Summary
Ironman Boulder marks the fourth time I raced the venue and my 16th Ironman start. I achieved 3 of 4 of the goals I had set prior to the race. But I remain hungry for and convinced I can achieve the 4th -- I still want to go sub-9. Approaching 50-years of age, this achievement would be remarkable. I am most proud of staying in the moment and "respecting my edge" all day long. While the ride was the highlight of the race, I probably "over-biked", which cost me about 5-minutes overall. Also, because I did not ride as steady as planned I left about 8-minutes on the table. The bike was the 9th fastest overall, including the male pros. While the run was "slow", it was still the 27th fastest run overall, including pros and nearly 20-minutes faster than the next in the age-group.I am so thankful for the health I have that allowed me even to train. And also thankful for the support from my fiends and family that make this all possible.
Race Prep
The full race prep is in the post. However, to summarize:- I first focused on Swim volume and peaked that volume New Years Day with a 10k swim. I maintained 2-3 sessions per week with the masters group at the Y, along with 1-2 more on my own per week
- Starting in January, I then ramped the run -- both intensity and distance. I peaked in March and maintained that level until June
- Early-season bike and run training was marked by high-intensity work every day, except the log-run day (Sunday)
- I did not start doing Ironman-specific bike sessions until ~5-weeks out of the race
Final Race Prep
With regard to final tuning prep, I used nearly every technique that I've used in the past. It might have been too much because I felt HORRIBLE Thursday, Friday before the race, which is not a settling feeling! Here's a recap of the techniques I used:- Heat training -- Leading into the weather had been very mild, but I wanted to be prepared for a hot race day. (Mother Nature did not disappoint!) I started about 10-days out and was only able to log 3x run sessions where it was "warm" (not hot) where I was able to add additional layers and simulate high heat indices. Regardless, I was able to elevate the sweat-rate in these sessions to where I could lose 5-pounds of water per hour. In addition, I added NIR sauna sessions (~40-minutes @ 140*F) after normal workouts 3-5 times
- Creatinine & Ribose -- Before TX70.3 & St George, I loaded with Creatinin and Ribose. In both of those races, I felt like a rock star. So, I replicated the protocol, which was simply taking ~5-grams of Creatinine and ~5-grams of Ribose twice daily for 7-days before the race
- Gluten & dairy-free (mostly) week before -- Unlike 2016 where I was Paleo + gluten & dairy-free for months, I decided to cut out these substances for the week prior to IMB. I was generally successful, but had a few breaches of small amounts. In hindsight, I am not sure I noticed much of a difference
- Carb-restriction then reload -- This protocol is likely the source of feeling so poor the few days before the race. I've used this technique since 2007 with good success. It involves cutting net carbs to the lowest level possible for 5-days (Sunday through Thursday) and then carb-loading for 2-days (Friday & Saturday). During this time, I typically lose significant weight. This time, I went from ~162-pounds to 157-pounds
- Taper: I've been noticing a trend in races where I've done well where there is symmetry about zero of the Training Stress Balance (TSB) the day of and day after the race. For example, for IM-Boulder I hit a TSB of about +30 the day of the race and about -30 the day after. Of course, the individual bike & run TSB's are also symmetric about zero as well
Race Recap
Prior to the race, I published a post that included the split estimates & race plan. That plan was revised the day before the race after conferring with Rob Gray on the strategy of pushing the bike on a hot day, knowing the run will be slower due to the heat.
We arrived, found parking pretty quickly, and I was able to use a secret bathroom (thanks Chris!). After dropping the special needs bags, we were on the shuttle within minutes. We arrived at the reservoir at 510am, 10-minutes earlier than plan.
I first got the bike all prepped and went to put the Garmin in my run bag. However, to my dismay, the run bag was not to be found! Wow, what a way to derail a perfectly-planned race -- NO SHOES! After looking around a few times, I got some help. The lead volunteer (Meg?) told me they would find it while I was out on the swim & bike. While that was a nice gesture, I was not so willing to allow all of this prep, planning, and excitement to race to go down the drain. I started brainstorming with Chris what we could do. The working plan was to have Christine call my mom to get earlier child care, so Christine could come earlier than planned -- all the way to the res -- with a backup bag. Once that plan was established, I focused on getting ready for the swim start, which was getting pretty close.
