Dawn Cass's IMWI Race Plan
General background: Completed my first IM (Madison) in 2013 when I set a goal to race a full distance 9 months having my second baby. It was the first time with EN and followed the plans “loosely”. Overall completed in 12:36 and was more than surprised with the result. A month later, I competed in a half IM, and then full marathon a month after that…taking 1 & 2nd in AG so pumped at fitness level.
What I also did as a result of my “success”….was to tear my upper hamstring. For those of you know hamstrings…it’s not an easy injury. Had signed up for IMWI in 2014 however ended up spending the year in injury jail / rehab and did not try to compete. 2014 sucked.
2014/2015 no outseason. Just started training in May of 2015…with over a year of not running, lots of swimming, and a little cycling.
To say I am coming to the table less than 100% is correct. Injury still rears it’s ugly head a bit however hoping to keep it under control on the day. I have had a good summer with limited setbacks and have been able to keep to the schedule for the most part. Camp weekend was fantastic and helped to get some education in to remind me of the course and how to get more technical about things. I am hoping my cycling fitness can help to carry me through the run.
Overall, being completely open….I am extremely nervous. Going from the highs of 2013…to injury for over a year…to giving this thing a go again (and not knowing if I can get through), is tough! Focus…be calm…it’s all for fun, right?
Week 19:
Bike at LBS for a check up to ensure all is working well. Bit of a clicking going on after last weekends ride as a CO2 cartridge well into the chain ring..oops. Workouts as per the training plan. Trying to keep it light as the risk of injury at this point is proabably higher than anything I can gain in pushing it now. This weekend…get wheels and tires set up. Have had good chats about latex tubes so going to give them a try for the race. Bought 4 in the event I don’t get it right on first install. I have a wheelcover I used for first time for Racine 70.3 and have been bothered it was “bumpy”. Need to spend some time to ensure things are flat and installed correct. Cut a bigger whole in it as well so I can use a normal pump on the day.
Keep stress levels down (see note above)
Manage calories (not very well done in times of stress…and lower activity levels)
2 hr-ish bike ride planned for Sunday to ensure everything in working order and no pinch flats. Will take it easy, just to turn legs over.
Week20:
Busy week of work so hope that keeps my mind off things a bit.
Can of beet juice daily (I actually like the taste of this stuff!)
Thursday:
- Drive to Madison from Ohio with my husband and 2 girls.
- EN dinner that night assuming drive goes to plan and no setbacks.
Friday:
- Practice Swim – I don’t see that in the athlete guide – I believe we can swim on Friday morning?
- 4 Keys at 10.30
- Athlete briefing
- Make sure bike is still in good working order. Check in, prep bags, try to chill…perhaps watch a movie at the hotel. IM dinner that evening.
Saturday:
- Try to sleep in…however with a 2.5 year old in the room, pretty unlikely! Bike check in. Big lunch, small dinner.
Race day:
Pre-race:
- Wake at 4:00 – breakfast routine… I have usually had an english muffin & applesauce or banana. Not sure bread is really the best thing to have before race day. May alter this to just applesauce, banana. Need something “solid” however will need to think about that one. Power bar is to heavy unless I just eat a bite or two. Thoughts?
- Transition no later than 5:30, check bike, pump tires. Still nervous about first time with latex (with other tires I normally didn’t need to pump them up in the morning) and wheelcover so want to give myself enough time.
- Drink can of beet juice.
- One gel before start and a bit of water.
- Aim to get in the water around 6:45 (or is that to late)?
- I read in someone’s plan NOT to wear your watch?? Drag? I have a 910XT and was planning on wearing it unless someone shouts out.
Swim:
- Wear two swim caps (mine underneath, goggles, then IM on top) That way no one can kick goggles off completely killing my swim.
- Line up at ski ramp (any suggestions where or doesn’t it matter)?
- Last time I swam 1:15 and hoping to get 1:10, with the fairy dust in my wetsuit, perhaps better.
- Try to calm myself – I tend to get very worked up at the start…can only breath to one side and feel like I actually cannot breath. In Racine this is what happened and think I lost many minutes floundering around until I found my pace. The quicker I can calm…the better I will be.
- Focus on form. When I “really” think about form in the pool….it works and my pace follows. If I leave it to chance…the slower I become as I am not a “natural” swimmer.
- I tend to try to stay close to the bouys when swimming so I don’t get to off course. Start to wonder if that area is more conjested and perhaps stay a bit more on the outside?
T1:
- I love the helix….just try to jog vs run to control heart rate. Run on inside
- Collect helmet, nutrition, salt tabs, glasses, shoes, heart rate bracelet head to the bike.
