IM Tulsa 2022 Race Report
Preface
Better late than never. Post IM I checked out and shifted gears to summer fun with the kids. Kept running streak going until day 288 on July 4th. From fitness pov I've been slacking off over the summer but plan to get back into it more socially with school back in session and fall around the corner.
Venue
Honestly I picked this race for the time of year over the location, but Tulsa ended up being pretty cool. It was a bit of a hike from the east coast but doable. TUL airport very convenient to town, although it required a connection from NJ. Lots of good restaurants, bars, arts, and entertainment options. A great bike shop. Lots of coffee shops. Too many pot dispensaries. And a diverse mix of old run down sections, newly developed ones, and beautiful historic buildings from the early 1900's.
Stayed: Hotel Indigo Downtown. Pricey for Ironman/PGA weekend but convenient to everything.
Ate & Drank: - Lo Wood: Higher end meal our first night. Excellent. - Jinya: Good Ramen noodle bar. - Vampire: Sandwiches. - Dilly's Diner: Amazing breakfast options. So good we went back again. - Cherry St Kitchen: Ok breakfast. - McNellie's Pub: Good bar food and vast beer list. - Arthur G's BBQ: When in Rome. - Sweets: HURT Donuts, Rose Rock Microcreamery - Coffee: Black Wall Street, Soda, Gypsey
Bike Shop: Phat Tire. Can't say enough good things about these guys. Got me tuned up lickety split, and repacked the bike for return so we had more time to enjoy Tulsa.
Lead Up
We left at stupid o'clock Thursday morning from EWR but everything went smoothly and arrived on time around noon in Tulsa. Despite a brief scare where my bike ended up not loading on our EWR->ORD connecting flight, somehow AA got it to us via DFW just 15' after we landed in TUL. Pro tip, throw an AirTag in your case so you can see where your bike is in near real time.
There was a lot to do those first 48 hours. Thur: Reassembled bike, dropped at shop for tune up, athlete check in, last taper run. Nice meal out at Lo Wood. Fri: Recon swim at Keystone lake (out of town), drove complete bike course. Short bike on run course. Organized race day bags. Raman at Jinya. Sat: Big breakfast at Dilly's Diner. Checked in bike and bags. Watched Bond. Early to bed (~8pm).
Goals
I started training for this from pov of "What would it take to KQ?" and working backwords from my prior PR of 11:38 at IMWI in 2015. Idea was to systematically reverse engineer the fitness and know how to KQ, or at least to get close and then build on that down the road.
After some soul searching and lots of EN Team feedback, I shifted my mindset for race day from specific output based time/place goals to one of inputs and process. In other words, don't chase a time. Inputs >> Outputs. Prioritize process throughout the day and results will follow.
All that said, I definitely wanted to improve time and execution vs. my prior 11:38.
Race Day
Morning
Followed my plan. 1st breakfast around 2am, then back up at 4am, walked up to shuttle. Jen and I both managed to squeeze on and ride together which was nice. Got to T1 around 5:30am. Tires, fluids, Garmin & batteries on, bike check, etc.
A storm had rolled through the day before so it ended up thankfully being much colder than expected (low 50's). I debated the day before on what to wear and ultimately stuck with EN Tri top + arm warmers and gloves which proved very helpful!
Swim
Went ok but plenty of room for improvement. This is by far my weakest discipline and I still haven't unlocked some fundamental form issues. Liked the format change to rolling start and last minute decision to modify from 1 to 2 laps as water was very choppy further out. Somehow this increased the total distance to ~4750yds (+500yds) and caused extra confusion when they moved the T3 buoy between lap 1 and 2! I didn't wear a watch but check out these other tracks.
For future - think I really need to dedicate a season to swim form including a week+ camp w/ coaching to fix some fundamental issues.
Actual time 1:31 ~= 1:55/100yd on the longer course, and almost identical pace to IMWI although AG 29th of 88 starters was a definite improvement.
T1
4:27 w/ minimal fooling. Passed 55 men in T1, 6 in AG. Wetsuit stripper was fab -- snap and right off. Grabbed bag. Helmet and shoes on. Arm warmers and gloves on at the bike added the most time but helped keep me warm enough on the ride.
Cumulative AG: 23rd (up 6)
For future - only way I see to improve this is to have shoes on bike and do a rolling start. And ditch gloves and arm warmers if temps permit.
Bike
Plan called for 2 GE bottles/hr until peed twice, then 1.5 bottles/hr thereafter. Priority on hydration vs. solid calories. Intensity as 130-135bpm and 215-220w NP (314w ftp). Steady, do no harm, setup the run, "Wait for it".
Right off the bat I was feeling very full and stomach grumbly. Think my Saturday breakfast/dinner + Sun morning breakfast was a bit too much. Took some time to settle in sipping fluids, probably not getting down quite as much as I had planned, but fortunately with the cooler temps it wasn't an issue. Now some months later I don't remember exact consumption but it would have been a couple bottles short of plan (~8 vs 10), finishing with H2O + salt instead of GE to help clear stomach before run.
After the first 20 miles or so I was surprised to be regularly passing super fit guys on super fancy bikes and found myself triple checking RPE, HR, and NP to ensure I wasn't overcooking anything. All checked out.
