Olivia's IMSG Race Plan
#1: don't freak.. ha ha! kidding! Really...here's the current (long) draft of the plan...
Wednesday (travel day)
Hydration – Recharge, water
Snacking on fruit, raisins, pretzels, PBJ – avoid road food to any extent!!
Target arrival in St. G – 3-3:30 PM to try to get to athlete check in.
Check in at hotel and then dinner and relaxation.
Thursday
TBD on exact foods. Will focus on snacking and hydrating throughout the day.
10:00 – 11:00 4Keys
11:00 – ? If check in didn’t work on Wednesday, it'll slot here. Hope to be done by 12:00 PM.
12:30 – 3:00 - Drive out to the hills and cattle grates on the bike course. Do a couple of climbs and ride over the grates a few times channeling my MTB skills. Make sure the bike is all set to go including positioning of Speedfil and aero drink straws.
3:00 – 5:30 – Back to hotel to shower and pack transition bags. No special needs bags. I didn’t have a use for them in IMCDA in ’08 and I don’t plan to use them this go ‘round.
6:00 - Dinner with team
7:30 - Athlete Briefing (I hate these things. Seriously I do.The venues are always too small for the number of people attending, the speaking program from the dinner always seems to be off schedule causing us to have to stay there longer than necessary. Then when the thing is over it takes forever for people to sort themselves out and disperse. Also the “mandatory” piece is a joke. With our level of technological maturity these days there has to be a better way to get important messages out to athletes. Editorial over)
Friday (cushion day)
8:30 AM - Smart breakfast before.
Chill out in the morning and hydrate – using sport drink and water
10:30 - Snack
Target getting to bike check in no later than 1 PM (ideally will get there earlier, but want to build in contingency time in case of surprises with the bike or in case something has to move from Thursday, and to make sure I get some Carrie Chavez time!)
1:00 PM - Eat larger lunch with carb focus
Target getting to run check in no later than 3 PM – see note above re: contingency time.
5:30 - 6:00 (ish) Lighter dinner.
Sunscreen on (a la Nemo).
7:00 - Relaxing in bed
9:00 – Lights out.
Saturday
2:00 AM PBJ, sport drink
4:00 – Up with Alarm - Odwalla Protein Monster, and Odwalla fruit smoothie, banana, 1 cup coffee
5:00 - Head to shuttle bus pick up at (assuming I will be wearing my morning dry/warm clothes and will drop them at T1 to be picked up later, but the schedule doesn’t specify how those bags will be handled.)
6:35 - Apply body glide & shimmy into the wetsuit. Be sure that Garmin and hair elastic for T2 are on left wrist. Squid lid on, race cap on, goggles on head, booties on (if allowed).
6:45 - Pre-swim “gut” check – If feeling empty a Gel and water (at IMCDA in ’08 I distinctly remember feeling hungry before the swim…not good and nothing I want to repeat)
7:00 - Swim – Two primary concerns on the swim: Cold water and getting kicked in the face.
WRT the former I’m going to do my best with squid lid under the race cap, and booties (if allowed), and just try to relax. I suffer with poor circulation and the resulting sensitivity to cold so the cold water truly sucks for me. I plan to get in before the start, put my face in, and let myself understand that “hey, it’s cold, but it’s manageable.” I got through that 59.5 degree swim in IMCDA, and at this point I think we’re a few degrees better than that at Sand Hollow…so onward.
My latter concern is just reality since my accident last year. I’m going to try to stay a bit outside of the melee, and if it happens just remind myself that there’s titanium in there now holding my jaw together and that I should just swim on. It could be too that if the water is chilly I won’t feel any kicks to the face due to numbness! Sweet! Maybe I have nothing to be concerned with. Otherwise I plan to focus on my stroke as practiced and see if I can hit 1:10-1:12.
T1 - Hopefully I will exit the water being able to use my hands and feel my feet. If not, take a deep breath and try to relax, and let a volunteer assist with getting feet dried, socks on feet, helmet and sunglasses on, and if rain is likely or if it’s cold a jacket and gloves. I will need to be mindful of the temps for the day and the chance for rain. I will not mess around with cold. My one and only DNF in all of my years of racing was because I was shivering so hard my bike was shaking and I was afraid to take my hands off the bars to eat or drink. Going to err on the side of safety and if it is overcast and not likely to warm up during the ride go with the jacket. I do wonder if jacket and aero helmet cancel each other out, but I don’t want to freeze.
Bike – Infinit concentrate in Speedfil totaling 681 calories (this is a new formula with cals ratcheted down to a more appropriate amount to my size) to be consumed with water in Aero Drink bottle. Will also have Clif Mojo Bar (1), Honey Stinger chews (1 bag – a special treat!), Honey Stinger Ginsting gel (1-2). I don’t plan to use all of the Stinger chews or both of the gels, but things like that can be a major pick me up for me.
My bike gears are taped to my bars. IIRC…First 30 mins = 139; Target Watts = 148; Short hills = 162; Long hills = 155.. That’s pretty much it. I will have to check out what my watts might be in danger of spiking to on the big-a$$ hill so I can manage it, but other than that I just have to execute the plan and focus on consistency. No specific target time. Going to follow the watts and let the time come out as it will. During last 5 miles start Garmin and let it locate its satellites.
T2 – Remove all the bike gear. Plan to run in singlet even if raining, because it seems the temp will be in the mid-upper 60s. Slip shoes on, grab visor, reload sunscreen, and walk out of T2.
Run – Start at a walk and get bearings. During the few bricks that I was able to do during training I always felt off kilter starting out running. That is extremely freaky for me given that my accident started with feeling “slightly off.” So I’m going to walk a few feet and use the time to situate the hair elastic and visor. Nutrition wise I plan to sip water at every other aid station, adjusting to every one as needed and taking nips of gel with caffeine at approximately the :45 mark in each hour.
When I start to run after an inital walk out of transition, start in at LRP + :30 (9:52) up to mile 6. After mile 6 adjust pace to LRP (9:22) but drop back to 9:52 as needed on the big up hill sections. If the pace drops below that, don’t sweat it. I will assess my situation along the way. I’ve struggled during training with running, sometimes feeling ill and starting to imagine that I will fall. (It’s in my imagination, something I haven’t dealt with)When that happens I have some mental tricks to employ to associate with what’s real, and not get caught up in the “what ifs”. If I have to though, I will walk a bit. At mile 18 start bigger assessment with focus on maintaining speed and trying to lift it if I can. When I make the final turn onto Main, smile and take in the scene….etc. etc. etc.
Cross finish line, find Brian and THANK him abundantly for his support. Then celebrate with my EN teammates!
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Comments
Thanks for scheduling time in for me:-).
CC
A few suggestions: take several large trash bags to cover your bike the night before so it's not full of water, lube your chain the night before and again in the morning if it rains all night, since you are sensitive to cold you may want to pick up some of the chemical hand and foot warmers to warm up after the swim, make sure you use aquaphor or body glide all over your feet before the run.
Good luck and enjoy the day...your doing an Ironman!
Kate
Can't wait to follow your progress tomorrow! You will have a great race, I can feel it..