Ironman Louisville Report: Fred S

Leading up to this race, I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I would be for such an event.  This was in fact my 2^nd full IM, in the last 12 months.  It was definitely a different feeling altogether without my family and such a large group of training partners participating in this race.  And, after having come back from a broken neck last year to race IM Florida, this was a chance to go hard and fast and uh, qualify for Kona?  J 

Expectations were tapered however, when I severely sprained an ankle 6 weeks out from the race and had to take 4 weeks off of running completely, easing back into it when I returned.  In addition, I couldn’t seem to get my nutrition dialed in over the past 2 months and had switched from Skratch Labs to Cliff Bars, Uncrustables, and Gatorade with CarboPro.  This seemed to be working better, and I’ve only had GI issues in one race, and that was St. Anthony’s in 2010.   All in all, however, I felt very optimistic for a good race at Louisville.  The weather had cooled in recent weeks, and I had spent a good time on some long rides and swims.

Fellow team member and 4-time full Ironman finisher, Rob Truckenmiller and I set out for Louisville on Thursday afternoon.  During the lengthy and delayed by a torrential downpour drive, we had already encountered a couple of “interesting” folks on the roads.  The experience was already creating memories.  That day was Rob’s Birthday so we decided to head out and enjoy the downtown area.  We were fortunate to meet some Amy Layo and John Southey from Atlanta and had a great evening at a couple of the local establishments, Ri Ra and Gameroom?

I had originally booked a room at the Sheraton for the 4 nights, but we decided to move to the Hampton Inn and be closer to 4^th Street the next morning.  Good choice, and I highly recommend staying at The Galt House, Marriott, Hilton, or the Hampton for ease of access to everything.  From there we were able to walk over to the registration and expo at the Galt House and stand in the hour long line to get registered, and then on to the 30-minute line at the Ironman Store.  Luckily, we were able to get time on the massage table to loosen up the muscles and reduce the swelling in the ankle.  That night, we took it easy and grabbed a terrific burger at a place called Sidebar at Whiskey Row, and were in bed by 10pm.

Saturday morning we got up at 7:30 and headed off to the swim practice.  The swim lasted 10 minutes and there was indeed a current.  I need all the help I can get in the swim, so this was very refreshing…pun intended, provided that I could use it to my advantage.  After the swim, we headed out for a 45-minute pre-race brick to prime the legs.  I was starting to feel the nerves at this point and the heat was cranking up.  So much for the cooler temperatures!  We went back to the Galt House to get a few more things for the race, including pre done tubes with extenders.  Then it was off to finish packing the transition and special needs bags and to bike drop.  My pre-race meal is typically pizza and so we decided to play it low-key and order a couple of large pies from Papa Johns and eat in the lobby area of the hotel, while watching some football.  It was lights out at 9:30, but since I don’t typically go to bed until 12:30, I tossed and turned while Truck snored.  I checked the alarm over and over, I read a number of pages in a book, and I finally drifted off around midnight.  UGH!

RACE MORNING:

We were up and going at 4:30am.  Even before 5am, the Hampton Inn had the necessary ingredients necessary to make my Peanut Butter, Banana, and Honey sandwich.  It tasted great and it was off to transition to set up nutrition and the bike.  After spending a little over 20 minutes waiting in line to get some air for the Zipps and setting up the bike, Truck and I walked the mile to the swim start.  We hooked up with some folks we knew in line and it waited with nervous energy.  It was nice to see the Dynamo gang at the start, including my swim coach, Maria Thrash.

SWIM:

We only had to wait about 5 minutes after the gun to jump into the water.  You start the swim with a ½ mile upstream crawl in traffic around an island out into the main portion of the river before, turning at the buoy and heading downstream.  My goal for the swim was to go out smooth and controlled and set myself up for a good day.  I had projected 1:15 for the swim.  It was tough sledding in the first 1800 meters and I had to stop a couple of times to relieve myself.  This isn’t usually a problem for me, but for some reason I had to completely stop in order to handle the business.  I didn’t really press myself too much and swam a little too wide into the middle of the river (2.6 vs. 2.4 miles), but overall I felt comfortable coming out of the water.

BIKE:

The transition took some time as I was trying to warm up the ankle and get changed into my bib shorts and tri-top.  I try to opt for comfort and the extra minute or two isn’t a problem for me.  Once I changed, lubed up, had the volunteers coat me in sunscreen, it was off on the bike I went.  Coach wanted me to maintain 185 watts for the ride and advised me not to start off to fast. 

