Mark Cardinale's St. George Race Plan
Any and all feedback, comments, or criticisms are very much welcome. Thanks!
2015 St. George Race Plan – I’ve had a good outseason and feel well positioned for a solid 2015. I am interested to benchmark my fitness against where I finished in 2014. By all accounts I should be faster and stronger on the swim, bike and run.
Goals:
- · Solid execution all around.
- · Outperform St. George 2014 in S, B, R
- · Get a taste of racing and a feel for where I am at this point in the season, especially on the swim after logging more than 125 miles so far in 2015
- · Test out changes made for 2015: Castelli T1 Stealth top on bike, latex tubes, x-labs bottle in place of A2.
Pre-race
- · Dinner the night before – Pasta with chicken
- · Early to bed and up at 4:00
- · 3 cups of applesauce w/protein powder, honey stinger waffle
- · Start drinking Gatorade
- · Work your way through AM checklist – don’t forget swim/bike bag and nutrition
- · Leave hotel by 5am, be on one of the first buses
- · Get body marked and get tires pumped,
- · Work your way through transition checklist
- · Hit porta potties as often as necessary
- · Be in your wetsuit and ready to roll by 7am for your swim wave starting at 7:24
Swim:
- · Take note if they are letting swimmers in previous waves swim inside the buoys
- · I need to be quick into the water to swim the 200 out to the start before the gun goes off
- · I will seed myself on or just off the buoy line a few back from the front in a relatively clear section of water
- · Keep within 10ft of the buoy line at all times
- · Focus on rotation, maximizing my pull and a relaxed recovery – work your way into a good rhythm
- · Find feet or a hip to get the benefit of a draft
- · Stay strong and focused on form throughout – don’t get lazy in the last 500
- · Keep swimming until it becomes ridiculous – swimming out is faster than walking out
T1:
- · Keep goggles and cap on your head
- · Find wetsuit peeler – let them do the work
- · Jog to bike -think helmet, glasses, shoes – stuff wetsuit, goggles, cap into bag – GO!
Bike:
- · Bike nutrition plan is bulletproof – just execute the plan:
- · Start drinking once outside the entrance road. ½ power bar on the way up the first hill then get to work. From there switch to a 1 oz swig of gel every 30 minutes. Drink early and often and grab a fresh bottle at every aid station – adjust +/- based on weather on race day
- · Think on the gas the entire time – be aggressive and push the pace, but maintain targeted watts –
2015 Goals 2014 Results
o FTP=265 o FTP=255
o Watts/kg=3.94 o Watts/kg=3.79
o Planned NP =220-225 (83-85% of FTP) o NP 212
o VI= better than last year! (1.08ish) o VI=1.11
- · Keep around FTP going up snow canyon – look for opportunities to build speed on the many short downhills.
- · Keep watts up on the first part of the descent back into town. Recover and enjoy the ride!
T2:
- · Plan to slide feet out of shoes about ¼ mile before bike dismount.
- · Empty bag, take off helmet and put in bag.
- · Put on socks and shoes and go - visor and race belt go on while running
Run:
- · 7:45 or so until first major uphills – keep HR under 140 on the climbs. Once on top of big hill, start dropping pace as HR settles aiming for 7min/mile or under
- · Hit every other aid station (or as needed) take salt tabs at miles 1, 4, 7 and cliff blocks at miles 2,5,8, 11
- · After the turnaround, push going up that last hill and then enjoy the run to the finish – expect to be running sub threshold for he last 2-3miles.
Comments
Hey Mark,
Great plan. Not much to offer. I especially like the simplicity of your plan. Makes it seem more like an Oly than an IM, which is exactly what it is. I too will be interested to see how you do compared to last year, knowing that in between the two SG70.3 races, you had two Worlds qualifying races, two Worlds races and some focused effort on the swim and bike. I wouldn't be surprised if you shave 3-5 on the swim and 5-10 on the bike. The big question is whether you can catch Coach R on the run? It may require
Have fun, race hard. Looking forward to watching from the comfort of my couch.
Mark,
Before I add any comments...what AG are you racing in?
Mark, sounds like if you're in the same AG as Rich, you may need to take his advice with a grain of salt.
Here's a portion of Version 1 of Mark's RP:
Can't wait to see the swim/bike brought up to the run level !
My only Question to the plan is FTP target on the bike up Snow Canyon ? I don't know how long of a climb that is but ANY time at FTP is burning big matches once you get into the HIM distance.... If at all possible I would use IF .90-.93 as your watt ceiling ....
Same thing on the run...RPE and HR should be the same on the downs as the ups. This course is about how you manage the downhills as much as the up hills.
@Mike - Yeah, a lot has happened since last year, that's for sure. More than anything i want to continue building into my season as i approach Boulder. So, yes, i plan to race hard and let the outcome be what it is.
@Gabe, Thanks! Same here, man!
@Bob - Good point! I might need to run any of Coach R's advice by Patrick before incorporating!
@Rich - Yep, we're in the same group! I think it only makes sense that we race for who buys that post race beer!
@Mike - LOL! You weren't supposed to share the top secret stealth version of my race plan!
@Tim - In Kona on the run i was just trying to salvage my day after my whopping .59IF bike split!
@Tim and Al - Real good catch. After your input on riding snow canyon at FTP i check my last years garmin data and i averaged about .87 for the entire climb. This year in training i have been riding 60 miles rides with a big local hill coming right around mile 50. I have been riding that hill close to FTP and it felt ok, but the difference is i'm not running 13 miles afterwards, nor have i been swimming 1.2miles before. Bottom line, i plan to adjust my target watts to be around .90. Thanks!
Sure, happy to buy/drink all the 2% UT beer we can get our hands on
.
I don't really have anything to add other than a question for you:
How do you plan to handle aid stations on the bike? Specifically, are you doing anything different/special with that 2nd aid station at the bottom of Snow Canyon? In a perfect world I wouldn't have to carry a bottle up the Canyon, would get a full one at the top and drink it on the way down...but the race doesn't like that plan, apparently.
Rich, unfortunately there is no good way to handle snow canyon with respect to the aid stations. Your looking at about a 25minute climb and then another 25minutes back to T2. For sure you will want a full bottle + when you exit that last aid station, maybe more depending on the temp. Unfortunately, you're looking at hauling bottles, food, a turkey sandwich - whatever you need - up that damn hill too