B2B Plan/Questions
First IM distance race on Saturday. Great info from the coaches and forums so far. Here's my plan for the race, please pick apart as you see fit. A couple questions first, though:
Do most athletes change into bike shorts or suck it up and wear tri shorts under the wetsuit? How about tri jersey? I typically wear shorts and jersey under wetsuit for HIM and shorter but this race will be cold water followed by cold air and I wonder if a dry jersey might be a smarter call. How about HRM strap? Wear under wetsuit or too much risk of chaffing? Again, has worked for me at the HIM distance, but I get the impression that IM is greater than 2 x HIM.
Any input on cold-water swims? Surf report calls local ocean temps at 66 deg. I imagine channel will be a degree or two warmer. I'm planning on a full-sleeve wetsuit but don't have experience racing in temp this cold so I don't know when I should really start to consider a hood, booties, gloves.
Thanks in advance!
Now the plan:
Tues 11/9
0530 Wake up
0730 Work
1100 Swim 30-45 minutes
1900 Kids concert at school
Evening – lay out race gear and set aside
2200 Bed
Wed 11/10
0500 Wake up
0630 Easy ride to check bike set up
0730 Work
1800 Dinner
2130 Bed
Thu 11/11 – day off for Veteran’s Day!
0600 Wake up
0700 Open water swim in wetsuit (ocean to check temps)
0730 Easy ride to check bike setup
0815 Track run at high school – recalibrate polar 625
1000 Drive portions of bike I haven’t ridden or driven recently
1200 Packet pickup, quick spin through expo to build Xmas list J
1330 Home – Dale has clients in the afternoon and needs me to watch the boys – stay off feet
1700 Dinner – menu TBD
1810 Take Gavin to Cub Scouts (SAU’s and KAU’s are continuous) stay off feet
2100 Pack Transition bags (optional – can push to Friday am)
2200 Bed
Friday 11/12 – took the day off from work (or I’d be running the Combat Fitness Test and getting a flu shot!)
TBD Wake up when I wake up (if the boys/Dale let me)
0800 Breakfast – last big dose of fiber before the race – sip Gatorade and water all day
0900 Pack Transition bags
1100 Leave house to get to 1200 mandatory athlete meeting (First 140.6 so I’m going to attend)
1200 Mandatory athlete meeting
?? 1300 ?? – May Attend “Athlete Preparation Seminar”, Dr. Jeffrey Brown, Harvard Medical School. Sports Psychologist dude, sounds like an interesting talk but think I might be better served hanging on my own with my feet up reading something that has absolutely nothing to do with triathlon
1300-1400 Lunch, menu TBD, but lower in fiber
1330-1500 Check bike and transition bags in to T1 at Wrightsville beach. Drive to swim start to scope out swim course
1500-1600 Get to inlaws, chill out with feet up, read a book
1800 Light dinner, most likely a smoothie or similar that I picked up earlier. Hang with the family for the meal but don’t really eat what they are.
2100 Bed
Sat 11/13
0200 Wake up – 1.5 Naked Fruit smoothies
0430 Wake up – brush teeth, shave, etc.
0445 Bkfst - .5 Naked fruit smoothie, [?Nutrigrain waffle with PB?], coffee
0500 Dress
0515 Leave for race
0530 T1 – check tires, hang nutrition on bike, body marking, check in SN bags, wake up iBike and do wind cal
0540 Wait on line for porta-johns
0610 Take Imodium. Wetsuit half on, dry clothes on top – it’s supposed to be cold! Catch trolley to swim start.
0635 Clothes to dry-clothes bag, keep socks that I don’t care if I ever see again – extra pair in dry clothes bag.
0640 Jump in water for easy warm up – mostly TI drills and very easy stroking. Think smooth, fluid thoughts. [With cold temps is it smarter to skip the warm up so I’m not standing on the beach shivering for 10 minutes? First .2 as a warm up will not significantly affect my overall time methinks.]
0650 National Anthem
0655 Seed myself about 2 min ahead of expect 1:05 finish time
0700 Swim start – expect about 1:05, depends a lot on how strong the current I’ve heard so much about really is…
Swim. Start out with slightly wide arms, swim smoothly, only as fast as I can go and maintain good form. Patient lead hand on breaths, fingers down. Sight often as navigation is definitely my weak point – tend to drift to the right, keep an eye on that as the course bends to the left.
