Recently I was looking at photos on social media of athletes checking their bikes into transition at the Ironman World Championship. I noticed five athletes make the same mistake. They all have their nutrition already setup on their bike ready to go for the next day.
As you can imagine kona is hot as crap and you really do not want the nutrition you’re relying on the next day to be out in the sun for too long. Things like gels, bottles, saltsticks, bars, etc.
It’s taken months of training and months of preparation to get to this point, last thing you need is something like the hot sun ruining your nutrition. You’ve worked far too hard to get to this point.
I also noticed one athlete with their race number wristband on their left hand. Most athletes have a Garmin/watch on their left hand. With this wristband and the Garmin rubbing against each other will only cause friction and discomfort.
I have seen it a few times where the athlete was forced to put their watch on their right hand only to cause problems with their swim as they are not used to swimming with their watch on their right hand. You wouldn’t think such a lightweight object could cause problems like this but unfortunately they do.
Also it made me wonder looking at all these photos how many of these athletes have got the tire pressure ready for the next day. Again, Kona is hot as crap. Your bike out all day in the blaring sun can cause your tube/tyre to bust. Best practice to do is to deflate your tires slightly so if you’re racing at 110 psi then decrease the air pressure to approximately 80 psi. This will simply reduce the risk of any problems.
The only thing that should be on your bike the day before your race is simply your race number. Everything else gets done the next day once transition opens. There is plenty of time to do your tyre pressure, your nutrition, clip on your cycling shoes and anything else that may need doing.
If you have any questions regarding racing training or nutrition please email me tim@trainsmooth.com
Tim Egge
TRAIN SMOOTH 
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