Ironman Florida Race Recap - Saturday 11/8/03 (Race Day)

Race Totals:
9:31:23
Ironman PR by 16+ minutes
58th place overall out of 1,912 finishers
18th overall American
7th out of 151 finishers in 25-29 age group - qualified for Ironman Hawaii '04
 

Recap:

4:30AM

• 7.5hrs sleep
• Breakfast:  (1) Vanilla Ultramet blended w/ 16oz Pineapple Juice, (1) frozen banana & 16oz water + (1) defizzed can of Red Bull
• Supplements:  PBN Multivitamin, Antioxidant, Ultimate Performance Accelerator (2), Optygen (4)
   

5:30-7AM (Arrive at Race Site Up to Start)

• Sipped Cytomax upon leaving hotel right up to the start. Solution was mixed at (1.5) scoops per 28oz of water.
• Endurox Capsules (2), (6) Muscle Nitro and (2) Advil taken approx. 60mins before 7AM start
• Spent 10-15 minutes mentally preparing for gun time at swim start, visualizing the race and how I hoped the day would go. I also took note of athletes doing warm-up and whether or not there was any noticeable current that I will need to deal with.
   

Swim (2.4 Miles):

• Professionals started approx 50-75 meters off the beach and I noticed they were being pulled East, therefore I lined up slightly West of the center of the pack with the goal of hitting the buoys dead-on.
• Overall the swim went as planned. I went fairly hard from the start to try and get relatively close to the top 3-4% of the swimmers. The entire swim out to the 1st buoy was congested but nothing out of the ordinary. I came through the 1st lap in :27+ which was right on schedule. I knew the 2nd lap would be slightly slower as we had a longer swim to the 1st buoy + there was a fair amount of chop on the 2nd loop w/ 2,000+ athletes in the water. About 40 minutes into the swim I did have a slight cramp on the in-step of my right foot which was similar to what I had encountered at the 1/2 IM in September. I tried to kick more from my hip vs. my calf and leg which seemed to alleviate this and the cramp really was not a factor. Total swim time was 56:55 which was slightly slower than I had hoped (only by 60 seconds which is nothing to sweat), but I felt absolutely fresh coming into T1.

Swim Totals (Time/Place) = 56:55 (67th place)

T1:

• Fluid transition w/ no issues. Consumed (1) gel packet before mounting the bike

Totals (Time) = 3:07

Bike (112 Miles):

• Once on the bike, the goal was to try and get my HR down as quickly as possible to my target of 145. It was above 160 after the hustle of T1 which I expected. As I didn’t want to go too slow, I anticipated this would take approximately 15-20 mins to steadily drop, which was accurate. After about 20 mins, my HR settled down just as we turned into a 15mph headwind that would last for the next hour. My HRM was set at an upper limit of 147 and a lower limit of 140, so regardless of wind, hills, etc… my goal was to stay within that (7) beat zone.
• I knew I would loose a significant # of placings, especially during the 1st 50+/- miles as athletes tend to go out too hard for the 1st few hours on the bike. To my surprise, at a HR of 145 I wasn't loosing too much time except to some of the slower professional male swimmers who came by on their charge to the front. There were some 25-29 age groupers who did pass over the next few hours (estimating between 7-9), but I had confidence in my run and felt I would be able to get most of them somewhere in the marathon.
• On the bike my primary calorie intake was from my (4) 600+ calorie bottles of 'Ironman-Cocktail' (IMC), each containing (2) scoops Cytomax (Tangy Orange flavor), (2) scoops Champion Nutrition Metabolol Endurance (Orange Smoothie flavor) and (2) scoops CarboPro. For the 1st 2+ hours I took a 'hit' of the IMC every 20 mins and chased this each time w/ 4-6oz of water from my JetStream. At each aid station I refilled my JetStream w/ water and occasionally dumped a bottle on my head and down the back of my neck to stay cool.
• After getting (2) new IMC bottles at the special needs station at mile 50+, I began shortening the interval to a 'hit' every 15 mins. I did this because I found myself having difficulty consuming the target of (1) bottle every 75 mins. By going to the 15 min intervals, I decreased the intake per 'hit', but was able to consume more per hour. Also of note, the last bottle contained (2) scoops Cytomax, (2) CarboPro, only (1) scoop Metabolol Endurance, but included a can of defizzed Red Bull. My theory was that this bottle would give me a boost at the 4 hour mark when my energy/focus begin to wane. This was definitely the case and I actually took a sip of the Red Bull bottle earlier than scheduled at the at 3-3.5 hour mark on the bike which helped get through that monotonous stretch between miles 80-95.
• Urinated at mile 90+/-
• I kept my HR pinned fairly close to 145 for the duration of the bike and felt very good throughout. As always, there are some 'bad' patches, but nothing which caused a severe drop in pace/HR.
• Although it was beginning to get hot, conditions were fairly good. Despite the initial 60 minute headwind and some other 20-30 minute sections of headwind, winds were mostly cross.
• Coming back to Panama City Beach, we picked up a tailwind for the final 30+/- minutes. I noticed I again was slightly behind on my calorie intake and wanted to be sure I was going into the run with a full tank. I consumed probably a little too much of the IMC so late in the bike as I threw-up about 8oz (2) miles before T2. My goal was to finish the final bottle about 5 miles outside of T2 so I had to question whether it was more important to get the calories in and risk potential stomach upset at the beginning of the run, or head into the run on a slight calorie deficite. I chose to take in the extra calories which may have caused the slight case of vomiting, but my strength was very good. There was very, very little stomach sickness associated with this and I felt better than I ever have coming off the bike. I hit T2 at 6:10 into the race, exactly at my original target time.
• My bike split was only the 255th fastest on the day, but I expected to lose time on the bike and had confidence that many of the sub-5hr cyclists would falter especially on the 2nd half of the run. I will need to do the math, but estimate I came off the bike somewhere between 150-175th place overall.

