Endurance Nation | Online Triathlon Coaching & Community

Yasko Howell having a great IMLV run!

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The following is a quick recap from IM Louisville by Coach Patrick. A full report will come later this week, as well as podcast interviews and more photos. For now you can see our pictures online via SmugMug and learn more about the weekend by cruising our Facebook page. If you like the vibe and want to be a part of Team EN, please become an ENFan to get a FREE Four Keys DVD and get cool insider updates!!

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Ironman Louisville 2010 was going to be hot. We all knew it heading into the morning, and my first step outside my condo confirmed it — Sunday was going to be a true test of execution, nutrition, and mental skills. By mid-morning the sun was in full effect and it was bearing down on the racers. Combined with the humidity, it was an evil 1-2 punch that didn’t go away until some clouds rolled in around 6pm. Riding had a slight cooling effect; but it wasn’t helpful as most folks didn’t realize just how hot it had become started running!

The swim line in the morning was just ridiculous. As in over a mile long ridiculous. Folks seemed to be pretty well-behaved, however, and some even brought chairs to sit in as they waited! It was crazy to see how differently everyone approached the swim in terms of their swim gear. There was everything from board shorts to speed suits (still legal as of this race) and everything in between. It seemed like a pretty orderly affair, but it did appear that some folks had been waiting since 4:30 or 5am in that line. Thanks to the TT start the swim seemed pretty un-physical for most folks, although it could have been that the rest of the day was so challenging that the early morning aqua-antics quickly faded.

Out on the bike, it definitely was clear that Louisville was out to make an impression on the competitors. I was parked at mile 17 on the bike, at the end of 1694 by the aid station out there, and even that early in the day folks looked hot and out of sorts. Many had their “mile 80″ faces on much too soon.

Reports came in that there were cars all over the course all day (both directions) and I witnessed quite a few even on my small section of the road. We had a pretty serious crash out there, as many new folks struggled to manage their nutrition at aid stations and continue riding. Over the course of the rolling course, the temps continued to climb and aid stations actually began to run out of water. Reports came in of people just getting off their bike and lying down in the drainage ditch on the side of the road…in the fetal position.

Most EN folks did quite well on the bike, as they had the execution experience to know that a hot day means a much longer day than planned. It was great to see TeamEN just rolling over the hills, sipping fluids and riding very calmly!

I made my way over to Mile 6 / 18 by about 2pm, and it was a tough place to be. The race course was very quite again this year, with minimal spectators outside of Fourth Street live and the immediate vicinity. Otherwise folks were on their own in a very hot and quiet space with more than enough time to reflect on how their days might have been different. The walkers didn’t really start until about the 4pm or 9 hour mark on the day…with the TT start it’s hard to say where they were on the day, but most of them didn’t look so great.

EN got lots of good words and verbal hi-fives for our Four Keys guidance, with a few guys hamming it up at Mile 18. By the time I headed to the finish line around 7:30pm, I had seen two guys drop out, one guy puke his brain out and three separate van loads of guys getting pulled from the race. It was, without a doubt, very hot.

Fourth Street Live provided another great finish line experience. The fans, lights, music and Mike Reilly did not disappoint, with almost everyone finding their running legs for the classic Ironman finisher pic. I was there for about 4 hours, catching lots of EN folks and getting video testimonials from them about their days. Not everyone finished, but each had a great story to tell about their Ironman adventure. Be sure to check them out here on the EN YouTube channel.

We had people all across the board setting anything from a 45-minute personal best (in a hotter race!) to crushing their first IMs, to not setting a personal best but still having a great race. Sometimes you race the race, other times the race races you. It’s all part of the journey!

Video Testimonials
Don’t just listen to what our amazingly handsome coaching staff has to say, tune in to hear what our members think mere moments after crossing the finish line!

