Memories of a tough day IMCDA 2006

Bob Morris
47 year old from Boise, ID region.
I took Bob on last season on a recommendation from another athlete, and happy I did. I have never met Bob, but in coaching, after awhile, you've feel like you know someone.
I am now coaching athletes from 9 different states, and it's good to know the diversity out there....as well as the similarities when in comes to misperceptions on training for endurance racing.
Some of Bob's races in his first coached season:

Snake River Canyon 1/2 Marathon, 2008: 1:22:16, 1st in age group

Boise Ironman70.3, 2008
Personal Best at the Half Ironman distance of 4:56, good enough for a 4th M45 AG podium spot and qualifier for Clearwater World Championships

Clearwater 70.3 World Championships 2008
Swim: 29:17
Bike: 2:28 (PR)
Run: 1:31
Overall: 4:34, a personal best by 22 minutes.

A run of 1:31 at age 47 is quite impressive. Whoa...and a 1:22 open half marathon!
Overall Bob, I know you had a bad race or two in 2008, but a great season overall and always good to finish it off with another Personal Best.

Bob is racing IMCDA in June, and coming off a productive season, will be right up there in his age group. Train wise and get strong!

IMCDA
I decided to look back on a blog I wrote for IMCDA back in 2006, that seems like so long ago to me. Well, its long, but these were my thoughts after the race.

CDA 06
The good: Kona third consecutive, I am pretty damn lucky. Podium 2nd straight. Thats just guts.
The bad: Temps hit triple digits. Felt like kona, only hotter. One of the highest drop out rates of any Ironman other than Wisconsin in 2005.
The ugly: Not a good idea to start and IM on a nagging injury.
What the hell, my parents, sister, best friend from high school all flew out to watch. I had to start. I had to finish for Ann. I want to be holding her hand treading water in Kona in October.

Some stats:
4800 ft of climbing on the bike. Still the same course with mulitple switch backs on the downhill and 90 degree turns at the bottom of most of the hills. Too many to count slow 90 degree turns on the flats.
Temps: 60's at the start, high 80's by the 70 mile mark on the bike, 97-100 at 4pm depending what part of the course you were on.
Wind: Negatively affected everyone. Wing out of the NE is the worst case condition for CDA. You are with the wind through the heavely wooded trees on the hills, and get no benefit. Then the 12 mile stretch along the highway and back to town it is wide open and exposed. We had 15 with 20 mph gusts for the first 12 mile span, 10-15 mph on the second loop.

This was the first IM I have attempted while injured, and it went as well as I could have hoped considering. I felt strong going into the race, except hamstring twinging as I walked around. Right quad still sore to touch at the start.

Start: 7am, already in the 60's. Record mass start, I think just under 2300
panic attack insued after 4-5 contiguous mouthfulls of water. When I let up to breast stroke, another mouth full as I was taking a big breath, then people swimming over me. I thought "you gotta be kidding, I am going to drop at the start". That was a split second thought, then I told myself to take control, calm down, just get out of the way. I breast stroked about 10-15 yards wide for about a minute, slowly caught my breath, then started swimming. I kept it wide, by myself the entire race. PR'd at 106 with a neg. split second half.

T1: PR, no problems. The tape straps on the aero helmet saved some hassel and time. Foot powder in socks allowed for extremely easy slip on.

Bike: Very crowded for about 2 miles. Ave speed around 16. By mile 20 I was up over 23. Hamstring was tight from the first 5 miles or so, but stable. Just like in my workouts. Hills were no problem for me. I dropped my ave to 22.8 going into the head wind. Then dropped speed to 18-20 for 40 minutes to stay within 5 beats into zone 2 through the wind. By the time I got to special needs at mile 62, my speed ave was back up to 22.5, which didnt matter because my hamstring was pulling tighter and tighter. I had decided to pull back and shoot for around a 5:15 so I could hopefully finish the marathon. I was worried at this point, so at mile 70 in the second set of hills, I pulled back, coasting and stretching on every single downhill. I dropped my pace to something in the 20's which dropped my ave down to mid 21's. I was happy with this because even though my leg felt painful, it was stable. The rest of my body was ready to race, and I am certain a sub 5 hour would have been on this day, but that's life. You take it like it is, adjust your goals if you have to. My Quad? I never remember thinking about it once I got racing.

As the temps climbed to 90 my entire head and face became very hot. Major problem with Aero helmet is no ventilation. I mean major problem. I was spraying water on my face at every station to try to cool off. I will take it to kona, but doubt I will wear it. Heat dissipation from your head is a primary source for cooling your core in hot weather. The bike geeks that create these great accessories arent concerned with minor details like that. I am sure its great in a wind tunnel and a 25K though. Urinated 5 times on the first loop, 3 on the second. Never got out of aero position during this...I have this one down.

