# IRONMAN: Dealing With The Unexpeced On RaceDay | Ep 509

An episode of [Oxygenaddict Triathlon Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/951501034), 2 Oct 2024, 22 min.

Audio: https://anchor.fm/s/ea99f7d8/podcast/play/92450140/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2024-9-1%2F387368455-44100-2-1955b637d9284.mp3

In this episode, we delve into the invaluable insights gained from our athletes' recent participation in various Ironman races, including Ironman Wales, Ironman Italy, and the Ironman World Championships in Nice. We cover important challenges like managing punctures, understanding race cutoffs, seeding strategies for the swim, fueling strategies, adapting race strategy on the fly, and more. We also dive into detail on gearing adjustments for hilly courses and various practical tips for race weekend. Whether you're a seasoned triathlete or gearing up for your first Ironman, there'll be some nuggets in here to help arm you with answers to the various "what-ifs" of raceday! * * * * * * * * SPONSORS * * * * * * * * Like what you heard in this show? Join hundreds of other age group triathletes making the most of their limited training time, training with Team OxygenAddict! http://team.oxygenaddict.com - The most comprehensive triathlon coaching program for busy age groupers. Book an application call to see if you'd be a good fit for Team Oxygenaddict for the coming 12 months here: https://team.oxygenaddict.com/consultation-call/ * * * * * * * * * * * * precisionfuelandhydration.com Precision Fuel & Hydration help athletes personalise their hydration and fuelling strategies for training and racing. Use the free Fuel & Hydration Planner to get a personalised race nutrition plan for your next event. And then book a free 20-minute video consultation with a member of the PF&H Athlete Support Team to refine your strategy. Listeners get 15% off their first order of fuel and electrolytes with Precision Fuel & Hydration. Simply use this link and the discount will be auto-applied at the checkout. * * * * * * * * * * * * Watch on youtube Listen on Spotify Listen on Apple Podcasts

## Transcript

[0:04] Hello and welcome to the Oxygen Addict podcast.
[0:07] We're brought to you every week by our sponsors Precision Fuel
[0:09] and hydration.com. You can personalise your
[0:12] fuelling and hydration strategy so you perform at your best with
[0:16] 15% off your first order of electrolytes and carbohydrate
[0:19] fuel with the code OXYGEN 24 at precisionfuelandhydration.com.
[0:24] Welcome to the show everybody. I'm your host, coach Rob Willby,
[0:28] and every week we bring you an episode of this podcast to help
[0:31] motivate and inspire you. Couple of things we can do for
[0:34] us please, as we start today. If you like this episode, please
[0:38] consider following us on Spotify or Apple Podcasts and please
[0:42] think about liking and subscribing if you're watching
[0:44] on YouTube. Both of those things really help
[0:46] the growth of the show and help us get shown to more athletes.
[0:49] Secondly, if you're looking for help and advice with your
[0:52] triathlon training, please get in touch.
[0:55] You can e-mail us at help@oxygenaddict.com or there's
[0:58] a link in show notes. Big news this week is Team
[1:02] Oxygen Addict is open again for new members, so we've had a
[1:07] waiting list in place all through the summer.
[1:09] We're now at the point where we're taking our next intake in.
[1:12] We like to take athletes in through September and October,
[1:15] then we're ready to go and have a really strong winter build.
[1:18] Get athletes all the way through two big FTP preparation blocks
[1:22] during the winter time when everybody else is sitting on the
[1:24] backside, and then you're really ready to hit the ground running
[1:28] come next spring when everyone else is ready to think about
[1:31] training again. So if you've been considering
[1:34] getting triathlon coaching or you're considering changing
[1:36] triathlon coaches, we'd love to have a conversation with you.
[1:39] There's a link in the show notes to book a membership call with
[1:42] us and we'll have a chat with you and see if we can how we can
[1:46] best help you out and whether you'd be a good fit for joining
[1:49] our triathlon team. On this episode of the show,
[1:52] we're going to be talking about the learnings that came from our
[1:56] athletes recently racing various Ironman races.
[1:59] So we have people racing, I'm on Wales, I'm on Italy, the Ironman
[2:03] World Championships out in Nice. And a lot of the race reports
[2:08] that came into our group were amazing.
