Rachel Hawe's 2015 IMWI Race Plan-formatting fixed
IMWI will be #3 for me. I did Wisconsin in 2013 (13:21) and Coeur d’Alene Surface of the Sun Edition 2015 (13:51). After Coeur d’Alene, I took almost two weeks off and went into another build. Along the way, I raced Racine 70.3 and USAT AG Nats Olympic. Training has been pretty standard, doing what I can but no major bumps along the way besides losing this past week to a work trip in Italy (rough life!). I did my first RR in week 14 on the course and had ridden the course twice for a camp weekend in May leading up to Coeur d’Alene. Otherwise I’ve been on the Chicago flatlands. I feel I have a really solid run and bike base thanks to doing 2 builds this year. Swimming dropped off the map after Coeur d’Alene but I’m going to do a major swim push these next two weeks.
My main goal here is to really nail execution. I’d grade myself about a B right now with execution- I haven’t made any big screw-ups, no blow-ups, stuck to plans, etc, but I also haven’t focused on the details- really pushing watts downhill, minimizing transition, all that good stuff. I think I always thought that being a MOP meant losing a minute here and there didn’t matter. Changing my mindset and realizing that I can only train xx amount with my life, so I need to squeeze out the most on race day. Also, next year will be a no-IM year (year of the dissertation instead), so I want to do it well this time around!
Plan from now until race day:
- swim bootcamp- yeah, need to kick my butt on this one! Plan is to swim 3500-4500 yds almost (realizing life + pool schedule will probably take one or two days out for me) every day until Thursday before the race.
- Stretching! Yoga videos when I can, lots of stretching of calves, hips, back as much as possible just making it part of the daily routine.
- sleeping 8 hrs/night (or at least 7!)
- quality nutrition
- bike tune-up and install disk cover and try it out
- practice changing flats
- practice and visualize transitions
- massage this weekend (week 19)
- visualize the tough parts
- be grateful to have the health, means and support to do this!
Thursday before race:
- work half day, pick up rental car (yep, city girl, my bike is my car!), drive up to Madison. Listen to triathlon podcasts along the way to get psyched.
- Do registration on THURSDAY!
- Team dinner at 6pm
- Spend night at friend’s house, but make going to bed a priority over catching up!
Friday:
- Swim ~30 minutes
- 4 Keys Talk
- Athlete briefing
- Check into hotel
- Prepare bags based off of checklists!!
Saturday:
- sleep in
- big breakfast- gluten free pancakes somewhere?
- bike and gear check in, go in the middle of the time block
- hydrate all day
- early light dinner
- bed by 9pm
Bike Setup:
- tires- 23 in front, 25 in back, Conti GP 4000 s tires, front inflated to 95, back 100
- 11-28 cassette
- disk cover- never ridden with it, will test it out beforehand, but anything I should be very aware of/practice?
- 2 bottles of Perform to start- one BTA, one on down tube
- 2 bars (250 cals each) quartered in bento box
- tool kit: 2 CO2, 1 CO2 inflator, 1 tube, multitool, tire jack + lever
Race Morning:
- Up for breakfast @4:30- 2 cups applesauce, banana, whey protein, sip bottle of Perform until start, no coffee unless really feel like I’m dragging
- At transition by 5:45.
- Body glide like life depends on it, tri kit on, with HR chest strap, timing chip
- Mom will drop off special needs bags for me
- Work off of check list, do not think!
- Get body marked
- In transition: Garmin on bike, turned on, auto-off disabled, check that picking up HR and power. Inflate tires. Fill up BTA bottle with Perform, another Perform bottle in down tube. 2 quartered bars in bento.
- Bike bag: add charged “MyAthleteLive tracker”
- Run bag: add charged Garmin and Mio link
- take the “secret staircase”, team picture?
- Wetsuit on, tons of chafing stuff on neck
- Leave sunglasses at “glasses table” at swim exit
- Gu 15 min before start (6:45) and get into the water by 6:50 to avoid the chaos from everyone scared to tread water
Swim:
- Goggles under cap
- line up by ski ramp, see by people between 1:20 and 1:25 (may adjust based on how my swim bootcamp goes)
- smile, enjoy the energy, be grateful
- Expect first ~10 min to be crazy, just stay in box, count strokes, focus on form
- Just keep swimming!
