Laura Becker- IMLP Race Plan
Laura Becker – IMLP PLAN
This will be my first full distance triathlon. My goal is simply to finish, enjoy the day and STAY IN MY BOX. Oh and of course execute like an EN ninja!! I am grateful for the opportunity to be out there on race day. I really don’t have time goals. I put a “target” simply as an “about” time. Thank you in advance for taking the time to read and giving any advice, comments, feedback!!! I truly appreciate it!! 
TARGETS:
VDOT: 40
WEIGHT: 130 lbs
TIME: Swim: 1:15:00 – BIKE: 7:20:00 – RUN: 4:45:00
ENJOY EVERY MINUTE BEFORE-DURING-AFTER. Staying focused and thinking of EN execution!
TRAVEL AND PRE-RACE WEEK:
Stay well hydrated all week! Water with me at all times.
Thursday- Leave Connecticut Thursday morning and arrive in LP by 11:30.
Check in to hotel. Ride course. I would like to do the climb out of town and the decent but since I am coming up solo on Thursday, will need to find a ride back to town. Plan B- If I cannot find a ride back to town, I will do the climb and turn around. Hop in the lake for a 30 minute swim. Head to The Cowboy at 5:30 for team dinner. Enjoy spending time with my teammates! Start assembling race bags. Assess what you may have forgotten/need.
Friday: Wake up and be to swim venue by 7:00 am. 30 minute swim. Go to Athlete Check-In. Attend 4 Keys Talk 10-12. Home for lunch. Go to Athlete Briefing at 3. (Is this mandatory?? Is it good to go to??) Easy run 30 minutes between 4-5. Dinner off Quinoa/Squash/small salad. Prepare gear and bags as described below. Check functionality of all gear, equipment, and electronics. RELAX for the night.
Saturday: Sleep in. Oatmeal with almonds, banana, and protein shake for breakfast. 10-11 AM- Head over to mandatory bike and gear check in (T1/T2). After bag drop off we will walk transition, study terrain from bike position to mount area. Visualize race day and where I need to go. Remember coach’s advice- Find your row- grab bag- go towards the exit. Next, return to the house. Legs up as much as possible. Lunch- Sweet potato, squash, protein shake, and a pear. Snacks throughout the day- rice cakes, fruit, and multigrain crackers (calm my nerves). Prepare nutrition for race, lay out morning clothes race kit, morning bags, and listen to music. Dinner 6:30- white rice with avocado and NUGO bar for dessert. Bed by 9:00 the latest.
NUTRITION:
I will be using Powerbar Perform with SaltStick, GU’s, and Lara ALT bars.
GEAR:
|
Morning Clothes: |
|
TIMING CHIP, Enell sports bra, LG tri shorts, TYR wetsuit, Aquasphere Goggles, Speedo Cap, Earplugs, GU, bottle of perform Body glide on calf and under arms. Garmin 910 fully charged - turn on 20 minutes prior to start Throw away flip flops (or hand off to husband) Should I bring my pump?? |
|
|
|
BIKE |
|
Front: GARMIN 910 (will put on after swim) Frame: Bento box with extra contact lenses, 1 Lara ALT bars divided into 2 pieces in ziplock bag. 2 Salted Carmel Gu, 1 FV Gu, 2 bottles perform on frame Behind seat: 2 bottles perform in rear cages. 2 x C02 cartridges + 1 mini-tool kit + inflate valve extension, 2 spare tubes |
|
|
|
|
|
T1 BAG(WITH VISIBLE COLORED MARK AND NUMBER |
|
Little bottle of water and 1 Gu Helmet EN tri top Bike shoes Socks Towel Arm Warmers |
|
Sunglasses (clean) Spare contacts |
|
|
|
BIKE SPECIAL NEEDS |
|
4 Bottles (frozen) prepared and ready to go. ½ Lara ALT bar 2 Salted Carmel Gu, 2 FV Gu 1 extra tube + 1 extra co2 cartridge Chamois Butter Small towel or baby wipes |
|
|
|
T2 BAG(WITH VISIBLE COLORED MARK AND NUMBER ): |
|
Shoes w/ Orthotics – Injinji socks (inside shoes) Race belt with number, 4 Gu’s, Salt Stick in ziplock bag to go in tri top pocket Spare Garmin??? (will 910XT last my entire day??) |
|
Ziplock bag: Towel, visor, Body Glide for toes, Small tube of sunscreen Spare contacts |
|
RUN SPECIAL NEEDS |
|
Dry socks Long Sleeve Tech shirt Gu Chomps |
|
2 caffeine gels Watch in case Garmin 910 runs out of battery. Band aids Small towel or baby wipes |
RACE DAY:
- Wake up 3:45am and have breakfast: Oatmeal with 1 tbsp peanut butter and a couple vegan chocolate chips, banana, coffee. Start sipping some sports drink. Stay calm and in my box. Work of a list.
- Leave house at 5:00.
