Anita Risberg First IMAZ Race Execution Plan
IMAZ Race Execution Plan.
Swim 1.5 hours, Bike 7 hours or less, Run 4.5 hours or less.
Finish between 12.5 and 14 hours.
Wednesday November 12th.
· Arrive in Tempe AZ, rental car, hotel. Whole Foods for groceries. Scope out the race location-parking in relation to distance from hotel. Drive bike course. Find pool to swim in. Place to run if needed. Eat light and nutritious. Rest. Go see a film or read. RELAX!!
· 30 minute run. Enjoy the landscape
Thurday November 13th.
· 9:00 Athlete check-in. Check out the IM Store.
· 2:00 Athletes Briefing. Mandatory.
· EN Team Dinner 5:30
· 30 minute swim at a local pool before dinner
· Be sure to hydrate all day long
Friday November 14th.
· 10:00 to 12:00 4 Keys EN Race Talk
· Welcoming Ceremony 5:30 PM
· Pack your race bags, double check everything!!
· RELAX!! Hydrate sports drink and h20
Saturday November 15th.
· 9 to 11 practice swim TTL. No more than 30 minutes tops.
· 10 to 3 bike and race gear check in.
· Nancy flies in to help at race.
· Pack post race bag with clean hat, bra, panties, shirt, towel, pants and jacket. Socks and flip flops. Soda and salty potato chips.
· RELAX!! Hydrate. Thai or Asian lunch and small carry out for dinner.
· Prepare race bottles and miscellaneous items for Nancy and race.
Sunday November 16th.
· 3:45 AM rise and shine. Lemon water, hot tea, oatmeal.
· Give Nancy post race clothing bag and bike pump.
· Race kit, flip flops. Jacket & wind pants & socks.
· Tiger tail your legs, arnica if needed. Stretch, breath, relax.
· Fill race bottles with fuel and water. Race food for bento box.
· Leave hotel at 4:45 AM for race.
Swim: 7:00 to 8:30 am 1:30 minutes. Wet suit, goggles, two swim caps, garmin. Stay calm, get your focus on you and ignore the rest, count your strokes, breath every stroke until you get settled. Find your happy place. Move to open water space, find your pod to swim with. Take it easy on yourself the first 500 yards. Calm and focused.
Exit the swim nice and easy. Watch the stairs. Let a stripper help you out of your wet suit.
SLOW IS SMOOTH, SMOOTH IS FAST.
T1: 10 minute transition max!!
Bike: 8:40 to 3:40 pm, 7 hours max. Dry feet, socks, shoes, shirt (keep sun off back and arms), sun glasses, helmet, camel back, sun screen on face, whooha ride glide. Check fuel. EASY OUT. Stay up until it is safe to go aero. Find your pace and space on the course. First 5-10 miles will be adjustments to the crowd and course. Drink often and eat every 15 to 20 miles or more often if needed. Yerba mate chews help to keep your brain focus up. JRA get your rhythm and pace, 16 miles an hour or better. Stop only to fill speed fill. Get a stretch for you back & legs. Then go. Ride your race. Stay optimistic. Thank the volunteers. Wish everyone well.
You are doing an IRONMAN, holy cow, can you believe it???
T2: 5-6 minutes max!
Run: 3:45 to 8:00 PM. Dump shirt. Change socks if needed, running shoes. Visor with light, garmin. Race number belt, fuel belt. Go easy, run stupid slow first 6 miles, 10 minute pace, if I am too hyper coming off the bike I will run 9:30 pace and add 30 second walk breaks every 2 miles. Miles 7 to 18 easy does it, 9:30 to 9:20 pace. Stay in control, 25 second walk breaks as needed. Mile 18 to 26.2, hold your pace, 20 second walk breaks as needed. Wish everyone well. Hammer Heed in fuel belt, hammer gels, salt tablets. ProBar electrolyte chews, Caffeine if needed (mile 20). Stay hydrated and fueled. Slide and glide your way home, my dear. Stay happy! Thank the volunteers. Smile it makes a difference in your brain chemistry. Sing a happy song. Bring it home!!!
You just did an IRONMAN!!!
Comments
Good plan Anita. You are ready! I see all the right things outlined. Enjoy this week and race day! Word of caution, don't spend too much time on your feet on the pre race days, and too much time down at the IM village. It can work you up and unnecessarily so. Get in and get out for the functions you need to, then back away from the crazy people!
Don't worry too much about pre-race workouts either, they are basically there to keep your nerves and energy in check, do them if you need to blow off steam, and stay sharp. See you Thursday!
Hi Anita,
Congrats on making it this far, best wishes for a great race. The first is very special. Two of the things that destroy many an IM dream, especially for first-timers, is pacing and nutrition. Your race plan has lots of pre-race detail, but you don't discuss your bike pacing plan other than a mention of 16mph, with speed being a pretty terrible metric for IM bike pacing. Are you going by power, HR or just RPE? You clearly get the concept, but I like writing out the details for my pacing strategies. And you need to account for the shifting winds, the slight climb up the Beeline, and the descent back into town. Quite the opposite of the bike, you have a pretty aggressive pacing strategy for the run. I assume you peg 4:15 (3:45 to 8:00pm) because running is your strength? And although I like all the happy thoughts you have planned for the last 6-10 miles of the marathon, I would move that part to the last 500 yards. Instead, I would rather you acknowledge that somewhere between Mile 16 and 26, it's going to seriously suck. The "I really, really don't want to do this anymore" kinda suck. That's the whole point of Key #4 - you're most likely going to visit some pretty dark places that you probably haven't encountered racing before, and you better have some real ammo to fight back. The coaches' "one thing" talk may sound hokey now, but it can get pretty raw and real at Mile 133. Not trying to scare you, just encourage you to prepare for some serious suckage. If it turns out that your day is all rainbows and lollipops (less than 1% chance), then you will have overprepared for nothing. Getting through the dark spots and coming out the other end is part of the allure of IM. It's why we sign up for another one while we still can't walk right from the previous one.
