I had a strong start and a strong finish in the full Ironman
distance triathlon I competed in this past Saturday in Loma, Colorado, just
west of Grand Junction, on the Utah border. Unfortunately, I only sustained my
strong start in the 2.4 mile swim for about 1.6 minutes and the 112 mile
bike was largely spent battling the relentless winds on my non-aero 18 year-old
trusty steed of a bike. Redemption in the form of a 5th place overall finish came through perseverance and a strong run.
I had reasons to feel good going into this race, which I
also ran in 2014. I had been running consistently through the winter and had been
sticking largely to my training plan starting in February, despite a heavy load of business travel every week in the month prior, including the week of the race. I had put in my training time in the pool and was swimming strong. Jennifer and I had
been able to invest time to get out on the bike and run courses over the
preceding month. I had made significant changes in my race fueling strategy
over the past 2 years and I feel I am just a better runner than I was 2 years
ago. So, I felt relaxed and confident standing on the beach at Highline Lake
with about 200 other competitors (only about 45 of us were doing the Full 2.4 mile
swim / 112 mile bike / 26.2 mile run, the rest were doing the Half distance)
awaiting the countdown to the start of a long day.
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| That's me |
The Swim
Fortunately, Jennifer got some great video of me at the start, looking strong and controlled in my first few dozen strokes off the beach. I’m thankful that’s she stopped filming before minute 1.7,
which is approximately when the wheels fell off and stayed off for the next ~18.3 long
minutes. I was hyperventilating and could not control my breath, no matter how
hard I tried. Jennifer saw me stop my freestyle stroke and shift between the slower
lifesaving and breast strokes and the even slower non-stroke to keep my head
above water in efforts to regain a controlled breathing cadence. She also saw
several competitors get pulled out of the water onto the nearby rescue boat,
ending their races way too early. At least I was not the only one dealing with some level of panic.
My mind raced with rapid-fire doubts, nipping away at my
confidence, and there were some adult words thrown around as I chattered to myself, but by-and-large I did continue forward progress. When I managed a peek at
my watch, it showed that my pace, although slower than it should have been,
wasn’t too far off. I also had presence of mind to sight the course buoys to ensure I
was on-course and swimming pretty straight and on-course. I also took advantage of the unplanned time with my head above water to look around to see if
I was dead-last and if the rescue boat was coming for me, because surely I looked
like I was about to drown. The good news that the rescue boat was occupied
elsewhere and that I was miraculously still in the lead third of the
competitors, helped me get through these crazy first 20 minutes.
Eventually, I found that I was able to maintain my freestyle
stroke and establish my breathing rhythm. At the halfway point at 1.2 miles, the half
distance competitors exit the water and those of us in the full distance race,
step out of the water, touch a big yellow buoy and re-enter the water to begin our
second lap of the course.
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| Halfway - Time to touch the big yellow buoy |
Last time I did this race, I completed the swim in 1hr
18min. When I glanced at my watch this time at the halfway point, 33 minutes had elapsed. Holy crap,
I was ahead of schedule! This truly was a turnaround moment. The second lap was
smooth sailing. I started out pretty much by myself as I reentered the water,
with fewer people in the water and a group of 6 or so competitors maybe 50
yards ahead of me. I used this as incentive to not let the distance to that
group grow. Soon enough I observed that distance actually shrinking and I
actually got into a competitive race state of mind. In 2014, my primary goal
was finishing. Today, I started out with a goal of improving my time, but now,
just 35 minutes in, I was gaining on the leaders and was having fun racing. On
the final 50 yards to shore, I had passed several in the group that was ahead
of me and exited the water in the middle of that group. I had the 4th
fastest swim time of just under 1hr 6min. Twelve minutes in the bag, ahead of
last time. I couldn’t believe it!
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| Self-service wetsuit removal |
The Bike
I guess I took my time a bit in T1, exiting in 6min 51sec,
but I was also consciously focusing on not rushing, but rather being methodical
and taking care of my essentials in the transitions. I had a Red Bull and a
packet of Justin's nut butter, which does take a little time to get down. Jennifer was
smart, encouraging and purposefully brief in her words to me as I drank, ate
and dressed for the bike. She saw and understood what I'd gone through in the
swim, but I needed to tell her about it anyway.
