[Part IV of Race journal: Ironman 70.3 Santa Rosa, July 2019] Learning beyond the training plan

[Forked from the entire race report for ease of reading]
Previous: [Part III of Race journal: Ironman 70.3 Santa Rosa, July 2019] Taper and the race day!

Heads-up: This part might be too detailed or too long or TMI for some of the readers. I am writing this to keep track for myself and in the hope that there is atleast one person out there who will read some part here and pick up something useful.

There are a lot of things that I thought about or worked on beyond the training plan to make the final day happen. Here are some of these:

Nutrition

This is critical! I used to primarily run earlier and I would never think of fueling mid run. During the races I would liberally use the aid stations. This had to change once I switched to longer triathlons since as our coaches and mentors stressed, our bodies are going through a lot and you need to eat before you need it (definitely before you think you need it!). I experimented with gels and found that e-gel worked fine for me every hour. I also found out that I am a hungry woman so I needed close to 300 cals on the bike. In the end I settled on 150 cals from Tailwind mixed in my hydroblade and 150 from e-gels. I would also carry a small ziploc with nuts in case timing goes off by a few minutes or if I need to change the taste. Also, don't go by someone else's estimate of how much is needed! Your body is unique.

Contacts vs glasses

I have myopia and I also pay too much attention to irrelevant details. Which meant unlike some others, I couldn't wing it and just wear normal swim goggles or sunglasses. Wearing one-day contacts in water is not the best decision but it worked for me last year. However, as the distances get longer, so does the probability of your contacts drying out mid-race. Also, it just didn't feel as the best idea to use contacts given that my left eye still had remnants of the swelling. In the end I decided to use prescription swim goggles and then switching to contacts in T1 but keeping a pair of prescription sunglasses as backup- if there is wind or your eyes are too dry, your contacts may not go in as easily. I used a combination of sanitizer, then drying off the extra, putting some lens solution and then handling the lenses.

Cleats

I can't stress this enough- if you are planning to use cleats, get them in the off-season and practice in a parking lot. The trainer is good to get used to how to move your legs and get accustomed to cleats, but it is no match for real life riding. For instance, I practiced cleating and uncleating on my right side throughout the trainer phase. Before I used cleats on a weekend ride, I noticed my stopping routine on platform pedals and realized that actually my left foot goes down by default when I stop at a traffic signal and bending the bike at an angle helps me keep the balance when one foot in cleated in. Make sure you notice things like that and get comfortable early on. If you are anything like me, remind yourself that you will never feel completely ready to use them until you start and even after that- just get used to it.

Aero bars

I got aero bars installed on my bike soon after the bike fit and in the beginning it felt like a not so useful add-on given that I couldn't even take my hands off the bike handle to drink water. However, once I had these, I got used to them sooner than I thought and it helped immensely in powering through the flats and when I needed a different bike position. I also tried to train my mind to treat going on the aero bars as the start of a push phase so when I mentally started to drift, I would go down on the aero bars and let the habit kick in. But be prepared for your bike to handle differently because of the weight and placement of the aero bars - I wouldn't add these extremely close to the race.

Get to know your gear

By the time race day rolled out, I had tried every single thing in my bag, including backups. This is how I work and feel reassured. Find your balance and make sure you are familiar with everything- on race day you won't have the luxury of calm and serenity (or logic!). Also, practice beforehand with a fuel belt if you know you might use one on race day. Have a pre-race checklist ready, as well as list of what is needed in each bag (e.g. this is a great list).

Clean your bike!

That chain might actually be silver colored and not black.

Taper blues are a real thing!

Read this.

Periods

Where to start on this one..I'm no expert but a cycle can roughly last 28-35 days (don't quote me on this). If you are one of the "lucky ones" it will be frequent as a month. If you are "even luckier", the blood flow will last 5-7 days. In some cases, you will feel weird symptoms mid-cycle. In some more cases yet, you will get hit with terrible Pre-Menstrual symptoms (PMS) almost a week +/- 2 days before the actual date. In yet more cases, if your flow is heavy enough, you will feel that loss and life will feel drab and dull. Some women get cramps terrible enough that they can't walk or can barely get out of bed.  I could go on and on but the point is that every woman experiences these in a different way and this is an important part of our existence and training.

When I did the math for myself, it was hilarious- there would not be many days during the month when I won't be dealing with a hormonal thing or the actual periods. This meant, making sure that training didn't halt because of this. I did adjust as and when my body demanded, but I also had to learn to push where in the past I wouldn't have. For instance, on one of the days, all the guys did 3 Eden repeats and I barely did 2 but was drained because of my periods. Sumit and I discussed that I could just do a slightly easier flat but in the moment I remember telling him, what if this happens on race day! I was very very slow, but I did that third hill repeat. In stark contrast, there were days when I took the swim gear with me or was prepared to run or go for HIIT, and would make a last minute call to skip it because my body just wasn't ready. Until last year, this felt unfair and I felt frustrated. I also found that inspite of all the hours I was putting in my performance numbers would get impacted by the time of the month! However, this year, I was prepared for this to not stop me. I didn't time the phases as much as I could have (next time!) but I definitely worked on the mental aspect of not letting this derail my progress. I do believe I have become more consistent with working out given the cycles.

Until last year when I started training for the sprint triathlon, I had never used a tampon. I never had to, because I would just avoid the activity if I was on my period. Just like the rest of my gear, I took time to make sure I am comfortable using these if needed. In addition, the actual race is 8.5 hours. Add the time that you'll take before the race to change into race gear and after race before you get to a restroom, you are easily looking at 9.5-10 hours. Based on my online searches and talking to friends, this exceeded the recommended time of 8 hours (which will be shorter if you have a heavy flow). So, I tried to teach myself how to change the tampon quickly if needed in places that will not be your apartment, and more important, how to not get frustrated when others can easily transition from one activity to another while you have to rush to the restroom and figure out how to do this. In addition, it also helped to have this happen to me on really hot rides because that added an extra challenge.
Also, if you don't cut the thread, apply chafing cream to the thread, otherwise be prepared for a sore bottom (true story!).
If you are anything like me, your stomach will be bloated for an arbitrary amount of time, the gels which work fine won't sit too well in your stomach, your lower back might hurt etc etc. I found it best to be aware of all this beforehand and to not let this throw me off course if this happened on race day.

Next: [Part V of Race journal: Ironman 70.3 Santa Rosa, July 2019] Random musings from the first-timer