Special Needs Bags

In an Ironman race you are allowed to have 2 Special Needs bags that are placed out on the course for you to retrieve it if you care to use them: 1 for the bike and 1 for the run.. They are optional: athletes do not need to use them.

In my opinion you should treat special needs as an emergency kit. It should not be something you absolutely are relying on because stuff happens when others are handling your items. The bag can be misplaced (it's sorted by bib number) or lost completely. You do not want to have to wonder whether or not it will be there when you need it if you can avoid it. That being said...

A special needs bag allows you to put something out there on the course that you can't get from an aid station. This can be helpful to some. Remember that family, friends, etc. are not allowed to help you on the race course. Many people have their own preferences of what to put in their bag. They include:

• A long sleeve shirt if you're likely to finish after dark and it will get a little chilly. Or maybe some "armwarmers" made from men's tube socks with the toes cut off.
• Spare medicine or an inhaler.
• "Half" of your nutrition so that you don't have to carry it all with you if you don't use the nutrition available on the course. (remember to check the course map to find out where the special needs bags will be so you can plan accordingly - it's not always at the exact half-way point.) This is not actually something I would recommend relying on!
• Extra nutrition in case something happens to yours on the course (dropped, lost) and you don't like what's at the aid stations. This is a better use of the bag when it comes to your nutrition.
• Food you think you might want if you are totally burned out on what is offered on the course or what you carried with you.
• An extra 'old' tire (possibly), extra CO2 cartridges, and spare tube.
• A lucky token, special photo, or inspirational note from a friend or loved one. But remember you may not get this back.
• Spare bandages or an ace bandage if you have recent injuries you're dealing with.

Special needs is a very organized thing. On the bike course at Ironman Arizona it's separate from an aid station. All the bags are numbered with race numbers and grouped that way. If you need something you slow down, shout out your #, it gets relayed down the line where a volunteer with you # in her group will find your bag and hand it to you. You can pull off and stop or just grab it. That sort of depends what you've got in there that you want. You can then either trash the bag or hand it back.

Same goes for the run. It is in a particular location on the course and volunteers get it for you as you approach if you let them know you want it.

Because IMAZ is 3 loops on bike and 3 on run, you actually have access to it much more often than on a normal Ironman. At many IM races that are a single loop you only have access once. Remember that it is not necessarily at the half way point. After the race I think you have to wait until the next day if you want to collect your bags. I think most people just don't put anything in there that they care too much about and don't bother getting it. Remember that there's also a chance that it will be lost and that you won't get it back. Also remember that no system is perfect and the volunteers may have trouble finding it for you, though this is not likely.