T2: On PR pace but I took 30 seconds to stretch my leg out on the grass. I was worried just jogging into the tent. Quad felt ok considering the pain at the start, I was pretty happy with that.
Came out of T2 with around a 5 minute PR. Pretty happy considering the big slow down the final 40 miles

Run: Tried to run 7:30's for the first 4 miles to "test" the leg. Failed the test. Leg just got tighter and tighter. I calculated quickly in my head that if I could hold onto 8 min pace I would probably get a podium slot. I slowed to 8's, held for about 4 more miles and the pain returned but a little worse. Slowed to 8:30 and figured if I held I would be around 10 hours or so, and that should get the kona slot, but no podium. My only goal at this point was to get to kona to start with Ann. This is the single reason I stayed in this race. I knew I would not be ready for Canada if I didnt get a slot here, as my leg would take 2-3 weeks to heal after this one.
I was dumping ice down the back of my shorts, and water over my head by mile 6. This is the first time I urinated while running. I am pretty sure it was the cup-fulls of ice on the perineum from dumping it down my shorts. I will talk to a nephrologist about this next week. I urinated 4 times on the run.
Now the temps are around 95 at my mile 12. I start to bonk mentally, physically, spiritually, ect. I thought, "not another kona 04". Then just talked myself down and told myself it was ok. I just slowed down and ran 3 Ten minute miles. Took an expresso GU at mile 13 and my drink at 15. Took a drink of chicken broth at mile 13. Took a full glass of water at each. Then resumed my routine.

By mile 16 I was running 8:30 min miles again. Leg hurt but I figured I needed to get to mile 22 so I could be in the positon to pass all those dying in my age group the final 4 miles.
I saw Ann at mile 17, I think she was at 10. She looked great the first time I saw her. I was coming back from the 6 mile mark and she was at mile 2. Only 4 miles behind me. She yelled "will you be upset if I dropped" I yelled back "drop, you're already in Kona, this is not the day". Then I repeated that to make sure she heard me. A group I was passing as I yelled this said "she is already in kona? What the hell is she doing out here!" Our goals for Ann were to PR, not to beat yourself up and end up with a 2 month recovery just to get a podium slot. She's already been there, and its not a big deal. A PR in kona is extremely unlikely, but you still have to be able to train just to run within 30-60 min. of your PR there. I found out later her hamstring and calf were hurting... she made the right decision. This is just part of her evolution as a very young, second season athlete. Its very hard mentally, but you have to have the discipline to know when to stop. Most dont have this, and most dont have this when training unfortunately. I think I have some handle on it but I am not perfect. It took me 15 years to understand this concept, and out of around 25 marathons, I have dropped 3...its tough. I dropped out of the Wineglass marathon at mile 21 when I was in 3rd overall back in 1995, I know how tough it is. Then came back to finish 18 at mens marathon nationals a few months later. She'll be OK...even though we found out later she was 2nd in her AG when she dropped and was gaining room on 3rd.

All I thought about from mile 16-22 was "get to 22...just get to 22". When I got there, I "took off". This is more of a mental thing. I took off, meaning I held pace as I was passing everyone walking. And I mean almost everyone. It made me think how many people changed their race day stategy because of the heat. Newby-Fraser's response when someone asked her in the pre-race meeting about soduim? She said she took 2 caps of sodium every other mile on the run in a race once, and temps were in the 60's. What the hell is she talking about...taking a concentrated solution only delays absorption of carbs if the osmolality becomes too high (over 300). Thus you have to pump water into your bowel to dilute the solution, which can further dehydrate you. If its hot, taking more salts doesnt lead to increased absorption. In fact, taking too much sodium is much worse then taking too little. Coaches should know this, world class athletes should know this. I wonder how many people bonked, and took way too much sodium because it was hotter than usual. Its a bonking cycle. Your kidneys sense high salt in the blood they then preferably reabsorb water and excrete the sodium, and then you stop urinating.

Anyway, when I came across those in my age group the final 10K, I asked in a friendly way "it this your second loop?" to every 40-44 yr old I passed. If they said yes, I would reply "just bring it home man, its almost over". I passed 14 on their second loop in my age group in the final 4 miles. 8 of them in the final 2 miles. Either walking or running 12 min pace.

As I knew at the 12 mile mark. The kona slot would be taken in the final 4-6 miles of the race. I knew this because I saw people on their second lap walking already, those that kicked my butt in the swim and bike. I saw 4 guys walking at the 23 mile mark when I was at 18, 5 miles behind them, and I caught them at mile 25. All 4 were in my age group. The kona slot is either taken in those final miles, or you have to be strong enough to hold your slot and maintain pace in those final miles.

Thats what it will come down to. If you have a shot at a slot, never give up. Always adjust if you have to so you are ready for that final 10K. If you are bonking, you have to know, and catch it early, and slow way down and fix the problem. Get yourself ready to run that final 10K. This is the only part of the race that's reality.

Number 5 for me in 2 years. It doesnt get any easier. If Kona is a good day, I will hammer. If not, I wont. Figuring out what a "good day" is at Kona is the key. This is what I will teach Ann this summer.

So, yeah my blog that day was long, and I cut a couple parts out to not totally bore you! It's important to jot down thoughts soon after a race, your mind is in a state of flux then, and its a good time to get things off your mind. Ann...yeah, it was this year, 2006 in her first Kona event she ran 3:28 Marathon split. Its good she dropped CDA that year. I remember she was running her next 18 mile long run about 10 days after she dropped CDA. She became stronger than ever in the run a month or so later...this is how she broke 3:30 in the marathon...at Kona.

-ciaverella