2012 Challenge Roth Race Report -- how I managed to salvage a race from near-disaster

Ok, I promised a detailed, no holds barred race report for all my friends who donated to my race charity, Team RWB, so here goes… my 13^th iron distance triathlon.  Bit of background – I’m 56 years old, and did my first IM in 1992.  Been training with Endurance Nation plans since 2005 or so (the old Crucible Fitness).  My PR is 10:57 and I signed up for 2012 Roth aiming to get my time down to 10:40 or so if the conditions were good.   I work for the Dept of Defense in Stuttgart, Germany so Roth is only a 2-hour drive north on the autobahn at a fast and legal 90 mph.

Race training consisted of the same plan(s) I followed last year – about 4 months of “out season” training with the Endurance Nation coaching, then the advanced 20 week ironman plan.  I followed it probably around 75%; did about half the swim yardage due to the fact I do not like swimming, it is very inconvenient to do in Germany, and I used to SUCK at it (breakthrough 3 weeks ago, miracles do happen).  Also did  about 75% of the running mileage (heh, you try to run in Germany over the winter) and I cut back some of the intervals due to my advanced age and need for more recovery time.   And then... about 75% of the bike workout mileage because of the indoor bike training until March and again, the age recovery factor.  But all in all, a pretty good training effort and I always tried to do quality workouts instead of just putting in the time.   Thanks to my lovely wife for putting up with all of my crankiness as the training time ramped up in May; I only had to sleep in the guest bedroom only ONCE for an early Thursday morning long run.   She’s done 10 ironmans herself, so she has a pretty good understanding of all of the perturbations (and said crankiness) that go with an “Ironman” in training. .

Equipment changes for this race were fairly small but vital to some key  breakthroughs.  I bought a pair of Specialized “S-works” road bike shoes, which although expensive and not “triathlon” bike shoes, were very comfortable (even sockless) and, combined with the Speedplay “extended” cleat adapter, eliminated the foot pain and numb toes that I have always experienced after 3 hours of steady, hard pedaling.   I also swapped my OE 172.5 mm cranks on my Trek SC 7.5 with 165 mm Ultegra cranks, which did seem to give me more power (about 10 watts) at the same exertion level.   

The other big improvement I made was to add 15 mm to my stem length (swapped the stem with my road bike, which helped both bike fits), which really improved my comfort in my shoulders and upper back (it took my shoulder angle to 80 deg).   The last equipment add I did was to buy a Garmin 910XT, which I will credit with making my swim training more enjoyable and focused… and it helped my experiment around with my stroke rate and swim golf.  This lead to the discovery that I was pausing in my catch phase too long on my non-breathing side; once I concentrated on driving the arm right thru entry into the power phase, I found that everything just “synched” and my speed improved by 7-10 sec/100 meters (1:50) with the same or less effort.

Based on the performances over the past two years, I continued to also do 1-2 core and focused weight lifting  sessions per week – and right up to the race.  I’ve had a chronic hip flexor problem for the past few years, always  after about 1 ½ hours running, so I concentrated on cable machine knee lifts and the problem never occurred this season.   For anyone over 50 years old – weight and core training should definitely be part of your IM training plan in my opinion.

I was feeling good about my training about a month before the race; my FTP was 242 (up from 220 at outseason start) and VDOT was 48.   Then… I did a half-ironman in early June (Challenge Kraichgau) and about halfway thru the run felt my left calf tighten up.  I continued to run thru the pain and ended up with a mid-grade sprain in my left soleus.  I blame it on new zero drop Newton MV2s (only second time running with them, I should have known better) and cranking the pace up too fast.   So the last 4 weeks consisted of only 3 “test” runs (all ending in a tight calf), lots of icing, stretching, self-massage, 2400 mg daily motrin, and some light seated knee lifts.  My bike training and swim training went on pretty much per plan, although I took it a little easier on biking uphill.   I wasn’t very optimistic about my run for the race, but stayed positive, kept the training plan/nutrition up to speed, and hoped that the rest would get the calf repaired in time for the race gun.   

