On our 30th (!) podcast episode, we're continuing on our theme of best practices for race week by covering everything you need to know to crush your Ironman or Half Ironman / 70.3 race day! We go over pre-race breakfast, how to execute a proper warm-up, and our best tips and tricks for approaching the swim, T1, the bike, T2, and the run. This episode also features an interview with Coach Jim about his recent bike crash and subsequent surgery—a super scary experience, but we hope that sharing the lessons Jim has learned so far and will continue to learn throughout the recovery process will help us support listeners and athletes experiencing similar incidents. We're excited for you to hear this one!
Extended show notes:
Coaching and Training Insights — Links We Mentioned
New Wave Swim Buoy for OWS safety
Garmin Varia Radar Light for bike safety / care awareness
RACE MORNING
Breakfast – Stick to familiar pre-workout breakfasts that you know works well. What sits well in your stomach normally and fuels your regular workouts is reliable for race morning. There are many opinions on how early you should eat your pre-race breakfast. Your best guidance is what you have done on your Race Sim Weekends.
It is a long time between when you wake up until your race actually starts. Thus, you can parse out your breakfast when you get up, when you are going to the race site and snacking as you wait for the race to start. Little amounts of food every 30’ or so is better than one big breakfast three hours before your race start.
You will be nervous so eating in small increments may be a better strategy to ensure you start the day fueled. If you are a coffee drinker and need it to avoid a caffeine headache, drink some. Otherwise, your digestive system will be quite active and coffee could exacerbate this.
Snacks – Bring a bag of snacks and extra hydration for pre-race morning. Often by the time you make it to the start line, it has been multiple hours since you had breakfast. As you drive to the race, set up transition, and wait for the race start, remember to continue hydrating and fueling. Stress raises cortisol and adrenaline levels, which burns through glycogen quickly. Take a gel 15’ before the race starts.
Clothes – Even if the forecasted temperature is high, early race morning can be cold. Bring tights/pants, a jacket, and warm clothes for race morning. If you have a very long wait for race start, consider bringing a sleeping pad and bag (if you can hand this to a family member/friend before the race).
DURING THE RACE
Swim:
For early season races where the water is cold, mitigate cold water effects by wearing double swim caps and silicone ear plugs. Enter the cold water up to your waist, get your hands acclimated and put your face in the water briefly and blow bubbles out. Do this 5 - 10 times until you feel your face and breathing react normally to the cold water. You want to avoid cold water shock at the race start. In my opinion, cold water shock combined with a rush of race start high effort and adrenaline is the leading cause of cardiac issues in the swim.
If a swim warmup is allowed, try to time your warmup to end just before the pre-race meeting starts. Consider bringing a big towel, coat, or blanket to put over your shoulders during the pre-race meeting to stay warm.
If a swim warmup is not allowed, you can jog briefly in your wetsuit just enough that you are warm but not overheated. A support team member can pour warm water into your wetsuit, too (logistically difficult at most races but effective.)
If the race is wetsuit legal, wear one. They are significantly faster than no wetsuit and the flotation reduces stress. A sleeved wetsuit is always faster than a sleeveless one.
Pacing — Seed yourself with a group that swims faster than your normal pace. Most triathletes don’t know their true swim pace/time and seed themselves in the faster waves. As such, if you seed with your true swim speed group, you will need to swim around many triathletes. Don’t be polite; seed yourself in a faster group. For example, if you plan to swim ~35’ for HIM, seed yourself with 32-30’ group. If you plan to swim ~1:20 for IM, seed with 1:10 group.
Technique — Swim relaxed and easy. If you don’t get in a swim warmup, start even easier and use the first 10’ to warm up into the swim. While swimming, think about full exhales underwater, catch up stroke, and long/strong swimming.
Plan to sight every 7-10 strokes. Don’t blindly follow other swimmers. Triathletes, in general, don’t practice sighting enough or even at all. Most navigate like a drunken sailor. If you do find a compatible, competent swimmer, draft off them for as long as you can. Let them pull you along for major energy savings.
You may find yourself, especially at the beginning and around turn buoys, surrounded by many other swimmers. Use a combination of breast stroke, sighting and even a few strong strokes to get away from the fray and back into clear water.
If you have bilateral breathing skills (every three strokes), this can be a good governor of effort i.e., it will keep you swimming aerobically.
