Peter's 2015 St. George Race Plan
St. George is my 3rd Half Ironman in my 3rd year of racing. I have raced fairly conservatively so far. This time around the plan is to flirt with the edge and see what I can do. I am also involved in a somewhat friendly competition with some local guys.
Here is where I am at:1000yd swim TT: 15:58
2200yd swim TT: 36:51
FTP: 256 (4.26 w/kg)
vDot: 56-57 (Recently ran a 1:22:52 half marathon)
Changes for this year:
New Helmet: LG P-09
New Tri Suit: LG Course M-2 Triathlon Skin
Shaved Legs & Arms & Face (Maybe)
Latex Tubes
Lose the seat bag, instead have bottle behind seat with repair kit.
Garmin 500 (No longer use quick release kit with watch)
25mm tire in back (Maybe?)
Ride with lower PSI (95?)
Because I am doing the Tour of California I had to limit the amount of time I can take off from work for this race so it is going to be a bit compressed! I will arrive on Friday, race Saturday, and then go home Sunday. I will leave really early on Friday and have my big breakfast on the road. Luckily my dad will drive so I can relax. We need to arrive in St. George in time to check in and also check both Bike and Run gear in.
Registration closes at 6:00 PM and Gear Checkin closes at 7:00 PM on Friday. Hope to get to St. George by 1:00 PM or so to make sure there is ample time for everything.
Once I am all checked in I will go to the EN dinner and then try to get to bed early.
I will wake up at 3:45 and have my usual breakfast of 3 cups Apple Sauce, Protein Powder, Banana and Coffee. I want to leave the hotel at 4:15-4:30 so I can get on the Shuttle.
My wave doesn't start until 7:48 so I will have ample time to relax and run through the race in my head.
Schedule:
3:45 AM -> Wake up and eat breakfast, Get Dressed, Sunscreen
4:15 AM -> Leave hotel
4:30 AM -> Board shuttle
5:00 AM -> Arrive at Transition, do body marking and setup bike
6:48 AM -> Stop drinking fluids and have PowerBar
7:28 AM -> Double latte gel with just a sip of water
7:48 AM -> Go Time!
Specifics:
Bike Gear:
Bike
Helmet w/ Shield
Cycling Shoes
Small Towel
Salt Tabs with Caffeine
Emergency Gels
Repair Kit:
Replacement Butyl Tube(s)? and Valve Extender
Tire Levers
CO2 w/ gizmo
Run Gear:
Shoes (Altra Instinct 3.0)
Socks
Zip lock go bag with:
Race belt / Bib / 2 gels
Glasses
Hat
To bring in morning:
Wetsuit
Neoprene Cap
Goggles
Anti Fog stuff
Gas-X
Garmin 500
Garmin 920xt
24oz bottle of Gatorade to pre-load on bike
A second bottle of Gatorade to sip
Gel and PowerBar
Throw Away Flip Flops
Bike pump
Bike Setup:
X-Lab torpedo bottle between the bars
Bottle cage in bike frame (to hold on course bottles)
X-Lab Delta 400 behind seat to hold repair kit (Spare Tube, Levers, CO2)
Bento Box for salt tabs and emergency gels.
Latex Tubes
Flo 60 front wheel
Zipp 101 with cover in back (Hopefully with EN decal!)
Nutrition:
Bike:
I am still trying to sort this out. The current thinking is:
3 bottles of Gatorade on the bike + 2 Salt Caps with Caffeine.
This will result in roughly 190 calories per hour with 900mg sodium per hour
I will carry double latte PowerGels just in case I feel like I need more nutrition. If so I will drop a salt cap and have the gel instead.
Run:
Drink Gatorade at each aid station except for when I have a Gel, water in that case.
Pacing:
Swim:
Swim strong and as fast as I can to maintain form. Anticipate a 37 minute swim (1:40/100yd). The water will be cold. Will have neoprene cap just in case.
Bike:
Ride at 0.75IF for first 20 minutes to settle down (190 watts). Target 0.85IF for remainder (218 watts). Overall target 0.83 IF. Need to stay as aero as much as possible. Stay in my box, push on the downhills. I can climb the big hill at 218 watts, but there is no way I can push 218 on the descent. Would it hurt to climb just a bit harder, perhaps 230-240 watts to still end up with 0.83 with a slightly higher VI? I have looked at a few power profiles from others and everyone seems to spin out and average 150 watts or so on that last descent.
