Bill Manard's IMoo 2016 Race Plan
As always, I appreciate the feedback on/destruction of this plan...
Race history - 1st IM, finished 3 prior 70.3s (+ 1 aqua bike), finished 1 prior 100 (2/80/18) barely
Stats - Age 43, FTP ~200, Wt ~165#, Ht 69", RHR ~50, Vdot not worth mentioning...
Objectives - finish before midnight, finish while mostly running (something with which I've struggled), have a strong bike but one that still allows that run to happen.
Goals - As above, time isn't really an object, but I'd expect realistically a 1:20 swim, 6:45-7:10 bike, and 5:10-5:30 run. This is based on my recent training and prior experience.
Now for the plan details:
- After struggling on hills, finally changed out chainrings for compact (50/34), which made a huge difference on some tough hills yesterday
- Today (Sunday), do Monday's swim from the plan and finish getting the bike ready (f'd up a latex tube mounting it, have to put it on today; also clean it all up and charge Di2).
- Monday - most of the EN plan for Tuesday
- Tuesday - finish packing, Wednesday run, have everything ready to go Thursday
- Wednesday - hell day at work (because everyone thinks they need my time before I leave...). Make it through the day, but likely no WKO
- Thursday - work in morning, pick up rental car, drive to WI (missing team dinner
), check into hotel, sleep - Friday - breakfast snack, team swim, #fourkeys, check in, briefing, expo, banquet, early to bed
- Saturday - carbs/carbs/carbs for meals, bike checkin, rest/decompress, charge 920 and 500, drop off bike/run bags, early to bed
- Bike bag - helmet, bottle to drink (something caloric other than GE), LS shirt, spray-on sunscreen; per guide, shoes can be clipped in, so they won't be in there
- Run bag - shoes, socks, spray-on sunscreen, wipe, bottle of GoFar, go bag (RS bag, hat, belt/number/gel/salt/meds [APAP/Imodium], glasses)
- Sunday - prerace
- Up 0330-0400, dress, breakfast (Soylent, muffin/equivalent), start sipping Skratch along with morning coffee, tend to body's needs
- MC bag with wetsuit, bike shoes, Garmin 500, bike bottles, swim stuff, other stuff listed below
- Drop off BSN/RSN bags
- BSN - tube, CO2, chamois cream, snack (frozen Uncrustable), small can spray sunscreen
- RSN - socks, wipe, snack (Sport Beans)
- Head to transition, put shoes on bike, arm warmers (tube socks) on extensions, 500 turned on/sync'd on bike, tires pumped, bottles
- Down secret stairs, get dressed, hang out, pee as needed, drink, gel before water, chill out
- Swim
- Line up on shore side of ski ramp (or wherever is thinnest)
- At the cannon, start easy/long strokes, deal with contact as it comes (I can be pretty aggressive if needed)
- Take the turns wide, keep the focus on long/strong on the back stretch, draft if possible (but don't try too hard, usually not that helpful)
- Coming out strip top half, hit the strippers, head up helix at controlled jog
- T1
- Call out number coming in
- Dump out bag, LS shirt on if cool coming up helix (otherwise stuff in back of jersey and toss later if not needed), helmet/visor on, suit/goggles/cap in bag, out the door sucking on the bottle of fluids
- Grab bike, head to mount line, step on shoes (putting on as possible during initial admin time after mount line)
- Bike
- JRA through Valley Road hills; definitely don't burn anything on the one hill on the stick; Pn ~135 during this time
- Aim for Pn 140-145 (on 5 mile auto laps) after that
- HR goal about 135 - adjust Pn goal for that if needed
- Don't spike on the hills, especially Barlow; I'm not afraid to unclip and walk up Barlow if needed (shouldn't be a concern anywhere else) as it'll only cost 2-3 minutes at most
- At each AS grab 2 GE and 1 water; 1 GE for torpedo bottle, one to partly drink during AS, water for taste and rinsing; also grab shot blocks/minibar/gel per AS (whatever sounds good); this gets me to my goal of 1000-1500 mL fluid/800 mg Na+/400 kcal per hour; snack in BSN supplements the calories
- Reassess about mile 80; can push Pn up to 150+ if doing well at that point, but only very carefully
- T2
- Hand off bike, grab T2 bag, strip helmet, apply socks/shoes, wipe down if needed (likely need to remove salt crust from face)
- Grab go bag, dressing as I go
- Run
- Easy for first 6 (at least), keeping AHR near 138 (what I've proven in training I can maintain all day), which should get me about 12'/mile
- Walk 30 steps each AS, drinking GE at each with water as needed and Coke/RB at least every third
- Ice in RS bag at each AS; keep moving it around the body to keep cool
- Solids at AS early if tolerated, stop as soon as there's any question at all
- Thank the volunteers!
- Smile and high-five as needed!
- When I pick up the pace, aim for AHR 140-145, which should keep me just under 12'/mile
- Remember why I'm here - it's all a big game, I'm lucky to get to do this with an awesome team, I owe the work today to my training self and my wife and others who put up with my training. Use the crowd to help through the darkness.
- Smile/laugh/cry coming down the finish chute sometime between 2100 and 2200!
- T3
- Drink/drink/drink with eating as tolerated
- Hang out to support the final finishers (it's not as if I'll be able to sleep anyway)
OK, gang, thanks for all of the support making it to this point! What did I forget? As I write this, I'm reminded that I've done the work, now it's time to prove it out on the course! I'll be glad to see y'all in a few days and meet those I've not before!
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Comments
Bill looks good. Stay steady and that finish is certainly indoor reach. See you next week. todd
Do you have your one thing? Things? I am not a strong runner, and this year my goal is to run aid to aid. This is the stake in the ground for me, my overreaching goal for IMOO. I have a very convincing mind come the run to do less than the plan, so I have several "one things" that I hope to use when it sucks (and it will totally suck). I am banking on the legendary crowds, EN'rs, and my Michigan peeps for some juju, but not all. At some point its got to be you vs you! Hope you have a few rock solid answers for when it gets tough!!!