 Getting all the race dominoes lined up |
It's easy to get so caught up in the swim / bike / run training that you forget all the little things that can make a difference to your race experience.
As I've reached my taper phase I've been thinking about little ways in which I can improve my race, to either make myself more comfortable or simply save time.
I've been working on my cold-water conditioning during the season, as not doing so will cost me dearly on race day. Not only cold showers but getting out into the open water and having a few swims, which have varied a bit in temperature. This has also meant practicing my sighting, choppy water at times, and keeping things under control when I can't see in the water. The last point is not really an issue in Wanaka though.
My last couple of open water swims have also involved a basic T1 practice - I took one of last years transition bags to the lake and packed it with the gear I'd be using in the race. I left the bike and helmet at home as they'd be on the rack - I only practiced what needs to be done in the change tent. That's a good excuse to avoid transporting the bike.
During last weeks T1 session I had a brainwave. I've always found it difficult to get my wetsuit off around my ankles and heels so this causes me delays as well as almost pulling muscles. I think last year I took a brutal approach and just stood on my wetsuit with one foot while yanking the other out, which in hindsight seems a bit risky to both the wetsuit and my foot (the previous year I'd arrived in an empty tent so an assistant pulled it off for me). But my flash of inspiration was to simply pull the cuffs of my wetsuit legs down to my ankles before taking it off. The suit is quite short and normally sits about halfway up my shins so pulling it down to my ankles, which are thinner, means the suit isn't gripping as much on my lower leg. End result, wetsuit comes off easily. It's actually harder to get the arms out at the moment but they're not too bad (the same trick doesn't work so well because the sleeves are longer).
Another little thing I've done was to go down to the bike shop and buy the biggest under-seat bag I could find. I'm still running tubular wheels so I wanted something that could hold a tyre plus the can of Pit Stop, as well as the CO2 inflator. That keeps things tidy and gives me extra peace-of-mind as last year I didn't carry the spare tyre - only the Pit Stop. I had to buy a short piece of Velcro to extend the seat-post anchor and that's all fitting nicely thanks to my wife's sewing machine skills. So I don't need to use the pro tricks of taping the Pit Stop to the top tube, or tying a tyre somewhere. It actually sits quite well in a bottle cage (I did this in the Olympic distance race in Ashburton) but I'll need that for a bottle this time.
This year my bike setup is slightly different as well. I've removed the spacers under my arm rests. This drops my arms a little which will make me marginally more aero, but the main reason I did it is to position my wrists better on the aerobars, so I no longer have to bend them down. I used to get very uncomfortable in the arms and had to move my hands regularly, and after a few test rides I've declared that problem to be eliminated as my wrists are in a more neutral position.
The other big bike change is that I've replaced my seat with an Adamo TT model. I bought this in the hope that I wouldn't need to put bike shorts on over my tri suit. It's a bit fiddly to set up, especially with my seat clamp. Each side of the clamp has its seat-angle set independently and if they don't match the front of the seat will be higher on one side than the other. With an Adamo seat this becomes a real issue as the front ends of the rail are not joined so one ends up sitting higher than the other. This ends up causing quite a lot of discomfort on one side. At the moment it's not as comfortable as I'd like with the tri suit but I think I can make do with plenty of Vaseline and a bit of hardening up. It's actually a very comfortable seat with bike shorts on.
I've also applied Loctite to most of the bolts, partly to make sure they stay put under the heavy vibration of Wanaka's roads, and also to prevent the effects of water (or drink) ingress which can cause them to seize (when I went to undo the seat post bolt when fitting my new seat, the allen key snapped). And I finally got my hands on some carbon compound for my brake levers, and replaced their dodgy clamping bolts that had partly rounded-out heads.
I have thought about eliminating my gloves from the bike but I don't like trying to grip the bars with sweaty hands, even with bar tape. I reasoned that they shouldn't cost me time in transition as I can put them on while running from the change tent to my bike (and take them off in T2 while running back to the tent). Although it would be nice to get some sunglasses that are suitable for both the bike and run - but I've left it a bit late to get that organised.
I still need to work on my bike technique a bit, I think that's been the cause of some of my foot problems recently. I've also reminded myself to pull up properly on the backstroke (it's amazing how you can get into bad habits even after so long). And I realised a while ago that I tend to ease off when I have a tail wind, so on yesterdays ride I kept the power up got a bit of speed out of it...
I've got my nutrition just about sorted - a few weeks ago I ordered a box of Em's Power Cookies for training and a couple of packets of bites for the race. I just need to pick up a few more gels and I'll be ready on the nutrition front. My plan for race day is fairly similar to last year, but I will try and keep to solid food on the bike, with mostly gels for the run. I'll take a couple of Em's bites on the run as I do get hungry if I try to rely on just gels; it's a bit of a balancing act as I struggle to eat solid food on the run, especially if I'm going a bit hard.
The only thing I want to practice now is picking up a drink bottle on the bike. One of the small issues I ran into during last years race was that I'm not so confident with only my right hand on the bar, so I slowed down quite a bit to pick up drink bottles (and managed to drop the first one). This season I've been practicing with taking a drink using my left hand so I'm quite confident with that now, but I still need to try out the actual picking up of bottles at aid stations. I plan to get my wife to help me with this on a quiet road.
The injury situation isn't ideal at the moment, I hurt my foot a few weeks ago so my podiatrist taped it up. It healed well but I found out the hard way that I have an allergy to the adhesive on the tape so the next couple of weeks was not much fun. It's unbelievable how one tiny little itch causes the entire foot to erupt in extreme itching the moment you scratch it. Pro tip: an ice pack works wonders on itching but you have to get it about as cold as you can stand. Thankfully that's settled down with the help of some cream from my doctor, and the skin is slowly peeling now. And I've made my feet sore again by doing a hilly run too hard, and possibly due to a sudden technique change after my podiatrist said I was pronating a bit (another bad habit from the past). So it looks like the run is going to involve crossed fingers again.
My plans for the off-season are taking shape and it's going to start with 2-4 weeks of absolute rest (I'll go by feel here but no less than 2 weeks), then I'll get stuck into swimming (plenty of technique work and a bit of mileage) and running. For the running I'll start with technique work and build into lots of hill running to build strength in the lower legs and feet so I can maybe stop getting injuries. Then maybe I can have a crack at my half-marathon PB which I set about 5 years ago.
Other than that I'm just hoping for nice weather and a good race...
