Contingency plan / adapting during the race

I always go into a race with 3 sets of goals:

1). Stretch Goal

I never share this goal with anyone and am usually pretty quick to abandon it if things are not going as well as I had hoped. Sometimes It is gone before the race starts due to stuff like Weather and other times, it is just because things are not going as well as hoped.

But, I never forget this goal. If something turns around in the race, I will surely resurrect the goal and start fighting for it again. 

2). Base Goal

This is the goal I am working toward that just about everyone knows about. It should be realistic given the conditions, the course and my training. I am much less likely to let go of this goal and it is only when things start going very wrong.

3). Bailout Goal

This is the goal that I fall back to when dumping #2. This is the substitute goal that I will be shooting for and will almost never let go of it. Things are not going well for my race if I am running with this goal, but that's OK. I will still be happy achieving it. 

4). Hail Mary Goal

This is the goal that pretty much boils down to finish and don't die. Things have gone very bad out there and it is either this or a DNF.


In the end, the key is to be flexible out there and adapt and adjust accordingly. A Lot can happen during the course of the day and more often then not, our results reflect how well we handled the unexpected. Don't let little problems become catastrophic. (And definitely don't throw your bike on the lava)

I personally believe the key to a successful race goes something like this. If your happy going into the race, nothing that happens out there is gonna change that and the results will always be rewarding.

If your not happy before the race, no amount of goal achievement is gonna make it any better

Nice!

I particularly liked "Don't let little problems become catastrophic" - it must be tough out there at times but keep it in perspective eh? We've chosen to be out there doing it so choose to enjoy it!

Going in happy is a great tip too. The body can handle plenty I guess the rest is up to the mind.

Cheers

Gerrard 

I think you just have to be prepared to roll with it.  My IM the temperature was about 30 degrees colder than what I train in...I put on layers.  I was prepared for that tho and had brought throw aways.   I tried to think of about everything that I could potentially need.  I'm a planner.  Race day the nutrition I had trained with was just really unappetizing so I used what was on the course.  Worked fine. 

I'd say try to think ahead for which ever particualr race you are doing and what might happen......WI for instance the weather is a total crap shoot.  Could be 95 and humid could be 55 and raining..could be perfect weather.....need to think about that ahead of time.

Know what you need in terms of calories for each discipline and fluids depending on temp effort etc.  that way if you sudden cannot tolerate another gu gell you can switch it up.

My coach had said put soemthing that will make you smile in your special needs bag....thats all I got.  I am a slow BOPPER so by no means an expert

So the messages so far are:

1) Be prepared - train and practice for everything you can. Be well organised and have as many eventualities as possible covered for race day.

2) But be ready to go with the flow - if things don't happen as planned then deal with it!

It's good advice. I'm a serious planner but when things don't go to plan I sometimes don't know what to do. E.g. in my recent 1/2 got cramp on the bike that turned into a lot of cramp on the run. Maybe slowing down on the bike would have made the run better (but maybe not too!).

An IM is a big race and I guess so much could go wrong or change over that time. I'm not chasing a qualifying time or anything like that so I probably need to go in with no expectations and just be ready to enjoy the whole experience and deal with whatever happens.

Gerrard