Nick Brown Race Report IM Lousiville

Four notes up front

1: The “injury” I sustained in my left achilles in Iraq (from training, not combat ) nagged me all summer and never went away. I just chose to ignore it and continued to train. Though it lingered during the week before the race, I never even thought about it while I was racing. I’m pretty sure it’s just minor tendinitis, more of an irritation then injury.

2: Friends have been giving me grief because I haven’t shaved my legs since the Armed Forces Championship in early May. I am a hairy guy. Shaving is a lot of work for me. I decided to revert to swimmer form, and save it for just before my big race. Doing so makes me feel faster come race day, regardless of taper or training. I like how it worked out and I think I’ll keep the habit.

3: I was happy to weigh in a 165 lbs race week but I still feel like I’m a chubby triathlete. Check out the pictures below and you be the judge. What can I say, I love to eat. I think in Ironman, that’s an advantage which may be better than the five extra pounds I carry.

4: The weather conditions were perfect.

I woke up Sunday morning at 0400. It always amazes me how easy it is to get my ass out of bed on race day mornings. I take a shower and shave my face before any big race, treating it as any other work day. If I neglected any area over the past week, it was planning for my pre-race breakfast. Some granola bars, two bananas, two Powerbars and Gatorade were all I had in the hotel room. I had left my bike and T1 and T2 bags in transition the previous afternoon so I grabbed my swim stuff and headed off in a search for caffeine. I had found a Dunkin Donuts the night before, and it was there I picked up my vat of coffee. Next, off to the race, a 20 minute drive from my secluded hotel.

I arrived in a parking garage a few short blocks from transition at about 0500. To my horror, I had forgotten my special needs bag with ALL of my nutrition in the hotel. Breaking a few traffic laws, I sped back to the hotel, picked them up, returned to transition and was one of the last people to check their bike and start the quarter mile walk to the swim start at about 0630.

Marty Taylor was also having race morning technical difficulties. He woke up with a flat tire. The issue also set him back and we conveniently ran in to each other searching for the back of the start line.

Ironman Louisville is unique in that it features a Time Trial start for the age groupers. Starting at 0700, in one second intervals, triathletes walked over a timing mat and leaped into the warm Ohio River. Since Marty and I arrived late we were relegated to the back of a 2500 person single file line. I bet it was at least half a mile long. It took over an hour for us and the 30 or 40 athletes behind us to reach the start line. The resulting accordion effect from the line meant that by the time we were 400m from the starting point we were jogging, I zipped up my Xterra Velocity Speedsuit and put on my cap and Swedish goggles on the fly.

I was wearing Zoot tri shorts under the speedsuit, but no top of any kind. One of the reasons why I don’t like wetsuits is that my shoulders seem to fatigue quickly from the recovery part of my stroke. I have a larger upper body than most triathletes, so most wetsuits fit tight, compounding the problem. I chose the Velocity for its flexibility in the shoulders and swam “topless” to avoid unnecessary restriction to my swim stroke.

I am a big fan of “sweeds” and will never wear any other type of goggle. They are the epitome of utility, function and simplicity for which I love them.

The river water was brown and warm. Some folks were complaining about its cleanliness, but I have spent much of my youth in river water and was right at home (whitewater sports were a solace from the bland and sensory deprived world of the competitive swimmer, and steep creeks abound in rural Pennsylvania) . The first 25 percent of the swim was technically upriver, but in still waters protected by a near shore island. I chose a line well clear of the buoys to avoid the 2460 or so folks lined up in front of me, but I still felt like I was always moving through traffic. I would call my pace steady. My turnover was high but I was putting medium to light pressure on the water, relishing the ability to start an Ironman without a 200m sprint and possibly a brawl.

