My Ironman Strategy: Get to the Finish Line

Strategy is a critical element of nearly every sport. 

How are you going to stop a team’s best player?  Should you kick a field goal or go for it on 4^th and 1?  Is it better to hit it short and straight with an iron or go for the long ball with your driver? 

Despite being so central to many forms of competition, I’m always amazed at what a glaring weakness many people have strategically.  They’ve got the physical tools to win, but their game plan and critical decision making falls short.

The importance of strategy extends well beyond traditional sports as well.  Poker players often have no concept of where they stand in tournaments and don’t factor that into their betting strategy.  Jeopardy contestants, arguably the most intellectually gifted participants of mainstream competition, consistently wager amounts in Final Jeopardy that indicate a complete lack of understanding of their position in the game.  They instead bet solely based on their knowledge of the subject which is a very 1-dimensional approach.

Even the reality show Survivor whose motto is “Outwit, Outlast, Outplay” is not immune.  In fact, the series finale in 2006 produced one of the most moronic displays of strategy I’ve ever seen. 

In the final, the contestants who were previously kicked off the island were invited back to vote on who they thought deserved to win the $1 Million.  One dude, named Shane, couldn’t decide so simply asked the 2 remaining players to pick a number between 1 and 1 Million.  The person who guessed closest to his number would get his vote.

To me, there isn’t a more basic strategy game than picking a number between X and Y.  Usually it’s done between 1 and 10, but the ideal strategy applies to any 2 numbers (in this case, 1 and 1 Million).  Apparently, the basics of this game were lost on the first guesser, Aras.  

When asked to choose a number between 1 and 1 Million, his response was…wait for it…4!!!!  

I’m not kidding. 

A game of outwit, outlast, and outplay had a finalist choose the number 4 when trying to be the closest guesser with a range of 1 to 1 million.  Sweet strategy.  He did a nice job of locking in the possibility of being close if the number happened to be 1, 2, 3 or 4.  However, he left just a slight opening for contestant number 2 to be closer to, you know, the other 999,996 numbers.

What may be crazier than the guess itself is that nobody seemed to think that it was an obviously bad strategy.  Moral of the story:

Strategy is important and people are idiots. 

So why am I telling you all this? 

This Saturday I’ll be competing in my first Iron Distance Triathlon…a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, and 26.2 mile full Marathon run in Wilmington, North Carolina.  

With only a couple of days left before the race, incremental workouts obviously aren’t going to pay off, but incremental preparation will.  That’s where strategy comes in.

Part of the appeal to me about the Ironman is the amazing combination of mental and physical preparation necessary in order to finish. 

You need an equipment strategy, you need a nutrition strategy, and you need a race strategy.  What I lack in terms of my body being able to hold up, I hope to make up for by thinking my way around the course.  Let’s take a look.

Equipment Strategy

An equipment strategy involves assessing all the different items you’ll need to get through the day.  You have to think about contingency plans as things inevitably won’t go as anticipated. You’re forced to make tradeoffs like carrying extra equipment on the bike in case you need it vs. being slowed down by dragging the extra weight.

Below is a preliminary list of what I’ll be bringing on race day.  As you’ll see, there are 5 different equipment bags that are necessary.  Transition 1 (transition from the swim to the bike), Transition 2 (transition from the bike to the run), Special Needs Bike Bag (placed at the 56 mile mark on the bike course), Special Needs Run Bag (placed at the 13.1 mile mark on the run course), and Post Event Bag (for whatever you want to wear and use to celebrate after the day is over).  

2 quick points:

1.  Phenomenal use of Microsoft Excel by me to categorize the nearly 100 items on the list.
2.  It doesn’t matter how fit you are, if you haven’t thought through an equipment strategy you’re not going to finish.

Nutrition Strategy

The nutrition strategy is also a key element of the day.  What foods and drinks should you consume throughout the 12-17 hours of racing?  Remember, I start at 7:30 in the morning and will likely be going well into the night.  It’s not like a normal gym workout where you can just drink a little bit of water and be ok.

I’ll likely burn well more than 10,000 calories on the day.  That’s the equivalent of ~5 large Digiorno pizzas. 

I love that I just spent time looking for images of Digiorno pizza and pasting them here.  Apparently I give no credit to readers being able to comprehend what 5 Digiorno pizzas means without seeing visuals...

Anyway, how do you take in those calories to fuel your body while you’re swimming, biking, and running?

Is it better to stop to eat for a few minutes or eat while you’re moving?  What foods are likely to make your stomach upset?  Should you overeat early in the race to ensure enough energy for late in the day? 

My strategy is to give up time in the short run by eating solid foods when I can.  Saving a couple of minutes trying to jog and eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich seems a bit crazy when I can likely make up that time on the backend by staying hydrated and fueled.

Nutrition strategy is a critical component and one I’m sure most people don’t think much about.  If you eat when you’re hungry and drink when you’re thirsty, it’s already too late.  That's why you need a plan.

Race Strategy

Race strategy is the piece most people think about when they picture an Ironman.  Check out this great video to get a sense of the Ironman and then we’ll talk strategy.

As you just saw, there's obviously a lot to think about.

Should you go out towards the front of the pack in the swim and hope you don’t get crushed by all the flailing arms and kicking around you, or hold back a few minutes to find an opening to settle into a good rhythm?  

Do you want to try to post a really fast bike time or hold back and save your legs for the run?

Would it be better to run as far as you can on the marathon and hope your body can take it, or proactively walk some before necessary to help keep the inflammation down until the last few miles?

I’ve thought about these and many more questions over and over the last few weeks.  

To make things even more complicated, I’m dealing with knee pain that has prevented me from running a single step in the last month.  I’m honestly not sure I’ll be able to run 1 mile on race day. 

Given that, part of me wants to post a great swim and bike time and then forget about the run.

But that would be foolish. 

There’s only 1 finish line so there's only one real strategy:  do whatever it takes to get there. 

And that’s what I plan to do on Saturday.

Feel free to follow me live at the link below (you can put in my name or my bib number: 385.)

FULL LIVE TIMING LINK

Schmeis