Rob Sabo's Kona 2019 Race Plan
Rob Sabo’s Kona Race Plan 10-12-2019
GOAL: Enjoy the day – smile through the suffering
Friday 10-4 arrive
● Arrive in Kona
● Assemble bike
● Go for a run
● Shop to stock room
Saturday
● Swim - short
● breakkfast
● long bike ride
Sunday
● Ho’ala swim
● Afternoon run back from Pine Tree Café
change Power tap battery
Monday
· swim if you can
· run - short and easy maybe out and back in the energy lab
Tuesday
Registration and expo in 9-2
Medium bike
Wdenesday
EN Dinner
Thursday
· Charge STRYD, DI2
Friday
● Big Breakfast IHOP with EN - Get Your Carb On
● Drop off Run Bag Bike bag and bike in AM 11:30-2:30
● Sip Electrolytes all Day and possible skratch prehydration
● Smart Lunch + Snacks -- SALT!
○ Walk route from water to bags to bike to exit. Think about places to run fast, run slower, shortcuts. // TAKE PICTURES!
○ Look for 2x landmarks and markers for bike rack position. Note row/column of t bags. // TAKE PICTURES!
○ Get outta there fast
● Back to Hotel to Chill, Stretch, Watch Movie, Etc.
● Charge 935
● Light Dinner by 6pm -- pasta + chicken.
● In Bed by 9pm -- Final review of Race Plan. Set alarm
Friday (ziplocs for these bags or no? In or out? Depends on weather rain? Are bags under tent?)
T1 Bag:
● Bike Shoes on Bottom
● Ziploc Mega Bag (between shoes):
● Salt for left hip pocket
● 1 gel
● Helmet Synthe and sunglasses
starbucks gift card
T2 Bag:
● 4 GU Gels, caffeinated in side pocket.
● Race number belt + number.
● Race saver bag x2
● EN Hat
● Base Salt
● Sun screen
● Newton Motion 8 and STRYD
● Socks with lube
starbucks gift card
Special Needs Bike:
● Extra tube
● 1 x CO2 rubber banded to tube above.
● Clif Bloks opened and extra gel
Special Needs Run:
● 3 x caffeinated gels
● Extra base salt
● Extra chamois cream?
● sunscreen
Morning Bag:
● Roka Viper sleeved swimskin
● Swim Cap with Goggles
● Back up Swim goggles.
● Bike Emergency Kit
● lube/sunscreen
● HRM/920XT
● Chip
● Water and non-caf gel
RACE DAY Wake Up 3 AM
1. Eat Breakfast:
a. 3 cups applesauce, 1 scoop protein powder, banana, bread and nut butter, Skratch preHydration and bottle sportsdrink
2. Get Dressed:
a. Castelli EN aero top and shorts
b. Chamois Cream
c. HRM (Snug)
d. Tee shirt
e. Sunscreen
3. Head to transition to prep bike T1 open 4:30-6:30AM - SWIM START is 7:10AM
Transition Flight Check
1. Nutrition bottles on the bike
a. Two bottles of Gatorade Endurance (1 = BTA #2 = down tube.)
2. 1 bonk breaker in½ and 2 clif bar in 1/3 in bento box
a. wrapped in rice paper
b. 1 gel GU Roctane with caf
3. Left pedal at 9 oclock
4. Garmin mounted.
5. Tire pressure check.
6. 5:45am power bar
Final Suit Up
● Last chance chamois cream
● Body glide on bits,etc.
● Take out swim ziplock with: cap, goggles
● Clothes into dry clothes bag.
● Phone into dry clothes bag in ziplock.
● Hand off bag / drop it off
PreSwim
● Goggles under cap!
● Water and Gel at 6:50 AM
● Easy warm up if possible with a few short efforts.
● 935 and HRM tri
Roka Speed suit
Race Pillars
● No Racing Until Mile 18.
● Steady Effort Wins the Day.
● No Highs, No Lows.
● Best Races After Slowest Starts -- You Are a Diesel Engine.
The Swim –
7:10 AM wave 50+
● Start strong and smooth - don't be shy - stay in control. You had 4 weeks off from swimming due to shoulder issue and only swam for past 3 ½ weeks so easy, smooth, solid.
● Focus on: (1) rhythm and high cadence, (2) over the barrel / pulling with the forearms and firm wrist “Grip it and Rip it”, (3) frequent siting (4) Taut with good alignment
● Stick with a group -- no wandering off on your own -- especially return trip.
● You get faster as you warm up so finish the second half strong
● Never stop moving!
T1
1. Into Tent bag 762 (make sure you have the right one) and into back end of Change Tent.
a. Salt/Pill canister for left hip pocket
c. Take out shoes.
