140.6 Coeur d'Alene: pre-race thoughts
I have to look up the spelling every time!
I trained through Boulder to get ready for this full, and I’m feeling pretty excited. Historically when I raced this distance as an age grouper, I didn’t get the nutrition right and bonked on the run every time. This time around feels substantially different: I’m sturdier, more confident, and have gotten so much better at fueling my body and reacting to race dynamics.
So, here’s my plan:
Race plan
2.4mi swim, 112mi bike, and 26.2mi run.
53:30 swim - I’m gonna stay within my limits here and try to conserve energy since it will be a long day!
4:45 bike - Trying to hold ~250W normalized power for the entirety, which should put me at 4:45 bike time. It’s going to take a lot of discipline not to go too hard too soon. The key here will be conserving energy.
3:00 run - I’m going to go out at around 6:30 and will need to stay mentally strong to avoid too much fade. It will definitely take some raw toughness and grit which is what drew me to this distance.
Overall ~8:40 time, inclusive of transitions. I feel capable of getting a top 10 time if I can put all the puzzle pieces together. We’ll see if I even get close!
Race thoughts / focus areas
I’m so much more excited for this race than I was for Boulder. Sometimes the gut works like that, and when it reacts that strongly, you just gotta lean into it!
Stay on Sam Long’s feet again. What is this, the third time I’ve written this in my race focus areas? It worked out in Gulf coast and totally failed in Boulder. Now that we’re back at sea level, I think staying on his feet is definitely feasible again and will put me in a decent middle pack for the bike. And this is the only way to ensure Michelle sees me on the live stream next to the pink swim cap, if even for a second ;)
My transitions should be only 15% slower than the fastest guys. I did the math, and in Gulf Coast my T1 was 28% slower than the fastest guys (aka, if Sam Long took 1 minute in T1, I took 1 minute 17). My T2 was a whopping 76% slower…..My goal is to reduce that gap by a bit, so that I end up only 15% behind. I’ve gotta do everything I said I’d do in Boulder, before I was derailed by the altitude :)
T1: take off my wetsuit, get the helmet on, spray a good long Boa for the salt & electrolytes, get to the bike mount line
T2: Helmet off, race belt on, garmin watch on, shoes on, spray another BOA stream….how hard could it be?
Focus on my race, not my buddies’ . If I see my buddies Jan or Isaac ahead of me, it’ll be tempting to stick with them even if it means forgoing my own plan. I’ve got the bike legs. But realistically, Ironman races are not about short term ego gains —they can be won or lost in the last 3 miles, and I need to keep my run legs in tact. I gotta be mature during the bike ride.
Frontload my marathon with faster paces. I’ve noticed that I always slow down in the second half of the marathon. Thus, if I want to get a 3 hour marathon time, I’ll need to start faster out the gates, and leave some buffer for a slower pace later on.
Avoid flavor fatigue. Cool down. Eat snickers bar. In every full I’ve attempted, I’ve gotten flavor fatigue at about mile 8 of the marathon. Plus, I’ve always struggled to keep down nutrition, and end up chewing on ice cubes. This ends up being catastrophic to the race, and is why I end up with 4+ hour marathon times. So this time,
gotta cool down w/ ice cubes & fluids on my head and body, every chance I get, so my body doesn’t overheat / so my digestion doesn’t totally get messed up.
mix up my race fuel with some special solids & treats like a snicker bar, which will give me some salt too.
start carbo loading 3-4 days before race day (whereas in the half I start only 2 days before the race)
One of the huge draws I have to the sport is this particular distance, since it is such a true test of tenacity and a real battle that fancy equipment doesn’t always win. The idea of battling both physically and mentally over such a grueling distance is an addictive idea. I want this to be a great race, and I definitely want to redeem myself from the 10+ hour times as an age grouper. Hopefully we see my #sterdy in action
After this, I’ll be taking a break and vacationing in Hawaii with my partner.
Thank you to my sponsors, Zoot, The Feed, and Firefly Recovery!
Stay sterdy,
Ben