Athlete Series: Jason’s Race Day
Today I am wrapping up the latest athlete series because Jason has officially finished Ironman Maryland! Today I’ll share with you details about his race day as well as some of what he did the few days leading into the race.
Race Week
Jason arrived in Cambridge, Maryland on Wednesday, four days before race day. This allowed him to settle in after two days of driving, and have a low stress week to get his workouts in and rest and relax while not working out. Because he arrived early, he was able to drive the bike course, the run course, and get a feel for the surrounding areas for race day.
One item that Jason had to keep an eye on was the weather. Hurricane Lee was out in the Atlantic and there was some uncertainty about race conditions leading up to race day. Winds were higher than normal but all else was seemingly okay.
Race week was fairly low-key in terms of training sessions. We decreased his training load, but kept up intensity in each session so that Jason stayed sharp and fresh for race day. While Jason was doing the workouts, I was also looking at his ATL, CTL, and TSB to make sure they were coming into the numbers we were targeting. Sessions leading into the race looked like this:
Tuesday: Swim Session. 2300 yards with some race pace efforts and a few fast 50s to stay sharp.
Wednesday: Brick. An hour ride with race power intervals followed by a run off of 20 minutes.
Thursday: Open Water Swim at the race venue + a 30 minute run session with strides.
Friday: A 30 minute ride with openers to make sure the legs and the bike were set for check in.
Race Day
As planned, Jason got up early to have his breakfast and go through his race morning routine. A wrench was thrown into his plans though when Ironman made the call to delay the race start by one hour and also shorten the swim due to a “stacked tide”. As explained to me by Jason, a stacked tide is when the wind and the tide are moving in opposite directions. What this causes I’m not 100% certain, but it made race directors rethink the length of the swim. It was shortened to 1000 meters.
Jason had to rethink his nutrition. He had already eaten his breakfast; with the delayed start this made his preparation a bit too early. But, he did not panic and thought through what he needed to do. He opted for a Maurten gel prior to the start to get more calories in.
He didn’t get in the water until just after 8:30 a.m. due to the delay. But because the swim was shortened this didn’t put him out on the bike much later than if he had started an hour earlier. The swim went smoothly; he said he didn’t feel like the water was too rough, plus the wetsuit helped.
When he got out onto the bike he immediately fell back into the race plan we had formulated. His IM power was zone 2. He followed this really well, spending five of the eight hours in zone 2. The rest of the time was zone 1 and just 50 minutes in zone 3 (hello headwind). The bike was a two loop course, and the wind was definitely a factor on the day. While we had planned for a faster bike, the wind and some foot cramping (an issue that we knew might exist) caused a slowing in time. But Jason kept up the power and kept on top of his nutrition really well, and did not “bonk” or feel bad. The last hour or so he did feel like he was getting a cramp but when he got off the bike it did not bother him. The weather was mid-60’s and he never got too hot.
Out of T2 and onto the run, Jason was in the last phase of the race. Jason said his legs felt good, nutrition seemed to be working well so he focused on getting into his pace. The three loop run course was filled with spectators. To help athletes keep track of what lap they were on, volunteers would give athletes a different color wristband for each lap so they knew when it was time to head to the finish chute! Jason liked the loops as it was a smaller number to get his head around and focus on small portions of the run at a time. Unfortunately, his feet were giving him some problems and this ended up slowing him down more than we had anticipated. We had come up with a run walk plan, but the runs got shorter and the walks got longer due to the foot issues. But, always determined, Jason did not give up; he just adjusted his plan and kept on moving forward and fueling. Jason made it to the finish line and can now call himself a two time Ironman!
Post Race Thoughts
Talking with Jason post-race, I knew he was not going to be happy with his performance. He is a driven individual that always wants to do better and be better (a VERY admirable quality!). While he was focusing on the negatives, I made sure he found the positives. We talked through each part of the day and worked on finding a positive from each part of the race.
Jason focuses on Ironman because he likes a challenge. This distance provides him with that. It’s not only a physical challenge in training and on race day, but a mental challenge to overcome hard training days, to persevere when the day is unfolding unexpectedly. He demands better from himself. That doesn’t mean that he is going to be the fastest or the best out there. But it means he is going to give 100% of his ability on the day, and that is what makes an athlete rise above and be great. It is always an honor to get to work with Jason, and athletes like him, because they want to be the best versions of themselves and they show it day in and day out. I’m so proud of what he has accomplished, and I know that whatever his next event is, he’ll set big goals for himself and we’ll work toward them.
Congratulation Jason!