HIM Pacing and Race Plan .. 5 days before race
Hi all,
I probably should have asked this question a couple of weeks ago - I've spent lots of time perusing the wiki, trying to understand HIM pacing, heat impact on HIM pacing, HIM nutrition... I'm still confused. If you refer me to the race execution section of the Wiki, know that I've been through that 100 times.
The race is Patriot Half, 6/15, East Freetown, MA (yes, this Saturday)...
Elevations are nearly flat - gently rolling - this isn't Timberman...
The weather is looking pretty good (for now) - 60 in the morning rising to maybe 80 by mid-day.
The last few miles of the HM are more uphill than down, and exposed.
My stats: FTP 260, VDOT 44.5
My training has been consistent on the one hand - no injuries nor illnesses nor significant absenses since I started the OS last November...
On the other hand there has been no week without at least some type of adjustment - maybe I've hit 85% of the HIM workouts, and the rest I've had to adjust in one fashion or another to make time for my family.
The two RR...
The first I replaced with a race-recon: we drove to E Freetown and rode the course and then rode the run and then did a short transition run. We spent most of the ride between 195 and 210 watts, average right around 200. The 2m, 1 at MP+30 and 1 at TP, were fine.
The second RR was less than a week later, hot and humid; I spent most of my time at 210 which put my average right around 201 watts (stops and turns...), VI 1.027. The run afterward was ok I guess... 90F and humid on a hilly course so it's hard for me to understand my pacing, but I averaged a 9:10 mile - slow for a 44.5 VDOT which would usually point to the bike, but I believe it was largely a factor of heat and hills.
Race plan:
Nutrition...
Usual early morning applesauce and protein powder, HEED, Hammer Gel 20m before swim start
On the bike:
3 x 1.5-scoop bottles of Perpetuem to get me through the ride, 1 Gu (20mg caffeine) and H2O at mile 50 or so to carry me into the run.
Plus 4 salt-tabs.
Comes out to 700 calories, which a little heavy; I have a fourth bottle (H2O) to ensure I get enough fluids.
On the run:
HEED at every aid station (couple of gulps, not the super-size)
I figure I'll take in another hundred cals this way, but the run will be hot and hard so it may be tough to take much in.
Pacing (and here's where ALL my questions are)
Bike: Thinking I'll start at 200W (77%) for the first couple of miles then build and hold to between 210..215 (81..83%).
I expect a little faster than a 2:50 finish at that power.
When I hit mile 50, back down to 200W, high cadence (and suck down that Gu) to recover a little and prepare for the run.
Run: MP is around 8:05; should be approaching 76F at that point; figure I'll start at 8:40 for the first 2 miles, then 8:30, then 8:20, then try to hold 8:15 until that last mile, when I should be able to bring down to 8 or better.
Does my pacing sound about right?
Does my nutrition sound about right?
How do I know if I'm being too ambitious or too conservative?
Thank you,
Russ
I probably should have asked this question a couple of weeks ago - I've spent lots of time perusing the wiki, trying to understand HIM pacing, heat impact on HIM pacing, HIM nutrition... I'm still confused. If you refer me to the race execution section of the Wiki, know that I've been through that 100 times.
The race is Patriot Half, 6/15, East Freetown, MA (yes, this Saturday)...
Elevations are nearly flat - gently rolling - this isn't Timberman...
The weather is looking pretty good (for now) - 60 in the morning rising to maybe 80 by mid-day.
The last few miles of the HM are more uphill than down, and exposed.
My stats: FTP 260, VDOT 44.5
My training has been consistent on the one hand - no injuries nor illnesses nor significant absenses since I started the OS last November...
On the other hand there has been no week without at least some type of adjustment - maybe I've hit 85% of the HIM workouts, and the rest I've had to adjust in one fashion or another to make time for my family.
The two RR...
The first I replaced with a race-recon: we drove to E Freetown and rode the course and then rode the run and then did a short transition run. We spent most of the ride between 195 and 210 watts, average right around 200. The 2m, 1 at MP+30 and 1 at TP, were fine.
The second RR was less than a week later, hot and humid; I spent most of my time at 210 which put my average right around 201 watts (stops and turns...), VI 1.027. The run afterward was ok I guess... 90F and humid on a hilly course so it's hard for me to understand my pacing, but I averaged a 9:10 mile - slow for a 44.5 VDOT which would usually point to the bike, but I believe it was largely a factor of heat and hills.
Race plan:
Nutrition...
Usual early morning applesauce and protein powder, HEED, Hammer Gel 20m before swim start
On the bike:
3 x 1.5-scoop bottles of Perpetuem to get me through the ride, 1 Gu (20mg caffeine) and H2O at mile 50 or so to carry me into the run.
Plus 4 salt-tabs.
Comes out to 700 calories, which a little heavy; I have a fourth bottle (H2O) to ensure I get enough fluids.
On the run:
HEED at every aid station (couple of gulps, not the super-size)
I figure I'll take in another hundred cals this way, but the run will be hot and hard so it may be tough to take much in.
