IM Louisville 2009 - Later + Analysis

August 30 – Later

The rest of the night was a bit of a blur. Jill and I went back to the hotel room where I took a shower and put on clean clothes. I also took a picture of my foot – close your eyes if you cant take it ugly.

Then we headed back to the race site to see if we could catch JT finishing. Apparently he was having a rough time. John is very hard headed and was refusing to walk. Finally we saw him finish. It was great to see him make the best of things.

At the finish we saw lots of our triathlete friends including Gary Ditsch who had also done a great race.

After that we went and picked up the bike. In the Transition area we saw Lisbeth Kritensen who has very gracious. She spoke of her 2^nd place finish. Then sent John and Mary on their way back to Georgetown. Jill and I went and ate Nachos and Quesadillas at the sports bar. Clearly I had come a long way with my nutrition if I felt good enough to do that.

Analysis

All in all the race went well. I was able to get the most out of my fitness by executing my race plan well. With the exception of transitions where I left 5 minutes on the table, there was no more than perhaps 5 minutes left on the course. Even better, problems that have plagued me in the past (slow swim, nausea) did not rear their ugly head. I was able to hit my nutrition plan exactly (1570 bike/2070 run)

There were numerous errors/risks

1. Changes to bike in final week (in direct violation of Jordan request)
2. Brand new once run in pair of Asics
3. Not enough practice with compression socks
4. Sunburn on back from different shape of Desoto tri top (the only thing that still hurts after 5 days)
5. Zip tie on number holder (in direct violation of Jill observation)
6. Ziplock bags for clothes inside of Walmart bag inside of transition bag
7. 
   
   Leaving EFS gel in bike bag
   
8. Rolling special needs on bike (in direct violation of Jordans request)
9. No salt tablets consumed on run
   
   

	Time	Calories	Sodium
Pre-race		1625	930 mg
Swim	01:18:04--	0	0
T1	5:45--	0	0
Bike	5:17:36--	1570	4370mg
T2	8:15--	0	0
Run	3:45:12--	2070	4945mg
Total	10:35:55--	5265	10245 mg

Before the race Jordan thought:

I think your very best race - like 100 out of 100 - is 1:15 // 5:30 //
3:45 = 10:30. That is if absolutely everything went perfectly, which
it rarely does.

I think your baseline race is 1:20 // 5:50 // 3:50 = 11:00. This is
what I hope you will do, and hopefully squeak under 11:00.

I think a still good race is 1:30 // 6:00 // 4:00 = 11:30, and I think
even if some things go awry, you can still do this time

Before the race I was thinking:

1. <12 hours satisfied
   
   
2. <11 hours ecstatic
   
   
3. Near 10:30 dancing in the streets

I thought that 10:30ish would get me a Kona slot... which it didn't 10:13 was the last slot on this very fast year.

Here is the piece of paper that I had given Jill to track my progress on the bike/run. You can see in the upper left where show wrote “9:04 am start of bike”

IM Louisville 2009 - Finish line

Finish Line

I heard the loudspeaker saying “... you are an Ironman” I continued to run. I finally got the the carpet. I was by myself. Then I heard it “Alan Hawse you are an Ironman”. I raised my arms in victory. I was there. My multi year journey had come to a close.

A catcher came up and put on a finisher medal, handed me a t-shirt/hat and wrapped a blanket around me (which I quickly gave back). I stood there at the finish line and took it all in. The crowd was going crazy and I felt briefly like a rock star. I needed to sit down. I saw a wheel chair and I sat down. It felt great. The volunteer asked if I needed to go to medical but I said “no”. She pushed me a dozen yards to the picture line, but I stopped and moved onto a folding chair. Then I saw Jill. Once again I was overcome by emotion. It felt great.

Then I saw my friend Lewis Jackson (a very very fast Ironman who missed the season to same injury as Jill). Then Avery showed up. Everyone was yelling. Then I looked at my watch. 10:35!!!! Wow. That was within 5 minutes of the best case. Now the celebration could start.

A few minutes later Rodney came up. He gave me a hug. The emotion of two people who had just finished great races was powerful.

IM Louisville 2009 - T2 + Run

T2

I got off the bike and looked at the computer. A volunteer took my bike and said something nice. I was really excited and remember saying “I gave that thing the beat down”. My original plan was to undo my shoes and leave them on the bike and to leave my helmet, but once again I blew it. I ran to the bag pile and a volunteer quickly found my bag. I then ran into the tent and sat down.

A really nice volunteer came up to help me. I pulled off my shoes, helmet, shirt, and shorts. Then got out the ziplock bag with my clothes. Unzipped it an got my shorts on, then struggled with the compression socks, then put on my running shirt, visor and race belt. I put body glide on the unmentionable spot, and my nipples (no bleeding nipple this year). I was chatting with the volunteer while I was doing this. He was from Paducah, had recently recovered from prostate cancer and was fired up to come help with the race. Great.

I ran out of the tent and decided to put on some some screen. I dipped my hand in a big bucket of it slimed it on my face and arms... then tried to figure out how to get it off my hands. Finally I figured to put it on my legs. I managed to get it on my sunglasses which was really obnoxious.

I still had to pee (like since mile 70 on the bike)... so I ran into a port-potty. I volunteer was there and asked if she could help – so I gave her my sunglasses (which she cleaned while I was in). I went in and tried to pee, but it was not liking me, finally it started and AGGHHH!!!!! wow that hurt. Finally after what seemed like an eternity I got out, got my sunglasses and ran to the start. I could hear Jill yelling for me to run!!!

Total time: 8:15

Run

My instructions were

1. Run 8:40/mile
   
   
2. Run first ½ in 1:50 – 1:55
   
   
3. Run second ½ in 1:55 – 2:00
   
   
4. Drink 1 coke and 1 Gatorade at every aid station
   
   
5. Eat 1 salt pill every 15 minutes
   
   
6. Don't think about ANY big picture time until 10K remaining
   
   
7. Don't “run” until mile 23

Equipment: Insport running shorts, Aquaman race belt, Mentos container with 20 salt pills, Kraft Kona shirt with sleeves cutoff, Garmin 310xt (screen setup with lap average pace, lap distance, lap time and autolap set to 1 mile).

I hit the lap button to move to the Garmin to running mode and started running. Within a minute or two I looked at the screen to figure out my pace, but it didn't seem to be working. This is not good because I really depend on it for pacing. I quickly figure out that I had hit “start/stop” instead of “lap”... so I hit “start” then “lap” and everything start working. Excellent.

I have a tendency to run to fast after I get off the bike. As I got onto the second street bridge (about 0.5mile) I was at 7:40/mile... WHOOOO!!!! slow the hell down. I backed it down quickly and ran through the first mile split at 8:30

At the first aid station I established the pattern that I would follow for the next 23 aid stations. I slowed to a walk grabbed Gatorade (50 calories + 200mg sodium) / Coke (40 calories + 15 mg sodium) slammed them and got running again. Then grab a sponge or two as I ran out of the aid stations and squeeze it on me. Then immediately look at my pace if it was 8:40/mile then speed up until it gets back to = 8:40/mile. In the second mile I ran under a building and my Garmin lost the sat signal. Looking back it says that I did 9:09 which must mean that I slowed a bit in that area – I dont really know why because I felt fine.

By 3ish miles into the race my left foot started to hurt. I knew that I had developed a blister – probably due to the compression socks. I thought about it for a few minutes and realized that I couldn't do anything about it. So ignored it and ran on.

