IM CDA ’09:
I knew going into my 4th Ironman that this one was going to be tough on many levels. I had made the transition of a personal goal of finishing as fast as I could for Vineman to a goal of qualifying for Kona at CDA. The transition was one I thought reasonable considering my 10:35 at Vineman in fairly tough conditions (Heat / Wind). Of most of the feedback I had seen suggested, CDA was a good fit for me though looking back now having done the course, I am not sure I agree with the comparison of Vineman to CDA.
My training went well. I out did all of my training goals from Vineman averaged over 13 hours per week training throughput the entire 36 week build and averaged close to 20 hours per week during late build and peak. My swim included a weekly open water swim of around 2 miles, my rides were averaging 21-22 mph for my long sessions, and my runs were all easily sub-8 with several sub-7 15+ runs, some of them bricks after medium length rides of around 50 miles. I was feeling confident going into my taper: no injuries, wasn’t sick, had the week off before the race and the week off after. All I had to do was survive the drive from Vacaville to CDA and I would be good to go.
36 Weeks:
118 Miles of swimming (207,680 yards)
3462 Miles of riding
1058 Miles of running
On the drive up we saw a Shoe Tree in central Oregon. Never saw one of these before!
Upon arrival in the Northwest, I spent some time with my two brothers and their families who lives in Spokane. My mom flew in from the Seattle area, and two other brothers and their families drove up from various parts of Washington. My mother in law and her cousin drove up from SoCal to watch as well. It was great visiting with everyone though it was semi-hectic intertwining visiting and mandatory race prep elements. In hindsight, I would probably cut back on the visiting a tad in order to maintain a higher focus and intensity on the race, but it is not often we get to see each other! My family on both sides has been absolutely supportive in every way throughout this whole process and I am forever in their debt for it!
The drive from Vacaville to CDA (13 hours +) created kinks and muscle soreness which showed up on race day. I do not think I had enough recovery time before the race. More on that later. The weather the week before the race was Dr Jeckyl and Mr Hyde for sure. One minute it would be sunny and hot, the next torrential and bone chilling. I was able to get in a nice run on Thursday, a nice swim on Friday, and a quick Sat ride of about 10 miles. Of my final 3 workouts, the swim was the cause for most concern as the water on Friday was more choppy then anything I had swam in before. It was like the water was drunk resulting 1-2 foot minor swells and refractory chop/waves coming from every direction. I just couldn’t get a rhythm going. I knew if that was what race day was like, it would be a rough swim…
I slept OK the night before the race. Maybe 4 hours of solid sleep with a few snatches of shut eye here and there. Alarm went off at 4AM and I popped up chipper. The family was a little groggy but I had arranged a shuttle through the hotel which spared them the trip down at the same God awful time to be there by 5AM for transition open. I added a few things to be transition bags and dropped off my special needs, though I had no intention of using them (and I didn’t).
I had brought my own pumps (two: standard and one with a perma-crack pipe attached) down to the transition. After I was done pumping I fielded an endless series of requests to use them. One guy borrowed it and walked off several rows. I was wondering if he was even coming back with it. About 10 minutes later, a different guy returned it. Eventually I had to cut people off and get ready myself. I felt bad but hey I had to get ready myself!
By this time I met up with the family by the wall overlooking the swim for last minutes hugs, kisses, and well wishing. I hit the portapotty and soon was looking out at the Pros getting ready to start. The water was every bit as choppy and maybe a little bit worse than on Friday. I knew it was going to suck, and it did. You could tell by watching the pros take off that the chop was ridiculous, the wind howling, and general misery was about to ensue. I put on the suit and headed down for a few practice strokes.
It all felt good, but I knew that none of the local lake chop I swam back in training was going to prepare to this when you take in the general maelstrom of a mass IM swim start. I seeded myself appropriately and had decent room for most of the 1st lap except at the corners. The most major constriction was at the 1st left turn of course. I hit the shore at 33 mins and was happy with that given the conditions. I made the mistake of immediately jumping back into the water to swim the diagonal back to the 1st red buoy but found out later that many people rather astutely and smartly ran the shore then cut straight back out. The “horizontal” legs between the 2 vertical out and backs were by far the roughest conditions since you were broadside to the majority direction of the swell. I am sure this cost me a minute or two or three.