[2:10] We get these really long detailed reports, our athletes
[2:13] right about exactly what went right, what went wrong, the
[2:17] things they learned and and athletes are really good at
[2:20] passing on information to other athletes to say, look, if I
[2:23] could do this again, here's a here's a mistake I made, I would
[2:26] definitely do this. Or here's something that worked
[2:29] really well for me, I'd definitely do this.
[2:32] And it occurred to me, all of these learnings are fantastic
[2:35] for my athletes and the team, but the wider podcast listeners
[2:38] and the wider listeners out on YouTube don't get to hear this.
[2:42] So I've collected some of the the key points and learnings
[2:45] from people racing these races over the last few weeks.
[2:48] So first up, number one that came up for a lot of athletes
[2:53] was punctures and knowing how to deal with them.
[2:56] So if you get a puncture on race day, you've got really unlucky.
[3:00] There are some things you can do ahead of time to perhaps
[3:02] mitigate the risks of it, but sometimes there's just nothing
[3:06] you can do and you just get unlucky.
[3:08] The things I think you can do to really mitigate the risks,
[3:11] change your tyres before race day.
[3:14] So a week, 10 days out before race day, change your tyres to a
[3:17] new pair of tyres that are really good.
[3:19] Put new inner tubes in if you use inner tubes, put new
[3:22] sealants in if you use tubeless. And then that way you know that
[3:25] you've got a really nice fresh set of rubber that there's going
[3:29] to be no issues caused by the fact your tyres might be old.
[3:32] In my very first triathlon way back 25 odd years ago, I raced
[3:37] on a borrowed bike and the tyres on it were so old they were
[3:40] perished on and one of them gave up the ghost during the race.
[3:42] And I only just about made it back.
[3:45] And it made me think, right, this would have been easy for me
[3:47] for the sake of at the time what would have been probably 10 lbs
[3:50] a tyre to change them. And my race might now be ended
[3:54] by the fact I haven't done that. So for everyone who spent the
[3:57] time and money and expense going to race an Iron Man or 70.3,
[4:02] it's well worth that investment of putting new tyres on for race
[4:05] day, even if they're not the very top end race tyres, a new
[4:10] fresh set of whatever you can afford can be really, really
[4:12] useful. OK, so the second thing you can
[4:15] do here is you can be really clear about, you can be really
[4:23] clear about how you're going to change the puncture and how
[4:27] you're going to behave if this actually happens.
[4:31] If you get a puncture, do you know how to change it?
[4:33] Are you comfortable changing it? Have you practised changing it?
[4:37] And if you haven't, you've got time in the two weeks of taper
[4:40] leading up to race day where you can go and practise this stuff,
[4:44] you can go and sit down in front of the TV and you can practise
[4:47] taking the tyre off, putting it back on again.
[4:49] So we had an issue, we had a couple of issues actually over
[4:52] the last few weeks. 1 athlete had the dream scenario where the
[4:55] puncture happens, they were well drilled, the tyre came off, they
[4:58] changed it, they put the tube in and away they went and it was a
[5:01] 5 minute job. Another athlete had a real
[5:04] nightmare and it wasn't anything the athlete had done wrong as it
[5:06] turned out. It was just one of those really
[5:09] difficult unlucky days where the tyre just wouldn't come off.
[5:12] People who were racing tried to help them, people who were
[5:15] watching tried to help and in the end a mechanic came along
[5:17] and and actually was the person who was managed to get it done.
[5:20] So sometimes you're going to get really unlucky, but practising
[5:24] and knowing what you're doing ahead of time means you can
[5:27] mitigate that risk. The thing our athlete did really
[5:29] well who had this challenge was stayed completely calm.
[5:33] Now to put it in context, the athlete lost over an hour at the
[5:36] roadside. By the time they set off they
[5:40] were in last place overall in the race.
[5:42] By the time they set back off they had them the motorbike
[5:45] chasing along them as the absolute last person on the
[5:48] road, but the athletes stayed totally calm.
[5:51] Eventually it got sorted, it was the the neutral service vehicle
[5:54] came along and helped out and the athlete rode on their own
[5:57] for an hour before they even caught any other athletes and
[6:01] ended up really chasing the cut offs all day.
