IMLOO race plan

Folks, it's the home stretch! I am taking off this Friday to drive out to Kentucky with Jen and Roger. My parents are coming in on Saturday. I took a look at the weather forecast for race day and go figure...it's going to be HOT! Look at the temps climb straight into Sunday. It's going to be really hot and muggy so that will translate into slower race times for me. That's cool with me. Give me your worst KY!

Let's talk about my race plan!

Swim: I am predicting that wet suits will be illegal since it will be hot all week and water temp will be above 78. I think technically I can still wear one but I'll be ineligible for awards. Not a big deal since I won't be winning any awards, but I'll follow the rules and swim naked. The swim starts in the Ohio River upstream from the finish. You swim upstream around an island for about 1/3 of the swim and then downstream to the swim exit. It's a time trial start (1 x 1 into the water) and I plan to line up early to get out early. This might help me draft off a few feet as they pass me. I'm going to swim comfortably and shoot for a 1:15 to 1:20 swim time. That would be sweet.

Bike: I rode this course before and it wasn't easy. There is a fairly hard out-n-back that you do only on the 1st loop and the rest of the double loop is all rolling hills. The last 30 miles back to T2 are mostly downhill and should be fast. I don't remember that but I'll hope it is true. I'm going to pace my bike speed for a 7 hour finish which is 16mph. My previous 2 ironman bike splits were 6 hours so this pace is conservative (I hope) - better to deal with the heat and being under trained. I really want to feel fresh going into the run if at all possible. If I'm going to "hammer" anything it'll be the last 30 miles coming home as I tend to be faster than the average ironman racer in a flat to downhill scenario. I'll have my 32oz aero bottle mounted on my aero bars for water only, a 7 hour concentrated bottle of Perpetuum stuffed down the back of my shorts, and I'll keep sports drink given out on the course in the cage on my down tube. I'll keep my flat repair stuff and Gu's in a bento box on my top tube.

Run: Let's make the assumption I haven't melted by now. If I meet my time goals above I'll be 8 1/2 hours into my race and it'll be about 3 or 4pm. The sun will be raging. The humidity will be insufferable. And I will be blissfully suffering in a world of pain from my own creation. I would love to break 14 hours and would be ecstatic to hit 13:30. Can I run a 5 hour marathon? Hmm, not likely, but that will be the challenge I have given myself. I'm going to start out on a 5 hour pace (11:30 mile). It's a 2 loop run course so I'll know by the 2nd loop if I can keep the pace going for the bell lap. I can fall off the pace to a 5:30 finish to break 14 hours or, quite possibly, the heat could completely melt me and I'll fall short of even that goal. But that is the my plan and I will fight through the pain to achieve it (but I will not push so hard that I'll need the medical tent, at least not on purpose). I am so curious to see how I'll do, this will be very fun adventure for me. I only use the Gu's, sports drinks, and water they provide on the course...I won't be bringing anything with me on the run.

I will rock the LOO in 6 days! Out!