• Frank — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIcS1i2cWj4
• Aimee — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2HrZX9vZ7Y
• Matt — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3phCz8fuqs
• Yasko — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpwIqdUDqCg
• Dan — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcst0HKukl4

Another giant thank you to all the EN athletes and families who made race week and race day so special. A shout out to the athletes who stopped to tell me that our Four Keys of Ironman execution really worked for them. All of you have earned some time off…so take it! We’ll still be here when you get back; take the time to write up your race report and process what did / didn’t work for you so you can be better next time!

Until then, be safe out there and see you on the roads!

Coach Patrick

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ENFans,

Rich and Patrick will be in Madison to support the nearly 40 TeamEN athletes, and their families, racing on Sunday. We invite you to join us for several fun events we have planned for you! Please visit the links below for complete details, to RSVP and share these events with your friends. All are invited!

Friday: Four Keys of Ironman Execution Pre-Race Talk
Meet at 10am at the KSwiss booth in the Expo. Rich and Patrick know IMWI inside and out. They’ll get your head screwed on straight about how to race Ironman Wisconsin, sharing with you the tips that have saved the races of thousands before you. All attendees will receive a FREE Four Keys DVD.

Saturday: Training and Beers with the Coaches!

• The Training: meet us at 7:30am at the swim start for a lap (or more) of the course. At 8:45 we’ll jump on our bikes and ride the bike course: Stick, 1 x Loop, + Stick back to Madison = about 75 miles. The coaches will lead the ride, with regroups in Mt. Horeb, Up Hill Grind Coffee in Cross Plains, and Verona. Don’t miss the mid-ride “beat the coaches and we’ll buy you a beer” race from Mt Horeb to Up Hill Grind! Details and RSVP here.
• The Beers: join us for beers at The Great Dane in downtown Madison, 7pm. Your first round is on us! Details and RSVP here.

Thanks and we look forward to meeting you in Madison!

Rich and Patrick

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We appreciate your patience as we update you on our Team’s performance, first with pictures and video (with more on our Facebook page), then with our Race Report Podcast Series, and now with their results and some excerpts from their race reports in our members-only forum.

Some of you have may have been following our Race Tracker on race day, a neat little tool we’ve built that automagically updates itself on race day with our Team splits. The following is an overview of our results with some additional color commentary added! Yeah, Team EN!

TeamEN IMUSA Results:

Trent Prough — 10:36:08; “Although dissapointed only  in my finish time, I realize it is all to circumstances of the day, and my day was not a perfect one, but I did push through and finished one of the greatest endurance events out there and in the top 5% to 7%.  I am very glad I decided to toe the line and do this race.  It taught me so much about how much I miss my family and also how great of human beings this team has and will help an aging old dad come have a little fun at this big game we all play.”

Paul Gaston — 11:40:52

Scott Davis — 11:30:53; Six minute PR!

Sean Begley — 13:07:51

Steve Perkins — 12:12:57; “This race unfolded almost exactly perfectly for me despite an inauspicious accident right before the swim start. I stepped on something (a rock, I think) and cut the outside of my right foot, just below the little toe about 5 minutes before the cannon went off. I didn’t know how bad it was, but I didn’t think about it, I just focused on the race.

Race execution was almost to a T, and the result was a 14 minute Ironman PR, including a PR for the Ironman marathon by 25 minutes. Once again, the 4 Keys point the way to AG success. “

Barbara Pudiak — 15:17:28

Keith Buell — 12:27:31

Dave Halligan — 11:14:38; One hour thirty minute PR! “I was thrilled. I actually was able to run. After all my stops and starts during training, I was able to run the marathon. What a great day, what a great year of training. The journey was complete, and what a tremendous journey it was. The tough parts were hours in the pain cave, winter runs with frozen icicles on my beard, long runs in the 90’s and torrential downpours, and being so shelled after some rides I couldn’t stand up to take a shower. The good parts were those runs that felt effortless, many encounters with deer, fox, turkeys, and hawks, the rides in NH, CA, and my home roads of Essex county all with such beautiful backdrops, and the peaceful open water swims with my sister as the sun was rising.”

