Jeff Leslie IMTX Race Plan - 1st Draft

jaleslie

 

 

 

FACTS:

First full IM.  Scared beyond all capacity for rational thought.  Consistently slow...but consistent.  

FTP: 220 VDOT: 44 WEIGHT: 156LBS   3.1w/kg 

TIME: Sub 13:00 HRS (SWIM: 01:20:00 – T1: 4:00 – BIKE: 6:00:00 – T2: 03:00 – RUN 4:40:00– TOTAL:12:07:00)

  

BIKE w/aero disc cover on back wheel (Zipp 101) and Flo 60 front wheel 

Front: Garmin 800 / Speedfill A2 with perform 

Frame: XLab Aero Bento box, 7 gels (caff and noncaff), 2 bottles of perform (downtube and seattube) 

Behind Saddle: 1 tube, 2 tire levers, 2 CO2, multitool, valve extender/tool, inflate valve   

T1 BAG: Helmet, Bike shoes, Sunglasses, Gloves, Arm coolers, Clif Bar (cut in half)  

BSN BAG: 2 Salt Sticks, 1 extra tube, 1 extra CO2, 1 Power Bar (frozen/cold)   

T2 BAG: Shoes, Socks, Garmin 310XT, Trucker Hat, Go bag with: race belt, Gel flask (full of PB gel 1x caffeine), 3 gels, Mini salt stick dispenser (?), Cooling towel, Small water bottle, Sunscreen (small tube)  

RSN BAG: Flask with Power Gel 2X caff, Socks   

 

Plan:

WEDNESDAY Before Race: Leave SA in AM Check into hotel, unpack, etc. 20th Anniversary dinner with wife   

THURSDAY Before Race: Sleep in, Attend 4 Keys at 11:30, 2101 Lake Robbins Drive (Library); Lunch and Packet Pickup in afternoon/EXPO purchases; EN Team Dinner at 5:30 at Cheesecake factory; Prepare T1/T2 bags, gear, put stickers on helmet, bike, race belt   

FRIDAY Before Race: 8:00 Big breakfast;  10:00 Head over to Marriott for mandatory bike and gear bag check-in (T1/T2); 12:00-13:00 Big Lunch (pasta);  After lunch -- Stay in hotel with legs up as much as possible. Tapering meals throughout the day. Prepare special needs bike/run bags, bottles, lay out clothing, etc., ending with a light dinner no later than 7:00, Lights out by 9:00   

RACE DAY: Wake up 4:00am and have breakfast and celebrate my 42nd Birthday: Apple Sauce, Mountain Dew, Ensure, powerbar, sports drink. Apply sunscreen, body glide.  Panic.  Calm down.  Repeat.  

Leave hotel with:310XT, Garmin 800, HR monitor, goggles, swim skin or wetsuit, flip flops, jacket, hat, sports drink, power gels (2), Clif bar, timing chip, swim cap, morning clothes bag (extra under wear, shirt, shorts), bike/run special needs bags, iphone, wife (should I bring my pump????....hate for my wife to have to lug it around during swim???)

Arrive T1 (Town Greene Park) at opening time of 5:30am, set up, inflate tires pressure. Exit T1 ASAP and head off to deliver special needs bags drop off at North Shore Park 

06:00 eat one Clif Bar, drink….pee, whatever else comes to mind…… 06:45 take one power gel (non-caff) w/8oz Perform and seed left mid portion of the group.  

SWIM:  (TARGET 01:20:00) Follow EN protocol pushing first ~400M with controlled kicking and then settle into race pace, totally focused on FORM AND SIGHTING. Go only as fast as good form is maintained.  During the swim, keep the buoy markers to my left. Remember not to be fooled by the first large peninsula on the right. Use the Woodland Pkwy bridge/buildings for guidance in. After passing the DECOY inlet, use the shore for guidance into the waterway. Once in the waterway, veer to left side and swim there being careful of depth and stroke – remembering this is not the end.   

T100:4:00) SLOW IS SMOOTH>>SMOOTH IS FAST. Immediately start working on unzipping swim skin, headed to gear bags.  Run from the wet suit strippers to the gear bags, then find a clear spot on the grass.  Helmet on,glasses on, gloves on, Clif bar in tri top back pockets (cut in half), suit in bag, grab shoes, run thru tent. Grab bike and find a clear spot (outside tent) to put on bike shoes, then run along the OUTSIDE of the bike racks to the shortest row, thru that row, and out onto the bike course, past all the folks struggling to mount/clip in”.   

