Full Vineman will be my first Iron-distance triathlon. I am scared shitless, and hence this long, detailed race plan. For me, the race starts 1 week before the actual race! My last race rehearsal was a logistic disaster, which worries me all the more. So, I am going to plan the crap out of this one.
Goals:
- Finish the race
- Not crawl across the finish line
- Not end up in ER
- Have fun
Pre-race week
Workout-wise, just follow coach's plan to the word. Will try changing my sleep schedule about 7 days before the race - sleep early and wake up early. Also make the body used to taking in dinner early at ~6:30 PM as opposed to the usual dinner time of 8:30 PM. Come race day, this will hopefully help with bowel relief early in the AM.
- (DONE) Make sure all the gear is ready on the weekend before the race. This will give me enough time to buy any stuff that I am missing and not need to run around at the last minute stressing myself out. Gear checklist is appended at the end.
- Try substituting solid dinner with Ensure to see if it helps to get things "moving" early next AM.
- (DONE) Try out the race bike gear (Orca tri shorts and Castelli Aero jersey) for the 1.5 hr easy ride on Saturday.
- Practice transitions at least 3 times over the weekend. The goal is to dry-run the transitions to uncover any tiny things I may have missed. Doing it repeatedly beforehand will also help during the race when my mind will not be capable of any logical reasoning.
- (DONE) Switch to a new set of Continental 4000s tires and tubes on both the wheels. Go out on a small ride to make sure nothings wrong after the switch.
- (DONE) Clean the bike, wipe the chain, lube it up and tighten all the screws. Replace elbow rest pads for aero bars.
Castelli Aero 4.0 bike jersey
D-Day minus 2 (Thu)
- Pickup the sleeveless wetsuit from Sports Basement on Thursday morning. This will be my last chance to buy anything I am still missing.
- Pack everything, make sure everything on the checklist is packed, re-check and then re-check.
- Pack the run gear in a separate bag so that it will be easy to drop it off at the expo on Friday.
- Run shoes
- socks
- run shorts
- TriSlide
- Chamois cream
- 8 GU gels
- sun hat
- sun screen
- Advil (just in case)
- 1 bottle with Coke in a bottle holder
- 15 salt tabs in the zip pocket of the bottle holder.
- Pack the special needs stuff for bike and run in separate bags. That way I can just stuff these in the special needs bags that I will pick up at the expo and hand it over to the officials on race morning at Johnson's Beach.
- Bike special needs:
- 1 PowerBar Energy Blasts
- 20 salt tabs
- 10 GU gels
- chamois cream in zip lock
- 10 just-in-case salt tabs.
- Run special needs:
- foam roller
- 8 GU gels
- 10 just-in-case salt tabs.
- Make a separate smaller bag for the stuff I will need in T1. Before heading out on the bike, I will cram everything in this bag and stuff that in the marked bag to hand over to official for transport to the finish.
- 1 PowerBar Energy Blasts
- 20 salt tabs
- 10 GU gels
- helmet
- glasses
- bike shoes
- socks
- chamois cream
- Aquaphor
- swim cap
- goggles
- biking gloves
- arm warmers
- timing chip
- wetsuit
- Cotton balls / earplugs
- T1 and T2 gear bags, and the special needs bags all go in my big TYR transition bag.
D-Day minus 1 (Fri)
I am hoping to get at least 8 hours of sleep. I will not set an alarm and will wake up whenever my eyes open or my daughter's, whichever comes first. Freshen up and hop on the trainer for 20 mins followed by a 15 mins run for pre-race sharpening. Will do a slightly heavy breakfast and head to Windsor. TODOs at the expo:
- Checkout the swim start, T1, and T2. Pick good spots in T1 & T2.
- Attend pre-race meeting at 11:30 AM.
- Pick up race packet.
- Pick up the special needs bag.
- Drop off run gear at 12:30 PM
- Have lunch
Head back to the hotel and relax, maybe go for a dip in the pool. Drink water frequently and start sipping on Ensure from 5 PM onwards with the goal of getting in at least 1000 cals by bed time. I will try this a couple of times before the race and see how I feel. Put the 910XT and Edge 500 on juice and hit the sack early at 9 PM.
D-Day (Sat, July 27)
Wake up at 3:30. Freshen up, drink warm water to get the bowels moving. Put on race music. I could either eat a granola+yogurt+fruit breakfast OR just have a couple of GU gels. Again, the thinking is to postpone port-a-potty as much as possible. Sip on Nuun while I pack up, check my bike and drive to Guerneville to reach Johnson's Beach by 5 AM. Wear warm layers and shoes, no flip-flops - keep those toes covered.
- Setup transition spot and make the first visit to the port-a-potty.
- Put on the timing chip, get body marked, and mentally run through swim & bike legs to make sure I have everything I need.
- Put on tri shorts and top and apply chamois cream
- Splurch down a GU gel at 6 PM.
- After a quick visit #2 to the port-a-potty, put on the wetsuit, grab cap, goggles, and Garmin 910XT and head to the swim start by 6:20 AM.
- Stretch out and even do a short warm up swim if possible.