[6:04] But I credit this athlete with the the mental composure for
[6:07] staying really calm during this because it's easy to get upset,
[6:11] think your race is over, to give up, to get really angry, to get
[6:14] really upset. They stayed really calm, got
[6:16] back in the race and managed to finish, you know, beat all the
[6:20] cut offs and finish the race overall in the first Iron Man,
[6:23] which is massively impressive given over an hour just standing
[6:27] at the roadside trying to fix this so the athlete in question
[6:32] knows who they are. Well done to you.
[6:34] Now that leads me on to point #2 know the cut offs on the course,
[6:38] know where the cut offs are, know what time the cut offs are,
[6:42] know how long you've got to do this event.
[6:45] So there's going to be an overall bike cut off and if you
[6:47] don't make it back to T2 by then, you won't be allowed to go
[6:50] out in the run. But there were also intermediate
[6:52] cut offs along the way. This was the challenge that our
[6:55] athlete faced. They were confident they could
[6:58] get round the course within the overall cut off, but it was
[7:01] those intermediate cut offs along the way.
[7:03] And they ended up finding out those cut offs from the Marshall
[7:07] that was riding with them and knowing, right, I'm really going
[7:10] to have to push harder on this section than I'd ideally want to
[7:13] just beat that cut off. So having a clear idea in your
[7:17] head of what the overall cut off is and what the intermediate cut
[7:19] offs are can really help you because there's nothing more
[7:22] heartbreaking than an athlete who who just misses an
[7:25] intermediate cut off and is confident that they were sort of
[7:28] measuring their effort all the way to get to the end.
[7:32] That's a really difficult situation to be in.
[7:34] So I've been really clear about what the intermediate cut offs
[7:37] are as well, especially if you're one of the athletes who
[7:40] is going to be towards the back of the field and for whom the
[7:43] cut offs are going to be a challenge.
[7:45] I'd really advise looking into that.
[7:47] Now the third issue that came up is for the swim, it's correctly
[7:53] seeding yourself for the start of the swim.
[7:56] When you go down to the swim start, they're going to be
[7:57] different pens for different athletes expecting to swim
[8:01] different times. There can be an art and a
[8:04] science to this because obviously the, the, the ultimate
[8:07] way to do this is everyone sees themselves in a pen with people
[8:10] who are similar speed swimmers to them.
[8:12] That's the perfect situation that nobody gets swim over and
[8:15] nobody has to swim around people.
[8:18] But there are some situations where a little bit of
[8:20] gamesmanship is going to come into play here.
[8:23] If you're trying to race or be at the pointy end, you might do
[8:26] well from seeding yourself a little bit higher up in the time
[8:28] bracket. So maybe in the time bracket, 10
[8:31] minutes faster than you think you're going to swim.
[8:33] And then you can find some faster feet and God willing, you
[8:36] might find a decent draught to follow around and that can
[8:40] really, really help you. The flip of that can be looking
[8:45] around and working out, especially with a sea swim.
[8:48] Like I'm on Wales, which is very tidal, and there's lots of
[8:51] currents involved. Knowing how the currents affect
[8:54] the swim at different times of the swim can depend on when you
[8:57] want to get in. So some feedback from our slower
[9:00] athletes was they got into the swim essentially in the correct
[9:04] pen for them. Say the hour 45 mark, there's
[9:08] already been 45 minutes worth of people going in at this point.
[9:12] And as time rolls by, the currents get stronger.
[9:15] And it's almost like the people for this year, the people who
[9:18] got into the water later would disproportionately affected by
[9:22] the fact that the tide and the current start moving faster the
[9:26] longer that goes on. So if you're a slower swimmer
[9:29] worried about beating the cut off, there can be a trade off
[9:31] here between wanting to swim with the athletes who are the
[9:34] same speed as you and getting to know the venue.