- Arrive T1 at 5:15 am, body mark, set up, and check wheel pressure, food into bento box, bottles on bike ready to go. Exit T1 ASAP and relax.
- Drop of special needs bags.
- 6:00 put on wetsuit, get rid of morning clothes, head to lake. Hop in for a few minutes if it is warm enough. (If it’s too cold I will have some circulation issues if I get in the water and then get out and have to stand around).
- 6:15 take one gel w/8oz water and seed myself based on swim TT (1:12/1:13) 1:10-1:15. Be one of the first in the water from my group.
- 6:30- Age groups begin!
THE SWIM (TARGET 01:15:00):
- Follow EN protocol picking up pace for the first 300 m and settle in to my box.
- Only swimming as fast as I can maintain form. Line up when 100% ready.
- Lap one- think rhythm and feet, not speed. Find my happy place, pick a spot and swim. J
- Out of the water clear goggles, deep breath, and back in for lap 2.
- Lap 2- think sustained effort. Final 200 m- review transition plan. Swim until my hand hits the bottom.
- Unzip wetsuit to my waist and go to the nearest stripper.
- Wetsuit into a ball, jog to transition.
T1 : THINK SLOW IS SMOOTH AND SMOOTH IS FAST
- Find my row, grab my bag and head towards the exit of tent.
- Ground up- socks, shoes, HR monitor, helmet, sunglasses, if sunny- sunscreen on face and shoulders, 2 Gus in tri top back pockets, give volunteer suit and bag.
- Grab my bike and go to mount line.
THE BIKE (TARGET 07:20:00): THINK EXECUTE LIKE AN EN NINJA!!!!! Stay in my box.
- Drink and eat according to plan. Drink every 15, eat every 45. Focus on getting fluids in and peeing twice.
- Ride first 30 minutes easy. Spin up the climb out of town- little ring. Focus on bringing HR back down after transition. Settle in.
- Take a look at water before decent to see what the winds will be like down the descent.
- Going down descent- Focus, keep upper body loose- don’t be rigid.
- Get in aero for next section- Rt9N- fast/flat.
- Be prepared to start climbing from Upper Jay to Wilmington. Watch HR and stay IN MY BOX. Watch notch area.
- Rollers back into town (big chain through rollers).
- Lap 1- think conservative. Spin up easy and PUSH DOWN.
- Stop at bike special needs- don’t take the bag or your volunteer will walk away.
- Lap 2 will most likely be more windy- be prepared.
- Think PATIENCE and DISCIPLINE.
- If need to stretch. Do it immediately before or after an aid station (or on any hills) then get back down.
T2 : THINK SLOW IS SMOOTH AND SMOOTH IS FAST
- Take Garmin OFF BIKE!
- Don’t change in tent. Grab bag, and drop somewhere outside of tent.
- Ground up- body glide on toes, injinji socks on, running shoes, fuel belt with number, Garmin on wrist, salt sticks in tri top, sunscreen if needed, and visor.
- Put helmet, sunglasses, and shoes in bag.
- Stand up, potty break if needed, out RUNNING through the tent.
THE RUN (TARGET 04:45:00):
- Out running the EN way. SLOW IT DOWN. Z1+30 seconds.
- Remember proper execution. Plan to walk all the stations and use them to stay with nutrition plan. If feeling good in the beginning, EAT! 4 oz perform every mile, GU every hour/ changing to chomps
- Decent out of town keep it in control. Think baby steps.
- Find rhythm and run the tangents.
- River Road is quite and rolling. Zone into the race.
- After River Road be ready for the climbs. Ski Jump Hill, Townie Hill, Pub Hill- Baby steps, chin up THINK GREAT FORM! 30 steps to get HR down if needed.
- Think PATIENCE and DISCIPLINE!
- At ½ way point, do a gut check. Remember that hitting ½ way is tough stuff. Take 5-10 seconds while running and mentally assess state of being. Do I need nutrition? Salt? Fluids? Am I hot? How is my HR? Can I see straight?
- Remind myself- 13.1 to 17.1 are down. My cousin is volunteering at aid station by horse track- something to look forward to!
- Focus on form each time it gets hard!!! Remember one thing when it gets harder.
- Switch to coke if needed.
- Run aid station to aid station. Treating each stretch as its own event.
- Enjoy the last quarter mile. Fix top, slow your pace, look around at the people. ENJOY THIS MOMENT. Give a few high fives. Take in the whole finishers chute. Listen for your name and smile a huge smile!
Comments
One small thought (which you may already have practiced): if you are planning on putting your tri top on in T1, don't try to put it on over your head. Step into it, feet first and pull up. Much faster when trying to get dry fabric over wet skin/sports bra.. And make sure it is unzipped when you put it in the bag.
I agree with Robt - 4 bottles of Perform to start is overkill. You seem to be a belt-and-suspenders kind of gal (note the two extra sets of contacts), and that's OK. But WTC has 10s of 1000s of bottles of Perform just waiting for you @ the aid stations. You paid for it, you might as well use their stuff. One bottle on the bike as you exit T1 is all you need.
