First IM in November. Age-grouper without delusions of grandeur. I just want to do my best and finish. The venue will be B2B. A few things (of many) I don’t have down yet. 1st, all the special needs bags. Can someone walk me through what you would put in these, and how they work? I never imagined stopping on the bike, but it looks like that’s what you do at some point to access a bag? What type of repair kit do you keep on your bike (okay, I snuck that question in)
2nd question: How often do you change clothes? At T1 do you put on a cycling jersey and shorts, or go the whole way in a tri suit? Same question at the run, lose the chamois for running shorts?
Bonus quesion: I did a 1/2 last season and got scorched. At least in IM coverage I’ve watched I’ve never seen someone stop to re-apply sunscree, so how do you keep from getting fried on the course?
Experiences based on my very recent first IM (IMC yesterday):
Special Needs - a lot of people put ‘emergency food’ in these - some sort of solid comfort food. I didn’t as my nutrition strategy consisted of gel flasks and on-course nutrition and I honestly couldn’t think of anything that would be worth stopping for. For bike special needs I had a ziploc with a big dollop of chamois creme, 2 extra c02 canisters and an extra tube. For run special needs I had a small stick of bodyglide. Probably could have put a pair of socks in run special needs too - ended up not needing them but I don’t think it’s a bad idea. Repair kit - co2, tube, mini inflator. I trained all year with a minimal amount of crap on my bike and no flats, so I figured a double flat wasn’t enough of a probability to worry about, and carrying less stuff was the way to go.
I wore tri shorts and a tri top under my wetsuit and wore them the whole race. Changed socks in t2. Saw lots of people with running shorts but I’m comfortable running in my tri shorts so I didn’t see any reason to make a change.
The sunscreen crew in T1 covered me from head to toe in a thick layer of the stuff. I was fine the whole day. I did notice that some of the aid stations on the run had sunscreen but obviously this will vary from race to race. I’d say err on the side of caution on this one.
okay, you’ll pack two special needs bags in the morning before the race. One for bike, one for run - you’ll get these ~half way through bike run (check race details to be sure especially if you’re planning to be very dependent upon those calories). Some races have you stop and get your bag some have them handed to you as you roll easily by. For the bike it would be “plan A” nutritional favorites - fuel you love that is different from what the RD (race director) is serving. It could be a drink in a bike bottle (example: Cyto’s muscle milk blended with banana, creamy peanut butter and quick cool oaks) or it could be your favorite bar, gel, or sandwich - you’d be shocked at what folks put in there…and, some folks don’t even deposit one, they simply race on what the course is serving (that’s your plan “b” in case you don’t get your bag). This is the same for the run but I’d suggest something salty or savory as the never ending sweets that you consume can become boring during the run. Perhaps your favorite caffinated soft drink (flat) in there too if you like?
As for repair for ultra distance (I’m gonna guess you’re running clinchers) - go with 2 tubes and 3 co2 unless your prone to flats then go with 3 tubes.
As far as chaning close…you’re at a fork in the road: if you want to save time then swim with the top and bottoms you want to ride/run in under your wetsuit/speed suit. If you want to be extra, extra comfy then go naked under the suit and take too much time in T1 to dry off, lube up and put on bike shorts and top. I can’t recomend that, it’s nice to keep the momentum going with a quick transition. You can put fresh extras in your T2 bag and then decide on the day if you want to go into clean/dry stuff (especially nice if chafing occurs). Regardless, I recomend fresh socks in T2 and perpahs some lube between your toes.
Lastly, try Hawaiian Island Creations 50+ sun block before the swim and in T2 it works well.
First IM in November. Age-grouper without delusions of grandeur. I just want to do my best and finish. The venue will be B2B. A few things (of many) I don’t have down yet. 1st, all the special needs bags. Can someone walk me through what you would put in these, and how they work? I never imagined stopping on the bike, but it looks like that’s what you do at some point to access a bag? What type of repair kit do you keep on your bike (okay, I snuck that question in)
2nd question: How often do you change clothes? At T1 do you put on a cycling jersey and shorts, or go the whole way in a tri suit? Same question at the run, lose the chamois for running shorts?
Bonus quesion: I did a 1/2 last season and got scorched. At least in IM coverage I’ve watched I’ve never seen someone stop to re-apply sunscree, so how do you keep from getting fried on the course?
Special Needs–Put in a few things that you would like but not essential to your day. You man not get your bag, you don’t get it back, it will be sitting in the sun all day, if you drop it-lose it etc you will need to be prepared to life with the nutrition they give you or what you are already carring. I put my 2 bottles of favorite beverage in it and try to get it and restock with out putting my feet down. The run has more electrolytes-for me an empty waterbottle with Nuun and cytomax and add ice and water at aid station.
