The Ironman Journey - a checkpoint

I have heard and read that it takes about 5 years to build the capacity and learn to compete in an Ironman. This definition of competing probably has different meanings for everyone in that some people are just naturally gifted and have the athletic background to perform well at Ironman from the get go. So this period of adjustment may just mean it takes 5 years of solid training just to compete and then you can train to “win,” whatever your definition of winning is, be it turning pro, qualifying for Kona, or whatever. I now have data from several Ironman races over the past few seasons, so I thought I’d take a moment to reflect on the progress and see what my n=1 anec dotal experience may lend to this 5-year idea. First, a look at the basic numbers…

		Wisconsin	Louisville	CDA	Wisconsin	CDA	FLA
	Date	Sep-07	Aug-09	Jun-10	Sep-10	Jun-11	Nov-11
	Finishers	2206	2352	2096	2398	2187	2439
	AG Finishers	266	360	327	352	271	362
Swim	Time	1:22:06	1:17:01	1:14:23	1:16:21	1:17:35	1:17:48
	OA	1392	681	733	918	875	1319
	OA %	63%	29%	35%	38%	40%	54%
	Div	191	107	122	138	116	231
	Div %	72%	30%	37%	39%	43%	64%
	T1	10:47	4:36	5:48	7:35	5:32	7:51
Bike	Time	6:44:32	5:44:47	5:55:46	5:41:03	5:33:27	5:19:26
	OA	1336	459	638	309	254	219
	OA %	61%	20%	30%	13%	12%	9%
	Div	192	91	110	59	43	54
	Div %	72%	25%	34%	17%	16%	15%
	T2	6:35	4:52	1:58	4:12	2:14	4:19
Run	Time	4:07:51	4:04:48	DNF	4:00:52	4:11:57	3:44:20
	OA	457	482		278	454	182
	OA %	21%	20%		12%	21%	7%
	Div	66	87		46	78	35
	Div %	25%	24%		13%	29%	10%
OA	Time	12:31:50	11:16:04	DNF	11:10:01	11:10:45	10:33:41
	OA	868	397		260	319	207
	OA %	39%	17%		11%	15%	8%
	Div	129	77		42	53	45
	Div %	48%	21%		12%	20%	12%

Each of these races has a story, but you can see the overall trend. A first experience at Wisconsin where I was happy to finish, then a year off from Ironman, then a more consistent effort to move up the age group, with, what I would suggest is perhaps slow progress, but progress nonetheless (my progress at half-IM was much quicker). Based on this high-level assessment, I am confident I have not neared my potential in an Ironman. However, I would say that I’ve done the best I could in each race, given that I am an average age-grouper with a family and a career.

More specifically, the swim trend is alarming in that I seem to be moving backwards. This off-season, I am hoping to do something more specific to address that, but we will see if it works out (time, budget, etc). The bike continues to improve, although it seems I have taken the large chunks out already and my placement in my AG may continue to rise slowly. With respect to the run, it is mixed, but in Florida this year, I did make the top 10% in my AG for a run split. However, in a reasonably competitive half-IM, my run splits are usually much higher than that, i.e. top 5 or 10 AG.

To get some more perspective, let’s look a little deeper at the numbers. Here are some plots of bike power, by each hour, in the races where I’ve had power available.

The most noticeable trend is that I faded in each of the previous 4 races. However, in FLA’11, I started very conservative and managed to sustain that effort. It is obviously a flat course so you can control your effort more and you are not forced to get over any hills, but it seems like I paced the ride pretty well in FLA and now need to keep working on raising the power up.

Based on my FTP, however, the power I rode in FLA still seems very conservative -- my IF in FLA was only 0.58 and TSS was only 178. That’s really low for an Ironman and I know I could have easily ridden harder. The question is what effect would that have had on my run. In previous IMs, I have ridden with IFs of 0.59 to 0.68. My Florida ride was on the low side and not surprisingly, I had my best run to date.

With respect to the run, I have faded in each of these races. Here are some plots of run pace pre 5K segment and cumulative pace per 5K segment. In Florida this year, I was able to hold off the fade longer and run quicker leading up to it -- I was still managing my approximate target pace through 18+ miles and have not made it that far before.

The one above is average pace in each 5K segment. The one below is the cumulative average pace as I made it through each 5K segment.

In previous races, starting the run, I have been at 7+ hours into the race. I was through 20 miles of the run quicker than I had been before. See the table below.

