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Michael Q's 2017 IMMT Race Plan

edited August 13, 2017 6:56PM in Racing Forum 🏎
Name- Michael Quinton
Age- 37
Home- Scottsdale, AZ
Last IM Finish- 10:32 IMAZ 2016

Mont Tremblant will be my fifth IM start and first time on this course. I'll also note that this will be my only long course race this year due to rehabbing an injury through most of the winter. I've had a solid build over the past 12 weeks and feel like I'm in a good place both physically and mentally to perform well. My biggest concern is that I had a very abbreviated OS this year so my run speed and FTP probably aren't where I'd LOVE for them to be but I've adhered closely to the EN GF and IM plans and the ability to withstand and not slow down through the day is there.

My wife and I land in Montreal on Wednesday afternoon and plan to drive up to MT that evening to get settled in nice and early. My only concern is that I'll be flying with my bike for the first time. I've always used TBT in the past for races requiring air travel. I took the advice of a teammate (thanks Francis Picard!) to rent a travel box from my LBS and have practices breaking down my bike a couple times so there won't be any surprises in Canada (hopefully!). I've also rented some race wheels from my LBS that I'll get installed on Tuesday. I'll plan to get a short test ride in before leaving town to ensure all is in proper working order.

Plan will be to check in Thurs. morning and then head out that afternoon for some recon on the bike course. I'll do a couple of the key climbs to familiarize myself with the key parts of the course and then head back for some R&R. My in-laws will be traveling in that night but I'm planning to make it to the team dinner after quickly greeting them. Friday will start with a short practice swim, 4 Keys, and then maybe a bike over the run course. Fri evening I'll pack gear bags and try to get to bed early. Saturday will be low-key and will involve getting my bike bike and gear bags dropped at transition. Early dinner with the family and then retreat to bed. 

3:30AM wakeup on Sun. Bagel + PB + Banana breakfast with a cup of coffee and then head out to transition at 5AM. Calibrate PM, rack gatorades, put gel flask in bento with BASE salt and check tire pressure. Wetsuit on, warmup swim, consume 1 gel, and then seed myself in 1:05-1:10 group.

Swim:
Goal is to finish swim sub 1:10. Focus will be on not going out too hard because I tent to cramp up in doing so. I'll look for some bubbles to follow because I don't get much OWS in out here in the desert and my ability to swim straight is severely lacking. I'll focus on steady breathing and finding my groove to set myself up for a quick T1.

T1:
Will make this trans as simple as possible. Wetsuit stripper, grab gear bag and find bike. I'll strap on my helmet first and then grab amy towel if needed, un-rack my bike and head to mount line. shoes will be rubber banded to bike (no socks) so I'll look for a clear lane to mount and head off. I'll prepare for could be a cool/wet ride and have my gear bag stocked with arm warmers and gloves. I'll also bring toe covers but probably won't need them.


Bike:
Plan here is to come in around 5:30. Based on BBS, with a NP of 187 that should be attainable, but I'll try to push that .68 IF up a bit. My RR's have been done on some very hot days here in Scottsdale, so once in my groove i'll push for .69-.70 and see how my HR responds. I'll shoot to average 190-195 watts and will keep a close eye on my HR which should stay in the 134-137 BPM range. Going out of T1, my main goal will be getting my HR under control over the first 10 miles. I'm notorious for pushing hard to the swim finish and carrying a high HR thru T1 and onto the bike. Once out on the course and HR is inbounds, I'll look to get some fluids down and start focus on finding my race pace. My nutrition plan is to drink 1 bottle of gatorade and 1 bottle of water per hour. Maybe a tad less if weather is cool. I'll load my gel flask with 10 powerGels that I'll take a rip every 30 mins. I like Ginger Snap Stinger waffles, so I'll have a few of those stuffed in my race suit to eat at 30/60/90 mile marks if I want them. I'll have BASE salt onboard in the case that it's hotter weather than anticipated.

T2:
I'll expect this to be pretty fast. Carefully dismounting my bike w/ shoes left on, hand to a volunteer and jog over to find gear bag. Quickly put on rolled socks then shoes. Grab my go-bag that will have visor, sunnies, race belt w/ bib and head out onto run course. 

Run:
My goal is to go sub 3:45. First six miles I'll focus on using HR as my north star. I'll hold my AHR from the bike for the first 6 miles and then check-in to see what my normal long run HR will get me. There are some substantial hills that I will err to the side of caution on, especially on lap 1. I'll stay disciplined for miles 6-18 by not letting my HR climb past 143. My understanding is that this course is loaded with aid stations, so I'll likely walk every other one until mile 20 or so when I'll only stop ass needed. I'll have a few powerGels with me that I'll plan to take every 30-45 mins and I'll plan to continue Gatorade + water at each aid station. I'll switch to coke if I need to after mile 18. 

Overall, I'm extremely excited about this race. This course has an outstanding reputation as being challenging yet fair. The support has been top notch from what I've heard and to cap it off, this is an EN Key Race!!! I'm looking forward to having a lot of friends out on the course as well as the support of my family who will be vacationing and living it up, I assure you! I'm looking forward to seeing those of you who are racing IMMT...it has been a great journey and I congratulate you all on getting yourselves to this point. The hard work that's gotten us to this point in unimaginable to 99% of the population...now it's time to cash in and have a blast!

Thanks for reading...and please, any and all comments are appreciated.