BIKE (TARGET 06:00): FLATTEN THE COURSE!!! DRINK-EAT-DRINK-EAT ACCORDING TO PLAN.  Stay in my box. Skip first aid station (use bottles on the bike) and grab Perform at all stations from there on. Eat a gel every hour beginning at 20-30mins. Drink >12oz Perform (1/2 of Speedfill) every 15 min, adjusted to temperature.Remember the first 30-40 miles are free. Focus on bringing HR back down after transition.  Ride first 20-30 minutes @ 68% (150W) or until HR is in mid-120s. After 30 minutes and if HR back to “normal” settle into 70% IF overall (154W). ***Miles 50-75 are the hardest*** with chip seal and headwind, make sure to be smart, stay in my box, focus on holding 154 watts. Stay aero and relaxed all the way. PATIENCE & DISCIPLINE every minute, every hour. **EVERY AID STATION THINK: HOW DO I FEEL, WHAT DO I NEED?** Do not skip aid stations. Just before each of the aid stations top off with Perform from cage bottles. Discard empty cage bottles first. At the aid stations, grab and rack Perform first (keep cage bottles full to refill A2), then grab water and stay cool. Be soaked as much of the day as possible. Don't squirt face as glasses will smudge. Down my back, my neck, into helmet spout, etc.Stay aero. Refill A2 on slower climbs when sitting up is less penalty.   

T2: (TARGET: 00:03:00) SLOW IS SMOOTH>>SMOOTH IS FAST Don’t change in tent!.Grab bag, and drop somewhere outside of tent to put shoes and socks and watch on. Put helmet, shoes, gloves in bag. Grab GO BAG, stand up, out RUNNING through the tent. Once on course, open GO BAG, and finish dressing.  

RUN (TARGET 04:40:00) Miles 1 – 6 @ 10:00/mi. Walk 30 steps all the stations and use them to stay 100% within nutrition plan EAT-DRINK-EAT-DRINK.. 1 gel every 3 miles. 4oz perform every mile. Ice in hat and hands and arm coolers and shorts and anywhere else I can! Go very easy first 6 miles, targeting avg HR from bike (usually upper 120s/130 but might be higher if really hot). Focus on form each time it gets hard!!! Use the sponges and water and ice. Sponge in kit, then focus on nutrition, and if possible leave the aid station with a full cup of ice. Hold the ice in hands and ditch the cup. Also chew on the ice on the go. Miles 7 – 18 @ 9:30 depending on HR and Heat index...adjust accordingly…ask HOW DO I FEEL? WHAT DO I NEED? Do I need nutrition? Salt? Fluids? Am I hot (yes….I am hot!)? How is my HR? Can I see straight? Focus on keeping core temp down by taking advantage of ice (hold it, put in hat), water on cool wings, cool towel on neck. Focus on form when it gets hard. It’s 26X1 mile repeats at easy pace. Break up pace in 3 loops. Hold off for coke until mile 20 if at all possible.             

 

GMAN 19030

Sounds good. I'd plan on some more time in T1 and T2. The fastest guys in M40-44 are about 4:00 and 3:00. For example the M40-44 winner went 3:10 and 2:49, second was 4:12/3:13, third was 4:40/4:33 and 4th was 3:28/2:12. Those were the only four that broke 10 hours in the M40-44 AG.

Given this is your first one... I'd be willing to bet your T times will be at least double what you anticipate unless you're some kind of transition ninja savant.

tim cronk

@Jeff... Wow an anniversary, birthday, and first IM in the same week.. Memorable for sure... Nice plan, you've done the work , execute EN style and enjoy your day , it really will be that simple.... Don't worry about the changing tents and transition layouts... It will be very obvious the day before when you drop off bike T1/T2 bags you can walk your routes several times. Highly recommend doing this race morning and confirming you know your routes and your T bag locations. X2 what Bob said about transitions. I did 3:07/3:17 last year and that was right up there with the fastest in the AG.... Something to shoot for!

Shaughn Simmons

@ Jeff - I think its a great plan!  I would read over the plan every other day, visualize the actions in your head, and show up in auto pilot mode executing what you have practiced in your head over and over.  The fitness is there from the work you have done.  Show up healthy, stay in your box, follow your plan and be ready for the uncontrollables.  You will be so well prepared for The Line, just need to execute what you have been taught.  You are going to have a great race!!

Mike Roberts

@Jeff, great plan.  I've watched you put in a ton of work and plan for this day for quite a while.  I have no doubts that you'll do well.  I spent so much nervous energy my first one worried and scared about when the wheels were going to fall off, I never really allowed myself the opportunity to enjoy it until it was over.  So . . . please save a little room in your plan for smiles, thumbs-ups, high-fives, and other forms of fun.  If these things sucked, they wouldn't sell out $800 entries in 90 seconds.  If they were miserable, no one would ink themselves with a permanent reminder.  This will be an amazing birthday/anniversary week for you.  Enjoy it.  I can't wait to celebrate it with you.

Practical suggestion: the bike is long, it can get boring, it's easy to daydream and get sidetracked.  It's one thing to say you'll be laser-focused for 6 hours, quite another to do it.  If your bike computer has audible time alerts or lap beeps, I relish living between the 15-minute beeps on the bike.  Each one is a reminder to drink and/or eat, take stock, stretch, then re-set for another 15. 