T1. Put on leg warmers, arm warmers, potentially a tight biking jersey. Put on socks and carry shoes to bike depending on length of run from tent to bike. Throw on Polar 625 (doesn’t mix well with full sleeve wetsuit). [Still trying to determine whether to wear the Polar or iBike HR strap for the bike. iBike puts it right with the power reading, Polar is actually in a little bit of an awkard spot on my wrist when arms are in the areo position. I definitely don’t keep an eye on it as well when I’m running HR from the Polar on the bike.]
Bike. Put on sunglasses and full-finger gloves, as required on bike. Very easy for the first hour. L’il Peep FTP 170 and expected finish time around 6:30. Ride appropriate gears: 110, 116, 121, 127. Course is very flat except for a couple bridges so don’t expect to see too much action on gears 3 and 4. Expect to get passed a lot during the bike, especially early on – keep the ego in check and suspect I’ll see them again on the run. Nothing but water spiked with Nuun for the first 30 minutes. After that, start hitting the 3.25-hour bottle of Perpeteum on the down tube. Empty cage on the seat tube for water from the aid stations to refill the aerobottle. Add one tab of Nuun every hour – with Perpeteum gives me about 600 mg of sodium per hour. Pick up second 3.25- hour bottle at BSN, ditch leg warmers/arm warmers/gloves if burning up. Stash a note from the boys in there – take the time to read it ‘cause I’m not setting any land-speed records and want to focus on what matters. Take HEED as desired from aid stations for a slight change up in the second half of the ride. If so, cut down on Perpeteum a little (every 30 vice, every 15 min), keep up with Nuun. Quit Perpeteum at mile 105, about 20 min left in ride.
T2. Hand off bike to volunteer, leave shoes in pedals, run to transition bag in socks. Ditch leg/arm warmers as conditions dictate. Consider leaving arm warmers on but pulled to wrists anticipating temperature drop. Will also have long-sleeve running shirt in run special needs. Throw on visor, running shoes, start Polar foot pod, change HR strap if required. Throw BodyGlide and sunscreen on as needed. Put medical bag (Chewable Imodium, Nuun, NoDoz) in Tri jersey pocket. Toss a gel in there as insurance, too.
Run. Keep an eye on pace – VDOT – 55.5, LRP = 7:40. Run 8:10 first 6-6.5 miles, then 7:40 to mile 20. Then git’r done! Water, HEED, Endurolyte (1 tab) at every station. Hammer gel once per hour. Grab the caffeinated ones as the race progresses. Walk aid stations as prescribed in four keys. Coke towards the end of the race as tummy allows. Run special needs – long-sleeve running shirt, extra socks, blister kit (mole skin, scissors, bandaids), note from the boys and Dale. Hit the finish line, flash the EN gangsta sign, find Dale and the boys (if it isn’t too late and they’re already in bed), grab a recovery drink and maybe a massage. Oh, and a beer. Figure out how to get off of Battleship Island. (Most likely leave bike overnight and pick it up in the am.)
Sun 11/14 – Get up when I get up. Have convinced the in-laws to watch the boys
NLT 1200 – pick up bike
Comments
Swim: Guessing 1 to 1:05. I heard that the favorable current won't be as favorable for us since the race is a week later than the last 2 years. Based on the tide chart it looks like the tide won't be helping us till mid-way thru swim - but more importantly it won't be against us . I have seen the swim course and we basically go in a straing line for the at least the first 1.5 miles before we turn left / right / left into the marina. I definitely plan on finding out where exactly they put the bouys cause I'm told knowing/following the correct tangents can be very advantegous on the swim. I met some of the local YMCA Tri GRoup over summer and may met w/them THursday nite at dinner to get more local insights since alot of them are racing too.
I was figuring on 65-68 degrees which isn't bad to me (I've done 58-60). I was expecting full wetsuit (but bringing the sleeveless too which I prefer), foot booties (maybe), head bootie (maybe) and just wearing old thin tri-shorts under wetsuit. I get hot in a wetsuit in a hurry and I'm guessing water will be warmer than the air when we start. Think we have to climb "ladders" to exit water and about a .25 mile run to T1 (for this reason I may wear the booties).
T1: Putting on regular dry cycle short and dry cycle shirt at T1 w/arm warmers / gloves - no leg warmers.
Not bothering w/heart rate belt till run w/garmin. Just following the Power # and Cadence on bike w/special attention to pressure on feet (never too much). And being new to EN and to Power and since i have not tested yet - I'm going on an estimate of what my 70-75% power range such be for the ride. Should be easier to maintain consistency on this course than most (unless its windy). Estimating anywhere from 5:45 to 6:15 - but really it shouldn't matter - it is what it is....especially on a relatively new bike. For me, the key will be to not "push" the bike because this flat course will be tempting us from beginning to end...
