HIM RR - can I please get some feedback on fuel/power data?
Week 18 HIM plan had me doing RR (56 miles bike + 6 mile run) today. It went really well, but I thought I'd ask for some feedback on nutrition and pacing on the bike.
Nutrition:
Before: Since I didn't swim this morning, I spared myself the 2am first breakfast. I don't normally eat much before workouts, but today I ate a PowerBar Performance bar (240 calls) and had a bottle of Perpetuum (250 cals). Very good idea - my energy was high throughout, I think I'll start doing this regularly for longer workouts.
Bike (3:30 hours): 2 bottles of Perp (each 270 cals, 220mg Sodium), 3 PowerBar gels (each 90 cals, 25mg Sodium) 3 Hammer Endurolytes (each 40mg of Sodium), half a bottle of water. Felt good and strong throughout, I don't think I could have absorbed many more calories. Probably could/should have drunk more water, but it was beginning to slosh around my stomach a bit. For an HIM, I think this'll work, but for full IM I'm going to need more solids, but I'm not sure what to go with since Im not really wild on chewing during hard IM bike. I've tried chop blox in the past, but they tend to bloat my stomach. Maybe the perpetuem solids.
Run: 2 more HAmmer gels and water. Felt really, really good.
After: chocolate REcoverite, 200 cals 31g Carbs, 10g Protein. Then a big bowl of Ravioli w/ ketchup 
So, how's that for nutrition?
Power/pace on bike:
I'm still a bit confused what wattage to aim for on the bike. I looked over the green-yellow-and red chicklet pacing chart, but couldn't make much sense of it 
. My outside FTP is 170. So if I try to stay in zone 3, I should be between 128-153 watts, is that correct? My average was 135. Apart from the beginning/end, this was a pretty hilly route (2,500 up/down), and even though I downshift on all the hills, my power tends to go higher on the uphill, and way, way down on the downhills - Im just too scared to peddle hard when I'm going fast for 'free'... Any thoughts on this? Here's my file:
http://connect.garmin.
I was able to run well and within the prescribed paces after the bike, although I'm not sure I could have lasted another 7.1 miles...
All in all, I'm quite happy with today. My body's pretty tired, but today was probably on of the best workouts I've had in weeks (it helps that It's finally warm here), and I haven't been this relaxed in quite some time 
Comments
Hi Kate
There is a lot here which I'm sure the others will chime in on. Regarding the solid food have you tried honey stinger waffles? I have the same issues with chewing (I can't chew and breathe at the same time!) and I find the waffles are easy to eat on the bike. A couple of chomps and swallows and it's down.
There are a lot of details in that chart to determine what your power target should be on the bike but I'd say you were in the ballpark if you felt good on the run. SOunds like you rode the bike you SHOULD, not the bike you COULD. Hilly courses are a little more challenging. I believe the coaches direction on downhills is to keep pedaling til you hit a certain speed, but I'm like you... coast! Esp. for me cuz the "ups" take so much out of me.
Sounds like your formula today worked. You can stil tweak for IM, but keep this for now.
PS x2 on Stinger waffles. Yum-e!
Just a couple of things.
First, for a HIM RR, we cap the bike at 3 hours, and the run at 1 hour. So you did more than you needed, and are happy how you feel. That's great!
Now to a couple of execution thoughts.
If you are going to take more than 3 hours for the bike, you should aim for an IF of 0.8 — which is an NP of 136 watts. Your NP was 146 watts, so you accumulated more TSS than you should have.
Also, you appear to have been at or above your FTP for around 40 minutes — that's going to hurt your run (a lot). This is shows up in your VI of 1.08 (NP/AP). You should be trying to hit a VI of around 1.03 or 1.04.
What do you display on your Garmin?
I concentrate on 3 second average of Power, interval AP and interval NP, and interval time. I reset the interval every 30 mins and make sure my interval NP is what I am aiming for. I use interval AP and interval NP (as in the difference) to try and minimise that difference to keep my VI as small as possible.
Of course, this is why we have race rehearsals.
One thing is for sure, your endurance is really good as you were able to do the full bike at a higher AP than your FTP suggests, and you were still able to run.
Also, I eat a quarter of a Powerbar every 30 mins, along with Infinit, for something to eat.
Personally that seems like a lot of calories to me for an HIM. But if your stomach took it well with no side stitches on the run then it works for you. My general nutrition for an HIM is 4 gels and a gatorade on the bike and nothing on the run except water (with a gel in the pocket "just in case"). For sodium I use Saltstick caps. If you look up some of my race reports from last year I think I detailed the nutrition towards the end. But the point is to use something that works for you.
As for the pacing chart, just pick your approximate bike split time in the row, read across to the rightmost square that's still green, then read up to the top and it will tell you what IF to ride.
The thing that concerns me is what Peter points out, VI of 1.08 -- you really ought to use your ABP rides to practice riding really steady.