IMLP Race Plan Manning
Look forward to the feedback:
Background
IMLP will be my 2nd IM (IMSG ’10 was my first). I had a great day at IMSG and finished feeling really good, although I was very dehydrated. I feel like I’m more dialed into my nutrition this time and I’d like to go sub 11, but time is not going to be my primary judge of success. I’m really focused on executing the race well and being able to “race” after mile 18. As we all know there is so much that goes into an IM and above all else I want to enjoy every aspect of the day, especially the opportunity to race in front of my entire family.
Saturday:
I plan to sleep in as long as possible and then have a big breakfast with the family. I’ll go through a final check of all my gear and then get my bike and bags dropped off as early as possible. The plan will be to hang at our lake house the majority of the day, drink sports drink throughout the day, continue to implement my fuel plan and generally try to keep my feet up as much as possible. I’ll have a fairly light lunch, got to church with the family, and eat a light dinner at the house with the family. I’ll do a mental walk through of the race, review my checklists and try to get to bed at 8:30pm.
Race Day:
Wake-up at 3:30am. Breakfast: 3.5 cups of Applesauce, 1 scoop protein powder, 1 bottle of perform, 1 banana, 1 slice of white bread with honey. I’ll go through my morning checklist, leave out cards for my wife and two daughters, pop on my iPod and head down to transition by 4:45. In transition I’ll air up my tires, load up my bottles and on bike nutrition, apply sunscreen, go over my checklist one more time and exit transition. At IMSG 70.3 I ended up with an IT band cramp right out of the swim. I’ll try to do a light jog or warm-up swim if time/space allows given the new start format. I’ll be sipping sports drink and take my gel prior to seeding. I’ll hand my wife the iPod and then seed myself with the 1-1:15 group. My plan for the swim is to swim hard to get seeded on the bouy line, then relax into my stroke and go at my normal swim race pace. After I make the turn for shore on the final loop I’ll start to visualize my transition, particularly coming out of the water and getting the wetsuit off quickly, and ensuring I’m got all of my nutrition on board before leaving T1.
Bike:
I expect the T1 exit to be chaotic. I plan to take it easy and stick to the sides of the road till we get onto the main road out of town. If things aren’t too crowded around me I’ll try and get the first half of Clif bar down before the decent to the ski jumps, if not, I’ll start to feed right after we pass the jumps. As we go down the ski jump decent, I’ll stay wide on the yellow line and avoid JW and Kori’s two potholes on the bridge. Once I start the climb out of town I’ll try to stay in first gear, and start hydrating with the goal to get down 1 bottle of perform before we hit the decent to Keene.
I’ll stay in the aero bars on the initial portion of the decent and keep my momentum over the rollers by the lakes, checking the water for the wind conditions in the last lake as the first seems to be pretty sheltered. I plan to take the last half of the first portion of the decent and the final decent into Keene in a tuck on the bullhorns. I’m confident in the aerobars, but I suspect there will be a large number of nervous “trycyclists” around me and I want to have more control than I would on the bars. If it’s thinner on the 2nd lap I’ll take the entire decent in the bars.
As soon as I make the left in Keene I’ll get back on my nutrition plan taking another half of clif bar and will try to get the 2nd bottle of perform down before the first aid station. My nutrition plan is a powergel 10 min after every hour & ½ a clif bar at 40 minutes after the hour and 2 bottles of perform/hr moving to 3 (or water) if it’s very hot. Hit myself with water at the aid stations as needed.
I will remember to pay attention to the wind and hold back on the out & back to Ausable where I think I pushed too hard both times at camp. After the right up to Wilmington, I plan to take it really easy on the climbs, stay aero if it is windy, but if not try to sit-up tall, stretch my back and spin keeping an eye on my watts. After the left in Wilmington I’ll need to keep monitoring my watts, hydration, and nutrition just keeping it smooth and steady all the way back into town. As I start up Papa Bear and transition to Northwoods and down to the lake I’ll be keeping an eye out for my family and hope to see them out in force at the house as I turn onto Mirror Lake road. The next lap should be a repeat of the first with the goal that I road conservatively enough to allow me to make the last hour of the bike my best as I climb back into town for the last time.
T2 should be pretty straightforward: socks, running shoes on. Grab my, fuel belt with salt sticks on board, visor, and put them on while I trot out of T2, stopping to get sunscreen on the way out.
RUN:
My Z1 pace is 8:58 so I plan to run the first 6 miles at 9:30. This may be difficult given the downhill nature of the course out to the ski jumps. If necessary I’ll walk the full length of a couple of the aid stations to better manage my pace. I plan to walk the last half of each aid station to ensure I’m getting enough Perform. I’ll also be taking a gel at miles 4, 8, 12, etc. If it’s very hot I’ll supplement with salt sticks at every other feed. After mile 6 I’ll plan to pick it up to between 8:50 and 9.
My focus on the ski jump hill and big hill back into town will be to shorten my stride and really focus on my form. If I’m really spiking my heart rate on the big hill I consider power walking till I turn the corner and then transition back to a run. I believe the hardest part mentally will be the wide open section on the return down River Road and up the ski jump hill. I’ll keep focused on the jumps and my running form, thinking how awesome it is to be doing an IM on this course in LP. My ultimate goal is to be able to “race” rather than simply survive the last 8 miles. That will be my focus on the return into town.
I should see my family for the last time before the finish as I make the right onto Mirror Lake Road. I’ll tell my wife “I’ll see you when I’m an Ironman” (like I did at IMSG) and really try to put everything I have into those last 2 miles knowing my “One Thing” is at the finish pulling me toward it.
Comments
Looks great. I like the idea of visualizing what to do in T1 while on the swim. That might help me get my mind off of other distractions.
Thank you,
John
What is the planned cal/hr and total cals for the bike?
If all goes well next week you and I will likely be pretty close to each other for most of the day and hopefully we'll finish pretty close as well as we have very similar expectations...
See you soon!
-JW
@Steve-119 carbs/hr, 476 cal/hr on the bike ( I'm 192lbs). I've been training slightly above these levels and still have felt hungry if I get off my schedule just a little so I'm not too worried about over eating.
@JW-I was thinking the same thing. If all goes as planned we'll likely see a lot of each other. Thanks for the update on the roads. Glad they patched that hole.
Thanks for the feedback everyone. See you guys Th.