Get off the bike during an Ironman
Just did an IM today and thought I would share a few thoughts on a bike tactic that I used.
I usually always get a 'small crisis' on the bike - where the power drops, I feel bad and where I start hurting..
Today, when I felt my form dropping, I convinced myself that I needed a pee break (i.e. getting off the bike)
This gave me a 2 minute break.
Usually my 'crisis' lasts from anywhere from 10 to40 k (depending on fitness) where my speed drops and I may even start sitting up in the saddle.
The 2 minute break had me back to riding at my usual speeds/watts and even the saddle felt comfortable again (if only for a short while) 
This was a flat IM, so the tactic may not apply to those racing Wisconsin.
Just a thought...Comments?
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Comments
I know I'm always a little surprised at how much better I feel after a very brief stop. I could definitely see us giving advice to people to stay at the BSN, or maybe at ~4hrs on the bike, at an aid station. Lean the bike against something, stretch for 1-2 minutes and start riding again. I bet you'd feel like a million bucks and much better for the last couple hours of the ride.
My take on this is that your body does what you train it to do. If your typical long ride is ride 2 hours, spend 5 at a gas station, ride another hour or so, 5 more at a gas stations, then finish, this is what your body gets used to and expects come race day. When you then try to lock into the aerobars for 5+ hours, it revolts around the 4 hour mark and wants it's break.
Just one more reason why I do the vast majority of my long rides solo and I carry as many bottles on me as possible by filling my jersey pockets. Also a reason why I am starting to do a few long rides on the trainer now. I can tell you me 4 hour ride on a trainer in ERG mode was worlds apart from 4 hours on the road... zero coasting and zero breaks for 4 hours make a huge difference.
I think the key here is that if you stop - stop with purpose. Last year, I stopped twice on the IMWI course: One to pee, where I stretched my back and shoulders while the nice volunteers reloaded water on my bike. Worthy minute. The second was briefly to grab a bottle of water, where I knew I needed to take two more S-caps, but needed to stop to do it, so I wouldn't blow off the task. Another worthy stop.
I like Matt's thinking - in progressing up the ranks of race execution ninja, one of the things to do is train your body to not need/want to stop.
In my defense, it was the most bizarre drafting penalty I could imagine. It was given to me on the steep uphill climb from Jay to Wilmington. I think I was going all of about 6 mph with the entire road blocked ahead of me with riders (I was in no danger of being anywhere near the pointy end of the race. If there was a fat middle of the race, I would have been the belly button). Any slower and I would have fallen over on my side. Nevertheless, the rather obese (but I'm sure very friendly) lady on the back of the motorcycle (I think the suspension on the thing must have been at tolerance) gave me the drafting call. I think I was pretty flabbergasted. When I got to the penalty tent, I asked if this was common. The officials at the tent sort of rolled their eyes and said she had been giving that penalty all day and they had over 50-riders on their list penalized at the same spot. It didn't really bother me, but it must have bothered others quite a bit because shortly thereafter a big brew-ha-ha erupted between IMNA and USAT at the time where IMNA refused to have USAT officials any more and it was only resolved when they brought Jimmy Riccitello on board.
This happened to me too at IMWI on a hill heading back to Whalen. I was kinda surprised since I didn't really think I was drafting, since the girl in front of me was just tiring out and sliding back and the distance was iffy as to if I was drafting IMO. When I got to the tent the people also said it was ridiculous and that they had been getting a lot of those kinds of penalties. I'd like to see something in this rule changed on the uphill, whether it's time, intent, whatever. Hills aren't exactly the place I'd think of drafting, mostly I'm just trying not to fall over.
During Ironman Regensburg this year, we were specifically told that during uphills, the drafting rules didn't apply. The course has series of steep uphills for about 20k, so maybe it was easier to determine "uphills", but I think the rule should be the same in any IMs!