1%er Number 10 - Plan ahead

So here we are for 1%er number 10 and it is one that I think is very important.

In several of my other 1%er posts I have mentioned how important it can be to have a plan for your race day. It is so important that I thought I would write this 1%er post about it.

I must admit, I am a bit of a chronic planner. I have written lists about writing lists and so I know that I am biased when it comes to how important having a race plan is. However, putting that bias aside, I still think that having a well thought out race plan is a critical part of having a successful day out during your big event. The longer the event, the more critical the plan becomes.

The reason I think that a good race plan is so critical is that in a long triathlon there are just so many things that can go wrong. If your plan is to simply rock up to an Ironman and wander though it, chances are you are not going to have a great day. You may well make it though, but it will either not be very fun or you won't be meeting your goals. A good race does not simply happen by accident. If you have a specific race goal in mind, then having a good race plan will be critical to reaching that goal. Having a well thought out race plan will help you define the process required to reach your desired outcome. Without a race plan you might as well roll a set of dice.

When I used to race I used to have everything planned out about as far as I reasonably could. My nutrition was planned down to minute detail. To give you an idea of how much I used to plan it out, if I was needing course nutrition I used to e-mail the organisers before the event to find out what they were using so I could research it. In the last couple of years of racing I typically didn't use course nutrition, but that just meant I could plan out every nutrition detail of my race using my own nutritional supplies. I knew exactly what I was going to take and when I was going to take it based on the advice of my nutritionist.

However, my race nutrition plan was only one part of my race day plan. The bigger part of my race plan was around pacing and contingency. Just how I would try and position myself in the swim, what power I would look for on the bike, what pace or heart rate I would plan to hold on the run. I have written several times about how I started using a race plan that was actually three plans in one. One plan was what would happen on a bad day, one was a good day and one was a brilliant day. I really liked using this sort of race plan as it meant I knew what to do no matter what the day threw at me. If the race was going well I knew what power to keep holding or pace to keep running at. If the race was going badly I had a plan in place to try and bring it back on track. The plan even covered what to do if the day was going great, so that I didn't panic and do something silly.

Having a plan that covers what to do if something is going wrong is vital for long course triathlon, because so often something does go wrong. You might struggle for motivation on the bike and not be able to put any power down. You might blow up on the run. You might have nutritional problems which means you aren't digesting anything. There are literally countless things that can derail your day. Having a good plan gives you a way to work through those low points and come out the other side. It doesn't mean having a plan for absolutely every contingency, but it does mean knowing how you will react mentally, what you will do to remain focused and get back into your groove.

Really having a race plan means having thought seriously about your race day and having some idea of how you want it to unfold and what you will do to ensure that happens. What sort of pacing you are capable of, what power is going to ensure you still have the legs to run at the end of the bike leg, what pace can you hold early in the marathon to ensure you are still running at the end, do you collect bottles on the bike or use your own... The list of things to consider is a very, very long one. But the thing is you need to have thought all these things through if you want to get the race process correct and reach the other end successfully.

Once you have thought through and written down your race plan all you have to do then is execute it.

Simple....

Oh and on a side note, if you are new to triathlon you are probably going to need some help writing your first race plan, either from a coach, nutritionist or both.. You may need to engage these specialists because  long triathlons can require some fairly  specific knowledge about how to pace and fuel a long race. You can certainly figure out how to do a race by yourself, but it can involve some fairly painful trial and error. Seeking expert advice can help avoid that pain.