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| Transition 1 (T1) |
I've learned that the bike segment is where strategy and
experience really come into play. It's long, arduous and mostly boring, but
unlike the swim and run, rarely a point where people drop out. What you do in
terms of exertion and fueling over the course of the next 5-7 hours can,
however, set you up for success or failure on the run. The strategy was to
maximize fueling and hydration on the bike, and this time with all solid food.
No gels this time, which I believe contributed to stomach upset last time. So off I went with the goal of consuming all the candy, Jenn's
homemade energy bars, energy chomps and Fritos I had stuffed in packs on my
bike and in my shirt pockets. I also took a salt capsule every hour to maintain
my electrolytes to aid cell hydration.
Coming out of the craziness of the
swim, the early part of the bike is a time to collect thoughts and hopefully
settle in to a rhythm that will bring you through the next 6+ hours. The latter
parts of the bike segment are marked by a painful saddle, neck and shoulders,
weariness of the monotony of hours of looking at your feet and the ground and a
general longing for it to be over.
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| Some of the Food I Carried |
The course is a 56 mile kind of west-facing “Y” with two
lonely out and backs on the top portions of the “Y”. The full distance
competitors will do the entire course twice. Winds out of the SSE ad SSW were
brutal, as forecasted.
I was surprised how many half distance competitors I
passed early on, and even though I knew it didn’t count for anything, gave me
the feeling that I was riding a good pace. The out and backs help give an idea
of where you are in the pack because you get to see those who are ahead of you
as they come back toward you after they hit a turn around that you are heading
to. You can also see how far other competitors are behind you after you make the
turn. On one of the long uphills, I was surprised and ticked off to get passed.
It did give me motivation and a target though, and I regained my position by re-passing him on the long downhill, when he was coasting.
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| NO Escape from the Winds |
I sensed I was at least in the top 10 as I completed the
first lap in a disappointing 3hrs 13min. I had been pushing consistently hard
and was tucked on my aero bars as much as I could, but was basically on pace to
match my time from 2014.
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| Trying to Hide From the Wind |
Not long out of the turnaround I was passed like I was
standing still heading into the wind by two riders in rapid succession. I tried
to keep them in view, but they were just too fast on their aerodynamic
triathlon bikes. For the rest of the ride, I was pretty much by myself. Every once
in a while, I’d peek back to see if anyone was creeping up and a few times I
saw the bright green helmet of the guy who passed on the first lap uphill, so I
pressed harder for a while to increase separation and also to not give him any
encouragement that he could catch me.
In the end, I completed the bike in a mediocre 6hrs 43min,
which was 8th fastest, but the leaders were all coming in at 5 1/2
hrs or less, so I was way off their pace.
The Run
Disappointed, but not terribly surprised by my bike time, I
had a decent T2 of 3min 38sec, downed another Red Bull and Justin's nut butter and
headed out for the marathon feeling strong. The run course had been modified
from 2 out and backs to 4 shorter out and backs. When this was announced at the
pre-race meeting the previous afternoon, people groaned because they knew it
meant that the hills early in the course would be repeated not twice, but four
times, almost doubling the total ascent of the original course. Jennifer and I
looked at each other happily knowing that this should play to my strength on
hills. It’s what I train for. We also knew it would be especially devastating
to those who would run out of gas and bonk on the run due to the cumulative
exhaustion, inadequate fueling/hydration and mid-afternoon heat. A final
benefit is that it would enable me to see Jennifer at the start of each 6.5
mile / 10 km lap, hopefully about once an hour if I kept on my goal pace of
somewhere around 4+ hours.
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| Exiting T2 to Begin the Marathon |
On this run, all things indeed played out in my favor, as
I’d hoped. Jennifer figured that I started the run in 10th place. My
objective was to run the whole thing, no walking, keep pressing until the end. Even a slow running pace is
generally faster than walking. Plus, I wanted to win the mental game by
outwardly displaying strength during this segment to other competitors in front
of me whose confidence might be waning. After my first bathroom pit stop of the
day, I was off, feeling strong on my feet and enjoying not being on the bike
and taking in the beautiful scenery of the Grand Valley. I carried a small
handheld water bottle that was key in efficiently maintaining my hydration. I
would sip on it between the aid stations that were about 1.5-2 miles apart and
do a quick refill at each station.
