RR: IM Steelhead 70.3

niemsco · Aug 2, 2010

Thanks for the kind words for all those who commented on my FB page. Don't feel obligated to comment again, but I wrote a race report on my blog. Maybe some of it is useful to some, maybe not. 
 
<a href="http://scottniemann.blogspot.com/2010/08/whirpool-steelhead-ironman-703.html" target="_blank">http://scottniemann.blogspot.com/2010/08/whirpool-steelhead-ironman-703.html</a>
 
Summary:
 
Swim 34:15 (1:48/100m)
Bike 2:28:45 (22.59mph)
Run: 1:36:57 (7:24/mile)
Total: 4:45:30
AG 18th. (M35-39)
 
My top goals were to break 1:40 in the run and get into the top 20 in my AG. 18th is the highest I've been in an Ironman branded event. So I have to say this is my best HIM. Clearwater roll down went to 14th, I would have taken a roll down.

miles99999 · Aug 2, 2010

Great race report and congratulations on an awesome race. There is some really good info in there for someone like me (a novice in the HIM/IM distances).
 
"In any event I ended up dropping him finally. I found him walking on the run later. Note to all, pace with even power or effort, or end up walking."
 
"Decent bike pacing and high motivation, that’s the key to a fast run."
 
Keep up the awesome work and you will be on your way to Clearwater in no time.

Yo Sake · Aug 2, 2010

Congrats, Scott, for this solid solid race. Very happy for you! I know how nasty the one *hill* is you flew by it. Glad to hear you being very upbeat about the races ahead. Way To Go!

fox-runr · Aug 2, 2010

Great race and report.
 
I think sometimes it's a blessing in disguise to NOT have the power meter for a race. 
 
Rolldowns can suck, I know last year at NOLA there were some male age groups that the guy was saying "anyone in the room want to go???!!!" seriously, I know they were like 20th in the 25-29 and still looking. the biggest group was men 40+ and it didn't roll. my AG never rolls that I've seen

mrscoby78 · Aug 2, 2010

Excellent job achieving your goals!!!
 
 
 
 
What's a rolldown?

niemsco · Aug 2, 2010

<div class="quote-container">Quote:
<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by miles99999 <a href="/forum/thread/69233/rr-im-steelhead-70-3#post_1928934"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border-bottom:0px solid;border-left:0px solid;border-top:0px solid;border-right:0px solid;"></a> Great race report and congratulations on an awesome race. There is some really good info in there for someone like me (a novice in the HIM/IM distances).
 
"In any event I ended up dropping him finally. I found him walking on the run later. Note to all, pace with even power or effort, or end up walking."
 
"Decent bike pacing and high motivation, that’s the key to a fast run."
 
Keep up the awesome work and you will be on your way to Clearwater in no time.
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Thanks man. I think the most important thing in the longer events is even pacing. Typically I don't think people go too hard in events, but more so they go to erradict. At the end of the day if you took a powermeter and put it on this dudes bike, the power average would probably be the same as if he rode at a comfortably hard pace the entire time. The difference would be he could then run. When you spike the effort, you are going beyond your threshold and dipping into the well, just like starting out too fast in a running race. 

<div class="quote-container">Quote:
<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by Yo Sake <a href="/forum/thread/69233/rr-im-steelhead-70-3#post_1928961"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border-bottom:0px solid;border-left:0px solid;border-top:0px solid;border-right:0px solid;"></a> Congrats, Scott, for this solid solid race. Very happy for you! I know how nasty the one *hill* is you flew by it. Glad to hear you being very upbeat about the races ahead. Way To Go!
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Thanks Yosh. Two years ago I had to limp up that hill twice as my quads got attacked. I am more upbeat than I've been in a long time. 

<div class="quote-container">Quote:
<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by fox-runr <a href="/forum/thread/69233/rr-im-steelhead-70-3#post_1928963"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border-bottom:0px solid;border-left:0px solid;border-top:0px solid;border-right:0px solid;"></a> Great race and report.
 
I think sometimes it's a blessing in disguise to NOT have the power meter for a race. 
 
Rolldowns can suck, I know last year at NOLA there were some male age groups that the guy was saying "anyone in the room want to go???!!!" seriously, I know they were like 20th in the 25-29 and still looking. the biggest group was men 40+ and it didn't roll. my AG never rolls that I've seen
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Thanks Sue, I still think I would have done better with the pwm and ran the same, but who knows. The thing that I missed out on was getting some data for imwi. I don't think I'll do an FTP test before then, but I generally know what I should be doing. I will have my power back tomorrow, in time for the weekend ride! 

