Profile of an Ironman – Finish

For the end of year blog series, we're looking at two of our athletes, James Martin and Mike Galante. Before jumping in mid-stream, be sure to read the previous posts:

• Introduction
• Training
• Swim
• Ride
• Run

James Martin

Analysis

Did you analyze your performance with SportTracks? Were there any important learnings for the next race?

I analyse every training session I do with ST3 - Swim, Bike, Run, the race is no different. I spent a long time pouring over the splits from the bike and the run especially. What I learned was that my power faded on the bike, which I can account to a few things and then my running got stronger as the day went on. Were I to go at this again, I might actually start the run a little faster, I have read that if you negative split the IM Marathon, you probably left too much in the tank. I was minutes faster on the back half (I forget the exact splits).

Were you happy with your race? Anything you would have changed in hindsight?

Overall yes, would I change some things, yes. First, I didn't put myself into the best starting position on the swim. I put myself into the fracas and there was no need to do that, it cost me time, but more importantly, it cost me some mental fatigue. This year IMFL had a different swim start than usual. In years past, the beach was open to everyone and when the cannon went off everyone headed out and aimed for whichever buoy they thought best in order to get to the Southernmost point of the course for the first turn (two lap rectangle swim course).

This year, the start included a series of signs along the beach intended to better differentiate swimmers based upon their potential swim time. It seemed like a good idea. In hindsight, were I doing IMFL again next year, I would position myself differently. If I had this to do over again, I would forget the seeding and go far right (i.e. seed myself with the slower swimmers). Over there, I would have had clear water for a long part of the swim and maybe the carnage would have cleared itself up by the time I got where I belonged.

I would also probably start taking on more fluids on the bike at an earlier point. I had a good nutrition plan, but the conditions weren't exactly what I expected and I took too long to make an adjustment.

Looking at your HR graph during the run, you can clearly see it turn up at mile 18

Yeah, when I look at that HR graph, I ask myself if I am racing in the most efficient manner. Maybe I could give up that awesome last 8 miles and run the whole 26 a good bit faster. Instead of a "slower 18" and a "faster 8" maybe I could do just a fast 26. It is also possible that the race cooled off some during the last hour allowing me some more capacity to make that move.

You talk about your power fade around mile 80 of the ride. Any idea why that happened?

There were a few reasons why the power faded and I will never know what reason was more important than another. The course is basically flat, BUT, after the halfway point, there are a series of rollers for a long stretch (probably over 20 miles going off memory). I live in a place that is flatter than a pancake, I don't know squat about riding hills. So, I watch my power meter and try not to spike the power on the way up and try to maintain the power on the way down. I just wasn't focused enough on the way down and the average started to suffer. This is something I really need to learn from before I head to Kona.

On the last 20 miles or so, the course is a slight net downhill, BUT, we also had a big tailwind pushing us home. It is always harder to maintain power when being pushed for me. So the power average continued to drop some even though I believe that my speed average was going up (though that is from memory).

Finally, I think I was a low on fluids. The race was a little warmer than I thought it was going to be and I think that contributed as well. I tried to correct that some in the last 15 miles by taking on some extra water. I think I was close to having a big problem but must have pulled it back enough from the red line that I was able to run well still.

Finally, I seemed to encounter a good bit of draft traffic on the second half, and I was going to ride clean no matter what, so that cost me some watts as well. I knew that the power was fading from half way point on (looking at average), but I didn't know just how bad those miles were versus the earlier miles. When I got back and looked at the data, things started slipping some from 56 to 84 and really fell off a good bit more between 84 and 112.

Kona!

Eventually I would learn that there were only 5 Kona slots for the AG and I thought there was zero chance that 2 would roll and give me a chance to make it. Somehow the guy in 6th went 9:14 and didn't get a guaranteed spot (crazy). I was happy to see that 6th place beat me by 9 minutes because I could have been perfect and not been close to him. I was also happy to see that I only beat 8th place by 58 seconds. Nothing I could have done on this day would have moved me into 6th and every ounce that I had is what got me out of 8th. Why does this matter so much? It is just one spot, right?

