My Ironman Canada race plan

This is more or less a living post. One I'll likely change a few times as I get my thoughts together.

Race plan:

Swim - off the back, find a rhythm, survive :-) Goal time 1:20. I'm not a fast swimmer.

Bike - 75 to 80 percent effort throughout. I like to hammer the bike, so I'll need to set my HR monitor to alert so I don't over do it. Goal time 6:30 - 7:00. I may be faster, but only if I'm able to pick up speed on the flats or downhills without pushing my HR.

Run - Easy out. I'm confident the first 6 or 8 miles will feel OK. The first half should be alright. The last half is the great unknown. All I know is I've suffered through a marathon before and managed a 4:11. Goal time is 5:00.

Overall strategy - keep the pace real, keep the nutrition on track, finish with a smile under 15 hours. I think a window of 13:30 to 15:00 is where I'll end up, I'd love to hit 13:30, but I'll take 16:59.

Nutrition plan:

Pre race - oatmeal and 1 bottle nuun breakfast 2 hours before race. 1 hour before 1 bottle of Gatorade. 15 minutes before race, 1 gel.

Swim - I'll bring a gel, just in case.

Bike - 1 bottle Gatorade immediately. Alternating nuun with gel/powerbar/banana and gatorade every 20 mins. First 2 hours I'll try to get an extra gel in to load up in case the last 2 hours on the bike are hard on the stomach.

Run - 1 bottle nuun, 1 bottle gatorade per hour. gatorade at 00 and :20, shotblocks/gel on the :40. sips of Nuun every :10

7 days to IMC

Not a lot of activity this week. Today I did a nice ride around the south end of Lake Washington, felt great.

Road ride - 2:25:40 36.36 miles.

11 days to IMC

Easy run today. Loving the taper week!

5 miles - 43:41. Felt like a warm up. I guess that's the idea. I'm still icing tonight thought. The knee is a little stiff.

IMC training week 34

Week 34 is done! Taper time! Woot!

Rather than list the workouts I'm just dropping time: 10 hours. Shorter than planned, but the knee necessitated it. I feel good, knee is probably 90 percent now.

Only a few things left to focus on:

How am I going to remember my fueling strategy 7 hours in?
Sleep - I need more of it the next 2 weeks.
How am I going to contain my excitement while I'm in Penticton and not have a heart attack? ;-)

I'll be OK. I think.

16 days to IMC

Another good run, a bit slower than yesterday. The knee is feeling good. After-hours work killed my pool time. OWS planned for Friday.

Run - 1:06:47 7.5 miles

17 days to IMC

Decent run today, but not a ride. After the run my knee reminded me it's present state is not optimal, so I iced.

Run - 8mi - 1:07:47

More tomorrow.

18 days to IMC

Sweet morning workout in the pool.

2100 yards, 45:37 2:10 100s. Not so bad. More importantly I felt great.

No ride tonight, too much going on with work and family. Will pick it up later this week.

Imc training week 33

Not a great week. Knee was an issue so I chose rest over work. Seem to have paid off, knee is feeling good.

Bike - Trainer 0 mi 1:00:00
Run 17.1 mi 2:32:27
Swim 3400 yd 1:21:46
Total Time 4 hrs 54min

3 weeks to go!

31 days to IMC

This is the penultimate week to taper. Crazy. Last Sunday during my long run I jammed my knee. It's a little sore, feels like I have tendinitis again. I'll have to lower the intensity a bit this week and ice like mad and hope I can bring the knee back to health.

The week so far:
Monday - Off
Tuesday - 1900yds pool 44:30, Bike trainer 1:00:00
Weds - 5.6 mile run 46:27

I decided to push the trainer to tomorrow or Friday. Have a good hour to run tomorrow and wanted to rest/ice tonight.

24 days.. I'm ready to do this.

IMC training week 32

Not a good week by the numbers, but a good week for what I was able to get in with a chaotic week. Busy at work, busy at home, and the hottest week EVER in Seattle.

Bike - Mtn 10 mi 1:45:00
Bike - Road 54 mi 3:15:00
Run 18.5 mi 2:50:52
Swim 2000 yd 0:44:31
Total Time 8 hrs 35min

4 weeks left. It's nearly go time.