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Jeff Horn Ironman Wisconsin Race Plan

Ironman Wisconsin Race Plan


Overall goal:  Just have fun and enjoy a new city and course. My prep for this race was pretty good up until about early August. I had a solid half under my belt and was looking to go 11:11 as a goal time. I had a family vacation for 12 days in early August and really didn’t do anything training wise. When I got back I got crushed by work (always backs up before and after vacation) and so haven’t really done any long work. So my expectations of this race are zero. Finish. Take whatever time you get and move on. So no time pressure or goals means more leeway to just smile through it and enjoy the day.


Travel: Me and four other folks are leaving Chattanooga Thursday. It’s about a 10 ½ hr drive. We are in a VRBO by the lake somewhere close (opposite side of peninsula – mile from transition). Plan on dinner and unwind Thursday night. Friday we will check in to race early-ish and then do a drive around bike recon. May ride a short segment of course if there is time. Planning on team EN dinner meet up Friday. Saturday will be about checking in bike, bags and then getting legs up early in the day. 


Swim gear: (if it goes down) Wetsuit, swimskin, goggles, cap, ear plugs and antifog. Also a gel to take before start.

Bike gear: Helmet, shoes, socks, computer, torpedo bottle, concentrated bottle, disc valve cover, CO2s, inflator, tubes. 

Run gear: Shoes, fresh socks, hat, number belt, handheld bottle and salt

Nutrition: Skratch mix, bars, chews, Base Salt


My plan for this race is to completely change clothes between disciplines. Always wanted to try this just from a comfort perspective. I like my one piece and all, but will save it for Louisville. I will have EN cycle kit for bike, and my EN Castelli run shirt for after t2.


Race morning: I usually wake up about 3-3:15. Ill take in two cups of oatmeal and some unsweetened applesause, along with a bottle of sports drink on way to race. Will walk down to terrace to set up bike/transition.


Swim: Plan is to seed in the 1:10-1:20 range.  I have not been swimming a lot, so no plans to overcook this. If the swim happens I imagine it will be wetsuit legal. Will be a steady effort. Will only go as fast as form allows. Plan for right sided breathing depending on sun position. 


T1: Run up helix, wetsuit half off. Smooth and steady. 


Bike: This could get interesting as my longest bike was indoors. I plan on trying to dial in around 170W for first 15 minutes to settle down, then targeting somewhere in the 175-185 range. 185W gives me an IF right at 0.69.  Nutrition plan is to take in a bottle of Skratch every 45 minutes. I will have the torpedo up front loaded standard concentration at the start. Then I will have rear bottle with 4x concentration marked with refill amounts. Looking at map, I will skip one aid station each loop as a couple stations are close to each other. I will supplement calories with two Skratch bars and two packs of Skratch chews. At my recent half I lost ALL my calories at start of bike, and did fine without bonking. I will, however, be sure to load up on salt each half hour. 2 licks of base salt. At midway point, I will reload another concentrated bottle from special needs, and have an extra CO2 and tube in there just in case, as well as a portable packet of chamois crème / deez nuts. I will guess that 6hr +/- would be ball park. Last years races were all disasters on bike due to nutrition, so anything less than 7.5hrs / laying in a ditch/ going to hospital is a win.


T2: Flying dismount as per my standard. Trot up helix at easy pace. New socks, shoes, hat, number and gone.


Run: I will be running on power for this race. My HR has been a bit high last couple of weeks thanks to loss of fitness/ vacation. Plan is to target relatively low power for the first few miles and then ramp up accordingly depending on how I feel.  Critical power is 293. I will run in 230’s for first 3-6 miles. In the meat of the run from 6-18 I will target 245 which was my sweet spot at the recent 70.3. If there is anything left after 18 I can creep up into 250s as long as HR is not too high.  Anything HR over 154 and I need to back off.  Power caps on hills at 275. Nutrition for run is mix of GE and H20 at each station to keep osmolality in check. Will chase with 2 hits of salt per aid station to keep cramps at bay. Gels at miles 4, 8, 12, 16, 20. Plan for holding off on coke until last ½ to last 1/3 of run. Again to keep osmolality from wrecking me.  ( No real run goals, but a 4:15 would be nice)


That is all from the planning perspective. Again, not really racing this one just trying to survive I suppose. Any feedback is welcome and appreciated. I look forward to seeing several of you at the race.