After I bit I saw Lisbeth Kristensen running on the other side. I am continuously impressed with how elegant some of the pros run. Amazing. In a few miles I got to a timing mat where my friend Mike Sullivan was working as a volunteer. He said something about doing a great bike ride – which I appreciated. A few days later I spoke to him and he told me that he had been watching on the computer all day. He saw me finish the bike, but that it seemed like I never came out of T2, and he thought maybe I had ridden to hard and DNF'd. He also asked if I had eaten a pizza in T2 (another person who pointed out that I am not good at transition)

After about 6 miles I saw Rodney Wesley running on the other side of the road. He looked great, the guy is an amazing runner. I calculated that he was probably around 45 minutes in front of me. I briefly sped up... but just as quickly remembered “run your own race. Everyone and everything else is completely irrelevant”. He later told me that I had the “Alan Hawse single minded wild eyed hell bent for leather look” on my face. The only thing I can say to that is “I am all in”. Very soon I saw Gary Ditsch who was running very well.

The running was feeling very solid. I was clicking off miles in the 8:35-8:40 range. Each time I saw a few seconds less than 8:40 I smiled and thought “banked a few more seconds”. I made the turn and headed back toward the end of the first loop. I was still feeling fine. A little while later I saw Nikki again – who this time was running well.

About mile 10 I saw Rich Strauss standing on the side of the road yelling for his team. He asked how I was doing and I said “great”... and sped up a little. He yelled that I was looking good but that I should slow back down – which I did.

Finally I made it back to the finish line – which is also the start of the second loop. It is complete torture to hear people finishing knowing that you have another 12ish miles to run. The last two years I have almost broken down at this point of the race. This year my legs were feeling good, nothing was hurting (other than the bottom of my foot), the sun was still up, and I had a good attitude.

As I turned up 3^rd street for the second lap I got to the highlight of the race. I saw Jill standing on the side of the road with a big smile. I ran over and quickly gave her a kiss on the cheek. I heard all of the people in the crowd saying “ahhhhh, how sweet”... but I ran on. A tear came to my eye and for the first time I had a tough moment.

I continued to run to the turn around. Feeling very solid. Pretty soon I saw Rodney again, this time he was only about 1.5 miles in front of me. He said “Hey big Al come on up her and run with me”... I said “I'm trying”.

At the turn there is about 10K left. As I ran over the timing mat I felt my quads for the first time, they were giving that sharp/sore pain – the first signpost for the entrance to the pain cave. I continued to run but it was starting to take concentration. Each time I looked at my Garmin the pace was drifting between 8:40-8:50 and I would need to speed up to get it back down to 8:40. In the aid stations I would run out at 8:50 (and once I saw 8:59). Things were really hurting now. At mile 23 Jordan told me that if I had it that I was allowed to “run”. I had it in my mind to try to run 8:00 for the last 3 miles and to try to finish off with a 7:30. Ha.

This is when the negotiation really started. The demons of darkness start whispering into my ear. “if you only ran 10:00 it would hurt way less and you would only give away 1:20/mile or 3:60 total” By the time that I had made the mental calculation I was to the 24th mile marker. I had decided to not stop at the last aid stations so I ran right through. Then I started the calculation again... once again by the time I finished the calculation I was up to the 25 mile marker. My legs were really hurting bad now and I was fully into the pain cave. I am not aware of a more exquisite pain than the one that you feel at the end of a marathon where you have really run. It hurts so bad. Really bad. But that pain is nothing compared to the joy of the end. The way that you feel at the end of well run marathon is transformational. I cant begin to describe the ecstasy. The shooting pain, crusted sweat, blood, raw emotions, tears and soul laid bare fuel my quest.

Total = 3:45:12

2070 calories

4945 mg sodium

IM Louisville 2009 - Bike

Bike

My bike instructions were
1)Ride 225-235 watts for the first hour
2)Ride 235-245 watts until 1 hour left
3)Ride 225 watts until the end
4)Eat 1 salt stick table / 30 minutes
5)Drink 2 400 calories efs gels
6)Drink 2 270 calorie efs grape/cliff crisp apple + 3 salt tabs
7)Drink x 150 calorie bottles of Gatorade endurance formula
8)Stop at special needs for 5 minutes and eat 400 more calories

Equipment: Medium Trek 2007 Equinox TTX9.5, 90mm Bonty race lite Al stem, Sram s900 110bcd 172.5 Crankset 50/34, Quarq Saturn compact power meter, Sram black box bb, Shimano SPD-SL 7810 pedals, Shimano Ultegra FD/RD (with ceramic speed jockey wheels), Shimano DA Shifters, Sram red carbon brake levers, 2008 Zipp 808 front, Zipp 900 rear, sram red 11-26 rear, ceramic speed bearings, Conti GP4000s 23mm Black clinchers (with 223 miles), Michelin Aircomp latex tubes 18-20, Zipp Ti skewers, Garmin705 w/ v2.84beta, 2 saltstick stick dispensers, 3T Brezza ltd with ski bends, 2009 Giro TT helmet, Official USAT race number bracket, bontrager bag, 1 quick stick, 1 mich butyl tube, 2 co2, 1 air innovations road light pump/co2, bonty rxl carbon cage zip tied between aero bars, 1 bonty rxl cage on seat tube, desoto tri top/short, Rocket 7 triathlon shoes

I looked down after 2 minutes, clearly the taper had worked (which I was not surprised about because Jordan has me wired... but I was seriously wondering about given how I felt in the days leading up to the race) – and I was ripping along at 300 watts. WHOOOO!! slow this freight train the hell down.


After a bit I rocked on the seat to adjust things, when I did that my left leg hooked the end of the zip tie that was holding my number on the bike. Not good. Could be really not good because the zip tie was sharp [side note: it was sharp because Andy didn't install it. If he had installed it he would have melted the end of the zip tie to a nice round smooth end] . This turned out to be alright even though I hooked it with my shorts a few dozen times on the ride it didn't tear my pants or cut me.

I am profoundly sad to say that I had installed the 2.84 beta version of the software onto my Garmin 705 on Friday night before the race. When I did this I forgot to turn off “smart recording” which is supposed to make the data file smaller... but actually just screws up the recording of the power data. So I am not able to give NP/VI for the segments (but I rode very evenly and believe that it would be around 1.03/1.04)

With in a few miles on river road I caught up to and passed John. He yelled great swim – which meant a lot. I yelled something in return and ripped on down the road. Very quickly I got to the new part of the course which was a detour around a bridge that was under repair. The hill was pretty steep and I was passed by dozens of people hammering up the hill. I just kept saying to myself “they are totally irrelevant, race your plan” but it is still annoying to be passed. When I got to the top I quickly turned the tables on all of them as I moved rapidly down the hill on the other side.

There were boatloads of people on the course and I was tearing through the field. Obviously the strategy of waiting to be near the end had paid off because there were tons of people to pass, but they were strung out. It was fun because even at only 235 watts I was blasting by people. I worked to drive the power down to 235 and by 30 minutes into the bike I had accomplished this goal.

I reached the out and back at 1894 and was feeling great. I kept up the power and continued to move through traffic. I should have had a “on your left dukes of hazard air horn” installed on my bike. In general the even power strategy that I employ makes you go very slowly uphill and very fast downhill. Which is the opposite of what most people do. I never get over watching the people standing hammering up the hills. I had the perfect gear setup with 50/34 and 11-26. For all of you out there without a calculator 50/11 is 3.7% bigger than 53/12. I only ran out of gear on two very short stretches of downhill where I was going 44.4mph (which is probably faster than Jill or my mother would prefer)
The course was clear and I had no problem moving through traffic. In fact the only place on the whole course where there was congestion that caused me any problems where the two fast downhills on 1894.

At the end of the first hour I was EXACTLY at 235 watts. Perfect. I was ready to jump it up to 245. This time it only took me about 10 minutes to get the power back down to the limit. I was drinking well and my stomach felt good. I rolled the first aid station. At the second I ditched my first bottle and added a Gatorade endurance yellow. Over the rest of the ride I finished 2 bottles of Orange and 3 bottles of Yellow (right before I threw them out I drank them completely empty).