 

jaleslie

@MR....thanks for the feedback and encouragement. My garmin 800 is set to beep every 5 miles, but I may change it to 15mins for a little more consistency.

@Tim/Bob - yes, I'm not a transition ninja. I'm not familiar with this sort of transition with a tent. The take-away I get is mainly don't waste time doing anything non-essential and don't stay in the tent or change there. Seems like you HAVE to go through them though?

Mike Roberts

@Jeff, I don't know the exact layout of TX, but you're usually funneled through one of the two changing tents after you get your SB bag.  There's probably a 15-minute window (1:05-20) where 1,500 guys are going to pour through that tent like pebbles through an hourglass.  When I had a crap swim at Arizona that put me in that window, the tent was absolute pandemonium.  So, I went straight through it and out, sat on the wet grass, put on my stuff, stuffed my wetsuit in my bag, dropped the bag off, grabbed some sunscreen, headed to search for my own bike.  When I've had good swims, I've had the tent mostly to myself, 2-3 volunteers handing me stuff and re-packing my bags and sunscreening me, then running out to find a handler waiting for me with my bike.  I'm just going to know what I have to do in T1 and be prepared to execute it whenever/wherever/however.  FWIW, my favorite T1 is at IM Germany, where they have you put your bike gear on the ground next to your bike, almost like a triathlon.

Al Truscott

Concerning run nutrition plan: "1 gel every 3 miles. 4oz perform every mile". Have you done the math on how many calories that works out to per hour? @ 10 minute miles, 100 cal/gel, and 70 cal/8 oz of Perform, that comes to over 400 cal/hour. You may have trained for that in the heat, but I suspect that you will not be able to fully digest that many calories on race day. It's probably twice as much as the max you should be considering, IMO and experience. What I can usually tolerate is alternate every third aid station water, diluted cola, and diluted Perform (grab a water cup AND a perform cup and mix the two, drink maybe 4-6 sips and toss the rest). Of course, I'm also taking in additional water. And about 90-100 oz of gel every six miles, total 200 cal/hr. Any more than that, and things start to back up between miles 15 and 20.

jaleslie

Yes, thanks Al.  I'm not sure what happened, but on the nutrition spreadsheet thing my goal cal/hr was set at same as for bike?.  Per the wiki/instructions, I should target ~310cal/hr.  I've been training with 4oz Perform and a gel every 3-4 miles, with no GI issues, and have purposefully run at the hottest times of the day.  But, I know nothing I do now will mimick the conditions/fatigue/potential baseline GI issues caused by the swim/bike.  So, I definitely will back off to 1 gel/hr, which will get me down to ~300/hr.  I can usually tell when I can't drink anymore and will pay attention to that accordingly.  (e.g.  I tried to drink 8oz/hr of Perform on my RR last week (which I did in hot conditions), to see if I could handle more fluids, as I'm very afraid of dehydration at IMTX.  I found out about mile 4 that that was too much fluid (burping, sloshing stomach).  Skipped one miles' Perform stop and was fine the rest of the run with 4oz/hr.  

Thanks for the advice....remains to be seen what my gut will do (or not do!).  

GMAN 19030

300 cals per hour is probably still way too much for the run.

Shaughn Simmons

Jeff, I really think the vets give good advice to consider here......300 cal/hr on the run in that kind of heat is almost guaranteed to show up in some form of GI problem at some point during that run.......consider pulling it back for your RR2 ........

 

SS

GMAN 19030

I take a lot of calories on the run compared to most and that's probably 200-225.

robin sarner

this being your first, relax and have fun.       nothing to prove.       no time expectations.     just do what you have been training to do and move calmly through the day.  

jaleslie

Thanks Robin....I like that plan a lot!  

Coach Patrick

Jeff, good stuff here. We don't really have complete targets for run nutrition. It's much more important to nail the bike nutrition… The run will effectively take care of itself. A basic target is 4 ounces of perform every mile, for sure. Especially in a hot race like Texas.

I'd like you to get two gels in before the halfway point, but the when & how you do that is more a function of how you feel. When you feel good, don't run faster – eat. :-)

You might take both gels at mile three or four. Your body will tell you.

I strongly recommend you have a separate salt solution to supplement you here on the run, as you will need it. Also, as Al noted, you will eventually switch to using or using more of Coke. That will also have some calories in it.

I hope that helps!

Dave Tallo

Jeff, it sounds like you have put a lot of thought into pulling together a great race! What stood out for me were things like "panic" and so forth. Best way around these are to be relentlessly prepared and to have written a race plan (check) with evident thought given to the big and little details (check) and rehearsing, and re-rehearsing, this plan until its a script that you're just following. As someone said earlier in the thread, make some time (even at the cost of siteseeing, expo, etc) to have daily, distraction-free visualizations of the perfect day. It will come, and this time will go a long way towards calming the mind.

Have a great time, enjoy your week, and have a blast at your race.

jaleslie

Thanks Dave.  Much appreciated.