2. Hand speedsuit & T1 bag and gift card to nearest volunteer.
3. Find Bike - INSERT LOCATION, 762
4. Put on shoes.
5. Helmet On Synthe Buckled.
6. Jog bike to Mount Line & Power On Garmin
7. Execute clean, single-sided mount.
Bike // Pacing -- Steady + Aero Wins the Day
1 ride safe no drafting enjoy the ride
2 calories 375/hour hydrate GE bottle /45min plus water
3 STAY AERO
● Settle in, confirm everything is good and working.
● Target 155-175W outbound depending on conditions. Climbs - all short - up to 220w as needed. Use your gears.
● Adjust position as needed - Super Aero vs Choked up vs Climbing
● HR in less then 120s top should NOT be higher then 125
● Smooth cadence fixate on 90, don’t be greedy on flats with gearing.
● Ride your watts and stay on the gas.
● Super aero all day; Visuals: "I get small and punch through the wind" ... "Momentum is Speed" keep things quiet
Bike // First 30 Minutes:
● Start Garmin 520 recording.
● Note early HR and work to get it down.
● Start fueling with 1 piece of bar @ 15' mark. Bonk breaker then Clif then Clif with caf
● Fluid targets = 1 bottle per 45 minutes and water to supplement
● 1 base salt lick an hour.
● Pee by Mile 30.
Bike // Outbound
● Ride super aero / turtle style when able.
● Ride choked up when on rollers, loose fingers!
● good gear / front of saddle when climbing -- loose fingers!
● Water on arms for hills, etc.
175-185W for climb up to Hawi
Bike // Inbound:
● Ride your watts and let the speed/pace drop as needed.
165-175W descent from Hawi
then 160-165 W till 85 mile mark
then 150-160 to Kona
● Your preparing for the run
● Get wet at aid stations and for hills as needed
Bike // End:
● Make sure you stay cool by dumping water the last 40 miles of the ride.
● to T2 , nothing super special. Flatline that HR. No spikes
● Bloks and gels on the ride back to Cairns
● Super mental focus here.
● Banana and gel at last aide station
● Stretch as needed.
● unstrap shoes, drop watts, easy light spinning, get mind into t2 game
T2
1. dismount / hand off bike.
2. Take off Helmet on the move.
3. Find bag, 762 (make sure you have the right one) head to tent.
4. Bag down & Open. Give volunteer gift card
5. GO BAG
6. Race belt with number on.
7. Shoes (on top), single sock in each lube in socks.
8. Start walking out with GO Bag.
9. Race saver bag
10. Ice in hat on head. Sun glasses
11. Make sure 920 XT is on RUN and start
12. Spray sunscreen all over.
13. AID station in T2 fill race saver bags with ice
Run // -- Diesel Engine Strong
● Toggle Garmin to right screen for HR.
● Keep HR low 120’s as possible for first 10 miles – to top of Palani hill
● Watts 240-45
● Stay cool by dumping water the first 10 miles of the run.
● HR target is 120-125.
● Run smart: take tangents, follow shortest paths anywhere
● Great form -- shoulders before hips; shoulders relaxed/elbows down. Chin up
● Speed is Not Slowing Down - Easy miles in control
● Get in early calories. Two gels in first 6 miles. Hit every aid station and make sure you get what you need. No flying through with haste. Important aid stations are in T2, near the first turn around and up hill at ~mile 6-7
Run // Part Two -- Steady Eddie to Energy lab and back out to Queen K
● HR target is 120-130
● Maintain focus.
● Smart through aid stations. Self eval prior to aid station – liquid? Salt? Gel? Cola? Need ice?
Run // Part Three -- Empty the Tank
● Mile 18 move from "reserved, internal focus" to "gutsy, external focus." Pass people and steal their energy. Try to get pace to STRONG.
● Keep turnover, keep form, don't walk anywhere. Think cadence and form
● Constantly be Passing someone
Run Nutrition:
● Feel good? Eat! Target is 3 gels in first half, then three more with last Caf Gel at Mile 18. [2,6,10,14,18]Then COLA but will need more salt. Base salt every ½ hour at the aid right after gel and more when on cola.
● 4oz GE each aid station.
Aid Station Process -- Execute and Back to Running ASAP
● Sponge for face; squeeze over head.
● Water for head/neck cooler.
● Ice in hat race saver bag.
● Stop at GE person for drink/walk. (If eating gel / salt do it before you get there.)
Run Troubleshoot:
● Take the HR out conservative the first 10 miles of the run! That's the deadly pocket.
● If you get tingling fingers on the run, replace a gel with a banana and pop a lick of base.
Finish strong – you want to feel the pain to know you worked hard. Expect it/accept it.
Remember especially in the Energy Lab that this is why you wanted to qualify for this and there are tens of thousands of triathletes who love to be there and feel your pain.
I expect to enjoy the day with my EN teammates on the course and my family supporting me.
