IronBach - Ze Blog: June 2008

The purpose (because there is a purpose in triathlon racing!) of this race is to rehearse for the Frankfurt (GER) Ironman in 5 weeks. (less than 3 weeks as I finally write this down).
The drill is simple, start each leg (that is swim, bike and run) at IM pace and build into it. My plan is to divide everything by 3 (IM pace / a notch above / push it) :
- 3 swim laps (3 x 750 m = 2.25km)
- 3 x 20 km bike ( = 60 km)
- 3 x 5 km run (= 15 km)

The swim is in an artificial lake (not the prettiest one ever…), the bike course is flat, and the run includes 2 steep inclines per lap (6 laps in total!).
I haven’t been running much because of my calf… I’ll stop if it gets too painful (no need to break the equipment now!).

The start is early: 7:30 AM. So we (the boys & I ) rush out of the house early to be there in time.
For some reasons I struggle again (cf. Ishigaki) to get ready on time. That’s an obvious point I need to improve: pre-race organization. The boys are very cool, not getting in the way while I’m rushing to get the stuff together!

I manage to set the gear in the bike park, with some drink & food before going to the start line – again, no swim warm up today… That’s no big deal as I want to build into it…

3 waves are off, I’m in the 3rd one. I still don’t get the rationale: the longest race starts last (sprint => Olympic => 1.5x Olympic)… I will have to take over most of the first two waves. It will make the swim interesting.

No time to chat around much and we’re off. I go near the rope, in the inside (shortest distance) and here we go!
So? What is it going to be today? Will I benefit from a volunteer to swim in the front allowing me to rest while drafting?
I start off VERY easy, one arm after the other, monitoring the others (not arm, other swimmers!). I pass quickly my immediate neighbors. Far on the left, a group seems to move well.
I realize they had pulled a better plan than mine! Taking it wide on the first stretch allows them to avoid a lot of traffic from the second wave that soon I get into… Stupid me.
Anyway, I monitor the group and they are dropping quickly. I’ll be on my own this morning.

As the pack (2nd wave) gets thicker, I reach the first buoy. It’s a little dense, not much space to swim but I’m still building into the effort so really no issue. I turn and take it a little wide as I know I’ll keep catching up people from the second wave.
I now start to get into the normal rhythm, with a little kick. I shouldn’t but it feels good to kick…

I look back to check for other red caps (third wave cap color) – none nearby. Good.

I finish the first lap without any concern. Short run on the ground and back in… Time check: 9’45 – that’s alright. I feel the heart rushing – as always when coming out of the water – I need to calm it down…

I don’t take the straight line to the next buoy but go quickly to the rope to try to avoid traffic (1st wave?). But once again that turn is done is a pack: struggle to move – it shows on the HR monitor… And I realize I’m a little too out of breath. So I try to drop the kick, recover a good stroke (tempo), and relax a little in the middle stretch of the 2nd lap. Again, visible impact on the HR, it feels quite easy.
Following the rope, I touch someone’s feet to warn them: in coming swimmer! One (well, I) would expect that if someone faster comes, you should make room (like in Le Mans race, slow cars have to take wider turns…). So I stick to the rope, touch again the feet. Nothing, ok. I move to the other side and start passing. Unfortunately I’m now facing an old lady struggling to move her arms around… The guy has the rope on his right, the lady on the left. I don’t want to bother the lady. What’s left? I go over the guy – next time he’ll move. Not proud of that one (hope it’s not one of us!)…
Eric

I pick it back up (kicking a little) as the previous pace seemed too slow.
And off to the end of the second lap, still passing people.
Time check: 19:45 – in line with the first one. It’s not great but it’s where I want to be in Germany – about 1’20 per 100m…
Didier

Third lap, with hopefully less traffic. So I aim straight to the buoy this time. Again, trying to minimize the effort, for the maximum result…
No special event until the finish – I kicked quite a bit to try to get the legs going with the intent to minimize the dizziness at the exit of the water.
29mn45. No surprise, no great performance either – it’s just fine, even though I’m 1st out of the water for my wave.