Race	Through T2	Through 20 miles of run	Last 10K
CDA ‘10	7:17	10:10 (DNF at 17.8)	N/A
Wisconsin ‘10	7:09	10:10	0:59:42
CDA ‘11	6:58	10:12	0:58:54
Florida ‘11	6:49	9:33	1:01:00

I still struggled through that last 10K, but I was to the start of it much earlier than before. After 3 seasons, it seems my capacity is good for about 9-9.5 hours and I really struggle past that. My belief is that it is mostly peripheral fatigue and my legs give out first. I just can’t seem to keep the HR up at that point. In the graph below, you can clearly see this effect as I ran about 20-25% of the marathon in Florida at a HR of 135 or below. The first ¾ of the marathon, I was tracking my HR to a goal of ~145-150. Once I got through 2.5 hours of running, I had a hard time stimulating my cardiovascular system and my legs were shot!

From a time standpoint, I was through the swim and bike and onto the run in 6:49. It took me another 2:43 to get through 20 miles of the run. That’s 9 hours and 32 minutes of work, but that only got me through 134.4 miles. So, to improve upon this, I can lengthen the time at which I can sustain this work rate or raise the rate at which I can work for 9.5 hours. I need to work on both of these!

My bike ride in Florida was very controlled and I rode at 20-25 watts lower than my original target. My norm power was 183 for a TSS of 178 (at least according to my FTP estimate of 315). That is very low for an IM ride. My original target was even conservative at an IF of 0.65, but as the ride unfolded, I decided to dial it back, keep my HR down intentionally, and lower my target power by ~20 watts. Even if my FTP estimate is high, which it likely is after going through some long, hard IM training, that TSS is still very low. I have done hilly half-IM rides of more TSS than that and have run really well off the bike -- a 1:31 run split in Auburn this year and a 1:33 at Wildflower 2010. I have also run a 1:28 off the bike in Kansas at the 70.3 there. But Ironman seems to be another story for me. The swim and bike still take too much out of me and I have a really tough time utilizing my running fitness. It should be my strength, but I still fade significantly.

AG placement is probably the thing I am most interested in improving and I was somewhat stagnant this year. In a competitive half-IM, I seem to be in the 10-20 range - 12^th AG at Vineman 70.3 (2009), 19^th at Wildflower (2010), 15^th at Boulder 70.3 (2010) and 16^th at Kansas 70.3 (2011 – also stopped to help my wife fix her flat tire). However, in an IM, I am only in the 40s AG with a 42 last year at Wisconsin and a 45 this year in Florida. I am somewhat disappointed with that, but I did hit some other milestones this time around – I ran the Florida marathon faster than I ran my first open marathon in 1999, which was a 3:48. It has taken awhile, but I am there. My next target will be 3:24, which I ran in the Chicago marathon in 2003. I am confident I can get there with consistent hard work. This is my 5^th finish and really only the 3^rd season of racing IM. I did my first in 2007, but I didn’t have any expectations and just wanted to finish. I took 2008 “off” from IM as my son was born that year, but then did Louisville in 2009 and have raced IM in 2010 and 2011. So I’m through 3 of the hypothesized “5 years” and still making progress (I think).

How do you work on this capacity, durability, and muscular endurance? Probably more of the same of what I’ve been doing the last few years. Consistent “2-a-days” with hard work on the swim, bike, and run. However, this off-season, I am thinking of a slightly different approach. I can’t do the same thing and expect different results, right!? I have done bigger weeks of swim volume before (big for me, anyway, given my time constraints) in the “off” season after 2009. I started making some improvements, but they seemed to disappear. This time around, I am considering some 1-on-1 swim coaching for several months. I am hoping I can make that work, because I think the combination of a coached, technique focus with increased volume can help. If I can cut just 5 or 10 more minutes off my swim, that will put me to that hard part of the race fresher and earlier and in a better position to maintain my work rate longer. My other approach is going to be continuing to work on bike strength with hard interval sets and muscular endurance rides. With respect to running, I’ll just be maintaining for a few months, but perhaps working in some speed for an early season 2012 half-marathon. Not sure on that one yet. Regardless, it is the process and the training I love and keeps me coming back for more.

