Mark M's 2016 IM CDA Race Plan

Mark Maurer · August 11, 2016 10:37PM

2016 IM CDA Race Plan

This will be my 7^th IM distance race and the 2^nd time I’ve done IM CDA. The last time was in 2010 on the previous bike course that went up through Hayden. In that race I was the quintessential Ricky Racer and cooked my legs on the bike. Consequently I ended up walking half of the run and finished in 13:30, that was my worst IM finish time to date. Since then I’ve done 4 more IM’s and I’ve learned a lot. I decided after my last IM that I wasn’t going to do another IM unless I had a very specific goal. I age up this year to the 60-64 AG so after consultation with Coach P last fall I decided that I would use this IM to try to qualify for Kona. But as John Lennon says, “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans” a lot of life, and death, happened in the intervening months. So what I had envisioned as a long sustained build was interrupted by taking care of a dying mother, hamstring injuries in both legs (from doing too much speed work too soon), a three week trip to New Zealand (hiking but no running except for an HM and just a couple of days of biking), and a revising a 1200 page stormwater manual at work. I went into IM CDA 70.3 having just 45 miles of running under my belt in the preceding month and only 7 miles in the 10 days leading up to the race (one hell of a taper some people said). But I finished the HIM in 5:43 and 6^th in my age group so that gave me a boost on a lot of levels. My wife Susan is doing the race as well so we’ll be circling around each other during the day much like we do on training days.

My training since the HIM has been more consistent, but it has been more like the minimalist plan than the full Advanced IM plan I had anticipated. That’s because I tried to monitor my recovery day to day and week to week to avoid overtraining and getting sick or injured again. I concentrated on the high priority workouts and let a lot of the other stuff fall to the wayside. In the last 8 weeks since the HIM my CTL has gone from 66 to 98. It’s about 25-30 points lower than I was aiming for at the beginning of the NOS, but it is what it is. It just means that I’ll have to rely even more on execution than just plain fitness.

So my goal is just to go out and run my race and see where the chips fall. I don’t need another finisher’s medal and I don’t need to hear Mike Riley tell me I’m an ironman again so I am going to take some chances in this race especially in the run. The swim will be what it will be. I’ll go out in 1:10 to 1:15 wave and catch some feet and just swim as smooth and strong as I can. The bike will be by the book using the same gears I did in the HIM (the HIM was a training day for this race to me). The bike course is fun with long uphills and fast, sweeping downhills. I’ll have to be sure not to overcook the downhills. My former bicycle racing self gets so carried away on the downhills pedals too hard to get that speed that I crave. Since I’m looking so far down the road I don’t look at my PM enough and end up burning more matches on the downhills than the uphills. I’m much more disciplined on the latter. I’ll dial it back just a little after the last turn around heading back into town to give my legs a little bit of a rest. I did that on my last long bike and really felt the difference on the run even though my legs were more fatigued going into that ride.

I have paces listed below, but I’m going to be going by feel for most of the run. (I will stick to the pace or HR below for the first 6 miles because I’ve been overcooking it on my runs off of my long bikes.) I’ve been doing my runs lately based on RPE with occasional checks on pace and HR. As such, I’ve been right around my TRP on my long runs. Yes, the RPE goes up as I go along to maintain the same pace, but it’s been fun to listen to my body instead of watching my Garmin all the time. I also found out in the Orewa Beach HM and the IM CDA 70.3 that I could listen to my body and go faster than if I had paid attention to heart rate or pace. I realize that those weren’t an IM, but both of those give me confidence to push it when things get rough. So, I’ll be highly flexible in the run especially in the last 3-4 miles (or should that be the last 6-8?) and just keep pushing it to just below the limit. My box will get very small then and I’ll use my one of many things to maintain focus.

The nitty gritty.

Current metrics

5 hour power 160 watts

FTP 240

Weight 152 as of 8/11/16. Best previous race weight was 155.

W/kg 3.47

Sunday

· Last check on the bikes, tighten bolts, change battery in powermeter, clean everything, install new waxed chain
· Start packing using a checklist

Wednesday

· Finish packing and load up the car

Thursday

· Travel to CDA.
· Get checked in and go to the athlete briefing
· Check into the cottage and unpack.
· EN dinner?

