Austin 70.3 race plan
DS: M39; vDot 38; FTP 275; Weight 194. Hit all training goals until pneumonia diagnosis took out weeks 17 and 18 completely, which knocked me down but not out. Time goal, assuming breathing is cool… beat my first HIM time of 6:22 during which I bonked/cramped on run.
Thursday: Arrive, assemble bike for 45 min Z2-3 ride. Live music and BBQ.
Friday: 30 min Z2 run. Bike shop as need. Hang with pops and more BBQ.
Saturday: Check in, bike to T1, bags to transitions. Big starchy lunch, easy dinner.
Sunday: Wake at 4:30am – eat peanut better toast, banana, eggs, coffee, and drink 1L gatorade. 3L of water/Gatorade for bike. Load transition backpack with nutrition, wetsuit, swim cap, timing chip, bib number, googles, running shoes and socks, bike shoes, helmet.
6:00am: Get to transition and setup bike and running gear. Put PowerGels on bike. Put salt stick capsules in small ziplock to take on run.
6:30am: Take bus to swim start
SWIM: Take gel and perform 15 minutes before wave start (8:55am - last group!). Find feet, avoid losing feet, avoid veering to the right.
Swim Goal: 35 minutes
T1: No socks, shoes on towel, sunscreen spray, sunglasses, albuterol in jersey, helmet, get to bike exit.
T1 Goal: 5 minutes
Bike: First 20 minutes easy at 160-170 watts, one gel. Move to goal wattage of 200-220 *highly dependant on breathing ability/cough*. Focus on staying aero and not spiking watts on hills. Drink 2.5-3L over entire bike split sipping every 10 minutes. Pee once and one PowerGel per hour, including one gel in last 5 miles.
Bike Goal: 2:50 if lungs cooperate.
T2: Remove helmet, put on running hat, more sunscreen. Remove bike shoes, put on running socks and shoes. Grab race belt and starting moving to run exit.
T2 Goal: 2-3 minutes
Run: Start run at 10:00 minute/mile x 2 miles. Increase pace to 8:30 for miles 3 to 11. Best effort on miles 12-13, hopefully 8:00 pace. Walk 30 steps at every aid station. Take 4oz of Perform at each aid station, gel every 4 miles. Take one salt cap when taking the PowerGels.
Run Goal: 1:50
Overall Goal: if breathing isnt happening, slow to a smell the roses pace on bike, finish run wiped out!
Comments
(1) Drive the bike course on Friday. There are no real hills, but there are a some sharp rollers, and a couple of them come right after turns. So, you can get caught in the wrong gear unless you are careful. I got stuck in the big ring and wound up grinding to a halt on one.
(2) Realize the roads are chip seal, and can provide a fairly rough ride. I dropped my nutrition and had to come up with an alternative plan.
(3) Not eating between 5 a.m. and your 8:55 start time might be a problem. I would consider planning to have a granola bar or something similar at 7 or 7:30, so your energy stores are topped off before the swim.
(4) Starting in the last wave will mean you are swimming through the slower swimmers from earlier waves. A lot of them.
(5) The bike course is very narrow in bits. Especially starting in the last wave, you will have a lot of cyclists to deal with/pass. I would practice calling "on your left" and be prepared for some people to do odd things in response like veering to their left.
(6) Have a plan for the heat. Starting in the last wave means you are going to be running in the 12:30-2:30 time period. Training in Washington, and being a bigger guy (I am too) may give you trouble if it is a hot day, or even a normal day for Austin, Texas. And there is absolutely no shade on that run course at all. You might need more water than 4 oz every mile. Do you have arm coolers, or a hat you can put ice in? Are you going to wear a two-piece and pour ice down your shorts? I got so overheated that I just dunked my head in the ice water barrel on the third lap and that helped a lot.
I figure my swim will be a slogfest. I tend to get a little claustrophobic when pack swimming, so maybe riding the lateral fringe is the way to go? Good point about the large gap bt breakfast and start. Will add some.
Never have used arm coolers - do you wear these under wetsuit or burn time in T1 putting them on?
Thanks for the good advice.
DS
Do not lay on the ground for the wetsuit strippers as the area becomes a mud pit.
Weather forecast looks pretty mild for that day so far but a forecast 10 days out is like 1% accurate. The year I did it the forecast called for mild temps and it ended up being 90 degrees.
Another piece of advice - carry your bike out of T1. The grassy area had some nettles in it last year that caused some flats for some. And I personally didn't think the roads were as bad as others said...could be that, being from Texas I'm more used to chip seal...but I do agree that making sure stuff is down tight is a good idea.
x2 on not needing the bib on the bike. As far as I know the only race that still requires the bib on the bike is Oceanside because you ride part of the bike through Camp Pendleton.