1st lap – 9 :45
2nd lap – 10:00
3rd lap – 10:00
Today’s lesson => swim with less kicking, and kicking only the last 50m is sufficient to get going!

I trot to the bike struggling at first to get the zipper undone. And finally I get there, take the wetsuit off, put the helmet on, secure it, put the gels in the pockets, the bib belt, the sunglasses, … That’s it! The bike. I have to move the other bikes around to dismount mine from the rack. And here I go, running towards the exit. I noticed I forgot the secure the shoes with rubber bands (to keep them flat). I’ll have to be careful!
Some cheering (in French), and I clumsily but carefully get on the bike and go.

T1- 41 sec

I have a guy (Olympic distance one) in front of me as I start pedaling. But that particular path is quite narrow so I can’t pass him right away…
Finally we move into the real course and I over take him. Cadence is set on high without putting much pressure on the pedals. I drink, calm down, try to settle down a little…
After few km, I finally check the watch – I feel like I’m cruising & I’m going over 35 km/h!!! Whaouu…
But the most important indicator is not good. My heart rate for IM on the bike is 127 bpm and I’m over 150 !!! Way too high.
So I have to slow down – yes slow down… I need to execute the plan, IM first then build. Shift down, putting even less pressure on the pedals – it’s quite frustrating… And the HR doesn’t seem to go down – it remains above 140 for a while, then drops to 130s when I’m closing my first lap (10 km!). I had no idea it would take so long to settle into IM tempo. I’m concerned because at time I see myself below 30km/h which sucks! And the guy just passed at transition exit now passes me.
Anyway, I monitor the HR carefully in the second lap. I start to feel ok now, I’m going faster now, with a steady low HR.
I get caught up by a guy from my wave. It was quite impressive how fast he passed me! No time to say hi or anything! Stick to the plan! Man that sucks!
So to divert my attention from racing, I focus on nutrition – no steak tartare or foie gras, but energy drink, Power bars and Power gel. I also try to monitor for Eric & Paul whom should be coming back on me anytime soon.
As I start the third lap and keep waving at photographers and supporters, I start picking it up a little (pass again the same dude).
Jacques

I start a gel and store it away in the back pocket. I finally see Eric. He’s coming strong! And soon enough he passes me (note: this could have been in the second lap – I’m not sure anymore). He looks – as always – very easy and swiftly drifts away. Man he’s fast.
I’m surprised to see Eric first. I expected Paul to be the first one to catch me up. Either Eric managed to stay in his feet in the water, or Paul had a bike problem…
Gently I start pressing more and more. I also chat with guys I pass. The ones passing me (no so many of them) are not too talkative.
I discuss with a tall JPN guy – he’s going to IM JPN in a few weeks. Didn’t catch his bib number, I won’t be able to track him down then… Anyway I pass him and go back to my pacing / nutrition plan. Time to get more gel.
I try to get the one opened a lap earlier… Gone! It must of fell! Rats. Alright, I got 2 more and 3 laps to go – not a problem!
I get a new one (still pedaling, in the aero bars), open it and – caboum! I drop it!!! Rah!!!
I’m down to 1 gel with 3 laps to go… Ok, no need to panic or get upset. I just have to rely more on hard food (bars) than on gel. So I execute myself and consume the remaining gel VERY carefully!
4th lap – no issue. I noticed Eric is not pulling away as fast as before – we see each other on the section where there is the turn-around. Still no sign of Paul… Weird, very weird. I hope nothing bad happened.
By the end of the 4th lap, I start pushing continuously, more and more. It starts to get hot in there…

5th lap, towards the end I finally spot Paul whom is gaining on me. Wonder what happened. I’m pushing good, the intensity is quite high compare to IM pace, the legs after more than 1hr start to hurt a little. Cadence is the key for me…
6th lap – it goes very fast now – not that I’m faster but when you’re going for it, the brain is less active! Well I don’t know, but nothing important happened.

