Tim Cronk 2014 IMTX Race Plan
This will be my 9th IM started ,and hopefully the 8th finished. 2nd IMTX. Racing IMTX on 5/17 @ 52 in the M50-54AG. FTP- 230 , Vdot - 51 , Swim TT 1000yd 15min , weight 120lbs for a w/kg of 4.25. These are essentially the same numbers I had last year give or take 1%. Even though the numbers are the same , I focussed more intensity training early on , and then more volume later in the build than last year. Hoping the volume will translate into extra durability , another year of consistent training , another year with EN , couple more IM's under my belt, all adds up to a smarter fitter athlete willing to put it out there and race IMTX to the best of my ability.
Goals.....To Podium with a sub 10:22 beating last years time....Secret goal of sub-10 for the perfect race and most likely lower temps than last year.
Race Week.
Weds... Heather and I Arrive Woodlands, settle in at the Drury Inn , 4 mile run , assemble bike , dinner , relax.
Thurs.... 4 Keys 10AM , 30min bike , 15min run. Might drive the course for review in the afternoon. EN dinner.
Fri.... Short swim at venue, bike and bag check in , relax, focus, visualize race day.... Pre-race day carb load usually consists of oatmeal with additions for breakfast, banana and coconut water snack , sweet potato with toppings for lunch , another banana and coconut water snack, white rice with toppings for dinner , piece of salted dark chocolate.... other snacks pretzels, dates, rice cakes --- additions to breakfast lunch and dinner are usually one or more of these , raisins, hemp seeds , almond butter , tahini , maple syrup , coconut oil, salt , chocolate chips
Race Day... Up at 4am .... eat white rice with some of toppings from above, black coffee.... work off list .... head to transition to top off tires and load bike with nutrition, set bike computer, double check T1 and T2 bags... Walk to the swim....
Swim.... Goal sub 1:10.... last year 1:14.... swim times indicate sub 1:10 but then again they did last year too.... Gel and perform pre-swim, in water 6:45.... Line up in front (which side or middle TBD) and be prepared to take my lumps and bumps .... Swim with steady hard effort.... Time savings over last year should be 4min with good race effort applied.
T1--- Goal sub 3min.... Last year was 3:07... My only mistake last year on T1 was going the wrong way around inside the tent... Will look at this on friday and make sure not to repeat that error.... On friday I will determine whether I want to put my shoes on in tent and run to bike with helmet and glasses depending on the layout and location of bike... More than likely I will carry helmet, glasses , and shoes with me out of T1 and have helmet/glasses on before arriving at bike, shoes on at bike....Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.... Only looking for a few seconds here...
Bike---Goal 5hr give or take 5min on NP of 174-175 around IF .75-76.... Last year was 5:02 on NP172watts.... Hustle to the mount line but patient and disciplined to find room and mount without error.... Better to do it once than twice.... Get clipped in, settled, sitting up , breathe , drink , eat , drink, breathe.... Get aero and go as easy as I can for a few minutes with a slow build up to goal watts usually just a couple of miles. Computer display is 3s power, lap NP , time. Auto Lap set at 5 miles , work off new NP every 5 mile lap. Alerts set at 15min to eat/drink. Plan is to ride just a touch above goal watts for the first half while its still cool out and a touch under goal watts for the last hour in the heat...I used this strategy last year with success...Main thing is to stay aero.... Drink every 15min and eat every 30min. Food is wrapped in rice wafer paper in 60 calorie blocks , 1 toffee peanut buzz cliff bar in 60 cal 1/4's starting at 0 hrs ending at 1:30 , then cliff blocks 1 black cherry and 1 margarita (60 cals) starting at 2:00 ending at 3:30 , then at 4:00 1 cliff shot espresso gel , the 4:30 feeding usually get skipped as I'm drinking more perform by this point and the 4hr feeding was 100cal instead of the 60cal... Tums in bento box just incase to consider at 4:30 as well.... Drinking perform every 15minutes until thirst really takes over and then its drink when ever I want.... Should end up with 5 bottles of perform and 250-300 cal per hour total.... If I can squeeze a couple watts higher than last year and conditions are similar the time should take care of itself and net me a few minutes savings....
T2--- Goal 3min vs 3:17 last year... Only thing I will change is leaving my shoes on my bike... There were a lot of burned feet last year ... I'm pretty sure they listened to all those people and will have carpet everywhere but will confirm this on friday and saturday am.... Slow is smooth and smooth is fast..... Socks and shoes on , watch and race belt in hands, go back in mouth... Watch and belt on by the time I am on the run.... Settle in , relax, breathe, then worry about the go bag stuff.... Again only looking for a few seconds here.