By the second lap, I knew I was gaining on people who had come
in ahead of me on the bike. I had one young guy who passed me like I was
standing still on the bike as a target, and with the turnarounds, I sensed I
was closing the gap on him. He was my rabbit and by the third lap, I saw him
walking periodically up ahead. I kept going at my steady pace, averaging ~10
minute miles moving and 10:30 overall, including my aid station stops. At the
halfway point of the 3rd lap, I passed him and another guy at the
same time. I thought this had gotten me up to 6th place, but I
couldn’t be sure.
Throughout the run, I made a conscious effort to look around,
enjoy the day, be thankful for this experience and encourage and joke with the
other runners. It kept my spirits high and I think kept them wondering about
what the heck was up with this guy, still apparently having fun at this stage
when every single one of them was profoundly suffering. I was able to do this because I
ate, ate, ate and ate some more on the bike, I had put in the hard training
over the months leading up to the race and I had the huge benefit of Jennifer
meeting me four times at the beginning of each lap to make sure I put down just
a bit more high potency food at each turnaround to keep me strong through the
run. I also had the experience to know that I could push for longer than I
thought I could last time I did this race.
I ended up with 4hr 35min run, was good for the second
fastest run time, just 13 minutes behind the overall winner’s run. As I crossed
the finish, Jennifer told me I came in 5th overall in 12 hrs 35
minutes. Starting the run in 10th and finishing 5th was a
happy surprise, as you can see by the look on my face.
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| Happy at the Finish! |
Post Mortem
I've always been impressed with racers who have the
discipline to smartly manage their race such that they hang tough most of the
way, but excel in the later stages, when most are faltering. For the past few
years that I’ve been doing endurance racing, I’ve strived to achieve this type
of outcome and this was the first time I feel that I did it. I’m very proud of
this and the memories of it are still sinking in. I’m also supremely proud of
and thankful for the teamwork that Jennifer and I have, especially on race day, when she's out on the course clanging a cowbell every time I go past, blasting high energy music from the Jeep riding alongside me, posting updates for friends and family via text and Facebook all day long, making sure I'm executing my race plan and ensuring I have all my bits and pieces when I transition to the next race segment.
This was not the first time more than one person came up to her amazed at what
she does for me and asking about what she’s feeding me out of that little
cooler she was carrying around. They didn't know that what they saw was just a small glimpse of the support Jennifer gives me to do these things on race-day, the months before and after.
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| 5th Place Team |
I also want thank my "medical team" who helped me get through an issue I had with my hamstring in the 2 weeks leading up to the race. When I felt some tightness in my hamstring, I got a little panicked and sought the advice of several experts that I trust and no fewer than 3 local physical therapists. My first call was to Canada to consult with my friend Dr. Rob Casserley, who diaganosed my issue as a facial tear in the shealthing of one of the hamstring muscles. In the end, he nailed it. I cannot thank Cybil Kendrick enough for taking me on mutiple appointments outside of her normal working hours, one at her home, working around my trips to Denver airport. Her expertise in both western sports therapy and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is rare and I trust her implicitly. Her accupuncture and massage treatments set me back on track and I had no discomfort during the race or since. Also, Ami at Axis Sports Medicine in Silverthorne, who helped me out with thoutful diagnosis of the facial tear, physical manipulation and a colorful k-tape of the hamstring area that lasted though the race. Post-race, I got to see Matthew Copper, who specializes in rolfing, which is a therapeutic discipline focusing on fascia tissue and his expert opinion is that it is indeed a partial tear of the fascia.
Finally, thanks to everyone who cheered me on from afar via text and social media. As a small event, there are no cheering crowds, other than Jennifer with her cowbell, so this would be an all guts, no glory event without your cheering and humor.
Next up, the Bighorn 100 Trail Run on June 17 in northern Wyoming. So after a week of recovery, it's back out to the trails to get some hillwork in in the next couple of weeks. It'll be my first attempt at a 100 miler. Wish me luck!
Finally, thanks to everyone who cheered me on from afar via text and social media. As a small event, there are no cheering crowds, other than Jennifer with her cowbell, so this would be an all guts, no glory event without your cheering and humor.
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| For You Pop. RIP |
2 comments:
Absolutely stunning accomplishment. Sounds like Jennifer should consider becoming a professional trainer.
You are an inspiration. Following your training and race s makes me want to atempt a tri.
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