Race Report - Ironman Florida

My key event for the season was Ironman Florida – the idea was to have a later season IM with a good beach-vacation spot for a few days of R&R after the race. Not only that, 2 of my clients were racing, so I was really excited about signing up and being out on the course with them. It has a reputation of being flat and fast (perhaps not “easy”) and after several hillier IMs including Wisconsin and Coeur d’Alene, I was ready for a race with a different kind of course.

One of these clients that was racing is Richard Hunter, a visually-impaired athlete taking on his first Ironman race. He has done several half-iron distance events and run several marathons, but this was his first Ironman. I had been coaching him the whole season, so it was really neat to be here with him and experiencing it myself. Richard’s guide, Alan Gulledge, was a client of mine also. He had been having a few knee issues leading into the race, but I was still confident he’d be strong enough to make it through the day with Richard. They overcame the traditional IM adversity (with some tether encounters on the swim and a flat on the tandem), but had an excellent day… solid all-around on the swim, bike, and run for a sub-12 hour finish! I am proud to have contributed in some small way to their successful day.

My other client racing was Justin Waller, who happens to also be a good friend. We did IM Wisconsin together in 2007 and chose this race together intentionally, so I was really excited to see how he did. It’s been really fun to see his progression this year with PRs at almost every event. This was his 4^th finish and he had a GREAT race and knocked more than an hour off of his previous best at the distance! He swam under an hour, biked a 5:41, and threw down a 3:51 marathon for a 10:40. I am really proud of Justin and the hard work he’s done to improve his performance. Just a few years ago, he would’ve struggled running a 3:51 open marathon and now he’s doing it in an Ironman!

My race also went pretty well. There are obviously areas to learn from and improve upon with every race, and especially with Ironman. It is a long day and learning to execute and attempt to “race” them takes a large amount of fitness and experience and I am still evolving as an athlete.

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We arrived on Wednesday after a long day of travel. On Thursday morning, the surf in the ocean was pretty gnarly and people were pretty nervous about it. The forecast was for the wind and the waves to die down over the next few days, but it definitely created some anxiety for people. I got registered and picked up my bike from TriBikeTransport. On Friday, Justin and I went for a short swim. The surf was still vigorous, but once you got past the initial breakers, it wasn’t bad at all --- some large swells, but you could just roll with them. Plus, I hadn’t really swam in the ocean like this before. The water was clear and comfortable and you could see pretty deep! I was surprised at how far out you could still see the bottom. After our swim, we went for a short ride on the run course and it was COLD and WINDY! We went for our last little shake-out run and I warmed up a bit, but it was still cold. After that, I got my bags ready, checked them in, and walked through transition area. It was quite long through T1, but I have done Wisconsin and I’m not sure any T1 beats that one! The rest of the day we just chilled at my in-laws condo - they were staying at a really nice Marriott about 10 minutes away from the race site so it was a nice break from the chaos.

Race morning started at 4 and I got up and went through my “regular” routine. Shower, eat, etc. I have gone back to my tried-and-true oatmeal, syrup, and peanut butter. I usually add a banana, too. Everything went down easy and we were on our way to the race site by 5-ish. Justin and I got our transition areas set up with no issues and then looked for Richard, but couldn’t find him. We found his bike and he and Alan had already been there. So I figured at this point, I’d find him at the swim start. We went inside and just chilled for a few minutes and met a very nice pro named Kristin White. She is 40 and has 2 kids, too!! She headed off to the pro start and we wished her luck. Then Justin and I got our wet-suits on and headed down. Justin is a much faster swimmer so he went to find his family and then seed himself on the front line. I kissed my wife and headed down to the far right side. I found Richard down there and wished he and Alan luck.

We really lucked out with the water conditions. In the last 2 days, the wind had shifted direction and was now coming out of the North/East from the land towards the ocean. On Wednesday and Thursday, it was coming out of the South from the ocean in and really kicked up the waves. Race morning, the water looked beautiful… smooth and clear! The only thing at all making me nervous was the mass start with 2500+ athletes.

The mass start.

I started really wide to the right and towards the back and within a few minutes the canon went off and we were heading into the Gulf! There is always contact, but I really didn’t have that many issues at all heading out towards the first turn. The water felt warm and smooth so I just concentrated on managing my head and getting into a rhythm. I sighted every few strokes and just made my way… but wow, you could really see the jelly fish!! At the first turn, I swam way wide and tried to stay clear of everyone. Seemed like I was way out there, but I didn’t really have any drama, so I was OK with it. I did see a school of fish a few feet down, which was pretty cool. After turning back towards shore, I just tried to stay steady. The shore came before I knew it and I was out on the beach at the end of my 1^st lap in ~37 minutes and change.