- Efficient turns around buoys
- Don’t lose focus!
- remember that back leg is LONG! Keep positive thoughts.
- Pee before getting out of water
T1:
- cap and goggles pulled up but still on (free hands) before glasses table, grab glasses (totally blind without them)
- wetsuit pulled down before wetsuit strippers
- let the strippers do their thing
- slow jog up the helix- want HR to come down, take off cap and goggles
- smile and soak in the energy
- get T1 bag
- shoes on (no socks), helmet on, myathletelive tracker on, gel to go
- designate volunteer to pack swim stuff into T1 bag
- sunscreen from volunteers
- down the gel on the way to the bike
- get bike and mount at the line, garmin start!
Bike:
- Admin miles: start drinking right away! Main goal is to let HR come down, want it at 135 by Whalen Road (hopefully sooner but it took a LONG time for it to come down at Coeur d’Alene). Second goal: start fueling! Watts <120. <br />
Don’t worry about what anyone else is doing EXCEPT to be careful of people riding all over the road.
- Just riding along zone until top of Valley Rd: Motto: can’t go easy enough here, can go too hard! Caps- HR: 135, Power 120
- Gradual uphill from mile 6-10- be smart, keep watts at cap of 120 up until actual hill at mile 10 (white picket fence), then keep watts as low as can without going backwards
- Stay on power target on downhill after mile 10 hill!
- At top of Valley Road, new targets: HR 140-145, Power: 130.
- Least favorite section is Verona to Mt Horeb, focus on nailing HR and power, know that it is a false flat, smile lots!
- Mt Horeb climb is actually my favorite part of the course for whatever reason, slow and steady up the hill!
- Witte Road (and rest of course)- make sure you are using all the gears you should- easy up, keep pressure going down! I have a tendency to forget I have a lot of gears going downhill- not this year!
- Stagecoach- ugh, just get through it
- 3 sisters- they really aren’t too bad, keep watts as low as possible!
- Shady Oak into Verona is fast, use the gears, keep pressure on
- On the stick back home- hill at 99/100 (white picket fence), then it is fast (stay on power) back home
- Last 1-2 miles, stand and stretch a few times, start visualizing transition/run, note HR
Hills in general:
- take a deep breath as you approach, you’ve got this. It is just a hill and you’ve climbed it before.
- Use the gears you’ve got!
- Climb as easy as you can without going backwards, don’t worry what everyone else is doing
- Try to stay in aerobars to keep watts lower, if needed stand up and stretch
- Crest: keep the effort, it ain’t over yet! Accelerate baby!
- Keep the pressure on down the hill until spin out
- If need to come out of aerobars for handing, stay low
- Watch out for idiots zig-zagging all over
Special Needs:
- tube + 2 CO2
- chammy cream
- gu
- only stop if need something, but use it as a cue to sit up for a minute and stretch
Garmin:
- first screen: 3 sec power, lap power, HR , lap distance
- Second screen: ride time/ride distance/time of day
- Third screen: ride pnorm, ride IF, ride HR
- Autolap every 3 miles – focus on what you can control in this lap!
- Beeps every 30 min for fueling
Nutrition (will adjust based on temps):
- First 4 hrs- 1.25 bottles of Perform/Gatorade an hour ( start with 2 bottles of perform, then Gatorade); ? bar every 30 min (~60 cals) for first 4 hrs
- Last 2.5-3 hrs- Gu every 40 min, Gatorade as much as can handle at that point (goal is still 1.25 bottles), supplement with water for hydration if needed
- Only take salt if hot day or peeing A LOT
- (will alter nutrition plan if forecast is warm to all liquid)
- remember this is just a plan, adjust as you need to!
Other things:
- really want to pee on the bike! Have not been successful yet, will stop if need to 
- in all my times riding the course, I’ve felt stronger the second loop. Remember this if getting discouraged
- Identify negative thoughts. If you can fix it- nutrition, pacing, etc, DO! Otherwise, remember to be grateful to be out there, smile!
