Notes to Self in preparation for the Duke 1/2

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It’s going to be chilly on race morning – 55 degrees at 8am! Crud…I’m not a big fan of cycling in cold weather. I’ll bring my cycling jacket, just in case, but will probably skip wearing it at risk of being a bit chilly rather than not having to peel a layer off later. Hope the weather forecast changes to be slightly warmer!

Here’s a link to how to dress for cycling in cool weather.

I want to carry water during the run. I’m a “sipper” and I don’t like not having water in between aid stations. It stresses me out to get thirsty and have to wait for the next water stop. I haven’t yet decided whether to carry a palm holder bottle, or wear my fuel belt. Leaning toward the fuel belt, as I always wear that when I run and I like it.

I edited the timestamp on this post to bump it to the top of my blogs. (originally posted Aug 30)….here’s the earlier stuff:

I’m feeling a bit “iffy” about my goal of 6 hours. I’ll need to repeat my bike performance of last year (during which I was going hard and not saving anything for the run) AND put in a run nearly equal to the FLAT 1/2 marathon I did last year. Will have to dig in VERY deep.

After one last long bike and a long run this weekend, here’s what I’ve determined…

Bike Pacing Strategy:

I plan to ride as fast as I can without breathing heavy or burning my quads. This is what I did for all my races last year and it worked well. (I have since learned that I can go much harder for Olympic and shorter races). I’ll keep an eye on my average speed. I need 18.7 mph to do a 3:00 bike split. If I’m not making that pace, I’ll try and push harder, but not too hard b/c I want to save something for the run this race.? I will sacrifice my bike split for a strong run this year.
Bike Nutrition Strategy:

Take Gu / AccelGel every 30 minutes, alternating. Bring some pb-cheese crackers to nibble on. Haven’t figured out how much to eat the crackers – will probably just go with the flow on that one. I have a low metabolism. I used to think of it as a curse, but actually, it helps me in long races – I don’t really need much food to get by 🙂
Run Strategy:

I’ve had two really good runs this week. One was a 6 mile pace run. I did well on this run and felt strong. The other run (today) was a 17 mile long run, with the middle 6 miles at race pace. I also did well on this run, and I did it on a really hilly trail. I practiced nutrition on this run. I got up to run at 6 am. I had no breakfast to simulate running on empty. I ate the same thing as I did on yesterday’s bike ride: Gu/AccelGel every 30 min, and 3-4 pb cheese crackers per hour. I felt strong the whole run, good energy levels, and no stomach cramps, even during the middle hard miles. I wasn’t starving when I was done.

Those “practice the pace” runs were very useful. A pace of 9-10 feels hard for me, very uncomfortable, but breathing is still controlled, and I felt like I could hold it for 2 hours.
Tips:

• Warm up! It just occurred to me that maybe one reason that I did well on the Lake Logan swim was due to my unplanned warm-up (sprinting back to my car to get my ID). I always feel sluggish the first 15-30 minutes of any workout, so I’ll do a warm up run.
• You have to practice your nutrition strategy during the long slow miles and at race pace.
• After extra hard or long workouts, I take Endurox R4 recovery drink. I think this stuff works well to make my muscles recover faster. My next brick workout, I’m going to try and have this as a bedtime snack. If that works, I may have that bedtime snack the night before my race. As a general rule, I don’t eat anything after dinner and am starved by morning!
• I figured out how to make my stopwatch beep a timer every 30 minutes. This will help me remember to take the gel. The trick will be to make the timer start when I eat the first gel after the swim.
• I rode 60 miles this past weekend. I went as fast as I could without breathing heavy or burning my quads. During the ride, I ate Gu / AccelGel every 30 minutes, alternating. I also ate a few pb-cheese crackers. No stomach cramps, I felt good energy levels; and when I was done with my ride – I was not hungry! Usually, I take Gu every 45 minutes and I’m starved when I’m done!
• The Setup Events website says that last year’s Duke 1/2 race was wetsuit legal. But, no wetsuits were allowed last year – I distinctly remember it and even wrote about it in my blog last year! No data for Jordan lake at this site, but nearby Kerr Lake is showing 84 degrees. With the heat wave we had in Aug, I doubt we’ll get to wear wetsuits.
• I use Nexcare Flexible clear tape to attach stuff like Gu’s to my bike. It holds well, tears easily (both putting on and taking off) and doesn’t mark up my pretty bike.
• I usually go as fast as I can in the last few minutes of the bike, to make the best bike split. I rode past a woman at Lake Logan, who was slowing down at the end. It just occurred to me that maybe it’s a good idea to go easy in those final bike minutes to rest up and stretch my legs for the run. That way you are resting, but still making forward progress. I’m going to do this at the Duke 1/2. I think it will be worth sacrificing a couple minutes off my bike split to rest up for the run.
• Rig up my bottle cage to properly hold the bottles that they hand off (700mL Deerpark sportcap). Currently, the bottle wiggles around and can even fall out. I will try to just bend the cage to a tighter fit. (click image at right to enlarge)
• bring a flashlight to the race. it was dark when i first got there last year.
• i bought a small 1 oz. spray bottle of sunscreen at Performance bikes (it was right near the register). i’m going to tape it to my bike stem. when it gets to be sunny, I will pull it off and spray myself while riding (I tested this in training, of course!). Then I’ll stuff it down my tri shirt bra for use a couple hours later during the run. I don’t want to get fried while racing for six hours. Last year I spent time in both T’s doing sunscreen.
• I am still debating using my “fuel belt” bike pouch. It attaches to the top tube, and can carry all the gel I need for a 3 hour ride. It bothers me when I stand to pedal uphill – it rubs my knees. Otherwise, it’s out of the way. I don’t do alot of uphill hammering, so…? Alternative is taping 6 Gus to my top tube.
• Sometimes when I bike or run, sweat runs into my eyes and stings. I think it’s not just the sweat that stings…it’s sunscreen or wrinkle cream that is running into my eyes. So, the night before my race, I won’t put any creams on my face at all. I might put plain vaseline around my eyes that night to alleviate any dryness – it’s great being over 40 🙂
• will add things to the top of this list as I think of them. I know there’s alot of things on my mind…!