Swim:
6:30 AM wave M34 and under/elites/pros
The swim is a two loop out and back course in the Russian river. The water temp is expected to be in the mid 70s, so I will be rocking a sleeveless wetsuit. Since I have never swum that distance in a wetsuit, I like the idea of not constricting my shoulders. Will try to find a pair of feet to follow, but if not, I will keep chugging along at steady effort. If someone is passing me, do not get all competitive and speed up. Instead fall back and get on their feet to save energy and possibly set some extra speed for free. I'll be happy to see anything less than 1:15:00 on the clock after the swim.
Remove the wetsuit while walking to T1. Leave caps and googles in the wetsuit sleeve. Oh wait, there will BE no sleeves, damn it. Reset 910XT and switch it off.
T1:
Socks and biking shoes on, helmet on, glasses on, stuff nutrition in jersey pockets, and off on the bike. Basically don't linger around in T1 just because there's a long day ahead. In fact get out of there ASAP just for that reason. Start Edge 500 mounted on the bike.
Stuff all remaining gear in the race bag and hand it to a volunteer for transporting to the finish.
Bike:
Start off easy, maybe walk up the hill out of T1 that everyone was talking about during Vineman 70.3. I plan to bike conservatively for the whole duration. Power cap 160W or HR cap 140 on flats, whichever hits first. Similarly, 180W/150bmp on hills. 5-10 sec efforts of 200W are OK to power over small rolling hills. Try to maintain 80+ rpm cadence at all times. That'll be a lot of shifting, but don't get lazy and religiously do it. It will feel super easy in the beginning, but will stick to the power/HR caps no matter what. Most likely I will need to stop at least once for a port-a-potty break, and once to pick up my nutrition from the special needs bag at mile 56. Pee on the bike like a true TriForcer. I am hoping to average 17 mph and hit the aid stations at roughly the times shown in the chart below. For some reason if I am not able to hold 17 mph, don't fret. Just adjust the time estimates accordingly and follow the power caps. I will memorize these splits and the nutrition I need to take. Will also carry a ziplock with extra Chamois cream just in case it gets washed out after the swim.
Bike Fueling & Hydration
- 1 PowerBar Energy Blasts - 200 cals in Bento box = 200 cals
- 20 salt tabs in Bento box
- 10 GU gels - 100 cals x 12 = 1000 cals
That's a total of 1200 cals for the first 56 miles = ~3:15 hrs = ~360 cals/hr. 1 GU gel every 20 mins, and 1 salt tab every 30 mins. Will throw in an Energy Blast chew every now and then for variety and to fill in that remaining 60 cals to make up 360 cals/hr. May need to take a salt tab every 20 mins if it gets too hot later during the day. Set Edge 500 to beep every 10 mins. Aim to drink 2 bottles of water per hour, and increase water intake if it gets too hot. Special needs bag will have the same amount of nutrition for the second half of the bike. If special needs bag is lost, use CLIF bars/shots on the course.
Special needs bag
- 2 Powerbar chews packets
- 10 GU gels
- Ziplock with Chamois cream
Bike sub-splits
- AidStation : Dist : time : Hydration
- ------------------------------
----------- - Transition1 : 0mi : 00:00 : 2 water
- AidStation1 : 18mi : 1:04:00 : 2 water
- AidStation2 : 29mi : 1:42:00 : 2 water
- AidStation3 : 39mi : 2:18:00 : 2 water
- AidStation4 : 56mi : 3:18:00 : 2 water
- AidStation5 : 75mi : 4:25:00 : 2 water
- AidStation6 : 86mi : 5:04:00 : 2 water
- AidStation7 : 96mi : 5:39:00 : 2 water
- Finish : 112mi : 6:35:00
I will memorize the distance splits above and track them to make sure I finish all the water I have before reaching the next aid station. I may completely drop Gatorade and stick to water + salt tabs.
If everything goes well, I should be done with the bike in 06:30 hrs. Take the feet out of the shoes before dismounting and jog lightly to the transition. Stop and reset Edge 500.
T2:
Put on race belt, hat, and 910XT and power it up. Will also carry a bottle with cola and salt tabs in the bottle holder's zip pocket. If needed, put on TriSlide on the feet, change into a fresh pair of socks, put on shoes and get moving.
Run:
This is the biggest unknown for me. I have never run longer than 15 miles, let alone a full marathon. My strategy will be to start very conservatively, at ~9 min/mi and try to hold it for the entire marathon. Maintain a cadence of 95+ all along. I noticed that at slower pace my cadence drops, so make a conscious effort to keep cadence high.
Special Needs bag:
- A fresh pair of socks
- TriSlide spray
- Foam roller
- Bengay
It is a 3 loop course, and I will have a special needs bag at the outbound of the loop in case I need BodyGlide, change of socks or something. Pop a salt tab every 20 mins and a GU gel every 40 mins. Dump water on the head at every aid station and fill up the bottle when needed. Most importantly, walk up all the steep hills, which is almost all of them. During rehearsal, I found that walking the hills only costs me ~15 sec/mi as opposed to running them. I can totally live with that if it can prevent me from hitting the wall. I will have a foam roller in the special needs bag which I will use if my IT band starts bothering me. The third loop most likely will be a lot of pain and very little fun. Just chug along, try to hold the pace, walk the hills, stay hydrated and well-fueled and finish strong(ish).