Hit the vertical out and once again struggled to find my stroke. The wind had definitely picked up and swells / chop was even worse on the 2nd lap. I tried right side, left side, and bilateral breathing all to no avail. Any breathing resulted in a face full of water! After the final turn back to shore, I cramped in my left calf. And when I say I cramped, it was the toe curling, leg dragging kind. This lasted pretty much the entire way back to shore and significantly impacted my time. I had no choice but to just swim through it but it was horrific and I was feeling its effects till about half way through the bike when I final felt the muscle spasm and release. Three days later and that part of my leg is still excruciating to the touch. I had taken precautions to avoid cramps as I took a gel about 15 minutes before start and took 2 salt tabs right before heading down to the beach. I fairly commonly cramped up in the pool, so I guess it was a matter of when, not if. I have cramped up in all of my previous IM swims as well. Not sure what is up with that
I am going to have to figure it out as the last stretch of swimming while dragging my left leg really hurt my time.
Exited the water at Swim 1:13 which was slower than my Vineman swim despite having done a ton more swim training. This was fairly dissapointing but I can only imagine what my time would’ve been had I not done it given those conditions. Looking at the post race pics my wife took and talking with her, it was clear many people swam inside the buoys at the turns. The “legality” of this is questionable, but I bet it saved a ton of time as the picture above shows the mayhem if you went on the correct side of the buoy. Do people feel this is a legitimate strategy to cut the course slightly to avoid the constriction at the turns?
This set the stage for me going into transition. I had a 5 min T1 despite not lollygagging. A big part of it was the mayhem of the changing tent and the fairly long run to my bike. Soon enough though I was out on the road. I also had to find my bag myself. It happens:
Finding my own bag after volunteer couldn’t locate it.
Right off the bat, I was fighting the left calf cramp effects (very sore and tight) and soon it was joined with a right glute tightness. I never had that happen in training and I was happy with my effort in dealing with it and keep my race going. The glute definitely was from the drive up as I remember several “painful” stretches of driving where the right glute hurt. I do not believe it was any coincident that it was the exact same spot that caused me pain on race day. I will definitely fly to my next race or give myself more time and getting a massage well before race to work them out.
Of course my Garmin couldn’t get reception despite having locked it in earlier. I missed a lot of data for the 1st 10 miles or so. The lake out and back was fast with pretty much no kookiness or drafting that I saw. Coming back into town, my speed was high and I turned onto Gov. Way and was soon blasting down to the 4th street section. I tried to stretch every 10 miles or so to keep my left calf from tightening any further and to see if I could get my right glute to loosen up as well. By the end of the bike, that sucker was so tight and painful I could barely kick my right leg over the seat to dismount!
From 4th Street to the Lake loop, I was flying but I do think I may have taken it a little too easy on the hills on the 1st lap. I wanted to go reasonably conservative on the 1st loop to ensure a good 2nd loop split but I think I left a little in the tank for the hills. I hit the turnaround at the Olmstead loop and was flying back into town at over a 21 mph average. The wind was really picking up though and I swear every hill had the head wind! Saw the family at the half way point which was a lift, and soon it was back onto the out and back.
Turn out for the 2nd loop.
I skipped special needs and jumped right back into the Gov Way / Hayden loop. I gave a little more on the hills this time, but my overall speed was down due to fatigue, leg tightness, and increasing wind. Weatherunderground shows 15 mph sustained 18 mph gusts, but what is truly impressive is the wind direction which was all over the board. Literally, it was coming from every direction. I finished up strong with a bit of stretching coming back down Gov. Way to get ready for the run.