Comments
So glad you are going Rob!! You've earned it so really enjoy it!
@Robert Sabo Enjoy the race.
I'm just interested in the "water to supplement" What quantity are you looking for? Also with pouring water for heat reduction I can be difficult to keep track of how much you are drinking versus pouring?
Also pouring to start last 40 miles perhaps start a little earlier. Temperatures tend to spike up from the mid 70's to low-mid 80's by 10am, peaking around 11-2 with a much more gradual decline until 7-8 pm.
Have a Hawi plan if windy, taking any solid nutrition before or just after the turn around.
@Gordon Cherwoniak I will stay wet throughout the day but I wrote this as a reminder in the last 40miles when concentration goes down and it's especially important in prep for the run.
Have a great Kona @Robert Sabo Take it all in. One of the things Mark Allen said that stayed in my mind was ... "when riding back on the Queen K look to your left and see the tenacious little plants living in the lava fields, then look to your right and feel the energy of the wide open ocean." Pretty special.
Aloha 🌴
@Robert Sabo Your diesel approach is spot on. I love that mindset and the mental cues you have for yourself. I encourage you to think about your race really as a core temperature management exercise. After last year's race, I feel this race is really all about managing my effort across the day and accumulating heat as slowly as possible. If I am ever lucky enough to race Kona again. This is what I would tell my future self. Maybe some of it will help you.
Dear future self,
Your temperature management will start with the swim - the water is warmer and field faster overall. So, it is even more important to swim just under your ability. Keep the HR down an core temp down. Easy. Diesel is good enough. My experience last year in the swim was like we talk about on the bike with folks blasting out of T2 on the bike. Same thing happens here but in the water. So, apply the same kind of pace discipline to the swim early. There are plenty of folks to swim with. You do you. All day. The yyy minutes you "lose" on the swim will be made up for the 10x yyyy minutes you will gain back over the entire day by staying cooler longer.
For the bike, I encourage you to read @Mike Roberts s race report for the beginning of the bike and if you want to avoid the drafting penalty you need to pay attention to it all the way to Hawi. (I know, I know, the age group waves are going to make this so much better. I got it. It is a draft fest on the way to Hawi and hard to avoid. Ride defensively and never let your guard down.) His play by play was very similar to mine. https://endurancenation.vanillacommunities.com/discussion/24028/mike-rs-kona-i-cheated-almost-quit-and-out-ran-frodo/p1
For the run, the run is just an expression of your swim and bike execution magnified. I know, I know, no kidding right?! But this is where you gain the benefits of conservative, diesel execution - Any mistake in RPE, fueling or temperature management from the swim and the bike is magnified 10x. Keeping the discipline of "you do you" - is huge. You have hours of experience driving your body in racing and training. You intuitively know your sustainable effort as this point. Be disciplined, patient. Little mistakes just have bigger impact. Staying wet early and always on the bike, in control of you RPE and fueling during the bike pays big dividends.
Consider driving the return trip from the Energy Lab back to town. There are like 9 traffic light intersections along the highway on way back (depending on where you consider yourself "back in town." I nicknamed them all and knew the order. This section of the highway goes on forever on the way home and all the intersections look the same - lava, grass, pavement. Knowing where I was on this section, on the way home helped me tremendously.
The numbers for power and HR are helpful - but RPE management and core temperature will dominate the day. You have the fitness. You do you. Your diesel approach is spot on.
@Robert Sabo - guess I need to study this! I'll be at the Ha'ola swim on Sunday. What's the deal on the EN dinner on Tuesday. I've heard nothing about it. Tried to sign up for the Group Me thing and it didn't work.
@Brenda Ross - I would like to join the EN dinner if you can give me the time and place. My wife Karen would also be coming.
have a great week on the big island.
glad you get to be there.
don't forget to use eat poi during the race. Tim C. found a company that makes poi in gel sized packets.
@Robert Sabo
Congrats again. So well deserved and overdue. Hope you truly enjoy the race and your time there. The week before is intense. If you take the 10 most Type A, ultra-competitve athletes from each IM, they’re all here. No smiles or waves back during training runs, especially when they're doing 5:30 miles. Some don't care, but I love going to Breakfast with Bob each morning. Good food and coffee, great scenery, positive and very upbeat. Lava Java is my other mainstay.
Don’t ride in town. Get out to Pine Tree Cafe and beyond. I love the Super Target on the way in from the airport. There’s a Costco too, but haven’t been. Lots of bad restaurants, so do homework to find the good ones. If you like beaches and snorkeling (who doesn’t?), go to Kua Bay. Few mi N of airport on the K, when you see the sign for the veteran’s cemetery on the R, turn L. Go early, as parking is limited. One of the prettier spots on earth. Spend the big $ and buy the 100% Kona coffee.