Friday

· Check out the swim venue early to see what the sun situation is like the race is later in the year and the sun doesn’t come up until minutes before the start.
· Go through the Expo
· Short run and bike to shake out the cobwebs
· Possible lunch date with a colleague
· Go back to the cottage and take a nap
· Legs up, relax, and get to bed early to help set my clock

Saturday

· Sleep in
· One last bike check and top off tires
· Get the T1 and T2 bags ready. Use checklist.
· Go to the venue and drop off bags and bike
· Have an early lunch, the main meal of the day.
· Mix up race drinks and concentrated bottles
· Legs up and relax
· Have a light dinner
· Charge both Garmins
· Drink a serving of Osmo pre-load hydration
· Get to bed early, 9:00 at the latest

Sunday

· Get up at 3:30 and have breakfast of muesli with almond milk, a bagel with honey and almond butter, applesauce, and a cup of coffee
· Get dressed and apply sunscreen
· Load the fluids into special needs bag
· Take off at 4:30 for the venue
· Drop off special needs bags
· Load my nutrition on the bike, Powerbars and ClifBars cut and wrapped in rice paper, enough for first 2 hours
· Mount and fill torpedo bottle and Garmin, calibrate Garmin
· Bottle of Skratch concentrate behind the seat
· Take a bottle of Osmo pre-load hydration and drink while waiting on the start
· Visit the portapotties
· Eat a powerbar at 5:30
· Apply TriSlide and get into my wetsuit

The Swim

· Head down to the start line
· Get in the water and warm up for 200-300 yards
· Line up in the 1:10 – 1:15 wave area
· Take off when I hit the water, swim 200-300 yards fast and find a set of feet to draft on
· Settle into an easy rhythm that allows me to do alternate breathing
· Mind the catch and keep my form solid
· Go to 4 strokes per breath when my form starts to deteriorate to restore smoothness
· Keep focused and draft when possible but don’t let the lack of someone to follow slow me down
· Exit the swim and use wetsuit strippers

· T1

Remember, slow is smooth and smooth is fast
· Grab bag
· Put on shoes outside of the changing tent and put wetsuit, goggles, cap in bag
· Eat a half of a clifbar while moving
· Run through changing tent and hand bag to volunteer or just drop it on the ground in the general direction of a volunteer.
· Put on sunglasses and helmet (and arm coolers if appropriate) at the bike
· Unrack bike, head towards exit
· Run the bike and mount just past the mount line

The Bike

· Use the 4 gears listed below during the ride. My 4 gears are

1st	160
2nd	168
3rd	176
4th	185

·

o Use the first gear for the first 7 miles (auto-lap set for 7 miles on Garmin)

o Increase my power to midway between the 1^st and 2^nd gears for the second 7 miles

o Increase the power to the 2^nd gear for the 3^rd and subsequent laps

o Use 3^rd gear for hills longer than 3 minutes

o Use 4^th gear for the hills shorter than 3 minutes

· Start to drink as soon as I get past the first few turns in town
· Let the crazies pass me and stick to my plan
· Use my bike gears to stay in my goal watts and keep a VI close to 1.00
· Maintain appropriate power over the crest of the hills and on the downhills until I spin out in my highest gear then get very aero and fly!
· Stay in aerobars as much as possible but sit up every 15 minutes for a few seconds when eating
· Pedal smoothly with a high (90) cadence
· Drink every 10 minutes and take in 24 to 32 oz per hour depending on the temp.
· Eat 240-280 calories/hour – 1/4 clifbar or powerbar every 15 minutes and then switch to gels at 90 miles to get ready for the run.
· Drink water with gels
· Eat a margarita ClifShot occasionally to change the flavor up a little bit
· Big swig of Gatorade Endurance every other aid station, discard bottle before getting out of the litter zone
· Take 1 salt stick tab per hour for each of the last 3 hours if it’s hotter than predicted
· Execute like a ninja!
· If I get a flat or other mechanical, get off the road, take a deep breath or two, assess the situation and get to work. Remember, slow is smooth and smooth is fast.
· Eat an additional gel in the last mile of the ride
· Loosen shoe straps and put feet on top of shoes in the last 150 yards
· Flying dismount the bike, hand bike to volunteer, and run into T2

T2

· Grab bag and put on socks and shoes (slow is smooth and smooth is fast)
· Put helmet into bag and hand to volunteer
· Grab go bag with hat, belt and bib, arm coolers (if not already on), race saver bag, saltstick tabs, Tums, and margarita clifshots and distribute as I’m running
· Discard go bag at first aid station