I just slightly PRd on my bike split at 5:17:33. Between this (CDA) course and Vineman, IM AZ, or CAman, I would easily say the CDA is much more difficult than any of the others. The hills are described as rolling, though I feel that better describes Vineman. CDA is hilly, not any huge climbs but many hills which require actually climbing. I could see the value of a compact here and would definitely run it as a compact if I was to do this race again. I do feel like this bike course did not suit me very well as it had a lot of momentum sapping hills that you couldn’t just roll over or power through and lots of technical turning. All of these punish the bigger guys as we have to get everything rolling again.
Off the bike w/a smile
My setup was with a single bottle cage zip tied to my saddle post with my flat kit. I used a Speedfil and was very happy with it. I ordered and put in the new aero Fuel Belt Bento Box and put salt tabs and 3 power bars in it. I taped 6 gels on my tube and took a gel every 30, 1 power bar every 1 hour until hour 4 then switched to a gel every 30 even on the hour. I took 2 salt tabs at T1, 2 at 1 hour, and 1 every hour from that point on.
I quickly transitioned to the run at 2:42 for T2 which I was happy with. As with the bike, my Garmin would not lock into the satellites for the 1st 1.5 miles of the run out of transition which made pacing a little tougher, though the timer kept me on track.
About 1.5 miles into the run
I was feeling very good despite the tightness on the bike and quickly completed the 1st lap at a good clip sub-8 min. On the second lap I started having to dig a bit and white rabbit fellow competitors to keep the speed up. I averaged just over 8 min miles on lap 2. I was happy with my run split and it was the only one of the 3 legs that I actually hit my goal. Run split of 3:29:55. I ran the marathon almost completely self supported so I wouldn’t be tempted to stop at aid stations. In hindsight, this was probably a little much. Next time I will probably skip the fuel belt and use more course nutrition to avoid carrying the extra weight, but over all my strategy worked well. I drank half a gel flask each 5 miles with sips of dilute Gatorade Endurance Formula between as thirst required. I took 2 salt tabs every hour.
Starting second lap
I came around the final bend and got a look at the finish line a long way down there. The street were lined with spectators and I tried to finish strong. As I got closer to the clock I could see 10 hours and knew Kona wasn’t going to happen. When I could finally read the whole time, I knew I was going to PR and I did with a Total Time 10:09:05. This was a PR of ~ 27 minutes.
OVERALL PLACE 104
TOTAL TIME 10:09:05
RACE DIVISION M35-39
SWIM TIME 1:13:11
T1 5:45
BIKE TIME 5:17:34
T2 2:42
RUN TIME 3:29:56
Finish
Happy to be done
Not so happy taking my shoes off
My family as usual was fantastic the whole trip and supportive beyond anything anyone could ever possibly hope for. They sacrificed as much or more than I did in many cases. I will admit to feeling like I let them down some by not qualifying. My wife actually did hit me when I said as much, and she reiterated that she was proud of me and the veracity in which my kids hugged me left no room for doubt that they were proud as well.
I do not feel like I hit my potential at this race to be honest. I won’t make excuses though, I just didn’t get it done. I think choosing a course slightly better suited to me would yield a better result. Being a bigger guy (close to 190 lbs), hills with climbing (not just power rolling) and technical turns which require breaking (like in CDA) really hurt momentum which makes us bigger guys suffer. I feel like a Vineman-like course (that is an actual qualifier) would suit me best. Just got to find the right one!
I am not sure if 2010 will be my next attempt or maybe 2011. I was hoping to do my 1st 100 mile Ultra in 2010 and I don’t see Kona and that being very good training bedmates, but we’ll see! While not qualifying was a big let down, I guess it is your failures that make you appreciate the successes. I had a great series of races with PRs and a fantastic training ramp to CDA. I believe I have come out of this race with additional knowledge in training and racing experience that will eventually yield a spot.
Reminds me of a great quote:
In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few - Shunryu Suzuki I think a big part about being fast is reducing your unknown variables to an absolute minimum and executing your plan. I feel I am one step closer after IM CDA ’09.
