First Olympic Tri Pre & post Race Report

Rodney Poepping

Race Report:
Week Before:
Create checklist and start to gather all of my equipment. Make sure I have confirmation of hotel and directions for packet pickup printed and ready to go. Before I go to bed start visualizing the race and walking through it mentally
Enjoy the Taper and try not to work out to hard the last week, trust the training that I’ve been through.

Day before:
Get in town early. Drive the bike section and get a feel for hills and turns. Get to bed early and eat healthy this is not the time to ruin race with bad food choices.

Morning of:
Get up early and have a good breakfast. Get to race early but not too early that I have too much idle time to get anxious. Sip on Gatorade until 1 hr. before race
 
Race:
Take a GU 15 min. before race.
Swim:
Let crowd go. Don’t worry about everyone else. Try and settle into my pace early. Count strokes and follow bubbles. Remember good form is the key.
Goal, 35 min.
 
T1:
Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. No wasted movements but no need to rush.
Take a gel and 2 salt pills when I get to my station. Strip wetsuit and get shoes on. Have a sense of urgency but not a rushed forgetful panic.
Goal: 4 min
 
Bike:
It takes 15 min. for my heartrate to settle in. after that start eating rice balls every 15 min. It will be hot so drink 48 Oz an hr. or more. Stay aero as long as possible. Ride my own race don’t worry about others. Ride a race that lets me negative split the run.  Be smart on hills. My goal is to keep cadence above 90 for the race and heart rate below 149.
Goal time: 1 ½ hr.
 
T2:
Same thing as T1 Gel and salt pills first then switch shoes and grab belt. Get moving and put things on as I’m running.
Goal 3 Min.
 
Run: My line is 3 miles. Run the race so I can speed up at mile 3. Let my heart rate calm for the first ½ mile or so. Keep my heart rate under 150 for the first 3 miles. Keep my heart rate under 160 for the next 2 miles. Let it rip in the last mile. The goal is to negative split the run.
Goal Time: 69 min.
 
Goal time 3 hrs. 21 min.

Gordon Polozola

Good luck Rodney! Nothing like that first Olympic.  You don't say what you are drinking on the bike. Is it sports drink or water?  48 ounces of sports drink should give you significant calories. So I'm not able to comment on whether you will need the rice balls every 15 minutes. That's a lot of solid fuel for a race of this distance. I assume you have practiced this.  I like your thought on not going out too fast on the 10k. 

What kind of breakfast are you thinking?

Tim Sullivan

Make sure to enjoy the race. You only get one first try at each distance.  I like how you are going to race your own race.  Not going out too fast on the run is a good idea.

Here are a few thoughts. I'm certainly not an expert, but I would try to keep the nutrition during the race as simple as possible. There is already enough to think about. If you are drinking a sport drink you will most likely be getting enough calories just from the sport drink.  Also, why stop sipping the Gatorade one hour from race?

Another idea to help transitions go smoothly is to do a couple practice walk throughs the day before the race. That way you'll have a good idea how long it takes to get to your bike from the swim and where to go after racking your bike in T2. You can also take the top of your wetsuit off as you exit the water to save some time.

Where is the race? 

Have fun!

Rodney Poepping

Thanks guys for the input...I probably don't need the rice balls but I've practiced with them & since this is in prep for IMAZ I though it would be great practice on eating during the bike. 

For breakfast I'll do a protien shake & some oatmeal, trying to keep it simple since I will be in a hotel.

My thought on stoping the gatorade is I'll be up early with nerves & probably drink too much anyway & don't want to pee every 10 minutes

The race is in Walla Walla, Wa.

Thanks for the advice & I will try & remember to have fun & enjoy the day. 

Rodney Poepping

Week Before: 

Create checklist and start to gather all of my equipment. Make sure I have confirmation of hotel and directions for packet pickup printed and ready to go.

Did this well and didn’t forget anything of significance. Dialed in the checklist and will use this going forward.

Before I go to bed start visualizing the race and walking through it mentally

Did this every night and continued to visualize people passing me on the bike and run and not trying to catch them but racing my race.

Enjoy the Taper and try not to work out to hard the last week, trust the training that I’ve been through.

This is so difficult and harder than I thought. I love to punch every workout in the face and having to trust that I put in enough work is hard.

Day before:

Get in town early. Drive the bike section and get a feel for hills and turns. Get to bed early and eat healthy this is not the time to ruin race with bad food choices.