When I made the turn onto the “lollipop” part of the course headed to Lagrange I was feeling very solid. I passed the penalty tent (which had 1 person in it). During the whole day I saw only one case of drafting. I decided to pick up a gel at the next aid station. I put the gel into my pocket and try to decide what to do – no decision for the time being so I kept riding. I decided to roll the special needs on the first pass... then headed on into Lagrange. When I got into the barrier part of the Lagrange festival I was so jacked up by the crowd that I pumped my fist which sent them into to a tizzy. That was very cool and I was moved.... right up until I hit the timing mat which almost wrecked me because I didn't have a good grip on the bike... that was close. (Suggestion 2 for the race organization – make the timing mats a little less dangerous on the bike) I moved back into the country. I am always awestruck by the beautiful the countryside in Kentucky. We are truly blessed to live in such a wonderful place.

As I passed people by the boatload I continued to notice all of the different sizes/shapes of Ironmen/women.... but I guess that I shouldn't judge because at 187 I am most certainly one of the larger ones.

I was concerned that I had left the efs gel in my transition bag... so after a while I decided that I had better go ahead and risk eating a powergel (which turned out to be raspberry crème). It went down well and I was relieved. The only bummer (on the whole bike leg) was that I stupidly dropped my chain right after I ate it. That required that I stop and get the chain back on and get going again on a steep hill (where I stood for the only time of the day and hit 608 watts).

I continue to roll and was keeping the watts right on 245. I do not display speed on my computer. This gave me the mental challenge of calculating the average from the total elapsed time and distance. I knew that things were going pretty well as I felt great (no stomach issues), the power was perfect, and I was blasting through traffic.

Just before I made the turn back onto the 2nd loop of the lollipop, Max Longaree (the previous years winner) passed me (the ONLY person who passed me who I didn't pass back (that I can remember)) I yelled “Go Max. Rip it up” and he smiled and waved.

I hit the second loop of the course feeling very good. Now I was faced with another decision. To stop or not stop at special needs. In my special needs bag I had a Oatmeal marshmallow cookie 420 calories, a brown sugar pop tart 420 calories , and a snickers bars 271 calories. Lots of choices. I had discussed the possibility with Jordan of stopping for 5 minutes, eating and letting my stomach settle. He might dispute the word discussed (in fact he might say agreed). I was calculating my total calories and I was right on track to hit the 1800 target. My legs felt great. I really really needed to pee. I had tried to stand up a little bit and let it go but it was no dice. So I was seriously considering stopping. But I was really rolling, but I agreed to stop, but .,.. I got to the people and yelled out my number. Then put my head down an ripped right by special needs. Praying that it didnt come back to haunt me later on in the day.

Once again I went through Lagrange. The crowd was absolutely fantastic and it got me really jazzed up. As I got onto the Ballard School road I caught up with Nikki Ditsch a super nice person. She was looking great on the bike. I yelled some encouragement to her and continued on down the road. At some point in the next miles I went ahead and consumed another powergel.

Since I had agreed to back it down to 225 with 1 hour left I decided to wait until 4:30 into the race. Based on my calculations I was thinking that I would be a little bit faster than 5:30 but it was hard to convince myself to slow down. I rationalized that my plan was to go 5:30 so maybe Jordan didnt really mean 1 hour left but that he really meant 4:30. (being an engineer he is very precise – so this theory was basically bogus). So at 4:30 I turned off the gas and drifted down to 226. I really had a hard time keeping it that low (and in fact didn't get to 225). In the final run into the end I ate the last powergel

Final stats on the bike – 5:17:36, 21.3 MPH, 1570 calories, 7070 mg sodium
5 bottles gatorade endurance = 750 calories + 3000mg sodium
2 bottles of EFS/Cliff apple = 490 calories + 1320 sodium
3 raspberry crème powergel = 330 calories + 600mg sodium
10 saltstick tables = 2150 mg sodium

IM Louisville 2009 - Swim + T1

Swim

Equipment: Kiwami torpedo suit, Garmin 310xt, Sable Water Optics Blue Metallic Tint goggles, Red Stupid IM Cap (too small), No bathing suit

My plan was to swim easy to get things going. I sometimes have problems with my heart racing away when I start swimming which can lead to bad things – something I absolutely wanted to avoid. But the start of these events are kind of wild – even when done as a time trial. John and I swam together to very near the bank of Towhead Island. John is much better swimmer than me, but I thought that I would try to stay with him for as long as I could. This was only possible because for the first time in my triathlon career I could see what was going on – Jordan had gotten me to switch to Sable Water Opiks goggles. Once you get the retarded nose piece stretched out enough to fit these goggles are totally awesome. The do not appear to ever get the least bit foggy and the lens is shaped to correct for the strange points of view in the water. I could see everything and this was a tremendous help.

I stayed behind or to the right of JT all the way to the turn around at the end of the island. After that we were separated and I swam the rest on my own. About half way back I stopped to try to pee – but for some reason that was just not in the cards – so I kept swimming.

I could see the island perfectly on my left so there wasn't really any reason that I could think of to sight forward. I just kept a normal left sided rhythm. As I got near the 2^nd street bridge I saw the concrete pier that held up the bridge. I thought “wow don't run into the one in the middle” so I took a breath on the right side. I could see the other pier and I thought “perfect I am splitting the middle”. As soon as that thought cross my mind WHAM! I ran right into the the middle pier. Fortunately I hit it with my outstretched hand and not my head. After getting it together I saw one of the volunteers in a kayak and he asked “are you alright?”. I said “yes” - but had the rather uncharitable thought “no thanks to you” Not that it was his fault. (suggestion 1 for the race organization – put a bouy infront of the bridge pier)

After a few hundred more yards I made it to the finish of the swim. Total time 1:18:04. I looked at my watch and was very happy. My left shoulder has been totally hosed for the last 4 weeks and I not been able to swim any where near enough time. My original plan had been to hit 1:10 – but after the previous weeks of shoulder issues I really didn't know where I would end up. Clearly Mike Sullivan's ART work did the trick.

Even missing my goal of 1:10 - all of those laps this winter had paid off.

T1

I am normally dizzy when I first get out of the water but for some reason I felt great. Since I am notoriously bad at transitions and Jill was yelling at me (and if Jordan had been there he would have been yelling at me) I ran. I was expecting the bag pile to be a major pain in the neck but I quickly found my bad and went into the tent. I opened up the ziplock bag with my clothes (Desoto tri short, Desoto tri top – number pined on) and put them on. Got my sunglasses out of the case, then slimed on a big handful of chamois butter (there are things going on in Ironman changing tents that no straight man should ever have to see). I briefly thought about drinking my bottle of efs/cliff/salt but didn't really feel like it so I didnt. I ran out of the tent and decided to take a quick pit stop (where things moved again – perhaps the Ohio river in action). After I came out of the portapotty I remembered that I left the two flasks of efs gel in my transition bag, thought briefly about going back for them, but didn't then I ran to the bike. Pulled the left shoe off the pedal then put it on. Then remembered to turn on the Garmin 705, then struggled to pull of the right shoe, then put it on. I had already decided not to try to the suicide pedal with the shoes off thing. Then put on my helmet and ran out of transition.

I got out to the start of the bike and managed to avoid the 3 people who were trying to jump onto the bike with the shoes mounted (one of whom wrecked)... and then got rolling.