Going into the race, I dropped about 4 lbs in the last 6 weeks or so, mainly from eating better and cutting out most alcohol/sweets.  Got down to 145 lbs, which is pretty much my ideal race weight.  Put the Wheelbuilder disc covers on my powertap training wheel, and I was good to go for Challenge Roth (except for my iffy left calf))!

Challenge Roth is a legendary race; the race atmosphere is fairly laid back and relaxed compared to Kona, but you know there are some damn good triathletes walking around you based on race times and their lean, hungry looks and expensive race bikes.  On Thursday night, I ran into NZ legendary pro Cam Brown, and had a nice chat with him since I had met him back in 2000 or so at Kona and we have some mutual friends.   It was fairly amusing to go to the Erdinger (beer sponsor) party and see pro triathletes in lederhosen and dirndls, as well as triathletes wearing lederhosen shorts and compression socks at the same time.   Not quite as dorky as speedos, but pretty close…

The pre-race Erdinger Party.  Belinda Granger in dirndl, also Kathrin Walchshofer, asst. race director,a member of the Challenge Family.  She fills out a dirndl quite nicely, thank you.  

NZ Legend, Cameron Brown, and moi, at the Erdinger Welcome Party

The expo is pretty good (you won’t see a beer garden at U.S. ironman expos!), and I got a free sports taping on my left calf (what the hell, it can’t hurt, I reasoned).  I had also bought a pair of compression sleeves for my calves, against my better judgment and long-standing disdain of triathletes who race in  compression socks/sleeves.  I was pretty desperate and did not want my calf sprain to return during my run.  If it did, it would be a long, slow and painful  run (or DNF, which I have never done in 25 years of triathlon racing).

 Logistics – we stayed in Hilpoltstein, which is very convenient for races, as it’s only a 20 min walk to the swim start in the Main-Donau canal, and for spectators, since the bike course goes through the town 4 times during the race (including the famous Solarburg hill).   Roth, where the expo and finish are located, is about 10km  from Hilpoltstein.  To have someone drive there with a car and park is somewhat problematic during race day due to road closures, but is possible.  Note: don’t try to drive a car to T2 after the race to get your bike – traffic was bad – it’s much better to walk from the finish to T2 (about ½ mile) and pickup your bike/bags and then find your car, shuttle bus, or taxi van (they will be waiting at T2).

Bike check-in on Saturday – we showed up right at opening, 1300, and there was no line – rather unbelievable.  Quick setup in the wheel slot racks, a look at the swim exit and change tent, and I was done.  On the way out, I saw none other than legendary eight time Ironman winner, Jurgen Zack, getting photographed by Herbert Krabel of www.Slowtwitch.com!   So of course I walked up to him and wished him luck, and how great Softrides are (I have one) as I had first saw him on his famous Softride at Ironman Austria in 2000 as he lapped my on the bike course going around 45 mph… nice guy!  But unfortunately, for some unknown reason, he dropped out of the race the next day.

My Trek SC7.5 at bike check-in ready to rock and roll!

German uber bike tri legend Jurgen Zack.  Dude, where's the Softride?

  

Race Day!!!       8 July 2014.  Or what I’ve been training my ass off for a long time...

Weather was forecast to be a little iffy, with 60% chance of afternoon thunderstorms and windy, up to 20 mph.  I told myself that windy conditions on the bike would only be to my favor, as I’d stay low and on goal wattage, which was 170 on the flats.   My bike plan was to plan on a 5:30 bike split, with a IF of 71% and a TSS of 269.  

Race morning I got up at 0415 after a pretty good night’s sleep; ate a roll,  a power gel,  about 300 cal of First Endurance ultragen with a scoop of EFS pre-race, and a cup of coffee.   Although I tested this breakfast previously, it really didn’t sit too well, (may have been too much caffeine, not sure) and it went right through my system.  But by race start at 0715, my stomach felt good after a much needed porta pottie break, and I told myself it was more important than ever to take in lots of calories on the bike (I was shooting for about 360 per hour).   The sight of thousands of people on the bridge overlooking the canal and the hot-air balloons, 3200 bikes, thousands of spectators, etc, was pretty damn inspiring.   And best of all, the music blasting from the speakers was great – none of the usual U2 dribble, etc – instead it was inspiring, soaring movie soundtrack type stuff.