Swimmers coming back in.

This was about what I expected, although still somewhat frustrated and resigned to the fact that I just am not a fast swimmer. I am a strong and comfortable in the water and have been swimming my whole life; I just am not FAST in the water. Oh well, onto lap #2. On the way back in I did the diagonal part of the course and then headed out again on the inside of the buoys this time. I found somebody’s feet for white a while and just practiced drafting. But then I was swimming on my own for a while in clean water. It was actually quite enjoyable… just cruising along doing my thing. The turn buoys were a little hectic, but not horrible and I was back on my way in. I got mixed up in a few groups on the way back, but tried to stay buoy to buoy and just go as straight as possible. Once out of the water, I saw 1:27 on the clock, which meant I had swam a 1:17 again (the clock was on the pro start), just like in CDA. I stayed positive and thought to myself “hey, at least I didn’t have any cramps!” and just moved through transition as efficiently as I could.

When you come out of the water that far back, T1 is a mad house!! I got my bag easily, but once I got into the change tent, it was shoulder to shoulder with guys. I couldn’t even find a place to put my stuff down and get ready to ride. I had decided to put my arm warmers on, so that, combined with the general chaos meant I had a really long T1. It was just too crowded to go anywhere fast. It is just something I’ll have to deal with better in the future.

Once out on the ride, I knew it was going to be windy. The first part of the ride is a few miles East to West on the main Front Beach Road. The wind was basically out of the North and East, so any part of the course heading North and East was going to be tough. That meant the first half of the ride was going to be with a pretty stiff head wind. But the first part out of town is headed West for a few miles before turning North on route 79, so there was a nice tail wind and I was cruising along just pedaling easy and passing tons of people. I passed at least 100 people in those first few miles, but I wasn’t riding hard by any means (based on later assessment of results, I passed ~700 people in the ride). In fact, I was holding way back and just focused on being in the moment and enjoying myself. I felt good, the swim was over, and I had a nice ride ahead of me. My ride plan was 7 laps of 45 minutes each with specific power targets. The first 45 minutes I was planning on going very easy and did. I made the right turn onto route 79 and there was the head wind! I just focused on my nutrition and my effort level and rolled along. There was one bridge to cross, but it didn’t even require me to shift out of my big ring to keep it under 300 watts for the climb. The course was not pancake flat, but there were only some gently rolling hills and most didn’t require much effort to get up. This, however, did not mean the ride was easy by any means. I actually found it fairly challenging as the first 60 miles required you to be down in your aerobars, fighting the wind. The conditions on the day really suited some fast racing by the pros. With the head wind, they can afford to up the effort some and survive for a good run. For us mere mortals, the wind requires more caution and I paid attention to my power numbers. I was actually riding about 20 watts below target, but it felt right, keeping it easy and my HR down below 140 for the whole first half of the ride – it was in the 137-138 range consistently. There was one out-and-back section around mile 50-55 and the road condition was not good with head-jarring ruts in the road every few feet. However, this section was the only part that was bad and the rest of the course had very nice pavement. I peed a couple of times by this point, but the course didn’t really make it very easy. Just not many long hills to coast down and constant pedaling, so I decided to stop at the port-o-potty around mile 60. I had been struggling some mentally to this point, but after that I felt better and my mood picked up. We finished off the loop section of the course, had another “hill,” and then headed back west towards route 79. This part of the ride was fun with a nice tail wind and I felt really good, sticking to my nutrition and rolling along at my target power. I was keeping my HR down as best I could and modified my target power about 20 watts down accordingly. It was getting harder to stay down in the aero bars, so I stretched every 15 minutes when getting my nutrition in. With respect to nutrition, on the bike ride, I had about 800 calories of EFS and CarboPro, ~420 calories of EFS liquid shot, and 2 mini snickers for a total of 1360 calories or roughly ~255 calories / hour and was right on plan. I supplemented with 2 Saltstick Caps. I never had any nutritional issues and everything seemed to go down well as long as I made sure the water kept flowing. This meant I had to pee more, but better than the alternative and getting too dehydrated. Next time, I may experiment with more sodium to see if I can pee a little less.

