NRGPT

Larry Hasson's IM Arizona Race Report

Congrats to NRG athlete Larry Hasson for the break through race he has been looking for! Great job by Larry and Coach Ryan in putting together the right training plan and race day execution that lead to such a great race.

Hey folks:

I did up a race report while it was fresh.

I've never written a race report before. Never really felt the need. But if I'm going to ever write one. This will be it. No more from here on in. Therefore it will be long. Sorry. That is why I created a summary below.

There's a ton more detail that went into it from prep. Nutrition plan, heat prep etc.. that I've left out.

Short form:

Trained as much as my body/work/life would allow
Race:
Swam easy

Bike easy

Ran easy

Achieved goal!

Preamble: Did a lot of work for this race. Many hours on the trainer and some long long runs. Special thanks to my Wife for the support, and to Ryan Cain for setting a training plan and keeping me on top of it (despite me cursing your name often). Also to those that trained with me on runs (Tempo tuesdays with Andrew Deak), Matt Daley on the 6 hour trainer ride and Keegan for making me work harder then I wanted to in the pool, and of course Maya my sleep deprivation trainer.

Pre race: Arrived on wednesday afternoon and my fork had some issues from the flight. I went to a bike store as I lacked the tools on site. They "fixed" it. Got my bike but it still wasn't right. Turns out they forgot to put in an extra bearing cap. So the mechanic on race site cannabalized his own commuter bike to work a solution. Success!

Day before the race I spent a lot of time indoors. It was hot! I built many couch forts with Maya and did a lot of piggy back rides! Ate a delicious meal of bland pasta and headed to bed. Slept like a baby. (which means I woke up every 2 hours crying)

Race morning:

Alarm set for 3:15am. Yuck.

Ate my usual race day breakfast of bagels, PB and J and a delicious Trader joes cold brew (no  coffee machine noise to wake Maya and Shanna.)

I hopped in an uber at 4:30 and headed to race site.

Got all the pre-race logistics and drop off's done fast. Did a final check of my bike and all systems go. Headed for the swim corral which was already starting to fill up.

Race:
Out of nowhere the clouds rolled in and the water temps in the lake dropped a lot. They announced 55 degrees which freaked people out, booty's were now able to be worn.

Swim: Goal swim comfortable and exit the water with the feeling of shrugging my shoulders like it was a warm up and easy.)
 

With the rolling start you don't get to warm up, and theres a lot of people who push their way to the front who likely shouldn't be. They all went for the buoy line and I went far far far right. I think I scraped the bridge with my finger tips as I rolled through.

I hit the swim and my first thought was. Damn this is cold! But not 55 degrees cold. Maybe 65 degrees. Which is still chilly. Probably did 100m too hard before an image of Ryan popped into my head:

So I cruised for 400m at a comfortable clip to make sure I could get some open water and warm up!

It was still dark so I couldn't really see caps. At 400m though the sun had come up enough to see there was a small group that had 15m on me. As I had gotten off 15-30secs behind the gun I figured I was closing in. I held pace and closed the gap really quickly. I thought.. I could stay here or I could just keep going and see who else was in the group. I passed them and headed solo into the wilderness. By 1mile I caught some female pro's who got a 5min head start. I finally felt warm and relaxed, but was still working. I did some back stroke and noticed a group on the inside that was swimming a similar line but were a bit behind me. So I slow merged with them and find a nice spot in the middle of the group. ( 4people total). My effort level dropped quite a bit. Perfect! I stayed in the group for a mile and it was pretty easy at this point. Really easy. I failed to calculate that when you go easy you get cold! so with 400m to go was the point where I couldn't feel my fingers and toes and thought I'd go to the front take another long pull and warm up. At that point I broke the group who were starting to fade in the windy rough waters and I cruised into T1.

Got to the stairs and stood up. Legs felt good. Heart didn't jump into my mouth. Felt good. Felt really good. Thought hmm...

T1: long loop around T1 into the tent. They emptied my bag. Started getting sorted. Wait wheres my other SOCK! get me my bag back!!!


It was my only pair. I'm not running a marathon sockless! Guy ran back with my sock phew. I'm off.

Bike: Goal Steady power on flats build on the uphill and steady and a bit lower on descents.

Last time I was there I did 4:55. On a very different type of day.

Loop 1 the watts were higher then I wanted. The way out was windy! big headwind! but open road. Passed some female pro's early on then was essentially alone into the wind. Around halfway out, I felt like I was working a bit harder then I should be. My mantra on the bike was patience, and no one hits the finish line and thinks. Gee I wish I would have biked harder!. So I settled into goal watts.

1:40 loop 1. Ok looks good.

Loop 2: More of the same. I ate more this loop as I had warmed up and my stomach got hungry. On the descent this time I could just duck and fly. I had to avoid first loopers swerving around. But still back of the pack and not many. Had a few near misses especially on the turns into town and narrowly avoided a police car when my rear wheel locked on a turn when I got cut off by a gentleman riding in his own world.

2: 1:38/39. Looks good and faster then last loop yay. Power right on track! perfect.

Loop 3: Exactly like loop 2 but more wind seemingly changing directions. In town its a tail wind to start, then headwind all the way up 87 and a tail wind back then a head wind again. Another 56 to the top of the climb. Descending really was dangerous this loop. I also felt hungry and my mouth was dry. So my goal was maintain pace. Eat and drink my emergency gels.

Got caught up behind a bad crash and decided to play it safe into town. Hit the end of the loop around 1:41 and then cruised into T2 stretching my back out.

5:02. Perfect, and I feel great.

T2: besides a really long pee break (haven't mastered run pee's and too many people on last loop to do it on the bike.)

Run: Goal patience and keeping the miles easy.

I hit the run and legs felt pretty good. But I've been here before. First k was meant to be 5:20 but ended up being 4:50min. Crap. Ok slow down...

I then settled into 5:05's. It felt super easy and legs were rolling well. The miles ticked by pretty quickly. Before I knew it was at 7miles. I was getting hungry needed way more food on the run then I do in training. Quick calculation, I don't have enough. I made a plan to get gels at aid stations and stock pile them and mix more bottles on the go. That worked well and I felt my energy level coming back.

Loop 1: no idea time. I was told not to watch the Fenix 3 from Andrew. He added secret mojo magic in it and I can't look other then to check pace periodically. I didn't look at my watch for 10miles. I just felt steady and in control so I kept rolling easy miles.

Loop 2: Got special needs reloaded my belt and headed off. Felt better then loop 1. Missions accomplished! Just let the miles tick away. A few mishaps and dropped bottles/ gels at aid stations and one long pee break. Legs had pop and the miles still felt easy.

Kept rolling. Miles ticked by pretty easily till 20miles. Looked at my watch. Hey 32k this is where people hit the wall. I then wondered why 32k? Either way there was no wall just 10more k.

As I've never executed a good ironman marathon the plan was to be conservative. Ryan said I should just be patient to 35/36k then open in up. So I did. I finally got to 36k and started to open things up. Each k I sped up faster and faster. I felt better and better. (and more and more sore with each stride was like mini explosions in my quads). But no signs of cramping. So I kept going. 2k to go was like one last tempo repeat. (although slower) but felt like sprinting. Passing people like blurs, but felt strong through to the line.



I hit the line 9:37! my goal was sub 10. My stretch goal was 9:45. So I managed to outdo both of those and execute a solid ironman.

Time to rest and relax