Run:
Don't try to make anything happen on the first climb. Keep the heart rate in check. Keeping HR under 167 on the first climb would be a good limiter for me. After the climb the race begins. Flatten the course. Push on the downhills, especially the last few miles heading into the finish. Manage the heat with sponges and ice. Allow HR to go over 170 at mile 6-7. Once over 175 I better have just few miles left. If I see 180 I better also see the finish line!
Questions:
1. Should I really go with a 25mm tire in back? Would I then have to bring 2 spare tubes? What kind of gain would this give me?
2. What would my optimal PSI be? I weigh 60kg.
3. Thoughts on my bike strategy?
4. Any other feeback would be great!
Thanks for reading!
Comments
Peter - I think you'll surprise yourself and go 34:XX on the swim. Yes, IMO it would hurt you to go over 220/223 on that last long hill thru the park. Even though you have the downhill into town to "rest", you will have burnt the matches you want to save for the run. How many seconds do you think going @ 230-40 vs 220 will give you going up that hill vs how many minutes will you lose on the run? Remember, it (run) starts off climbing, and it will be WARM.
Peter,
It's been fun watching you build for this race, and you've accumulated some serious BA numbers. My quick thoughts:
Don't be overly nice in the swim. You'll likely have to swim through the remnants of several waves in front of you. I'm sometimes too nice, going way wide so as not to initiate any contact. Be aggressive, find good lines, and attack them. Don't want to give up too much time being too much of a gentleman. That said, don't go to the other extreme and be that guy.
You've carefully planned out the three main disciplines, but maybe not the 4th and 5th? The difference between a great T1+2 and average could be a combined 5 minutes. Can you imagine how much work it would take to go from a 1:22 HM to a 1:17? Seize those free seconds in transition.
Depending on how aggressive you plan on being, I'm not sure going the first 20 minutes on the bike at 75% is totally warranted. If you can get past an early climb or so, and find yourself with a good/low HR and feel good, you can start the crank up to 80-83%. That may be 20 minutes, or it may be 8. Be smart, but be ready to race when the time is right. Oh, no gels on the bike? I can't imagine not consuming at least 2-3, and I'm a light eater. But that's just me.
At 135lbs, I don't think 25s will make much of a difference for you, but I'm not a tire geek. You can go lower PSI with 23s at your weight and not risk pinch flats, assuming you want/need to go low psi. If you have high-quality clinchers, the road conditions are pretty good and there's no planned rain, I would go with 90-100 in the front, add 5 to the back. If glass-like roads, higher. If bumps and/or rain, maybe 5-10 lower. But you'll have to take into account your personal data and the road conditions to find the right number. I would bring a can of PitStop and a single butyl (no latex for spare) tube.
I'm with Al (as usual) and think it's too risky to push up the final big climb. That's what the non-EN knuckleheads will be doing, as they prepare for their 2:08 runs. And if flying down the descent at 40mph drops your overal IF from .83 to .81, who cares? They key for you is to get to T2 as early in the day as possible, but more importantly, ready to unleash your weapon.
I've screwed up more HIM runs than at any other distance. And it's always because I go out way too hard. I may hold back for a mile, but then let adrenaline/pride get the best of me. And once that match is torched, I'm toast - with the result usually being a loss of 10-15 minutes. You're a far stronger runner than me, but I would be cautious those first 2-3 miles and make sure you're truly ready to race when you pull the trigger.
Hope it all works out perfectly and you have a huge, breakthrough race. I'll be watching.
You're a strong, lightweight runner with huge running chops, and you're there to race. No way will you implode on the run as long as you pace the bike within reason. More importantly, look at the elevation profile of the run. You're running downhill for the last 3 miles. At first kinda steep (about 7-8%) and then about 2-3% on Bluff and 1-2% on Diagonal. So for run pacing you need to be prepared to run very strongly, as a good uphill running, through mile 10, and then push the pace as fast as you can on all of that downhill back to the finish.