The cannon boomed and the herd started moving slowly to the water. They were letting about 2-4 people go at a time and it looked pretty clear. Once I got to the water, I quickly dove-in and started swimming. My initial focus was on establishing a regular and relaxed breathing pattern. Fortunately, the throttling of athletes into the water allowed me to get into a rhythm very quickly.
The plan was to swim steady along the first stretch and pick-up the pace after the first turn. The swim was completely open, with essentially NO contact during the entire swim! During the swim, I was in extreme passing mode. There was one person who looked like a good draft, but they were just a bit too fast so I let them go. Thus, I swam solo the entire time. I probably passed 200 people during the swim, which correlates with my overall placing out of the water of 103rd (including the pros, who probably all swam faster than I).
I was riding as planned, taking in calories and water on the descents. At the bottom of Hygiene, I saw Rob Gray near the turn-around and he offered me some good encouragement. After accumulating enough fluids, I was able to pee @ mile 50. Most of us know that it's critical to be able to pee on the bike at least once. This was an early pee, so I knew I needed to stay on top of the hydration. This high sweat rate is evident on my tri-suit in the image below.
During the first loop, I was picking off riders and the field was getting pretty thin. As I got to the 63rd turn, the road was taped with three options. Really?! I need to be able to be lucid and make good decisions during the Ironman!? The section of the course here was definitely a bit confusing and I suspect a lot of people made the wrong, early turn onto 63rd. Fortunately, I made the correct choice and continued on, south toward 55th for another loop on Diagonal. As I started started the second loop, I allowed myself to calm a bit more, in fact allowing the watts to drop a bit. This was not fatigue, but rather a conscious decision to ride a little more conservatively knowing I had pushed pretty hard on the first loop. In hindsight, I really did ride the bike based on feel and sort of "consulted" the power meter, rather than racing per the plan.
During the second descent on Nelson I came upon a rider in a familiar-looking kit. It was Silvio Guerra! I could not understand how I was passing Silvio at this point. I figured he must have run into a problem during the swim (panic attack) or the bike (serious mechanical) and he was on his first loop. I learned later that Silvio was one of the poor folks who made that early turn at the confusing section at 63rd. (After realizing the error, he completed the missing section after his second loop, but was unfortunately disqualified after finishing the entire race.)
The heat was rising as the day progressed. Also, the wind picked-up noticeably on the second loop. And, it was a sort of cruel wind -- hot and in your face during the climbs up St Vrain and Hygiene roads. I stayed aero as much as I could, knowing that this weather presented an opportunity to net a faster time. (It's faster to have a headwind on the uphill and tailwind on the faster descent.)
As is said, "hindsight is 20-20". However, after doing enough postmortems, hopefully some learning occurs! The chart above shows in red the power plan, which was based on BestBikeSplit's 200+ intervals for the race. I simplified that power plan to be usable during the race. The blue is my actual power. In purple is the accumulated difference in Watts, which should be a flat line about zero -- indicating a well executed plan. One can appreciate the larger variation in power between the plan (red) and the actual (blue) power. Upon closer inspection, it looks like most of that variation is below the red line, which is time riding below the plan, likely at higher speeds.
Overall, my normalized power was 225Watts, which was slightly above my plan of 222Watts. The first loop was 216/232 (AVG/NP) and second 194/216 (AVG/NP). What is remarkable is that the second loop was only 0.1MPH slower, yet 16-20-Watts lower in power. For the normalized power of 225Watts, I was ~8-minutes slower than predicted. While perhaps a minute of this time may be explained by the slower segment at the start, I suspect most of that time (~7-minutes) was because the average power was lower than BBS's power plan would suggest for a 225-Watt NP. Had I done a better job at sticking to the power plan, and holding a more constant power I could have ridden another 7-8 minutes faster with the same normalized power.
Run Nutrition: Water & Gatorade through mile-13; then coke.