In sum, it is more important to swim well than focus on your actual swim time. A well executed swim will leave you fresh and ready to apply your bigger efforts on the bike and run.
T1 — If the race has wetsuit peelers (formerly called strippers), use them to quickly strip off your suit after completing the swim. If the race does not, use the time between the water and T1 to lift your goggles onto your head (don’t take them off), unzip your wetsuit and take it off down to your waist, or below your hips, by the time you reach T1. Then in T1 you can take off the rest of your suit, your goggles and swim cap.
When exiting the water, either walk or easy jog to transition. Work on lowering your HR. You should not run or hurry to transition. Take your time, settle, and breathe. There will be a lot of spectator stimulus from the water to transition. Resist the urge to “put on a show.” When you get to your transition spot, consider a gel to replenish energy after the swim. If you are doing an Ironman, consider a substantial snack (ie. bar, croissant with jelly, etc).
If you are doing an IM, you will enter a tent to collect your bike helmet, shoes, socks and anything you did not place on your bike race morning. Take everything out of your bag and put it in front of you. This will ensure you don’t leave critical gear or nutrition behind. Take your time, make sure you snap your helmet strap (an unbuckled helmet strap is a DQ offense). Volunteers will often be there to assist you. Pro tip: if you have electronic shifting on your bike, put an extra, charged battery in your T1 bag.
If you are doing a HIM, put your helmet on first, buckling the strap. Proceed to put on shoes, socks, stuff your pockets with snacks, sunglasses, etc. You do not need your race belt with a number for the bike.
Bike:
Nutrition and Hydration — Upon starting the bike, immediately begin to drink every 15’ and eat every 30’ (even if you don’t feel like it!). In general, you will want to drink one bottle per hour. Once your HR settles from the swim, focus on fueling. Your ability to take in calories is highest early in the race. These will be some of the most critical calories you will take in all day. Take advantage of your ability to eat. Underfueling is the most common mistake triathletes make. Your fueling must support your fitness (You have built a race car, now keep filling its tank). See your race plan for exact calories/carb/hydration oz and memorize it. Stay diligent and execute your race nutrition plan. IM athletes should plan to pee at least once on the bike. It’s up to you whether you do this on the bike or stop at an aid station.
Use a bento box to store your food. Pre-cut the wrappers of bars so you are not struggling opening them up in aero! Consider cutting up bars into smaller pieces that you will eat at the 30’ and 60’ mark. If you don’t have a bento box or need extra storage, use the pockets of your tri kit.
Consider salt tabs if you have used them in training or in past races. There is a lot of anecdotal evidence that supports use of salt tabs (the science is mixed on this topic). There seems to be many benefits and few drawbacks based on athlete experience. Ideally, practice with them during a race simulation so they are familiar on race day. A guide is 500 - 1000 mg per hour. Practice your sodium intake during a Race Sim weekend(s).
Heat/Humidity — If it’s hot and humid, hydration needs will increase to 1.5 bottles per hour. You can determine if it’s hot and humid if there is a sheen of sweat on your forearm, indicating you are not evaporating the heat away from your skin. Alternatively, use the weather forecast to determine heat and humidity values for the day. Humidity over 70-80% becomes challenging. In this case, drink 1.5 bottles per hour. For IM athletes, also consider stopping at aid stations to put ice down your tri suit.
If the heat and humidity index is up, be very careful with your effort today. Once you lose thermoregulation of your body, your race is essentially over. In the excitement of race day, it is easy to overcook yourself on the bike and run. Know the weather conditions and govern your efforts accordingly.
Pacing — For HIM, bike at a 2- 3 hour sustainable pace. For those with powermeters, that is 80-85% of your FTP. For IM, bike at a 5 - 6 hour sustainable pace. For those with powermeters, that is 65 - 72% of your FTP. If at any time you question whether you can hold that pace for the entire duration of your race, bring the effort down. When you get to the run, no one regrets biking “too easy”. In the words of Aristotle, “Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.”
Your HR will be ~10 beats above normal. Don’t worry! That’s expected on race day from all the excitement, nerves, and swim. If HR is elevated more than that, use the first 20’ of the bike to calmly breathe and get your HR under control.
