Your pacing strategy seems about right. Take the swim easy, 1:05 looks like a good target. I targeted keeping an easy/moderate pace, staying away from pegging my HR.

Bike, I planned on a negative split. First lap push what I thought was an "all day pace", however my long training ride HR was ~135-140 and my race pace ~155. Take on calories before the heat builds. Watch the wind direction, I rode with a high/more relaxed position with the tail wind to eat/absorb calories and then stayed aero and tight during the head wind sections. This strategy worked well both years, passed a lot of people that couldn't ride aero on the head wind sections (particularly important on the second lap when heading back to town) they've changed the course a bit since then (the wind both years came from town (East?)).

From a taper standpoint I dropped 33% of the distance/volume per week starting 3 weeks out. Got very little in the last week due to travel etc.

Packed a ton of Enduralites both years to deal with the heat.

Also, the best advice I received is to stay away from the walking "pity parties" (large groups walking the run course feeling sorry for themselves, telling war stories). Run your own pace/race.

I finished 10:50 and 11:10 (last name eastwood if you want to look at splits 2003 & 2005)

Good luck

Impressive splits BioTechBlues, especially the bike and swim splits.

I've had the same race day experience with my heart rate within the exact same ranges. I'd like to hit the first lap around 135 - 145 and then be OK with 140 - 150 on the second lap. I did a century ride in Feb and my heart rate averaged about 141 while averaging about 18.6MPH on the bike which seemed perfect to me. But then at IronmanCA 70.3 earlier this year, I had a tough time getting my heart rate down below 155 after the swim and I rode about 19.6 for that ride. Having that swim in advance of the bike seems to make my HR creep up about 10 BPM.

As for the run, I averaged 169BPM for IronmanCA 70.3 which seemed high to me for a 1:34 half marathon split but I didn't feel completely spent after the run either. So I'm thinking if I can keep things down in the 155 - 160 range on the run, I'll be able to hang on a bit better.

Great advice too on the bike position. I'm really feeling ready for this thing and the last thing I want to do is end up in a pity party. I'm sure it will be hard not to walk at points, but I didn't spend 8 months getting up at 5:30am and training hard to walk. Having said that, the only way I won't finish this thing is if I'm unconscious.

FWIW- I walked a lot of the aid stations both years.

I don't know how else to out this so I will.......just keeping running/stay with YOUR PLAN! I have twice set out on my IM runs to run aid-station to aid station and then slow down (notice I didn't say stop/walk) through the aid stations to make sure I take in as much nutrition/fluids as my body will take and have run the entire 26.2 both times. I AM NOT a runner (5'8" 165lbs and heavy-legged) but posted 4:20 and 4:15 after going sub 6 on the bike......so the moral is even a slower, steady run is faster than going too hard and having to walk later!! I, in time, have found a tempo/HR that allows me to "run forever".....if you've found that HR/comfort zone in training...fight to get into that zone after the bike and try to stay there throughout....

See ya there....we might be in the same "zone" on the run as I think you'll have me by 10 min on the swim and I might be right behind you off the bike!

Paul

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Another quick question since their seem to be quite a few veterans chiming in. What is the terrain like at the bike exit? I assume you cover a lot of distance from the change tent to the bike exit, so I would like to leave my shoes clipped in the pedals if the bike exit is flat or down hill. The exception for me is if we have to climb right away. If that is the case, I will put them on prior to exit.

Thanks in advance.

Dennis

You hit the nail on the head for me Paul. I have an adaptable and hopefully simple plan and I'm going to execute it as closely as I can. I'll be looking for you out there and cheering your efforts.

My long runs lately have confirmed my "run forever" zone versus my "I went to hard early" zone. But not having done a marathon off of a 112 mile bike before, I'm wondering if that tempo/HR is what I can expect on race day. I think my HR on the bike is probably going to be a little bit higher than expected especially over the first 30-40 miles. But I'm hoping by the time I get to the marathon I'll have things closer to the zones that I've experienced in training.

It seems like the advice that I've heard on the worst case scenario is just slowdown/walk for a couple of minutes, get fluid and calories in then start moving forward. Ironman is not about how fast you go but how little you slow down.

I found that if I compared my HR versus my perceived HR on race day, my actual was about 5 beats higher on race day than in training (I like 144 in training but ended up doing about 149 at IMFL at the same perceived effort) - probably cumulative from the length of the day.....but I did IMKY last year and had my watch/HR monitor flood during the swim so I was stuck doing the bike and run on PE alone and ended up with my 4:15......so I feel confident that if I hold to my "I can run forever" PE and stay on my drinking plan (that doesn't sound quite right, does it...oh well!) I should be O.K.

I'm not overly confident right now as I have had a crappy spring as far as training goes so instead of trying to push to go 11:40 or so, I might just have fun and see if I can break 12.........injuries suck!

I'll be hollerin' encouragement at you as well!

Paul

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Sponsored by RUDY PROJECT...check out http://www.e-rudy.com
Was mich nicht umbringt, macht mich stärker.
"What does not destroy me, makes me stronger."
-Friedrich Nietzsche, Götzen-Dämmerung (1899)

--In reply to ---
Another quick question since their seem to be quite a few veterans chiming in. What is the terrain like at the bike exit?
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the transition area is in a park. So you are on grass etc. The swim to bike transition distance is MUCH shorter then some races like Florida where you had to jog a fair distance because the beach is so wide. You probably have to run less then a block from the water to your bike. Once exiting on the bike, you head through town along the lake. It is mostly flat I would say. But one thing that I like about CDA is you won't/don't spend a lot of time "commuting" in the transitions. Pretty well designed in my opinion.

The athlete guide is up.

http://www.ironmancda.com/08CDAathguide.pdf

hopefully the "July 2008" on the cover is a typo....or else I'm peaking way too soon.....

Guess I have to change my plane tickets and hotel reservations. Maybe the water will warmer.

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Lisa Walser-Anderson, ATC,CSCS

Yet another theme for my Iron-mares.

In the past, most IMNA races have forbidden shoes clipped on pedals. With a field over 2000, there's just too damn many people at the T1 exit for this to be safe.

An IM CDA veteran will have to confirm if this is true at CDA, but it has been true at most other events.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Good one, dude!

You make a good point buk. Hadnt really thought of that. Thanks