In case you missed my last blog post, here are the details of the event:
- Stage 1: November 13th - 2 mile swim in Crystal River, 102 mile bike (from Crystal River to Ocala), 18.6 mile run in Ocala.
- Stage 2: November 14th - 2 mile swim in Ocala, 73 mile bike (from Ocala to Starke), 18.6 mile run in Starke.
- Stage 3: November 15th - 2 mile swim in Starke, 68 mile bike (from Starke to Palm Coast), 13.1 mile run in Palm Coast.
I have intentions on fully sharing this entire experience from start to finish on social media (Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition and Trimarni), but I thought I'd share how I am planning for this 3-day event.
Food
Most importantly, we need to keep our bodies well fueled before, during and after each stage of the event. I know what it takes to fuel a 140.6 mile, one-day event but this is a whole new experience for us. Thankfully, we have had a lot of practice from training. In thinking back to the many meal, snack and sport nutrition strategies that helped us prepare for this event (as well as for our past combined 30 Ironman distance triathlons over the past 14 years), I purchased a lot of non-perishable food items that we can keep in the hotel rooms for each stage of the event. I will also purchase some items for the cooler but I want to make our eating/fueling strategies as simple as possible. I will be using the microwave for most of our meals and I am bringing a lot a lot of kitchen supplies for easy meal prep/consumption. Again - I am not complicating this process. While I have a plan for us, things may change and I want to be flexible (this is why I am not preparing all of our meals in advance).
Sport Nutrition
To be honest, this category doesn't worry me. As I mentioned above, we have done so many training sessions and races that we each feel fairly confident in this area. The only caveat is the back to back to back nature of this event - which includes swimming, biking and running for 3 consecutive days. We have completed different scenarios of this event but never in its entirety. But like any long distance triathlon event, it's good to have a plan but you also have to know how to troubleshoot, be proactive and adapt.
Logistics
This is my biggest stressor although I'm trying not to let it stress me out. We will have our friend Alvi drive our car and be our sag support throughout this event. I've typed up an itinerary with our hotel reservations for each stage (address) but that is the simple part. Although the event will have "aid stations" throughout the bike and the run, we are responsible for knowing the course (which we will put into our Garmin bike computers). But more than this, we only swim and run in the same location. So each day we will swim in one location, bike to the next location and then run in that location. Stay the night in a hotel and then do it all again the next day. Swim in one location, bike to the next and then run in that location. For three days straight! As you can imagine, there's a lot to bring along and pack and repack. Organization is key. We have several bins and bags to keep everything organized but I have a feeling that it's going to feel a bit chaotic at times. The goal after the end of each stage is to quickly head to the hotel to start the recovery process and plan for the next day. I have a feeling I will learn a lot of lessons as we go along. Again, the theme of this event will be adaptability.
With so much going into this event, we are so grateful to be healthy and injury free. We are really going to embrace this experience as we never want to take anything for granted when it comes to physically performing during an endurance (or perhaps now an ultra-endurance) event.
Food
Most importantly, we need to keep our bodies well fueled before, during and after each stage of the event. I know what it takes to fuel a 140.6 mile, one-day event but this is a whole new experience for us. Thankfully, we have had a lot of practice from training. In thinking back to the many meal, snack and sport nutrition strategies that helped us prepare for this event (as well as for our past combined 30 Ironman distance triathlons over the past 14 years), I purchased a lot of non-perishable food items that we can keep in the hotel rooms for each stage of the event. I will also purchase some items for the cooler but I want to make our eating/fueling strategies as simple as possible. I will be using the microwave for most of our meals and I am bringing a lot a lot of kitchen supplies for easy meal prep/consumption. Again - I am not complicating this process. While I have a plan for us, things may change and I want to be flexible (this is why I am not preparing all of our meals in advance).
Sport Nutrition
To be honest, this category doesn't worry me. As I mentioned above, we have done so many training sessions and races that we each feel fairly confident in this area. The only caveat is the back to back to back nature of this event - which includes swimming, biking and running for 3 consecutive days. We have completed different scenarios of this event but never in its entirety. But like any long distance triathlon event, it's good to have a plan but you also have to know how to troubleshoot, be proactive and adapt.
Logistics
This is my biggest stressor although I'm trying not to let it stress me out. We will have our friend Alvi drive our car and be our sag support throughout this event. I've typed up an itinerary with our hotel reservations for each stage (address) but that is the simple part. Although the event will have "aid stations" throughout the bike and the run, we are responsible for knowing the course (which we will put into our Garmin bike computers). But more than this, we only swim and run in the same location. So each day we will swim in one location, bike to the next location and then run in that location. Stay the night in a hotel and then do it all again the next day. Swim in one location, bike to the next and then run in that location. For three days straight! As you can imagine, there's a lot to bring along and pack and repack. Organization is key. We have several bins and bags to keep everything organized but I have a feeling that it's going to feel a bit chaotic at times. The goal after the end of each stage is to quickly head to the hotel to start the recovery process and plan for the next day. I have a feeling I will learn a lot of lessons as we go along. Again, the theme of this event will be adaptability.
With so much going into this event, we are so grateful to be healthy and injury free. We are really going to embrace this experience as we never want to take anything for granted when it comes to physically performing during an endurance (or perhaps now an ultra-endurance) event.