Justin Perry's Victoria 70.3 race plan
My first 70.3 race plan!
A little info about how my training has gone leading up to the race. I started my first out season in November and was very happy with my progress (FTP=249 and vDot=44). Unfortunately February was a month of sickness that impacted my training pretty significantly. In March I was feeling much better until I pulled a calf/hamstring. Since the injury I have been in PT twice a week and taking a very conservative approach on the bike and run as I slowly build back my run/bike durability… basically no running faster than my pre-injury TRP (8:45) and Z3 on the bike (199-212w). Happy to report that the leg injury is improving but I still need to maintain a conservative approach throughout the race. Major goal is to avoid walking miles because I was too aggressive on the bike and run.
Pre-race
I will arrive in Victoria B.C Friday afternoon. Once off the ferry boat, we are headed out to the race venue to get registered and attend the athlete race briefing. Hit a grocery store on way back to the hotel for food stuff and grab dinner. Settle into hotel. Use check list to ensure bike is ready to go for Saturday check in.
Saturday
Try to keep a calm approach through the morning and afternoon. After breakfast head to race venue to check in bike and recon the transition area and swim start (objects for sighting on the swim, what side to start on, swim entrance into the transition and best route to bike, bike exit out of transition). Next up is to recon the race day parking and shuttle areas. Find lunch and head back to the hotel and plan for dinner at 6pm. After dinner, use check list to organize morning race kit and breakfast items.
Sunday morning
Wake up at 3am and get tri kit and timing chip on and eat breakfast (oatmeal, banana, coffee, Gatorade Endurance). Easy stretches for calf and hamstring as I get moving. Leave hotel at 4am and arrive at shuttle at 420am. Once in transition, get sunscreen on and start organizing my transition area. Continue to sip GE till 530. Fill BTA bottle with GE and one bottle of GE on the down tube. Make sure Garmin is syncing up with HR and power meter and re-calibrate power meter. Get wet suit on (lots of tri slide/glide for ease of removal) and move to the swim start at 545 to get an easy warm up in.
Swim
Swim course looks to be a rectangle with the buoys on the right. Plan is to start easy and build to a comfortable pace. Focus on breathing easy and keeping good form. If I can find somebody to draft off of that is a bonus. Goal is 41 min.
T1
Plan is for an easy jog back into transition while getting wet suit down to my waist. Cap and goggles off. At the rack, get wet suit off and put on bike shoes, helmet, and sunglasses. Stretch the calf and hamstring before exiting transition. Easy jog out of transition while being mindful of calf. Goal is 3-4 min.
Bike
First 5 minutes- settle in to the bike at 160w. Next 20 minutes- increase to 170w and slowly build up to 185w (75% FTP). Start hydrating at 15 min and then every 10 min thereafter. Target HR is 140-145. Do standing calf stretch/heel drop every 10 min after hydrate to keep calf loose. Need to stay conservative and avoid big/sudden surges in power to protect calf from getting strained before the run. Use lots of gears on the hills and spin vs mash the pedals. Bike nutrition will be mostly GE (1-1.5 bottles/hr) with some cliff blocks in the top tube bento if I feel like I’m getting hungry. Looking to pee 1-2 times during the bike and plan is to be well hydrated to start the run. Goal is 3 hours but course has more hills than my race rehearsal, so we’ll see.
T2
Rack bike. Helmet and bike shoes off. Hat, race belt, socks and run shoes on. Stretch the calf and hamstring!! This transition is the danger zone for my calf. Don’t get in a hurry and ease into the run to give your muscles time to adapt to a new motion. Time 3-4min.
Run
Super simple run plan... start easy and continue running easy… 10 minute miles. Walk 20 steps through each aid station making sure to drink 1 or 2 GE’s followed by a quick hamstring stretch. HR 150-155. Goal 2:15:00
Any and all feedback is welcome. Again this is my first race plan so I’m sure there are lots of areas for consideration. Thanks Team!
Comments
just my 2 cents. Have a great race.
Have fun!!
swim: last year they had great difficulty clearly the water of weeds, had to shorten the course. They also had difficulty getting the race started with people in the water too late, hoping they fix that. Be prepared to swim in a crowd and touching weeds
bike: the first 10 miles can be frustrating because the roads cruise through urban neighborhoods, combined with crowds from the swim, all of which allows you to dial in your effort, maybe a little slower than planned. The back half of the race is great and allows you to fly if you want. Agree with T. Box, consider some calories front end of bike
run: best run course I've been on this far. Almost always covered, much of it dirt path. Just perfect for a run. If there was a course to push for a negative split, this is it.
Good luck!