encountered with around 880 athletes. I started in the middle of the pack about third row back. I couldn’t get into a rhythm until about 800M in, and in those 800M I was punched, kicked, tugged on, clawed, and who knows what else. My luck the guy in front of me was peeing and I was gulping that down, that is how bad the first 800M were. Once I got into a rhythm all was fine and I settled in. The first lap was un eventful other than the start and the occasional bump in with the rope and small buoys along the side. Exiting the first loop I didn’t get a split and just got back in and got back after it. Didn’t really find anyone to draft off of and was solo most of the time. Just swam at a comfortable pace and felt good throughout the second loop.
T1-
I still didn’t have a clue what my swim time was until I got to my bike and a buddy of mine was outside of transition area and told me I swam around 57 minutes. My first remark was “The course must have been short”. I am in my opinion no means a sub hour swimmer, but who knows it was my first IM and maybe I am, some people were saying the course was legit others were saying a tad short. It is what it is.
Bike-
I went out with a plan and I feel like I executed it. I took the first hour quite easy and concentrated on getting some calories in, after the first 30 minutes and just getting in a rhythm. After the first hour I slowly built into the bike and just kept on going. The bike had one long “climb” and then a lot of rollers, some guys were just smashing up the hills, but luckily with the power meter I was able to maintain the wattage that I wanted and just kept it steady up the hills. Overall I felt I rode a smart race, but below is the power file for all of you “gurus” to analyze. I was surprised by the lack of drafting, as it is Korea and I have raced here quite a bit and it is normally ridiculous. They had actually given out some penalties which surprised me as well. The last 30K we ended up with a group of about 15 riders, most of us rode it clean and legally worked together while we had 2 or 3 in the group that were a little closer. All in all I was pleased with how all the athletes rode, considering it was Korea.
Bike Stats: Link to Power File: http://www.mediafire.com/?8bx3rm84bvbr974
Entire workout (195 watts):
Duration: 5:01:49 (5:18:39)
Work: 3532 kJ
TSS: 228.9 (intensity factor 0.682)
Norm Power: 211
VI: 1.08
Pw:HR: n/a
Pa:HR: n/a
Distance: 0 ft
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 801 195 watts
Cadence: 30 165 82 rpm
Crank Torque: 0 967 206 lb-in
Temperature: 77 91.4 82.8 Fahrenheit
http://i55.tinypic.com/35ap5dl.jpg
Bike Setup:
http://i55.tinypic.com/2ql9349.jpg
Bike: 2008 Cervelo P3C 56cm complete DA7800
Powermeter: DA 7800 Wired SRM w/ PCV
Wheels: ?2008? Flashpoint 60 w/ Zipp Tangente 23mmR/21mmF (butyl tubes)
Aero Helmet- Rudy Project Wingspan w/ front vent completely open
Bento Box: Dark Speed Works
Bottle Setup: 1 mounted between aero bars exiting rearward/1 on down tube/1 behind the seat in a profile designs cage zip tied to seat post.
Cable Routing: Switched brake routing so brakes are reversed, cleaned up front end.
T2-
Man it is funny to watch some people come into transition off the bike. I was sitting about 6th in our group coming in and watched 3 guys all pile up. I was already off to one side of the bike and had a clean get off and my legs amazingly didn’t seize up or anything. I had to wait a few seconds for a bike catcher as there was a cluster from the pile up. I left T2 and I found out that the leader of my AG was 35 minutes up, no big deal I had already read about this guy and he was a pure beast(He ended up winning the overall Amateur race).
Run-
This is where I expected to make up some ground. I had a good first loop was passing a few people here and there. I was struggling a bit to get in the calories; I just didn’t feel like eating but was forcing the gel in and trying to keep it down. I held off on the Pepsi till about mile 7, but then I felt the need for that extra kick. When the second loop started this is where things started to fall apart. On the start there is a steep downhill, followed by a short flat then about 1K gradual uphill. The clouds parted at this time the sun came out and WOW did my body absorb all of that sun. I felt like I was melting and just needed to get to that aid station. Once I made it here I drenched myself in ice water and took in some more pepsi. The 2nd place female passed me at this point, Maki from Team TBB. I started running with her and held on for about 4-5 miles. With about 800 meters till the turnaround I started walking again and off she went. I made it to the turnaround re cooled down and got some more pepsi. At this time two guys from our bike group came up and we ended up running together for 9 of the last 10K. We ran the last 9K together and up the last hill they continued on and I slowed back to a walk. I had mentally checked out as I did some math and my Garmin said 25 miles and the time of day was 1657, meaning I was not going to break 10. I glanced back around the same time and realized a guy in my AG was coming. I was not sure if he was on his first lap or second so I started running again, well it was more like a trot. Then came the last downhill, I got to see the 2 guys that I had ran the last 9K with cross the line in what looked like sub 10. The one guy crossed it in 9:59:59, but the official time ended up being 10:00:02, I felt pretty bad for him as he was pushing it hard at the end. At least his finishing picture will show sub 10 
As for me I crossed the line at 10:00:31 officially and couldn’t of been happier, my first IM was complete!
Run Stats:
http://i53.tinypic.com/27zzo8o.jpg
Splits:
Swim-58:35
Bike-5:15:57
Run- 3:40:54
Total: 10:00:31* Kona Qualified 
AG-4th/35(finishers)44(starters)- The top3 in my AG M25-29 were also in the Top 10 Overall including Pros, the Amateur winner was in my AG. I would say our AG was quite stacked, well those first 3 guys ;)!
19th Overall Amateur out of Approx 850
(The results did not have T1/T2 times in them and athlete tracker was not working)
Finish Picture: http://i56.tinypic.com/2v0mj9y.jpg
Gear:
Wetsuit- 2008 Zoot Zenith
Kit- Kiwami Konami (AWESOME!)
Shoes- Zoot TT 4.0
Glasses- Oakley Jawbones
GPS: Forerunner 305
Nutrition:
Pre Meal- 1 Banana, 2 packets of Quaker Instant Oatmeal (Apple Cinnamon), 1 Thin Sliced Whole Grain Bagel, 1 Cup of Coffee.
Swim- 1 cup of water after first loop
Bike- 2 Concentrated Bottles (1 at start/1 at special needs which was frozen night before) of 4 scoops Perpetum+5oz of EFS Liquid Shot+1 Hammer Gel, 1 packets of Honey Stinger Organic Chews, 2 packs of Clif Blocks, Approx 5 sport bottles of Gatorade, Approx 2 bottles of water. Total Calories: Approx-2800
Run- 2 Gel Flask of 3oz EFS Liquid Shot+2 Hammer Gel, ½ bottle of Coke at Special Needs, Aprrox 12 small cups of Pepsi, Approx 6 small cups of Gatorade, Approx 12 cups of water, and 20 Gallons of Ice cold water poured over head/body!
I am coached by Team TBB Online Coaching, Coach Scott DeFilippis. He is currently 2 for 2 with his athletes that have done WTC events and qualified for Kona. I have extremely happy with the service that Team TBB is providing with their online coaching and would be more than happy to answer any questions anyone has from the athletes perspective. I started with him back in December and have set new PR’s in both the 70.3 and of course my first IM.
So have at it and breakdown my race. Would love to hear what the ST “experts” have to say. And if you don’t mind throw down a critique my fit as well, I know it is not the greatest photo, but the one thing I will point out is my helmet does not mate up to my back and there is about a 2-4in gap…
Thanks for reading!