Once past the Island the two turns that brought us into the main river channel were very congested. The biggest downside to my late start was the crowded swim (there were upsides which I will get to later) Technically we were going downriver for the last three quarters of the swim, but the Ohio River doesn’t have much of a current through Louisville. If there was an advantage to be had I didn’t notice it and I don’t think the race’s swim splits reflect it. I was still very wide of the buoys to avoid traffic, but every 200m or so somebody trying to swim to Indiana would cross my path. Or maybe I was crossing their path? Regardless of whoever was on the “correct” path, we would collide. I did fatigue late in the swim and I think I did a moderate job focusing on my form and efficiency. There is room for improvement here.

I was out of the water in 58:07. Even though I feel like wetsuits restrict me, they obviously make me faster. I went 54:13 in Arizona.

T1 was smooth. I felt a bit bloated and must have consumed to much of the Ohio River, but this is normal for me. There was a lot of ground to cover in transition, but it was well organized. The volunteers did an outstanding job getting my T1 bag to me, and I had a helper in the change tent. Putting on the top part of my race kit took AT MOST 15 seconds, I think leaving it in the bag was a good call. I was so focused on my task that I don’t remember ever looking at my helpers face. (I hope I said “thank you”.) 3:49 and I was across the timing mat at the other end of transition.

The bike course featured 10 miles of flat to false flat along the river. Then it turned away from the river and climbed in a rolling fashion up into horse country. Rolling was the key word for the bulk of the ride. While there were no severe or sustained climbs, you always seemed to be going up, or going down. Mile 18 featured the start of a four mile out and back which featured a sharp descent through the woods to a creek, then a climb back out of the valley. Since it was an “out and back” you would turn around to descend and ascend again. Once completed with the dog-leg (I wonder how that name came about?), we continued to “roll” to the start of a 30 mile loop through the town of La Grange which would be completed twice. (Have mercy. A haw, haw, haw, haw, a haw. A haw, haw, haw.) I felt that the loop included the most severe of the rolling terrain. With both loops completed, athletes rolled in a downhill fashion back to the river and the flats in the downstream direction were very fast.

I like to use Infinite as my fuel source on the bike. It lets me cram everything I could want, carbs, protein, salt, etc. into one product, making things very simple. I brought 1500 calories along in four bottles (300 calories / hour x 5 hours). I also had three Gu’s taped to the top tube of my P2C for variety and would replace empty Infinite bottles with Gatorade as needed. For water, I used a speedfill, which worked very well and was easy to refill on the fly. I was hungry right away out of T1, so I downed 2 Gu’s early. The semi-solid seemed to help, but I didn’t modify my Infinite schedule accordingly and so took in A LOT of calories early. Special needs was at about mile 65, and again the volunteers were excellent. I yelled my number to some with cell phones about 400 meters out and a nice lady was holding the bag at roadside for me when I got there. It took about 20 seconds to open up a cheap lunch cooler with my second two frozen bottles of Infinite and I was refueled and off.

I completed the bike course in 5:15:48. My average power was 206W and my average HR was 157 bpm. I climbed those rollers at 250 to 270 watts for the most part. Twice I caught myself climbing at over 300 watts which probably hurt me in the end. The frequency of hills made it very easy to burn your legs out if you weren’t watchful. I think I started to hot as during the 10 miles along the river on the way into T2 I was very fatigued and 180W seemed awfully difficult to hold.

I had exploded in anger once, which also hurt me in the long run and contributed to that rough 10 miles at the end. An older and thicker gentlemen with a race number that labeled him as “Frank” kept leapfrogging me. More than once I caught him sitting RIGHT ON MY WHEEL staring at me, almost grinning. One of those times it got to me and instead of pulling over and forcing him to pass I took off with enough force to get a “Holy Sh…” from the leader of a group of five ahead as I passed. Fun, yes. Smart, no.

Speaking of drafting, the advantage of being one of the last in the water was that the first 60% of my bike ride was a continuous pass. I couldn’t help but slingshot past a large part of the field. I even had an official tale me on a motorcycle briefly, but once he was satisfied that I was following the 7 meter and 20 second rule he took off in search of actual violations. Towards the end when I was riding with folks going more or less the same speed as myself I became more calculated about deciding when it was worth the extra wattage to complete a pass and when it was smart to sit at seven meters. Since serving as the bike marshal at Superfrog, my opinion on this practice has changed. Racing is racing, and if you’re following the rules, you’re not cheating. (What a great sentence, I’m proud of that one!)