After turning back down route 79, we still had a nice tail wind so I kept rolling and giving myself short stretching breaks every 10-15 minutes. At about the 100 mile mark, I finally caught Justin, who was starting back up from a port-o-potty break. We chatted for a few minutes – he was having a great race, so this gave me a nice boost and I kept rolling. Then one more out-and-back section with tail wind out and head wind back. Once down to Front Beach Road, we had the last 6 or 7 miles into town with a pretty strong head wind… just to really test the mental fortitude! By this point, I was definitely ready to get off the bike, but my legs still felt pretty good and I was really looking forward to the run!

I got through T2 pretty well as it was way less crowded, but did have to stop in the port-o-potty still. I lost a minute or two there and probably should’ve tried to go one more time on the bike. I just wanted to be comfortable. Immediately out onto the run and I found Justin again. I think I had only put a minute or two into him on the last few miles and he caught me while I was in the pot in T2. It was right at that point that we saw our family. I gave my kids a kiss and headed out on the run with Justin. After a few more yards I told him I was feeling good and I was going to go for it. I settled into my race pace and just cruised feeling pretty darn good. I felt the effort of the day, but also knew I felt better at that point in an Ironman than ever before. I cruised through my first two 5Ks pretty easily at ~7:50 pace and used the IM Perform on the course, saving my EFS pre-race / Hammer gel mix to start at the third 5K lap. After heading back from the State Park and finishing the 3^rd 5K, I was holding pretty steady onto my pace and started sipping my flask. My mood was good and I felt WAY better than ever before approaching the turn-around for lap 2, plus I saw my family again and that gave me a huge lift!

In spite of feeling pretty good at this point, I've got a strange look on my face.

Justin, looking as cool as a cucumber!

I cruised back out of town, confident I was going to have a good run. I made it back out to the state park and my 5K pace averages had dropped to 8:07 and 8:44 for numbers 5 and 6, but I had still made it through 20 miles in ~2:43 and was trying to hang on. On my way back to town, I had run a large part of it with a guy in my AG, but when I was feeling good heading back on the first loop, I dropped him. Around mile 20, he finally caught me again and passed me. I didn’t have it in me to hang with him again so I knew I was going to struggle on the way back.

By this point, my EFS pre-race / hammer gel mix was not going down well so I ditched it and switched to coke only. By mile 21 and 22, I was really struggling. At the 3 hour mark, I walked for about 2 minutes and got in some chicken broth. It tasted good, so I went with it. I started jogging again and only ended up walking for ~3 minutes total outside of aid stations. My plan from the beginning was to walk for a 5-count at each aid station in the first half and a 10-count at each aid station in the 2^nd half. That worked well until mile 21, when I walked for about 2 minutes getting in the broth. The last few miles were tough, but I was still running and didn’t walk again outside of the aid stations. It wasn’t fast, but I was still moving forward and trying to stay positive in my head. I did have some tough moments as I always do, but this IM run was a big improvement on past runs, both in time and in how I managed myself.

Not quite as energetic here.

I know that face!

Almost home!

The finishing chute for Justin!

The last mile or so of an IM is incredible… the crowds are just plain awesome and the feeling getting to the line makes it all worth it. I came down the stretch, saw a 10:3x something on the clock and was satisfied with my effort. However, approaching the line, I tripped on the carpet and fell flat on my face. (See video here: http://www.asiorders.com/view_user_event_video.asp?EVENTID=76834&BIB=1330&S=230&PWD=) I seriously considered crawling across the line, but thought that may be a little too dramatic, so I managed to pick myself up and walk across. The catcher helped me and I met Emily for a big hug -- my favorite part of any race is the hug with my wife at the end.

Justin finished only a few minutes behind me and Richard had had a great day, too! For more details on Richard's race, see here. I was really, really proud of both of them… being there with them and racing together made for an awesome experience.

Justin Waller, Alan Gulledge, Jon Klingensmith, Richard Hunter

I met several of my goals, including a sub-3:45 run, a sub-11:00 IM finish, and have also continued to practice my race process. My final numbers were:

Swim: 1:17:48

T1: 7:50

Bike: 5:19:26

T2: 4:18

Run: 3:44:19

I was 207^th overall and 45^th in my AG. It was a satisfying end to the season, but I do have much loftier goals. Now is time to reflect, regroup, and map out my 2012 season and the off-season training to get me there!