IMAZ Race Plan - David Lesh
David Lesh , First IM
Race Week
Wednesday - Travel Day (12 hour drive)
- Wear compression tights for long drive.
- Bring healthy food and drinks
- Stay hydrated
Thursday
- Register
- Ride Beeline highway to turnaround and back to get a feel for the uphill/downhill
- Team EN dinner
Friday
- Sip Perform all day
- Test ride to make sure bike setup is solid
- Pickup Naked Juice
- Check out the expo (not too long)
- Ironman welcome dinner
- In bed early (this is the night to get sleep)
Saturday (day before race)
- Sleep in
- Sip on Perform all day
- Practice swim (only time allowed to swim in the lake), short easy
- 4 keys talk
- Bike check-in
- Walk all transition routes and memorize gear locations
- Early light lunch (low fiber)
- Pickup Jamba Juice for dinner
- Final gear bag check
- In bed early (visualize race until asleep)
Sunday - Race Day
- Get up at 2:30 for Naked Juice
- Get up at 4:30 Naked Juice
- Sip Perform all morning
- Wear enough clothes to not be cold at all
- Get to transition at 5:30
- Drop off gear bags
- Bodymarking
- Sunscreen
- Bottle of water on bike
- 5 gels in bento
- Pump tires
- Put bike in correct gear
- Garmin mounted, turned on, calibrated with power meter
- GPS tracker on and placed in bento
- Arm coolers/warmers, compression sleeves on under wetsuit
- Race number belt on under wetsuit (number rolled over once)
Swim
- Anti-fog solution
- In water 10 min before start
- Adjust suit on dock or side of lake
- Warm-up on way to line
- Seed right of center 5-10 rows back
- Meditate before start to calm and focus myself
- Start easy and smooth and build over time
- Don’t get angry just go with flow
- Turn on back to drain water from bumped goggles quickly
- Draft if comfortable doing so
T1
- Don’t rush exit up stairs, be careful
- Leave goggles/cap on until wetsuit off
- Undo zipper as soon as possible
- Pick a strong looking stripper
- Fold wetsuit during run if possible for easy stuffing into bag
- Be prepared to transition outside of tent if crowded
- Run without shoes on if bike is far from tent and put shoes on at bike (check on Sat.)
- Helmet on while running
- Run past mount line if crowded
- Don’t rush, be careful mounting
Bike
Bike Planned IF .70, approx TSS 280 or less
- First 60 mins as .65 IF, easy spinning, patience, JRA pace.
- After 60mins in to bike: increase pace to .70 IF
- Remember to take bike easy so I can have a good run
- Stay aero as much as possible
- No spikes in power
- Use legal drafting as much as possible
- Don’t push too hard trying to pass, instead save the energy for the run
- Pee on bike
- Be calm if a flat happens
- First 30 mins only water.
- Alternate every aid station between a bottle of Perform and a bottle of water rack these first. Then grab a bottle of water and drink as much as I need and cool/rinse off with remaining, discard.
- One gel with caffeine every hour starting at 90 mins, take with water.
- Only stop at special needs in an emergency
- Water only for last 30 mins on bike.
- Feet on shoes at Stadium
- Garmin on wrist
- GPS tracker in back center pocket
- Flying dismount
T2
- Socks then shoes
- Grab hat and put on while running out
Run
- Focus on going slow right out of the gate (very difficult)
- First 6 miles at LRP+30 pace
- After 6 miles LRP if it feels easy
- Always go easy until the line
- After Mile 20 give it what I have left.
- Walk at aid stations to get nutrition in
- Water at every aid station
- Perform at every other aid station in first 6 miles
- Coke at every other aid station after 6 miles
- Stay in box
- Only stop at special needs in an emergency
- Be flexible to change nutrition pace if needed
- Always be aware of how my body is feeling and adjust
Stole the format from the team - Thanks!
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Comments
Plan looks good. I did this race in 2009 so things I learned to add some flavor to the race plan.
Sun is bright and plays with you twice during the day. You will start in near darkness in the water, but then the sun comes up and is pretty bright and right in your eyes. Tinted or polarized swim goggles are great. Similarly, when the sun goes down around 4:45PM, it is really bright on the horizon. I found it hard to even see where I was going when we were pointed toward the sun. Polarized sun glasses are great too.
I don't even remember a transition tent though I'm sure there was one. The ground is solid, dry, and wide open. Most people just grabbed their bag and changed outside on the ground.
I wouldn't worry about having the race number (or arm warmers, coolers, etc) under your wetsuit. I think you might lose them when you get your wetsuit stripped and putting them on won't save much time. I didn't use arm warmers or coolers during my race though. It was pretty pleasent temps.
Keep some back-up fluids on the bike. Since the course is 3 out and backs you hit the same aid stations multiple times. By the third lap, several aid stations were out of fluids.
On Thursday, don't go too far on the bike. I wouldn't ride a full loop (37-miles) just to get a feel for what the hill is like. The hill is absolutely nothing, really hardly noticeable as a climb at all. Just ride whatever the plan distance calls for. Drive out to see the hill if you want to (prepare to be underwhelmed!). I'm not a great biker (I think 6:17 in 2009) so I'm not saying this as some kind of brag.
Juice figures prominently in your plan. Are you used to using this for training in your RR? I find a lot of juice makes me sick to my stomach due to the acidity. Will it have enough calories? Don't start the day hungry.
Be careful of that long drive. I think that time in a car would kill my race. Be sure you get out and stretch, walk, etc several times over 12-hours. Don't let yourself become a pretzel.
You forgot T3: Recovery beer with finishers medal.
Good luck, will be following all you racing fools online.
I was planning on just riding the Beeline highway section of the course and skipping the in-town stuff, so It would only be about half of a lap. I will drive the course and decide if it's worth it to ride this section as well.
I have trained with juice in my RRs and have had good results. I also drink it quite frequently so I think my body has gotten used to it.
Good call on stretching and walking around during the drive. I'll add that to the plan.
If I can walk around after I will beer walking to get a beer for sure
David,
Nice detail on the plan just a couple comments:
1) Do you typically need any extra electrolytes?
2) Why the water only for the last 30 minutes of the bike? I typically don't go crazy but why limit yourself to nothing, even some liquid nutirition 15-30 minutes out so that you don't go in to the run with no energy.
Gordon
@Gordon - Thanks for looking over my plan.
1. I experimented with different levels of electrolytes and found that I do best with what the Perform and gels contain. When I upped the amount I got very thirsty and had issues with mood. So for the entire build I have been training and doing RRs testing this plan.
2. I am planning on taking in a gel with 30 minutes to go and have found that if I continue fueling I can have issues early in the run. If I fuel correctly throughout the bike I should have enough fuel on board. I do better those first few miles on the run with less in my stomach.