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Comments

  • Jeff, your result is going to surprise you. If you avoid goal inflation, keep your effort in check, execute and use your experience, I think you can have a good time and get through this. After the race you can let me know if training is overrated.

  • "...not really racing this one just trying to survive I suppose..." Two of my best results happened when I adopted this attitude through the latter half of the run at very hot IMs, WI 2005 & CDA 2006. It enables a complete focus on process only, I guess.

    Incongruity, cognitive dissonance: Run Up Helix (T1), Flying Dismount (T2), then change clothes in transition?!?!?!

    I'll be interested to see what your run power file looks like. My own thoughts on using Stryd for the past year are I should be able to handle the #s I see when going at my TRP pace in training, which will probably result in going at least 1 min/mile slower in an IM. Your plan to run miles 6-18 at the same watts as a recent 70.3 - and then going up from there - seems ambitious, but then I have no experience yet with using power at any race longer than an Oly.

  • @Jeff Horn couple of thoughts:

    ”T2: Flying dismount as per my standard. Trot up helix at easy pace. New socks, shoes, hat, number and gone.”

    At IMWI, you ride up the helix on your bike and ride to the dismount line. So don’t trot up that helix with your bike. There really isn’t much room to do a flying dismount—I think you will scare the bejesus out of the volunteer if you do that in front of them and then try to hand them your bike. I think it would be safer to just ride to the dismount line, get off, and hand your bike to the volunteer, especially since you’ll be changing anyway.

    The crowd support on the hills on the bike and in town on the run is like the Tour de France. Be careful not to overcook things.

  • Haha all good points everyone. I guess a couple of clarifications...


    Yeah the flying dismount sounds faster than it actually is for me, basically just like to hop off bike out of the shoes (leave shoes clipped in) and start the jog. Just hate to walk / run in the bike shoes.

    Yes @Al Truscott seems weird that I would run up helix and dismount, then waste time changing clothes. What I failed to mention above is that I feel that the tri suit will feel terrible (and look horrible) at current body comp (vacation added a few lb I'm afraid). Maybe I'm overthinking it. And thanks @Tony Ledden I obviously haven't researched the logistics of t2 yet.

    And as far as power goes, the low 240 power numbers are really right at TRP. The plan at the 70.3 was to ride the TRP power number until the last few miles then let it out, but never got to that point due to low salt and cramps.

  • @Jeff Horn

    Using this race to perfect the process with IMLOU around the corner could work!

    Do you plan to add caffeine to the second half of the run? If you are sensitive to caffeine it could give you a mental boost. @John Withrow said he knows from genetic testing that caffeine won't help him, but without testing if you know your are caffeine sensitive it might help.

  • I agree with @Al Truscott that your plan has some strange incongruities. You ultimately need to make the call and if some things like the flying dismount are done for fun even if they also yield time savings.

    I wouldn't worry about your long rides be inside...indoor rides are often more efficient at building fitness. That said I would certainly drive the course if you are unfamiliar as it's one of the more technical and would be good to see in person prior to race day.

    See you in a few days!

  • @Sheila Leard yeah i think that caffeine on lap 2 of the run will be good. I've reserved the caffeine for later on the run because i've been pushing the coke back to later stages due to the osmolality issue. If I hit the coke too early, my stomach falters like we've discussed. Gonna keep a couple gels with caffeine on me for miles 16 and beyond for that very purpose.

    @JeremyBehler we plan on doing a drive around on Friday to get a lay of the land.

  • @Jeff Horn - the coke won’t provide much caffeine. Twelve ounces is about 35-40 mg caffeine The caffeinated gels is better but just be certain your gut is hydrated to allow absorption. Take hits of it instead of one bolus.

  • I put on a few lbs after a recent vacay but did a fun training day on Labor Day in the EN full trisuit and that thing is amazing! Doing a half this weekend and looking forward to wearing it even tho my body comp might say otherwise. It allows the flabalanche to sit just perfectly over the shorts!!

    Good luck!

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