T2:
- Good riddance bike!
- chest strap and helmet off on way to T2
- Get T2 bag
- Bike shoes off, socks and running shoes on, hat on
- Go bag: mini vaseline, gu, race belt/number, mio link
RUN:
- go slow enough to get organize
o Vaseline under arms, inner thighs
o Mio link on
o Gu in my belly!
- Mile 1-6: HR: 140-150 – 10 min/mi pace
- SLOW IT DOWN! You might feel good now, but give time up so you can feel good later.
- Mile 6-18: HR 150-155- 9:30 min/mi pace. Just get in that “long run zone” and one foot in front of the other. Look for friends/family along the way where you know they’ll be, use this as motivation to keep moving forward.
- Powerwalk Observatory Hill, the slight speed you’d gain by running isn’t worth the HR spike.
- Aid stations: Walk! This is your reward for running! Gatorade or water by feel, do not be enticed by buffet. If drinking water, supplement with base salt. Gu every 4 miles. Coke is your reward for reaching mile 20, only before if stomach emergency.
- One mile at a time, do not get overwhelmed by distance ahead. Whether you feel good or bad at any moment can change at any moment. Remember the “bad periods” of previous marathons and how they passed.
- Special needs: salty crackers + ginger chews
- Never walk without a plan of when to start running again.
- HR rules, if above 160, make sure hydrating and really slow it down!
- Last 8 miles: it’s not suppose to be easy, and that is why you love this! The faster you go, the sooner it is done. Keep on the nutrition, drink the coke. So many “one things”. Most of all be grateful to be healthy right now to do something this cool. Choose targets to run to. Just. Keep. Going.
- Cross the line and be glad that after 24 weeks of training for Ironman, it is over!
Comments
It all looks like a well thought out plan. The only thing I would add is to take a plastic bag or two (your go bag plus one more) on the run for ice. I like your emphasis on pushing downhill on the bike. I started doing that this year and it helps a lot. One thing I noticed though is that I can get too caught up in it (I like going fast downhill) and spike my power mainly because I'm watching the road and reacting to others and not watching my power.
Have fun. I didn't notice if you said to thank the volunteers and encourage others. I saw the smile part, but the other two things help me out as well.
Consider going out in the water even a little earlier if you can float easily in your wetsuit...and pee BEFORE you swim rather than trying to do it while you swim or as you get out. Also, I am guessing you are a mid-pack swimmer, and you MAY find that the chaos in the swim lasts longer than 10 minutes, depending on exactly where you get caught up. Some of use have had success starting in the very middle of the area near the ski jump and avoided the clogging right on the buoys and on the far side of them. You may be fine, but don't be surprised if the contact goes for 30 minutes instead of 10, either.
I can't quite tell if you are including water in your fluids or not...but if the weather is warm, I think you are UNDER-doing the total fluids at 1.25 bottles per hour. I'm 150 lbs male and I find I need to drink 3 bottles an hour on a warm day to really be hydrated at the end. Believe me, I can pull a camel. (I recently hiked Long's peak on the equivalent of 2 bike bottles...long story.) But if you want to be hydrated on your run, I really think you should consider if you're getting enough fluid. (My total nutrition plan on the bike is 2 bottles of gatorade per aid station = roughly 3 bottles per hour...no solids...but that's me.)
If your experience is like mine, you'll need to balance the desire to power down hills with the need to preserve your legs. If you can pick and choose which ones to power down, pick the ones where the extra speed will get you up the next hill...on the ones where the speed clearly won't be enough, follow the EN rule about picking a velocity past which you won't pedal (maybe 32-35 mph, for example).
Also, remember that there's a very tough downhill on the run that's just as nasty as the up on tired legs. Nothing to worry about, but something you don't want to let get to you...so be ready for it.
My fastest race was the one with my slowest bike split (albeit only by a couple minutes) and the one where I really told myself to keep taking it easy for the first 8 hours or so. :-)
Good luck!