When looking at the bike & run combined, I was able to hit an average HR of 141.7BPM, which was just shy of the estimate of 143BPM. My prior understanding that overall race HR is my race limiter I was reinforced because I ran to the best of my ability after a big cardiovascular effort on the bike. As previously noted, my HR was elevated on bike, which resulted in an inability to hit the target HR on the run. So, relative to my plan, I "over-biked" the race. The analysis below shows the effect of over-biking had on the overall race time.Pre-race
The day before, my buddy Chris Douville so graciously offered to take me to the race in the morning. Race morning, he picked me up at 4am and I had breakfast on the road, which consisted of: coffee + 2x almond/peanut butter & jam sandwiches on gluten-free bread + 2x bananas. I like to finish breakfast no later than 2-hours before the race start, so I was done by 420am. |
| Beautiful Race Morning Sunrise |
I first got the bike all prepped and went to put the Garmin in my run bag. However, to my dismay, the run bag was not to be found! Wow, what a way to derail a perfectly-planned race -- NO SHOES! After looking around a few times, I got some help. The lead volunteer (Meg?) told me they would find it while I was out on the swim & bike. While that was a nice gesture, I was not so willing to allow all of this prep, planning, and excitement to race to go down the drain. I started brainstorming with Chris what we could do. The working plan was to have Christine call my mom to get earlier child care, so Christine could come earlier than planned -- all the way to the res -- with a backup bag. Once that plan was established, I focused on getting ready for the swim start, which was getting pretty close.
 |
| Mikhail Ivanov and Bob, ready to Race! |
Swim (Estimated: 1:01 to 1:04 / Actual: 1:03:06)
As the Boulder swim was a rolling start, the large group started to form along the boat ramp. As I was running behind a few minutes, I had to wade my way toward the front, as I had planed to seed with the 1:00-1:10 group. However, there were probably 500+ people in front of that wave sign. So, I edged-up to where there were ~300 people in front of me.The cannon boomed and the herd started moving slowly to the water. They were letting about 2-4 people go at a time and it looked pretty clear. Once I got to the water, I quickly dove-in and started swimming. My initial focus was on establishing a regular and relaxed breathing pattern. Fortunately, the throttling of athletes into the water allowed me to get into a rhythm very quickly.
The plan was to swim steady along the first stretch and pick-up the pace after the first turn. The swim was completely open, with essentially NO contact during the entire swim! During the swim, I was in extreme passing mode. There was one person who looked like a good draft, but they were just a bit too fast so I let them go. Thus, I swam solo the entire time. I probably passed 200 people during the swim, which correlates with my overall placing out of the water of 103rd (including the pros, who probably all swam faster than I).
Bike (Estimated: 4:25:00 to 4:31:30 / Actual: 4:31:59)
T1 was was uneventful and I was feeling fine getting on the bike. However, I was completely unaware of the initial segment of the bike in the reservoir, which was like a criterium! After getting out onto the diagonal, I was in beast mode. I had my power plan, but I also had the confidence of great bike strength. I wanted to get to the front of the field quickly so I could just focus on my pace. After making the initial turn-around @ 55th, I settled into the power/speed plan. However, I noticed that my heart rate was elevated by a good 5-10BPM. I stuck to the power plan, which was easy riding northbound. After making the turn-around at Airport and hitting mile 10, I passed the my first female pro. As I made my way up Neva, I was trying to pace myself to the plan, but was distracted by my elevated HR. I decided to stick with the plan, which was based on power and ignore HR. I figured it would settle on the Nelson descent. In training, my HR would drop to ~120 on the descents, but on race day, it remained near ~130+. Regardless, I decided to stick with the power/speed plan.I was riding as planned, taking in calories and water on the descents. At the bottom of Hygiene, I saw Rob Gray near the turn-around and he offered me some good encouragement. After accumulating enough fluids, I was able to pee @ mile 50. Most of us know that it's critical to be able to pee on the bike at least once. This was an early pee, so I knew I needed to stay on top of the hydration. This high sweat rate is evident on my tri-suit in the image below.
 |
| Riding to Plan near Mile-50 (or 110) |
During the first loop, I was picking off riders and the field was getting pretty thin. As I got to the 63rd turn, the road was taped with three options. Really?! I need to be able to be lucid and make good decisions during the Ironman!? The section of the course here was definitely a bit confusing and I suspect a lot of people made the wrong, early turn onto 63rd. Fortunately, I made the correct choice and continued on, south toward 55th for another loop on Diagonal. As I started started the second loop, I allowed myself to calm a bit more, in fact allowing the watts to drop a bit. This was not fatigue, but rather a conscious decision to ride a little more conservatively knowing I had pushed pretty hard on the first loop. In hindsight, I really did ride the bike based on feel and sort of "consulted" the power meter, rather than racing per the plan.
