What must I do before racing my first 70.3 Ironman? The first part is done - my bike is converted.. Bikeright have removed the triathlon bars and changed it into a time trial bike (thanks to Aaron Billing who has lent me a full carbon set of handlebars and aerobars). Now the difficult desicions of how i'll race and how i'll keep my energy up during the race because it is more than twice as long as an Olympic distance race which I am used to. I know what is best for me, but only from trialing through my training what food and sports gels my stomach digests and what stuff doesn't. But then again, training is so much more different than competition. The intensity alone changes everything. I won't actually know exactly how much i'll be eating or drinking until during the race, so my bike will have gels and bars stuck all over it. I had a look at the start list yesterday and there is only 10 Elite females! and with only 11 in the mens field, it's a really small Elite field. I plan to swim 1.9km on the feet of anyone who is front of me, to ride as close as (but 7 metres behind) anyone on the bike course for 90km (including the age groupers on the 2nd and 3rd laps) and I plan to run as fast a pace as I can for 21km. All I know is the pace will be slower than an Olympic distance race, although I don't think it will feel easier. I travel on Wednesday from Christchurch to race this Sunday.