Get to Ho’ala early. It’s a bit of a zoo. Swim out to the coffee boat. Take a GoPro on practice swims. There are turtles and fish everywhere. Ride to Hawi to see that it’s no big deal. Run the K to realize it is.
As for the race, who knows what the new waves will do. My guess is it will help a lot. You have to swim out 100y or so to the start, so built-in wu. TA bags are under cover. People hammer the bike to Hawi, sit up on the way down, and struggle home. EN smarts will move you through the field. If like me you find yourself drinking at an insane rate, be prepared to reduce food. I was basically GE the entire ride, nothing more. Climb out of Kawaihae back to the K is where I really noticed the heat. Sweat faucet on full blast.
You will excel in this run. You're built for it. Small with big V02, you’ll easily acclimate. It was two different runs to me. First 9? (used to be 10) is along the coast, crowds, quite rolling, and humid. Palani sucks. But it does end. The highway is entirely different. Stark, quiet and hot, but some wind. The first part was Broil at 95; this part is Bake at 110. Although it’s a victory lap for you, be mentally prepared to go mean and competitive those long, lonely miles back to town. I wasn't even close to prepared, and they ate my lunch. Don’t take any of the above as gospel. Just my two Lincolns.
Aloha
MR
@Paul Hough I am not the person to contact for the dinner, I can however put you in the group me. I do not see your phone in our system. Please text me at 613-762-1132 letting me know it is you your phone number and I will add you.
@Mike Roberts - what's so great about the Super Target?
It's very convenient. Right off the K as you enter town. Huge parking lot. The store is also huge and has very decent prices. I load up on groceries, snacks, coffee, water, sunscreen - everything. I even bought a $14 bike pump. Costco is probably just as easy. But after a very long day of travel, ease + convenience are huge bonuses. They don't provide plastic bags, so you'll have to buy cloth ones or bring your own. Even if you're Ubering, take one to Target, load up, take a second one to your condo (N/A if you're lugging a bike). If your condo is close to the race, you may not need a car until you leave (unless you plan to explore, which you should if time permits).
Otherwise, just like every other Hawaiian town, there's an ABC every two blocks. But with the bustle of race week, driving can be a huge pain, so most little trips to the store involve walking to ABC and carrying a few bags back.
@Mike Roberts - I had travel tunnel vision. My wife spent a year at the Manhattan Culinary Institute - she is an outstanding cook. But it's not a vacation for her if she has to cook so I didn't even look at a condo. And I've never been on a trip where we bought groceries. We'll be eating out 24-7. It's not cheap, but it's like instant SAUs.
@Robert Sabo Of course, you're a pro at this, so no advice about your race execution plans. But a few reminders that might have helped me my first time around:
• Body marking will take longer than you expect
• There is no access to T1/T2 bags in the morning, and even if you can swing it, there is no light in the tents.
• There are hoses with water at the swim exit for cleaning the inside of your suit, and your mouth from the salt/sand. They dangle in your face as you run to the bags.
• It's a long way from tent to bike; consider carrying the shoes; there is carpet the whole way.
• Key places to check out on the bike before the race: downhill on Kuakini (very early admin miles); Waikoloa to Hawi and back on the long ride to understand the winds down from Hawi, the hill out of Kawaihae, and the VISCIOUS winds out on the lava flats past the Mauna Kea resort.
• A key to success is ability to deal properly (both mentally and power-wise) with the wind on the bike, and the heat on the run...
• Unless you are very confident of your bike strength and ability to run well after, avoid the temptation to power up the "rollers" (they are longer and steeper than you might think) in the first 35 miles of the bike.
GOOD LUCK!
@Robert Sabo Great advice from everyone!
Here is where the zone is:
Here is the sign at the start of the actual climb to Hawi Which is about 6 miles of work.
@Coach Patrick - I'm curious about your T1 hipbelt. What are you using?
@Robert Sabo One other thing I forgot... when returning from Kawaihae on the Queen K, the mile post numbers go upwards to 100, which is at the corner of the Queen K and Palani (meaning you are just a downhill coast to T2), giving you easy to access info about how far you have to go until the end of the ride.
Well thought out race plan and lots of great advice/tips above. Enjoy the Kona atmosphere and with your experience and smarts, you'll have a great race!
Have a terrific time!
@Robert Sabo not much to add, approach the day with a laid back , just a victory lap day, let everyone else stress out, as the day unfolds enjoy those moments, you will still get to race. Have fun and good skill!
I don’t know enough about kona to comment. Much much smarter and experienced people up there on this thread. On a personal note I’ve enjoyed racing against you and with you for the last bunch of years and it’s truly awesome to see you have figured out the IM puzzle and earn your ticket to the big dance, wishing you 140 miles of smiles, when it gets really sucky, remember this is a game that you mastered and smile through it!
thank you everyone for the great advice and the incredible support. I should be able to avoid the common first timer Kona errors