Bike Totals (Time/Pace/HR) = 5:10:16/21.7mph avg/145avg HR

T2:

• No issues, smooth transition

Totals (Time) = 3:06

Run (26.2 Miles):

• 1st 6.5 Miles: Left T2 feeling solid (not 110% fantastic), but good and was able to average just over 6:50 per mile pace through the 1st 6.5 miles to the turnaround on lap (1). I felt comfortable, but not perfect. I had initially hoped to consume a gel every other mile, but felt my stomach could not tolerate this so I just kept w/ Gatorade and water at every mile or every other mile.
• 2nd 6.5 Miles: I knew my pace would fall off as the run progressed which is why I do not wear a watch or HRM on the marathon as this feedback could foster negative thoughts. Through the timing chip, I was able to retrieve my splits post-race which is how I have the #'s today. The goal was to keep the amount of fall-off to a minimum of no more than 50-60 seconds per mile between the 1st and the 2nd 13.1 miles. Miles 6.5 to the 1/2 marathon point are never very fun as you tend to think about the enormity of the day, contemplating the fact that there are still 20+/- miles to go. At this point, the sun was in full blast, but my stomach began to feel better so I was able to begin taking in gel at about mile 9 and felt much better. My pace had slipped to 7:30's, but I felt very good going through the 1/2 marathon turn in 1:34 (7:10 pace) and knew I could continue maintain a similar pace without too much fall-off for at least the next 10K.
• 3rd 6.5 Miles: The next leg out onto the 2nd loop I felt extremely good and knew my hydration was still on target as I urinated at mile 14. I kept with the gel/water at each aid station and then went to defizzed Coke/water beginning at mile 15-16. I started to do VERY SHORT walks through these aid stations (10-15 seconds MAX) and made sure to get in some cold water (after the Coke) and dumped a cup of water on my head each time to stay cool. There was not a cloud in the sky and temperatures were in the mid-80's but I felt perfect still maintaining close to a 7:45 pace from miles 13-19.
• 4th 6.5 Miles:  On the final leg back to the finish I simply kept up the exact same cycle of Coke/water at each aid station for the final 6.5 miles. This was the best I have ever felt so late in the race and knew I would be very close to my 'perfect race day' goal of 9:30. The final 13.1 miles took 1:44 (7:56 pace) and I estimate through the course of the marathon I passed somewhere in the vicinity of 100+ athletes.

Run Totals (Time/Pace) = 3:18:01 (7:34 per mile pace)

More important than any of the numbers listed above is that I placed high enough in my age group to earn a slot for the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii '04.

Summary:  All in all, there was very little I would change on the day if given the opportunity. Truthfully I cannot think of a single part of the day that I would approach differently w/ the exception of trying to get in slightly more calories earlier in the bike to alleviate any possible stomach discomfort for the run (although this was minimal). I feel my calorie intake/nutrition was perfect and will just make some minute adjustments before Kona next year. With regards to race preparation/training modifications, I still need to work on my cycling as this continues to be my biggest limiter. I know I can run considerably faster (assuming I can get off the bike feeling as fresh as I did on Saturday), so my goal will be to further increase my cycling speed at that same 145 heart rate. Over the next few months I will review my training logs with my coaching associates and determine what changes need to be made for improvement in '04.

It was enjoyable putting these thoughts down into words as it definitely helped me assess the lead-up and race day itself. As I've mentioned, if you have ANY questions/comments at all, please don't hesitate to shoot me an e-mail as I'd be happy to discuss any of the race day or training prep. Thanks again for your support, see you at The Show in October!!

Brian Shea
www.PersonalBestNutrition.com