Eric Voboril — 12:27:51 “This IM was the race I’d been hoping to have in my previous 2 tries.   At both IMUK and IMAZ, it seems that I had massive nutritional and hydration breakdowns that left me nearly crawling through the run.  This time, I got it dialed in and I was running all the way to the finish.  I have Coach Patrick and Rich to thank, but also the great advice from fellow ENers after my last IM and the staff at Infinit Nutrition.”

Mike Graffeo — 11:53:15, First Timer!

Joe Priore — 11:45:53

Greg Crofford — 11:54:10

Kevin Barr — 12:55:22

Carly Costanza — 14:59:47

Fergus Whelan — 11:38:05

Derek Sumida — 11:19:27; “Thanks to my sister, mother and girlfriend for supporting me and dealing with me all year and week long. Thanks to all the EN peeps from feedback on the forums to all those who were on the course cheering us on. Last thanks to Patrick and Rich you guys are awesome, your knowledge and race experience put me years ahead of where i would be otherwise. You’ve all contributed to making my first IM experience a great one.”

Cary Blanco — 13:30:59, First Timer! “My first Ironman experience was an truly amazing one, I had a smile on my face the whole day. I executed EN style and finished where I wanted to be.”

Dana Sharp — 16:15:31, Mother of one & full-time worker bee in her return to the IM distance! “Congrats to all the EN peeps who participated in IMLP, finisher or not.  It is a super tough course that commands respect and props to all of you for getting out there and doing it! Secondly, thanks to the entire EN family and coaches.  This was one long year and it wouldn’t have been possible without the support of the forum and the coaches.”

Terry Wyatt — 11:33:28

Suzanne Kinsky — 12:56:10, First Timer!  “At the top of Papa Bear I saw Dana’s family in their tie-dye shirts. So fun! They whooped it up and made me feel like a rock star. Then I was thrilled to see Chris G after the turn. Seriously, if I think about the highlights of my race, most of them involve the people I saw along the way. Familiar faces became really, really important on race day.”

David Martin — 15:41:43

Kevin Lanahan — 11:29:45

Grant Stauffer — 12:43:30

Atif Malik — 14:24:20

Jed Vanichkachorn — 11:15:25

Jeremy Dodds — 11:27:55

Tom Campbell — 13:57:42

Mike Allen — 12:08:19

Lou Marrero — 14:15:00

And, of course, we get input from folks who aren’t on the Team but use our plans to achieve their race day best. Here’s a great example!

Hey Rich and Patrick,

The subject covers my main point, but I can expand on it a little bit. I did IMLP this past weekend, had a huge PR, and it’s pretty much all thanks to your training plans. I did Placid in ‘08 in the monsoon in 11:35. For ‘09 Placid, I got myself a power meter and trained somewhat EN style based on reading Training and Racing with a Power Meter and did it in 10:38. For 2010, I got your OutSeason and then Advanced IM plans and ended up crossing the line in 9:51:00 last Sunday! It was hands down the best race I’ve ever executed.

I came up to Patrick after the 4 Keys talk last Friday, introduced myself and basically said thanks for putting out awesome products at a great value, but I wanted to just say thanks again. There’s no way I would have taken 1:45 off my IM time in 2 years and still been happily married if it wasn’t for Endurance Nation. I’ve had at least 15 people over the past couple of days ask me what the hell I’ve been doing to get so much better so quickly, and I always point them to EN and say it’s the best stuff out there for age group triathletes because I really believe that it is.

Thanks again!
David

Join TeamEN
Would you like to achieve results like this and have a race weekend experience, for you AND your family, like the one we create for our 25-40 athletes at every US Ironman? Join our Team! Our next round of invitations will be sent to our waiting list on August 9th, 2010. Go here to register to receive an invitation.

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Derek Sumida smiled all day long during his first IM, finishing in 11:19!