The other thing to keep a focus on - nutrition. Your plan lacks calorie detail, which can be a red flag, and hundreds of racers this Sunday in Tempe will have major nutritional failures. Don't be one of them. Race day nutrition starts at breakfast, which for me involves stuffing around 800 calories in me, with sports drink. Your plan is to sip water, tea and some oatmeal. Unless you plan on eating 10 bowls of oatmeal, this is a problem. And you don't mention the gel and sports drink plan between 4am and 7am. If you have a detailed plan, great. But I would encourage you to share. If you don't, I strongly urge you visit the last-second nutrition plan page in the Wiki or get a quick consult with a coach or Core Diet. The last thing you want is for food, liquid and salt to mess up months of sacrifice and time.
Looking forward to following your progress on Sunday.
Mike
As usual, Mike has done a great job breaking done in detail on of my favorite IM aphorisms: "Pay attention to your nutrition and your pace; your time and place will take care of themselves."
In order to "pay attention", you have to have a detailed plan to follow. Myself, I have had to learn how to FORCE myself to eat and drink by the clock, as I simply forget to do those things on the bike. On the run, its a lot easier, as the aid stations come up every mile to remind you.
IMCDA, four and a half months ago, was my first IM. Miles 11-18 on the run were mentally tough. I went out too fast on the run because I felt great even though I knew I should start slowly and thought I was. (Had I not been reading EN, I would have gone out even faster. Won't make that mistake again and have trained hard since then to focus on that.) When the suck hits you...Smile. There's something about smiling that just makes you feel better. And as you get to the finishers chute, take it all in. Slow down and remember it. I hugged my family and heard Mike Reilly say I was an Ironman. I didn't even look at the clock to see my finishing time. But after all the pain and suck of IMCDA, I was up early Monday morning to register for IM Austria 2015 before it sold out.
Agree with all stated above about nutrition. I had done a few HIM before IMCDA and really screwed up my nutrition (and execution) during 2013 Vineman prior to reading EN blogs and podcasts. So I have read and learned a lot. And as you can see in my Race Plan, I'm a little anal about my nutrition numbers. Pre-race breakfast about 2 1/2 - 3h before the race can consist of around 600-1000 calories. Good goals on the bike and the run are: 200-300 calories/hr on the bike and half that on the run since it is much easier to take calories in during the bike (especially the beginning) than it is during the run. Of those calories, look for 0.6gm of carbs/pound/hr on the bike and 0.3gm of carbs/pound/hr on the run. Sodium can range from 800-4000mg/hr depending on heat, your hydration and how much you sweat. But everyone is different. I've been able to take in 1300 calories in my pre-race breakfast and do fine. I usually can take in 350-400 calories/hr on the bike and I prefer all liquid nutrition (Perform and EFS gel) since it gets through the stomach faster and is absorbed faster. But some people do great with solids--although consuming a Big Mac is probably going to cause some issues. Spread your bike nutrition out over the ride so as to not put a big bolus in your stomach which will draw blood away from your muscles in order to break the food down (another reason I prefer liquid nutrition). Once you get on the bike, allow yourself a little time to get pedaling before trying to eat/drink. After a few minutes, take some sips of fluids but hold off on solids for about 25-30min. Some people set an alarm to remind themselves to drink/eat. I use a torpedo between the arms bottle with a straw that sticks up in my face. Very easy to sip from and the straw hitting my face reminds me to drink--and I can stay aero. (Even though there is debate as to whether the straw sticking up creates more drag than occasionally breaking aero to drink from a bottle in the cage.) As for sodium, I am a heavy sweater so I take high amounts of sodium/hr compared to most people. I've learned this through training when I was always finding white salt sweat marks on my shorts and top after long workouts. I have also found that if I start to get a cramp during the bike or run, I need more sodium. And after I take a salt tab, the cramp goes away within minutes. I also add Nuun to my Perform drink on the bike to increase itz sodium content. I feel it's easier to remember to eat/drink on the run since you pass by it every mile or so. But there will come a time during the run when you just don't want to eat or drink. If you find yourself getting nauseous, drink just plain water for a little while to try to settle your stomach. But be careful of drinking too much plain water as it can cause a serious dilution of your sodium levels if you are sweating a lot and can turn in to a medical emergency.
So think back to your nutrition before and during training and write down what you think worked and didn't work. Then try to calculate the calories, carbs, sodium intake, and ounces of fluid that seemed to work. You have time to do it before the race. I use a large spreadsheet listing the different liquids that I drink with their cals, carbs, & sodium per serving. This helps me determine how much of each to target to consume.
Now, of course, if you have high blood pressure, your sodium intake needs to be closely monitored and regulated and you should talk with you physician.
Again, congrats on making it to the start line and enjoy the day. You are an Ironman.
you are going to do great. shrug of any self limiting thoughts you have. Focus on the box. what am I doing now to set be successful, nutrition, hydration, pacing, enjoy the day as it all unfolds and you see what you are truly capable of.