Race morning at the Main-Donau Canal.  Beautiful scene and no surf!

Swim.  Despite 3200 individual racers, followed by 600 relay teams, the swim starts were very organized and fairly mellow, because of start waves of 300 people every five minutes (sorted by estimated finish times, not age groups).  The only downside to this was the lack of any warm up, other than swimming 50 meters to the start line in the 100 meter wide canal.   This, along with a little bit of wind chop and the lack of any open water training this year, resulted in a poor start for me, as I had to pause a few times with some breast stroking to prevent hyperventilating.   But after about 3 minutes of trying to relax, just count my strokes,  and not think about my race slipping away, I finally started getting into a good rhythm.  At about the 500 meter point,  I finally shifted into my race stroke and swam very smoothly and relaxed until the exit.  Very little bumping, lots of open water, and I managed to catch back up to most people in my wave start by the time I got out of the water.   The other nice thing about the Roth wave start method is that I managed to find several pairs of feet to follow as the slightly faster swimmers in the wave behind me caught up with the MOP swimmers in my wave.  Swim time ended up at 1:15, which tied my previous PR set way back in 1999 and was right on my goal.  Next IM goal -- conquer my poor start to help get my swim down below 1:10.  

I ran into the change tent with some tired lats, but feeling great.  One of the many differences between U.S. and European triathlons is the absence of "segregated" change tents – heh, you’re in the land of naked spas for goodness sakes!  So you have to leave any bashfulness at the Uni-sex tent flap as you change (in my case, exchanged my speedo for comfy DeSoto  bike shorts) with the help of a nice german lady – and with lots of other half-naked triathletes, male and female, around you (although all of the females had started together in one of the first waves 30 min ahead of me so there weren’t very many changing at that point—damnit, Jim!)

Bike

The T1 area at Roth is surprisingly compact, very well laid out, and I think my transition time was around 3:30.   Before I knew it, I was crossing the bridge across the swim canal, cheered on by thousands of enthusiastic fans, and took a quick gaze down on the poor souls still flailing in the water below.  I took a deep breath and got into my “bike” mode, focusing on a good cadence of about 85 rpm and locking on 172 watts.   I had pre-ridden the course 3 weeks earlier, which was a huge psychological help, and I steeled myself for the expected headwind out of the south by southwest as we came became exposed to the wind at about the 6 mile point.

It soon became evident that some athletes didn’t have power meters, or didn’t care, because there was a consistent number of riders passing me when we hit a exposed stretch with a fairly good headwind (about 18 mph).   But my legs felt good, no “niggles” or IT band soreness, and I felt good as I hit the first big climb at the southernmost point of the course at Greding.   This is a 150m high climb over 7 km, and sure enough, as I kept my power between 190 and 200 watts, I was only passing the slower females, with guys hammering up the first steep slope off the saddle. 

The rest of the first lap was fairly uneventful; I concentrated on keeping a good cadence, steady power, and taking in food/drink every 20 min.  My basic nutrition plan was 1 full bottle of race drink (High 5) at 180 kcal per hour, 200 kcal per hour from my food bottle (First Endurance EFS), and  1 gel per hour for the caffeine (I had two with me, and took a High 5 gel from an aid station).    In my DeSoto bento box I had 4 salt stick capsules and if turned out warmer than forecast,  and some motrin pills in case disaster struck with unforeseen pain issues.  The wind kept up and I tried to focus on the fact that the uber bikers were going to be burning way too many matches trying to keep to a programmed race speed.

Yeah, I know -- I can get a little lower.  Daddy also wants a front race wheel for Xmas!

