IM Canada Execution Notes
Another set of thoughts I wrote up after last year's race. Not to be posted / cutted'n'pasted outside of EN, please.
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Swim
· Mass start. Two rectangular loops. My advice for this type of course: seed on the outside of the start line, closer to the shore instead of closest to the congestion along the buoy line. This keeps you out of the fracas, and if my math is right, has a total distance cost of about 3meters. In other words, nothin’, in exchange for a relatively calm first leg.
· Practice bilateral breathing. I found I was blinded by the sun.
· 2 loops in the water. If you’re planning to draft off other swimmers, I might be best to let the paces of yourself – and everyone else – get worked out for 5-10 minutes, and once you’re past the first buoy, latch onto a pair of feet.
Bike
(EDIT: I had an offline conversation and should clarify - when I talked about caps on 'zones' I was actually referring to 'gears' as they are outlined in the EN racing with Power guide. You can access it here athttp://members.endurancenation.us/Resources/Wiki/tabid/91/Default.aspx?topic=Racing+with+Power+Kit ... just hit the "free" version).
General
· 11-28 and compact unless significantly above >4.0 w/kg
· Safety first, particularly on this course there are a ton of rumble strips, and ubiquitous pylons. Head’s up ball for the first 2 hours or so.
· The road is generally windy, so there are good changes to ride tangents, even while staying within the position rule of riding to the right. Look for the shorter line where you can.
· Tactically and strategically, every decision you are making on the bike should be informed by the climb from Pemberton to Whistler. This is the main characteristic of the course and is where the race is made or broken.
· Very few people will know how to ride this as an IM bike course. Trust me. Or analyze the data. But with the EN approach – followed to the letter – you should be good. For most of the rest of the field, what you will see are people who overachieve on the sections of the bike leading up to the climb from Pemberton, or overachieve on the bike overall, and booger the run. If I had to simplify it, there are a lot of people riding it like it’s a 112mi time trial that is not followed by a run.
· If you are being competitive on this course, ‘not making mistakes’ will put you much further ahead than trying to make things happen. Here, more than any other course I have done, is where it is critically important to ignore what everyone else is doing.
· There’s no real flat (aside from Pemberton valley) – and therefore, there’s frequent decision making all day. Tactically, do what you can to keep your head clear (caffeine, mental queues, keep nutrition going)
· “Racing” on course: there are some chances to carry speed in a few rollers; descending in aero is key; in light of a few windy parts, look for a lot of ‘wind shadows’ for legal drafts all day, even when moving slowly uphills
· pedal until spinning out on descents
The Course in six main blocks: I really have to emphasize this is a “paint by the EN Numbers” type of course. Even if you’re from a relatively flat area, use the EN bike execution model to plug in your numbers. DO NOT GO OUTSIDE OF THESE.
Whistler to Callaghan (net descent)
· Zone 1 power, zone 4 on short climbs
· Be prepared to go very fast in certain areas with a lot of people
· Safety first.
Callaghan climb
· Zone 3 cap on climb
· On descent, zone 1, with zone 4 on short pops
Callaghan back to Whistler
· Zone 3 cap on climbs
Whistler to Pemberton
· Zone 1 descents, zone 4 on short climbs
· Anticipate that you’ll be riding into headwind at times, so it’s not as fast a descent as you would hope
Pemberton out and back
· Race Watts – Zone 2
· Be prepared to metally reengage
· (At this point you should feel great)
· Be prepared to stay 100% low and aero for this ~hour.
Climb back to Whistler
· Zone 3 cap
· A great time to sit up and stretch your bits and parts, get out of the saddle to shake it up
· Make sure you have fluids and nutrition as you leave pemberton – long way to next station.
· This will be where your run is decided. If you take this sustained climb at zone 4 or above, you will be racing a half-marathon.
Run
· There is no flat – you’re going up or down at various pitches. So, GPS is useless, and be prepared to run by HR or perceived effort.
· In light of the above, know what you want to do wrt HR or efforts on hills. Do you want to push a bit on shorter ones, or just stay on like a diesel? Have this decision made before you set foot on course.
· Great chances for running tangents. The course is serpentine.
· If there was ever an “run insanely easy for the first 6 miles ” course, this is it. First, the bike is tougher than usual, and shaking off some of that fatigue is important for long-run success. Second, the hilly nature really beats people up in lap 2, and I suspect (again, look at the stats) that there is a much higher attrition or “slow down” rate across the general population at mile 18 + than there is at other races.
Comments
Hugely helpful Dave. Thank you.
JL
You've just given us a competitive edge with these notes. They are awesome. I've thought a lot about the bike but not as much about the run course and your notes are helpful as I struggled with the hills at St George and was not equipped enough to have a HR race plan. Just started using a Mio Link as I had big chafing issues with the HR strap so hopefully I can learn enough about my HR running zones thru the next 6 weeks of training to have a strategy for race day.