To answer your question....If you are more comfortable bringing your own pump and your husband or family can take it from you...Do whatever helps you get your stuff done with the least amount of stress possible on race morning. However, there will be a ton of people who bring their own pumps into transition in the morning, you could borrow one....or there are mechanics there with pumps and will set the air pressure in your tires at whatever you tell them for you (There was last year anyways and only took me a couple of minutes to take care of that).
Saturday, that first hour of bike drop off is a little more crowded....wait to see what people are saying about the size of the crowd on the groupme app, if you want to minimize the amount to overhead time you will spend on that activity.
I like the reminder to walk the transition area and Bike out area. While you walk over there, you might want to just walk around the back of the school so that you can see where there are a few cast iron storm drain grates in the middle of the roadway....they marked them with some orange paint on race day last year, but just be aware of their location so they do not take you by surprise as you go through there...since we did not ride that portion during the EN Camp in June.
If you can simplify what you are doing in T1, it might help a little. Can you wear your HR strap and/or tri top under your wetsuit? Can you tape those two gels to the top tube of your bike? Just trying to make a few less moving parts in T1, just to help you relax even if just a little bit.
The Garmin 910 is suppose to last 20 hours on a full charge, you should be good. The extra watch in run bag or RSN should not be necessary. You can even simplify T2 if you can put it on your wrist prior to getting off the bike? That last mile or so on the bike the HR and/or power numbers are what they are.... so having the watch mounted where you can see it easily becomes a little less important. But if you are not comfortable with doing that while moving along then just wait till after dismount.
Best of luck, you are going to do great!
First- thank you so much for taking the time to read my plan and respond. I have learned so much from this team and would not be where I am today if it wasn’t for EN and all of you. Thank you for the support, encouragement and motivation! So thank you!
@ Jen- That would be AWESOME!!! I will message you with all my info!!!
@ Brad- Thanks!!!
@ Robert- Thank you for the tip about the pump. I didn’t even think about lines!! I will plan to bring my own. The reason I was bringing all my bottles is because throughout training I used 2 scoops of Perform per 20 oz bottle with salt stick add to each bottle (140 cal/bottle). I can do 175 cal/bottle as I tried it on a few rides, but my stomach had more issues with the stronger mix. Doesn’t seem like it should make a difference, maybe because of the course of a long ride, those extra 35 calories per bottle add up? But it could have been something else, either way I was figuring trying stick to what worked best. But still, if I need more and/or loose a bottle I will be fine with using the course stuff! Thanks for the advice!!!
@ Peter- Watch is a $15 Target stop watch. But that is a good point- I forgot we don’t get those bags back. Think I will just stick with Garmin. Thanks!
@ Tim- I did not know that about the Gu’s!!! Ugh!! Well I will have to change after LP. Not the time to be switching up stuff now! And I have to thank YOU for some of my food choices- since I joined the team, you have posted some great ideas for vegans. Thank you
@ Al- Haha! A “belt-and-suspenders kind of gal” That sounds about right. My husband loved it - as I read that to him and he busted out laughing hysterically (because he agrees
) Lots of contacts! If I loose them I am SO blind!! Can’t have too many. Thank you for the tip about the tri top- I had not thought of that and have not practiced!! Will do that after I swim tomorrow. If I doesn’t work out well, I will just wear the tri top on the swim. Was just hoping to put on a dry top to start the bike- but in really it does not matter. As for the Perform- you are so right! But see above for why I was thinking of bringing my own stuff.
@ John- Thank you for all your advice! Planning my own pump just so I can get the tires pumped and be done with it. Good call on the Saturday bike drop off- I will def wait to hear about the crowds from groupme app. The last thing I will need at that point is to be waiting there in line getting myself all nervous. And thank you for the reminder to check out the back of the school area! That totally slipped my mind-but now I remember coach P telling us about it! Thank you for the info about the Garmin- that helped a lot and now I think I am just going to stick with it. It should last me. And that takes out one more moving part. Will wait to get off the bike to put the watch on- not quite comfortable with trying to do that while riding. Thanks again! Best of luck to you as well! See you up there!!
Do the same with body markers when getting to transition. The middle of the group between the two entrances are typically available right way, there are a lines everywhere else.
Remember, RELAX!!! Stay in the box, do not worry about others. Stay in your own little world and let everyone else do what they are doing. You will notice TONS of people going crazy on the climb out of town on the first loop. Just chill and do your own race.
The best advice I got during the Placid marathon, DON'T MAKE FRIENDS during the run... Every race i have made friends, my runs suck because i walk with folks and i run their race.. not my own.
Laura- Looks like we're going to be running similar splits through out the day ( if i can keep up )
Great plan and attention to detail. See you on the course.
@ Johnathan- Good call! I will look for an OPEN stripper and body marker. I love the advice about staying in my own little world…..and to chill. I will remember that for sure! And....Swim/Bike/Run my OWN race. Thanks!!
@ Bryan- I really look forward to cheering each other on out there!!