Day 1: Tuesday May 13th
After two long days of travel, we were ready to move our bodies. Typically, Wednesday before a race is our "biggest" day of training but since we didn't do anything for the past 48 hours, it was important for me to wake up my body with a good load. This would also allow for a few days of recovery before the race.
Our Airbnb is located at the Colony Club, which is across the street from the Plus Fariones Suite Hotel. Our professional athlete Bara (from Czech) is staying with us. She arrived on Friday so that she could spend a few extra days on the island in her final prep before the race. We have a nice ocean view and we are a quick 5 minute walk to the race start/venue. We are also within walking distance to the grocery. There are countless restaurants, ice cream shops and stores along the beach (which is also the run course for the Ironman).
Around 9am, we walked to the Centro Deportivo to go for a swim. The entry fee was 15 Euros each (day pass). The pool was the perfect temperature. The shape of the pool is unique in that it's circular but the middle lane is approximately 25 meters. Karel and I each did our own session and ended up with 3000 meters. After the swim we walked to the grocery to get a few things and then went back to our Airbnb.
Karel assembled our bikes in the late morning and at 1pm we headed out on the bike course to ride the opening loop of the 112 mile bike course. This was our first experience riding in Lanzarote and the island met our expectations. It was very hilly (a few punchy climbs but mostly long steady climbs) and very windy. The wind was ranging between 15-18mph with gusts up to 30 mph. This is typical for the island. Although the temperature is "only" in the 70's, the sun is very strong so it feels a lot warmer. Depending on where we were on the course, the wind was in our face, at our side or tailwind. There were some fun descends and also some scary descends with tight turns and cross wind. The scenery was incredible. We rode 35 miles in 2:06 and covered almost 2700 feet of elevation gain. The course has over 8000 feet elevation for 112 miles.
After a fast twisty descent into town (wind at our back), we took some side streets to end up back at our Airbnb. After the ride, I did a short 20 minute run off the bike to finish off a day of triathloning.
Surprisingly, my legs and body felt really good after 2 days of sitting/traveling.
Day 2: Wednesday May 14th
I was really looking forward to swimming in the salty ocean. The water temperature is around 66 degrees F but with a wetsuit, it feels perfect. After XTRI Icon and Norseman, I have a new standard for "cold" water. The water was very clear and there were lots of fish. Karel and I wore our Roka wetsuits and Roka goggles and swam one loop (~2100 meters) of the course. There were small buoys set up along the race course (they will be replaced with large buoys for race day). I felt really good in the water. There was a little chop but not a big current in either direction. On the way back on the loop, the water gets much more shallow and it was even easier to see all of the fish. There are only fish in the ocean here (no jellyfish or sharks).
After the 32-minute OWS, I went for a 5.4 mile, 42 minute run. I ran along the run course with Bara and she turned around after ~15 minutes as her run was shorter than my run on this day. I enjoyed running along the ocean and seeing all of the stores and restaurants. The run course has gentle rollers (undulating) so I wouldn't call it flat but it's not hilly. My legs felt really good. I threw in some fast feet turnovers on the way back. It was very warm. I always run with my hydration belt so I continued to stay fueled and hydrated.
Around 12pm, I had an hour massage in our Airbnb (for 50 Euros). Bara found a company that comes to your Airbnb so it was great to work out some tightness in my calves and upper back that I acquired from spectating and travel. Bara also got a massage around 4pm and Karel had one at 5pm. While I was getting my massage, Karel went out to bike the other, bigger loop of the race course. He covered 74 miles and 6600 feet elevation (plus an extra "fun" climb) in 4:43 which included a pastry (water) stop and some pictures. Karel has his road bike here and he attached aerobars (which he used at ICON and Stone XTRI).
Day 3: Thursday May 15th
I went to bed around 9pm and made myself get up at 7am. Although I'm not sleeping deep through the night, I do feel somewhat rested when I wake up and I am not craving a nap during the day. I experienced some chaffing on my neck from my wetsuit and salt water (I forgot to put on body glide) so my morning open water swim didn't go as planned. I tried KT tape on my neck but it didn't stick. I then walked back to the Airbnb while Karel and Bara swam and I put on a t-shirt to cover my neck under the wetsuit. That seemed to help. I later went to buy waterproof bandages which I will wear on race day. I'm glad I went back out to swim as the water was extremely choppy. It took me three minutes longer to swim the loop compared to the day prior. I was able to find a good rhythm with the ocean but it was a much more difficult swim compared to the day prior.
After the swim, I was craving pancakes so we walked .7 miles to Kalma cafe. Everything is close by here so we haven't used our rental car. We could have gotten by without a rental car but we need it to transport us to a different location after the race.
Kalma was recommended to us from our athletes Yannick and Katie who raced here last year. It was SOOO good. I got the yogurt pancakes and a side of scrambled eggs and Karel got brioche bread with ham, along with a Fanta and Cappuccino.
As for the rest of the day, this was a chill day. I worked on the computer, checked in (athletes needed to reserve a time slot for check in so I chose 2pm) and started to carb load. I watched the mandatory athlete briefing online on Wednesday.
This is a small race compared to other IM distance events (maybe 1200 athletes compared to 3000+ at other events) so the expo, registration tent and merchandise tent is small. The transition area is also small but it's on the beach and the finish line area is incredible. It was set up earlier in the week and they are continuing to put up the final touches.
I am feeling nervous but also excited. I think my emotions are mixed because I know this will be an incredibly challenging course but I also feel I am bringing good fitness to this race so I feel some pressure to perform.
And keeping with tradition, I got a delicious Caprese (buffalo mozzarella, basil and sauce) from La Lanterna. Bara called in the pizza and then we walked 0.5 mile to pick it up. The cost of food is very reasonable here.
Day 4: Friday March 16th
Because I had extra time on Thursday, I went ahead and packed my gear bags for the race. Prior to travel, I put my bike nutrition in individual bags so it was very easy to prepare my bottles for the race. I did the same for my run nutrition.
For the race, my bike nutrition plan is the same that I do for my long workouts (and my run nutrition is the same for every training run).
Bike nutrition:- 90g carbohydrates INFINIT Fructose per bottle (3 bottles with Fruit Punch, 3 bottles with Grape). I will stop at special needs on the bike to replace my empty bottles.
- I also have a few Power bar chews and a Never Second C30 Fruit Punch gel in my bento box on my bike if I need it.
- I will also carry a bottle of Ketone Aid and may take a few swigs throughout the bike.
- I will use water from aid stations for sipping/cooling.
- 30g carbohydrate Never Second berry per 10-ounce Nathan hard flask.
- I will bring along 4 additional small baggies to refill the bottles throughout the run.
- I will use water from aid stations for sipping/cooling.
- My run nutrition should last me around 3 hours so I will use on course nutrition (coke or 226er isotonic sport drink) for the remainder of the run.
