Just adding a good friends race report from his first year as a pro! Give it a read as it is very inciteful and detailed.
Dan's Report:
I'm writing this report 11 days post race. It's Wednesday which is my normal day off and it's nice to be able to relax and not have to worry about squeezing in a 6 to 7 hour brick.
I've had alot of requests for my race report so her we go. It's been a long drawn out season, 11 months to be exact of heavy training. After last years great result, I went about building a huge 12-16 week base starting December 1st, with the goal of racing short course in May and early june before my final Ironman build of 12 weeks into Kona. My first epic week occurred at the end of January with my bike mileage topping out at 900km's and 150 km's of running over a 6 day span. I also was lifting in the gym 3 to 4 days a week using the Colgan Power Program which is periodized into 6 weeks of general conditiong (3 sets of 12-15 reps), 8 weeks of Strength focus ( 1 set of 12, 1 set of 8 - 10 reps, 1 set of 6-8), followed by 5 weeks of power focus (4-5 sets of 4-6 reps of only 4 exercises per workouts - squats, bench and olympic lifts). Swimming was x 5 per week averaging 22-25000 metres/wk making my total volume during the base phase about 22-25 hours per week.
By the end of March my Max Aeroebic Pace had plateaued at 6:07 min/mile at a Heart Rate of BPM, so it was time to start some interval work in preperation for the short course season. This is point where the heavy volume and heavy lifting caught up to me, and follwing an 8 mile hill sprint workout and plyometrics, my right knee completely gave out and became evident within a few days that this was not normal soreness associated with heavy training. So to make a long story short, April thru JUne were spent recovering doing only easy to steady state training.
By July, I was back to full training volume, but definitely was not in Half Ironman racing shape as my 4:19 at Racine revealed. By August I was building up to 500 km's per week on the bike with about 80 km's of running. By Pigman I was biking very well with a 2:14 bike split and a 1:25 run split on a hot and hilly course.
In early September, Jillian and I went to Thunder Bay so she could try and qualify for Boston. I had a 3 hour run scheduled that day, so O entered the race as training and decided to run 1 hour eze at a HR below 135 and the rest at 140-145. Then end result was a 2:57 with an avg HR less than 140 and the confidence I could run well at the end of a big volume 30 hour week. Oh that's also the nite I was informed I was ineligible for Kona as the result of racing Pro at Racine. Apparently, since the WTC has incorported USAT rules which state that you cannot compete in a race with greater than 5000 pro purse and maintain your amateur status. My appeal was denied, so I made the changes to delay my peak for 3 weeks for my Ironman pro debut in Florida.
To summarize my changes in training this year, my training schedule from Mark Allen Online was much more moderate but with few eze weeks other than on race weeks. NO 40+ hour epic weeks this year, but many more consistent moderate weeks with lots of steady state and moderate hard/HIM pace. My total volume 8 weeks out was as follows: 23, 30, 15 including practice fat/carbo load and broken Ironman,29,26, 21, 13, and 6:00 plus Ironman race week. Within this, I completed 3 7 hour rides with the bulk of it at IM pace or faster, 2 3 hour runs, 2 2:40 hour runs with 90minutes at IMpace. I really believed these long steady workouts are key to running well the last 10 km's of the marathon. That, plus tempo and functional threshold work at the tail end of the long rides and runs to allow your to elevate your HR at the end of a 7 to 9 hour day.