T1 Time: 5:45

IM Louisville 2009 - Sunday Morning

Sunday August 30 – 5:00 AM

The alarm(s) went off. I got up, put on my clothes, got a bagel and went downstairs to see if Starbucks was actually going to open at 5:00 am as their sign claimed. Nope. So back to the room to brew some coffee, eat some breakfast and get things together (and hopefully moving downstairs). After consuming 1 bottle of Gatorade grape (150 calories, 270mg sodium), 1 cup of coffee, and 3 Panera Cinnamon Crunch Bagels (3x 410 calories), taking care of business, Jill and I went downstairs to meet John and Mary. As I stood outside I marveled at the shocking beauty of the morning – the temperature was awesome. 58 degrees, August, Kentucky not possible. This was really lucky. Pretty soon an athlete came running up from the direction of the race carrying a Zipp 808 PT rear, that sucks (shortly he came back out of the hotel carrying a training wheel) Then I noticed that the normal hubub before the race had calmed down – we must be late. Yes I have time issues. And as soon as I start feeling late those issues become more pronounced. John was planning to pick us up at 5:40-5:45... it is always risky to “plan” on a specific time with JT especially in the morning. But he arrived promptly at 5:40 – awesome. We drove to the great lawn and I put on sunscreen (which Mary made fun of me for), got out and went to get things going. After getting the bikes ready I had the good luck to have another of life great moments (or maybe movements) – a prerace trip to the portapotty.

At about 6:15 we left the transition area and started the walk to the start of the swim. When we finally got there it was obvious that we were going to be at the back of the bus – but that was OK with me. I was convinced that the bike course would be substantially faster if there were more athletes to pass – and given how fast I swim that would be a bonus. As we walked toward the back of the line I asked periodically “what time did you line up?” The first answers I got was “a little before 5:00”. I probably asked the question a half-dozen times before I got an answer that was much after 5:00. When we got to the “crew house” - the place where JT and I had gotten in line last year – the line still snaked on and on as far as I could see. We kept walking until 6:40ish when we finally got to the end of the line at Sea Ray of Louisville on River Road which turned out to be 0.55 mile from the start. I put on some more sunscreen and my Kiwami swim skin, drank my bottle of prerace EFS/Apple/Salt/EFS Prerace [245 calories / 660mg sodium]. Then sat down and watched maybe a hundred more people get in line. Fifteen minutes later my friend Avery and his father arrived – they were working as volunteers at the swim start.

At somewhere near 7:00 the cannon went off which I assume meant that the pros were starting their race. Everyone stood up assuming that things would get moving … but no. Finally after 15 minutes and two trips to the conveniently installed outdoor multi-hole facilities at the race site, we started the drag to the race start. It wasn't very fast so Jill had time to take this picture of me with the sun rising and hot air balloons in the background. Truly a beautiful morning.

The line moved faster and faster as we got to the front and by the end people were jogging. I stopped to give Jill a kiss and then headed onto the boat ramp. As I got on the ramp I heard the announcer say “36 minutes and counting – move move move”. John and I ran down the ramp and jumped into the Ohio.

There had been some prerace blabbing on the Internet about a) how long it would take to get everyone in the water and b) the two lines being slightly unfair. As with most internet things neither of these things were any problem at all.

IM Louisville 2009 Prerace

Ironman Louisville 2009

On August 30, 2009 I finished Ironman Louisville with a decent time of 10:35:55 - 24 of 397 in my age group and 176 of 2347 overall. I started to write that “I have no idea how I managed to do this time” but if you are reading this report then you probably know me which means you know that is complete bs. Here is the story.

Monday August 24
I will start on Monday before the race. At 10:30 Jill and I left the house to go to Central Baptist Hospital to get Jill's collar bone rebuilt. This was a stressful start to the week. After 7 weeks of waiting to see if her shoulder would heal from the bike wreck on her birthday the doctor finally decided that she had to start all over with a major surgery where a metal plate and bunch of screws were inserted into her collar bone through a 5 inch hole. I was very concerned over the next couple of days because the pain medicine and anesthesia made her sick. It would have been totally unfair to make her wander around an Ironman site all day long – sick and in pain. But as it turns out, she is amazingly tough mentally and physically and by the weekend felt well enough to go to the race. I love tough women.

Saturday August 29 – 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Things were a little bit crazy to start the Ironman weekend. I first drove to Lexington to pickup my bike at my pushers aka the local bike shop aka Schellers in Lexington. I have been making bike setup changes like crazy in the weeks leading up to the event. In the three weeks before the race I put on
1.A new aero bar setup (3T Brezza)
2.New brake levers (SRAM Red Carbon)
3.New bearings in the wheels and rear dérailleur (ceramic speed)
4.Salt stick dispensers
5.A new Garmin 705 mount system
6.Removed water bottles (from down tube and Arundel 2 bottle holder from behind the seat)
7.Added/changed tool kit setup
8.Switched to latex tubes
It was really insane to make this many changes in the weeks/days leading up to the event. Obviously it was a risk but each of them should have a positive impact on my speed. The risk was mitigated by the fact that Andy Lanier at Schellers is an amazing bike mechanic, very detail oriented and also very confident. After picking up my bike I rode about 15 miles at 210 watts to loosen up the legs. It was also nice to verify that all of the changes were OK. I then ran for 15 minutes and felt fine.



After the shakedown ride I headed home to finish getting things together. This ended up taking longer than I would have liked and we didnt leave for Louisville until 12:30. That morning I attached my number with an “official usat number bracket” that was zip tied to the seatpost. On the way to Louisville we stopped at Panera to get Cinnamon crunch bagels – my favorite prerace food.

Twenty miles down the road I was looking out the window when I realized that disaster had struck. My new toolbag which was attached to the seat had fallen off somewhere on the interstate. That was a little bit less than optimal because I had zero extra backups. It was also irritating because I had used up too much time margin getting ready in the morning and things were going to be closer than I liked getting checked in at transition (yes I have time issues). After some hand wringing, iphone web searches, a few phone calls we figured out that Schellers had a location in Louisville close to where we were... so we went there, bought new stuff, got it attached and got rolling.

At the race site Jill and I went over the bike to make sure that things were cool before checking it into transition. She pointed out that there was a zip tie holding on the number that might be a problem... I really really should learn to listen to her better on these kinds of things because she is awesome at noticing things that will be a problem (like in transition). But I said “oh dont worry about it … it isnt a problem”



Saturday August 29 – 6:00 PM
I had arranged to have dinner with John and Mary at Vincensos. It is a lovely white table cloth Italian restaurant on 5th street. I had gnocci with gorgonzola lite crème sauce, a Ceaser salad, much bread, Veal Saltimbocca and a Bombay Sapphire Martini. Killer. Even better we celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary. After dinner it was back to the hotel. A benadryl and 2 Tylenol PM... then an early bedtime.

Cardinal Harbor 2009

Last year on my 40th birthday I had the worst day in my athletic life at the Cardinal Harbour ½ IM triathlon. The race included walking for >3:00 hours, being last in my age group, having Heather Golinck tell me to stop whining and run, having my wife pass me on the bike, swimming for 48 minutes and finishing in 7:38. That really sucked. There were a bunch of contributing factors including 95 degrees, working in California the previous week, flying home at the last minutes and mostly me being a pussy - wah wah wah.

My original plan this year was to not race again. I really didn't think that having another meltdown on the IM Louisville course (at Cardinal Harbor) was a good idea. Then I took off my skirt and signed up. So in order to prevent a replay of 2008 I decided to ignore the lessons of last year. I headed to California where I worked like a dog for the days leading up to the race. I worked at keeping the stress high by working my ass off in SJC. Then to make sure that I was really honed to an edge I gained 5 pounds then I got 4ish hours of sleep all week and then flew home at the last minute.

The morning of the race Jill and I got up at 5:15 and headed to Louisville. For breakfast I had 100 calories of Gatorade, an English muffin with PB (200 calories) , a Starbucks scone (510 calories) and a Starbucks breakfast sandwich (400 calories) for a total of 1210 calories.