Part of the problem with being a slow swimmer is the traffic that forms ahead on the bike course.  This was a great course with rolling hills and some great scenery.  Since I put the time in the saddle during training I started to pick people off one by one, without really working that hard.  About the time of the second loop heading into LaGrange, it got to be hot, my feet were rubbing in the shoes, and I had dropped a couple of Cliff Bars.  There is great fan support and I refocused my efforts, catching up to Truckenmiller.  We rode together for a while; I dropped him around mile 80, picking up Jeff Caplan for a little bit.  Having these guys around helped with some of the monotony of the bike, and eventually from mile 90 to the homestretch I lost both of them and was alone for a deserted stretch.  Unfortunately, I had eaten my Uncrutstable and dropped 2 Cliff Bars, so I needed to take some nutrition off the course.  I had used Perform in the past so I drank a bottle and a couple of GUs.  I did a great job of drinking a bottle of water every hour to stay hydrated.  They seemed to be ok…for now.  I eased off the throttle a little bit as well the last 10 miles and really spun out the legs, priming them for the run.  My goal for the course was 6:00 and I did an easy 5:42. 

RUN:

I spent a long time in transition (11 minutes) as I changed into my tri kit and had to wrap the ankle with tape.  After I was ready to go with my shoes all tied, I realized I had forgotten to put on my ankle sleeve…so I had to start over.  I had good energy coming out of transition and felt I could do an easy sub 4 hour run.  The first 4 miles I ran on adrenaline and averaged an 8:00 mile pace.  Then I hit the wall and felt the heat.  Because of the ankle my run conditioning wasn’t where I wanted it to be, and there was a bit of nagging soreness as I lumbered on.  I ended up doing the first loop in a little over 2 hours.  The crowd was awesome and when I picked up my gummy bears at Special Needs, I felt revived.  I ran pretty well until mile 15 and then started cramping…and the death march began.  I couldn’t take in enough liquids to stay hydrated – honestly I didn’t have a good plan for the run not having done but one long run leading up to the race.  I did the Ironman shuffle until mile 19 where I caught up to Truck, who had passed me a little before.  He was feeling the effects of the 90 plus temps and no shade as well and we struggled together until mile 23.  I then realized that I could still do a sub 12 hour Ironman if I could finish the last 5k in under 25 minutes.   So I mustered up the determination to start a sub 8:00 pace again, and I somehow finished in 11:57.  I got my medal and they set me down on the folding chairs immediately.  I didn’t even get a Finisher Picture before I headed straight to the Med tent to take in 2 IVs.  I was overheated and in bad shape, but the medical staff and volunteers were incredible and within an hour, I was ready to go.

Xterra US Championships

XTERRA USA Championship/Race Report(12^th AG)

Snowbasin, Utah – September 21, 2013

Swim - 38:15/Bike - 1:47:26/Run - 55:54/OA - 3:24:17 12th of 39 Qualifiers in AG

QUICK STATS…

Swim course distance: 1,500-meters(0.93 miles)* ACTUAL Distance: 2,400-Meters(1.5 miles)!
Elevation at swim start: 4,900-feet
Water temperature: Officially 60 Degrees, but Felt Much Warmer!

Air Temperature:  Start 40 Degrees/Finish 85 Degrees
Mountain bike course distance: 18 miles(point to point)
Total climbing on bike: 3,400-feet
Elevation at highest point: 7,300-feet

Elevation at T2/Snowbasin Resort Lodge: 6,400-feet
Trail Run course distance:  6.45 miles
Total climbing on run: 700-feet
Total climbing on course: 4,100-feet

This was my 3^rd year qualifying & racing at Xterra Nationals.  It is my favorite race to do because of the stunning scenery & challenging terrain of Northern Utah’s Wasatch Mountains.  It has also been my “A” race for the last 2 seasons & this year it would be a great benchmark of where my fitness is at heading into Xterra Worlds next month in Maui.   In 2011, I raced this course in 3:31 & in 2012, I dropped my time down to 3:17.  Based on where my fitness has progressed to this year, I had a goal of sub 3:10 “IF ALL THINGS ARE EXACTLY EQUAL” to last year.   However, starting with the Swim, they certainly were not!