Ate well the day before and had a great pasta dinner. I felt disciplined in my food. We drove the bike course and it was a monster hilly course. This helped me get my head around what was to come. It would have been difficult mentally not to know what was coming on the hills(one was a mile long at 7% grade).

Morning of:

Get up early and have a good breakfast. Get to race early but not too early that I have too much idle time to get anxious. Sip on Gatorade until 1 hr. before race

Got up earlier than I wanted but I couldn’t sleep due to nerves. Got to the race early and set up my transition area. Time went by quicker than I thought.  I hydrated well and felt ready for the race.

Race:

Take a GU 15 min. before race.

I forgot this step.

Swim:

Let crowd go. Don’t worry about everyone else. Try and settle into my pace early. Count strokes and follow bubbles. Remember good form is the key.

Goal, 35 min.

This was where the race started poorly. I thought the people would go to the left but the went to the right. I ended up in the front of the mass start and was run over. This caused a mild panic attack that took 15 min. to calm down from. It was hard to get my heart rate down and had to side stroke and back stroke the first of two laps. The second lap was much better. Got into a rhythm but time was lost in the first half. This is the place where I want to improve on the most before my next race.

Time 44:30

T1:

Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. No wasted movements but no need to rush.

Take a gel and 2 salt pills when I get to my station. Strip wetsuit and get shoes on. Have a sense of urgency but not a rushed forgetful panic.

Goal: 4 min

Came out of the water a bit dizzy from the vigorous swim J. Felt like I did this well transition was fairly quick grabbed 3 salt pills and Gel before put on my bike shoes. Not many wasted steps. No time but my wife said 3 min.

Bike:

It takes 15 min. for my heartrate to settle in. after that start eating rice balls every 15 min. It will be hot so drink 48 Oz an hr. or more. Stay aero as long as possible. Ride my own race don’t worry about others. Ride a race that lets me negative split the run.  Be smart on hills. My goal is to keep cadence above 90 for the race and heart rate below 149.

Goal time: 1 ½ hr.

I felt like this was the strongest leg of the race. The problem was it was so hilly that I never was able to keep my heart rate down. There were 5 hills on an out and back course. After 30 min. I readjusted my goal to keep my heart rate below 160. I was able to do that and keep my cadence above 90 for most of the race. My large rig wasn’t the best for climbing but my fitness was at a point that I passed most people on the bike course. I felt very strong. Due to the higher heart rate I wasn’t hungry and I should have just drank Gatorade, food didn’t sit well in my stomach. I was shy of my goal of 48 oz. an hour. It was hot and so I should have even drank more.

Time (which includes both transitions) 1:32:33. Time on Garmin 1:27

T2:

Same thing as T1 Gel and salt pills first then switch shoes and grab belt. Get moving and put things on as I’m running.

Goal 3 Min.

This transition felt better than the first one. Took salt pills and Gel the switched shoes and started running my guess 3 min.

Run: My line is 3 miles. Run the race so I can speed up at mile 3. Let my heart rate calm for the first ½ mile or so. Keep my heart rate under 150 for the first 3 miles. Keep my heart rate under 160 for the next 2 miles. Let it rip in the last mile. The goal is to negative split the run.

Goal Time: 69 min.

Due to the higher heart rate of the bike I adjusted my goals. I kept my heart rate below 160 for the first half. I let it get higher for the second half. I had a Gel at the turnaround and that really helped give me a boost. It was very hot and hilly. Although my legs didn’t cramp they were on the verge at the begging of the run. The salt pills at T2 made all the difference. My pace was close to my goal and felt like I didn’t have anything left at the end but ended well. I didn’t have to slow at mile 3.

Time: 1:11

Goal time 3 hrs. 21 min.

Total time: 3:28:33

 

Tom Box

Rod, thanks for the update with race details.  Nothing like a triathlon swim start to set you in a panic.  This sounds like the first 20 triathlon swims I did.  I finally figured out where to position myself so I'm out of the crowd and to not go out too fast which is always the temptation. I learned to just go out slow like I was just doing my swim warm up and then gradually pick up my pace as I got more comfortable. In the long run your swim will be faster than having to side stroke or back stroke (although my backstroke got pretty good!).

You will have plenty of opportunities to practice your long bike pacing and nutrition between now and Arizona. I suspect that at ironman pace you will be able to keep your heart rate down and get the nutrition in that you will need for the day.

Thanks for the post!