We arrived very late at the race site (30 minutes before the race). I hauled all of the crap to the transition area and then setup.... well really just dumped the stuff out of my bag on the ground under my bike. I drank a bottle of EFS grape/EFS prerace/Cliff Apple 270 calories + 3 salt tablets. I then got on my new sausage wrapper aka Kiwami Torpedo and headed out to do a swim warm-up. Preventing the heart craziness of the past is always high on my mind. I swam for about 500 yards.

Finally it was time for the race start. I stood there and listened to Todd blab about the race. Took a piss in my suit... then listened to the girl sing the national anthem – she is awesome. Then Todd said all of fat old people would start in the second wave – 5 minutes after the first wave. OK fine. After the first wave there were a bunch of people swimming out into the river towards the first buoy. Apparently that was OK... so I did the same thing. Finally Todd launched the second wave. I clicked my watch 4 seconds early and started swimming. Everybody was pretty spread out so it was a pretty tame start. It took about 3 minutes for my goggles to fog up so bad that I couldn't see the huge red buoys 50 feet away. Not good. I settled into a comfortable rhythm and swam – very zig zaggy. There didnt seem to be much current today which made things better. I stopped to tread water, take up my goggles, and look for the next buoy. It turned out that I did this 3 times to figure out where I was. I made it to the turn around in 18:58. I then headed back to the start. Things went smoothly and I got out of the water in 35:25 (hey negative split). From there to the timing mat was another 50ish seconds.

In the transition area I started sorting out my stuff and getting rolling. I drank about 10-20% of a bottle of grape/apple (50 calories) and headed out. I really had to pee... but instead of going to the portaloo I just let it rip running out of transition. Other than piss shooting out of holes in my Rocket 7's it seemed OK.... and helped my time :-). The whole time in transition I could hear Jill yelling at me to hurry the hell up.... and I guess given the transition time of 2:29 she was right.

I got on the bike and got rolling... About 2 miles out onto the bike I took another drink of my transition bottle and promptly dropped it. Then a near disaster happened. I grabbed for the bottle and ended up going off the road at 20 mph. I went down the ditch. Up the next little bump... across the field then back on to the road. This was less than optimal. I think that most places on the course I would have been totally hosed. I tried to settle into my prescribed power of 250 but things were going a little bit hard. I averaged 255 watts for the first hour. There was a very fun little section of out and back at 1694. It has a nice downhill section on it where I got up to 45 mph. It is amazing how most people hammer uphill and coast downhill... when I do the opposite. Really the only thing to notice on the bike was that I eased up and let it rip onetime. That burgeoning skill I hope will save significant time in August. While that was going on my average dropped from 256watts down to 252 watts. I felt very solid on the bike... but I really wanted to run well so I didn't take up Jordan's offer to ramp it up to 260 in the last hour and I kept things at 254 (which is really more than he advised anyway … and would probably slap me for going 254 instead of 250). Overall I didn't really see to much on the bike. Almost no drafting. I did catch Gary at about mile 54 – and he promptly passed me back in the transition area. The one concern from the bike was the beginning of a soft stomach about mile 50. But I didn't worry about it and kept drinking. Overall on the bike I did 254 watts, 2:39, 21.2mph, 2 bottles @ 270 calories each, 1 bottle EFS shot 400 calories for a total of 940 calories.

I felt pretty solid going into transition. I dug out all of my crap. Sat down and put on my way cool compression socks (which multiple people made fun off). Slimed on some body glide and headed out. Jill yelled at me the whole time (again) to get rolling. My transition ended up being 2:33.

My stupid Garmin didn't lock but I started the timer and ran on. Finally about a mile? into the race the Garmin locked... and it hadn't been reset from the day before. So I reset it. After a minute I looked down at the watch and saw 6:50 on the pace. I thought “shit I messed up the display settings because there is no way I'm running 6:50 – I figured 9:00” after another minute I thought about it some more and realized that I was going way to hot. So I slowed down. I let my pace settle into 8:10ish/mile pace – which is still faster than the prescribed 8:23. But since it was so cool and I felt good I let it roll. In the transition I picked up the 270 calorie bottle of grape/apple which I carried until about mile 10 when I finally finished it. I did not drink/eat anything at any of the aid stations but did slow down to grab a cup of water to pour on my head. At one of the aid stations I picked up a glass of HEED instead of water which I promptly poured on my head. Heed is about as nasty being poured on your head as it is being poured in your stomach. The bottom line is that I ran 8:09 (according to the Garmin) for the run. I only had 270 calories during the run, but felt fine. I did feel like the grape/apple was getting very sticky and I was wanting to drink water (which I didn't do). The last mile of the race was very tough because it was in a field that had very thick grass. During this section I gave away 4 seconds/mile of average.

During the run I was passed by a guy who was absolutely hauling the mail. I had know idea who it was but I knew that I couldn't keep up with him for 400 yards (it turned out to be Max Longaree who did 5:49/mile). A little bit later I saw Shar and got to yell for her. I was also amazed by how fast Gary ran away from me during the run. After the last loop of the run a chatted with a guy who had been about my speed the whole time. I made some comment about him running away from me... he said haha he didn't think so … he asked how I was feeling … I said not to bad for a fat old slow guy... he said most people would kill for a 5:20 IM. At that point I thought that I was on track for 5:15. So... I was absolutely blown away when I got the finish line at 5:02:51.

Overall the race was
Place Place Name Age Time Pace Time Pace Time Rate Time Pace Time Pace Time Pace Time
1 22 Kevin Griffith 42 30:41.2 25:34 1:56.0 2:47:34.6 20.1 0:43.5 1:33:40.9 7:09 4:54:36.2**:36 4:54:36.2
2 32 Doug Maxwell 42 34:42.3 28:55 1:41.1 2:57:55.4 18.9 0:54.0 1:27:15.8 6:40 5:02:28.6**:28 5:02:28.6
3 33 Alan Hawse 40 36:02.2 30:02 2:29.4 2:41:01.7 20.9 2:33.8 1:40:44.0 7:41 5:02:51.1**:51 5:02:51.1
This seemed like a pretty decent effort. Clearly I left 2nd place in my age group during the picnic in transition. I don't think that I left very much on the table during the bike/run. Having the race at 75 degrees instead of 95 made a huge difference. The previous year only 1 person went under 5 hours. This day there was 31.

The one thing that I wonder about but cant figure out is why my Garmin had me at 8:09/mile and the RD had me at 7:41.

All in all
1.Swim wasnt as good as it should have been (maybe a couple of minutes)
2.Goggles problem need solution
3.T1 = hosed
4.Bike = good ride
5.Very worried about bike nutrition... maybe I had too many calories?
6.T2 = hosed
7.Run = awesome

Overall 5:02:51 … Wow!

TTT Race Report

Goals for the race
1.Don't get hurt
2.Get a good training effect
3.Make headway on my nutrition issues
4.Run on last day in < 2 hours

Friday Morning: I got up and mowed the grass – a riding mower (to preload my legs for the race)... then started getting stuff together. This turned out to be a bad idea because I was really, really later than I wanted to be. Jill showed up around 10:30 after finishing her bike ride and we headed off to Lexington to drop off Nicholas and pick up a wheel from my office (with an 11-26) and my swim goggles. You would not believe the amount of s*** that it takes to go to a 3 day triathlon … gallons of water, 3 sets of wheels, 2 bikes, 2 helmets, tools, park work stand, …. Then we dropped Nicholas at my parents. Then went to my pushers (aka Schellers Bike Shop) to get the bike. Things were getting a little bit tight but I really wanted to stop at Panera for some bagels (which always go down easy on race day for me) so we did that before getting on the interstate to Portsmouth. The Garmin kept wanting us to take short cuts through the mountains of eastern KY.... not really a good idea. Queue the banjo music...

