Gail’s Lessons Learned from Ironman

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

F4 Coach Gail Matherly recently suffered a disappointing DNF at Ironman St, George, and shares her lessons learned...

Post Race Review – Ironman Saint George – May 1, 2010 – Gail Matherly

 

I signed up for Ironman Saint George right when registration opened.  At the time, I had no idea what I was getting myself into.  I had not even done a 70.3 distance race yet.  I just thought the daunting task of preparing for a race of this magnitude would keep me motivated to stick with a plan to get back in shape.  Just over a year later, I made it to the starting line, which people say is half the battle.  However, making it to that starting line was in doubt only 2 weeks before race day.  I managed to get a very painful knee injury due to some preventable circumstances.  Unfortunately, I never got to test the knee on race day, although I believe it may have rallied for the cause.  I was pulled to the medical tent upon exiting the water because I was suffering from hypothermia.  At least I lived to race another day!  This is a review of my preparation leading up to the IMSG race and the attempted execution of the race.  The purpose of this review is to document what went wrong, what went right, and to learn how to improve in the future.  It is written from the perspective of someone doing an Ironman distance race.  Some of the suggestions may be modified for shorter distances, such as wearing the same shoes in racing and training.

 

WHAT WENT WRONG

1. A few weeks out from race day, I began having excruciating groin pain after my long rides when I would run off the bike.  It would only last for 4 minutes after I started to run and then would completely go away.  I kept thinking it would go away as I got used to the longer distance I was riding, but it didn’t.  Four weeks later, I was still dealing with the same problem.  Instead of seeing a sports medicine professional right away, I tried to self diagnose the problem and decided it was probably caused by my saddle, as it is one of the wider-in-the-front models that I thought could potentially be putting pressure on the groin tendons.  Just two and a half weeks out from my race, I decided to change saddles, against the advice of my coach, with the rationalization that this groin pain could become a show stopper if it ever stuck with me on the run.  The new saddle was designed to be much lower in the back than my old saddle, which gave me more power when I was climbing.  This extra power and lower saddle during high-torque hill-climbing is what I suspect led to the knee injury.  Later, I found out from a sports med PT that the groin pain I was experiencing only on brick runs was not really a threat to completing my Ironman so I could have left the saddle alone and not developed the knee injury.


2. I thought perhaps my running shoes were too worn out to race in them so I bought a new pair of an unfamiliar model about 3 weeks out from the race.  Shortly after that I began to experience some knee pain in my right knee which I was able to resolve with icing.  However, the shoe change could also have contributed to the pain in my left knee just a few days later.


3. Two weeks out from my race, I felt a relatively minor amount of discomfort in my left knee when I went for a ride.  I thought about discontinuing the ride so as not to irritate it further, but I continued anyway because I had experienced lots of little “discomforts” in training that didn’t ever develop into a real problem. 


4. I also experienced just a bit more discomfort during a run and had to cut it short.  This discomfort changed to stiffness and pain after the run.  This pain was so bad that my knee hurt even if I was just sitting or standing.


5. After determining that any activity at all caused the pain to get worse, I rested from training completely for a week and a half until race day.


6. I did not anticipate that the water would be significantly colder than predicted on race day.  Three nights before the race, a huge snow storm dumped a lot of snow in the mountains near Saint George.  The snow melt over the next couple of days along with colder than normal spring temperatures reduced the Sand Hollow Reservoir temperature to 55 or 58 degrees depending on the source.  I was expecting the water to be at the predicted “low to mid 60’s.” 


7. I stood in line too long at the bathrooms and could not get in the water until after the start because many others did the same thing and we were all in a traffic jam heading down to the water.  I didn’t realize it was time for the start because so many people were still up near the transition area. 

 

 

WHAT WENT RIGHT

1. I have a coach who is in tune with my goals, my motivation, and my ability.  The accountability was a huge factor in sticking consistently with the program, and my tendency to over-do was kept somewhat in line as my coach adjusted my intensity and workload based upon my feedback.  I went over a year without a significant injury, which is saying a lot considering my injury-ridden athletic history and the magnitude of the goal toward which I was striving. 


2. Going to the race course well in advance of race day provided the opportunity to experience first-hand what the course required in terms of effort, intensity, and mental fortitude.  After I knew what this difficult course was like, I had the opportunity to train on a similar course at home that is even more difficult so that I would have extra confidence on race day.  When we drove the course 2 days before the race, I thought, “This is even easier looking than I remember.  It’s nowhere near as tough as the course I’ve been riding in training.”  Riding the course in person versus just looking at the course profile or seeing the course on a Computrainer enabled me to experience the wind conditions combined with the hills and the bumpy chip seal road surface.  Of course, if you can’t make it to the race course ahead of time, study the course profile, ride the Computrainer course, and read everything you can about the course, previous race conditions, typical weather that time of year, and anything else you can find to help you be mentally and physically prepared.  At the very least, be sure to at least drive the course before you race.


3. I regularly swam and biked the race distance in training until it didn’t feel like a big deal anymore. 


4. When I experienced the knee injury I went to recommended sports medicine professionals who provided exercises, taping, and icing/rest instructions to help me heal faster.


5. I kept a positive outlook hoping that my knee would heal in time, but mentally preparing for the possibility that it wouldn’t.  Each day that the pain seemed to lessen, my hope grew.

 

LESSONS LEARNED

1. Do not change ANYTHING during the last few weeks before an “A” race.  Buy shoes that work well for you based upon what has worked well in the past.  Acquire them early in your training cycle, and when you find a pair you like buy at least three pairs of the same shoe.  Wear one pair just enough to break them in and then save them for race day.  Use the other two pairs in training. 


2. Do not change saddles or saddle height at all during the 2 months prior to your “A” race.  If you must make changes, do it in very small increments leaving enough time to get accustomed to a new position.  Get that all dialed in beforehand.


3. When you are in your taper, ALWAYS ditch the workout if you feel ANY pain.  At that point you have done all the work.  Do not risk an injury.  If you discontinue the workout when you feel pain, chances are the pain will be gone the next day and you’ll be able to do your scheduled workout.  If you don’t, then you may have an injury that continues to plague you on through race day.


4. Do not try to self-diagnose pains or injuries.  See a sports medicine expert who can give you advice to correct the problem without messing something else up.


5. If the water temp is below mid-sixties and the race distance is IM use a neoprene cap!  Hypothermia sucks!  I’ve found for shorter distances, that 2 swim caps is sufficient to keep me warm in low to mid-sixties temps.


6. Keep an eye on the time.  Assume the start will be at the scheduled time, even if half of the athletes are still in the bathroom lines.

 

I hope that sharing my mistakes will help someone else avoid the same speedbumps I hit.  Happy training and racing!