Pacing (and here's where ALL my questions are)
Bike: Thinking I'll start at 200W (77%) for the first couple of miles then build and hold to between 210..215 (81..83%).
I expect a little faster than a 2:50 finish at that power.
When I hit mile 50, back down to 200W, high cadence (and suck down that Gu) to recover a little and prepare for the run.
Run: MP is around 8:05; should be approaching 76F at that point; figure I'll start at 8:40 for the first 2 miles, then 8:30, then 8:20, then try to hold 8:15 until that last mile, when I should be able to bring down to 8 or better.
Does my pacing sound about right?
Does my nutrition sound about right?
How do I know if I'm being too ambitious or too conservative?
Thank you,
Russ
0
Comments
Calorie and sodium wise - not much to comment on. Whatever has been working for you. If you are figuring on a 3 hr time, the 800 total calories might be a touch light. Personally I'd tack on another 100 calories or so. Be careful on that high cadence after mile 50 - you'll be transitioning from muscle action to cardio action, which will drive up the HR and make it harder to digest that gu.
Ultimately, I'm no expert on HIM (as evidenced by my execution at Quassy) - but if you take anything away from what I say - just keep in mind the HR you'll have when you first hop on the bike, and allow yourself to adjust from there.
Oh, and don't forget why you are doing this - to HAVE FUN! If you get your head buried in the numbers and what you should be doing and what you shouldn't be doing - you'll find yourself crossing the finish line looking back saying that all you did was pay attention to the details and not having enjoyed the race experience itself!
Hi Russell. I am probably not qualified to comment too much on the triathlon specifics but I have done plenty of running races in the heat.
As far as nutrition goes, now is not the time to experiment, as you know. I think if the calories worked on your RR they will work in your race. CoachP has said you can always add calories if you feel a bonk coming on. What you can't recover easily from is dehydration, so I would pay close attention to total volume of fluids and possibly electrolytes.
In the guidances found in various places on the website here they say not to push too hard on the first 60-90 minutes of the bike. I personally plan to try for .75 for 30 minutes or so, and then ease into .80-.81 for the remainder, and keep it steady there. From my RR's I notice I naturally pick it up a bit toward the end of the ride (glad to be done?). Can't really comment on cadences, I just let mine fall where it wants to go.
For the run pacing probably the most important thing is to start off easy. i.e. aim for easy and then slow down, at least for the first 3 miles. In my RR's it has been incredibly hard to run slow enough for MP+30s that first three miles, but when I did (RR #2) the next 3 miles at MP felt great. I think if its really hot, after the first 3 miles, you really need to go by feel. If you are too focused on pace you run the risk of digging yourself into a hole for the later miles (i've done that). Probably a good strategy if its really hot would be easy first 3 miles - watch the pace here- then go by MP 'feel' next 7 miles, only slow down to MP if you are too fast. Last 3 miles if it feels like you are at 10k effort or a little less, go all in. Otherwise try to hang on, or take it down a notch if necessary. I should say I have given up on using HR as a guide since in races my HR is way higher than during training for some reason (adrenaline?). The aim is to correctly pace the first few miles so you don't have to slow down at the end. You know 'the line- where it is going to suck' is out there somewhere and the goal is to put that as far off as possible. Chasing a PR from mile one on a hot hot day is a recipe for disaster IMO (I've been there).
Russell - Your bike plan is spot on. No worries about heat there, still only warm-ish, and @ 20_ mph, lotta wind chill.
Run - you should know by now what MP *feels* like to you, no matter whether it's 55F, up hill down hill, etc. After your first 2-3 "warm-up" miles, just dial in that *feeling* of being @ MP, and ignore your pace. Use HR as a back-up to make sure you are working neither too hard or too easy.
As the race goes on the *feeling* should progress to HMP (miles 7-9), TP (miles 10-12), and IP (last mile). Your speed probably won't change as that feeling progresses.
IGNORE PACE!!!! Remember it will keep getting progressively harder over the last 6-7 miles, and embrace that, use the power it gives you to know you CAN keep running even though it is getting harder and hotter.
Ryan - you may be a HIM expert now even if you were not earlier in the month
I do my best to connect with every workout and every race - and the Patriot course looks great (recon two weeks ago).
Part of the experience I'm looking for is the experience of doing the best I can, and one challenge will be knowing how hard to push the pedal at each point in the race.
Brad - the key question is just how conservatively I need to play it on the bike. One of the race reports I read was written by someone who went easy on the bike, had an awesome run, but came in 3 minutes slower than prior year (+6 on the bike, -3 on the run, net +3). I want to go as hard on the bike as I can and still crush the run.
Satish - I've actually chosen to put cadence as one of the four fields I get on the Garmin (alongside power, 3s power, 30s power). Second display is distance, total average power, and probably power and 3s power... still deciding. I find that when I do my power tests my cadence is anywhere from 95..102 or so and at those higher RPM's I'm getting a lot more power for my perceived-effort, independent of heart-rate. I take that as a trade-off of muscle fatigue at lower revs vs. heart rate at higher revs. Barring heat dissipation, I find my heart rate recovers pretty quickly these days. Muscles...once they are spent, it takes them a while. Cadence helps me stay focused on where the power is coming from, and that will serve me on the run.
