Pic Spocket

Only one week left before the start of the Ironman70.3 Florida. I am starting to get the ‘pre-race jitters’. Think of butterflies in your stocmach… Race starts at 6:20 am on Sunday May 16. There will be something like 22 waves and I am starting at the end (waves 17-19) at around 7:15 am. Thereès good and bad things about leaving in the last waves. Bad = lots of traffic. Good = some ‘legal drafting’ on the bike occurs naturally when coming to people from behind before passing. Also, a lot of passing is good for motivation (compared to starting in the first wave and being passed all the time…)

 If interested, my progression can be followed online Sunday morning from the Ironman website. On race day, they have a box in the middle of the page that says “LIVE COVERAGE“. After clicking on the correct race in progress, you can use the athlete tracker and search my last name (’Guertin’). This link may (or may not) work for direct access. I hope for a swim of ~40 to 45 minutes, so time splits should start to show around 8:00 am.

Confidence has seen ups and downs. I had a couple of good workout sessions a few weeks ago, and it seemed like I could kick some serious asses over there. But my last training session yesterday, a brick workout (Bike+run) simulation, went really BAD! It was too windy to go out yesterday (45 km/h winds with 100 km/h wind gusts) so I did the bike indoor. Following the coach’s idea, I simulated the heat from Florida (they have 32 deg. C right now) by overdressing and not using fans. That was awful. You should have seen the sweat pool I generated. But the biggest problem is that I could not generate any power, and my Heart Rate was peaking like crazy.

I was hoping for warmer weather here at this time of the year, but it did not happen. So my body will not be used to it and will surely suffer from that, especially on the run.

I also hear that the run over there is really something. 2000 people running in torrid heat the same 3 loops, on narrow unpaved paths with roots sticking out and people walking in the middle rather than staying to the left…

Bad news for the swim too: you are not allowed in the lake before your wave start (and that includes the days before). That means no getting used to the course, and no warmup in the water (it’s a beach start). Bad for me, who panics easily in the swim.

I found another lake I can swim in Orlando the day before the race: Lucky’s lake swim.  It’s only 20 minutes from my hotel. If you have a few minutes, read the FAQ section of that website… quite funny. Here is an example:

Are there Alligators in the Lake?  There have been in the past and there may be some now. It would be unusual to have a large one over 5 feet, but alligators migrate and you just never know. There are also snakes, turtles, fish etc…. When you do an open water swim you enter the food chain.

So.. 1 week of taper (reduced) training, and flying out to Florida on Friday morning. Stay tuned for results!

Here’s some triathlon humor for you. In Multisport, you always hear how your training should be ’specific’. Example of specific training habits are:

• Eat and drink in training what you will eat and drink in racing
• If you prepare for a race in hilly terrain, then train on hilly terrain
• If you train for morning races, then training in the morning at about the same time would be beneficial
• If you train for triathlons, then brick workouts (biking right after swimming, or running right after biking) are absolute musts!
• etc…

The following video takes it to a new level… Here’s a guy preparing for the beating of an Ironman swim