Austin 70.3 Race Plan
Final RP of the year! 2015 has been a great tri year for me. I ran Austin last year, my first race under EN tutelage, and hit gold running it faster than my prior 70.3 efforts. Some '15 background: St George was a humbling experience, which was a prep for a very hot CDA IM, my first IM. Neither race gave me a sense of my ability because of glitches in both efforts that masked my fitness performance (in STG I had the wrong gears, in CDA the temp was 105). Coming out of CDA I felt my bike was weak so did a 6 week bike focus, worked on my body comp pretty hard. Since STG my weight has dropped from 195 to 178. During the current build the words "if you want to go fast, you have to go fast" clicked for me on the run, and I have been posting high and sustatined speeds for me over the last 6 weeks. The build has been far from perfect - my PMC does not look anything like what I had planned - travel, family, etc, have stopped me from many long rides. Regardless, I am heading into Austin full of confidence, injury free, illness free.
2014 Austin data: M39; vDot 38; FTP 275; Weight 194
2014 Austin results: 37:xx, 2:57:xx, 2:07 = 5:50:xx, 65th/338 AG
2015 Austin data: M40; vDot 44-46; FTP 280-290; Weight 178; CTL 74.5, TSB 10.8
Friday: Fly to Austin. 30 min Z2 run. Build bike, 30 min spin to make sure bike is set. Will install new chain, clean and lube cassette. New racey tires, latex tubes. 5 gels on bike.
Saturday: Check in, bike to T1, bags to transitions. Big starchy lunch, small dinner.
Sunday:
Wake at 4:00am – eat 800 calories and drink 1L gatorade. Pack 1L of water/Gatorade for bike in throw away bottle.
6:00am: Get to transition and setup T1. Breathe, hang with wife and brother, try to calm them down, enjoy the moment.
6:30am: Take bus to swim start, sipping perform, 1 gel for pre-race, eat a piece of bar.
SWIM: Full suit/arm coolers under wetsuit, fully lubed, sunscreen legs. Eat 1 gel and sip perform @ 7:25, 15 min before wave start.
Swim Goal: During this build, swimming has been reduced the most. All workouts have been heavy on form, lacking on endurance. TT yesterday has me at about 37 minutes (25y pool). I will give up some time here, will focus on body rotation, solid catch/pull.
T1: Pack wetsuit/swim gear, shoes on before mount (nettles), helmet before sunglasses, carry bike out to exit.
T1 Goal: 4 minutes
Bike: First 15-20 minutes at 200 watts, keeping HR at 135-140, eat one 200 cal bar, then move to goal wattage of 230-235, HR ~145. Drink 3-4L over entire bike split sipping every 7-10 minutes, depending on heat. Gel every 30 minutes.
Bike Goal: Coming into this build I was confident and happy with my bike focus work. 291 was my highest ever FTP, and I was able to drop the fear of downhill racing. The build has left me unable to do many of the long rides. My updated FTP last week was 281. My race rehearsals have been challenging at the NP 240+ level, so I am clicking down my effort. Best Bike Split as me at 2:34-2:38 if I am some sort of ninja (VI 1.01), NP 224-238 (IF 0.80-0.82), TSS 173. So, my goal is to be a ninja.
T2: Run to T2 in bike shoes! Remove helmet, bike shoes, put on running socks and shoes. Grab go bag and go. Hat, race belt, sunscreen while running.
T2 Goal: 2 minutes
Run: Downhill start will mean faster first mile than expected, so target HR of 140 x 2 miles. Settle at pace 7:30 in the flats, 7:15 down hills, 8:25 up hills durig miles 3 to 11 allowing HR to drift to 155-160, capping at 162. Best effort on miles 12-13, which is uphill, hopefully 8:00 pace. Take 6-8oz of Perform at each aid station, gel every 40 minutes if tolerable.
Run Goal: Run has been the highlight of this build. I hit 7/8 long runs, I had many 30+ mile weeks, and can confidently run 7:30-7:40 pace for a prolonged period of time (70-90 minutes). What I am less confident about is my post ride runs. My RR have been very hot (95+), and the ride courses much hillier than I will see in Austin. That said, my last long runs have been done on a course that mimics Austin perfectly except instead of climbing 177 feet (over 13.1), I climbed 758 feet at a 7:45 pace. So, I have set my target paces hot on purpose, and believe they are achievable. Goal: 1:42.
Race goal: Race time is a outcome goal, and my focus is on process here. I want to PR. The above adds up to just under 5hr, which would require a major mental modification of what I am capable of moving forward.
DS