Finally got to the famous “Solarberg” hill in Hilpoltstein, where I planned to pick up my second bottle of EFS from my wife at the aid station.  I had seen pictures of the crowd on the hill, but nothing can prepare you for the actual scene when you make a right hand corner and see nothing but a mass of screaming people and a narrow “Tour de France” type corrider for riders to go through single file.  Absolutely thrilling – but as I entered into the crowd “tunnel”, I found myself behind a girl who was absolutely hammering it up the hill, obviously caught up in the tremendous adrenalin rush the crowd was inspiring…  I looked down at the ‘ol Garmin and the power was about 230 watts… looked behind me and there were a couple of guys right there… and decided I didn’t want to slow them down, especially behind a chick!  So my carefully adhered to power plan went right out the window for about 2 minutes as I got off the saddle and kept on the girl’s wheel, greatly enjoying the crowds, the hand slaps, and the incredible level of noise from the noisemakers and the people yelling themselves hoarse.

Thought I was ready for the wall of sound and spectators when I turned the corner to climb up Solarberg.
I was not! 

As I crested the hill and went by the aid station at the 73 km point, I kept a keen eye for Theresa and a noisy little Yorkie dog by the name of Porsche.  I spotted T’s bright pink top and coasted to a stop for a quick exchange of bottles, 3 more caffeinated gels, and a welcome bark of support from Porsche.   Then it was back to work with a determination to keep on a smooth and steady 170 watts and a hope that I would soon start to see some athletes coming back to me.  

As I climbed the small hills out of Eckersmühlen, I slowly began to reel in guys who had hammered into the headwinds too hard on the first lap.  I started to feel the fatigue in my legs, but focusing on drinking/eating every 20 min and staying in the right power zone helped distract from the discomfort.  As I began the long (18 km) and gradual descent from Thalmassing to Greding,  I stayed at my descending power (160 watts) and really began to pass riders.  The headwind that was there on the first lap was gone, and instead of grinding away at 18-20 mph, I was hitting 23-28 mph… yeah baby!   Again, I hit the base of the big climb at Greding and this time I upped the power a little bit more, as I was feeling pretty good.   But I was now passing slower bikers on the hill, and more importantly, continued to pass a lot of riders on the flat top and long descent going down into Obermassing. 

The last 50 km of the bike was fairly uneventful; I passed the time by geezering athletes who were coasting on the downhills or suffering out of their aerobars on the flats.  My nutrition seemed to be working well; no GI issues, and other than some pain in the left side of my lower neck (my breathing side), I felt pretty good as I got close to the barn.   As my crotch started to complain at about the 85 mile point, I thought about my Copenhagen irondistance tri last summer, and the agony I went through – there was no comparison because of the dialed in “fit” and the decision to spend 30 seconds putting on my DeSoto 400 mile bike shorts instead of the Team RWB tri-shorts.

The last 10 km of the ride from Eckersmühlen to Roth went by quickly, and before I knew it, I was applying the brakes hard to dismount at T2.  Handed my bike to a nice volunteer, and picking up my run bag as I clumsily jogged into the changing tent.  Again, no need to be shy here, as I changed out of my bike shorts (putting them in the bag myself, the DeSoto shorts were not exactly daisy fresh at that point).  It also took extreme focus to not to fall over the nice woman helping me as I struggled to get my running shorts on with tired legs.   As I sat down to put on my shoes, she asked me if I wanted some sunscreen on my shoulders, I said yes, and when she started to rub it on,  somewhat jokingly asked for a massage, and lo and behold,  she gave me a great 10 second pressure massage right on my neck trigger point!  Absolutely the best T2 volunteer I have ever had!

As far as my bike ride went, the time was 5:41, distance 111 miles (I don’t think the course is too short though, my Garmin took awhile to get a fix when I started riding).  And Roth is NOT a flat bike ride -- the Garmin file showed 3800 vertical feet!  My power file showed a NP of 161 watts, which I was happy with, and a negative split, which wasn’t too surprising as the wind faded a bit on the second lap and I put in a bit more effort on the hills the second time around.  The VI was 1.08 and the TSS was 252,  which was a little lower than the planned TSS of 269 I had been shooting for.  Looking back, I think I dialed it back a bit because of the calf injury. 

