COACH B: '26 IMWC RECAP

Results

• Link to IM results page

• 🥉3rd M50-54 // 258th OA

• 10:06:58… Swim: 1:14:10 😭| Bike: 5:43:51 🆗| Run: 3:01:04 🫠

Data

• Strava (Swim)

• Strava (Bike)

• Strava (Run)

Thoughts on my race

The swim was what it was. It’s OK, but it’s not nearly good enough to be competitive at a championship. To me, the ocean swim was tough with some small swells and a bit of chop. But based on the times from the pro men who were quite fast, the problem was me and not the conditions. I still need to figure out how to crack the nut on improving my swimming (more on that below). 

I’ve been mentally beat by a shitty swim before, so I was a bit more prepared thinking through that scenario ahead of time. I still knew the best plan was to put it behind me and stick to the rest of the plan.

A key success factor for me was to execute a solid bike without over-biking to set up a good run since I know I can make up heaps of time there. I did underestimate how tough the bike was though. Not in terms of it destroying me, because I managed my power and nutrition well and felt strong right through the last 10k into a headwind. But I was about 20min slower than I thought I would be. 

My normalized power (NP) was 208 and my average power (AP) was 193. So at 108% it’s technically higher than you want it to be, but that’s because I did purposely push the climbs and there were loooong stretches of little to no pedaling on the descents. So my AP was low for that reason. My peak power for 30min was 238 - so that gives you a better idea of what I was actually pushing on the climbs. That’s roughly 3.6w/kg. One of the other things I wanted to do well was get my position right so that I could stay aero when it made sense. Maybe A- on that front. I think I still have aero gains I can make and be more comfortable. And lastly, you can’t really talk about the Nice course without talking about your technical skills on the bike. The descents are proper mountain descents and there’s lots of road furniture to deal with (roundabouts, speed bumps, traffic flow islands…). Luckily, I love to descend, and I just let myself enjoy pushing without ever feeling nervous (which is when we tend to make errors of judgement and overthink it). Descending fast isn’t about being “brave”, it’s about enough practice that it starts to feel like flow.

I’ve been running really well all year. PBing my marathon and 5K times earlier in the season. And my long run sessions at 4min/km felt great. So I knew 2:50 - 3:00 was realistic if I didn’t overbike. But you never know in an Ironman. Nutrition errors and heat can derail even the best fitness. The first 20 felt great and I settled into a 4:00 - 4:05 pace and that felt comfy. I ran with the winner of the 18-24 AG for a good chunk of that first 20K (he was a lap ahead of me) and we helped each other out. I ran a 1:25:33 first half. At that stage I started to struggle with nutrition. Just trying to get enough down, but still starting to feel the bonks looming. I was running in 3rd, but too far down to catch 2nd and a pack of people about 2min behind. The last 5k was a real fight. I stopped to walk that last aid station and down everything I could just to get that sugar in my bloodstream for a final kick, but with 3k to go, my hamstrings, hip flexors and calves all started cramping. I wasn’t quite as bad as Kristian coming into the finish 😂, but it was a struggle. In the end, I did enough to hold onto 3rd by 40 seconds! Phew!

Overall, this was probably the best I’ve executed a full IM distance race (my 11th) and very much about as good as I could have done on the day with the build-up I had. Mentally and emotionally, I had a good day. Staying positive, focused, and present… so there’s a lot to be happy about. 

Thoughts on the course

It’s a beautiful course. Maybe one of nicest, most iconic courses. Only Kona is more iconic. I can’t say if the atmosphere will be as good when it’s no longer a championship event, but Nice - and France embrace it in a way that you don’t see as much in North America. And Nice is a great place to be in and of itself. 

I’m not sure there’s a lot to say about the swim. Someone with loads more swim and OWS experience than me can likely talk more intelligently about currents and water conditions. But for me, the Mediterranean Sea was beautiful to swim in (not as nice as Hawaii though 🙂). Warm and not wet-suit legal most years (although it’s close, so some years it might be - so come prepared!). The salt water is a thing to get used to a bit. 

The race is really about the bike. It’s a flat tailwind start for about 10k before you head inland and it’s not too long before you start some serious climbing. From there the climbing doesn’t really let up until you’re almost 90k into the race. The grades are mostly quite steady and you spend a lot of time out of aero position, seated, spinning. Make sure you have the right gears. I saw a few people that didn’t have gears small enough to spin at the pace they were riding. I saw one guy with a single chainring which would definitely leave your legs destroyed by the end. You can sometimes grind on courses like Muskoka and Mont Tremblant with shorter climbs, but it’ll destroy your legs on long climbs. I think my biggest miscalculation was not anticipating how rolly and windy the top section was. So it’s still not really possible to start upping your average speed a whole lot. You do make up a lot of time on the descent, but you don’t make it all up. It’s technical, so you’re often on the brakes. There’s also a sneaky last 5k climb part way through the descent. And then you finish on the same promenade you went out on… just this time into a headwind (which I believe is the prevailing wind direction). So that last 10K is a bit tricky as you can easily lose a bunch of time 170k in and not wanting to stay nice and aero and power into the headwind.

