Brad Marcus' IMLP Race Plan - Input requested
Brad Marcus’ 2014 IMLP Race Plan
Background: 44 years old.
Completed 4 HIM, several Olys/sprints, 1 stand alone marathon, First
IM.
FTP: 232
VDOT: 48-49
HEIGHT: 6’2”
WEIGHT: 163LBS 3.14w/kg
TIME TARGETS:
Sub 13:00 HRS (SWIM: 01:20 – T1: 10:00 – BIKE: 6:30-6:45
– T2: 06:00 – RUN 4:30
Other goals: finish in daylight. Run the entire marathon. Perform
to best of my fitness/training ability
BIKE – Tri Bike
w/ Zipp 404 clinchers / Quarq Riken powermeter
Front: Garmin 500 / Xlab torpedo (straw) with perform – 20oz
Frame: Bento box w/ 2 powerbars cut in thirds, 3 powergels w/
caff, 6 salt sticks w/ caff, Cage w/ 1
bottle of perform – 20oz
Behind Saddle: 2 tubes, 2 tire levers, 2 CO2 cartridges,
multitool, inflator
T1 BAG:
Helmet
Bike shoes
Sunglasses
Gloves (if needed)
Arm warmers (if needed)
Rain jacket (if needed)
DZ Nuts Cream
socks
BIKE SPECIAL NEEDS
BAG:
Salt Sticks (extra)
1 extra tube
2 extra CO2
2 Power Bar (extra)
DZ Nuts crème (can’t have enough!)
T2 BAG:
Shoes
Socks
visor
race belt (w/ salt stick caps and 5 powergels)
2Toms sports guard for nip protection
RUN SPECIAL NEEDS:
Socks
Extra salt sticks
Extra powergels
Long sleeve shirt
Running cap
Aquafor
THURSDAY BEFORE RACE:
Leave home in the AM
Check in to Hotel
Go to Athlete Check In
EN Team Dinner
FRIDAY BEFORE RACE:
30 min swim recon
maybe quick spin on bike and/or run to keep things in tune
Attend 4 Keys at 10am, Palace Theatre
Attend Athlete Briefing 11am or 3pm
Dinner with In-laws
Prep T1/T2 Bags, stickers on helmet and bike, number on race
belt, prep bike
SATURDAY BEFORE RACE:
Sleep in (attempt to do so!)
Big breakfast
10am-3pm Mandatory bike and gear bag check-in (T1/T2)
Big Lunch (with salt) – get a dinner to go
after lunch -- Stay in hotel with legs up as much as
possible and CHILL
Sip sports drink throughout day
Prepare special needs bike/run bags, bottles, lay out clothing,
etc (tri shorts, tri top, sweat shirt, sweat pants, flip flops)
Early light dinner –DON’T eat until full
In bed by 9pm
RACE DAY:
Wake up 3:30am and have breakfast: Small smoothie, bagel
with jelly, Coffee x2
Apply sunscreen, body glide
Leave hotel with Tri bag :Garmin 500, Garmin 910 watch, HR monitor, Road ID, goggles, wetsuit, swim cap, flip flops, perform,
cliff bar, power gels , timing chip, swim
cap, bike/run special needs bags, phone
4:30am - Arrive at transistion, body marking, set up,
inflate tires, double check bike and calibrate Quarq to Garmin 910 and 500
Drop special needs bags drop off
5:30 eat one Clif Bar and sip perform / find porto-potty
6:00 go to swim area
6:15 eat one gel and warmup in water if possible
6:30 seed myself in 1:10-1:20 group front and left
SWIM(TARGET 01:20:00)
Line up front and left at swim start
Do my best to ignore contact and stay in my box
Focus on form and get into a good rhythm
Find feet if possible
Don’t try to “race” swimmers who are passing me
FORM FORM FORM (climb the ladder, high arms, glide)
As I near swim finish, begin thinking about what I will do
when I get out of water
T1:10:00) SLOW IS SMOOTH>>SMOOTH IS FAST
Immediately start working on wetsuit – zipper down and pull
suit to waist
Leave goggles and cap on head
Find wet suit strippers
When I get “stripped”, ball up suit and jog/walk fast along
turf path to T1
Get T1 Bag and enter tent
Look towards back of tent for space
Sit, dump bag, apply DZ
Nuts, socks on, shoes on, helmet on, glasses on, (arm warmers, jacket and/or
gloves if needed)
Goggles and cap in bag
Grab wetsuit and bag and hand to volunteer and ask them to
stuff it for me
Exit tent and locate bike and take to mount line
BIKE(TARGET 06:30-6:45):
STICK TO MY GAMEPLAN and FOCUS THROUGHOUT!
Garmin displaying: 3s avg power, NP Lap, Cadence, Time,
Heart Rate – set to lap every 5 Miles
Be careful leaving transistion, especially in the first couple of very sharp and steep
turns.
The ride to the big descent is all climbing. Ride super slow
with power b/t 150-160watts(.65-.69)”JRA pace”…I will ride at this pace for
60min. Expect to be passed by EVERYONE.
Stay in my box!
After 60 min, dial in pace at 160-162watts (.69-.70)
Flatten hills and ride smart!
