Jenn’s IMCDA Race Report - It’s a Cooker
Pre-Race
******************************************************************************
Ahhhhhh, Northern Idaho in June on a lake. Sounds refreshing, right? The year leading up to the race had gone
pretty well, all things considered.
Spoiled with a new bike, weighing in a few pounds lighter, running
faster and with the biggest training load I've done under my belt - we were
hopeful! Throughout the year Mark
stepped up his game even further supporting almost every long run on his
mountain bike and tricking out his trailer as a support vehicle. Healthwise I’d kept an Achilles niggle at
bay, avoided any major illnesses or injury and felt ready to race!
Run Support Sherpa Tip: Plan Routes Past the Bakery!
Training Load 2013 to Present: For the Non Data Geeks: It Was A Lot…
About ten days out the weather forecasts started coming in.
First 98 degrees, then 102, then 108. Yikes.
I looked outside. It was 60
degrees and raining. Sigh. I stepped up
my attendance at Bikram yoga which is done in a very hot room and studied electrolyte
needs to adjust my nutrition plan. It
sure is hard to avoid anything new on race day when you don’t get to train in
the kind of weather we were anticipating!
So yeah, it was gonna be hot. Robin WIlliams as Adrian Cronauer in “Good
Morning Vietnam” would call it “crotch pot cooking” hot.
We made our way to Liberty Lake, about a twenty-minute drive
from Coeur d’Alene, to stay with our friends Patrick and Diana. These two are truly the hostests with the
mostest! They are ever gracious, accommodating, supportive, and amazing cooks.
We are lucky to have them in our lives and it is incredibly fortuitous they
live close to the race venue! After the
usual check-in and administrative tasks… ready or not, race day was upon us.
Swim
******************************************************************************
Shortly before the pro start Mark helped me into my wetsuit,
wished me luck and cut me loose. In
complete contrast to last year where I was worried about cold water temperatures
in the high 50s, this year temp was over 72 - downright balmy! I warmed up as the pros went off, then made
my way to where I wanted to be in the self-seeding coral with about 5 minutes
to go. The cannon went off and I was
into the water in less than a minute.
“Strong, smooth and long” were my mantras for the first loop and I made
my way around the buoys with little contact.
When I exited to make the second lap I saw I was on track for a decent
swim - nice! “Cadence, follow through
and on-the-rivet” were my mantras for the second loop and before I knew it i
was touching the sand at the finish and outta that nice refreshing lake with no
drama mama.
And a Now Take a Right ‘Cause We’re DONE!
Bike
******************************************************************************
Thanks to some tremendous volunteers, transition went
smoothly and I was outta there lickity split.
The first mile I tried to settle down and took in my first nutrition of
the day to get on track with the planned 20’ feeding schedule. A quick check of my power showed… nothing.
Gah! I rode another minute. Still
nothing. Shit, shit, shit. My power meter has wigged out in training
before and sometimes if I futz with it just right it comes back on. So… I took a chance and stopped less than a
mile into my ride to see if I could get it to work. I popped the caps off, then on (the ancient
Chinese Garmin Vector pedal reset secret), saddled back up and hoped for the
best. Nothing yet. I got my RPMs back up over 90 where they
usually wake up. YES! We have POWER! Whew.
My target wattage for the day was to build from 150w to 165w
for an average of about 160w. It was already really hot and I was missing over a mile of power data so I wasn’t too concerned when
I finished the first loop in about 2:48 with an average power of 150w. It was time to step up the intensity but
alas, Mother Nature was already stepping up the heat. All the way up to 109 on
my gadget and as much as 113 on others with pavement reportedly reading in the
120s. Raise power to 160w? Um no.
How about hold at 155w? Nope. I
spun up a long hill with the sun beating down at what felt like 2 MPH. Okay, geeze, can we even just keep that 150w
from the first lap? Nein!
Bike Data - Worked Less and Got More for it in the Heat
Even on fast descents the air felt like putting your face in
a stagnant furnace. Endurance Nation
teammate Rachel dubbed it like biking on the “surface of the sun” and though I
can't say for sure, I’m betting she was right!
The more I concentrated, the less power I put out. My nutrition was all going down well (yay!)
and my HR stayed strong indicating I was still working hard, but the power just
dropped and dropped and dropped.