Swim – Being at elevation, I did not go out too aggressive or aggressively pursue feet to draft off of. But rather built into my race pace & raced my own race.  I felt really good throughout this full contact swim, though it seemed like it took forever!  Spotting was nearly impossible because the buoy was toppled over, directly in the sun, & drifting out to sea(really!)!  I really knew something was up when my 30 minute alert went off on my Garmin & I still had another buoy to round!  Based on my OW training swims, I had expected to be out of T1 & on my bike by that time!  My GPS registered 1.5 miles on the swim!  Also, with the buoy toppled & sighting difficult, I am sure that I did some bonus yardage in addition to the extra long course. Physically, I had a decent swim, but probably not a good technical one. Almost no drafting & poor sighting.  However, much of the field had these same issues.  Split was way slower than last year, though if the course had been the same, I am sure that I would have picked up time here over last year.  My GPS showed that I swam at a 24:28 minute mile pace this year, while swimming at a 28:28 minute mile last year.  I also felt much better in the swim this year.  I tried to ignore the fact that extra long swim course was going to throw my goal time out the window & did not look at my watch again for the entire race! 

Bike – This is a point to point course with 3400’ of climbing!  It starts at the lake & ends at the Snowbasin Ski Resort.  Since it’s point to point, you only get 1500’ of that climb back in 2 short downhills.  So about 14 miles of climbing w/about 4 miles of downhill! 

I built into the bike over the first 20 minutes climbing up Wheeler Canyon, then really picked up pace.  Legs felt strong & I had a good rhythm on the bike while passing several folks.  By the time that I got up to Sardine Peak trail & the meat of the 3100 feet of climbing, I was riding with a fast group of riders & I pushed even harder(too hard?) to stay with them knowing that there was a nice recovery coming up w/the 2.5 mile downhill going into T2.  I felt like my bike was much stronger than last year & I certainly pushed it harder. Results did show a 2.5 minute improvement on my bike split over last year.  

Run – Off the bike and running up that 1^st monster hill is always the hardest part of this race for me.  You basically run out of T2 & start with a ½ mile climb directly up a Black Diamond Ski Slope!  My quads were tight & threatened to cramp, but once up the main climb, I got a little rhythm back, but my legs just felt like lead. I didn’t feel that winded, but my legs were just heavy & not turning over fast. I struggled on the run much more than last year & my split showed that with a drop off of almost 2 minutes.  My run fitness is certainly better than last year, but it just wasn’t there off the bike in this race.  I am learning that balancing a race & being at peak for race day is not an exact science!

I certainly left everything out on the course & was more physically drained after this race than any other that I have done to date. It certainly felt that I used every ounce of fitness that I had in me.  Initially after the race, I was a bit bummed about my performance.  I knew the swim was much longer, my bike showed only a slight improvement, & my run was off.  However, my Super Coach, “The Professor” Bruce Erskine who never sugarcoats anything made me feel much better about it after carefully analyzing the results.  First, he pointed out that my swim pace was a full 4 minutes faster than last year!  My  bike was 2.5min faster (so far 6.5min faster), and my run was 1:48 slower …so basically I shaved OVER 4.5min off from last year’s race!   Still not the sub 3:10 that I wanted, but considering that most everyone’s run was also slower & that the majority of the Pros were 6 -15 minutes slower than last year, my time of 3:24 compared to 3:17 last year was not so bad.  Still, I would have liked to have been able to finish my run strong to call this a great race!  Not sure why I couldn’t, but the much longer swim, hotter temperatures, windy conditions, & hitting the bike more aggressive all probably played some roll in that?

Next up, XTERRA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS!  Maui, Hawaii| Sunday, October 27, 2013

Big Boss Watts!

Short story: Great showing for the All3sports team, TriCoachGeorgia, and everyone for the most part! Chuck and his crew put on another great race and there were lots of smiles and good results. There was no rain like last year. I banged out 1ag which put me in for 3rd Masters. I missed 2nd by a :12 margin and Andrew D. crushed another top slot masters like he did at Mistletoe. Well done everyone!

The swim was hot, long (for me) and non-wetsuit 2 loops lake swim and I tried to grab feet and swim relaxed which may have helped me lower time from last year by about 2:00 but continues to show my weakness and put me in the hole a bit. Wish I could swim more at Dynamo!

T1 was a bit of a cockup with trying to snap helmet but otherwise uneventful. Off I went transformed into Slayer again.

On this rolling hot course, my bike was less power than I was shooting for but that wasn't a bad thing. 315 watts was the goal and I had difficulty keeping 305w. Strangely enough this resulted in a 2:00 faster bike than last year. Probably a top 2 bike overall. I attribute this improvement to my visit to wind tunnel and a winter of bike with a bad running foot.

T2 was pretty quickish. Off I went to chase #2 masters.

The run was a bit slow for me (down :20 from last year) but probably where I am at now. I was kind of disappointed in myself for not holding #2 Masters off when I passed him but I think I am lacking confidence in my run, the heat played a big role, and I lack training time at or above threshold this year. On the whole, you really can't complain with 1AG in a tough AG with my weight a bit higher than last year.