Finally we got to Portsmouth about 2:30... a rusted out town that didn't appear to have a good side. After driving through way to many stop lights we finally found the Super – 8. By far the nastiest hotel that I have ever stayed at. Unfortunately my poor planning had us there because everything else was sold out (or only had smoking rooms available). The guy at the desk was wearing a stained wife beater... and the hotel absolutely stunk. I had shipped my wet suit to Desoto to get a tear fixed and they had graciously shipped it directly to the hotel. (They are one amazing company. I sent Emilio Desoto and email and he responded like 20 minutes later). From that point we hurried to the race site. It was already a zoo by the time that we arrived there and I had 30 minutes to get checked in etc.

I got my race packet... and pulled out the required tri singlet... a large. They should have just called it a sausage wrapper... way, way too small. I tried to get it over my shoulders … no dice. So I argued a little bit with them... no dice. Come back at 4:30 and maybe you can change. F***... that isn't good. I went back to the car … got the bikes … go the transition setup … got the chip etc and then went back to argue some more about the sausage wrapper. Finally I talked them into giving me a xxl... still a freaking sausage wrapper but at least I could get it over my shoulders.

I had 20 minutes so I went out and swam 500 yards or so.... then decided that I wasn't going to wear the wet suit for the race. This seemed to be the consensus opinion at the race. After some blabbing on the loudspeaker they got the race under way. The race was run as a time trial... and I had a high number 220... so I was about ½ down the start list. I swam pretty comfortably... like maybe 5:30 (it turned out to be unknown because something went wrong with my chip). Then I got on the bike (with zipp 404's) and hammered for 11:16. I was passing people like crazy.... I have a bit of a tendency to go too fast down hill...

















Here are the stats:
Entire workout (302 watts):
Duration: 11:16
Work: 204 kJ
TSS: 21.2 (intensity factor 1.064)
Norm Power: 319
VI: 1.06
Distance: 3.471 mi
Elevation Gain: 376 ft
Elevation Loss: 390 ft
Grade: -0.1 % (-14 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 922 302 watts
Cadence: 4 119 76 rpm
Speed: 0.7 45.2 18.5 mph
Pace 1:20 87:47 3:15 min/mi
Altitude: 786 1043 905 ft
Crank Torque: 0 1134 336 lb-in
Then onto the run. I thought for a nanosecond about putting on socks... but oh well jammed on my shoes and then ran out (in general it is probably a bad idea to try something like that for the first time in a race situation) I think that I ran around 6:30-7:00 for the mile... hard to say since I didn't time it and the chip was screwed up. I believe that my total time was 24:xx +- which would have put me in the top 25%... but we will never know.

Jill and I loaded up all the crap and headed out. We had decided to stop at Bob Evans... which was near the hotel. I at ½ quesadilla 380 calories + bbq sandwich 425 …. then onto dairy queen for an ice cream – 540 more calories.

Then back to the lovely resort hotel to get ready for the next day. I made all of the bottles … took a shower then went to bed at 9:00 (most excellent)

Saturday:
I got up a little bit before the alarm (5:25)... took a shower went and got some coffee... ate breakfast.

1078 calories breakfast
2 bagels (410 calories + 330 calories)
1 bottle 2 scoop efs grape (192 calories)
10oz orange juice (146 calories)
2 cups of coffee

Loaded up the car and headed to the race. Today we got there plenty early. I had plenty of time to setup transition and take a nice warm up of 500ish yards in the wet suit. I then drank 1 EFS grape/cliff apple bottle (215 calories)+ ½ scoop EFS prerace

Overall I am pretty happy with the second race I was 2:42:24 total

Swim ~24 Minutes. Wetsuits are total crack cocaine for those of us with bad swimming form.

Bike. Before the event there was so much teeth gnashing about how hard the bike course has scary, how technical, wha wha wha... I made the incorrect decision to ride 404's instead of the 808/disc combination. Oh well.

Entire workout (255 watts):

Duration: 1:18:59
Work: 1206 kJ
TSS: 102.3 (intensity factor 0.882)
Norm Power: 264
VI: 1.04
Distance: 25.364 mi
Elevation Gain: 2342 ft
Elevation Loss: 2287 ft
Grade: 0.0 % (54 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 618 254 watts
Cadence: 3 115 80 rpm
Speed: 4.1 45.7 19.3 mph
Pace 1:19 14:38 3:07 min/mi
Altitude: 572 1117 833 ft
Crank Torque: 0 1213 280 lb-in



















I started out on the bike trying to ride as evenly as possible. I started a little bit hot (around 270 watts)... but pretty quickly got things under control. I let it drift down to about 254over the course of the race. It didn't take very long before I regretted the decision to not ride the disc/808... but oh well it was too late. There were definitely places where I was having a time keeping the lid on the power because of the steepness of the hill... but I just kept thinking about running well on Sunday. In general I think that people overstated the difficulty of the ride. I was a little bit surprised that people weren't coming back to me like they had the previous weekend.... but I guess I was hoping that they would on Sunday.. During the race I drank 2 EFS grape/apple bottles (215 calories) and nothing else (probably too little).

I ran out of the transition area feeling pretty good. I was super happy with how I had managed the power on the bike and I thought that the run would be OK. I had agreed with my coach to run no more that 8:30... He has an amazing ability to know my legs better than me. Unfortunately, I listened to him better on the bike than on the run... lesson learned. The run total was 51:36. During the run I drank 15 oz heed (150 calories) - lovely stuff. The mile splits turned out at
8:10 (included piss break... I cant run and piss)
8:18
8:34
8:26
7:49
7:37
7:11 (for about 0.55 mile)

In hindsight I believe that I should have stuck with the pacing plan because I am pretty sure that I gave away time in the afternoon because of the too fast miles in the morning.

Only a few people passed me on the run... all with lower numbers. I passed quite a few.

After the race I drank a bunch of water. Then we went to Fazzoli's where I ate Tortellini Robusto (1020 calories), a bread stick (150 calories), a tomato mozzarella panni (690 calories). The restaurant was poorly managed … and it took 20 minutes for them to get things going. During that time there were several TTT people coming in and out. Then we went to the hotel... first I tried to take an ice bath – something that I had never done. I made it somewhere around 1 minute. It sucked so I got out. Maybe I'm just a whimp. Then I slept for about an hour.

We got up at 1:30 and headed back to the race. On the way I stopped at DQ and got a blizzard – 580 calories... this I believe was the final straw... which would come back to haunt me in about 3ish hours...

At the race site I switch my disk to an 11-26 and put it and the 808 on the bike... much better bike situation. Then drank 1 bottle of 3 scoop efs (288ish calories). It was quite a bit hotter... around 86 at the start of the race – but since I was going aero I went with an aero helmet as well. The second triathlon of the day was bike, swim then run... lovely. They lined everyone up for a time trial start and sent them off every 5ish seconds by number... I was about 1/2 way down the list.
They claimed the course was harder... and had sections of 17% (mostly bogus - the average wasn't over 6-8% - with a few small sections steeper). I think that I rode very well again. I worked hard to keep a lid on the power going up the hills... then hammered to keep the power up going down the hills. The second course of the day was significantly less technical... but the hills were longer.

Entire workout (250 watts):
Duration: 1:17:33 (1:17:34)
Work: 1165 kJ
TSS: 97 (intensity factor 0.866)
Norm Power: 260
VI: 1.04
Distance: 24.983 mi
Elevation Gain: 2152 ft
Elevation Loss: 2185 ft
Grade: -0.0 % (-34 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 737 250 watts
Cadence: 2 124 79 rpm
Speed: 0.8 49.7 19.3 mph
Pace 1:12 74:17 3:06 min/mi
Altitude: 687 1194 936 ft
Crank Torque: 0 908 273 lb-in


My stomach wasn't really feeling that great but I kept the drinking up.. During the bike I drank 1 bottle of EFS Grape/Apple Crisp mix. There was a smoking smoking downhill where things got up to about 50 mph. The route was a straight out and back... so it was a bit of a trick to keep the lid on the power... but I guess it was OK.

