Ok - so like many others I suspect, I (will) feel fully trained and ready to tackle Ironman Wisconsin in a couple months. The thing that bothers me is that I’ve put all of this training time in and I would hate for something out of my control to ruin the day (crash, too many flats, ripped off goggles and losing my contacts, broken chain, etc.) So…I’m adding some “contingency training” to my schedule - practicing putting my goggles back on while wading in the water, changing front and back tires as efficiently as I can, etc. So two questions:
What is the best way to get your goggles back on while wading in the water? Is there a trick? I wear contacts, so swimming without goggles is not an option unless I want to be completely blind the rest of the day.
What other practical/realistic things can I practice to be prepared to handle that might otherwise end my race day?Thanks!
You mean while treading water?
I usually have to go vertical, do a couple breast stroke kicks while I re-adjust my goggles. If you completely lose them, I guess you are SOL. You can also put your goggle strap under your cap, but to me, this seems like it make it harder to fix them if they got knocked. You can probably flip over backwards and fix them on your back, but that would mean that you risk getting completely trampled by swimmers if you are FOP or MOP. I’ve had a lot of swim contact in IMs and never had a problem. I usually have an arm out near my face that protects me, I guess…
put extra contacts in your transition bags, I always also have extras in with my flat tire stuff. They are tiny and if you have extras it seems to ensure that you will never need one.
Always put your cap on last, over the goggles. Cover as much of the strap as possible.
Put new tires on about 2or3 weeks before the race so you can put > 100 miles on them.
Service and clean the bike thoroughly in the last week.
I second the suggestion to have extra contacts stashed in a couple of places. I lost a contact at mile 100 of the bike during IMF. I had an extra in my jersey pocket but decided to wait until T2 to put it in.
Just be careful about asking for a mirror in the transition tent. I got a LOT of crazy looks. The volunteer was nice enough to let me know they didn’t have a mirror, but that I looked great. I finally used a side view mirror on a truck at the first aid station. Used some water to rinse off my fingers and put the contact in.
If your goggles are under your cap and you have to adjust them it’s much better than if they were over your cap and you lost them. Put them under your cap.