Run 

I started jogging very very slowly and tentatively out of T2 after taking a quick dive into a porta pottie for a pee.   I was fairly certain that my injured left calf would, at some point around 6 miles, give up the ghost and start issuing stabbing pain signals to my brain.  But as I eased into what turned out to be an 11 min first mile, my left calf felt “normal”, and I had my first glimmer of hope that the run would not be a sufferfest (or failure).   I tried to mentally relax and focus on a nice evolution running technique after I did the normal wrestling with putting on my Garmin 910XT watch and my iPod/headphones.  Surprisingly, despite the race organizer (Challenge) allowing music to be worn on the run, I only saw only 2 or 3 athletes listening to music.   Oh well – I really enjoyed the tunes, and a couple of songs really helped later on in the run when my body started to call my brain all kinds of bad names for the punishment it was inflicting…

I had originally wanted to run a 3:40 or better marathon, but after the leg injury, I was hoping just to settle in a 9 min/mile pace if the first few miles felt OK.  As I got down to the Main-Donau canal running path, the calf still felt normal, and by mile 3 I had indeed settled into around a 9:00 groove.  All systems felt good, and surprisingly, not too many athletes were blowing by me as they had been coming out of T2.  As a matter of fact, starting around the 6 mile point, the only bodies passing me were really really fast relay runners.  The temperature was only in the mid-70s, but in the sun, it felt more like the mid-80s, and runners were really starting to show signs of overheating more and more.  I felt pretty comfortable, and was really enjoying the sights, sounds, spectators, and tunes as I turned around at the northernmost point of the course, maintaining a fairly easy 9 min/mi pace. 

Coming out of the northernmost town of Schwand, there was a fairly long gentle uphill coming back to the canal, which I was really worried about because of my calf.  I took it really easy, probably around a 10:30 pace, but the calf didn’t act up and I happily got back to the flats and started to think perhaps my calf was going to cooperate for 26.2 miles.  It was around this point that I also shifted from a “2-2” breathing pattern to a “1-2” breathing pattern and started counting my steps as I upped the pace to an 8:50 for a few miles (it would eventually drop back down to a 9:10 or so at about 18 miles).

Run nutrition consisted of alternating about half a cup of high 5 drink and coke every aid station, which were about 1.5 to 2.5 km apart.   I also took in 4 salt stick capsules and 3 caffeinated gels during the run.  My stomach felt pretty good the whole day, and I continued to stay on the 9:00 pace as I made my way into good ol Eckersmühlen at around mile 16 or so.  Now I was really starting to pass a lot of athletes who were walking or jogging at a 12:00 or slower pace.   Always a good feeling when you pass a younger guy who you know hammered the bike in 5 hours but is now staring into the face of a 5 hour (or slower) death march!  Geezered!

OK, the lack of run workouts in the last 4 weeks started to show as I “crossed the line” at the 18 mile point… my “easy” 9 min pace started to feel like a 7:30 pace as I finally saw the last turnaround after Eckersmühlen.  But any fatigue was nothing compared to the stabbing pain that I could be feeling from a strained left calf, so I continued to cruise back to the now familiar canal running path.  At about the 20 mile point I went to my tried and true “pick a point to run to” (or body to pass) mental game to keep the pace up.   The 4 km stretch from the canal back to Roth seemed to last forever, but the spectators were great, and I even saw the wife and dog cheering as I entered the town outskirts, I was beaming, as it was obvious that my calf had held up and I’d be putting in a solid marathon, against the odds.

Heading towards the barn around mile 22. Note young studly uber-bikers walking as I gleefully geezer them!