<div class="quote-container">Quote:
<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by mrscoby78 <a href="/forum/thread/69233/rr-im-steelhead-70-3#post_1928974"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border-bottom:0px solid;border-left:0px solid;border-top:0px solid;border-right:0px solid;"></a> Excellent job achieving your goals!!!
 
 
 
 
What's a rolldown?
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 Thanks! Each age group as a number of slots to qualify for the IM 70.3 world championships. The bigger the age group, the more slots you have. If the top 8 or 10, or whatever the number is of slots awarded to an age group are not claimed by the highest placing athletes by a certain time (4pm), the slot rolls down to the next place. So in my case I think they had 8 slots, and of the top 8 guys in my AG, only 4 took them. So it rolled downed to 9,10,11,12 place. Usually they don't take them if they already qualified, or just don't care to go to the event. So they actually call out names, no one there, the next name is called.
 
Funny enough the last guy to get it was named Scott. They said Scott.... but no Niemann, some other Scott dude.

SpartyGirl · Aug 3, 2010

Holy geez! Nice job Scott! Congrats meeting your sub 1:40 goal AND awesome to be top 20 out there. SWEET!

pcsronbo · Aug 3, 2010

Holy Sh!T did you actually NOT have any nutrition and hyrdration issues? DUDE that's awesome!
 
I'm so bummed I couldn't come out this year, sounds like it went great. The results speak for themselves. It looks like you evenly paced it, which means perhaps you're also getting wiser about your racing. If you can translate that too full IM, you're going to hit your goals.
 
I think you can easily shave 2-3min from your swim, without any massive effort. 4min isn't crazy.
 
The bike - dude, that's going to depend on the course and the day. You ALREADY could nail that on a perfect day. Steelhead is hillier than Racine, which might actually work to your advantage in trying for a Clearwater spot. I don't know what gives with the wind and Steelhead. Of the (4) times I've been out there (2) have had harsh headwinds and it sounds like this year would also have. It really sucks because that is such a LONG stretch, with hills, that just gives you no releif. But a smart power trained guy could totally even out that effort and still be able to run like the wind. I think that could just be you...
 
The run, totally doable IF you can keep from getting injured. That's been the real bear.. maybe if you work on that distance over the winter, at those speeds, you can do the build slow enough to allow you to adapt without snapping? A winter project perhaps? Hmmmm....
 
Yeah, I think you can drop 10min EASY by next season... and 20 isn't out of reach
 
Great job!
 
p.s. next year I won't be at Steelhead but maybe 2012!

LookiLoo · Aug 3, 2010

Wow, that's fast!!!! Congrats on a great race!! 
 
Glad to hear you all were able to swim this year

Perhaps I'll be back up there one day to tackle it again, this time with the swim!

niemsco · Aug 3, 2010

<div class="quote-container">Quote:
<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by SpartyGirl <a href="/forum/thread/69233/rr-im-steelhead-70-3#post_1929195"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border-bottom:0px solid;border-left:0px solid;border-top:0px solid;border-right:0px solid;"></a> Holy geez! Nice job Scott! Congrats meeting your sub 1:40 goal AND awesome to be top 20 out there. SWEET!
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Thanks Sparty. You should come back here and do this one again one of these days. The lake was real nice and pretty warm too, I couldn't believe it. I really like hanging out on the beach afterwards, that was fun. 

<div class="quote-container">Quote:
<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by LookiLoo <a href="/forum/thread/69233/rr-im-steelhead-70-3#post_1929289"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border-bottom:0px solid;border-left:0px solid;border-top:0px solid;border-right:0px solid;"></a> Wow, that's fast!!!! Congrats on a great race!! 
 
Glad to hear you all were able to swim this year

Perhaps I'll be back up there one day to tackle it again, this time with the swim!
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Thanks Looki, unfortunately LM is a little unpredictable, but the last two years they've had the swim. When they have the swim its nice. Plus they fixed the bike course to be spot on. ( a little over 56.3, but they advertise it as 56.3). The transistion has changed too from 08, its much much nicer. 

<div class="quote-container">Quote:
<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by pcsronbo <a href="/forum/thread/69233/rr-im-steelhead-70-3#post_1929221"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border-bottom:0px solid;border-left:0px solid;border-top:0px solid;border-right:0px solid;"></a> Holy Sh!T did you actually NOT have any nutrition and hyrdration issues? DUDE that's awesome!
 
I'm so bummed I couldn't come out this year, sounds like it went great. The results speak for themselves. It looks like you evenly paced it, which means perhaps you're also getting wiser about your racing. If you can translate that too full IM, you're going to hit your goals.
 
I think you can easily shave 2-3min from your swim, without any massive effort. 4min isn't crazy.
 
