Bike “Mishap” Explained

My race season is officially over, and I’ve has some time to reflect on the year. Going into Ironman Louisville, I was prepared to do nothing for 2 weeks. But with how poorly I raced, I haven’t been able to sit still and have been busy investigating my bike mishap. In my previous post I tried to blame a mechanical issue on the bike for slowing me down.

Actually stopped to remind myself I should be recovering. Soaking in the views

I took my bike to a local shop, and they didn’t find anything causing friction. This means my power meter was reading high, and my legs were not fully recovered (it felt like I could’ve been pushing that hard). I took my race setup for a ride last week to see what the power would be reading.

Prior to Race: 200 watts ~ 20.5-21.0mph

Race: 230 watts = 20mph

Post Race: 252 watts = 20.5mph

This tells me that the power meter is reading ~40 watts higher than it should be. I know weather plays a large factor in all of this, but I was consistently averaging over 20mph at 200 watts. I plan on recalibrating the Vector 3 pedal this week and making sure my crank arm length wasn’t changed (that’d be an easy fix!).

Alright, rant over. This week I am hoping to catch up with friends and do some housework instead of training all week. I can tell my body needs some time to fully recover, but it is hard knowing that I need to make even more improvements if I plan on getting to Kona.

Oh yeah, and I’m playing around with idea of Ironman Tulsa May 31^st for my next attempt =O We’ll see if 6 months will be enough time to train!

Ironman Louisville: Race Report

There is a lot to unpack here, so I’ll try* to be brief.

Overall, it was a tough day for me as a lot of things did not fall into place. There was the cancelled swim, forgetting my bike nutrition, a headwind in both directions and having an unknown mechanical issue on the bike. I burned out my legs trying to hit the right speed and had nothing left physically or mentally for the run. Once I knew my chance at Kona was gone, I decided to slow up and take some time to thank my family during the marathon.

Love my family: Thanks for sticking with me

Swim: CANCELLED due to algae bloom.

Going into the race, this was a negative for me. As a more well-rounded athlete, not being able to swim puts me at a disadvantage against the stronger cyclist/runners. In most races, I typically build a 5-10 minute gap on the swim that they need to earn back. That aside, I did my best to stay focused on the plan.

Bike: 

If you don’t know how a cancelled swim works, you basically start in T1 with your bike gear on and wait for your rack number to be called. Ours was based on bib number, and I was 1292.

The morning started out at 40 degrees, so I kept my sweats on as long as I possibly could before heading to the start line. It was around this time that I realized I left ALL my bike nutrition at the hotel. There was nothing I could do at that point except plan on getting fuel at every transition. As I was tracking my watt output on the bike, I knew something was very wrong.

Time to get a little technical… In training I average right at 200 watts, and that typically gives me an average speed of 20-21mph. For this race, I held 230 WATTS and only averaged 20mph. Lesson learned? Have a bike mechanic look it over before major races! I promise I will not make this mistake again.

T2: Getting off the bike, I was pretty much ready to walk the marathon. I was in 24^th age group, and had nothing left in my legs from pushing too many watts (should’ve been closer to 210). I couldn’t even do my flying dismount and walked my bike to the volunteer with my cleats still on. I pulled on my shoes and slowly jogged to get my bag. A volunteer handed me the wrong bag, so I needed to go back and get the right one. I took my time and started to jog once I hit the timing mat.

Run: 

My plan for the run was simple. Run 30 minutes before I take my first walk. I was expecting to take 4-4.5 hours to get through it and just didn’t care at that point. I had a rough first lap but was still holding around an 8 min/mi. Walking past my family was probably the hardest part of the day. I stopped to give my dad a hug and just walked for a bit. Once I got going again, I must have caught my 2^nd wind. Lap 2 was actually faster than my first, and I kept skipping my “walk breaks” at each aid station. With a shot at still hitting a 3:30 marathon, I used that as motivation to push it home.

I can’t thank my family and Ty enough for being there and sticking out a rough day with me. Without them there, I would have been much more miserable and out on course a lot longer.

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" - Philippians 4:13

Except for a half marathon this fall, my race season is at an end. My posts may be less frequent/shorter, but I will continue to write updates on how my training is progressing. I will be finalizing my race calendar for next year to determine where I will make my next qualifying attempt. As always, thank you for your support and following me on the Road to Kona.