2.For clothes to wear. I like to put on Bike shorts for the bike. It takes all of 30 seconds to peel off a swimsuit in the tent and pull on some shorts. While I am wasting tiime I pull on some socks before bike shoes. For a day as long as this, comfort helps mentally and physically, and whats 30-40 seconds at T1 if it ensures a little comfort. I wear the same tritop for all 3 legs. For the run, you’ll come back into the tent, sit down and pour out your T2 bag. You can change into fresh socks and a fresh tri short, put on your shoes, running hat, maybe some special nutrition, and then out the door. Again wasting 30-45 seconds to get yourself fresh and comfortable for the run.
3.For nutrition and clothes you have two more months to dial it in. Well before the race you should know exactly what you want/need to eat and drink and when. Likewise what you are most comfortable wearing.
The 5th bag is dry clothes. Wear several layers to the start to warmup. I hate seeing all these people in the predawn morning shivering as they get ready for the race. You will fill the bag with these clothes and you may need them come evening after you are done.
Good luck and have fun!
BSN: Nutrition for second half of race (I used concentrated InfiniT) and a spare set of spares in case
I had flatted. (i.e. my wedge bag had two tubes, 2 CO2, tire levers, but I had a spare tube and CO2
in BSN in case I had to use one during the first half. There, snuck in an extra answer).
RSN: I had a different shirt and hat just because I knew it would be dark and dry clothes seemed like
a good idea (like you, no delusions of adequacy)
T bags.
T1: Out → Bike helmet (w/visor). Socks. Shoes.
In → wetsuit, goggles
T2: Out → running shorts (wish I hadn’t and stuck with trishorts for the bottoms, but didn’t own DeSoto at the time ). sunglasses. running shoes
In → Helmet.
Dry clothes: I had a sherpa, so didn’t worry about it.
As far as chaning close…you’re at a fork in the road: if you want to save time then swim with the top and bottoms you want to ride/run in under your wetsuit/speed suit. If you want to be extra, extra comfy then go naked under the suit and take too much time in T1 to dry off, lube up and put on bike shorts and top. I can’t recomend that, it’s nice to keep the momentum going with a quick transition. You can put fresh extras in your T2 bag and then decide on the day if you want to go into clean/dry stuff (especially nice if chafing occurs). Regardless, I recomend fresh socks in T2 and perpahs some lube between your toes.
Hold up. People are going naked under their wetsuits? I changed between the bike and run for my first one, but I at least had my bike shorts on under my wesuit.
I’ll say this. Whatever you don’t wear under your wetsuit will be a bitch to get on in T1, because your skin will be all wet. Combined with fatigue from the swim this can make for a very long time getting dressed.
Bonus quesion: I did a 1/2 last season and got scorched. At least in IM coverage I’ve watched I’ve never seen someone stop to re-apply sunscree, so how do you keep from getting fried on the course? <<
Put on a layer of sunscreen the night before. The next morning, put on another layer. Works like a charm.
With a similar situation (no delusions of grandeur) for myself, I put all the normal stuff i.e. bike shoes, helmet, running shoes, socks, etc. in the bags but also food stuff that I thought would make me happy when I felt really bad, especially on the run. I had gummy worms and crunchy cheese puffs in my run bags (and that got the folks helping in the transition tent laughing). Did it help? It did not keep me from walking a portion of the run but it did put a smile on my face for a while despite feeling like stopping and taking a nap.
I didn’t change clothes but spent extra time in T2 drying and bodygliding my feet to prevent blisters which were a problem in the previous year’s IM race. I use/carry my own nutrition on the bike and just get water on the course but picked up a new bike bottle from the bike special needs bag.
As much as the mantra “don’t try anything on race day that you haven’t tried in training” is hammered into our heads, in my opinion this only applies if things are going well. If you are really hurting or think you might not make it, then I’d try anything and everything while on the course to try and make things better even if you’ve never tried it in training. In my first race, I had a hot spot (start of a blister) on my foot on the run about 12mi in. I knew this was going to be a problem but the water stop had some vaseline which I slathered on and it got me through the race. I had never used this in training and haven’t since (bodyglide is what I use now, pre-run to prempt the problem).
Wear something under your wetsuit. If there are peelers, they will be outside the changing area.
If you are looking for maximum comfort, go ahead and change shorts: swim suit, bike shorts + creme, run/tri shorts. This will take a couple more minutes in T1+T2, so, unless you are “racing” and need every minute you can get…
-Joe
1st, all the special needs bags. Can someone walk me through what you would put in these, and how they work? I never imagined stopping on the bike, but it looks like that’s what you do at some point to access a bag? What type of repair kit do you keep on your bike (okay, I snuck that question in)
2nd question: How often do you change clothes? At T1 do you put on a cycling jersey and shorts, or go the whole way in a tri suit? Same question at the run, lose the chamois for running shorts?