The run is dead flat and 4 laps of a 10k circuit that’s just an out and back. There was a bit of a breeze, which made it super hot when it was at your back and kinda refreshing running into it. Technically here, there’s not a whole lot to explain. I’d say the biggest factor is the mental battle of the out and back 4 x. At times that helps and at times it’s a mental challenge. 

So overall, the area to focus your prep and think through your race strategy is really on the bike for this course.

Nutrition Plan

My nutrition plan was the more traditional 60-90 grams of carb per hour (vs some of the insane amounts the top pros are taking). I don’t believe age groupers need that level of fueling. We’re not burning the same number of calories per hour and so you’re increasing the risk of gastro distress with limited benefit.

For me, the biggest thing is keeping the nutrition palatable so there aren’t gaps. I need some variety to accomplish that. So I started with predominantly Maurten and based most of my nutrition around that and then complimented it with a few other products and also what I knew would be out on course.

By the time I get to the run, I’ll improvise a bit. Coke goes down well and I was also grabbing handfuls of gummies.

Mostly though, I stuck to this plan that I’d outlined ahead of the race.

		Carry	Aid	Carbs	Tot
T1	Maurten 320 (drink partially)	0.5		80	40
Bike 5.5hr est 330 - 495	Gel 100	5		25	125
	Gel 100C	5		25	125
	Solid 100	0		42.2	0
	Solid 100C	1		42.2	42.2
	Maurten 160	1		39	39
	Maurten 160C	1		39	39
	Energy Chews	1		39	39
	XACT	1		25	25
	Water / Electrolyte	3		0	0
					434.2
T2	Maurten 320 (drink partially)	0.5		80	40
Run 3hr est 180 - 270	Gel 100	1		25	40
	Gel 100C	1		25	25
	Clif Bar	1		40	40
	Energy Chews	1		39	39
	XACT	1		25	25
	Cola		8	6.25	50
	Water / Electrolyte
					259

Training Build

This was roughly a two year plan leading up to it. I like qualifying the year ahead to give myself the full year to plan it and I like using races as a way to break up the season and come up with a periodization plan.

Overall - I followed a reverse periodization plan. Reverse in the sense that most go from aerobic base, to specific intensity levels. But I started with the most intense work in the off season and then worked back from there. 

Here’s the seasonal plans and rough periodization plan.

Final Prep = after a rest coming out of Muskoka, I put a big focus on bike and bringing up overall volume - lots of focus on sweet spot and fat-max work

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Muskoka 70.3 (came out of Tremblant fatigued and had to rest more than expected - hoped for an unplanned small peak for Muskoka, but just felt flat and had a tough day) 

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Mont Tremblant 70.3 (B race training right through with minimal rest ahead of time)

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Build for 70.3s = LT2 focus

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London Marathon (VO2 work and some long runs leading in, but not a ton of specific prep - treated it as a B race and trained through - in fact, it was my biggest week leading up to it - I did a 4hr ride the Thursday before the race - still got a new PB!)

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Offseason / Early Season = Vo2 Focus (run + bike)

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Rest and detrain!!

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NYC Marathon = C race - survive!

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Chicago Marathon = C race survive!

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Berlin Marathon = (A/B race) Solid race and a PB at the time

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Used the fitness and volume from IM Canada, but shifted the focus to a lot more running and a bit of bike + swim (just because I couldn’t switch over all the volume to running without a very high risk of injury). So this was a very focused 5 week block coming out of IM Canada.

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Ironman Canada = (A/B race) solid race without killing myself - the big goal was to qualify, but without taking too much out of myself so I could recover quickly for Berlin.

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Final Prep = after a rest coming out of Muskoka, I put a big focus on bike and bringing up overall volume - lots of focus on sweet spot and fat-max work

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Muskoka 70.3 

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Victoria 70.3 

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Boston Marathon

That’s kind of the big picture for bike and run where I really focused on fitness. Within that, I focus a lot on managing progression within each mesocycle. Making sure to build and then have a pronounced rest period. In the last year, I’ve increased the frequency of the rest periods. Sometimes they are planned, sometimes unplanned and life dictates when I rest.

With swimming, I committed to swimming at least 3 times a week and gradually progressing the workouts. But with a lot of focus on continuing to improve my form in the water and being able to swim more relaxed and comfortably. While I ended up feeling the most comfortable in the water I ever have, I was definitely slower. I think too many easy laps in the end didn’t help me. With cycling (since it's my background), I really appreciate the importance of really putting down some big power now and again to keep the strength there. And my latest hypothesis is that swimming is similar or maybe even more so like that. I will let the world know if I figure out a good way to get better swim splits!!

Gear Choices

Swim: Roka swimskin + Roka goggles

Bike: Argon E-119 (SRAM Red)

Wheels: Lún HYPER D67 disc on the front and Lún Kronos Disc Wheel in the rear (Conti Aero tubeless front and back)

Helmet: Giro Aerohead 

Skinsuit: MESA endurance trisuit (from Jakroo)

Run (shoes): Saucony Elite 2