Steelhead Fast Approaching--Race Plan

Color me excited! This week has been so busy with my trying to get ahead at work in preparation for the long weekend ahead that I have hardly had time to think about being only a couple days from my first A race of 2009…until now. This afternoon, I’ll be leaving Cincinnati and making my way to Benton Harbor for Steelhead 70.3 on Saturday. Then it’s a mini-vacation with the wife to celebrate a successful first year of marriage (our anniversary is August 2nd).

With working extra hours, as well as packing, getting the new race wheel ready, gear checkout, etc…my taper has been less than ideal. It looks more like a drop off a cliff in activity then a gradual reduction. However, my workouts have been high energy and I don’t feel like my poor taper execution will mean much in the course of the race. I planned to get in a day early so I can do one last short ride Friday morning and hopefully a little swim on the course. Then, it’ll be packet pickup, bike drop off, dinner with the family (arriving Friday afternoon) and getting ready for the race, along with whatever sleep I’m capable of the night prior. For most of Friday, I’ll try and wear my Trifuel hat around so I’m noticeable to any other TFers. If you see the hat, come say hello as I’m still yet to meet another TFer face to face.

As for the race, I created a race plan before even starting my winter training to start the 2009 season when I was heavy in my season planning phase. As I saw more vast improvements that I expected, I adjusted the plan, even tweaking it as recently as Monday. I feel pretty solid with it at this point.

Here’s how things will hopefully go down:
Swim (1.2 mi)— 0:40
Bike (56 mi)— 2:40 (~21mph avg)
Run (13.1 mi)— 1:48:30 (~8:15/mi pace)
Transitions—0:06
TOTAL: 5:14:30

So, basically my overall goal is to break 5:15. Based on my training, this should be doable. However, since I haven’t done a HIM in 2 years and have never successfully completed one w/o blowing up the run, I’ll be happy with anything under 5:30.

My rationale for the 5:15 goal is as follows…
The swim should be about 40 minutes, simple as that. My training and previous race data say so…other than being more crowded in the water, I tend to swim the same pace pretty much all the time.
The bike could be faster, I’m guessing…although the real goal will be to hold back. I’ve completed some 60-70mile rides in training at around 20.5mph with traffic and no race adrenaline…so I think I’ll put a good time in here. I also have the benefit of my new Hed 90 rear to give me a mental edge. My main focus is to sit in a nice aerobically comfortable pace. Unless there’s a short, steep hill (which I’m not aware of) then I should never feel like I’m pushing it.
The run will really depend on the bike and the first 3 miles. My open ½ marathon time from April is ~1:32, so I’m expecting a drop off. However, as long as I don’t push too hard on the bike and don’t blow out of T2 like a maniac (somewhat of an issue in my transition runs) then I should be alright. I’m going to go out at 8:00/mile pace and at around mile 6-7 see how I feel to determine where to go from there.
My nutrition is planned, I have a spreadsheet detailing it in my training plan…it involves banana and gel just pre-race, 2 nutri-grain bars and 2 servings infinit nutrition (280cals/serving) on the bike, and 2 gels + 1 serving infinit on the run...pretty evenly distributed throughout the race.

My wife and mom will hopefully capture some awesome shots of my dad, sister, and myself. I’ll write up a RR as soon as I get around to it. GL to everyone else racing this weekend.