Big Day/Race Rehearsal 1 for Beach2Battleship 170.6.6
Thanks for reading and any comments, suggestions, thoughts!
Big Day-Race Rehearsal Plan: I’m in week 12 of the intermediate IM plan. But due to a family vacation during week 11, was not able to do my Big Day. Also, because of some other commitments later this month (that would burn too many SAUs to miss/reschedule), I’m not going to be able to conveniently do the regularly scheduled 1st race rehearsal. So, I’m combining the Big Day and RR1 this weekend.
Target Race: Beach2Battleship in Wilmington, NC on Oct. 25. This will be my first 170.6 distance race. Three 70.3s (including IM’s Syracuse 70.3 earlier this summer) and a bucket full of Olympics and sprints.
Me: 42yrs old; 177 lbs.; HR Athlete; VDot 48. I’ve had some persistent lower back and heel pain issues. These are related to tight IT and hip flexors from biking and running. My failure to make stretching and foam rolling a priority this summer is coming back to haunt me. As I’ve now made it more of a priority, I can feel things loosening up and pain decreasing, so I know I’ll have to keep it up to make it to the starting line and beyond.
1st Breakfast: 1:30-2 a.m.; 600-800 calories (apple sauce; banana w PB; 16oz HEED); back to bed. This worked well during the HIM buildup earlier this summer, so won’t change anything.
2nd Breakfast: 15-20’ before heading out; GU Roctane & 8oz water. This worked well during the HIM buildup earlier this summer, so won’t change anything.
Swim: 1 hour swim basically at TT pace. Will follow the IM plan swim wo and will probably have to add a little distance at the end to cover the full hour.
Bike: 4 hour ride will be based on the IM plan for the Big Day ride. I have an idea about how far this will take me but I don’t want to put it in black and white for risk of pushing the HR zones if I don’t think I’m hitting the expected mile points.
Nutrition: B2B uses Heed. I’ve been on Perform since starting with EN in the Nov. ’13 outseason. Started using Heed a few weeks ago and while it has its issues, its been tolerable. The calorie, carb and sodium mix is different though so I’ve had to increase GU and salt cap intake to make up for what is missing from the Perform levels. Totals per hour: 400 calories, 92 carbs, 975 mg sodium.
On an hourly basis, I am aiming for approximately 48 oz of fluid (drink every 10 minutes), 2 GUs (1 every half hour) and salt caps (1 every 20 minutes; aiming at 1000mg/hour from all nutrition sources). I’ve been practicing this during the regular long rides and haven’t had many issues. Fluid intake is adjusted a bit depending on the heat/humidity and gut processing, but generally the nutrition plan has been pretty good.
Run: 1 hour run with 1st 30’ at Z1 (8:49 pace according to the EN calculator) and 2nd 30’ at Z2 (7:32 pace according to the EN calculator).
Nutrition: 3-4 oz. HEED per mile; GU every half hour; salt caps (1 every 20 minutes; aiming 1000 mg/hour). I have been practicing this on the long Thursday runs and it seems to be working. Some trouble processing fluids from time to time, but I just cut back at the next drink cycle and it seems to work itself out. As I get deep into the run, drinking and eating becomes harder which seems to be normal according to sources in the wiki. Totals per hour: 300 calories, 65 carbs, 935 mg sodium.
Transitions: I haven’t fully planned these out yet and will mostly be a function of whether I base the day out of my swim location or come home from swim first. Either way, I plan on hustling through transitions, not with race pace focus, but no lollygagging either.
Overall Goal: To test the nutrition plan from 1st breakfast through the run with all the tri pieces in play. Nutrition has worked on each part individually, but the Big Day/RR is to test the plan in a race-like context. Secondary, focus on keeping HR targets on track. If the targets work well, then may consider pushing things a bit in training and then see about tweeking things for RR2. Finally, to reestablish my confidence in ability to put all the tri pieces together as I haven’t raced at significant distance since my 70.3 in June.
Comments
Your plan looks good to me. The magic comes when you try it and it fails, then you modify and try RR2.
FYI, I am going up this weekend to ride the course and I will be posting some course info in the B2B forum.
Good luck on your Big day and Look forward to seeing you in Wilmington.
Also, good news, the race is only 146.6.
Only 140.6 is great news! Clearly math is my nemesis or I'm actually doing some sort of quad-athlon.
I Peed While Running! Or, Big Day-Race Rehearsal Report
As usual, thanks for reading and any comments/suggestions you may have.
Intermediate IM Plan for Beach2Battleship on 10/25/14. Took the Week 11 Big Day and used it as Big Day/Race Rehearsal 1 in week 12 of the plan.
1st Breakfast
Planned: 1:30-2 a.m.; 600-800 calories (apple sauce; banana w PB; 16oz HEED); back to bed. This worked well during the HIM buildup earlier this summer, so won’t change anything.
Actual: Ate at 12:30 since I didn’t sleep well – an ordinary side effect the night before a big event.
2nd Breakfast
Planned: 15-20’ before heading out; GU Roctane & 8oz water.
This worked well during the HIM buildup earlier this summer, so won’t change anything.
Actual: Powerbar & 8oz water at the time planned. Couldn’t bring myself to start on the GU knowing that was what I was going to be eating for the 5 hours of biking and running.
Swim
Planned: 1 hour swim basically at TT pace. Will follow the IM plan swim wo and will probably have to add a little distance at the end to cover the full hour.
Actual: As planned on my home open water course (nearby lake). We’ll call it 2 miles as the picture painted on Garmin Connect is all over the place for some reason (early morning fog and clouds interfering with GPS signal?). If I trust the GPS, then 2.5 miles (but I really don’t trust it).