[9:37] So you realise, OK, if I do wait until the one hour 45 group, I'm
[9:43] going to be having a very strong current to swim against later on
[9:47] in the event. So there's some local knowledge
[9:50] comes into this. I'd advise you to find some
[9:53] athletes who know the swim venue really well, or talk to locals
[9:56] and work out what the tides are likely to be doing at your venue
[10:00] if it is a venue that's very much affected by the tides and
[10:02] currents. And then you can give yourself a
[10:04] little bit of a head start on and make your life a little bit
[10:08] easier. Because the last thing you want
[10:10] if you're a slower swimmer is kind of being doubly punished by
[10:13] having to swim into much stronger currents than you would
[10:16] ideally want to. Now another challenge that came
[10:20] up number 4 is knowing your fuelling numbers and sticking to
[10:24] them. So with our athletes, we, we go
[10:26] through a, a very rigorous preparation process of not only
[10:31] knowing power, speed, pace numbers before we go into
[10:34] events. So there's no guesswork about
[10:36] the sort of times athletes are going to do.
[10:38] We're rigorous about getting them to do their fuelling
[10:41] numbers as well. So knowing the grammes of carbs
[10:43] per hour, knowing the amount of electrolytes per hour, and
[10:46] knowing the amount of fluid per hour that they're going to need
[10:49] in. So having a really clear idea
[10:52] about those is super important. It's going to vary for
[10:55] everybody. It's trainable to a certain
[10:57] extent. So if you want these athletes
[10:59] who's going to need higher amounts of carbohydrate, you're
[11:02] probably going to have to train to be able to increase that
[11:05] amount of carbohydrate you can safely absorb without getting
[11:08] tummy problems. So know your fuelling numbers
[11:11] and stick to them on race day. Now, we've seen some issues with
[11:15] some athletes who have either eaten or drank a lot less than
[11:20] they planned to or a lot more than they planned to.
[11:24] And those issues typically show up as the low blood sugar, the
[11:28] bonk feeling as it's described, the low blood sugar feeling of
[11:31] just not having energy or the opposite end.
[11:33] If people have had a lot more than they've been used to, they
[11:36] can feel very full, uncomfortable, bloated, and that
[11:39] the extremes can have to go and use the portaloo to either be
[11:42] sick or to need to go to the toilet repeatedly.
[11:45] So having a good idea of what your number is per hour and then
[11:49] having a bit of flexibility either side of it is good.
[11:52] But if you're an athlete who's trained at 60 grammes of carbs
[11:55] an hour, it is not a good idea to try 120 grammes of carbs an
[12:00] hour on race day for the first time if you've never done this
[12:03] before. So know your numbers and stick
[12:06] to the not necessarily the absolute number, but stick
[12:09] within that safe range that you've tried and tested before.
[12:13] If you're new to all of this and you're racing Iron Man,
[12:15] particularly next year, my advice here is contact Precision
[12:18] Fuel and Hydration. There's links in the show notes.
[12:20] They'll do a free video call with one of their experts for
[12:23] you and help you understand all of this.
[12:25] Absolutely fantastic company. Now the next challenge that came
[12:30] up #5 is managing challenges and niggles on race day.
[12:35] So things are going to come up. We've already mentioned
[12:38] punctures as one of them. There are going to be challenges
[12:41] that come up on race day. And my advice to athletes, as
[12:43] always, make a plan for the things that might happen and
[12:47] don't worry about the things you can't control if they do happen.
[12:50] But if you can do some control over these, make a plan that
[12:54] you've got something ready to go to help you out.
[12:57] So for example, an athlete who'd been having ankle problems, some
[13:01] runs were OK, some weren't, had some extra ankle strapping in
[13:05] the special needs bag. And as it turned out, the
[13:07] athlete needed that. They stopped at the special
[13:09] needs bag, took the shoe and sock off, strapped the ankle up.
[13:13] It wasn't an ideal situation and again, I wouldn't advise
[13:16] training on an injury, but in race day, if that happens, the
[13:19] strapping is the thing that helped this athlete complete the
[13:22] back half of the marathon. So it's brilliant they had it
[13:25] there and could take care of it themselves.
[13:27] Much, much better than thinking I wish I had some strapping or
[13:31] I'm going to try and find a first aider who might have some
[13:34] strapping and can help me out. So things like that, that you
[13:37] can use your special needs bag for to have things in for a
[13:40] contingency can be a race saver. I'm always advising athletes to
[13:44] have at least one spare tube and one spare CO2 in the special
[13:48] needs bag. Have some spare nutrition in
[13:50] there in case you drop it. Have a spare bottle in there in
[13:53] case you need it. Have a warm top in case you need
[13:57] it. In case it rains in the middle
[13:58] of the the marathon and you're going a lot slower than you
[14:01] thought. Things like this that you can
[14:03] put in there that are essentially disposable but could
[14:07] save your race. It's even not a bad idea in some
[14:09] instances to have a couple of paracetamol in the bag just for
[14:14] those emergencies where you might need them.