The bike - dude, that's going to depend on the course and the day. You ALREADY could nail that on a perfect day. Steelhead is hillier than Racine, which might actually work to your advantage in trying for a Clearwater spot. I don't know what gives with the wind and Steelhead. Of the (4) times I've been out there (2) have had harsh headwinds and it sounds like this year would also have. It really sucks because that is such a LONG stretch, with hills, that just gives you no releif. But a smart power trained guy could totally even out that effort and still be able to run like the wind. I think that could just be you...
 
The run, totally doable IF you can keep from getting injured. That's been the real bear.. maybe if you work on that distance over the winter, at those speeds, you can do the build slow enough to allow you to adapt without snapping? A winter project perhaps? Hmmmm....
 
Yeah, I think you can drop 10min EASY by next season... and 20 isn't out of reach
 
Great job!
 
p.s. next year I won't be at Steelhead but maybe 2012!
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Thanks Ron, great comments. Ok no on the nutrition issues. Same stuff I did in the IM, just reduced the amount. I did switch from an Aero bottle to an XLAB torpedo bottle mount in front. The problem with the straw on the aero bottle is you are sucking in a lot of air before you get to the liquid. This gave some people like, bad bloating feelings while in aero. I actually had this in CdA and had to stop after half way to try and get some relief. I don't consider that a nutrition issue though. Going to the Xlab torpedo, no problem. 
 
Thanks for the encouragement on the times, the big difference in this race is I knew what I was going to do, I thought I'd be around 4:45, I just had lots of confidence. I need to transfer that to the IM. I get the confidence from good training, so as long as that keeps going, I'll be good. I'm pretty sure I'll be here in 2011, sorry you wont, we may even rent a place for a week down by the lake.
 
 
pics: <a href="http://www.asiorders.com/view_user_event.asp?EVENTID=60054&BIB=1837&LNSEARCH=1" target="_blank">http://www.asiorders.com/view_user_event.asp?EVENTID=60054&BIB=1837&LNSEARCH=1</a>

cak73 · Aug 4, 2010

Very nicely done, Scott! Congrats on meeting your goals for the run and AG placement! 
 
Thanks for sharing your experiences with keeping an even effort. I'll be keeping this in mind, for sure.

kburnell · Aug 5, 2010

wow, that's awesome! I'm seriously impressed with how far your swim has come this year - very respectable split. And the good news is that it can come down even more without too much more work if you're able to find a set of feet to follow next time! As for the rest of the race, what can I say, clearly you executed well - congratulations! looking forward to seeing what's next for you, scott!

niemsco · Aug 5, 2010

<div class="quote-container">Quote:
<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by kburnell <a href="/forum/thread/69233/rr-im-steelhead-70-3#post_1930148"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border-bottom:0px solid;border-left:0px solid;border-top:0px solid;border-right:0px solid;"></a> wow, that's awesome! I'm seriously impressed with how far your swim has come this year - very respectable split. And the good news is that it can come down even more without too much more work if you're able to find a set of feet to follow next time! As for the rest of the race, what can I say, clearly you executed well - congratulations! looking forward to seeing what's next for you, scott!
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Thanks Kyle! That's good news about the feet, I just have a hard time with it. I swam this morning in the lake and I tried to follow someone, you really need to be looking ahead under the water and pay attention. I swam in the lake since ironman cda probably about 15 times, so I think that has helped a lot. Previous years I really only swam in the pool, only swam in OW in races, so I have a learning curve I think. 

<div class="quote-container">Quote:
<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by cak73 <a href="/forum/thread/69233/rr-im-steelhead-70-3#post_1930072"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border-bottom:0px solid;border-left:0px solid;border-top:0px solid;border-right:0px solid;"></a> Very nicely done, Scott! Congrats on meeting your goals for the run and AG placement! 
 
Thanks for sharing your experiences with keeping an even effort. I'll be keeping this in mind, for sure.
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Thanks Cheryl. I was talking with someone from my team the other day on even pacing and we were discussing if that applies to all distances. My theory is yes, you just go at a higher intensity. So I did a sprint this year in May, and I just hammered the uphills everytime my paceing was horrible, but my overall time good. When I got off the bike, my legs were dead, it took me at least a mile to get my legs back and it was a 4.3 mile run. I did a half iron in June, and I again sort of hammered the hills and recovered on the downhills, which was more of an experiement than anything, again dead legs, but they came around after 6 miles. This time around I finally used my brain, and I had springy legs from the start even though the total effort was probably the same as my last HIM. So that's my experience with it this year.

Tri-Tammy · Aug 5, 2010

Very nicely done Scott. I said it before and will say it again- your swimming this year is impressive. Your training is really paying off big time. 
Thanks for sharing- especially about even pacing on the bike. I need to work on this! <img alt="" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/rolleyes.gif" style="width:16px;height:16px;" title="">

RR: IM Steelhead 70.3

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