Friday, July 07, 2006

Desert Half...

I believe the strategy remains similar for the Desert Half as it was for Victoria, albeit with the addition of the hand pump!

Yesterday my buddy Michael picked up a set of race tires that I just finished installing on the Cervelo. I took it for a quick spin this morning and I think that the real thing I notice is that they are new. The tires that I got with the Cervelo were running a little on the worn side, so I have had that as a concern for the past few days. Tonight I plan to do a little more “preparation control”…

I’ve realized that all of this is about controlling what can be controlled and adapting to what comes your way. Focusing completely on the Point A to Point B mentality does not allow for this, as all success is built into arriving at Point B (the end of the race, or a specific race time, etc.). I plan to execute a smart race, pushing my limits when necessary and holding back when necessary, in order to have the best race I can put together on Sunday. That’s the big picture. The little picture is breaking things down into each moment and experience, and then not trying to plan out and control every possible moment. I can’t control who slaps me in the face on the swim or any of the myriad of biking and run issues that can come into play. I can only put the best “me” at the starting line and see what comes out of that.

So, with that all in mind, I’m going to blow one of my CO2 cartridges tonight just experimenting with the timing and everything, to make sure I don’t mishap during the race. I have already found a couple of places to store the hand pump on the new bike.

Nutritionally, I plan on consuming 2 Clif bars, one at the top of Richter’s Pass and the other at the turnaround. After that it’s a matter of gels and sports drinks and water, and my goal is to get down 1-2 sports drinks and 3-4 waters. This should be more than adequate for the run and hopefully won’t cause a stomach issue. I have salt tablets as well, and I will pop one of those every hour.

I figure at that point I shouldn’t need more than one gel on the run. I can survive on Gatorade and water otherwise. But I’ll take the one gel just to make sure I have that energy spike that I need.

Therein lies the nutrition plan based on how training has been going so far. One final note, I also PLAN on having a race report WITH a finishing time attached to it!

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