Run---Goal 3:50 or better vs. the 4hr from last year....TRY TRY TRY to reel myself in on the first few miles.... This is very difficult for me.... Last year at IMFL I could not slow down and finally gave up and just let it happen and had the best run of my life.... But hot/humid Texas aint cool/dry florida Florida and need to respect that heat/humidity ....Will let it settle out and start clicking off the miles .... 20 steps per aid station until more are needed to accomplish heat survival and then its whatever is necessary... I run with a gel flask with Powerbar Latte gels and take 1 sip every 3 miles with water (this is the only water I drink all day but its to minimize calories with the gels) until around mile 18.... Then its 1 cliff espresso gel if I can get it down at mile 20... Roughly 4oz Perform every mile I am not feeding... Switch to coke at mile 21 to finish and usually add 1-2 salt tabs (only salt added all day since no more perform).....Run nutrition 250-300 cal per hr.... Using my one thing, repeat the run/walk aid stations survival mode till the finish! We like to use words like pain, suffer, dark place but I like to think of it as discomfort.... It might not feel good or be fun but this is what we came for.... It always ends and then in retrospect it just wasnt that bad...
Mental Game... There is S/B/R the first 3 disciplines, then the 4th discipline is Nutrition, 5th final discipline is the Mental Game... Slowly unleashing the racing beast, allowing the horns and fangs to come out , should be peaking on 5/17.... Ready , willing, and able to lay it out there..... Accepting and learning from the outcome no matter what....
Questions , comments, criticism , and idea's are always welcome.
Look forward to meeting and racing with all the IMTX EN peeps!
Comments
Second thought, GOOD LUCK! I know you always offer Good Skills, but you've got all the skills, training. And mental prep you need. The only thing that will add to your success now is luck, so grab it when you find it. I also offer The Boss' words, down in my sig line. No regrets, No surrender.
@Tim, great plan (as expected). You've been an invaluable source of information, wisdom and inspiration for the team, so I wish the best race possible for you. Given all your previous advice, it's quite scary how similar your plan is to my draft (I take that as a good sign for me). The only things that jumped out at me about your plan:
1) Going out hot the first half of the bike. That worked perfectly last year for you, in those conditions. And it may deliver again this year. But I have to wonder whether you'd actually finish faster/fresher taking the traditional EN approach, especially if the weather is milder (likely). It's certainly not my recommendation, but I'd be interested to hear RnP chime in on when and under what conditions this is advisable and whether it's reserved exclusively for pros, super heroes, and Cronks.
2) You've got the recent memory of running in survival mode (TX - 4:00~) and the recent memory of running in perfect race mode (FL - 3:30~). There's a lot of ground in between - call it, "hot racing" - in which we'll likely end up on 5/17. If so, keep your course knowledge intact, but I think you should try to eliminate all memories about how last year's run FELT. For example, if you had to go on defense at Mile 12, 15, etc., that doesn't mean you'll have to play the same defense at the same place this year. The dog wants to run; don't put a choke collar on him unless absolutely necessary. With "reasonable" conditions, I think you can shave 20 minutes off last year's survival slog.
@Tim, Team IMTX is so much stronger with your input and leadership and example. Thank you for that.
As a relatively inexperienced IM veteran I should not really give advice, but I do have a genuine interest in celebrating your podium finish on 5/17 so, here are my thoughts.
Glad you mentioned to the 5th discipline because, once you have the 1st 4 executed right and efficiently, a podium finish is going to come down to the one that manages the mental game the best in the midst of all the other distracting variables. You're going to need to get your head wrapped around your willingness to rip yourself inside out on the back end of the run despite whatever uncontrollables have transpired during the day. It is likely your competition has also had a few imperfect moments and the podium is going to go to the one who has already made up their mind in this regard. What needs to happen between now and race day to prepare for that moment? Only you can answer that one.
KMF!
SS
@Tim, Thanks for the report. I will study it well for IMLP.
Tim...thanks for sharing your plan. God knows you don't NEED to explain your plan to us. It is super-helpful for us though. I too have greatly benefited from your experience, advice, encouragement and knowledge, all while remaining very humble and approachable.
I have nothing to say about your plan, as I have no experience at this distance and am not in your "league"! Maybe I can see you when you're doing lap 3 of the run and I'm starting lap 1!
@Bruce....thanks for your support... I think I will get to meet you at IMAZ this year as my current plans contain volunteering there!