See the bike profile here and note the climbing in the first 5 miles. People will get very, very stupid in here, they always do. See bike course here. Snow Canyon is 5mi, 1067ft gain. Chantry is 3.1mi, 1100ft gain. Snow Canyon is just a bike ride
. I recommend you do SC at 90%, as you're going to spin out on the downhill and will get some rest.
I'm not looking at the aid stations and it sucks that there's not one at the top of SC. Would be great to reload at the top and drink it on the way down.
Again, HIM is about racing and you need to play to your strengths. You're a high w/kg guy with an excellent run. That means pushing the edge a tick on high % grade situations and leaning on your running strength for that first 10 miles of the run, then just crushing your quads back to the finish.
@Mike I have been thinking about transitions as well. Part of the reason I got the Garmin 500 is so I don't have to move my watch around in transition. I also now have real triathlon shoes that I plan to have clipped onto the bike. I want to eliminate as much complication as possible. I plan to practice transitions.
@Rich Thanks! I know Al & Mike suggested differently, but I like your suggestion to go 0.9 on Snow Canyon. I do want to race a bit more aggressively this time out. I remember Stefan making a similar choice on the HIM where he qualified for Worlds.
Thanks for creating this interesting discussion, Peter! It reminds me that I need to draft my race plan for St George.
You can't go wrong listening to the gurus who've already responded. I did St George last year. It was the race that motivated me to join EN because I thought my execution sucked. Here are a few recommendations based on my suckitude:I'm looking forward to seeing you crush this course with your strong W/kg and monster running.
The key for you is that the hard running ends at mile 10. There's just no way you're going to implode in that last 3 miles and if you do...you're going downhill, so how bad could it be
. So it's worth spending a bit in SC as you'll recover on the downhill. And, again, I just wanted to give you some perspective on what SC is and isn't. It's nothing more, and quite a bit less, than anything you've done around here many, many times. And I bet that a lot of people suffer in there because they went too hard in the first 5 miles but don't realize it.
Spot on advice from Rich. You will get passed like crazy on the climb out of sand hollow. Let them go because after that climb the course flattens out a bit and you will make up time as you ride through a small town before making your way back towards St. George. On the run that initial 1-3% grade will help to keep your pace in check. Keep it steady until the top of the first climb and then start to race. I followed that same strategy last year and it worked well.
Only other advice is to try to get to St. George as early as possible on Friday. Sand hollow is about 20min away and parking isnt the best. Cars start to back up some in the afternoon as people are doing bike drop and trying to swim.
I agree with Gabe about warming up before starting the swim, especially since the water will be cold. We wouldn't think of starting a half marathon race without warming up first. Same with warming up before the swim. Last year at Oceanside (pre-EN), I didn't realize there was no warmup area (ok, didn't research it ahead of time) and thus, didn't plan for a dry land warmup. This year, I took swim cords in my morning bag and planned it in my am timeline. I saw only one other person using cords out of 2400 of my best friends. There were people jogging, but only one other person warming up their shoulders.
Also, I found it very helpful to "plan" a time to get in the porta potty line. If you are in a later wave, that might not be an issue. But when I didn't plan a "no later than" time to get in line, I found that other things would take priority and I would then rush to the porta potties and be stressed out that the lines were so long.
On the bike, are the aid stations spaced out enough that you can plan to empty your BTA bottle right before the next aid station, grab a bottle, fill the torpedo and toss the empty bottle before crossing the "last chance to dump trash" sign. Worked we'll for me at Oceanside. But your W/kg is way higher than mine and there might not be enough time to empty the bottle. Plus, if starting in a later wave, the aid stations could be congested and thus safety first.
As for the run, far be it for me to give you advice besides...execute and crush it.
Good luck!
As for the Aid stations. I will start with a pre-filled Torpedo and pick up a bottle at aid station 1. I will have finished the torpedo and re-filled before aid station 2. I will discard the now empty bottle and pick up a fresh one at aid station 2. At this point I will have a mostly full torpedo and a full racked bottle. This should last me until the end of the bike. If it is exceptionally hot and I am drinking more then I can grab a 4th at aid station #3.