First Ironman: IMAZ Race Plan
Race Plan:
Two weeks before:
Enjoy the Taper and try not to work out to hard the last week, trust the training that I’ve been through. Try and keep my nutrition on point. This is the time to eat well and not fall off the wagon. Trust my training and be more present with the family.
Start packing by using the checklist I created. Make sure everything I need is packed and ready to go. Don’t go crazy with every possible scenario just pack what I know I will need. Start to dial down caffeine to help make my body more susceptible for race day.
Week Before:
We are driving to AZ. Enjoy the 2-day drive and try not to be anxious. Before I go to bed start visualizing the race and walking through it mentally. Picture people passing on the bike and not trying to play chase. Continue to use the mantras “run your race” and “It’s not the fastest it’s who slow down the least”
3-1 days before:
check in and enjoy the festivities. Remember to have a great time. You’ve worked so hard for this don’t miss the joy of all the festivities. Get to bed early and just try and relax. Be smart about carb loading and hydrating.
Day before:
Check in my bike. Turn in bags. Don’t stay at Ironman village too long. I may or may not do the practice swim. We will see how I’m feeling and if I think it will benefit me. Get home and put feet up and try and relax. Don’t forget to continue carb loading and hydrating. Eat lucky dinner of spaghetti and meatballs J
Morning of:
Get up at 11-12 and have a quick easily digestible meal and go back to bed. Get up early and have a good breakfast and coffee. Try and stick to your normal routine as best you can. Get to race early. Walk through check list at transition and make sure everything looks good. Sip on Skratchlabs until 1 hr. before race.
Race:
Take a GU 15 min. before race.
Swim:
Seed myself at 1:20. START SLOW. Keep telling myself “it’s just another training swim at the reservoir” 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, 1:20 min.
T1:
Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. No wasted movements but no need to rush. Dump out bag and make sure nothing is forgotten. Give gift card to volunteer. Eat a uncrustable while changing clothes.
Goal: 6 min
Bike:
Trust my numbers. Settle in early and stay in aero. Try and sit at 190 watts and see how that feels. Push toward 195-200 on downhill of Beeline. Don’t slowdown or give away free speed on the way back. Stick to drink schedule of two bottles of Gatorade every 1:20(40 min. a bottle) if I need more fluids supplement with water. Be prepared to consume more because of heat. Eat one uncrustable every 1:15 and take a salt pill every hr. goal is to pee at least twice. Don’t chase people and ride my race. Remember to ride in my box and ride the race I SHOULD not the race I COULD. Keep telling myself “I’ll catch them on the run”. DON’T CHASE SPEED. Stop at special needs bag for a quick stretch and resupply but try and keep moving besides this.
Goal time: 6 hr.
T2:
Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. No wasted movements but no need to rush. Dump out bag and make sure nothing is forgotten. Fresh socks and change shoes. Grab go bag and start moving. Give gift card to volunteer. Don’t forget to relube.
Goal 5 Min.
Run: Start slow. Use HR as guide and run first 6 miles with relatively low HR. Remember: the first ½ mile will suck, your heart rate will spike, embrace the suck… but by mile 2 you will feel invincible, SLOW DOWN…I know you feel great and you think you can hold this pace but you can’t. SLOW DOWN J build HR over next 12 miles. (Self Talk at mile 6): Time to get to work. Put your head down and do this…don’t worry how far you’ve gone or what lies ahead just get through this mile. You’ve had to work for everything in your life, this is no different. Get to work. Race starts at mile 18 and last mile is full out best effort. Take saltpill and GU every hr. walk the aid stations and make sure and get Gatorade and water at every aid station. Switch to coke at hr. 4. Remember to smile and stop every time I see support crew and thank them for being there. Make it a mental game of 26 segments and try and keep a steady time. Remember to give away my sunglasses to great volunteer as soon as it gets dark. Stop at special needs and stretch but besides that always keep moving.