Well, I decided to go down and watch roll down and see how it all shook at. On the off chance of a miracle, I asked the registration table whether all the slots for the M 35-39 AG were taken (with about an hour to go). They said there were still two spots available and that there were rumors that they would not be taken. I still had a shot! As it turns out, the two spots were not taken, so I and Mr. 9:14 will both be at Kona in 2014! I wanted to straight up qualify, but I will take the roll down, I am not ashamed of getting to Kona on a clean 9:23.

Next

Did you reach your initial goal?

I had a goal for each leg and for each transition. I was far behind my swim goal but close to my bike goal and really smoked my run goal. On the day, I met my overall race goal.

How long did you rest afterwards? When was the next ride/swim/run?

I did nothing for 2 weeks and 1 day and then got back to running and riding (6 mile run 1 hour ride). I won't get back into the pool until January, swimming is just expensive in terms of time invested for fitness returned, so I usually take a month or two between seasons and focus on either the run or the bike. This season it is the bike. I am doing a big bike focus before I get back to typical TRI training.

What are your plans for 2014? When do you start training for Kona?

I will do a bunch of local races some sprints and some Olys, maybe a couple half marathons, but there will be three big days on the calendar 2 - 70.3s (NOLA and Gulf Coast) and of course IM Hawaii. I will start the dedicated Kona training block right around June 1. That will give me a solid 19 weeks to get everything rolling. I have a strong feeling that Kona 2014 will be my last IM for some time, it will be shorter stuff after that, I just can’t justify giving up the family time any longer to the training; it is an easy decision really. But we are going to go out with a bang . . . ONE LAST HURRAH ON THE BIG ISLAND

Mike Galante

Analysis

Did you reach your goal? Was it a PR?

I crushed my goal, but now how I thought. I finished in 11:18, 42 minutes ahead of my 12 hour goal. My swim and bike both came in well under what I was expecting. My run wasn't as strong as I wanted, though admittedly my run goal was aggressive.

Were you happy with your race? Anything you would have changed in hindsight?

Overall I was thrilled. I wish I could have had a stronger run. I think if I had made time to do ab/core work, it would have helped. At the time, though, it felt like I was maxed out on exercising and couldn't imagine doing additional strength training. Based on how I trained and how I finished, I'm very happy with the results.

How did you analyze your performance with SportTracks? Were there any important learnings for the next race?

I mainly marveled at all the data :) It's very interesting to see how the data compares to how I was feeling. But in terms of using it for next time, since I don't think there will be a next time, it won't prove to be too useful in this case.

Do you mind going into a little more detail about how you analyzed the race?

The bike probably had the biggest trend. The course is 3 out-and-back laps (mentally brutal). Each took almost exactly 2 hours. The way out was uphill, the way back was down. The speed jump at the turnaround is cool. More interesting to see the speed increase jump is smaller with the second and third laps. The reason for that is that the wind started to pick up, as a tailwind on the way out (uphill) and in my face on the way back downhill.

Were you able to see in the data where nutrition came to affect your performance?

On the run, I can certainly see the spikes at each of the water stops that I walked. But other than that, I felt like my pace was too erratic with the walk/run stuff that it's hard to find anything meaningful in it. One thing I'm proud of is my pace didn't suffer on the hills (the second hill had a water stop right before, so I walked that then ran up the hill).

Next

How long did you rest afterwards? When was the next ride/swim/run?

I took about 10 days off completely before doing an easy 3 mile run. I think that was the right amount of time to get back into something active. I certainly took advantage of those 10 days off though.

What are your plans for 2014?

My plans for 2014 are still up in the air. It will likely only involve running, but I'm not sure how aggressive any of my goals will be. After a full year of heavy training, I think a light training load is what I really need.

As a word of warning... I've heard that every Ironman you finish is the last one... until the next one.

Ha, well, as far as it being my last, I'm pretty confident here.

Reference

Much of the race report comes directly from the athlete's own race reports. James Martin's is posted at SlowTwitch while Mike Galante is on his blog at blog.mikegalante.com.