Special needs bike: THink this comes at mile 65. Hopefully this will be my only stop on the bike. Force myself to stretch (since tri-bike is new), go to bathroom, and re-lube body parts. Ref-fill Perpetuem bottle. I plan to ride w/small camelbak with heed/water mix, a bottle of Perpetuem and bottle of water and picking up additional water at aid stations.
T2: Full change for run. Remember to turn on the GARMIN right away w/HR belt!
Run: Based on your vdot you will fly by me (if not already ahead of me) on the run. THe way I see it, if i can run a 4:20 mararthon (with a negative split), then whatever I did in the swim/bike was executed correctly.
Plan to leave finish w/bike via water taxi to downtown.
Hopefully we can met up prior to race day - if not - good luck.
Tip: the walk on the sand to the swim start is brutally cold, so bring some throw-away socks just for that. There is a fairly long pavement run to T1, so a friend of mine is wearing booties in the swim because of that.
T1: I always have a hell of a time putting arm warmers on when I'm wet. If I did it again, I'd wear a really lightweight wind-resistant jacket and gloves and when I got warm, I'd stuff it in my shorts. When I did it I put all sorts of warm gear on, and then didn't need it at mile 10 and didn't want to ditch the stuff. If it feels warm to you in T1, I'd go minimalist.
Bike: My neck got crazily uncomfortable because of so much time aero on this flat course. I'd give myself scheduled breaks if I were doing this course again.
Run: Year I did it, there were sections that were pretty dark. They also ran out of lots of stuff (coke, broth) very early. Hopefully they've fixed this, but just be aware.
Spectators: It worked real well for my family to use the ferry to get in between downtown (which is very cool cobble-stone area) and the finish line to see me multiple times.
GL!
For the cold water swim part, the best advice I can give would be to get in the water before hand. That cold can be shocking the first time you stick your face in. A 10-15min warm up swim will give you a chance to get a little used to it. It will help. 65-ish should be plenty comfortable with a full wet suit on, but if you find yourself way to cold don't be afraid to put a thin smear of vaseline on your face and neck (if you do pack a towel so you can wipe that gunk off in T1).
You may also want to consider using 2 swim caps (the largest place you'll lose body heat is your head. the double-cap will help a little).
Do wear your tri-top and HR strap under the wet suit. The damp top may be a little chilly until you warm up on the bike, but it sucks to try and pull the dry top over your wet torso with fingers that don't bend the way you're used to (from the cold). You're arms are a snap to dry with a towel in T1 so any arm warmers/jacket shouldn't be a problem. (Did I mention a towel for helping out in T1?)
You'll warm up plenty fast once you get out of the water and start pedaling.
Have a great race, I'm sure you'll be great!!
(that goes to everyone down there... be awesome!)
Hi - I just did IMFL in cold and wind... etc... probably similar conditions. What I did/didn't do:
water temp was prob 72 and I wore my john (more comfortable than full) and felt great in the water. Did wear HR strap and, bc it was a john, I wore my watch (if full, watch would have been in T1 bag). Agree with idea of throw away socks for standing around pre-start... also a shirt or something unless you have a person to hand off a jacket to. The air temp in FL was 40 and COLD...
I swam in sports bra only bc I wanted warm, dry clothes to put on. To help me maneuver T1 I had a towel in my bag to wipe off my face, arms, and feet. I have smartwool arm warmers which went on very easily. I also put on the EN bike jersey (not singlet). Wore my cold weather beanie under helmet and gloves (which I don't usually race with).
What I would have done differently: added a base layer. I figured I'd warm up and be fine (in training rides I'd peel off the layer) but with the head wind it took a lot longer to warm up than usual.
I had dry socks in my SN bag and am very glad I did.
For the run I kept the arm warmers on... had a long sleeve layer in SN bag and put that on, too... and had throw away gloves as well... which came in very handy.
BC of the cold, please remember to follow your nutrition plan on the bike! Easy to forget to eat and drink when you're not sweating like mad!
@Pete - I'm essentially a local so let me know if you've got questions about the course or city (where to eat, shop, etc.) I'll hit early packet pick up tomorrow and then a quick spin through the expo and lunch with my boys. I'm going to the first athlete meeting at noon on Friday and then check in my bike and drive down to the swim start to take a look at landmarks, etc. Pretty busy channel so not conducive to pre-swimming the course. (I am going to do a short ocean swim tomorrow to get a feel for the temps - I'll let you know how it goes.) At the start, I'll be the little guy freezing his a$$ off in an Orca full suit and then wearing a Marine Corps bike jersey on the bike. No EN swag yet. Wave as you pass me on the bike.