Al - this is the second time in two days we've talked about running the 13.1 based principally on RPE... I do pay attention to RPE... usually to ask myself if I can hold this pace and for how long. RPE is a metric that takes everything into account - fitness, current energy reserves, body temperature, terrain, hydration level - RPE does all that math for you in real time and gives it to you in an easily understood set of symptoms. But you are actually advocating that I leave my big honkin' 2-pound Garmin 310xt on the bike and not consider pace AT ALL when I'm racing, correct? (This is my interpretation of the possibly ambiguous imperative, "IGNORE PACE".) I'm not closed to that, but it's still a little mind-bending for me... leave the watch on the bike and start out steady strong, build to MP and let it get progressively more difficult as the miles go by... none of this "8:45 for the first mile 8:39 for the second mile then 8:33 for the first half of the third mile..." - and so, the question:
Do you really think I'll run a better race without the "help" of my Garmin pacer? I would love an answer to this last question because I might just try it, though it's a pretty big mind-shift for me...
Do others race this way, principally by RPE, with HR as backup information?
Thanks!
Russ
On the other hand, pay attention to pace in the beginning, when you may feel good doing 7:10's but know for a fact that since you've never maintained that pace in training (or whatever your numbers might be), that there's no way you'll maintain it during the run of a HIM.
So, use pace as a stupid-o-meter. Use RPE to tell you whether all other factors are forcing you into a situation where you should slow down, and use pace to make sure you don't overextend simply because you feel good for a few moments after downing a gatorade, or getting doused with ice water, etc.
Truthfully - I think you've got this. You may fall into the same trap I do - analysis paralysis.. too much info. Whats nice about RPE is that it cuts through all that crap.
And to answer your last question - I certainly use RPE as a primary metric, especially in the last 6 miles. HR is usually shot at that point, and is getting jacked up and sticky, pace is nowhere to be found because I'm fatigued - all I've got left is RPE and the 'am I going at a pace appropriate for me to finish while slowing down as little as possible?'
As I read the posts, we've got four people - Ryan, Prof Jenks, Satish, and myself - all saying basically the same thing in this thread, specifically concerning how to execute the run in an HIM on a hot day. And Russell pretty much gets it too, when he says things like, "I do pay attention to RPE... usually to ask myself if I can hold this pace and for how long. RPE is a metric that takes everything into account - fitness, current energy reserves, body temperature, terrain, hydration level - RPE does all that math for you in real time and gives it to you in an easily understood set of symptoms."
We've got to stipulate all of the following (when I first heard a lawyer use that word, "stipulate", I just loved it, now I try to throw it out any chance I get):
So, to the question, "Do you really think I'll run a better race without the "help" of my Garmin pacer? I would love an answer to this last question because I might just try it, though it's a pretty big mind-shift for me..." My answer is: It worked for me. I got my first pace watch in 2007, and I never wore it in a race. I even started to take my HR strap off in T2 in IMs. I found my IM marathon times dropping with regularity from 2006 >> 2010. And I always had enough in reserve to pick up the effort in the last 1/2 of the run, when needed to pass other competitors in my AG.
If you get TOO nervous at the thought of being without the Garmin, you could set up a screen so you see things other than current pace. EG, last year I did an experiment @ IM Canada, setting the auto-lap @ 1 mile, with the data fields showing HR, cadence, last lap time (so not my current pace or even current mile pace), and time of day (a proxy for race time). So I knew neither my current run time, nor my current pace. I do the same thing on the bike, setting the data fields to include things like elevation, % grade, interval IF, current watts, cadence, but NOT MPH, or total biking time.
All I know is my performance is usually better if I don't know how fast I'm going, or how long I've been racing, biking, or running.
To that extent, I differ from Al. But I would still say that I'm primarily running by RPE and using the data for feedback. I also use a 1 mile autolap, with it set to buzz my wrist. I look down and decide based on that mile time, how I'm feeling, where I am in the race, etc., how things are going and what adjustments to make. I do run with a face showing my pace, but I don't try to be a slave to it in the same way that I tend to do on the bike.
In my last RR, I noted that I took my first couple of miles out too fast because I was probably too fixated on not feeling bad about it if I wasn't going fast enough and I underestimated how fast I was going because I consciously chose not to look at the Garmin. It wasn't a tragic major error, but I might have averaged a touch faster if I had been going a little slower at the beginning. After I'm "into" the run, I'm checking the pace and HR but not to mindlessly follow them, but to check in on how the Pace and HR correlate to how I think I should be going given how I'm feeling and the effort I am putting in. If I catch myself going too fast or too slow, I'll adjust within reason. However, most of the time, I'm using them as an indicator on whether I can step up the RPE a bit or have to step it down. I know I shouldn't run the whole thing at my threshold HR, so I check now and then to make sure I'm at a reasonable spot. I know that I should be able to run such-and-such pace at an RPE that I gauge as HMP (from practice), and I look to see whether I'm there...and whether it's time to start cranking up the RPE a bit if I'm starting to drift down and I'm substantially into the run.