Ironman Barcelona 2023 Race Recap

Summary

While I did not achieve my primary goal, I did win the M55-59 age group (AG) by 32-minutes -- a substantial margin.  The day was slower than historical IM-BARC's.  Likely due to a nutritional issue, my bike power & run speed were ~6% lower vs IM-Copenhagen.  I did achieve two important outcomes during the run: first, I was able to absorb more calories; and second I was able to complete the race without needing the porta-potty.  While my personal performance was not reflective of my potential, this win places me 2nd in the world for Ironman rankings.

Race Goals

My primary, and only stated, goal for this race was to go under 9-hours.  However, I had some back-up goals in case the first was not looking likely.  Next was to set a new IM PR (<9:11); the next was to set another run PR (<3:19); and the last was to win the AG.

Pacing Plan

After achieving a run PR at Ironman Copenhagen (IM-COP), I used the same approach for establishing the pacing plan for IM-BARC, as shown below.  For this plan, I estimated a 1:03 swim which was based on the swim splits from IM-BARC from 2019 (a clam day; as BARC-23 seemed like it had the potential of being calm) and the equivalent swim placing as IM-COP (9th in the AG).  I also estimated 7-minutes for transitions (T1+T2), which was based on the top 30 finishers at IM-BARC from the prior two years.

While IM-BARC was supposedly faster than IM-COP, it would take 221Watts on the bike in order to achieve an overall time of less than 9-hrs.  I was a bit concerned about that amount of power, but that still represents an Intensity Factor (IF) of 77%, which is theoretically reasonable for an Ironman.  

I felt that the run pace (4:39/km) was reasonable, based on excellent run training and a good taper going into IM-BARC and the fact that my breakthrough IM-COP was based on less ideal training (little intensity due to altitude), tapering (truncated due to travel), nutrition (did not get my nutrition until 21km), and pacing (slowed 7-sec/km each ~10.5km).

Pre-race

I started a carb-restriction diet about 9-days prior to race, limiting carbs until dinner.  Then, I did the full carb-restriction diet in days 7-2, limiting carbs to ~20grams net carbs per day.  Then, re-loaded carbs on Friday & Saturday before the race.

I rented an apartment that was nearly equidistant between the start & finish.  However, walking to each was nearly a mile.  I ended up going to the check-in/registration/finish three times, and expo/start also three times.  So, there was quite a bit of walking in the days before the race.

Check-in was comical.  At check-in on Thursday, I was given 70.3 bags, which I did not notice until Friday; so I had to go back and get the full-distance bags.  I decided to keep the 70.3 backpack, as I like it better than the full-distance one, which is essentially identical to Copenhagen.  Then, after getting back to the apartment, I realized I had no Special Needs bags, which I needed for at least the run; so, back I went again.  Then, on Saturday at bag/bike check-in, I saw people handing their Special Needs bags in and there was not an option to do that race morning.  I was not aware, nor was there any mention in either the Athlete Guide or briefing that we needed to turn-in our Special Needs bags Saturday.  It seems Ironman has completely lost touch with athlete needs.

Race Report

Pre-race

The race did not start until 830am, so I woke at a leisurely time of 615am so I could get breakfast down by 630am.  I had coffee, two open-faced smooth PB & blueberry jam sandwiches -- likely 800kCal.  I also had a bottle of electrolytes with one scoop of 226ers Hydrazero (7.5g electrolytes) that I sipped until race start.

My plan was to be at transition at 730am, giving an hour to add nutrition to both bike & run bags, and prep the bike.  Ironman has recently restricted the ability of bringing one's own pump into transition and requiring athletes to rely on the limited pumps available.  Well, I queued into a line of about 8 people waiting for a pump.  After a about 10-minutes, it was clear the line was not moving.  I tried to assist the guy who was having trouble with the pump and realized the pump was seriously defective and basically unusable.  I was able to convince a guy who had smuggled his pump in to allow me to use his.  Funny enough, he was #2 in the AG later that day!

Finally, after perhaps 30-minutes of messing around with the pumps, I was done prepping the bike. I was able to drop nutrition in the bags, and then queued for (hopefully) the last porta-potty break of the day.  At ~815am, I was all done and started getting my wetsuit on and made my way to the swim corrals.