@Al.... Always welcome your comments.... Even when they inserted reality into my dreams... Yes forgot to mention Run Pacing....I will be using Pace and then RPE ... Not a fan of HR... Tried it in the past and didn't like it for me anyway... In the end its all about RPE no matter what your pace/hr/power tells you... I have 4 IM marathons (all very hot temps) within seconds of 4hrs of each other so I know I can run a 4hr 9:09 pace marathon in my sleep....With a Vdot of 51 my EP is 8:24 .... I think a very good goal and or pace target would be halfway between those giving me a 8:45 pace and a 3:49 marathon.... Going to treat it like IMFL and fight to slow down the pace in the first few miles and I will walk every aid station, but I'll let the pace sort itself out and see what happens... After about 3 miles I should be settled in and I'll go with that. I'll take LUCK , No regrets , no surrender!
@Mike Roberts.... The bike pacing ideas I got from reading pro reports for KONA etc , realizing there is more strategy to the bike (when racing) whether its for winds, heat , position.... Being as small as I am I really dont feel the heat on the bike in a hot race like IMTX until that last hour , so I feel my time/energy will be best utilized early while its cooler and plan to ride just a couple watts high and then a couple watts low when the heat hits in an attempt to prepare for the run...I'm also a slow enough swimmer that I will have plenty of slingshots for the first half of the bike.... The second half of the bike will be lonely with very little passing... The key is to stay Aero in the heat/headwinds.... Who knows if its not that hot and I'm feeling good I will hold my target watts... The run----Your thought process/comments on my run are exact to mine... Read comments to Al...more uncanny co-incidences .... Love the DOG analogy and will put that in my thoughts.... FWIW the suck came at the beginning of 3rd loop last year , having felt good thru the waterway section with all the people but then reality hits hard and full survival mode is engaged.
@ Captain SS .... Natural born leader for our IMTX group! I will execute just cause I know I have to show you my files and I don't want you to see any weakness!
@CK and JL ... thanks guys but it really has been a TEAM effort... Thanks for your participation in the group it really helps.... Even though you think your alone on 5/17 you will be surrounded by your Teammates.... All tho they may not see you on the latter part of the run LOL....
@Edwim.... thanks and of course watching IMLP and considering it for next year!
Wish you were bigger so i could legal draft.
I may use you as a mental whip during the day, if you don't mind.
I won't add anything to the first 4 disciplines but on the 5th one my absolute favorite is thinking about your "training self" you punished so hard for so long just THAT thing done RIGHT NOW!
I'll be watching you online
Good luck and give it all you have!
Go unleash the beast, we'll all be watching - confident as you are that you will achieve both the Podium and sub 10:22.... and smiling!
The only thing you can't prepare for or control is the unknown so..
Best of luck to go with your good skill!
I don't have much to add. You've been there before. Your body and Mind know what to do. You are super fit and super fast. Best of luck and I can't wait to "watch" it all unfold as you unleash the beast.
btw, you might have written the best statement I have ever read about Ironman racing. Awesome!
"It might not feel good or be fun but this is what we came for.... It always ends and then in retrospect it just wasnt that bad..."
-maybe some thought on tactics if things go to crap at any point ... if you flat, lose your goggles, get a cramp, etc, what are the specific techniques, tools and steps you will take to ensure you are back on track for a podium? Of course ... a disaster aint gonna happen, but preparedness can go a long way to manage risks.
-As discussed, it's still a very competitive Age Group you're in. If my analysis is right, though, you're faster than Barry "Kona Express" D on this, and comparable courses. Although there are lots of unknowns, he is one of the Known Knowns that you are actually racing and it might be worthwhile to monitor him. NOT DURING THE DAY - you're still running your own race - but maybe at or after run mile 12. If Heather can give you intel around then on course, fantastic.-the Ts. I don't know the TX situation, but I would even investigate how you could bypass the tent altogether. Is there a shortcut outside after you grab your bag to get a handful of your bike stuff, toss the bag with your skin, and run? Worst case ... the bag gets lost and you have to buy another swimskin at Kona for fitty bucks. Best case is a found 30-45 seconds in transition. In Lou, I avoided the tent entirely by swimming with the bag tucked under my swimskin. Of course, they let you rack your Bike with the shoes and helmet. But take seconds where you can!
-Run and ride the tangents. You know this.
@Jimmy.... every IM is a NEW experience with something different just to mess with you but the one thing I always feel is that trying to slow down thing!!! OK almost , I did not feel that way on my IMCOZ DNF...... keeps ya on your toes.... don't ever think you have it figured out!
@RS... we gonna be running side by side.... and then I woke up!
@Stephan.... Cool watching from Austria!
@Steve W... I can pretty much guarantee NO smiling!
@JW.... Thanks and remember that at IMMT tho I don't think you need anything to push yourself!