HIM Personal Record - sub-5

Ran Ironman Muncie 70.3 yesterday and PRd by over 40 minutes! Here's the breakdown followed by the race report:

Running sub-5 hours for the HIM wasn't something I contemplated before it happened yesterday at Muncie. I had dreamed of running five hours but thought running 5:15 or 5:20 was a more likely next step for me.

Nutrition

Week before:

- regular diet with salad, Vitamix smoothies, lean protein, nuts, cereal

- cocktail of vitamins and supplements - multi, fish oil, B-100, D, magnesium/calcium/zinc, cordyceps

Day before:

- coffee, smoothie, toast with jam for breakfast
- cocktail of vitamins and supplements - multi, fish oil, B-100, D, magnesium/calcium/zinc, cordyceps

- Clif bar, orange Gatorade, water for snack

- pasta, chicken, Merlot, bread for lunch around 1:30

- orange Gatorade throughout afternoon

- chicken sandwich, applesauce, Sprite for dinner around 6:30

Morning of:

- 4 - 4:30 AM - Two Ensure, bagel, coffee, orange Gatorade
- cocktail of vitamins and supplements - multi, fish oil, B-100, D, magnesium/calcium/zinc, cordyceps

- orange Gatorade and water while in transition

- six ounces Red Bull twenty minutes before swim wave

Swim

Wetsuit legal swim was a nice gift especially for central Indiana in July.  Swam well trying to hold form.  Got "socked" in the face several times during the swim...as usual.  Doesn't phase me as much these days though.  The last leg of the Muncie swim into the sun was difficult again this year.  I just kept looking for swim buoys as possible and swimmers around me to guide me.  

Result:  Good swim for me.  Swim training with Matt Hilton this past winter made a very big difference.

Transition 1

Smooth.  There were wetsuit strippers this year which made the neoprene removal quick and easy.

Bike

Fastest HIM bike split ever for me.  Ate 1.5 Clif Bars, 575 calories of Perpetuem, two  Roctanes, three SaltSticks during bike.  Used HR to guide my effort and slowed down when I got to 154 beats.  As usual the traffic free four lane divided highway was crazy fast and exciting.  That section alone makes participating in Muncie 70.3 worth it.  

At about mile 25 on the bike I began thinking about whether or not finishing close to five hour was possible.  I concluded it might be but was not likely.  I just kept on riding and was trying to stay close to 22 mph.

Result:  22.05 mph, 147 ave HR, 159 max HR, 243.1 TSS, 181 ave power, 2:32:24.  These are all good numbers for me especially since I had less of a bike focus this past winter than in the previous three seasons.

Transition 2

Smooth.  Entering T2 I was trying to calculate how much time I had left in case I could finish in five hours.  I couldn't figure it out because I didn't know what the time of day was.  I couldn't use the race clock because I wasn't sure how long my swim wave left after the pros.  I did, however, know I started at 7:51.

Run

Fastest HIM run split ever for me which makes sense given all the run focus this past winter.  Glad the work paid off :-).  Drank cola and water at every aid station and took a SaltStick at miles 3, 6, 9 and 11.  As I began the run, I asked several spectators what time of day it was.  I found out but kept second guessing my calculations about how long my run could be and finish in 5 hours or less.  I decided to just run with a pace that felt comfortable and see where things took me.  I went through the first mile split at 7:20.  I actually thought my Garmin was wrong and wondered if it had lost satellite reception....or maybe it was broken.  Turns out it was working fine!  I didn't expect to be running that fast comfortably.  I just kept going running between 7:20 and 7:50 or so each mile trying to stay calm.  I noticed my HR go up when my focus turned to running a specific pace, so I kept having a discussion with myself about running comfortably and not focusing on finishing in 5 hours or less until I got to mile 9 or 10.  At that point I figured I could push through whatever was needed to finish in a certain goal time.  Before that, anything could happen so the best thing was to stay calm as a way to fend off an implosion. At mile 11 I had some pretty severe stomach cramping so decided to take a SaltStick and see if it helped.  I think it did help.  Those last two miles were brutal however.  My HR averaged 160 for those two miles which isn't all that bad for me, but I was definitely hurting.  I kept looking at my watch and calculating how close I was to finishing under 5 hours.  By mile 12 I was pretty sure I had 12 minutes to run 1.1 miles.  I think I ran that last mile at about at 7:30 pace!  I wanted to be under 5 for sure.  

Result:   7:36 ave miles, 151 ave HR, 168 max HR, 131.6 TSS, 1:39:40.

A few days after this race, I'm feeling great about the result.  It shows the payoff of consistent and somewhat methodical training over the last three years.  It also shows the clear boost of my run focus from January through the Lansing Marathon in April of this year.

Next steps - decide on next goals and how to get there.  Possibilities include faster HIM, an IM that I actually race as opposed finish, focus on swimming to get stronger, or focus on some weights.  I do want to maintain my bike and run fitness however.  It will be fun to think it over and make decisions on what's next.