Bike
Planned: 4 hour ride will be based on the IM plan for the Big Day ride. I have an idea about how far this will take me but I don’t want to put it in black and white for risk of pushing the HR zones if I don’t think I’m hitting the expected mile points.
Nutrition: B2B uses Heed. I’ve been on Perform since starting with EN in the Nov. ’13 outseason. Started using Heed a few weeks ago and while it has its issues, its been tolerable. The calorie, carb and sodium mix is different though so I’ve had to increase GU and salt cap intake to make up for what is missing from the Perform levels. Totals per hour: 400 calories, 92 carbs, 975 mg sodium.
On an hourly basis, I am aiming for approximately 48 oz of fluid (drink every 10 minutes), 2 GUs (1 every half hour) and salt caps (1 every 20 minutes; aiming at 1000mg/hour from all nutrition sources). I’ve been practicing this during the regular long rides and haven’t had many issues. Fluid intake is adjusted a bit depending on the heat/humidity and gut processing, but generally the nutrition plan has been pretty good.
Actual: 4 hour ride. 70 miles. Felt comfortable throughout. Tried not to spike my HR but with some of the climbs, there was no avoiding it. Tried to minimize damage though and felt I did a good job with it. Purposefully pushed over the plan mandated z2 block toward the end to test fitness and to see what it would do to my running legs (will report results in the running section). A little chaffing which surprised me b/c I usually lube up enough to avoid that (it was very humid though so that may have played a part). At no point did the thought of “I HAVE to get off this bike” enter my mind. In fact, I was well focused and in good humors the whole time. Rode with a non-EN training buddy who definitely HAD to get off his bike at the end. Interesting watching the effects of the EN riding method (especially up and down hills) on just two people (me and buddy). Certainly lost ground on the up-hills just to come back on the down. My buddy is a stronger rider and I expected to be gapped (just do to skill level but also as I stuck to the EN plan), but it was interesting to see the effects of hammering up the hills and the desire to get off the bike (or not) by the end of the 4 hour session. Will make a better effort to stick to the EN zones at the next RR and certainly on race day. Confirmed, once again, that my bike setup is comfortable, efficient and dialed in for the most part (still playing with the placement of my BTA cage, that I just added).
As for nutrition, I started off strong with the fluids. GU and salt caps were never a problem. By the end though, I was definitely short on the fluids. I skipped a few drink sessions due to feeling full, but by the end of the ride I could tell I was a little light on fluids (especially as I only peed once on the bike). This may have been partly a function of pushing a little harder on the ride, but the humidity was in place from the start and as the day progressed and the heat rose, they both played a stronger role. Will continue to focus on getting the fluids in and making sure I don’t fall too far behind. This may be a function of drinking every 15’ instead of every 20’ which will allow me to take smaller amounts in each session but have the same total at the end of an hour and may allow me to process it better.
Run
Planned: 1 hour run with 1st 30’ at Z1 (8:49 pace according to the EN calculator) and 2nd 30’ at Z2 (7:32 pace according to the EN calculator).
Nutrition: 3-4 oz. HEED per mile; GU every half hour; salt caps (1 every 20 minutes; aiming 1000 mg/hour). I have been practicing this on the long Thursday runs and it seems to be working. Some trouble processing fluids from time to time, but I just cut back at the next drink cycle and it seems to work itself out. As I get deep into the run, drinking and eating becomes harder which seems to be normal according to sources in the wiki. Totals per hour: 300 calories, 65 carbs, 935 mg sodium.
Actual: 1 hour run. For most of the season, I’ve focused on paces first with zones as the fallback if I needed to adjust. My thinking is that on race day, I will most likely be focusing on zones for most of the race as my paces have never matched with the zones as they come up on the EN calculator. Definitely negative split the run. The second 30’ was definitely harder then the 1st. This is where the fluid intake and pushing the pace from the bike hit me, with help from the heat and humidity. At “T2,” it was immediately apparent how much hotter it was once the breeze from the bike was gone. Drinking on the run was definitely just an effort to not fall much farther behind on fluids. Never became difficult to take GU or salt caps on the run. I was surprised by this as GU is usually the last thing I want (but force myself to take it) as the going gets tough. I pressed the run in the 2nd half just to put myself through the exercise of not slowing down and to hammer home the message that poor execution on the bike was going to haunt me on the run. Message heard loud and clear. Again, the hole on the bike was purposefully dug, so I was paying attention to the cause and effects. I sort of liked this exercise as the “failure” didn’t become a training negative or get me down/introduce doubts about training. Instead, it was a very useful learning experience.
Oh, and I peed while running! I’ve read race reports this season where this was done and I’ve been curious about the ability to pull this off. Not easy and not sure I’ll actually do it on race day, but a great distraction from the hurt of the run.
Transitions
Planned: I haven’t fully planned these out yet and will mostly be a function of whether I base the day out of my swim location or come home from swim first. Either way, I plan on hustling through transitions, not with race pace focus, but no lollygagging either.
Actual: Got in, got out. No landspeed records, but wasn’t planning on setting any anyway.
Overall Goal
Planned: To test the nutrition plan from 1st breakfast through the run with all the tri pieces in play. Nutrition has worked on each part individually, but the Big Day/RR is to test the plan in a race-like context. Secondary, focus on keeping HR targets on track. If the targets work well, then may consider pushing things a bit in training and then see about tweeking things for RR2. Finally, to reestablish my confidence in ability to put all the tri pieces together as I haven’t raced at significant distance since my 70.3 in June.
Actual: Goals met and exceeded. I learned a few things, successfully tested a few things and see areas to focus on in RR2.