Carter Hempleman

Race Purpose

This is an A race and the final race of your season. The goal is a best-possible performance that reflects the fitness you have brought to Nice:

• A strong, controlled swim
• A disciplined, productive bike
• A run that allows you to use everything you have left

You do not need to manufacture a special World Championship effort. You need to execute your race in a World Championship environment.

Strategy at a Glance

Primary Anchors

Control System

Power and pace provide structure. Heart rate and RPE tell you what those outputs are costing.

Do not chase heart rate. Use it as context.

If power or pace is inside the planned range and the cost feels appropriate, continue. If heart rate and RPE are both rising while output becomes harder to maintain, the cost has changed. Respond before the race forces the decision.

Your ranges are not ladders that you must climb. Being at the bottom or middle of a range does not mean you are falling short.

30,000-Foot Approach

Your age group will be hot to trot. The opening will be fast, aggressive, and full of athletes trying to establish position immediately.

You are a good swimmer and typically swim beyond what your training volume might suggest. Trust that ability. You do not need to prove it during the first five minutes.

Opening 400–500 m

• Start assertively enough to protect your space.
• Do not match every surge around you.
• Let the most aggressive swimmers go if staying attached requires an unsustainable effort.
• Avoid repeatedly fighting for feet in crowded water.
• Establish your own strong rhythm before deciding whether to move forward.

The first 500 m should place you into the race. It should not take something important away from the bike and run.

Cue: Let the race settle.

Middle of the Swim

• Find useful feet once the field begins to organize.
• Draft when the group is helping.
• Move when the group is clearly limiting you.
• Sight deliberately rather than following the swimmers ahead without confirmation.
• Stay relaxed through contact and congestion.

Cue: Strong, smooth, aware.

Final 400 m

• Maintain your rhythm.
• Reconfirm the exit line.
• Begin shifting your attention toward T1.
• Do not create an unnecessary finishing surge.

Cue: Finish the swim ready to ride.

Wetsuit Decision

You are prepared to race well with or without a wetsuit. Use the official race-morning ruling and move on. The decision does not change the quality of your swim execution.

T1

Move with purpose, but remain composed.

• Complete each step cleanly.
• Make sure nutrition is secure.
• Mount under control.
• Give yourself a moment to establish before asking for meaningful bike power.

Mapped course: 93.3 km / 58 mi · 1,247 m / 4,090 ft of climbing

Most of the structural difficulty arrives during the first half: early urban restrictions, the steep Pugets pitches, Col de Vence, and then the long technical descent.

The athletes around you qualified too. That does not make their pacing relevant to you.

Your best bike will come from:

• Avoiding unnecessary spikes
• Using the full power ranges
• Staying seated and using your gearing
• Releasing power when it stops buying speed
• Fueling before the technical descent
• Allowing descending skill—not risk—to create speed
• Reaching T2 with a run available

A likely normalized-power outcome is approximately 255–265 W, but do not chase it. Let it be the result of good section-by-section execution.

Official 2026 bike elevation profile

Conditional Rust Protocol

If the legs feel flat early and RPE seems high relative to power, first check the larger picture:

• Is heart rate otherwise normal?
• Is breathing controlled?
• Is the bike functioning properly?
• Are you hydrated and generally ready?

If everything appears normal, use two or three short, controlled accelerations in a safe, uncrowded section. Return immediately to normal output and reassess.

If the legs wake up, return to the original plan. The accelerations do not raise any later ceiling.

If the legs do not respond, temporarily ride below the range and allow them to come around.

If heart rate and RPE are both unusually high, do not assume it is rust and force the wattage.

0–10.2 km / 0–6.3 mi
1. Exit Nice and Establish

Power: 240–260 W

• Allow power to develop naturally.
• Do not attack immediately out of transition.
• Respect the narrow no-overtaking section around km 4.
• Begin fueling early.
• If 250 W feels expensive, do not force 260 W simply because it is inside the range.

Cue: Blinders on.

10.2–15.2 km / 6.3–9.4 mi
2. Montée des Pugets

This section contains two short, steep pitches. Use your 34-tooth cog and remain seated whenever possible.

• Allow cadence to fall without responding with a major power spike.
• Stand briefly when it helps your mechanics.
• Do not turn standing into an attack.
• Release pressure over each crest when additional watts stop buying meaningful speed.
• Avoid repeated trips to or above CP.

The ceiling is a guardrail, not a target.

Cue: Limit the spikes.

15.2–26.6 km / 9.4–16.5 mi
3. Build Toward Vence

Power: 245–265 W

• Re-establish smooth pressure.
• Bring the race back under control after Pugets.
• Fuel deliberately before Col de Vence.
• Do not chase athletes who rode the earlier hills harder.
• Use the entire range based on terrain and cost.

Cue: Stay focused.

26.6–36.3 km / 16.5–22.6 mi
4. Col de Vence

This is the most important restraint section of the bike.

• Spend most of the climb inside the base range.
• Use the steeper range only when the gradient requires it.
• Stay seated and use the gearing available to you.
• Avoid repeated excursions near or above CP.
• Let riders go if following them changes the cost of your race.
• If HR and RPE rise together while power becomes harder to hold, move toward the lower portion of the range.
• Do not sit at 280 W simply because it is the top of the range.

The climb may feel conservative relative to the athletes around you. That does not mean it is conservative relative to the entire race.

Cue: Their race is not your instruction.