Sigh. Turns out I was less than
2’ slower but my power dropped dramatically to 138w for the second loop. Later I learned this was a purposeful strategy the pros uses (bike hard when it's cook back off when it's warm) but honestly I didn't do it on purpose. Anyway, I took a minute to mourn the
woulda-coulda-shoulda bike split that may have been had I been able to hold
160w. Time to turn my attention to this
little marathon thing.
Early in the Day - Before the Spectators Retreated to Air
Conditioned Restaurants
Very Tempting to Hop in That Lake
Run
******************************************************************************
Pro Jeff Symonds spoke at our Whistler camp and his mantra
is to “Run Ugly”. Well, this is what
that looked like for me. Coming out of
transition I was effing hot. Yes, crotch pot cooking hot. It was slightly uphill to the first aid
station and I hadn’t noticed any ice to take in transition. There was no shade, few spectators and 26.2
miles loomed before me. I honestly
didn’t think it was possible. Somehow I
made my way to that first aid station where Heidi and Mark (surprise volunteer
of the day!) were ready with lots of ice, water and encouragement. Heidi asked how I was doing. “Fucking hot!”, I almost cried. “Just stay within yourself!” she said. I wanted more ice - I was shoving it
everywhere as I shuffled through the station.
Mark ran ahead to the end last table and got me two more cups. I felt better. Righty ho, let’s do this.
Run Ugly? Yep.
From thereon out I felt kinda-sorta okay. I quickly established a routine at the aid
stations based on what was available. Typically that was three cups of ice
right away. The first one went down the
bra top. This was the most important one
because I could access it later to suck on or simply hold in my hand. The second cup went right down the front of
the shorts (I smiled a little at Robin Williams every time) and the third one
went under my Raise the Bar the cap. In
the middle of the aid station I went for one or two cups of Gatorade and a cup
of water. At the end of the aid station
if they had it I’d grab two more cups of ice. One more down went down the top
and the last one went down the back.
The community really stepped up for this race. Instead of retreating to their homes, many
had hoses running and offered to douse us if we’d like. As someone who doesn’t typically struggle
with major blisters and was close to overheating, I made the calculated
decision to just get as wet as I could as often as I could. “Hose me in the
head!” I’d shout as I came by. They happily obliged. My shoes squished for
about a minute after each dousing but then resumed to simply being wet. It
seemed to be working. And so it went.
On the second loop everyone around me was slowing down,
resting in any bits of shade available or simply walking. I passed a gal in my
age group at mile 24 with some pleasantries and humor. I’d come off the bike in
6th and knew I been passed by at least one gal in my age group so far. I presumed since I typically lose positions
in the run I was passing her for 9th or 10th. Regardless, I was still chugging
along and doin’ my best.
I made the final turn on to Sherman and it felt like I was
running in a (very hot) ghost town.
There was nobody in front of me, nobody behind me and the sidewalks were
empty. I could hear Mike Reilly in the
distance a few blocks down. He drew me
closer. The spectators started to increase, now one or two deep for the last
block. Mark, Heidi, Patrick and Diana
were there. Whew - I was finished in
11:15!
Finished! Very Few Spectators Braved the Heat Before the Sun
Went Down
Reflections
******************************************************************************
Podium!
Mens winner Andy Potts assured us this race was, indeed a
cooker! Nobody can say for sure what the
effect of the heat was on the day but clearly it impacted the pointy-end people
less than those in the back of the pack.
Our resident RTB Cyber-Stalker had this Analysis to Offer
Inferring About a 40’ Heat Penalty
Andy had some poignant words to offer
us on the day about the balance of hope and doubt in his short speech.
Congratulations to all participants on their efforts on the day especially my Endurance Nation and Raise the Bar teammates! Cheers to the volunteers and residents of Coeur d’Alene who came through in a pinch. And unending gratitude and thanks to Mark who makes this whole silly thing possible and fun!
Congratulations to all participants on their efforts on the day especially my Endurance Nation and Raise the Bar teammates! Cheers to the volunteers and residents of Coeur d’Alene who came through in a pinch. And unending gratitude and thanks to Mark who makes this whole silly thing possible and fun!