Effort per hour splits: HR (Plan 130-135bpm): 138, 133, 134, 133, 135, 138 NP (Plan 215-220w): 214, 221, 215, 210, 211, 218
Stayed safe, aero (it was fairly windy), draft legal, careful on some of the rougher roads and descents. Wait for it.
Biggest challenge was the GI and then, once again, peeing like a champ, probably 5-6x which cost me a few minutes. Some room for optimizing here, especially on cooler days.
Overall ride: 5:38 (8th in AG), 215w NP, 265TSS Cumulative AG: 14th (up 9)
For future - mostly refining the nutrition/hydration plan. Few extra watts and more flexible/aero position wouldn't hurt.
T2
2:46 again no fooling. Right in. Helmet off. Socks and shoes on. Ziplock go bag w/ watch, number, hat, and race saver bag. And on the road! Saw Jen coming out of T2 which was a nice mental boost! Total T1+T2 time 7:14 was 3rd in AG!
Cumulative AG: 12th (up 2)
Great EN highlight here @ 6:30 mark.
For future - Do it again! Possibly leave shoes on bike.
Run
Always great to come off the bike unscathed! Run plan was to 1) settle HR early on, 2) confirm hydration status and no GI issues, 3) remain disciplined and gradually ramp RPE/HR across the course.
Loosely planned effort by HR as: ~135bpm first 6 miles, then drifting up to mid 140's ~halfway, then capping at 150bpm until final 5km. Planned to sip a GE bottle from T2 1st 6 miles, then start augmenting w/ Bloks every 2.5-3mi and fluids from the course.
As with the bike, actual consumption is a little fuzzy. In my T2 haste I forgot the go bottle. Started sipping GE/H20 at each aid station with just a few steps walking to get it down.
HR out of the gate was a bit high (low 140's). Tried to bring it down but after a few miles just accepted that it wasn't rising and would cap it in low 140's until about 1/2 way.
Kept cadence up. Smooth. Not chasing. Settled in. Stayed in my box. Thanked the volunteers and smiled a lot.
Somewhere along the 1st lap out started overhearing people chatting about the swim course being all messed up and longer than expected. It seemed to be extra baggage they were carrying throughout the day and glad I hadn't even registered it at the time.
Had hoped to start passing more people in the 2nd lap but with the rolling start and no AG marks it was really difficult to tell who was who and overall standings. Perhaps for the best as I just ran my race and tried to maintain a pace which definitely got harder towards the end.
Didn't really stick to a specific nutrition plan in back half. Just made sure to drink something at each aid station. Alternating between cola and ice water in the back half. Took an advil somewhere in there and just kept trucking.
Key metrics (Mile 1-6, 7-12, 13-18, 19-23, Final 5km) Pace: 7:45/mi, 8:10, 8:13, 8:29, 8:51 (uphill back to town) AvgHR: 143bpm, 144, 146, 145, 144
Overall run: 3:36 (10th in AG) Cumulative AG: 12th (no change)
For future - I think the durability plan and run streak really helped here. Ideally would steal another 5' or so through faster TRP and perhaps some mental toughness to push RPE up when it gets tough.
Finish
Total time: 10:52 (PB by 46 minutes) 12th AG, 39th Male, 44th Overall
Always amazing to come across the finish and especially after a steady well executed day. Didn't realize it would be Mike's last year so that's a cool bonus. The Mrs was right there at the finish and we got a great hug and photo right in the chute. The volunteers helped me get situated, stood to block the sun while I collected myself, and were just generally great. Thought I was ready for some real food. Tried a burger. NOPE. Tried a hot dog. NOPE. Eventually nibbled on some chips or something and caught my breath.
One of my unofficial goals was to have a cocktail on the rooftop bar of our hotel, with the Mrs, before sunset after the race. We got up there in plenty of time but were told the bar had closed early on a slow Sunday night! After a brief standoff with the bartender and explaining what I'd just done, he ended up letting us in, and I got that cocktail!
KQ
I'll admit after seeing some crazy roll down action earlier in the year I started to get my hopes up and went to the awards ceremony the next morning. I had never gone before and it was pretty cool to see the level of fitness, excitement, and commitment within that group. Unfortunately the 4 spots got scooped up by first 4 places, with the 4th place time 30' faster than me. Can I find another 30' in there somewhere? I think so! 15' in the swim alone! If and when I go for it again remains to be seen.
Shout Outs
Of course all this would not have been possible without a lot of support along the way.
Thanks to my Mrs and IronMate for always encouraging me to keep going, enabling longer ride days, getting the kids, and often having Italian subs ready when I got home. Also for joining me on our Tulsa "vacation" which included a lot of running around here and there and a 60 mile scenic drive of rural Tulsa. Spectating is just as tough a sport I'm convinced!
Thanks to my folks for coming out and watching the kids while we were gone. And to the kids for also putting up with me coming and going and often sweaty at school pickup after a ride or run.
Thanks to everyone that commented on the socials during the race. It's always motivating to know people are watching and fun to relive the day.
Lastly, to the EN Team and Coaches for lots of good advice and support over the last 9 months. This is not something I do regularly so borrowing with pride and standing on the shoulders of giants has been a big help to make the most use of my time and to stay foucsed on the the areas that matter.
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Data Crunch https://www.endurance-data.com/en/result/659/381-david-duran/