Bike:
- Get heart rate down after excitement of T1
- In general keep head in the box...think about what you can control "at that moment"
- Get a gel down immediately and GE
- Plan to have one gel every 30 minutes. A couple months ago I switched to GU so plan to carry around 6-8 gels on me. If I ride a 6-6.30 bike, I need 12-13 which I plan to make up the difference in aid stations.
- ½ powerbar at 3 hours (my stomach starts to grumble as it needs solid food!) Will keep the other half on me just in case but normally don’t eat it.
- Salt tablet every hour.
- Usually drinking a 16-24 oz GE / hour depending on the heat. May try to bump that up at the beginning. I don’t actually tire of it so don’t plan on water at all.
- Try to flatten the hills as we are taught.
- Maximize the downhills as much as possible. Last time I left a lot of speed on the table here. Only question I have is congestion. At camp, it was easy to get up to 45 MPH on some of the downhills…without risk as you were alone on the road. Just a bit worried when everyone else is racing how “easy” it will be to get a clear line and push that 45mph.
- Keep watts to around 150-160. FTP is 220 and on RR I have done the course at 150. When trying to push to holding to 160 mark, I have felt it. Want to push the bike leg however not to much considering the run to come (and reminder on an injured leg as well.)
- Switched cassette after Rich’s advise at camp to an 11-28 (from 12-25) so that should help flatten the hills.
Side note…peeing on the bike. Have never done it, not sure I want to do it….however reading several posts on EN, seems to be “the thing” to do. When is the best opportunity…going slow…going downhill…does it matter?
T2:
- Change, collect zip lock with run bits….hat, nutrition, belt, salt. Maybe have a banana.
Run:
- Get heart rate down again and settle into a pace. Looking to start at 10:30 to begin but will be dictated by how the HR is performing. HR has been averaging 140-150bpm on long runs in training.
- In practice I have been having a gel every 30 minutes and will keep to that as long as I can hold things down. I recall at a certain point, my body just says no.
- Good drink of GE at every mile. Once I cannot handle it, switch to water.
- Will pack Beet juice in SNB but not sure if I will use it.
- Some have told me to try coke for the extra sugar. In concept makes sense however I have not tried it in training. In fact, I don’t drink soda at all…last time was probably when I was 10 years old so perhaps that’s to risky??
- We officially start the race starts at mile 18. I recall two years ago I got to that point but was nervous to turn on the gas so kept at a steady pace. Once crossing the finish line, I actually did have a lot left in the tank so what I need to determine at that moment is how I am feeling. Keeping pace may be the safe way to go…however if I am feeling good, ideally take it up a beat.
In the end, I am looking forward to the race and returning to Madison a second time. Goal is to race smarter than before…couple more years into the sport and know a lot more. Balance that with a leg that is not 100% and will see what the mix delivers on race day!
Any feedback…would love to hear!
Comments
1. Diet is certainly personal, but an English muffin that early gives some good carbs as long as you feel like it will be processed by the time you hit the water. I go with the applesauce, banana and GE with the banana being my "solid" food.
2. Line up by the ramp, you will see where it is "open" in that fast folks will be right on the buoys (think coach Rich) and the really slow folks will be as far away from them as possible near the beach.
3. Getting in the water at 6:45 will be fine (I have done it the last two years), but to ease your nerves and bring your breathing in order faster, you may want to get in earlier and do a little warm up. Just a thought.
4. Peeing on the bike - I would say if you can pull it off, it is a good idea to save a few minutes time. My technique if you want to call it that is put your left leg down (don't want run off on the chain/gearing) and to do it on a downhill so you don't have to worry about peddling, and then just let it happen/relax.
5. I strongly recommend having a banana in T2. It has ALWAYS made my run feel better. Not sure what the magic is, but I endorse that move.
6. Your coke question, I would say the time many start to use it is when they basically just feel crappy/want the pain to end. At that point I will typically try anything. If you find yourself in that situation, it is likely worth a shot in my opinion.
You have put in the work, enjoy the day!
Hey Dawn,
Great plan. Just a few comments. The goal at breakfast is to get in that 700-1,000 calories. I've done that English Muffin + apple sauce + banana, and it does the job. I've also subbed in a Clif Bar and bagel for the muffin. You don't have to get in some solids; the key is the calories, and the timing. Make sure you're well into your meal by 4am and done by 4:10.
I advised Peter not to wear his 910 on the swim. That's because Peter is at the pointy front end of his AG, he's spent a lot of time/$/energy trying to shave many minutes off his race time by saving several seconds at many junctures of the race. With that in mind, losing the 910 on the swim, IMO, was a place where he could shave some more of those seconds. Also, to me, starting and stopping a watch, and perhaps having to remove or mess with it in T1 was just some extra, totally unnecessary moving parts, when my goal early in the race is remove as many moving parts as possible. Again, just me.