After the race we all hung out in the million degrees and har dee har har'd together. We got a good photo and talked about the current and next races. Off to Augusta 70.3 at the end of September and then IM Arizona!

Jeff Caplan of All3sports and an IM Louisville Race Report

Race Report Jeff Caplan Ironman Louisville, 8/25/13

A little context for my race at IMLOU:

1) This was my 17th Ironman and third time doing IMLOU. My first IM was Florida in 2002, and I had an Ironman retirement party right after the race. I remember crossing the line and saying to myself “no how, no way – there ain’t gonna be a rematch.” Funny enough, I found that I loved the training and just kept on doing it even though I did shorter races in 2003. My wife Lucye said that if I was doing all that training that I might as well do the races. I did IM Wisconsin in 2004 and things went from there.

2) My main reasons for doing all these Ironmans have always been the same – I love the people, I love the lifestyle, and I love the challenge of the sport. I’ll keep doing it as long as it stays fun and I stay healthy.

3) I can’t say that I’ve ever really had a great race at IMLOU. The swim and the bike usually go ok, but I don’t run well in hot weather and LOU tends to be a meltdown. I keep coming back because I love the course, the town, and all the support from the people there. Plus one of my favorite restaurants is in LOU – Taco Punk!

IMLOU is a Sunday race, and I got up there on Thursday. The downtown LOU area is great – everything is so close by, and it’s really easy to get around. I was able to go to the expo, check in, and also go for a nice four mile run. It was already pretty warm and humid on Thursday so I started to really pound the hydration. Thursday night I got my transition bags together so that I could leave myself as much free time as possible over the next couple of days. On Friday, I went for a ride and run with friends and then drove the bike course. Even though it’s been the same bike course the last few years, it’s always good to get a reminder of all the hills. IMLOU doesn’t have some of the longer sustained climbs that you get in Lake Placid or Coeur d’Alene, but the rollers are just non-stop. Friday afternoon I hung out with my buddies Jack Spartz and Bill Hague before grabbing a bite to eat and hitting the Athlete Meeting. I usually try to attend the meeting because there are almost always some facts or insights you pick up that you didn’t know. This year, it was that they would pull the chips of anyone caught using the pre-race swim area for a nature break. Bummer. Not that I've ever done that. Really.

Saturday was a pretty quiet day as I met my friends Michael, Janice and Larry for a swim, chilled out at the hotel, and checked my bike. This was the best I’ve ever done at staying off my feet prior to the race. Turns out I’d kind of need that on Sunday ;-)

On race morning I got to transition when it opened, got my bike and gear set up, and then headed over to the swim start. IMLOU is a little unusual in that you have about a mile walk to the swim start and then line up prior to entering the water two-by-two. The good news is that the start tends to be less of a beating than other races, and they get everyone in pretty quickly. I felt really comfortable in the water – IMLOU is a non-wetsuit race due to the water temps, and I quickly got into a good rhythm. We swim upstream for a bit and then turn around and head downstream. Usually the river is dam controlled, but someone must have left the dam open that morning because the times were smokin’! I wound up with a swim time 4 minutes faster than any wetsuit IM swim I’ve done and 14 minutes faster than last year. I was ok with that. On the bike, my game plan was to ride steady watts the first half and take it up a bit higher in the second if I felt good. It was a lot of fun to see both Rob Truckenmiller and Fred Soller from the all3sports.com team when I was out there – we passed each other a few times, and all finished the bike in similar times. I hit my watts plan and was solid on nutrition, but the temps really started to climb in the second half of the bike. I was starting to feel somewhat barbequed by the time we got to T2, and really took some time to cool down. When I got on the run, I was definitely having trouble keeping my temperature down. I really don’t run well in hot weather at all, and we were in the 90’s but that point. I ran the first 10 or 11 miles and then walked the rest of the first half of the course with some periodic running the second half. I had a chance to walk and talk for a bit with one of my other all3sports teammates, Melissa Early – being part of team really makes a big difference for endurance races. I also saw a number of other friends out there. Some of them had amazing days, some had slower days, but all were moving with smiles. By the time I got up to mile 19 or 20, the air temp was starting to come down and I ran it in from there. IMLOU has a great finish on Fourth Street, and it’s really magical when you turn the corner, see the lights, and hear everyone being called in across the line. While my finish time was about an hour off my goal, EVERYONE is happy when they cross that Ironman finish line and get that medal around their neck!

As always, a huge thanks to everyone at all3sports for everything – I tend to have a lot of adventures with gear, and they are always great about saving me from myself as well as making sure their athletes have the best of everything. . . . And I did get Taco Punk the day after the race!