The Run

Run SNB – A bottle with Skratch in case the GE stops working for me, crystallized ginger, pickle juice
· Take off and keep my pace at 9:30 (HR in 120’s) for the first 6 miles (RnP say give them 3 minutes and they’ll make my day. Well go ahead punks, make my day!)
· Eat one clif shot block every mile
· Take 1 saltstick cap every hour
· 1 gel every 45 minutes as long as I can tolerate them
· Eat peppermint tums or ginger if stomach issues start up
· Walk through aid stations and grab ice, water, and GE every mile, drink as much as my stomach can tolerate. Cut back if my stomach starts sloshing
· Increase pace to 9:00 for miles 4-22 (HR in 130’s)
· Monitor everything and adjust as necessary
· I’ll see Susan sometime in the last part of my second loop. High fives and kisses are in order. Repeat if I pass her again on my third loop.
· Drink pickle juice if legs are cramping or borderline cramping this might be especially an issue on the last lap so think about it before getting to the special needs area at the start of the lap
· Have a gel with caffeine at mile 18
· Walk or slowly run the few steep short hills if necessary to keep HR in check
· Don’t walk the last couple of miles, it will make it harder to get started again
· Run though the aid stations but grab water and pour it over my head if I’m hot
· Thank the volunteers and encourage other runners (as I pass them or they pass me)
· Increase pace if possible for each of the last 4 miles, i.e., don’t worry about heart rate at that point
· Pick out runners ahead of me and run them down.
· Increase pace for the last mile and draw strength off the spectators lining the course
· When I get to Sherman Street raise my arms and get the crowd into it to bring me home
· Bring it home strong
· Enjoy the crowd in the finish chute
· Rejoice at the finish line! ( though it’s OK to collapse into someone’s arms if I need to)
· Grab some fluids and begin to recover

The afterglow

Enjoy the feeling of finishing an ironman and visit with other participants in the post-race feed zone!
· Go back to the cottage and take a shower
· Retrieve Susan’s and my stuff from the transition area and load it into the car
· Go back to the finish line to cheer Susan and other EN Team members on
· Have a good meal as soon as I feel like eating
Write up my race report while things are still fresh in my mind

Thanks for hanging in here if you've gotten this far. Comments and suggestions are very much welcomed.

tim cronk · August 12, 2016 5:31AM

Mark sounds like a good balance of training (minimal but focussed on priority work) and knowledge.... Its all execution now and you have a good plan.. T1 - since eating or drinking raises HR/RPE I would eat that half cliff bar on the bike. It will remove one thing you have to do in T1. Once your settled on the bike eating/drinking while pedaling easy is a great way to start the IM bike helping to keep you in check on your 1st split power goal.... Run- last 6-8 vs. last 3-4? We all know in most IM runs the pace will usually NOT increase during the last 8 miles , but the RPE will... If you are putting some risk into your run , after your first 6 miles or a little shorter is you want more risk, you will be assessing everything every singe mile , am I going easy enough to continue at this pace till the end? , am I going hard enough for what I have left? The line is still mile 18 which I find is still a bit far to actually start burying yourself but its the perfect place to maintain that RPE , somewhere in that last 3-4 miles is the time to bury yourself , which again probably just means maintaining but that RPE should be going thru the roof... I'd still recommend walking at a minimum 20 steps per aid station starting at mile 1 , if you are doing well and feel relatively ok skip the walks the last 3 miles but not until !

Al Truscott · August 12, 2016 8:39AM

Here's the scariest part of your plan to me: you note your 5-hour power @ 160, your CTL @ under 100, and you plan to ride the bike @ 168 watts. I think you'll do just fine if you were to hold that to 160; going 5% over your five hour power is a set up for disappointment on the run, IMO.

I assume you've ridden the "new" course... the hills going north out of town and coming back (6 in total on the two loops) are long (15-20 minutes) and fairly gentle (5%). Be careful not to overcook them. Also, check out the wind for race day. One year, there was a strong (10-18 mph) wind from the north, meaning a headwind going up the hills, and screaming tailwind going down. Other year, it might be more from the side. Factor that into your plans as you visualize things in the day or two before the race, when the wind predictions should be fairly accurate. Stay aero into the wind uphill; use the tailwind to go speed on the downhills - this may be your secret weapon given your bike skills.

"I have paces listed below, but I’m going to be going by feel for most of the run. .. I’ve been doing my runs lately based on RPE with occasional checks on pace and HR. As such, I’ve been right around my TRP on my long runs. Yes, the RPE goes up as I go along to maintain the same pace, but it’s been fun to listen to my body instead of watching my Garmin all the time..."

Yup, this is the way to do it during the marathon. But I'd note that, when I compare my long training runs to race day, (like you, I generally can do those long runs @ RPP), I find myself going 30-60 sec/mile slower in the race, for the same HR and RPE. YMMV, but I doubt it.

You write "Walk or slowly run the few steep short hills if necessary to keep HR in check" I don't remember any steep hills on that course? At least not the newest version, which does three laps mostly through the downtown neighborhoods. Sure, there's one (but it's not steep!) coming through the last aid station, but you should be getting a breather @ that point in the aid station.