Final Taper into IMLOU

As I am midway through my final taper into Ironman Louisville, I wanted to share some of my thoughts leading into my A race. I just finished my last speed workout (John Deere 5K) taking 2^nd, and I’m ready to switch to all easy workouts. I am also battling a cold, so please send some thoughts/prayers my way with less than 5 days to go.

Was made fun of for wearing my compression socks in public

At this point, it’s been 18 months since I made the decision to go all in and attempt qualifying for Kona. I lose sight of how long it’s been and forget to reflect on everything I have been through so far. After my thoughts, I’ve included a detailed recap for anyone wanting to know some specifics =)

There have been quite a few ups and downs in the last 18 months as you will see below. It’s hard to believe that at this time last year, I was going to physical therapy twice a week for my knee through December. My heart pounds every time I think about this race, and I worry the past 18 months will be for nothing. I don’t know what to expect for conditions, how fast my competition will be or if I can perform the way I did at Madison. Madison was meant to be a set-up race for the main event, and that adds even more pressure.

I know I will do well if I can simply push it as hard as Madison. I remember the pain and dark places that race took me, so simply “repeating the effort” isn’t so simple. This week I plan on trying to keep myself busy and keeping my mind from going there. At this point, I am relying on friends and family as they encourage and amp me up. I already have a lot to be proud of for coming this far. My body is physically ready to take it on, and it’s time to focus my mind.

I hate doing this, but here are my goals for Ironman Louisville:

Top 5 AG

Aggressive 9:30 finish time

Swim - 0:57, Bike – 5:15, Run - 3:05, T1&T2 – 0:10

My finish at Ironman Louisville 2017 (10:39) - expecting to drop over an hour

Detailed Recap

Fall 2017: Completed first Ironman in Wisconsin - 11:38. Ironman Louisville 5 weeks later in 10:39 (Thanks Garrett for the push!) I was meant to be a 1 (or 2 in this case) and done, so I completely dropped training.

March of 2018: I met my buddy Craig, and he got me back in the pool. And after training with him I decided I would do another Ironman that fall. I signed up for Madison again with 6 months to train. I learned more about the Ironman World Championships held in Kona Hawaii and started looking into how I could qualify. Each Ironman offers 40 slots to the age group athletes, and each age group receives slots based on their size. My age group of 25-29 typically gets 2 slots, so I’d be looking to place 1^st or 2^nd. My plan at this point was to use IMWI 2018 as a stepping stone to see my improvements from last year and to see what I needed to work on for 2019.

August 2018: 3 Week before Wisconsin, I was picked up during a century ride due to excruciating knee pain. I was off the bike for 3 weeks leading up to the race, and I almost didn’t go. I decided it would at least be worth completing the swim to see my improvement, and I would bike as far as I could expecting a DNF.

September 2018: To my great surprise, I survived the bike and finished in 11:10. Unfortunately, this race was meant to bring me closer to the podium and gauge where I was at. Instead, I left with 22^nd place and unable to start training for 2019.

After the race I started Physical Therapy. I couldn’t bike or run until mid-November and stuck to swimming for fitness. Once I was cleared to bike again, I had to slowly work my way back up to riding for just an hour.

April 2019: My running pm the other hand progressed quickly, and I dropped a huge half marathon PR of 1:21:29 in April. This was a huge confidence boost as I continued training towards the Muncie 70.3.

May 2019: Along the way, I thought I could easily drop a sub 3 hr marathon and punch my ticket to Boston. The marathon dominated me, and I didn’t come close with a 3:16.

July 2019: My first real test of speed and fitness to see how I stack up to the competition was Muncie 70.3. I managed 5^th AG with a time of 4:30:31 and was very satisfied with the performance. I still wasn’t where I needed to be to take a shot at Kona, but I was moving in the right direction.

September 2019: Ironman Wisconsin was not my A race for the year. Instead, I chose it as a set-up race to make a my “true” qualifying attempt in Louisville 5 weeks later. I finished in 10:00:32 and snagged 5^th AG! I didn’t think I had a shot at the podium, yet there I was at the awards ceremony waiting for the Kona slots allocation. As you may know from my previous post, the 2nd slot rolled down to 3^rd place (who beat me by 36 seconds).

I always have a fear of the unknown, and what will come out of Ironman Louisville has my stomach in knots. But as Ty always reminds me, “Being nervous is good! It reveals how important this is to you”. So with that perspective, I eagerly await to toe that starting line and can’t wait to be in the mix with my competition.

Fastest Employee at the John Deere 5K (2nd Overall!)