My IM-Austria Race Plan
Ok folks here's a first draft of my race-plan for IM-Austria!
Feel free to add all your opinions/suggestions/critics here ... still more than 2 weeks out I still can change some minor things!
Final RR to take place in 2 days 
6:00 Prepare Bike (inflate tires and setup Edge-500 (TURN OFF AUTO SHUTDOWN!!))
6:30 Start swim Warmup
6:45 Eat 1-2 Gel with some water
7:00 Start Swim
Go out not too hard but also not too easy for about 10 minutes. Find suitable group to swim with and keep up the pace until.
Mental focus on form – think “fingertips down”, “belly to the wall”, “grab the barrel” …
Be sure to swim as straight as somehow possible.
About 5min before swim exit start doing more leg work and mentally prepare/focus on transition.
8:10 Swim exit (planned swim time 1:10 with Neopren)
Don't walk - jog to bike putting off swim cap, googles and Neo. Simply execute T1 as usual.
8:15 Bike split start (planned T1 time 0:05)
!!! DON'T BE STUPID !!! Goal watts = 233W!!
Do the opposite of all others.
Easy out of T1 - keep power somewhere between 200 and 235 until km20 (Velden)
Increase power output to 230-235W in ALL CONDITIONS except hills and steep downhills!
Go up to 250W on long hills (>3min) and 260W on shorter hills.
Try to keep power as low as possible on both long steep hills (1st gear, go standing low rpm if needed)
Throw away bottles before both hills!
Stay locked into your Aerobars at ALL times (even uphill when riding faster than 18km/h).
Patience and discipline - DON'T BE STUPID!!
Nutrition: 1 gel every 45min + water. Drink at 0,5 - 1l Iso/hour. Add water if needed. Salt pills after first round and before T2.
13:15 Bike split end (planned bike split time 5:00)
Don't walk! - Jog easily and execute T2. Put on your shoes and sun visor (saltpills?) and don't forget to put on a smile here
13:19 Run split start (planned T2 time 0:04)
KM 0-10 : Run a 5:10/km pace – don’t bother about tons of people passing by!!
Fine to walk during aid stations.
Patience and discipline – THIS IS NOT THE TIME TO RACE!
KM 10-28: increase pace to 4:50/km. Focus on gliding/rolling.
Patience and discipline – THIS IS NOT THE TIME TO RACE!
KM 28-42: Now it's time to get the RACE started if I still feel good carefully increase pace to a maximum of 4:30!
Prepare yourself mentally to hit "THE LINE" - keep my "ONE THING" in mind and stay focused!!
Nutrition: 1 gel every 45min + water. Coke as needed - it's your friend!
16:50 FINISH (planned run split time 3:30) - TOTAL TIME ~9:50
Close front-zipper, adjust BIB# and SMILE when crossing Finish-Line
Comments
Your plan looks great and I love your finish getting all pretty for you sub 10hr photo!
Great plan. Here are a few notes I took for you to consider:
Stefan,
Great plan. By dedicating yourself to put it in writing and making your day one of deliberate action, I would bet you have magically found 5 minutes. At least. I'm not being flip - that's how valuable the PROCESS of writing a race plan is, IMHO. Moreso for a fast dude like you with ambitious goals.
What stands out to me is the number of time-based goals and markers in your execution. While this in itself probably isn't bad for a strong racer, I would want to see some thought given - and then written down - to the question of what if things go to shit on t1 when they can't find your bag, or at km 160 when your pedal comes loose from the spindle, or on mile 5 of the run when you trip over an aid station vounteer's kid and lose 2 mins. Or whatever. In other words, there will be a lot of stuff that can and will happen in the day that will be compeltely out of your control, and when these come up against tight times or specific goals, you risk entering the Mistake Zone a few minutes later when you decide to drop to 4:30 kms to "make up time."
Simple step is to write out some general, discipline/situational contingencies to keep your head straight. That way, these become your script to dispassionately handle things, move on, and get to the finish having played what the day has dealt you.
You'll do great. I am seriously excited to see you go sub 10.
Super visualization process, Stefan. a few comments...
Swim : As long as you are prepping mental focus, think about these things. You will get touched. A lot. Advance focus in paying attention to what YOU are doing, not what others are doing to you (what coaches call staying in your box, or what I call the personal space bubble) will help here, more than thinking about form. As to swimming straight - in the mass scrum of an IM swim, there's little choice about what direction to swim. Go with the flow and just work on avoiding any weavers in front of you.
Bike: Along with patience and discipline, "humility" is another key word to focus on.
Run: there is no way to over emphasize the need to feel as if you are running STUPID SLOW for the first 8 km or so. After that, the effort level should gradually (no sharp jumps in effort) rise through LRP to MP to HMP to TP as you go from KM 10-25-30-35. The RPE will ratchet up and your speed/pace should stay the same. If the RPE stays the same throughout the run, you WILL be slowing down. Prepare yourself in advance with mental visualization about the need to continually increase the effort through the last half of the run. Your body can do it, you just have to let it work as hard as it has trained to.
Like Dave, I believe you have a strong race in you. Let your body do the work, stay out of its way as much as possible unless something goes wrong. Your main job is to keep on a steady power on the bike, and a steady pace (through an increasing RPE) on the run. Everything else is secondary, or subserviant to those two goals.
As it is already time to sleep I will write more after RR2 here ... Probably also my reworked race plan!
@Al - I really LOVE that post - THX so much especially the "Run" section is worth reading over and over again!!
@Dave - You are absolutely right. I will add that thoughts into my Race-Plan II
@Nemo - Very good questions!! I already have some answers but in fact I failed on the sun-screen one .... I think I will start applying sunscreen (50+) right after wakeup and re-apply as good as I can in T1 as well as T2 if needed. I will also have my girl-friend right beside the run course with some additional sunscreen if needed. How do your "sunscreen strategy" look like?
For RR#2 i tried the double-breakfast with 2 smoothies @ 1:30 in the night and it worked really good. For the race I plan to use 3pcs or some other ultra-high-calorie drink like Fresubin Energy (200cals / 100ml and completely free of fibers).
I'll not use a special needs bag ... I don't have special needs
Stefan,
Your body and mind are ready. You've done the work. Now it's a matter of not getting swept up, staying in control and "calm", staying "out of your own way", and particularly for a strong athlete like you knowing when it is time (the "line") to really pull the trigger to meet your goal. Armed with the sage advice of those that have already posted here I know something special is coming your way.
Best of luck. I'll be routing for you.
Dave