To help your breathing at the start of the swim, do not focus on form. Instead, focus on exhaling every breathing cycle, starting to exhale the millisecond your head gets back into the water. With all the excitement and anxiety post-cannon, most people tend to hold their breath under water, which creates all kinds of oxygen and form problems. I like to count to 100 out loud, under the water, every time I put my face back in the water, because it forces me to exhale and I know that by the time I get to 100, the chaos will be gone/greatly diminished. Again, just me.
PowerBar at Hour 3 on the bike? I totally get your desire for solids on the bike, but I really like to front-load the heavy calories during the first 2 hours of the bike when my systems are still normal and I can get in more calories. Trying to get solids down 4.5 hours into the day, when your systems will no longer be operating efficiently, is a potential recipe for disruption. For me, by Hour 2, it's down to gels and GE, by Hour 4, it's usually just water + salt + maybe a gel. No food for me the last 30 minutes. If anything, I try to over-drink a bit and under-eat a bit. You can't make up dehydration, but you can easily solve a little hunger on the run.
Descending at 45mph. One of your key goals on the bike should be to finish it intact, no road rash. I saw a lot of crashes when I did this race. Frankly, it's a great race for skilled bike handlers, a terrible race for those with no such skills. The bomb down Garfoot can be downright dangerous. If you're extremely confident in your abilities, feel good about the skills of those immediately around you, and are looking to gain seconds at every possible opportunity, go for it. Otherwise, I'd give up the seconds and arrive at the bottom in one piece.
Peeing on the bike is easy at Moo. Lots of downhills. Just coast, think about a waterfall, let it go. You'll be so disgusting by that point, a little pee will probably freshen you up. If you're OK with giving up 5-7 minutes (for 2 stops), stop at the portos, stretch for 5 seconds, get back on the bike.
If you're not used to Coke, I wouldn't try it on race day unless there's an urgent need. That said, there will probably be an urgent need sometime late in the run. If you can stomach 5 gallons of GE, I seriously doubt Coke will hurt. I don't drink soda either, but Coke after Mile 18 in an IM is one of the greatest tasting/feeling substances on earth.
Stay healthy, execute well, and have fun.
MR
Matt and myself are also hoping to go 1:10 on the swim and will be lining up by the ski jump. Perhaps I will see you there!
I have always swam with the watch, but I have made peace with Mike's suggestion. Less moving parts, no worry about losing watch on the swim, potentially faster swim time. The only downside is I don't have the data, but its not really that important.
I wouldn't be worried about coke either. I don't drink soda, and I use looking forward to switching to coke as a "one thing." It is very refreshing. The last coke I had was with Coach Rich and Dino about 6 months ago after climbing 7000ft and it was wonderful.
I am also bringing kids, I have a 3.5 year old.
@ Dawn...solid plan. many good comments from the team. Two additional comments:
1. Good call to go with 11-28. The 28 will be a big difference for you on the ascents, and I suggest you use it as much as possible on all the short steep hills and on the 3 major climbs. You can spin up the hills. You will lose a few yards to others on the climbs but will save your legs for the last 10 miles of the run. Well worth it.
2. I prefer to pee on the climbs so that I don't have to coast on the downhills and lose speed. I figure I'm going slowly uphill anyway so that is when I can relax. The 28 cassette in back helps with this too so that you aren't cranking a big gear while having to pee. I also make sure I have a full water bottle on board so that I can rinse myself (shoes, legs, shorts) and the bike off with water. I don't wear socks on the bike ride so that it is easier to rinse off. The 2 hills I've found on this course that are best to pee on are the long climb into Mt Horeb (Rt 92) and the climb on Garfoot after Old Military road before the steep descent on Garfoot. Both are relatively longer, less steep climbs and have few spectators on the side of the road. The three major hills (Old Sauk, Timberline and Midtown) have many, many spectators on them so I prefer not to pee while "on stage". Call me modest!
Enjoy the race! Hope things go well
Mike - Thanks for the long response. Gotcha on the watch. On the swim start...completely different approach and I like it...will give it a try this year. Like your idea about the powerbar as well. I normally hear my stomach growling on training rides at around the 3 hour mark which is where I had my head. First, 3 hours into the bike...will be more into the race. And probably not ideal to wait until I am already past hungry!
Peter - Looking forward to meeting. Will you be at the EN dinner? Maybe the kiddos sit close if so. Thanks for the suggestions as well and would be great to see you at the start. What time do you plan on getting to the ski ramp?
Bruce - good to hear your comments on 11-28!
Chris - will give it a thought...I may just take my chances and wear it....I am actually more worried about losing my goggles vs the watch.
Coke...will see how things are going. Lean towards not doing it as I haven't tried it. If things are "really" going bad, I may give it a go if I have nothing else to lose!
On peeing....thanks all for the added commentary. You have me convinced....I will "give it a go"...no pun intended. ;-)
Look forward to seeing you next week!