Week 15 RR - Mark Cardinale
I posted this in the CDA thread but thought i would also post here for input from a broader audience. Did my first RR this weekend and i think i overshot the bike even though i was able to run the 6 miles. For reference my FTP is 237 and i think my IF should be closer .70 vs .746 - not to mention my TSS was off the charts. Any other input would be most welcome. I guess this is why we do race rehearsals
I did my RR on Saturday and clocked 115 miles in 5 hrs 44min. I felt pretty good the whole way and feel really good about steadiness - VI 1.047 with the last 10 or so miles coming back through town with lots of starts and stops. Also, my nutrition was really good. I did the applesauce/protein powder pre-ride and then consumed about 20oz per hour of IM perform and a gel every 30 minutes or so. I also took in 2 powerbars. In my race i will drink more, but saturday was not especially hot and i didn't have a way to reload my hydration so i had to somewhat ration to about 20oz per hr. I could have taken in more, but at the same time, i didn't feel dehydrated. Overall
I felt really good about my RR until i checked my numbers. When looking at the data it clearly shows i rode the bike way too hard.
Avg Power:169 W
Max Power:388 W
Max Avg Power (20 min):185 W
Normalized Power (NP):177 W
Intensity Factor (IF):0.746
Training Stress Score (TSS):318.7
Work:3,481 kJ
I didn't check my TSS while i was riding and i was shocked to see it that high when i downloaded my data. The ride didn't feel overwhelmingly hard but my numbers show i overcooked the bike. When i started my run i felt OK but it took me about 3 miles for my legs to feel "normal". It was difficult to keep my pace as slow as it needed to be. I should have been running about 9 minutes miles and i started at 8:34 and my pace steadily crept up, with mile six at 8:08. What had me nervous is that at the end of 6 miles i felt it would have been very difficult for me to run another 20 miles. I guess that's why we do RR's. My next one i will for sure pace my bike a bit differently.
Comments
If you expect to ride around 5:45 at CDA, or longer, then I wouldn't push as hard as you did.
I would be looking to an IF around 0.7.
On the other hand if your ride is going to be longer then 6:30, your IF should be 0.69 or 0.68.
The small additional time from targeting a lower Pnorm can easily be made up by not walking the run.
Thanks, Peter. Next RR i'll try to stick it much closer to .70-.71 and see how the run goes. From there i'll either stick to that plan or dial it down further for the race. Thanks!