During the second descent on Nelson I came upon a rider in a familiar-looking kit. It was Silvio Guerra! I could not understand how I was passing Silvio at this point. I figured he must have run into a problem during the swim (panic attack) or the bike (serious mechanical) and he was on his first loop. I learned later that Silvio was one of the poor folks who made that early turn at the confusing section at 63rd. (After realizing the error, he completed the missing section after his second loop, but was unfortunately disqualified after finishing the entire race.)
 |
| The Friendly Rivals: Silvio Silvio Guerra & Bob McRae |
Bike Pacing
As is said, "hindsight is 20-20". However, after doing enough postmortems, hopefully some learning occurs! The chart above shows in red the power plan, which was based on BestBikeSplit's 200+ intervals for the race. I simplified that power plan to be usable during the race. The blue is my actual power. In purple is the accumulated difference in Watts, which should be a flat line about zero -- indicating a well executed plan. One can appreciate the larger variation in power between the plan (red) and the actual (blue) power. Upon closer inspection, it looks like most of that variation is below the red line, which is time riding below the plan, likely at higher speeds.Overall, my normalized power was 225Watts, which was slightly above my plan of 222Watts. The first loop was 216/232 (AVG/NP) and second 194/216 (AVG/NP). What is remarkable is that the second loop was only 0.1MPH slower, yet 16-20-Watts lower in power. For the normalized power of 225Watts, I was ~8-minutes slower than predicted. While perhaps a minute of this time may be explained by the slower segment at the start, I suspect most of that time (~7-minutes) was because the average power was lower than BBS's power plan would suggest for a 225-Watt NP. Had I done a better job at sticking to the power plan, and holding a more constant power I could have ridden another 7-8 minutes faster with the same normalized power.
Bike Nutrition
Bike nutrition has become increasingly simple. I started with a 600kCal bottle of EFS drink (carbs + Amino Acids) on the beam. I finished that bottle by the time I hit special needs and exchanged for an identical bottle, but with 1-scoop of Pre-race. I finished that second bottle by the end of the bike. Thus, that is 1200kCal on the bike, or 267kCal/Hr. My stomach was fine during the entire ride and never did I feel bloated; in fact, I felt slightly hungry during the ride.
Run (Estimated: 3:20:30 to 3:29:30 / Actual: 3:34:43)
Coming off the bike, my combined swim & bike put me in second place overall (among the AG finishers), with only the eventual race winner leading me. Later, I learned that I started the run with a 34-minute lead on the second place of the age group. As I rolled into T2, Chris made me aware that they found my bag. Actually, I don't remember even thinking about that risk during the swim or bike.
The run bag requires special discussion...I later learned that my run bag was actually just buried under several other run bags! It was there the whole time! Even after I looked twice and the lead volunteer looked twice, we did not see it. So, lesson learned: pick-up other bags until you see yours or the ground! I also learned later, that Chris had actually made a round-trip from the reservoir, via bus to downtown, back to Arvada then back again to make me a replacement run bag filled with run shoes, sock options, run nutrition -- made from prior photos...What an incredible friend and incredible support! Thank you so much Chris!
T2 was quick and uneventful. I donned my DeSoto bolero and headed out for some hot marathon fun! At the very first aid station, I was offered a nice, cool, wet washcloth, which I used to clean my face. As I started to throw it away, I realized I could use this valuable piece of cloth. I had the very fortunate thought to put the washcloth on my head and then pull the visor down over it. From this point forward, my ears were protected and my head remained cool & wet! This technique will be a staple going forward!
