My IMWI Race Plan
General Facts:
Age: 46
FTP: 215
Weight: 153
Watts/Kg: 3.1
Resting HR: 45
VDOT: 36
Race kit: EN Speed Suit
2nd IM and 2nd IMWI.
Strong swimmer, average to slightly above average cyclist, and below average runner
Taper weeks
Contracted strep throat on Tuesday 8/30 – lucky me! Ran 3.6 miles on 8/30
Rested on 8/28, 8/31 and 9/1 – not happy about this!
Plan is to run on 9/2 – distance TBD and will be determined on how I feel
Saturday ride 40 miles or just over 2hrs followed by a 3-4 mile run
Sunday – short run or OWS
Race Week
Monday – OWS
Tuesday and Wednesday – follow the EN plan
Thursday – loosely follow EN plan: swim 1,600 yrds, bike on trainer for 1hr and run 30 min. All at very easy pace Z1/Z2. Get fully body massage and back adjustment at chiropractor. Get haircut – it’s a race day tradition for me. Get final tweaks to bike
Friday – travel to Madison and check-in. Hangout with friends/EN. Party with college kids, just kidding…
Saturday – eat smart, drop off all my junk and chill. Maybe I ride the bike course, in my car of course
Race Day
Up at 3:45-4:00. Drink coffee, eat 2-3 waffles and nutrition pre WO bar – sprinkle with Performance Base Salt. Shower (yeah, I know….) Head to race around 5ish – not a big fan of hurry up and wait.
Get to race and check my bike, fill tires: front 100 PSI, back 105 PSI. Have 2 bottles on bike full of Infinit. One between aero bars and one on downtube. Will have 2 bottles of Infinit in my bike special needs bag to. Drink Infinit during this whole time and have gel just before I hop into water
Head to basement of Monana Terrace and chill. 6:30 head to water and at 6:45 get in and swim to ski platform
Swim
Line up in the front by the ski platform on the side farthest away from shore. If no ski ramp, then line up by the buoys.
Swim my pace – nothing special. Count my strokes as needed – helps me with my form. I plan on following the crowd and sighting very little. Why use my energy sighting – I’ll just piggy back off of everyone else. I never worry about drafting someone on the swim – never been successful doing this
I have a sleeveless wetsuit so not sure if I will have EN speed suit fully on or have top half wrapped around my waist all tuck under my wetsuit. Ideas?
Goal time of 1:02-1:03
T1
Take my time and be smooth. Eat gel on my way out. Do they have any drink in T1? If so, then drink. Otherwise I’ll wait to I hop on my bike. Take shoes to bike and put on at the mount bike line. No time goal here.
Bike
First 16 miles just take it easy and stay disciplined! Take in nutrition: Infinit and 1 gel. Goal watts of 146 or 68% of FTP. Training says HR should be around 125, but not going to hold myself to HR as much as I am my watts as the swim will probably have my HR higher than 125. First loop kick my watts up to 150 or 70% and my HR around 135 – try to stay in this range for the 2nd loop as well. I’m going to walk up the steep portion of Barlow Rd. After having ridden it twice, the energy I have to expend is not worth the cost. Supplement my Infinit with Gatorade and gels on the course – exactly how I trained all summer. On the 16 miles back to town, I may kick up my watts to 155-160 if I’m feeling good. Cadence goal is 90+on flats and 75+ on hills. Bike special needs will consist of 2 bottles of Infinit, spare tube, CO2 and chamois cream (thanks Rich, brilliant idea)
Goal time of 6:15
T2
Take my time and be smooth. Nothing fancy and nothing speedy. Put on socks, Garmin 910 and race bib, Carry a bottle of Performance Base Salt and some Tylenol. No time goal here.