"I don’t need another finisher’s medal and I don’t need to hear Mike Riley tell me I’m an ironman again so I am going to take some chances in this race especially in the run. .." It's no fun either walking substantial miles on the run, or not finishing the race. I'd rather go five-10 minutes slower than I'd "like", then endure one of those two scenarios again. Like the coaches say, make your training self proud of your performance on race day.

"You don't know your limits until you go past them" This may not be the race to adopt that attitude. This is your age-up year, and there are only 39 bibs listed in 60-64 @ CDA. You have a strong shot at the podium, you don't to to blow that.

Mark Maurer · August 14, 2016 7:38PM

Thank you gentlemen, that's exactly the kind of feedback I was hoping for.

@ Tim, OK, I'll start my buffet while I' cruising through town trying not to get run over by the crazy bikers. I was planning on walking every aid station until the last two or three. After that it's just too hard to start running again if I slow down. Regarding picking up the pace, yeah I know, I say that every time. I can always dream though.

@ Al, those gears are the ones I've been using for all of my RR rides and I'm turning out the 160 5-hour power. The gears came right from the race pace generator. I went back and looked at my race file from IM CDA 70.3 where I used those gears. It looks like I overcooked the first hill at 182 NP, the next 3 were 168, 166, and 165 respectively and then last was 172. Do you think that the mid-160's is a good target for those hills or should I try to keep it lower? The downhills were in the 130's to 150's because I did a lot of coasting once I spun out or I was soft pedaling. Training Peaks file http://tpks.ws/eTL2D

Good point about testing my limits on this particular race. I'll stick to my plan. My target race pace is 9:00/mile which is about 20-30 seconds slower than my long runs. Though I would like to go faster, if I maintain that I'll still be at about a 4 hour marathon. I did 4:07 at Penticton, but I did have a flat rest period during the bike so this will be a test. I did notice that Kurt Madden did Vineman 2 weeks ago and won the 60-64 AG there. So I don't know if he'll race again here or not. Of the random checks I've done on other participants, he is certainly the fastest.

Al Truscott · August 14, 2016 8:21PM

Posted By Mark Maurer on 14 Aug 2016 07:38 PM
Thank you gentlemen, that's exactly the kind of feedback I was hoping for.

@ Al, those gears are the ones I've been using for all of my RR rides and I'm turning out the 160 5-hour power. The gears came right from the race pace generator. I went back and looked at my race file from IM CDA 70.3 where I used those gears. It looks like I overcooked the first hill at 182 NP, the next 3 were 168, 166, and 165 respectively and then last was 172. Do you think that the mid-160's is a good target for those hills or should I try to keep it lower? The downhills were in the 130's to 150's because I did a lot of coasting once I spun out or I was soft pedaling. Training Peaks file http://tpks.ws/eTL2D

Good point about testing my limits on this particular race. I'll stick to my plan. My target race pace is 9:00/mile which is about 20-30 seconds slower than my long runs. Though I would like to go faster, if I maintain that I'll still be at about a 4 hour marathon. I did 4:07 at Penticton, but I did have a flat rest period during the bike so this will be a test. I did notice that Kurt Madden did Vineman 2 weeks ago and won the 60-64 AG there. So I don't know if he'll race again here or not. Of the random checks I've done on other participants, he is certainly the fastest.

Here's what I was reacting to in your race plan for the bike: "Increase the power to the 2nd gear for the 3rd and subsequent laps". Second gear on your chart is 168. Your stated 5 hour power is 160. I'll repeat: I think it is a BIG risk to attempt to have an NP of 5% over your 5 hour power for the bulk of the race. Also, comparing a successful effort on the 56 mile version of the same course is also a risky thing to do - throw that memory out the window, and race this as an Ironman. There is a much lower margin of error when you double all the distances - the time is even more than doubled. Low 2nd gear, or as you say, mid 160's is probably a good target for those long hills on the out and back to the south of town. But the overall result should probably be a bit (1-3 watts) less than 160 for the whole race.

As to the run, I'll just note what I do, which is run by RPE, observing my splits with mild interest, but not using them as a whip at all. If you need a goad to work harder, use HR as described in the wiki. You don't know what the temp will be, so don;t get locked into a pace or time, just do your thing like it feels as if you;re on a long run. Don;t be surprised if that ends up being 30-60 sec/mile slower than your TRP, even 10 sec (or more if its over about 20 C) slower than your LRP.

Keep your bike in control, run stupid slow in the first 4-6 miles, then slowly wind up the RPE mile by mile, and you'll do fine.

Mark Maurer · August 14, 2016 8:50PM

Thanks Al.