BIKE NUTITION: Begin
drinking as soon as I get onto RT 73 – Goal is 1.5 bottles (30oz) Perform per hour
– fill torpedo as needed
Begin eating 1/3 Power on the :20 and every :40 afterwards
(:20, 1:00, 1:40, 2:20, 3:00, 3:40)
Then go to 1 Powergel per hour at 4:20 and 5:20
1 salt stick cap per hr on the :00
Plan to pee 2-4x on bike as needed
Just before each of the aid stations top off myself with
Perform from cage bottles. Discard empty cage bottle first. At the aid
stations, point and communicate with volunteer with Perform who is holding
bottle correctly
Grab and rack Perform first and grab an extra if needed for
the Torpedo.
T2: 00:06:00) SLOW IS SMOOTH>>SMOOTH IS FAST
Hand off bike to volunteer
Grab bag and go to back of tent
Dump bag on ground
OFF: helmet, glasses, bike shoes, socks
ON: socks, running shoes, race belt, visor
Stuff bag and hand to volunteer
RUN(TARGET 04:30:00)
Miles 1 – 6 @ 9:15/mile...absolutely NO FASTER – take stock
of my HR and how I feel. If I feel good, DON’T speed up but use this time to
take in extra nutrition (perform, gels). Don’t get carried away leaving town
with the crowds or with the downhills – run EASY!
Run Nutrition: 4oz perform/mile, 1 powergel/hour, 1 salt
stick tab/hour, coke as needed
Walk 30 steps all the stations
After 6 miles – evaluate how I feel. If feel good its ok to
take pace to 8:45/mile
Miles 6-18 – do NOT use pace as a whip and be mindful of my
HR ! Reign in pace if HR is too high. Use ice and water to cool body as needed.
Don’t bring the suck sooner than it needs to be
At mile 18, -either “turn the screws” or make effort NOT to
slow down. Ask myself how I feel again?
Where is heart rate? Is it too low (need more nutrition)? Is it too high (don’t
increase pace)? Use my one thing as needed at this point. Things will get tougher….expect
that to happen. Embrace the pain.
Finish Chute –
zipper up, realize what I am about to accomplish, soak it up and take it all in….SMILE!
Comments
I am no expert but your plan looks GREAT to me! Very thorough. You have done the work! I have seen your posts about training, and have always been inspired. You are going to do amazing in LP! Can't wait to be out there with you and Heidi!!!
Looks good Brad. Only comment is that the swim start is not a mass start, it is a rolling start. There will be volunteers with time banners and everyone self-seeds. Last year it only took about 15 minutes to get the entire column in the water once the AG started.
Looks good, but I'd challenge you to be more ambitious in the transitions. I don't know the layout of LP, but 10 minutes seems kinda long to me no matter how far you have to go from swim exit to bike mount. Ditto 6 minutes in T2. My goal is to make it under 8 minutes combined for both, 10 tops. This is a race, we are all trying to see how well we can do after lots and lots of planning and training.
Couple suggestions..
Wearing socks on the bike? Just a suggestion...skip them if you can and have ridden without them before. Otherwise, are you planning on stopping to go #1?? Sorry if that is to graphic. Over 112 miles, the cumulative time lost for those stops adds up. You get the picture.
Like Robert said everyone is different with the nutrition and what they can handle. Have you ridden that long (6 to 7 hours) while eating the solid powerbars late into the ride and run afterwards? or do you plan to change to gels about 4:20 into the ride? The solid bars can be a lot of ask of your gut in the hour or so before the run and take away some BPM from your HR to be trying to breakdown and process it.
I really like the break down of the days before, and the resting. Very important to make sure you can relax as much as you can incase you are staring at the ceiling all night Saturday night.
I wish you all the best, and see you next week.
Yes, no socks on the bike or you'll be Mr Pissy Socks all day. That said...you'll want to try this out the training (no socks, not pissing yourself) to verify you won't get blisters, though that's very rare with cycling shoes. My tri shoes are sized a tic smaller than my road shoes so that they fit me well without socks.
IMLP T1 is a bit long, as it's a bit of a run from the swim exit to the transition area. T2 is very fast though.
@Laura - thanks! See you in LP
@Steve- I knew this...forgot to add that is seed myself in the 1:10-1:20 group...if that's an option. Thanks
@Robert - I'll double check my calories for the run....the guidance in the wiki and the spreadsheet advise on different caloric intake. But I've been training with perform every mile or 2 and gels every 40-45 mins and salt every hour on the run and has worked well. Thanks.
@Al - I remember the water and transition being kind of far apart when I volunteered last year. That being said, I don't plan to waste time here, and will get through as quickly as possible...maybe 10 min is a bit long. Thanks
@john- I've not worn socks in some HIM and this has worked. For some reason, when I did a long ride recently without socks, I got some irritation on my foot, so decided to add them for the plan. I realize that pee on my socks isn't ideal....I'll have to make a choice here. Maybe I'll test it again with no socks this weekend. Either way, I'll pee on the bike....don't plan to stop! Yes I plan to eat the powerbars in the first half of my bike and then transition to gels. I've tested this and it works for me. If I went all gels - bike and run - I'm afraid Id get sick of them and won't get them down on the run when they're needed. Thanks
@Coach R - see my comment to John re the pissy socks. Thanks!
Great job with your preparations, you are going to do great.