Goal 5:15
Most Important things:
HAVE FUN
Remember why you’re doing this
Remember mantra “there is always more to give”
Don’t miss the small joys along the way
Laugh a lot
Don’t take myself to seriously
Goal: Finish…Big Crazy Goal: Under 14
Thanks for reading
Comments
I love the tone of your plan. There’s nothing like the first, and you’re going in with the right mindset. The water is usually really cold, like 58-60F. So, try to get in before the race just to eliminate any race-morning shock. I would strongly recommend hydrating, salting and cutting down/eliminating most fat, protein and fiber the day or two before. Meatballs the night before is a recipe for disaster. Last meal by 6p the night before - light carb/salty meal. I usually eat a bowl of soup with crackers or pretzels. Please don’t eat breakfast at 11pm-midnight. That does nothing but fill your intestines for the run, and you really, really don’t want that. Eat at 3:00 or 3:30 a.m. and be extremely smart about what you eat. Spend some time in the Nutrition section of the Wiki. Many go the applesauce route. I do 2 Naked Juice smoothies that have no fiber or protein, plus a banana and Clif Bar. But that’s just me. No need to eat in T1 - save it for the bike. If you have a time goal -and you do! - get in and out of transitions quickly. No walking, no messing around. On the bike, your 1.5 bottles/hr is about right. With you PBJ sandwhiches, that’s about 90g of carbs per hour, about right for a 150-lb guy. The problem with those sandwhiches is you get the same grams of carbs as a gel, but more than 2x the calories. Those extra calories of fat and protein are 100% unnecessary. So, if you need more carbs (how much do you weigh?), I would drop those sandwhiches quickly and move to gels/chews, where you’ll get more carbs per calorie consumed. And no matter what, stop eating solids after Mile 56 (if you’re stopping at SN just for food, skip it). Your GI system will be competing against your legs and skin for blood. If you start to bloat or burp, immediately cut back on the food. On the run, you likely won’t be able to eat during the second half. Totally normal. Eat when you’re hungry or feel good the first half, rely on GE, Coke, Red Bull and/or soup to the finish. The last hour will likely feel like nothing you’ve experienced before, so have your One Things lined up and prepared to battle the demons that will likely appear. Facing and overcoming the race-day struggles is part of what makes the finish that much more awesome. Enjoy it.
MR
I make my main meal lunch on Sat and just do liquid smoothies for dinner to make sure I'm cleared out. I did have a pretty big breakfast of eggs, rice, and toast on race morning so nerves on an empty stomach wouldnt make me feel sick. Oatmeal is another great one to do as "stomach cement" in case you get a few gulps of nasty Tempe Town Lake.
BIKE
On the bike your watts should be slightly higher going UP Beeline than going down. It's hard to get close to 195 on the downhill unless you are killing it which is unnecessary when you are already going 30+ MPH at 170w
Consider thinking of the 3 climbs up Beeline to be #1 EZ & Smooth, #2 moderate (Slightly more watts than you did on the 1st lap), and 3rd lap to TOUGHEN UP and hold the same or higher watts than the 1st two laps. Easier said than done. But the 3rd lap is when you need it since it will be windier most likely.
Get out of the aero bars on every corner to give your back a break but accelerate a few pedal strokes out of the saddle to build speed up and use different muscles (but not so hard you are burning extra matches). I think many try to stay in their aero bars for as long as they can and then can't be in them at all near the end because their muscles are too tired. Short, regular breaks from aero can help you stay aero much better with more watts in last lap.
RUN
Good plan, but consider staying VERY low effort for 8 miles instead of just 6 before "going to work". There's still plenty of miles to do work ahead. If you can run steady at your bike average HR for the next 8 miles then hopefully you will have enough banked energy to not crumble in the last 10 miles like most do. Posture and cadence should be your focus when you start to tire. Stay upright with small fast steps and you start FLYING by people that were overstraining early and are now bent over and running in a "K" shape. Italic "I" is what you want to be, falling down the road.