Swim

Plan: 1:03 /// Actual: 1:10

There was an orange buoy between the start and the first turn buoy that was causing some confusion.  The first turn buoy was only 250-meters from the start; so it's unclear to me what they organizers felt it necessary to add another buoy.  People were swimming to that first orange buoy, and I think some may have actually turned there.    I could see people swimming to the orange buoy, which was not aligned in a straight path with the turn buoy, and then turning slightly.  So, I lined-up on the far left side of the starting chute, so that I could have a straight, clearer line to the first turn buoy.

I noticed after the first turn that I was having a bit of trouble seeing through my goggles, which I had cleaned on the shore in the usual manner (spit, rub, then cleared with water).  However, it was apparent that the sunscreen (or something else) on my finger-tips simply transferred to the goggles.  So, at the 2nd turn buoy (~1200-meters), I rolled on my back and repeated the cleaning process.  Now I could see perfectly!

The swim on race-day was a little choppy, swelly (new word), and ~50-meters long.  But what I noticed the most was the current going along the long leg (east).  In fact, I looked at one of my 500yd split times during that section and saw 9:xx, which is extraordinarily slow!  I figured I would make up that time going in the opposite direction.

I exited the water, hit the lap-time, and saw 1:09:xx.  At that point, I knew my sub-9 day was not likely.  But, that did not distract me from executing against the rest of my plan, and shooting for some other goals.

Now, as I look at the results the 1:10 is not horrible, as the winner swam a 1:01.  Also, I was 8th in the AG (278th OA) for the swim; so, right on par with what I expected.  Looking at the Garmin data & map, I see clearly there was a big current.  Going west, my pace was 1:18-1:24/100m; going east the pace was 2:12/100m.  The issue is that due to the start & finish being separated east/west, the slow direction was 1700-meters, and the fast direction was only about 1300-meters.

Bike

Plan: 216AVG/220NP ~4:34 /// Actual: 201AVG/211NP ~4:46

The first 1.5k leaving transition was slow and power was low (110AVG/119NP); so I felt the need to make-up ground and added a good amount of power to get to the target of 220Watts NP.  However, it was  apparent after about 80km that power was not sustainable.  So, I decided to ride based on a reasonable effort, which was 209AVG.  But, in the last 40k my power dropped to 195AVG.  Excluding the slow part in & out of town, the power was 205AVG/213NP.  I was definitely surprised that the bike felt harder than it should have.  Power was not coming this day.  The image below shows that the power vs heart rate was about 6% lower than IM-COP.

I kept up with the nutrition on the bike, but I could not pee.  I felt the slight urge, but definitely not enough to relax during the scarce short descents on the course.  I probably grabbed water from each aid station, except 2-3.  Half of that water went in the front hydration and the other half on my body for cooling.  I definitely started getting hot on the bike.

A few of the aid stations were so incredibly misplaced, like on a flat section of the course, where speed should have been maintained.  In another, it was just before a round-about riddled with potholes.  In that particular one, I found myself holding the base-bar with my left hand around the round-about hitting potholes, while trying to fill the front hydration with the right hand.  Then, like most of the other aid-stations, trying to finish filling the hydration before the end of the litter section.  Nearly all of the litter sections were far too close the aid stations, which added to the danger.

While my power was off plan, I was able to hold the aero-position without trouble the entire time (except for the minimal climbing).  Based on the ride data, I am also quite pleased with the CDA of ~0.221,which compares quite favorably to my historical CDA.

My speed difference relative to the other riders was substantial; so making legal passes was pretty easy.  There were a few exceptions though -- the "ego riders".  The guys who think they can and/or should "hang" because they are being passed.  They decide to pass back, but then cannot hold the speed.  These are often guys who I found drafting another rider as I came upon them to make my initial pass.  There were many other riders too who were clearly trying to draft; I mean full-on pace-lining, within inches of the leading riders back wheel.  Shameful.

In nearly every single longer training ride this season, I was able to tell the riding time with my stomach; I would start to feel hungry at about 2.5-hrs.  I believe (theory) this is when my body starts to switch more heavily to fat metabolism.  However, this effect did not occur during the bike -- probably because of the fat-loading diet prior to the race.  I am unsure whether this difference was good or bad, but my inability to hold power suggests to me that maybe it was not beneficial.