Bonus quesion: I did a 1/2 last season and got scorched. At least in IM coverage I’ve watched I’ve never seen someone stop to re-apply sunscree, so how do you keep from getting fried on the course?
Thanks for any help or humor you might offer.
1st. question: I would not use it, because stopping seems like more of a hassle then to take the food directly with me. I use a tri suit with pockets, and I put the bars I need in my pockets in T1. I keep 3 pair of inner tubes, tire lifters, and a hand pump with me on the bike.
2nd question. Fully depends on the weather. I always use a tri short that I can swim/bike/run with. If weather is nice, I keep my triathlon top under the wetsuit and go through transitions without changing. In one case in cold weather I have put a thermoshirt, windstopper, long sleeve cycling shirt on in T1 and changed to a running shirt in T2. So take cycling clothes with you for all kinds of weather, and decide what you put on in T1 the day before the race after you checked the detailed weather forecast. Don’t forget you come out of cold water, and get on the bike at 8 am or so. That means that you should check the minimum temperature as well. And you can always take of a piece of clothing on the bike, so rather be on the safe side if the weather is bad.
bonus question: tri clothing is brutal for sunburns. I try to expose my shoulders to the sun before a full distance race, apply sun screen before the swim, and if the sun is shining, I would apply it in on my shoulders in T2 as well.
Great answers to your questions so far, especially the one about suncreening the night before as well as race morning.
I’ll throw in a few comments specific to B2B since I did it last year.
My tri outfit was on under my wetsuit and stayed on for the whole race, but I did put on stuff over top of that. When I packed to fly down to Wilmington from Canada I threw in some cool weather cycling gear “just in case”. Felt like overkill, since I was looking forward to traveling south for a warm race. Thank god I did.
I hear the night before the race last year was the coldest Halloween in Wilmington history, so perhaps it was out of the ordinary to find race morning only a few degrees above freezing. We all knew it would warm up, but the question was how warmly you needed to dress for those first couple of hours on the bike. My T1 bag had arm warmers, leg warmers, socks, shoes, a dry cycling jersey (to go over the tri top I had under my wetsuit), and a skull cap. I also packed gloves and a cycling vest in the jersey pockets. I used EVERYTHING, and I think it gave me a real advantage over those who jumped on their bikes in typical tri gear (no feeling like I had to bike hard to stay warm, no problem digesting calories).
One advantage to being fully clothed was that sun exposure on the bike was not a problem! My T2 bag included a long sleeve very light weight tech tee which helped reflect the sun (I put it on as I ran. My double sunscreen pre-application did prove useful for my face neck and legs though.
I packed an extra tube or 2 in special needs to supplement what I had on the bike but didn’t need them. I put extra fuel belt bottles in my run special needs bag which I did stop for. While races don’t guarantee you can get special needs bags back, I find they often bring them back to the transition area and you can hunt through them for your stuff if you are so inclined. I got my tubes back at B2B.
Good luck and have fun at your first Iron Distance race! You will enjoy B2B.
I did a 1/2 last season and got scorched. At least in IM coverage I’ve watched I’ve never seen someone stop to re-apply sunscree, so how do you keep from getting fried on the course?
Sunscreen application is key. To get full effcet of an SPF do the following. Shower with soap and water the morning of the race. Then right after you towel off apply a generous amount of 30 spf or higher sunscreen( I like the Coppertone sport line) to all exposed areas. stand naked and let the sunscreen dry and absorb into your skin. Sunscreen applied later on in the day due to water anmd olis in your skin may work at only a fraction of the SPF.
BSN: Nutrition for second half of race (I used concentrated InfiniT) and a spare set of spares in case
I had flatted. (i.e. my wedge bag had two tubes, 2 CO2, tire levers, but I had a spare tube and CO2
in BSN in case I had to use one during the first half. There, snuck in an extra answer).
same here… I just took on water at all the aid stations to go w/ my concentrate. Stopping to swap bottles took only a few seconds; they had the bag ready to hand over before I rolled up. Kept it simple: only one downtube bottle for the fuel and aero bottle right under my nose for water. BSN @ IMC is more like 2/3 of the way than 1/2, so I also carried enough for 2 flats and had a 3rd set to re-stock in SN if I’d already used one by then but fortunately I didn’t.
Run, I had a re-supply of endurolytes, which I used, and a can of V-8 (thought I might like the salty flavor) and spare gel (brand/flavor I like better than what was supplied on course) which I ended up tossing. Also a flask of concentrated Infinit which I cut w/ water at the aid stations similar to the bike.