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The following is a quick recap from IMUSA by Coach Patrick. A full report will come later this week, as well as podcast interviews and more photos. For now you can see our pictures online via SmugMug and learn more about the weekend by cruising our Facebook page. If you like the vibe and want to be a part of Team EN, please sign up for our Waitlist — next opening in mid-August!

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The 2010 edition of Ironman Lake Placid went off pretty much without a hitch. Weather reports all week suggested that it would be wet and pretty ugly. But the day actually turned out to be a pretty good day for racing. Still cool in the mornings with a couple quick showers, but the race kicked off under overcast skies with all reports pointing to a rough and pretty fast swim. People said it was brutal in the water. While the additional 800 people didn’t appear to show up so much in the photographs, they were definitely felt by the athletes in the water.

Out on the bike, it definitely was a tale of two races, Lake Placid being cool with some wind and moisture, while down lower in Keene, Wilmington and Jay it was warm to hot. And, I think that combination of cool and hot really wreaked havoc with a lot of folks. Not to mention the variable pacing issues that many middle of the pack cyclists faced as the course was quite full of athletes. All in all, the strong bikers still went fast…including a 5:07 from the eventual female winner. I was able to ride the course backwards and see many of the EN folks, some twice. Very cool.

Entering the run, it was still somewhat overcast. When the sun did come through it was hot, but for the most part it was cool. The wind did pick up continuously throughout the day, and as a result, some of the runners did face some pretty significant headwinds. Again, the temperatures did fluctuate and if you were unlucky enough to mess up your bike nutrition, you definitely suffered on the run. But, overall, for the team, it was a great race. I alternated hanging out with the Team at the EN tent and spending time at Mile 18 before I rolled into the finish line to start catching athletes.

We had people all across the board setting anything from an hour and a half personal bests to not setting a personal best but still having a great race. One of the great things about Ironman is that each day is unique and while you don’t always get what you wanted, sometimes you get something that’s even more rewarding. I think it’s safe to say our athletes experienced that across the board.

Here are a few post-race video interviews from our YouTube Channel:

Another giant thank you to all the EN athletes and families who made race week and race day so special. A shout out to the athletes who stopped to tell me that our Four Keys of Ironman execution really worked for them. All of you have earned some time off…so take it! We’ll still be here when you get back; take the time to write up your race report and process what did / didn’t work for you so you can be better next time!

Until then, be safe out there and see you on the roads!

Coach Patrick

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Campers prepare to apply the Four Keys to the IMUSA course

Over 40 campers met in the parking lot of High Peaks Cyclery to conduct a race rehearsal ride on the IMUSA course, armed with Rich’s instructions and the Four Keys guidance from the night before.  Rich instructed everyone to ignore everyone, especially in the first 8 miles to the Keene downhill, and ride their ride, just as they would on race day. Rich then started last, drilled it towards the front of the field, making observations and taking mental notes for his talk that evening. It was very instructive to witness the different riding styles and discipline on the course.

Derrick and Chris riding back into Lake Placid

Dominic Malleo, a 3yr veteran of TeamEN, dialing in his mojo 2wks before he races IMCDA

Rich's Ergomo display after the ride. >4000 cals burned = #ineedasammich

The campers next met at the Northwoods in for Rich’s observations of their rides and to deliver more detailed Ironman racing guidance. Topics discussed:

• IMUSA gearing recommendations
• Descending skills
• Cornering and bike handling
• Bike fit and position principles
• Aerowheel selection
• Hydration systems and proper placement for max benefit
• Shifting on hilly courses
• Race day nutrition
• When to/not to stand on the bike
• Stretching on the bike

Finally, over 30 campers attended the dinner downstairs, creating more friendships, memories, and receiving a Four Keys DVD and Fuel Belt metal water bottle.

Next Up: Day 2, Epic Ride to Lake Champlain!

Please join us for our next FREE Tri-Rally, on the Ironman Wisconsin course next month!

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