Keep an eye on the mph pace to determine if there is a headwind, tailwind, false flats, etc. If going faster than normal, ease up some, and if going slower, apply a little more effort. When moving over 30mph, stop pedaling. If your speed is under 15mph, there is very little aero advantage. Sit up and use a favorable body position to pedal up the hills.
Think fast. Keep your head low. If on a road bike, use the faster sections to be in the drops. If on a TT bike, stay aero as much as possible when moving over 15mph. The greatest resistance against you is your frontal profile, so staying low can help reduce your profile and increase efficiency.
On hills, keep your pedal pressure light. Think soft, relaxed feet and ankles. Many people will charge up the hills – resist that urge. Hills require extra effort, don’t make it even more difficult by pushing hard uphill. Try not to exceed more than 15% of your race watts/effort. Keep your effort until you have crested and are back up to speed on the other side of the hill.
If you have a power meter, chances are it has been reliable during training. Be prepared for your power meter to betray you on race morning; power meters often strike on race day. We must have done something to anger the triathlon Gods!. Adapt to the situation, rely on perceived effort, HR and MPH. You have trained well and are prepared to race on several different metrics.
During training, you have focused on hitting specific watt ranges. It is common, probably due to the metabolic and aerobic cost of the swim, to be on the lower end of your goal race watts. You will also be passing, slowing for other riders, making corners and dropping back out of a draft zone. That’s OK. If you can’t hit your training numbers within 10 - 20 watts, switch your focus to riding well, staying aero and perfect nutrition plan execution. As long as you stay disciplined around these other factors, watts are not the biggest determiner of your bike leg. In the end, flawless execution, especially nutrition and hydration, will be the biggest factor in a successful bike. Agile thinking, adaptation, impulse control and patience will win the day.
The bike leg is considered an individual effort which means you must maintain a certain distance between yourself and the cyclists in order not to draft. Usually this is six bike lengths but read the athlete guide to confirm. You will notice athletes bunching at the beginning of the race and on the hills; don’t stress about a drafting violation in these conditions. The race will soon sort itself out and it will be clear where you can respect the draft zone and avoid a drafting penalty.
Most races have at least one lane closed to traffic. Most of the time you will be vehicle-free. However, there are many residential streets and other conditions where you will encounter cars. Just like in training, keep your eyes open and aware of your surroundings. Also, triathletes tend to be bad bike handlers so watch out for them, too! When you go to make a pass, quickly look left to ensure you won’t plow into another biker who may be making a pass at the same time. If you encounter a rider, or group of riders, riding across the road or obstructing your passing ability, yell “on your left!” Don’t be shy.
If you are doing an Ironman, everyone wants to be off the bike by mile 90+. This is normal! Stick with your pace and nutrition plan all the way to T2. Decrease your watts/pace if necessary later in the race in order to give yourself the best chance of running (or shuffling) your best IM marathon. This also applies to HIM, especially if you are new to the HIM distance.
Remember, if you haven’t done it in training, you shouldn’t do it on race day. You will feel fresh from the taper which means pushing bigger watts in the beginning will be easy. Stick to your race watts plan and control your impulses and ‘race-day magic’ thinking.
T2:
When you get to transition, consider a gel. If you are doing an Ironman, take your time in the transition tent. It’s okay to take a few extra minutes to get organized and mentally ready to move your body 26 miles.
If you are doing a HIM, be efficient in transition: collect yourself, take a few deep breaths, and start the run. Make sure you have your race belt with number on, gels in pockets, visor or hat and sunglasses.
Run:
Nutrition — Like the bike, focus on consuming carbs and good hydration early and often. Fuel through the entire race, even at mile 12 for HIM and mile 18 and on for IM. Take a gel every 2 - 3 miles. Walk through aid stations to get whatever you need. There will be little time loss for walking and massive gains because you did.
The more sugar you can consume, the more you will be able to push yourself physically and mentally. You may not feel physically hungry, but your body and brain still need the fuel! When you hit a low point on the bike or run, consuming sugar will often help. Fueling and fitness are equal partners on race day. Hot take: Coca Cola is the best run performance fuel on the planet - caffeine and sugar!