The last little 2 km loop through the Altstadt (old town) of Roth is both beautiful, with fun, inebriated Germans madly cheering, but also  very, very painful as you run on medieval cobblestones and eventually wind your way back to the wonderful finish line area.   I refused to look at the my Garmin for the time of day (not that I would have been able to figure out my race time at that point anyway) as I was running as fast as I dared, and doubted that I’d be anywhere near the top five (podium) anyway.  I am not very proud of the fact that I had to keep replaying “Fireworks” by Katy Perry to keep up my cadence as I ran on the cobblestones for the last 2 km…

 Get the sunglasses off, zip up the Team RWB kit, and enjoy the sounds/high fives as you enter the makeshift “stadium” for the final 200 meters on a carpet.  As I got within sight of a large finish line digital clock, I took a quick glance and saw a 11:44 or so, and thought to myself – damn, I bet I am right on an 11:00 finishing time (I knew that I would be close with a run under 4 hours).   My sluggish attempts at mental math were rudely interrupted as some guy went sprinting by me on the carpet, only to hit a bump on the lumpy carpet and go flying into a clumsy looking shoulder roll a few meters later, much to the crowd’s delight.  I carefully steered my leaden legs around him as I took a 90 deg turn towards the beckoning finish line.  A few strides later I was slowing to jump up and attempt to touch the finish line “arch” and then gratefully stopped to get congratulated and “medaled”. 

My throat was pretty scratchy and I bent over to cough for awhile, but other than that, I felt pretty good.  Run time on the Garmin was  3:56, which I was very happy with, considering the circumstances, and I had a pretty even pace.  Went into the athlete’s garden tent for the t-shirt and an Erdinger alcohol-free beer, grabbed your typical German open-faced meat sandwhich, and staggered out to meet T at our designated rendezvous point (a biergarten, of course!). 

Ironman #13 -- check!  Where's the nearest biergarten?

After meeting T and winding down for a few minutes, I went back into the large finisher’s tent to get my dry clothes and also got my race time from computers that they had set up.  To a little chagrin, I saw that my finish time was 11:00:07 – ohhh, so close to that nice sub-11 time which I’ve only done in my two previous ironmans.  Oh Shiza!  (that's german for you know what)  I also saw that I was 7^th (out of 75) in my age group, a somewhat pleasant surprise given the high quality of competition at Roth… and all of the times were relatively slow because of the windy bike.   I was happy to finish, period, but if I had been healthy going into the race, I’m pretty sure I could have done at least a 3:40 run and snuck into the top 3.    Shoulda, coulda, woulda.   There’s always the next race!

Some key lessons learned from my 13^th ironman training season and race:

a.     Continue to dial in your bike fit for that sweet spot of maximum aero-sweetness, power, and comfort

b.      Swimming is all about finding the right tempo and rhythm after you achieve a half decent body position.  Going from a 2:15/100 meter pace to a relatively effortless 1:55 pace is not about fitness or strength – it’s about technique.

c.       The body can heal itself pretty quickly with the right rest and therapy.  Of course, the real lesson learned is to avoid dumb injuries by doing your “b” race smartly and not try to use a 5K race shoe for a half marathon!

d.      Race nutrition – I’ve got the race nutrition dialed in; breakfast still needs some work!  For me, (145 lb), 360 kcal/hr on the bike (no protein) is it.

e.       Race execution – a good plan, and sticking with the plan – is critical in an ironman.   A powermeter on the bike will allow you to race in windy conditions with confidence.   Keep it under control on the ups, and pass everyone on the downs who is just soft pedaling.   The  Endurance Nation TSS and power calculator is SPOT ON and is a  tremendous race planning tool.  Fast Euro bikers can be beat in an ironman by a mere mortal such as myself with a good, steady marathon!

f.        Core work and strength work for anyone over 50 is absolutely critical to staying healthy and will also help keep your finishing times get faster relative to those in your age group who do not do this.  "Core Performance" is a great training book, and the strength training has to be triathlon specific.

      Lastly, if you'd like to donate to my race charity, in payment for all of the great training tips that I have given you in this race report, :-), please go to the Team RWB site at:

 Challenge Roth Team RWB Fund site

Aloha, and good training!