Then when I got back to transition Jill told me the water was really hot... so I only put on the bottom of the wetsuit. I drank 5ish oz of heed and then headed out. It was the same 2 loop course. When I got done with the first loop every single muscle in my left leg cramped... so I just kind of dragged that leg for a while. I was glad that I had at least the bottom of the wetsuit on. Clearly I should have worn the sleeveless top... oh well. After the second loop I got out in about 28 minutes.

The transition was a total disaster. I didn't have it together at all. I ran 1/2 way out and had to go back to get my number... Then I went out and stopped at the aid station... had 2-5ish (100 calories) oz glasses of heed and headed out.

Then the run started. I stopped at the same place to piss. Immediately had a serious side stitch... which sucked. Once again my goal was to run 8:30s.... I ran 22 minutes at 9:08... and was really hurting in my gi/stomach. This was really not too great. I had to stop twice to keep things from getting out of control. I started looking around for a place to drop the bomb... but the side of the trail was a solid poison ivy patch – and I am very allergic to it. I was also thinking that what needed to happen wouldn't be good for all of the other competitors. I finally made it to the portaloo, where I spent 5:30 - tough duty. You would not believe how hot those damn things are during a race. I could see the sweat popping out drops at a time on my arm – though I guess that could have been caused by the other issue.

When I finally got out I was off the graph hot so I poured 2-3 glasses of water on my head and drank 2 glasses of heed (100 calories). From there out I felt great. The legs felt good... and I ran the last 34:17 at 8:27 – what do you know... right on target. I drank 2 more glasses of heed (100 calories) at the turn around.

Then Jill and I high tailed it to dinner - Bob Evans. I ate beef stew and mash potatoes (571 calories) and half a quesidilla (380 calories). Then we went to the terrible shitty hell hole called the Portsmouth Super-8. When we got there there was a bunch of teenagers yelling out the window above our room. I got all of the stuff unpacked... then I made all of the bottles for Sunday. Then repacked everything so that we could leave. At 8 after sending out the last international race information (hardly a report given how ragged it was) I went to bed. Well the stupid graduation party above us kept me awake... hour after hour. Finally around 2:30 I went to sleep... then at 4:00 Jill woke me up because there was water leaking from the floor above us into our room. Suck. After dealing with that I went back to sleep for 25 minutes until the alarm. I slammed 2 bagels (740 calories) and drank 2 cups of coffee... + 1 bottle of 3 scoop EFS grape (288 calories) . We took everything down to the car and headed out. I seriously considered call my upstairs neighbors to discuss things... but I let it go. As we left the hotel I was slightly worried because nothing was going on... we stopped at the coffee shop to get Jill some decaf. By that point things were working OK and I went in and took care of biz... then onto the race. At the race Jill laid everything out while I put on my wetsuit and drank another EFS grape/apple (215 calories) bottle with pre-race. Things were close to the start by then... so I skipped the warm up swim – yes, I know. Bad.

They launched the swim TT-style again... I waited my turn and then jumped in.. I tried to take it slowly and work my way into the swim. At the end up the first lap I looked at my watch and it was about 18 minutes. Then I headed out for an uneventful 2nd lap. I finished around 36 minutes + 2 to get into the transition area. In hindsight this totally sucked. I really did not execute well on this part of the race.

Jill had done a marvelous job setting up the transition... so I basically hopped on my bike and headed out (with a short stop in the portapotty). Yesterday I decided to switch to 808/900 disc - I'm pretty sure that was a good call. Then onto the first loop. 1:34:25 240 watts vi= 1.03 / 76rpm. The first bit I was pushing to hard and I had to dial it back. I settled into a normal 240-250 range. There were several long long climbs followed by long long descent. I worked up in power going up... then lost 10 watts of average going down. There were several stretches of near 50mph.

I felt pretty good after the first loop - perhaps a little tired but OK. I had decided to carry 3 EFS grape/crisp apple (215 calories) bottles on the bike and to not stop at the one aid station. That seemed to workout OK.

On the second loop of the bike I went 1:33:10 / 242 watts VI=1.04. It was the same course. Once again I was going by people like crazy downhill... and people were passing me uphill. I think that I did a pretty good job racing the powermeter. Interestingly enough about 10 miles from the finish I passed the strongest local bike rider. It never ceases to amaze me... same power on two loops = same time. Newton was a genius. During the ride I drank 3 bottles efs grape/crisp apple (215 calories) + 1 tube of EFS shot (400 calories). The EFS shot was great and I was totally in sync with it.

Lap 1 (1:34:25.17):
Duration: 1:34:25
Work: 1361 kJ
TSS: 107.3 (intensity factor 0.826)
Norm Power: 248
VI: 1.03
Distance: 28.414 mi
Elevation Gain: 2692 ft
Elevation Loss: 2674 ft
Grade: 0.0 % (18 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 745 240 watts
Cadence: 2 120 76 rpm
Speed: 0 49.4 18.1 mph
Pace 1:13 0:00 3:19 min/mi
Altitude: 594 1161 833 ft
Crank Torque: 0 972 273 lb-in

Lap 2 (1:33:10.57):
Duration: 1:33:11
Work: 1351 kJ
TSS: 108.3 (intensity factor 0.835)
Norm Power: 250
VI: 1.04
Distance: 28.468 mi
Elevation Gain: 2700 ft
Elevation Loss: 2697 ft
Grade: 0.0 % (4 ft)

Min Max Avg
Power: 0 790 242 watts
Cadence: 3 119 76 rpm
Speed: 1.2 48.3 18.3 mph
Pace 1:15 50:49 3:16 min/mi
Altitude: 612 1169 850 ft
Crank Torque: 0 970 278 lb-in

Entire workout (241 watts):
Duration: 3:07:36
Work: 2712 kJ
TSS: 215.4 (intensity factor 0.83)
Norm Power: 249
VI: 1.03
Distance: 56.882 mi
Elevation Gain: 5393 ft
Elevation Loss: 5371 ft
Grade: 0.0 % (22 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 790 241 watts
Cadence: 2 120 76 rpm
Speed: 0 49.4 18.2 mph
Pace 1:13 0:00 3:18 min/mi
Altitude: 594 1169 841 ft
Crank Torque: 0 972 276 lb-inar

I got to the transition area and quickly got everything together to head out for the run. I had one more bottle of efs grape/crisp apple (215 calories) + 1 tube of EFS shot (400 calories). When I ran out of the transition area I stopped at the aid station and poured water and ice on myself because I was way, way over hot. It was in the high 80s and humid as hell. I also had a serious craving for water... which I indulged.

Then I launched into the run - 2 out and backs. As you know I wanted to get to under two hours... about 9min/mile. I started running. My legs felt pretty good. After a quick pit-stop at the same place I had stopped the last days I ran onto the trail. I was taking regular drinks from the bottle. I stopped at all 4 aid stations both ways to put water and ice on myself.

I got to the double back place of the first loop in 32:33 9:46/mile. There is a very tough uphill section about mile 2 where I walked for 30 steps because it was so steep. I drank the entire bottle of grape/apple on the out section. I was a little bit unhappy about the pace ... but it was so freaking hot I didn't worry about it to much.

One fun part of the run was yelling at my friend Rodney. He can run like nobody's business. It was my goal to avoid getting lapped by him... so every time I saw him I yelled that he had better run or I would catch him...