It’s just time. Time to go… to go where?
At the end of the swim, I had to easy off for 50m or 100m, to let loose extra fluids. Now, 1h30 later, the bladder is full again. Stop? No way! I need to do it on the bike… Just like I’ll do in Germany. And it’s quite difficult! You need to relax to do it! And when there is no down hill, it’s challenging. And once you finally get started, it never stops! And it goes, and goes… It’s incredible. Finally, you can flush: that’s the bottle with water only (avoid sport drink to rinse it off). Once relieved you can get back into the rhythm but it took a while to do it and therefore the speed dropped a lot… But in doing so, I won’t have to stop on the run. Gross, may be, but efficient, definitely!
I’m almost done with the lap and now I can’t see Paul anymore. What happened again?
I close the final loop, dismount the Felt carefully – that’s where I cut my foot last year, and run off the park the bike.

Bike – 137 bpm & 34.7 km/h

1st 2 laps – 0:36:45 – 127 bpm excluding the time to calm down: from 155 to 127...
2nd 2 laps – 0:34:00 – 134 bpm, those ones felt easy!
3rd 2 laps – 0:33:30 – Including the “toilet break” & pushed it a bit – 144bpm
Today’s lesson  Hold to the gels better!!! And it takes a while to calm down after the swim.

T2 ??? – I put the bike on the rack and start to put the calf compression socks. But with the sweat and the rush it’s little complicated. I manage to put the first one, then the sock while Vincent is making fun of me. True, the compression socks are not too appealing but they are very efficient on the run. It’s supposed to help the blood back to the heart. And it seems to help – I do feel a difference.
Finally the other one, the other sock, the shoes, the hat – very important because now it’s getting quite hot.
Again little trot to the timing mat, set the watch and go!

I want to resume from IM run heart rate: 137 bpm. So I know I have to take it mega easy from the start… Unfortunately, nothing does it. So I keep jogging for a while.
I spot Paul – he’s ahead of me. He’s ahead of me?! When did he pass? I don’t get it… May be he missed bike lap.
End of the first lap, Eric spots me – he is far away, in front.

So let’s summarize, I’m jogging easy (it feels like), but my heart rate is high. It’s hot (not a cloud in the sky) but I’m not hot (does that make sense?). I feel great and not tired: I joke around and smile at the volunteers.
I’m about to close the first run loop – each loop is 2.5km, and include as mentioned earlier 2 steep climbs. Short, but steep!
In the second lap, I gauge again the distance with Paul and Eric. Paul is not so far in front of me whereas Eric is miles away. And I’m coming back on Paul. I guess he’s following the plan better than I.
A couple of flying JPN guys pass by, making fighter airplane noise as they run sooo fast… Stick to the plan, stick to the plan. Again, I need to control the urge of racing. I need to control and stick to the plan (or what’s left of it).
In the climb, I’m going very conservative. In races I usually push it passing a bunch, but not today. I do energy management here…
The second lap comes to an end – I’m going to be able to start unleashing the beast inside (sounds good!).
Time check: 22:45 – that’s way faster than IM pace!!! No wonder my heart won’t calm down! Alright. I slow down. Well I try but it feels like walking would be faster… So I keep a minimal run pace I can and I get the HR I get… We’ll see how it goes.
But the VERY good news is that the calf is holding on good. It’s a little tight. But it’s fine. I think Eric inquired about it too.
But now that I can pick up a little the pace I start to close on Paul. Slowly I catch him up and I start looking for potential targets for the last 2 laps… There is a Waseda boy running like hell a few hundred meters ahead. And the gap is not changing now… hi hi…
Alright, let’s try. I also check behind – there is another flying JPN closing on me. He’s still far but his pace is impressive.
Paul has kept his steady pace. Eric is still in front. Let’s focus on my 2 new buddies, one in the front (to catch), one in the back (to stop him from catching up).
The 3rd lap finished, I now really focus on the guy in front. When I talk about people in front or in the back, I only refer to those whom are doing the longer race…
I pass the tall JPN I talked with on the bike. He seems to be hurting a little on the run.
I hit the first climb and push it – I don’t play conservative any more. That puts me at a reachable range from Waseda boy now. And I think he has seen me coming on him. So I play my favorite trick: I smile when I come across from him… I hate people passing me while being easy.
2nd climb of this 4th lap – go go David. Again I closed quite a bit on him. I’m starting to wonder if I didn’t launch the hostility a little too soon… Oh well!
I have a long stretch of flat to recharge – gel & water will do.
4 laps down, 2 to go. The pot is steaming, I’m below 45mn – excellent time!

