Plan the dive, Dive the plan.

There is was a saying I learning during a underwater diving class that not only stuck with me since then but served me quite well. "Plan the dive, dive the plan!" It’s a simple concept designed to keep you out of danger. Rationally design a safe dive plan ahead of time, when you have plenty of oxygen flowing to the brain, and stick with it. Most incidents in diving occur when you compound you minor slip ups together into a major problem. If the plan has been corrupted, however small it may seem at the time, it requires you to end the dive and return safely to the surface.

Well now an endurance event is not in the same category of danger as diving but does require a well thought out race strategy. By gathering information during your training, evaluating the course, analyzing your fitness level and realistically setting a goal, you can make a plan for a successful race. Let's break them out, relate them to the Magic Mountain Man 1/2 ironman I am doing tomorrow and then we can revisit them for some post race analysis. Good times!

First off is the information we have been able to gather about ourselves during training. We should honestly evaluate each hard training effort we put in, now do to time constraints we may miss a few, but the more info the better. What kind of splits have you been hitting in the pool, are they widening or narrowing? How has our HR numbers been looking over those long bike rides? What kind of avg. mph have we attained? What shape are we when we get off the bike after a long one? What are my times in my tempo runs? It is important to gather all this as it happens. Jot it down on a piece of paper; enter into your log while drinking G series 3. Memories of how much it hurt, or didn't, fade fast.

Course evaluation, athletes usually don't need much prompting to get this done, we love it! Elevation, total ascent, avg day time temps, usual wind direction, road conditions, you name it we look at it, More Good Times! But what is sometimes lacking is follow through. How does my training routes compare to my race route? Did I do any heat training? Ocean start??  Have I been swimming in the ocean? Matching your training routes to your race route is vital.

I have separated “Analyzing you fitness” to give us a snapshot, pre-race, where we are at. Training wise we maybe on target but how do we feel today. Sniffly? Something sore? Maybe we have been working a lot before the race. Let's size it up, get some extra sleep, hydrate, maybe some treatment a day or two before so we can optimize all that work we put in.

Now we get to goal setting. We could write a book on goal setting. You will make you goal if it’s too easy for sure or you will blowup trying to make an unrealistic one. Let’s be sensible, while we have free flowing oxygen to the brain, and set a goal that is OUR GOAL based on OUR DATA and definitely leaning to the optimistic side. Why do I say our goal? Too many times we look at the results of last year’s race, figure we want to win our age group, finish under 5 hours or see a name we know try and beat his/her time. All these notions have nothing to do with where we are at! We have our times; we know the course and how we feel. Let's realistically set our goal. When this is done my experience has shown a vast majority of athletes will attain their goal on race day.

 My race plan for the Mountain Man 1/2 tri looks like this:

Swimming has plateaued lately, neither widening nor narrowing. Since the triathlon is a bike heavy course (higher than normal percentage of race time will be on the bike) there is no need to expand a ton of energy to obtain a PR in the swim, the extra effort required to be a minute or two faster will be inconsequential. So based all this info and past performances, a swim of 33 to 34 minutes is reasonably optimistic. Exit water, drink G series I have opened next to bike, mount and go:

My bike has steadily progressed over the past month. I analyzed the course early and set up training routes that mirrored it. Health wise I have a slightly sore calf but other than that I am in good shape. Being a very hilly course my plan is to ease into the first climb (7.2 mi) that begins as soon as you exit the water. So I need to rack my bike in a low gear. I must be very cognizant redline it any point, being relaxed and riding within myself, due to the total 6800 feet of ascending. Hydrate and fuel on the down hills when my HR dips will be important. I also must realizing this course could take me an hour longer than my normal ½ IM time and I have to be sure I have enough fuel for the extra time. For a comparison race I have done, Showdown at Sundown, there was 800 feet less climbing. Based on that time, how I feel now, my training, not the greatest road conditions on course, but feeling close to top fitness, I am setting a time goal of 3:30 for the bike. Off the bike, more G Series, grab some more fuel and RUN:

Running has felt good lately. Times have dropped a bit, legs feel fresh, no nagging injuries. That being said all that climbing on the bike is going to take its toll. Last ½ IM run was 1:38, the run on my comparison race was 1:47 but it was filled with more hills. Tomorrow’s run is relatively flat and based on my times pushing for a sub 1:45 seems doable.

Reality Check: Adding up the times I arrive at 5:48, my transitions are fast and most racers completed them around 2 min each, meaning no major distances to travel from lake to bikes or bike to run, so let’s throw 5 mins in for total transition times. Goal Time now 5:53, WOAH, that’s over an hour more than my PR but is it realistic? Based on my analysis it seems good with a healthy dose of optimism.

So why go through all this? Beside the fact is fun, it helps you stay in the moment. If you are happy with your goal you have a framework within to operate. When you get out of the water how you looking?? Did you stay within yourself and not try and over swim it? During the bike when you are being passed, or doing the passing, you have some numbers to reference. No worries if you get passed early stay on plan, realize the goal for your bike time, get off and andhappy. The single biggest mistake I see (including my own) is overriding a bike course then shuffling it in on the run. You know before you leave transition what you can reasonably do on, do it! Save any extra energy, that “I am feeling it today boy oh boy” for the run. In most cases it will disappear by the turn around and you will glad you didn’t waste it on bike. Lastly the framework gives you feedback, “wait I have finished the first loop, I already behind time and feeling it” shows your plan was overly optimistic but you may have caught it in plenty of time to adjust. Bring down effort, focus in staying within yourself and salvage a good run. Don’t forget while this is happening other racers are finding themselves in the same boat. A quick adjust now may just end up with you on the podium later!