At the aid station they offered my endurolytes... and I took two of them. Then I headed back. I got back to the finish line in 31:10 9:36/mile ... not really where I wanted to be... but I guess OK. On the run back I drank all of EFS Shot (400 calories).

On the last 1/2 IM run.... here is a list in seconds of the time spent at the aid station
18 / 51 / 31 / 46 / 62 / 17 / 37 / aka 4:21

So I think that the evaluation that I a) ran too hard on the first international and b) spent to much time in the aid stations is what cost me. Oh well. Overall

Race
Swim
T1
Bike
T2
Run
Total
Sprint
B+:5:30
C
B: 11: 16
Should have gone harder
C
A: 6:45?
B:23:30
Int 1
A:26:59
B:1:46
B:1:19 wrong wheels
B:1:48
B:52:23
B:2:42:23
Int 2
C:30:22
C:2:25
A:1:17
D:2:57
B:1:02 GI
B:2:55:29
Half
D:37:36
B:2:12
A:3:09
B:2:32
C: 2:08 to much standing around
B:5:59:21






12:03?

Taylorsville Aquabike

My goals for the Taylorsville Aquabike were

1. Get a good training day for TTT

2. Valid the changes to my power meter and bike setup

3. Practice the power pacing strategy

4. Win (looking at the previous years results I thought that I had a chance)

We got up at 5:20 and it was raining like crazy. I wasn't totally prepared so I had to get a few things together - mainly running stuff for my planned brick after the race.

I had a bowl of Kashi heart to heart ... say 200ish calories + a banana + a bottle of Gatorade (20 oz)

The babysitter showed up at 6:00 and we drove to Starbucks where I had medium cappuccino + 1/2 scone + medium cup of coffee. Then we drove on to the race where we were late because of a nasty pit stop. It was a wild cow pissing on a flatrock lightning storm... but quit about 7:45

I ate 1/2 bagel + 5ozs of Gatorade + 20oz of water

I put on my sausage wrapper and got into the water and swam 200ish

Pissed in the wet suit.

Listen to the race director blab on.

Pissed in the wet suit.

Started swimming

We started from a boat ramp... swam 50ish yards out to a buoy and then turned left. Todd had a long rectangle setup with buoys always on the right. I was at the front of the pack which was a little crazy... maybe 50 more yards after the turn my heart rate went through the roof... and I started having a hard time breathing. I pulled up and looked around and tried to swim again... but things were not good. I had just a flash of panic (which is really bad since I don't have the panic gene in me) and almost flipped over onto my back... but for some reason I calmed down... then I pulled out of traffic and breast stroked for a minute or two. Then I started feeling better and got back into the freestyle.

Probably something like 1 time in 5/6 at the swimming pool I will jump in and by 15 yards my heart rate will be off the graph. If I just go with it for a lap or two things will settle down and it will be ok... but it is really really uncomfortable while it is happening. I have no idea what is going on.

For some reason I was breathing only on the left which wasn't that ideal because the buoys were on the right... but I wasn't willing to screw with it since the earlier thing. I made the turn to come back OK... and swam easy back to the start line for the second lap. I tried to swim harder in the second lap and I know that I must have. Things were much better other than breathing on the left was still a problem. I am sure that I zig-zaggged all around. I came out of the water at the boat ramp and was momentarily light headed... but got settled in and ran up the the transition... stripped the wet suit... then took a piss off to the side. Put on my bike jersey + new giro advantage 2 helmet, drank 1/2 bottle of Gatorade and then took off.

There was a long steep hill up from the lake. I worked hard at keeping a lid on it. 3 guys passed me on the uphill section. Then I turned right onto the loop around the lake. On the loop I settled into a very stable power. I went back and forth with those three guys who had passed me as the stood up to surge up the hills. But within a few miles I ditched them and about 10 others. 25 minutes in a ran into a freaking pit bull and I surged up to 745 watts getting away. That kind of sucked. The other problem that I have is that when I see a turtle on the road I always stop and get it off the road. In fact Jill and I had stopped already once on the way there to get a turtle off the road. Well the first turtle I went by I didn't get off the road... but I was worried about my karma... so the next one I got off the road. Then I saw a third which I rode by... but worried. Finally I decided that I would spend some of the karma that I had built up for years of getting the damn things off the road. I rode by something like 25-30 turtles... and it was killing me... but I didn't stop.

I comfortably rode by 1/2 dozen more people... keeping a lid on the power... basically having the average around 276 (which was OK because it is Quarq watts at 1.05*pt watts). One of the people that I went by is a good friend of mine. I tapped him as I went by but way underestimated the closure rate... and that almost didn't go well.

Then I made the right onto the out/back spur off of the loop. I asked the person at the aid station how many people were in front of me and they said 10. The out/back is the place with the big downhill... followed by going up a steep hill to a turnround where you reverse it. As I went down the spur I counted people and found that I was in 10th place.. This was the place where my coach told me to start picking it up. So from there out I averaged 287. As I went up the hill at the end of the spur two of those people passed me back. After the turn around I passed them back. Then I saw the first irritating thing. Someone's wife/girlfriend was at the top of the hill handing out custom nutrition for him/her.

Then I made the right back on the loop. I fairly quickly moved up into 8th place. But there was a big gap between 4th and 5th place (which I had seen on the out/back). Then I saw the next really irritating thing. A guy was drafting off his wife... who was driving a car. I couldn't believe that. What really sucked is I had picked it up quite a bit.... and they were blocking. I got by them into 7.... then I put my head down and worked on keeping the watts rolling. In the next bit I passed into 6. Then I made the final turn where my coach told me to pick it up... which I did and moved into 5 as I passed a guy like he was standing still. After the race he said that he did everything that he could to hang on... to no avail. I put at least 2-3 minutes on him in 4 miles. As I turned into the park I saw the next person off in the distance... but I just couldn't get the gap closed.

The splits were

1:11 276 watt, 85 cadence, 20.9 mph

1:12 287 watt, 86 cadence, 22.3 mph

10:12 292 watt 81 cadence 21.6 mph

Entire workout (282 watts):

Duration: 2:33:54

Work: 2605 kJ

TSS: 236.6 (intensity factor 0.96)

Norm Power: 288

VI: 1.02

Distance: 55.362 mi

Elevation Gain: 4042 ft

Elevation Loss: 4063 ft

Grade: -0.0 % (-21 ft)

Min Max Avg

Power: 0 767 282 watts

Cadence: 3 121 85 rpm

Speed: 1.9 43.4 21.6 mph

Pace 1:23 32:11 2:47 min/mi

Altitude: 481 843 735 ft

Crank Torque: 0 766 283 lb-in

I went back into the transition area drank 5-6 oz of Gatorade... and then started running. My legs felt good... but the hill is really steep.. I stopped at the first aid station and had water... then at the next one and had water then to the turn around and had water. After the turn around I came up on my friend and I turned around and ran back to the turnaround and then back to the start with him. my legs were good and I am pretty sure I could have gone <2hrs>

He talked about the girl who was in the first 2/3 swimmers out of the water... even though she spotted everyone 5 minutes. My friend told me that he came out of the water in 25 minutes as one of the fastest people.... its hard to believe that she was 20 minutes... So it will be interesting to see the chip times.

I am guessing that the front runners put nearly 10 minutes into me on the swim... though since I swam 41 minutes on the same course last year I suspect that I improved.

I only drank just short of 20oz of Gatorade on the bike (I had a full bottle left). It was fine..... no sick stomach. I do remember that I don't really like the sticky sweet taste.. but it can be tolerated.

I guess that all in all I'm surprised by the power numbers and the time. I was really tired after the run on Thursday... and my legs didn't feel good on Friday. I didn't really bury myself yesterday and definitely think that I could have gone harder.

I am hopeful that legs etc will be OK next weekend (for TTT).... I am getting ready to go run intervals... and I think that will be OK...