[14:16] Again, we wouldn't advise that in training all the time, but it
[14:19] can be something that can be an absolute lifesaver on race day
[14:23] if you need it. So plan to make use of the
[14:26] special needs bag, just not just for what you plan it for, but
[14:30] for the eventualities that might happen that you can take care of
[14:34] if they do happen. Now next challenge that came up,
[14:38] and this is really common, I heard this feedback from Iron
[14:42] Man World Championships in Nice and Wales and Italy and probably
[14:45] every race report I've read this year.
[14:48] It's the challenge of staying off your feet the day before the
[14:51] race in in the day and age of people wearing smartwatches, you
[14:54] can have a look at the end of the day.
[14:56] Athletes are saying hadn't realised it.
[14:58] I did over 22,000 steps the day before the race.
[15:02] I was on my feet all day. I spent a lot longer than I
[15:05] meant to at the Expo. I was going backwards and
[15:07] forwards between the transition and the hotel.
[15:10] With a bit of planning, you should be able to stay off your
[15:12] feet almost the entire day the day before, and I'm going to
[15:15] make sure you're really well rested.
[15:18] At the very least, you want it to be an average day on your
[15:21] feet. You don't want to be seeing
[15:22] 20,000 plus steps when you usually maybe average 10,000.
[15:27] So plan that. Know that there's going to be
[15:30] the excitement of the Expo. Go the day before or the day
[15:33] before and plan to rest up, be in your hotel, lying on the bed,
[15:37] do as much resting and recovering as you can do that
[15:40] day and don't waste the energy on things that aren't directly
[15:43] related to your race performance on race day.
[15:47] Now, another tip from the swim. A couple of athletes have said
[15:50] this. They've written in the race
[15:52] report. I found that although I train
[15:55] breathing bilaterally in the swim, on race day, I had to go
[15:58] to just just breathing on my strong side.
[16:01] I was either really out of breath or I just didn't feel
[16:03] confident on my my off side, my weak side.
[16:07] So my message here to athletes is that's totally fine.
[16:10] It's absolutely fine to race and just breathe to one side.
[16:14] A lot of the very best triathlon swimmers will do that will push
[16:19] the idea of learning to breathe bilaterally in training, mainly
[16:22] because it's a really efficient way of evening out your stroke.
[16:26] But come race day, you should be prepared to swim in the way that
[16:29] is most efficient for you. And if that means just breathing
[16:32] on one side, that's fantastic. If you have managed to learn to
[16:35] breathe bilaterally, it gives you the option to breathe on
[16:38] your weak side if you need to. If the sun's rising on one side
[16:42] or the chops coming from One Direction, it gives you that in
[16:45] your armoury. But don't feel that you have to
[16:47] do the swim breathing bilaterally on race day.
[16:50] Just do what you need to do in terms of breathing.
[16:54] Now a really big one that came out of both nice and Ironman
[16:57] whales is consider your gearing for hilly courses really
[17:01] carefully and make the adjustments well before race
[17:04] day. So the the mechanicals on bikes
[17:08] have made massive leaps and bounds in the last couple of
[17:11] years. Standard road and TT bikes can
[17:13] now run a 1 to one gear ratio. And by that I mean you can have
[17:17] a 34 on the front and a 34 on the back, or in some cases a 36
[17:23] and a 36 on the back. That one to one ratio is an
[17:26] absolute lifesaver. If there are really long or
[17:29] really steep hills or both at the race you're going to, the
[17:33] last thing you want to do is be forced out of the saddle to
[17:36] grind up a really steep hill because every time you have to
[17:39] push with tremendous muscular force, you're burning matches
[17:42] that you ideally would like to use later in the ride or for the
[17:45] marathon. So if your bike doesn't come
[17:48] equipped at the moment with a 3434, that one to one ratio,
[17:53] look at what it would cost for you to change that on your bike.
[17:56] In most cases you can just change the chain rings on the
[17:58] front, you can change the cassette on the back.