The run bag requires special discussion...I later learned that my run bag was actually just buried under several other run bags! It was there the whole time! Even after I looked twice and the lead volunteer looked twice, we did not see it. So, lesson learned: pick-up other bags until you see yours or the ground! I also learned later, that Chris had actually made a round-trip from the reservoir, via bus to downtown, back to Arvada then back again to make me a replacement run bag filled with run shoes, sock options, run nutrition -- made from prior photos...What an incredible friend and incredible support! Thank you so much Chris!
 |
| Chris' replacement run bag |
I knew it was going to be a hot and long rest of the race, so I focused on the plan, which was to settle into a comfortable pace -- respecting my HR limit of 150BPM set on my watch. I passed a guy (probably an age-grouper by mile-1). At mile 2-3 I saw Kevin Konczak, who beat me in 2015 and I met the first time. In retrospect, I was amazed that I recognized him given the circumstances. I said hi and re-introduced myself. He ran along and took some photos. Thanks Kevin! Around mile-4, I was informed I was the 4th age-grouper to pass.
I felt really relaxed and NOT hot for first 6-8 miles. I walked each aid station, dumping water over my head and ice down the back. The bolero was working very well keeping my arms protected from the extreme exposure (direct sun + 9% humidity + altitude) and cool with the evaporating water.
I felt really relaxed and NOT hot for first 6-8 miles. I walked each aid station, dumping water over my head and ice down the back. The bolero was working very well keeping my arms protected from the extreme exposure (direct sun + 9% humidity + altitude) and cool with the evaporating water.
 |
| While not so fashionable, the bolero and washcloth were invaluable on the run |
Right around mile-9, I saw the family the first time at Scott Carpenter Park. Christine, Ariel, Geneva and Kendall were at that section with the signs they all made (thanks Geneva!) A bit later, I saw my sister Brenda, Dave, and Amanda.
 |
| Signs of encouragement |
Right around this time it started to get hard, which correlated with the (first) need of a porta-potty break. Somewhere around that time I saw Rob Gray again. He informed me of my huge lead and that the only consideration was my goal time. Regardless, I stuck with the plan, which was to find, push, and respect my edge. During my first porta-potty break, I was passed by an EMJ guy, which put me in 5th place on the course. Then, near mile 13, came Juan Valencia, "the Columbian" as I call him. I knew Juan was racing again this year. I recognized him from 2016 and he stood out to me with his incredible ability to hurt. In 2016, he was a few minutes ahead of me, so I could see him on the turn-arounds. Every time I saw him, he was suffering badly, but maintaining his lead on me. This time, I had passed him on the bike, but he caught me here on the run. I heard him coming up on me and I could hear the suffering. All I said was, "Columbia?". His responded in the affirmative and I told him how I admired his ability to hurt. He shook my hand and he made the pass. (I later learned that he raced IMTX in 8:27 and won his AG there!)
Somewhere between mile-9 and 16 or so, I had to make another porta-potty break. My stomach was OK, but my lower GI tract was filled with water. I have to figure this part of racing hot Ironman's out!
Chris was on his mountain bike and was encouraging me during most of this second loop, which felt incredible hard. I felt like I was slogging along at a 9-minute pace. Actually, though, I was running reasonably well considering the earlier effort and the conditions. I later learned that my run split was the fastest among the AG finishers (Silvio still beat me by 17-minutes!) and nearly 20-minutes faster than the next fastest in the AG. Chris kept encouraging me along the way. At mile 24.5, he said, "just one and a half miles to go!" Unfortunately, that was one of the longest 1.5-miles I have ever run. The uphill grade to the turn-around seemed to take FOREVER! However, I was able to pass a different EMJ guy near mile 25. The downhill section after the turn-around did not offer as much relief as I was hoping. However, at that point I knew I was moments away from one of my favorite parts of life -- running down the finishing chute of an Ironman.
As I entered the finishing chute, I heard Mike Reilly call, "Bob McRae! Dominating the age group! You Are An IRONMAN!!!"
Somewhere between mile-9 and 16 or so, I had to make another porta-potty break. My stomach was OK, but my lower GI tract was filled with water. I have to figure this part of racing hot Ironman's out!