My position on the P2C has gotten more aggressive over the past six months, but it worked out well on this course. The numerous short hills gave me ample opportunity to get out of the aero position, stretch, and slightly change the way my legs were firing. Late in the ride I found myself looking forward to approaching hills. I didn’t have anywhere near the back pain I experienced in Arizona.

The cowbells in La Grange were great. They can really get to me!

I came into T2 fatigued, and a little worried about the run coming up. Transition was again smooth and efficient and I was through it in 3:04

The run course was mainly flat and very straightforward. We left T2 and ran to the 2nd street bridge. We ran over half of the bridge, then turned around and ran downtown. The bridge was the only real hill to speak of, everything else was flat. It was then a straight shot through downtown, through historic Louisville, past a neat statue honoring “our Confederate Dead”, across the tracks, and then through near-city-suburbia. The course then turned around and followed its tracks back to downtown to complete the half marathon. We ran right past the finish line. Then we repeated everything, minus the bridge, and proceeded to cross the finish line.

I was running in my Nike Lunar Racers, with socks, and was planning on just using a visor for sun protection. In the past, sunglasses have just gotten in the way on the run as I frequently dump water on my head. However, in T2 I unknowingly put my sunglasses on top of my head and didn’t realize they were there until I was looking at pictures after the race. They came along for the ride!

For nutrition on the run I like to rely on the aid stations, which in an Ironman, are usually frequent, well stocked, and full of excited volunteers. Louisville was no exception, with stations about every mile with water, Gatorade, cola, fruit, pretzels, etc. I took in Gatorade heavily for the first eight miles, then it became tough to stomach for some reason. I switched to just water, then used cola and water from about mile 20 to the finish. I never really took advantage of fruit or any “real” food. I couldn’t even stomach the thought.

Here are my notes on pacing from Training Peaks:

Miles 1 - 6 7:10 to 7:20. Miles 7 to 11 7:15 to 7:30. Miles 12 to 16 7:40 to 7:48. Miles 17 to 19 8:00 to 8:10. Miles 20 to 24 were HARD 8:16 - Walking Aid Stations. Miles 24 to 26 7:23 - gutsy - no stop at the aid station. Last .2 miles was at 6:40 and finish chute was at 6 flat. Overall - 7:39 and 168 bpm.

Though fatigued from the bike, it was still an effortless run for the first eight miles. But just like the bike, I think I started out to hot. At about mile 10 I had a sense of impending doom, but stayed focused. I gradually slowed until about mile 20 when the wheels fell off the bus. This was an extremely low point in the race for me. I had come so far but the end still seemed so distant! My legs hurt from impact and I was running out of fuel. Finally, I passed an aid station and resorted to walking. Through the aid station I drank cola, water, and all the Gatorade my stomach could handle. Once past the aid station I resumed my run. I had success with this form of damage control in Arizona and it worked well in Louisville too. Even though I was walking aid stations, my pace stayed below 8:20 for each mile. The key, and hardest, part was to start running as soon as I passed the aid stations.

Then at mile 24 I broke through my funk. I’m sure it was just because 2.2 miles was mentally very easy to handle. My pace dropped back down below 7:30 as I blew past the last aid station! Like a ghost, an older and taller age grouper ran up on my left shoulder and we each built off each other and surged into downtown. He dusted me, but I could care less. I was flying now, I could hear the finish line around the block and I knew I was going to finish darn close to 9:40. I flew down the finish chute at a pace close to six flat and finished marathon in 3:18:06 and the race in 9:38:49.

I have to wonder if my breakdown at mile 20 was mental. Maybe my body had the capability to push on but I just didn’t have the mental toughness or pain tolerance to do it. That’s the wonderful thing about all endurance sports. I rose to a challenge and achieved great things, but I still wonder if I could have gone faster. I am still left planning for how I will do it better next time…I can always best my previous effort.