Gel again, now that I’m very close to Waseda boy whom is starting to show pain in his face I’ll have to pass quickly. I don’t want him to stick and bring it to a sprint. So I intend to pass him on the first climb, and create a gap on the second one.
Here it comes: first climb. He looks like he’s managing his effort whereas I let it go. I can feel the heart rushing but I need to keep the form and the pace. I pass him, as planed. Some flat to a turn around point: can’t show any sign… I try to smile, but I don’t think I’m convincing! Back down –I let it go there too. And full throttle on the second climb. I realize then that one of the earlier flying JPN is not making ground anymore – on the contrary… Another target? Hem, let’s first keep it together and get rid off Waseda boy. Turn around point – he’s gone. I dropped him. Pfff…
1.5 lap to go. That’s a long way now. Back down, flat = refuel. I’ll finish the gel just before the hills of the last lap.
I’m finishing the 5th lap – alone – and alone means pain. You think too much in that case. It’s burning inside – It’s now hot… 1 lap to go finally.
The flying JPN in the back hasn’t made any ground on me. Unless I blow, it’s over for him. Waseda boy has vanished from my monitor screens. And I’m wondering if I’ll come down on the red flying JPN whom passed me on the 2nd lap…
I reach the hills, giving everything, and I realize that I won’t be able to catch him up and that Eric whom I also closed on (potty stop… - he didn’t do it on the bike!) also picked up his pace.
So keeping it together, making sure no one is coming back… one hill, 2 hills, now it’s all flat. Man it hurts!!!
Final turn onto 1 km straight line. I don’t want to look back in case someone is right behind. I pick it up, again and again, trying to go faster and faster (not sure it worked…). It’s official – I’m all out – right here, right now!
200m to go – I look back – nobody – Yes!!! But no excuse to relax – push it, push it. I’m in pain but don’t want be all tight – hard and relax – just try!
I see the kids, on the side. Guerlain looking at the lake, not so interested on what going on this side (not a surprise), and Sullivan: “Papa Papa!”
Nice, Sullivan is cheering me up!
“Papa Papa – look I have a cricket – look look! Dad!”
“Papa the cricket can swim!”
???!!!???
“ Papa I put him in the water he can swim, come watch!” – I’m still running…
“ Wait that I finish Sullivan I’ll be right there!”
Then he stopped running and “cheering”…

1’02 for the run – great time, deep pain too!

Run – 157 bpm
00:22:45 – 146bpm Felt like a jog in the park. I couldn’t take the HR down…
00:21:45 – 154bpm Start pushing it, especially the end of the second one
00:20:52 – 165bpm Like the wind! Well, so to speak… All out to pass & drop a guy and avoid another one to catch-up…
Today’s lesson => Great pacing, but it was only 15km… Different deal with 42km…

I cross the line – Eric and Paul are there, Vincent & Alain are taking pictures – making fun of my grin (not smiling anymore). I get a drink and head to the lake – I got to see that swimming cricket: Sullivan is right here pulling on my hand… No mercy!

Great race, great fun, great atmosphere. Seeing the others (not only Eric & Paul) but the girls and other friends always makes the race very entertaining! Paul had missed a swim lap, some others a bike lap, or some run laps…
We’ll see if I can have that much fun for (hopefully) a little less than 11hrs in IM GER.