Here's a sample of my week done 5 weeks out from the race:
Monday: a.m. 1 hour eze bike on rollers HR <120 href="mailto:20min@IM">20min@IM goal pace - 225-235 watts
brick tempo run - 1:15
1x 12min@ threshold/5 min rest(10.9mph)
1 x 9 min@ threshold/3 min rest
6 x 1min @ Vo2/30s rest (12mph)
6x 30s@Vo2/15 second rest
thursday: 30 min eze run
p.m. 30 min eze run
weights
Friday:
a.m. 1:30 tempo bike - 5 x 11min@ Sweet Spot (88-94% of FT)/1min eze
p.m. 1:10 tempo run - 50 min @ 145-150 bpm
Saturday: Big Training Day - 9:00
5000m swim with swim team
7 hour bike - 1 hour eze - 200 watts
4 hours @ goal IM pace- 225-240 watts
1 hour @ 6x 4min@320watts/ 2min eze, 15 x 30 seconds at Vo2 (380watts)/30 seconds eze
1 hour at Goal IM watts - 225 -230 watts
Followed by a 30 min steady state run - 140-145 bpm.
Sunday:
a.m.3500m swim
p.m. 2:40 run - with 60 minutes at goal IM pace - 9.2mph - 6:30mile, 10 minutes at 6:15, 10 minutes @ 6:00, 10 minutes at 5:30
30 minute water run
So I was looking forward to the taper, but I knew there was still alot more volume than I was used to with the Mark Allen Program, but I was confident this would allow me to carry more aerobic fitness into the race.
I arrived 9 days out from the race to give me ample time to acclimatize and get some key training sessions on the course. I went with a 6 days fat loading phase this year so I could eat fairly normal on the travelling day. Friday was a pretty big day 8 days out from the race. After a 40 min swim, I headed out for my scheduled 3:30 ride. Seeing as I was fat loading, I packed only enough water for 3.5 hours and 2 hammer bars, one for 2 hours in and 1 in case of a bonk. The good news was the my fat burning seemed to be exceptional as I was able to go 2.5 hours on water before feeling like I needed any fuel. I ended up doing 152km's in 3 hours 50, a little longer than expected but You have to get home somehow when U do a looped course and I didn't plan accordingly. My watts were 211 good enough for a 39 km/hr avg which was good for my confidence as that would give me a 4:37 bike split. The rest of the week went well and by the 3rd day of fat loading I was feeling very strong. I carboloaded 2 days pre race following my usual track workout of 1km at vo2 mac pace, followed by 2x200m sprints at a more conservative pace than last year to avoid strain to my hamstrings.
Race morning came and I was ready to go. As usual, I missed my planned 20 minutes swim warm up waiting in line for the Port a Potti.
So after 200 metres and a few surges, I lined up mid pack 2nd row behind a few athletes I had pre screened to give me a potential draft to a sub 1hr split. The pro start is fast so I had practiced many times starting hard then settling into threshold pace. This was to be the first Ironman I was to truly race, so I was constantly looking for the right pair of feet to jump on. By the first turn, things were spreading out and I was second in a group of 6 yellow pro men caps. 29:13 for the first lap was a good indicator, but I let the pack and my free ride to a sub 1 hour swim split go. From then on, it was pretty lonely and slow going the second loop; I was 1:03 at the mat which was a PB, but still a good 5 minutes off of where I need to be to be In the race.
Since my last LT test put me at 320 watts, the plan was to aim for 225-230 watts over the course of the bike which is still a conservative 70% of threshold and should set me up for a quick marathon split. 15km's in by the bridge, things got interesting as a group of slower male pro swimmers and fast 52-54 AG swimmer's started to come together on the bike. It was unbelievable how much I was being passed holding 225 watts out to the turn at Embro. The group swelled to 15 or so by the special needs pick up but it was a pretty legal paceline for the most part, but It seemed like you were either going 150 watts or 270 to stay a legal distance from the person ahead of you. My split of 2:22 at the 56 mile mark was a strong indicator that the pace was much to slow considering the wind was from now shifting to the South east which would mean slower speeds on the way back. At the 100 km aid station before the out and back it was time for the bike to start so I ramped it up to 240 watts thru the aid station for the next hour and only one of the German AG's attempted to match me.
The turnaround provided me an idea of my position, about 40th and two large packs of 8 or so that had formed 10 minutes and 15 minutes up the road. Holding 235 watts on the way back felt quite eze at <140>