Chris was on his mountain bike and was encouraging me during most of this second loop, which felt incredible hard. I felt like I was slogging along at a 9-minute pace. Actually, though, I was running reasonably well considering the earlier effort and the conditions. I later learned that my run split was the fastest among the AG finishers (Silvio still beat me by 17-minutes!) and nearly 20-minutes faster than the next fastest in the AG. Chris kept encouraging me along the way. At mile 24.5, he said, "just one and a half miles to go!" Unfortunately, that was one of the longest 1.5-miles I have ever run. The uphill grade to the turn-around seemed to take FOREVER! However, I was able to pass a different EMJ guy near mile 25. The downhill section after the turn-around did not offer as much relief as I was hoping. However, at that point I knew I was moments away from one of my favorite parts of life -- running down the finishing chute of an Ironman.
As I entered the finishing chute, I heard Mike Reilly call, "Bob McRae! Dominating the age group! You Are An IRONMAN!!!"
 |
| You Are An IRONMAN!!! |
Run Pacing
The plan was to hold a constant HR of 148BPM. However, due to the heat and the elevated HR on the bike, that was not possible. Sure, I could have pushed momentarily, but I could not have sustained the planned effort. The run may be best split by the following segments, which is based on my stable HR:- Miles 0-10:
- Average HR=147BPM (near plan)
- Pace: 7:45/mile (just 5-sec/mile below plan)
- Miles 10-14 (after first porta-potty break):
- Average HR=142BPM (6BPM below plan)
- Pace: 7:48/mile (8-sec/mile below plan)
- Miles 14-finish (after second porta-potty break):
- Average HR=138BPM (10BPM below plan)
- Pace: 8:09/mile (39-sec/mile below plan)
 |
| Run Pacing |
Run Nutrition: Water & Gatorade through mile-13; then coke.
Race Execution Postmortem
 |
| Planned, Actual, and Optimized Race Pacing |
Several notes/observations may be made from this analysis:
- HR was elevated on the bike -- likely due to the heat, which resulted in 3-watts lower than the estimate
- The bike split was ~9-minutes slower than the estimate -- mostly probably due to riding with more "uneven", with a higher normalized power as compared to the average power
- The run was ~18-seconds/mile slower than training runs, which was close to my original estimate of 15-sec/mile
- Over-biking resulted in a ~5-min gain on the bike, but a ~10-min slower run (ignoring the porta-potty breaks). So, while I had been admonishing myself for "pushing the bike", the net difference was only ~5-minutes
Race Goals
Prior to the race, I had set the following goals in order of personal importance.
- Execute the best race I possibly can -- that means finding my edge all day long. While this is highly subjective, I feel that I accomplished this goal perfectly. Several times during the run, I pushed up against my "edge" and was able to maintain the effort there for long periods of time. At no point did I let up from that edge
- Go "sub-9" -- based on the estimated splits, it was possible, but the day had to have been perfect. In retrospect, I left about ~10-minutes on the table due to less-than-optimal pacing. Even with optimal pacing, I would have been still 7-minutes shy of 9-hours. However, the race conditions were not conducive to a sub-9 race -- it was windy on the bike and hot on the run. As an example, Juan Valencia did 8:27 @ IMTX, but 9:10 @ IMB. Also, looking at six racers' run splits at other, recent races they ran 12% faster than at IMB. For me, that would result in ~22-minutes on the run, which would put me well under the 9-hour mark
- Win the M50-54 AG -- Considering I won by ~50-minutes, this goal was well-met
- Kona Slot -- I had a great day and was able to secure a spot to the "big dance"
Mantras / Themes
Before the race, I established the following mantras/themes:
- Execute the plan -- I did allow my HR to remain elevated on the bike, but I wanted to experiment at bit. The net affect of this decision was to show that over-biking does result in a slower time, but not a substantially slower one
- Be flexible -- Allowing my HR to elevate on the bike was "plan B". Also, I did not panic about the missing run bag and it not distract me from executing my swim and bike
- Find and sit on my edge & respect my edge -- These two separate mantras became one. I found and respected the edge ALL DAY long
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.