Shannon's IMAZ-07 Report

SHANNON CALLIES' IMAZ RACE REPORT:

Swim: 1:11 (1:53/100m)

Bike: 6:07 (18.4 mph)

Run: 4:57 (11:20/mile)

Total: 12:27

AG Rank: 17th

Overall: 668

Training:

This winter was a bit unique for me. I had some semblance of a base from last summer, but I suffered a hamstring injury at the Seattle Half Marathon. After staying off the leg for 3 weeks, I was able to return to biking but I could only do the Stairmaster as opposed to running. My long “run” consisted of 3 hrs on the Stairmaster – thank god for iPod, er, I mean Zune. :-) On top of that, a good friend of mine went missing in Dec. for over 3 weeks while climbing in China, which was an emotional train wreck. Consequently, going into mid-January, I had doubts about even doing IMAZ . I needed to make some change, so I decided to take Jill Fry on as a coach and started to dig in with a structured training program, averaging 15-18 hrs. a week. Her training program, uniquely tailored to me, has helped in even this short period of time, and I’m excited to see where it will take me for IMCA, which I’m planning to do this summer. She’s an excellent coach and goes the extra mile with all her athletes. In addition to hiring Jill Fry, I have also been going to Master’s with Cynthia Krass two times a week. This was also a good move for me as it’s helped me a lot with my form – something I’ve struggled with over the years.

Another key thing I did was get my lactate threshold testing done in an actual lab, as opposed to the treadmill or track testing. I discovered my AeT was actually 10 beats higher than what I was working off of! I highly recommend get this done…it takes any guesswork out the equation.

Going into IMAZ, I didn’t have high expectations, but I thought I would probably finish around 12:10-12:15. But my main goals were as follows:

Execute against a solid race and nutrition plan
Swim easy so I feel strong going into the bike
Pace myself well (i.e., slower first halves of each sport, building into the second half, assuming I felt strong)…no bonking allowed!

Because IMAZ was a “C” race, I didn’t a hard taper. I also ran (slow, AeT pace) the Yakima Canyon Marathon two weeks prior – this is a great race for those of you looking for a spring marathon. There were four of us from Jill’s group – Jill herself, Bruce Morgan (MSFT), me and my boyfriend Mark. It was a good group…we all hung out at the venue, swam together and had a great dinner Friday night. Saturday night, I slept like a baby. I wasn’t nervous – I was simply looking forward to sticking to my plan and enjoying the race.

Swim:

The swim start is in the water, so it was way easier to position yourself than it is with a beach start. There was the usual kicking and swim over/under people, but it was manageable. Going out the first lap, I got off course quite a bit as I had a hard time sighting due to the sun, but recovered well coming back and swam inline with the buoys. I just focused on swimming streamlined and gliding. This was by far the easiest swim I ever had... and it was my fastest swim on an IM, which I largely contribute to Cynthia’s class, which has helped my overall structural alignment. Last year, I swam a 1:20 at IMCA.

Bike:

I felt amazingly good on the bike…kept it solid and just focused on my numbers. It was a three loop course. The plan was to go AeT for Loop 1, nice and easy. Loop 2 and 3 was supposed to be AeT+10 beats, kicking it up a notch the last 10 miles if I felt really fresh. Loop 2 was fine – AeT+10 felt great, but by Loop 3, I hit those heavy headwinds and my HR was 8-10 beats below AeT. I just relaxed and tried to focus on perceived effort. If I had kno

wn the winds would hit so hard later on, I would have pushed harder during the middle of the ride, as opposed to building up. That being said, we were all in the wind together, so I just stayed focused and tried not to let it bother me. My only concern was that I had been riding aero zero percent of the time in training due to my hamstring injury…and here I was in aero the for all three loops coming back against the headwinds. It was a calculated risk, but the hammie seemed to be cooperating ok. Still worried about how it would pan out on the run though.

Run:

I took off the heart monitor as I didn’t trust the numbers anymore given cardio drift and the low numbers I experienced on the last loop of the bike. I went out veeerryy slow the first two miles to ease into it. Feeling good. First 8 miles were a breeze…wow. Jill past me somewhere around the 13 mile mark looking really strong. I must have missed Bruce – I’m guessing he blazed by around the 6 mile mark or so. He had a great race, and I was super psyched for him. After mile 13, I kept thinking I needed to bump up the cadence, but I was concerned about hitting the wall as I’ve done in past IMs. I felt TOO good. I ran solid the entire run except for the aid stations and occasionally bathroom break. In retrospect, I really should have cranked it up the last 6 miles or so, but I didn’t trust myself – I was afraid I’d hit the wall. That being said, I’m still scratching my head over my run time at 4:57. I was sure it was going to be under 4:40! I’m not sure if the marathon two weeks prior contributed to it, or just my overall lack of running economy at this stage in my season. I felt very strong coming off the bike, but maybe the winds did contribute more to the slower run than my HR numbers were showing. Hope to have this figured out well before IMCA.

Overall, it was a nice race, and the “easiest” Ironman I’ve done...and this is number 19 for me. I'm ok with my time, the group all did very well, and I’m now very excited looking forward to Ironman Canada...although right now my immediate focus is on relaxing on the sofa for a few days with a glass of wine. :-)

Hope everyone has a great season and happy training!

My race is dedicated in memory to my good friend Christine Boskoff. She was one of the world’s top climbers in a very competitive, male-dominated sport, and she will continue to inspire me to live strong.

This website is dedicated to the sport of triathlon, particularly in the Pacific Northwest. Jill Fry is a triathlon coach and an athlete who competes in triathlons ranging from Sprint Distance to Ironman. Jill and many of her athletes and friends have also formed a team, Team JFT². Information on Jill's coaching services can be found under Coaching Services & Info. On this site you will also find a large number of personal race reports, as well as event reports, with many event-specific photos.