36.3–44 km / 22.6–27.3 mi
5. Summit to Coursegoules

Power when pedaling remains useful: 240–265 W

• Release climbing pressure over the summit.
• Restore speed and composure.
• Take in carbohydrate before the technical descent.
• Prepare for the Coursegoules Bridge around km 42.
• Expect a sharp right and a narrow lane.
• Do not cross the white line.

Cue: Fuel, reset, prepare.

44–57 km / 27.3–35.4 mi
6. Upper Technical Descent

No useful power target

The opening portion may feel like a shock. Let yourself adjust without becoming tense or trying to prove anything.

• Brake before the corner.
• Look through the turn.
• Leave margin for deceptive corners and poor pavement.
• Keep your hands and upper body relaxed.
• Take the speed that clean lines provide.
• Do not chase average power, average speed, or another rider’s risk tolerance.
• Do not eat or drink when doing so compromises control.

You will adjust to the descent. Give yourself the space to do it.

Cue: Calm hands. Look through.

57–75.5 km / 35.4–46.9 mi
7. Brief Rise and Continued Descent

• Re-engage on the rising section without trying to recover lost average power.
• Use safe moments to resume carbohydrate and fluid intake.
• Continue to prioritize line choice through the remainder of the descent.
• Keep the effort proportional to what the terrain is giving you.

Cue: Re-engage; do not chase.

75.5–93.3 km / 46.9–58 mi
8. Flat Return to Nice

Power: 245–270 W

• Re-establish useful pressure once you are composed.
• Use the full range according to wind, position, RPE, and accumulated cost.
• Do not force the upper end to repair average or normalized power.
• Complete your fueling without cramming intake immediately before T2.
• Respect the narrow no-overtaking section on the return.
• Begin preparing mentally for the run.

Cue: Bring the run to T2.

T2

• Dismount under control.
• Move cleanly through transition.
• Take a moment to organize yourself.
• Begin the run according to the plan rather than according to the energy around transition.

21.1 km / 13.1 mi · 123 m / 404 ft of climbing · two loops

The run is fast and low-amplitude rolling, but not perfectly flat. It is the payoff for the decisions you made on the bike.

Wind may make pace asymmetric by direction. Direct sun and heat can increase the cost as the race progresses. Do not force identical pace into different conditions.

Official 2026 run elevation profile

1. First 2–3 Miles

Pace: 7:15–7:00/mi

• Use the full range.
• Allow heart rate and mechanics to develop naturally.
• Do not force 7:00 pace if 7:10–7:15 represents the correct early cost.
• Assess the legs you brought from the bike.
• Let stride and cadence settle naturally.
• If the plantar fascia is noticeable, avoid changing your mechanics to protect it.

Cue: Settle and assess.

2. Remainder of the First Loop

Pace: 7:10–6:55/mi

• Progress only when breathing, mechanics, and RPE support it.
• Do not force pace into a headwind or over the low rollers.
• Use effort to keep the race consistent when pace changes with direction.
• Begin cooling before you feel overheated.
• Remain engaged with the race without chasing everyone around you.

Cue: Smooth is fast.

3. Second Outbound

Pace: 7:05–6:50/mi

This range gives you permission to begin racing. It is not an obligation to accelerate.

• If the bike was controlled and the legs remain responsive, gradually move through the range.
• Avoid one abrupt change of pace.
• Keep mechanics intact.
• If cramping begins, relax first. Restore rhythm, address immediate fueling and hydration needs, and keep the episode from defining the rest of the run.
• If the plantar fascia becomes more noticeable but mechanics remain sound, continue without making sharp changes.

Cue: Stay engaged.

4. Final Return

Race what remains.

• Progress according to mechanics and remaining capacity.
• Do not make one sudden acceleration that unnecessarily loads the plantar fascia.
• Build the effort progressively through the finish.
• If you are still talking, engaging, and enjoying the race, that is consistent with your best racing state.
• Lay out everything that remains across the final miles.

Cue: Lay it out there.

Fueling, Hydration, and Cooling

Use the nutrition system you have practiced. The important adjustment is timing.

• Begin carbohydrate intake early on the bike.
• Front-load intake before the technical descent.
• Use climbing, plateau, and safe straight sections to stay ahead.
• Do not try to eat through technical corners.
• Resume intake deliberately when the road permits.
• Do not wait until the final flat section to replace everything missed on the descent.
• Precision Hydration 1000 is an electrolyte drink, not a carbohydrate drink.
• Course-supplied carbohydrate will primarily come from gels and solids.
• Do not count PH 1000 toward your carbohydrate total.
• Begin cooling before heat becomes obvious on the run.

Travel and Race-Week Execution

You are arriving Thursday after eastbound travel from Boston. The time change is real, but imperfect sleep is not unfamiliar to you.

• Move meals, light exposure, and sleep toward local time after arrival.
• Do not treat one poor night as evidence that you are unprepared.
• Complete a short bike check focused on brakes, tires, shifting, and access to the 34-tooth cog.
• Get into the water if possible.
• Run briefly on the Promenade.
• You do not need to see the entire bike course.
• Attend the athlete briefing and apply any final course or safety updates.

Race-Day Decision Rules

Championship Mental Execution

Everyone around you qualified. Their speed does not determine your execution.

The race is not decided in the first 500 m of the swim. It is not decided on the lower slopes of Col de Vence. Your job is to keep making decisions that preserve your entire race.

Your primary cues are:

• Blinders on.
• Limit the spikes.
• Stay focused.
• Bring the run to T2.
• Lay it out there.

When you are racing well, you are engaged, talkative, and having fun. Preserve that state. It helps you race; it does not take away from the seriousness of the effort.