Have a run nutrition plan and be ready to follow it (if you practiced with a certain type of gels, bring those on the run); however, also be prepared to supplement it with additional calories from aid stations. Rarely does a run race plan get executed perfectly. Listen to what your body wants at the aid stations – this can mean grabbing Coca Cola, pretzels, and chips like it’s a SuperBowl party. Be willing to walk through the aid stations to get everything you need. If you’re struggling to settle a sloshy stomach, consider salt tabs.
Heat/Humidity — If hot and humid, pour water over your head and ice down your Tri suit. Hold ice in your hands and keep ice chips in your mouth. Do this at every aid station. When World Champion, Chelsea Sodaro, was asked why she walked every Kona aid station she said, “Invest in managing your core temperature.”
As mentioned above, be very aware of the weather conditions and govern your run pace accordingly. Losing thermoregulation will lead to major gut issues, cramping, blacking out, walking and sending you directly to Plan C which is just trying to cross the finish line without heat stroke.
Pacing — Always start with a more conservative pace with a goal of increasing speed in the latter half to finish faster. This is tough to do, but focus on running with relaxed form, breathing easily, and bringing the heart rate down during the first 2 miles. Your HR will be higher than any Race Sim run. A good IM run will be done at 10 - 20 beats below your threshold HR. A HIM run will be ~10 beats below your threshold and up to your threshold HR. Pay attention to leg turnover and practice good run technique. Ask your coach if you have any questions regarding your run IM or HIM paces.
Inevitably, the run gets very challenging. The monkey comes out of the bushes and places a sack of bricks on your back! He is always lurking. Your goal is to put him off as long as possible. Be armed with consistent nutrition and hydration and the recall of your “why” you are racing. Long distance racing is less about being perfect and more about making the least amount of mistakes. When we signed up to race, we made a contract to experience a very difficult and painful situation. Embrace the hard, make smart decisions and be grateful you are able to experience it. It might feel like time stretches on infinitely but be assured the run is a finite task. There is an end and you will reach it.
Everyone is experiencing the same thing; long distance racing is group suffering. Think back to those Race Sim weekends and hard workouts where you persevered. Find a way to move forward. It doesn’t have to be fast (because often it’s not!), you just have to move forward with intent and purpose.
At the finish line, savor the moment you’ve worked so hard to achieve. Slow down, soak it in. Slap some high fives along the finisher’s chute. Keep an eye out for your support team. Smile at the finish line, your race pictures live forever! (Don’t stop your watch at the finish like a type A athlete and ruin the finish line shot! Stop it afterward.)
And remember to thank the volunteers a lot! Gratitude extends beyond yourself and to others around you. These races would not happen without the volunteers suffering nearly as much as you!
Listener Questions
If I am racing on a road bike, should I get clip-on aero bars?
For some hilly races, may not be worth it as you can often get a similar aero benefit by riding in the drops
Aero bars probably do confer an advantage in flat races, but race wheels and/or a triathlon bike will likely make a bigger difference
If you do, make sure you get a bike fitting with the aero bars and practice during race sims (don’t install 1-2 weeks before the race)
Should I learn two-beat kicking?
Nearly everyone should learn two beat kicking especially if you are an adult learning how to swim. A Two beat kick is about helping you rotate your hips / shoulders. It’s not meant to provide much velocity especially in a wetsuit.
No one has ever finished a Half or IM and said they wished they had swum harder!
Feeling super hungry on a rest day or once a taper starts -- why and what to do about it?
Possible explanations: (1) could be under-fueled; (2) sometimes hormones do weird things with hunger (i.e. for female athletes, resting metabolic rate goes up in luteal phase, cortisol affects appetite, etc.) -- prioritize getting enough sleep, low LSS, hydration, and keep an eye on indicators like resting HR/HRV/sleep quality etc.; (3) anecdotally I have personally experienced getting REALLY hungry during a recovery week or taper because your body finally is starting to play catch-up from the big demands you've put it through, and because high intensity and heavy training can have a counterintuitive appetite suppressant effect so taking that down a notch allows your body to actually tell you how much you've been working it!
What to do about it:
Honor those hunger cues! / don’t try to ignore them → want to set yourself up for success post recovery week/day or when you race
Make sure you’re getting enough fat in your diet (except the 1-2 days before race day)
Mindset of a recovery day/week or taper should be to refuel the body
Gear Pick of the Week
Katie - Ornot Cargo Bib shorts
Jim - Ornot shorts and pants