Run
Not the strongest runner so the first 13 miles I plan to run at a very easy pace 11 to 11:20 minute pace. This includes walking every aid station. At every mile, take salt in, drink Gatorade/coke and eat a gel. Not sure how long I’ll be able to eat a gel, so may have to modify my intake of nutrition. Target HR is 130. Training at this pace my HR was more like 125-127, but I’m guessing it will be higher after swimming and biking….. Either way, my HR will dictate my pace and I plan to stay around 130-133.
Miles 14-20, play it by feel and HR. If I feel good and my HR is in check <140, maybe I bump my pace up to below 11 minute miles.<span> If not, I stay at my current pace. Continue to walk each aid station and take salt in. Switch over to Redbull. Stretch as needed
Miles 21-26 – goal is have some gas in the tank and kick my pace and HR up. Just put my head down, sucked it up and get it done.
No need to have a special needs bag – everything I need will be on the course.
Goal time 4:45-5hrs
Biggest Fear
Walking a good portion of the marathon. Did that in 2014 and it totally sucked! I’m better trained and smarter than 2014 so I’m hoping I don’t do anything stupid, which will f-up my race day.
Comments
Chris, you've done alot of smart training this cycle. You are a smarter athlete with the experience of IM racing under your belt. You are definitely going to PR come 9/11. The only question is by how much and that will depend on your execution skills.
Good plan below with a lot of thought put into it.
What is your nutrition plan the day before? i.e., drink one gallon of liquid, carbs? Take a hand full of salt pills the night before? etc.?
Race morning, I see coffee, but I don't see any other hydration written down...I'll drink a bottle of sport drink for breakfast and another one right before the swim.......nutrition starts well before the race......
On the run, what is the back up plan if stomach/digestive issues creep up? i.e., switch to water and salt pills, get HR down, etc......
Looking forward to racing with you and celebrating your PR very soon bro!
SS
I'll drink Gatorade the entire morning before the swim and have a gel right before I jump in the water. I'll take some salt too. I've had a history of my calves cramping during long swims so I know what needs to get done there. Learned the hard way.....
Big breakfast the day before, pasta for lunch and an easy light early dinner. I'll drink Gatorade and take in salt sporadically. enough that I'm peeing a very light light yellow on a regular basis.
I've never had stomach issues on the run so don't jinx me, haha. Thanks for the info, didn't know that
Any reason you wouldn't pull your speedsuit all the way up? That's what I would do to avoid having to deal with it in T1.
You put in a lot of great work. Execute well and I'm sure you'll have a great day out there.
Are you really planning on eating a gel every mile on the run? That's a lot of calories and load on the gut.
Good skill out there. Execute like a ninja.
You state you will take in a gel every aid station. That is a LOT of gels! Did I read that right? I take one every 3 miles which gets met about 200 calories every hourish- on the run.
After being one of the slowest in transitions, I agree with Rachel. Especially because like you, I'm not the fastest kid in my ag on the run!
Triple underline on the caution against trying to eat a gel every mile. That plus gatorade/coke each aid station, @ 5 mph, is 750 calories an hour. No way your gut is going to be able to process that while your HR is in the planned range. Especially for someone who weighs 70 kg. That;s basically my size, and I'm pushing my limits trying to get in 200-250 cal/hour. I'd suggest a gel @ miles 6/12/18 and maybe if you can tolerate it (doubt you will want it by then) mile 22/3
The team has spoke - I will move my ass out of transition faster than planned by using the suggested baggie trick!
I've struggled a lot with GI issues on the run and have come to believe that too many calories can be a big issue. I average about 350 cal on the bike and have that front loaded so that by the last hour it is about 300 cal. I grab an extra banana (100 cal) in T2 and then try to hit about 200 cal / hr. I have started using one gel (2x caffeine) per hour at the end of each hour running... but am not certain that is sustainable on an Ironman stomach towards the end of the run.
Have you been practicing with as many calories per "mile" as you are suggesting in your plan? Nutrition is very person specific - so I'm assuming you know your body best. My experience says be careful overloading the calories on the run.
i think they have some water in the changing room. So it is there is you need it. looking forward to seeing you next week.
Todd