Oddly, the bike leg was was 4km longer than the planned 180km, which added about 6-minutes.  I say oddly because there were at least two places on the course it could have been shortened.

While I did not hit my power target, I did have the fastest bike split in the AG and was 56th overall (OA) after the bike.  That compares to 3rd in the AG and 125th OA at Copenhagen.

Nutrition:

• First 95km: 90% of bottle of 2x Mono-doses 226ers Race Day Sub9 (664kCal) with 1/2 scoop 226ers HydraZero for extra electrolytes (~4grams) & 2/3 scoop of 226ers BCAAs (10grams)
• Last ~90k: all of the bottle, which was the same as the first, but with 1x scoop of EFS Pre-Race
• Overall: ~263kCal/hr

Assessment:

• I missed the power plan pretty significantly, but decided to ride based on feel; the power fade was disappointing
• I kept it pretty steady, as indicated by a Variability Index of 1.05
• While I was quite off my power plan, my bike performance (AG & OA) was significantly better than Copenhagen

Run

I started the run knowing I was not feeling great, but had hopes that perhaps I could still achieve a few other goals: IM PR and run PR.  I tried to relax, but run solid in the first out segment.  The pace was OK (4:45/km) but the effort was surely higher than it should have been.  While I was feeling quite warm on the bike, the run was actually pretty reasonable.  Nonetheless, I used about half of the water I grabbed at most age stations to dump over my head and was able to dump ice in my tri-suit on several others.  I finished the first lap feeling about the same as when I started -- definitely not better.  It was clear I was slowing even as early as the second lap (~15km).

Sometime during the run I started seeing the leaders coming the other direction.  By my calculations, they were about 1-hour ahead of me, which turned out to be a pretty good estimate.  But I also saw the first female, who was behind me a few kilometers.  She remained one of my key motivators during the run; I was determined to not let her catch me -- I did not want to get "chicked".  In all seriousness, the first female finisher has become a good benchmark for my performance (as I have aged).

During the second half of the run, all I could do was just find a semi-comfortable pace that I could lock-into for the duration; I had to be patient.  In the last 1-km, I decided to see how fast I could run.  I felt like I was sprinting; the motion was not springy, but muscular and at a high level of effort.  And, sadly, it was only a 4:50/km pace.

One can see the early slowing, even though I did not start so fast.

As compared to IM-COP, my pace was significantly slower at the same HR.  Again, this difference was about 6%.  Also, all the paces of IM-BARC were slower, from the start to the end.  However, while I ran slower at IM-BARC, my run efficiency did not decline like at IM-COP, as seen in the image below.  My pace declined proportionally to the HR.

Sometime near the 23km point, I felt like I would be able to finally pee.  But, I did not want to risk the time nor did I want to risk slowing my HR, which frequently does not rise again after entering the porta-potty.  So, I decided to pee on the fly!  I was pleasantly amazed at how comfortably I was able to let go and just pee myself!  In a similar theme, I was very pleasantly surprised that I did not need to use the porta-potty through the entire run to poop either.  Of the 22 prior Ironmans I have done, I have ALWAYS -- every single one -- had to poop at least once.  This was the race I may have gotten the pre-race diet right!

Nutrition:

• First 21k: ~80% of a flask with the same mix as bike #1 and ~350mL
• Second 21k: all of the same flask + pre-race with ~350mL
• Overall, I was able to consume ~50% more calories than prior races during the run

Assessment

• Like the bike, the run was just off; it started slow and just got slower from there
• My run split was 2nd in the AG
• I averaged about 215Watts on the run, a far cry from the 235Watts I had planned
• I did a good job keeping focused, patient, and moving forward even though my pace was way off
• I am extremely happy that I did not need to use the porta-potty

Overall

The day was slower than prior IM-BARC's, indeed 44th overall position IM-BARC for 2022, 2019, & 2018 was 9:40, 8:44, 9:02.  Post-race, I was definitely sore, but not my neck which suggests my aero work from the summer had a lasting effect.