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Comments

  • Michael Q:  the plan looks great!  I like your idea of following bubbles on the swim; if 95% of the other swimmers are lifting their heads to sight, it's a good assumption that the pack is headed in the right direction

    The bike and run goals seem achievable, at least based on your splits last year at AZ.  And with 4 previous IMs under your belt you've already got the experience to deal with anything that may come up on race day
  • You've got the plan wired for standard execution. A good thing sometimes is do a little pre race visioning about how to react when something unplanned happens - flat, dropped on board nutrition, rain, cramp on the run, etc. managing the Unexpected calmly with purpose can be a secret weapon.
  • @Paul Curtin thanks Paul...having some experience definitely provides an advantage when it comes to the unexpected

    @Al Truscott great call regarding pre-race visioning and I fully agree with you on the critical importance of keeping composure with the unexpected. With this race being only race not the calendar this year, I've spent a lot of time visualizing certain aspects of this day. I've been through some hurdles on race day, so I know to expect the unexpected and to focus on not letting anything knock me out of the box. I'll make every attempt to avoid getting rattled by the uncontrollable factors... which i know is always easier said than done. However, emotions can be kept in check and one can have small victories by overcoming those unplanned disruptions.
    A few tactics i've included in my prep to assist in any of those unexpected moments occur:
    I'll be carrying 2 spare, long-stem valve butyl tubes on the bike. I'll store one tube in draft box and one under my saddle. Also in draft box will be co2 cartridges and cracker, a multi-tool, latex gloves, and a patch kit. In my bento I'll store salt, Immodium, and tylenol in case things go sideways on the nutrition front. If I happen to drop my gel flask (did that IMAZ last year) i've practiced consuming what's on the course as backup. On the run, I have my race belt loaded with gels, salt, Immodium, tylenol, hand sanitizer (i'm a freak about having clean hands), and Hot shots in case of cramping. For cold weather and/or potential rain, I've packed warmer clothes, gloves, shoe covers and a rain jersey for my bike/run gear bags and some throw-away warm gear that I'll put in my special needs should things go array. Forecast currently looks solid for racing but it could certainly change and I'll be ready.

    Thanks for the input fellas!

  • Great plan, nothing to add except one suggestion if you arrive in YUL around 4PM, dont waste driving to MT right away, go eat or go buy uour food near the airport and take the car around 6:30. There is one highway going north and rush hour is just plain awful. i live downtown Montreal and we have the good idea to leave around 4pm, we always arrive around 7pm-8pm.

    see you in few days ! Ping me if you wanna go bike the ryan-duplessis section/swim.

    have fun ! Based on IMaZ we should be racing close :)


  • @Francis Picard super advice on hanging around Montreal on Wednesday evening...we land at 4:45PM so we'll plan to stop for some groceries and to grab some dinner before heading north. Let's definitely plan to go ride ryas-duplessis section and do a practice swim. Looking forward to toeing the line with you once again...this time on your turf :)  
  • Hey Michael,

    Best of luck this Sunday.  As Al said, a very sound, straightforward plan.  I do everything I can to automate the day, so that nearly everything in my plan is auto-pilot, which allows me to race when/if I can.  It appears you're on a similar page.  One bottle of GE will give you 600mg of sodium per hour, which could be low regardless of the temperatures.  You'll still be sweating and you need to absorb all that liquid you're consuming.  One hit of Base gives you (I think) 200-300mg, so if you drink a bottle GE for 30 minutes, then consume water the next 30 minutes after an AS, I would take some Base during the "water portion" of each hour.  That said, I'm pretty sure I've heard that IMMT serves regular Gatorade and not GE (hopefully an IMMT vet can confirm/deny).  And GE claims to have about 2x the sodium of regular.  If true, I would hit the Base at least 2x per hour (personally, I would probably do it 3x because I can tolerate tons of sodium).  I have my Garmin beep every 5-mile lap, which forces me to follow my nutrition plan of drinking every beep, eating and salting every other.  But that's just me.  It's easy to get lazy/forgetful late in a 5.5-hour ride, so auto-pilot is my solution.  Of course, it doesn't have to be yours.

    Coach P has really helped me get away from nutrition auto-pilot on the run because it almost never works.  Instead of taking a gel every ___ miles or minutes, I feed early when hungry and when I can.  It often ends up being 4-5 gels the first 13 or 14 miles, after which the stomach simply won't take in food, then nothing after that until I start into the Coke around 20.  If you're fully trained (you are), you pace and feed the bike properly (you will) and you pace properly and fuel up the first half of the run (ditto), you'll have an advantage over the competition when the inevitable fade/slow down/HR drop sets in around 18.  Just remember that it will take a lot more perceived effort to maintain pace and HR late in the run (when 8:30 pace feels like 6:45 effort, when your body starts to say "this is stupid").  This is where you get to show off your fitness, 132-mile execution and mental toughness.  Have fun doing so.

    MR
  • I confirm IMMT is regular Gatorade, not GE
  • @Mike Roberts excellent call on the salt! I'll definitely be taking your advice of hitting the BASE salt 2-3 hour on the bike due to the fact that we'll be working with unleaded Gatorade (thanks for confirming @Francis Picard) ...forecast is calling for what could be a somewhat muggy run and I sweat (a lot), so this information is very useful. Also helpful comments on consuming calories on the run. My experience is very similar to what you describe...after about mile 14 I find it very difficult to consume much of anything outside of water and coke toward the end. I'll be ready when the going gets tough :)

    Thanks again for reading and providing your wicked-smart input! 
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