[18:01] You might have to change the holder alia to make the cage
[18:04] long enough, but a lot of the more modern ones are set up to
[18:08] have that that one to one ratio already and take a 36 cassette
[18:12] and sometimes even bigger on the back of the bike.
[18:15] If that's the case for you, it's well worth spending that extra
[18:18] money. You know, when you chain a new
[18:20] cassette and a new MEC might cost you, I don't know, between
[18:23] 50 and 200 lbs depending on the level of your group set, but it
[18:27] can be an absolute lifesaver both for training and for
[18:30] racing. And the last one here is is a
[18:34] brilliant learning that came out of tonnes of race reports.
[18:37] I was really worried about the bike cut off, but I was much
[18:41] faster on race day than I thought it was going to be.
[18:44] And this is something we say to athletes, you do need to be
[18:46] informed and you need to be well aware.
[18:48] Like if you are going to a race and you're going to be up
[18:51] against the cut off, it's good to be aware of that.
[18:54] But there tends to be a difference between the time you
[18:57] will take on race day and the time you would ride that same
[19:01] course in in training. And the difference can be quite
[19:04] big. It can be up to 30 minutes for
[19:06] the same power output. And the reason is on race day,
[19:09] often, certainly at the better races, roads are closed or the
[19:13] junctions are managed, you won't have to stop.
[19:15] You'll have the excitement and adrenaline of race day, but
[19:18] mainly the traffic management and the, the junction management
[19:21] allows you to not even have to slow down.
[19:24] You don't need to stop and go into a shop to get a drink
[19:26] because you can pick them up from the aid station.
[19:28] So you will go a lot faster on your bike on race day.
[19:31] So for those of you who were really worried about the cut
[19:34] off, but you're making the, you're making the the right 180
[19:38] K in the within the time limit in training, you're almost
[19:42] certainly going to be faster on race day.
[19:44] So take that confidence in on race day knowing obviously you
[19:47] need to be prepared for the fact you're going to be chasing the
[19:50] cut off, but you're probably going to find you've got 15 to
[19:54] maybe 30 minutes more time to beat that cut off than you think
[19:58] you possibly have. OK.
[20:01] That brings us to the end of of this week's section.
[20:04] I hope you found it really useful.
[20:05] If you've raced I'm on Wales or the I'm on World Champs in Nice
[20:09] or any Iron Man recently, I hope it's gone really well for you.
[20:11] If you've got races upcoming, I hope these learnings from our
[20:15] athletes help you think about some stuff and make preparations
[20:18] so that you can have your best race possible on race day.
[20:21] And that brings us to the end of this week's show.
[20:25] Here are some discount codes and deals for you at
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[20:35] You can use their free fuel and hydration planning tool to
[20:37] receive a personalised strategy for your next race.
[20:40] The planner will help you understand your own
[20:41] carbohydrate, electrolyte and fluid needs so you can refine
[20:45] your strategy during training. And don't forget you can also
[20:48] book a free 1 to one video consultation with PF and H's
[20:51] Athletes Support team and they'll be happy to help you
[20:54] nail your race nutrition plan and help you perform at your
[20:57] best come race day. And over at teamoxygenaddict.com
[21:00] I think we've got the most comprehensive triathlon coaching
[21:03] programme for busy age groupers. If you're looking for high
[21:06] quality, proven coaching for Iron Man or 70.3 triathlon this
[21:10] year, you can check out the details of our coaching packages
[21:13] on our website. And the big news from this week
[21:16] onwards is Team Oxygen Addict is open again for new members.
[21:19] So if you're interested, there's a link in the show notes to book
[21:22] a membership call with us and see if you'd be a good fit for
[21:25] joining the team. If you've already joined our
[21:27] waiting list during the summer, then we'll be getting in contact
[21:30] with you to offer you the chance to book a membership call first.
[21:33] But act fact, act fast guys. We would love to have you be
[21:37] part of our team going forwards and help you reach triathlon
[21:40] goals for next year. So remember, there's links in
[21:43] the show notes so you don't have to remember them.
[21:45] And until next week, have a great safe training and racing
[21:48] week. I'm coach Rob Wilby, and you've
[21:51] been listening to the Oxygen Addict podcast.

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