Consider having a headlamp or light in your special needs bag for the 2nd lap of the run. It can get very dark out there and difficult to see your footing which will cause you to be timid and slow down.
One minor correction to consider in your mantra "EASY is smooth, smooth is FAST." Get that word SLOW out of your vocabulary. Good athletes can go FAST while looking very SMOOTH and EASY. Poor athletes go very SLOW while expending lost of energy and effort. Don't confuse EFFORT with SPEED. Focus on good posture, form, smoothness, and light cadence in all 3 sports and you will enjoy the day passing those who don't.
Your plan has a relatively low HR on the run as pointed out above know what your typical long bike average HR is then you will have a guide. As you pointed out you will be most likely wanting to ramp this up in the first couple miles so better to have some more concrete numbers from your race rehearsals to work from.
@Mike Roberts...I'm a big boy( 6' 235#) so the uncrustables work for the calories and having real food to settle my stomach
@Michael Collins...I love the idea of removing slow from my vocabulary
@Gordon Cherwoniak...I will be working from my numbers off my RR.
One more edit. I have been in AZ for the last week and had a 2 hr and 1hr ride...I have needed more fluid than I was expecting. My new plan is a bottle of gatorade and a bottle of water. 25 min. per bottle.
Thanks for all the input.
Very well thought out plan. I think @Mike Roberts just saved you some GI issues if you follow his advice on bike nutrition. I've done it the wrong way and the right way. Too many calories/solids on the back half of the bike and I can expect big issues on the run. Fortunately, at IMAZ 2014, I went all liquid on the second half of the bike and had my fastest IM run.
You are a big guy, you body will create more heat, lose more sweat and require more nutrition. Make sure you do what it takes to pee twice on the bike and at least once by mile 40. If that means adding more water, follow that with salt pills. Water alone is not going to a good plan. You gut needs the sodium to open up and process the water and other calories. The more you sweat the more sodium you lose....replacing that sweat with water only and no sodium turns into more issues later on the run.
Relative low HR for the first 6 - 8 miles should mean no higher than your average bike HR. That pace is going to feel stupid slow while many others are passing but pays dividends on the back half. No matter how good you feel, stay in that box and save it for the last 10 - 8 miles as you watch all those competitors come back to you while you are still running and they are hobbling.
Enjoy your day, have fun and make some great memories!
SS
I don't think the water temps are "horrible" when I did this race in '14, the water was 65 which was 1 degree warmer than Mont Tremblant that year. I would bet on 60-64.
Pre-race eating. I've moved my pre-race meals to load me up earlier and be able to get started on race morning with an empty GI tract. Friday big dinner (perfect for your spaghetti & meatballs)
Saturday BIG pancake breakfast, usually leaves me too full for lunch, but will get something down at lunch time. Dinner itme (5-6pm) is a Jamba juice shake. They have secret shakes with over 1000 calories, this is a tried and true @Al Truscott fueling pro tip.
Pasting in my comments on the beeline from @matt limbert's race plan -
the beeline is a long slow climb that gets steeper as you get to the turn around. There are also a couple of features out towards the end that will funnel the wind stronger in your face as you go out.. THE place to be the MOST aero you can of the day is beeline outbound. It has stuck in my mind since I've done AZ 3x, Coach's adivice on how easy it is to ruin your day overbiking 30 miles of a false flat (the 3 outbound legs) , be disciplined on your power targets with the hill AND the wind in your face. Suggest you drive it on Friday, in right lane, flashers on, absorbing what it is.
Now that you went slowish up that hill into the wind, the ride back is going to be 42 mph, unavoidable draft packs, do NOT get caught up in burning matches trying to escape them. back off the rear if you can, takes discipline.
you never forget your first, IMAZ was my 1st, 3rd & 5th. It's a great race, there are spots on the run with great crowds. Enjoy every minute, you're not out to set any records, just be patient, disciplined and aware of lots of traffic on the bike.