Wore the same shorts/top the whole way, under the wetsuit. At a minimum, you want to wear something under the wetsuit if there are volunteers to help you strip before you get your bags and head to the change tent… you actually lay on your back and they pull the legs off upwards; shudder to picture it from their view if you’re dangling buck under there. No socks on the bike (would probably induce a foot/calf cramp trying to get them on wet feet after the swim), but put a pair on for the run.
Sunscreen… put it on thick well before the start so it has time to soak in, then had a can of spray-on to give another quick hit in transition, but they also had volunteers heading out of T2 ready to slap more on you if needed.
Definitely have a plan, but try to build in a few options and keep a flexible mindset so you can adapt if needed.
Wish I had time to reply to all, these responses have supplied a WEALTH of information, thank you everyone! The sunscreen tip, I’ve never heard of the double application right at the beginning, but I will certainly be doing that this time!
For those of you who do not switch to running shorts for the marathon, do you re-apply any type of chamois cream or vaseline? I remember a little chaffing from my 1/2. Still leaning toward running shorts though.
Great Idea to bring a jersey to wear over the tri top. Never occured to me. I don’t have a long sleeved jersey, but I do have arm warmers, and I suppose I should pick up some leg warmers too.
Does anyone know if they have wetsuit strippers at B2B? If that’s the case, do you mark your suit somehow so it can be claimed later, where does it go?
Another B2B specific question: When you arrive in T2, do you rack your own bike, or does someone take it from you, and how does that work? If someone takes it, do you have time to tell them anything? For instance, if they take my bike and try to rack it by the seat it’s just going to fall over and land on somebody elses bike because it’s so tall, it has to be racked by the hydrotail. Man, I wish I had gone to watch one of these before doing one…
I have an Underarmour “heatgear” long-sleeve shirt that has a claimed spf of 30 or 40 (can’t remember). Its thin, skintight, and cool.
I’ve worn it at races underneath the wetsuit purely for sunscreen purposes. It does cover your number on your arm, which may or may not be an issue.
I asked the race director at the KS 70.3 (an ironman branded race) in advance and they didn’t care, as long as I had my normal race number displayed on the run and the bike number physically on the bike. You “have” to do those anyway, so I didn’t see an issue. Obviously, I don’t have wind tunnel data on it, but if it’s smooth and skintight, I wouldn’t anticipate a significant disadvantage.
Wish I had time to reply to all, these responses have supplied a WEALTH of information, thank you everyone! The sunscreen tip, I’ve never heard of the double application right at the beginning, but I will certainly be doing that this time!
For those of you who do not switch to running shorts for the marathon, do you re-apply any type of chamois cream or vaseline? I remember a little chaffing from my 1/2. Still leaning toward running shorts though.
Great Idea to bring a jersey to wear over the tri top. Never occured to me. I don’t have a long sleeved jersey, but I do have arm warmers, and I suppose I should pick up some leg warmers too.
Does anyone know if they have wetsuit strippers at B2B? If that’s the case, do you mark your suit somehow so it can be claimed later, where does it go?
Another B2B specific question: When you arrive in T2, do you rack your own bike, or does someone take it from you, and how does that work? If someone takes it, do you have time to tell them anything? For instance, if they take my bike and try to rack it by the seat it’s just going to fall over and land on somebody elses bike because it’s so tall, it has to be racked by the hydrotail. Man, I wish I had gone to watch one of these before doing one…
Yes they have wetsuit strippers, and they give you your wetsuit after they strip it (and you carry it the quarter mile to the tent). Some feel it is faster to run in the suit and strip it themselves in the tent. I got stripped and carried the suit which was no problem. You put your suit in your numbered T1 bag once you are changed.
Someone grabs your bike at T2, then you run through racks with bags hanging on them sorted by number (same type of system as T1). Works great. Don’t worry about telling them anything, especially whether or not you peed on the bike! Somebody asked at the race briefing last year whether the bike catchers wear latex gloves, which got a good laugh.
**I have an Underarmour “heatgear” long-sleeve shirt that has a claimed spf of 30 or 40 (can’t remember). Its thin, skintight, and cool. **
I use exactly the same strategy.
Only thing I’ve ever burned is the back of hands. It does throw off the body markers. I just
have them mark the backs of my hands. The next year I taped a small “blister pack” of sunscreen
to my top tube and applied it to the back of my hands a few miles into a HIM bike and had
no burns.
It also helps prevent wetsuit chafe since the neck is a little higher than the wetsuit neck.
The only thing I wish is that there was a way to get a pocket on the small of the back easily.
