Angie Koch forwarded us her report report regarding her performance in Ironman Florida. So, please take a moment and read her report. You may be able to learn from reading about her experience. And her performance is definitely to be applauded.

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2007 Ironman Florida Race Report
November 3, 2007

Absent from this IM has been the familiar sense of dread, self-doubt and lack of enjoyment. Several people asked if I was burned out from the long season, but the training to get here was confidence-building enough that I was looking forward to seeing it pay off, in a big way.

The day began with a walk from our hotel down to the host hotel/transition area/race start. We saw quite a few people we knew and lined up for the swim. This one, I should’ve given more thought to. All I did was back up a little in the middle of the big pack – big mistake. For almost the entire first loop, I was in with swimmers, mostly big male bodies, that were slower than I. I would occasionally find a clearing and get into a rhythm (using outstretched arms, fingertips down below elbow, bite breaths, patient hands), only to run into the mass again. Problem was, I was getting kicked and slammed, more than any other IM. I just wanted to swim out of it, but when I looked to either side, there was no escape. The second loop was better because after running across the timing mat on the beach, there was quite a traverse we could take to aim for the corner orange buoy, so the field spread out, significantly. Here is where I found some feet. This guy barely kicked, which made drafting easy, since the water was perfectly clear. He was dead on for sighting, too. A couple of times, after thinking perhaps I was faster alone, I tried to swim beside him, only to find I couldn’t pass, so I settled back in and made sure no one else tried to move in. I drafted almost the entire second loop – the first time drafting in the swim for me, ever, which we practiced at the CBD VQ swim clinic. And, the first time I didn’t get sick. The water was so soothing and warm that for once, the swim leg was actually enjoyable.

Swim time: 1:17:07 Prior best (2004): 1:27:49 Net gain: :10+
Last year’s (2006): 1:36:59 Net gain: :19+

I was calm for T1, got some sunscreen, drank some coconut water and received my bike from a volunteer. I got on it right then, completely forgetting about the mount line, so the volunteer warned me about disqualification! Hopped off and ran toward the bike exit, which is where I saw Scott, whooping it up. Luckily, Robbie’s wireless PowerTap started working right away, as it hadn’t registered, prior to the swim. I had my target watts of 150 (my avg for my last HIM, 70% of my LT) and my challenge, issued by both Robbie and Dave – no hammering on the bike. Stay aero, stay strong, be smart, be patient and it will all pay off on the run. I was so grateful to have the device. It was a windy day and it was as if I could see people burning matches all over the place – clearly going hard when they shouldn’t have been, into the wind, up the rollers or just sprinting to get their cadence up. Sometimes, I would see it dip into the 120/130s and knew it was safe to pick it up (which was sometimes just correctly by an efficient pedal stroke – thanks, Francine!) and sometimes, I would see my watts spike up into the 170/180s and knew I had to back it down in order to follow the plan. My favorite technique, when I can do it, is to get the cadence up enough that I can just float the pedals at that rate and still be on top of the gear. I kept in mind not to go beyond my threshold on any hills, which I watched with vigilance. I borrowed Robbie’s Bontrager race wheels, which were between Zipp 404s and 808s, and an aero helmet that Rob said would save 10 watts. I took Jason’s recommendation to use my aero bottle, which I hadn’t all season, and fill the front with Gatorade so that I wasn’t reaching to my cage all the time. Worked like a dream. I had a cheat sheet of how to resolve nutrition issues, which came in handy. I tried to go to the bathroom on the bike, but couldn’t even force out anything. My wrist became so bloated that I had to loosen my watch strap, twice. So, I backed off on the electrolytes/GE and drank just water for awhile. Luckily, by the time I hit town, I couldn’t wait to void. Throughout the bike, I felt a bit nauseous and would try to get rid of the air in my stomach, but would often be on the verge of actually vomiting. I did get to the point of dry heaves with the gels and the blocks, again. Since my swim is slower than anyone’s, I usually end up passing most on the bike, so I drew much encouragement from it. I ended up losing about a minute from my stop by Special Needs, which I’d never done before. I slowed to target the right range of bags and came to a complete stop when I noticed no one was there to hand it to me and I would have had to set my bike on its side to run and get it. Instead, I decided then to forego and learned a lesson not to stop unless I must. There was quite a bit of drafting, but most of the time, when I would swing out, I would try to stagger myself, best I could. I was moving up on the outside of a big pack, coming back to town, and luckily broke away, just as the motorcycle pulled alongside and sighted the whole pack for drafting. My knees held up the entire time and I was almost always in the aero position, which I could never do on either of my previous tri bikes with their positions.

Bike time: 5:31:29 Prior best (2005): 7:27:39 Net gain: 1:56+
Avg watts: 138
Ave speed: 20.3

After a couple quality minutes in the kybo, T2 was another smooth one, as I had two volunteers to help me. I changed my socks but kept the tri shorts/shirt on for the entire race. Those first two miles were 7:45 and 8:15. My goal pace was 9s so I knew I should back off the gas. I kept the turnover high and tried to use pawing, whenever I noticed my feet dragging. There was quite a bit of wind, that first loop, so at least I knew what to expect for the second one. Luckily, it died down a shade. My nutrition notes paid off again, as I could feel cramps coming on in my calves. I remembered that to correct, I would need to up the lytes, so I took in additional endurolytes and drank a full cup of GE and they went away! I suspect that advice would’ve been helpful to many, as I saw several hunched over, along the way. I walked a bit through most of the aid stations, then surged to get back up to speed and make up for that time lost. It was like fuel to hear all the encouragement for me from spectators – saying how strong and happy I looked. Seeing Scott with every out/back was a great boost. At the start of the run, I thought it possible to break 11 hours, if I could stay on track with the 9s. But, into the second loop, I could feel the fade coming on and decided I was happy with my initial soft goal (perfect conditions) of breaking 12s. With 5 miles left to go, a super tall athlete ran with me for a couple, but dropped off with cramps. He gave me the remaining time and the pace to keep in order to come in sub-11. With a mile out, a girl in my age group I had passed much earlier that loop came on strong with another older gal on her tail to pass me by. I hopped on and drafted behind her to just before the finishing chute. I thought about the surging we practiced but her pace was just too fast and I ended up falling off. Not long after, I could see the clock and it was on the last seconds of sub-11 – I thought I had at least a minute buffer! Another guy and I totally sprinted our minds out to just make it. The crowd went crazy! I maybe could’ve passed her, after all! ?

Run time: 3:58:39 Prior best (2006): 5:14:08 Net gain: 1:15+
Pace: 9:07

I had some pretty major blisters, but took advantage of the post-race massage and actually felt decent after finishing, for once! I kept thinking through each of the legs that this race seemed much easier than the others – effortless swim, conservative bike, efficient run. With the help from so many through VQ, I ~finally~ put it all together for a solid race.

Race time: 10:59:57
Prior best: 14:39:07
Net gain: 3:39:10