SBR Utopia Season II - OPEN (Page 76)

All - thanks for the thoughts on IM.  Believe me that I get that it's well more than a HIM (having run marathons, that is a concept I've lived - used to say the marathon isn't half over until you hit 22 miles).  I was leaning toward the season of HIM racing, with sprints and Oly's sprinkled in for seasoning, and still am.  As for IM not going anywhere, neither am I (in a good way).   

It's a bit like racing a season of HMs and wanting to do the full marry (last winter HMs and this fall's formerly targeted M), so that's likely part of why it's in my head - although respecting the training ramp and building the base was brought home in stark relief by my hamstring (on that note, I ran 0.8miles yesterday and felt good - easy does it, but a good start after the longest layoff from running I've had in a long time… hopefully long enough!).

Chris, x-whatever that Fred is on with his analysis.  As is clear, I haven't done an IM, but from previous running experience (to the extent it translates), he's spot on.  One additional question (if this isn't kicking the horse), and apologies if I missed this, where was your HR on the bike - both average and peaks - compared to the HR you saw on your race simulation training rides?  Just another way to "calibrate" what your PM was showing that day...

FWIW, there is no way I see your race as a failure - and honestly not even as a bad day.  Sure it wasn't what you expected or wanted, but that's racing - especially endurance racing.  There might have been a few things that could have gone better, but you mostly were on-plan and it just didn't come together.  I've had days where things fell perfectly into place and I outdid my expectations, and others where things fell PERFECTLY into place and the times didn't match what I'd hoped for.  It's a bit like any game, that way, in that the good ones keep you coming back and the bad ones keep you thinking/practicing/training and (again just for me) having fun with the process.

Finishing an IM?  You rock.  

Matt

(and Elesa, it's not that I think I couldn't KQ with the right training effort, race, good day, enough slots, right AG field showing up, enough experience, a little luck, etc. - and maybe that's karmicly unwise or ridiculously c0cky to say/admit, in which case I'm sure y'all will point it out - but that I sure wouldn't target that as my goal first time out.  I might want to finish one first!)  

Chris, I am curious, can you share what Shane has to say about what he thinks might have gone south on your race day?  I, like the others, don't see the race as a failure, but I honestly expect you to come to that realization after you have time to process.  But for me, to keep moving after things start to go bad is success in my book.

I am really sorry to hear about the cat, that is never easy.  Having pets myself I totally get it

DIsclaimer - wrote that 3 sheets into the wind, maybe 4.  It's been a tough 12 hours or so. We don't have kids, so the loss o fthe cat is big for us.   I also didn't really mean to imply my performance wasn't much, I am actually fairly proud of it, and more so after these discussions.  I think it means I am doing something right on the bike to be able to ride those watts for that time.  I suppose I meant that if KQ was a goal, or placing high in AG, my advice wasn't necessarily the advice to rely on.  I would rely more on the advice of guys like Fred that have been up there.

At any rate, I do believe that given my time and run experience limitations, I did as much as I could leading into the race, was the lightest and best shape of my life, and generally enjoyed much of the day.   And during the race I tried as hard as I could at any given time (a few rest moments), although it appears I should have ridden slightly harder and run slightly easier at the beginning.

Again, that post was borne mostly of drunken grief, with a splash of reality that my advice comes from a MOP perspective

No offense taken, I need objective viewpoints a I can get quite subjective about it (obviously).  I am going to in another post collate a few training rides to look at numbers and will post. 

So, here's the text of an email I sent to Shane a couple weeks out:

"Swim - Figure I'll be about an hour.  Would like to be under, but just going to swim comfortably.  I will gain a bit from taper and draft, but lose a bit in fresh water.  Goal would be sub hour but anywhere in that range

Bike - I've been getting reports that the bike is pretty hard.  I thought maybe I could do 5:30, but now thinking 6 ish.  My lan is basically "no heroic efforts" until mile 13 of the run, so goal for the bike will be making the last 15 or so mile climb bck to T2 as easy as possible.

Run - My MAZ run was 5:35, but that was a lifetime ago.  I'd like to think I could go 4:30, which gets me around 11:30 ish if all goes well.  Of course, if it's warm or hot, all bets are off.  I just really don't know how well I can do a 26.2, as anything beyond 16-17 will e virgin territory."

So, for swim, spot on goal time

For bike, spot on goal time

We didn't set a goal NP or IF of TSS, but merely goal NPs based on territory.  Based on training rides yes, I would think that the goal NP would be in the 205-210 range.  Earlier in the ride I was not chasing a certain power number, but unfortunately fond myself riding slightly over what was planned simply due to race day nerves/excitement,unfamiliarity with the course (rollers were bigger than I anticipated).  But even with that, my NP for laps 1-3 was spot on, it wasn't until about 2.5 hours in that it started getting squirrelly.

Re testing - I agree the 20/5 CT testing protocol is a theoretical, and an hour is better.   But the protocol is more palatable and is repeatable, living in suburban LA finding a place to ride an hour is basically impossible.   Progression this year on same testing, same bike, same conditions, was Jan 277, May 294, July 303.  All trainer rides (2 x 20s etc) based on this as well as longer ride.  The numbers *seemed* to bear out in training.  Testing guides training, training guides racing, but something got lost in there.   In the flat sections my RPE told me I was pushing 190+.  The PM told me something different.

The run start was definitely a problem, especially if Marc' s normalized sub 9 pace is accurate.  I've no business running that.  I think it was also drier than I realized.  Shane and I have been discussing this, and I asked my wife who saw me at miles 2 and 13 or so.  I sweat heavily in 60 degree weather at home even on 4-5 mile runs.  She said I was not as wet as she would have expected.   SO while it was not dry as in IMAZ or high sierras dry, it was definitely drier than expected, and I believe i simply did not realize it and take that into account coming off the bike. 

It's funny, doing all this analysis makes me want to go back to "fix" that, but the day is so long, so much can happen, getting there uninjured is not guaranteed, so much can go wrong that even if you plug the known hole in the dyke, another one opens up somewhere else.  THe guys at the pointy end are able to put ll the training together and then on top of that have a god day with no missteps, or they handle the missteps well.

I really do appreciate all the discussion and feedback here, it's been invaluable and I'll be able to take this information and use it in the future.

Yeah, hope so.  

Marc seems to be moving along nicely through 3.2 miles of the run.

Rats, I was coming here for information about that. Nothing on his FB page either

But YAY MARC!

Phew. I mean, not good, but definitely not bad, considering.

Bryan Dunn

32 minutes ago ·

And I crashed. Climbing a hill, eating a bar, a rider movers right and I wasn't looking. We touched and both went down. Scraps and blood, but I could have continued but my pedal was broken. Day over. But I am fine.

Glad to hear Bryan is mostly ok.

Marc is in with a 5:25 which is 2 mins faster than 2011 but his run was almost 8 mins faster.  It is 32 mins slower than his MT time, that must be one brutal course/conditions!  Great job Marc!

I successfully stalked him on the tracker :)

What's the approved protocol here--is it cool or not cool to post someone else's race stats? 

For some reason, I feel uncomfortable doing that.

I seem to be ok with it.  

 I'm just so new to all of this, I didn't want to be the new kid stepping outta line:)

Are any of you following IMOO today?

Can anyone give me a little perspective on the bike splits? Pros coming in ~5:30.  Is that just the course, the wind (E12mph), combo?  Low 70s today.