IM RR #1. Any feedback/comments appreciated

Kkaufer

Did my first IM RR today and though it went ok, I'd appreciate some feedback on where I can improve.

RR Week Prep:

God-awful. If there's a sub-optimal way to prepare for RR, I just about nailed it this week: work stress, life stress, uber-hot temps w/ losing power for 3 consecutive nights (= bad sleep due to no ceiling fan/AC).  First RR aborted due to equipment issues. And what I didn't realize yesterday was how much riding back to my car on my rear rim was hurting my back. Holy sh*t, I could barely stand upright this AM - or when I got off the bike to refuel - or when I started to run... That being said, I was determined not to be side-tracked again.

The Route:

http://connect.garmin.com/

Here's my Garmin file (I think, did I do that right?), but long story short: 91 miles w/ 5,200 feet of climbing. Average Power: 116.  Normalized Power: 125.  IF: .719.

VI is god-awful, but I'm pretty sure it's because while I've gotten better at pushing on the downhills, there's no way I can keep my power up on the downhills. (I read the VI @ IMWI thread closely) Just ain't happening. So while I may have exceeded my target watts of 155-160 on the uphills a couple of times, I think it's the downhills that did me in.  My plan was to not exceed 160 on the uphills and to try to average 135-140 on the flats.  Turns out, there's weren't a lot of flats on this route.  Mostly rolling hills. I literally taped a little sticky note w/ the power goals onto my garmin and that definitely helped me in holding back on the uphills, but still much work to do there to be steadier.  One thing I noted: I miscalculated where the gas station en route was.  I had planned on hitting in at 2 hours to refill, but got there at 2 1/2 hours.  At that point, I was out of Perform and only drinking water, essentially not taking in calories for ~30 minutes.  Made me a bit restless and it took me a while to settle back down afterwards.

Fuel:

Pre: PowerBar (240 cals) and I 24 oz of Perform (210 cals). Probably can do better there.  I just don't think the whole massive intake of applesauce will work for me.  Maybe another bottle of sports drink 3 hours earlier.  That worked well at HIM Kinetic.

During: Honey Stinger waffle at the top of each hour (160 calls), 1 salt tab every 30 minutes and 1 bottle of Perform (210 calls) per hour for a total os 370 calories per hour.  I also took in about 1/2 bottle of pure water just to rinse out my  mouth from all that sweet stuff.  Felt good throughout.  I think this works for me. I carry two bottles on my bike and had one bottle of water in my jersey due to heat (started at 81 and went into high 90s).  During IM, I'll probably carry 1 bottle of Perform and 1 bottle of water to rinse/pour over my body to keep the temps down.  I need to check aid station locations but that should allow me to pick up Perform at a rate of one bottle per hour.

For the run after, I switched to water and had a gel. During IM I'll probably do gels and perform  -- and coke later on

So, that's really it.  I got it done. A bit frustrated at high VI on bike when I really tried to emphasize controlling my power, but tomorrow's another day...

Thanks for any feedback. 

trisumai

I don't know the terrain but it seems as though you did a god-awful amount of climbing. Your RR is almost 2x the elevation of IMLou. Perhaps for RR#2 you might consider riding from mile 3 to mile 28 and back. You could do two loops which would total 100 miles. Since Louisville doesn't really have the rollers of Wisconsin or, by the looks of it, your course today, you might find that section (mile 3-28) more similar to Louisville's course. That way you could leave your car near that spot and use it as the refueling station. BTW, did you urinate at all during the RR?
How was your run in that heat as that is probably what you will face in IMLOU?

kimmydct

X2 on too much climbing. I did the same thing a few years ago in prep for Timberman 70.3. I wanted to make sure I got in enough hills and totally exceeded the course profile. Not sure if u picked that route on purpose but I'd try something more in line with the race if u can. I would imagine keeping VI low on that elevation would be tough so font beat yourself up.

Try a bit more for bfast next time. Add a banana? Bagel? Whatever works for you but a powerbar plus drink wouldn't cut it for me

Way to get it done!!

Kkaufer

Yeah, it was definitely hilly... I peed once before, once during and immediately after the bike.  Could have peed twice, but was too lazy to get off again... Run pace was 11:00m/mile for 5.5 miles. I do my long runs at 10:30 so I feel right on target (albeit slow) there.  Felt like I had something left at the end and the tank wasn't completely empty, which is encouraging.

kimmydct

Kate- Sounds like it was very successful! A little flatter, a little more b-fast and it would have been an A+!

morpheus

I think you had a pretty good practice.

x2 on practicing eating more/earlier. And, if earlier is logistically tough for the RR, use the JRA pace for the first 60-90' to get tanked up. But, you start climbing (working) pretty early on that route so that may interfere with digestion.

I can appreciate the VI issues. Dealing/tweaking with that stuff here, too, in prep for Madison. At this time, here's how I'm approaching it....on the ups, I'm capping the effort based on real time watts; on the crests and flats, use real time watts; on any descent of any grade (not talking about the >30mph coasting stuff), I'm using RPE or slight steady pressure on the pedals, knowing that this will distort everything from Pavg to VI. It's a philosophy that I'll use at IMMoo. Remember, the bottom line is to ride as steady as you (the watt pusher) can on the terrain (the watt demand'er) that is presented to you. Eliminate the spikes and ride smooth. In theory, we could do this by now without any power data in front of us. It sounds like you're doing something similar.

Other purely random thoughts...carrying a water bottle on the bike will be added weight if you just plan on rinsing every now and then. Not to mention, it's gonna warm up, too. I'd carry 2 performs cuz you never know if one might get lost/dropped in between aid stations. If you go ez thru the aid stations, you can handle an early handoff to replace a Perform and a second Bottle of COLD Water by the end of the aid station stretch to squirt all over you, rinse the mouth, then dump it. Just think about it.

You've done your homework & know your stuff.

RR's are tougher than the race, IMO, other than running the rest of the marathon. Race day is so much fun, and it's hard to get excited/stay excited for a 6 hour ride with no hype like a RR. Great job getting it done!

new2703

Kate noticed you were out in my neck of the woods. I ride that poolesville/ Dickerson area all the time. The rolling hills suck and make it difficult to have a steady VI. Difficult but not impossible. First off what kind of gearing are you running? I use to run a standard crank up front with an 11-23 on back. Great for building strength not so much for VI training. Now have compact with 11-28 much better for terrain around here. Are you pushing up hill and having difficulty maintaing watts on downhill? I did and it was because I was pushing to hard, not intentionally, on ups and had to recover slightly on downhills. Coasting on downhills will adversley effect VINoticed your avg cadence was very low, 70s. Is that your normal cadence?
On the up hills how was heart rate? How close were the power spikes to your vo2 max and how long did you sustain that effort?

Kkaufer

Thanks for the feedback guys!

 I'm looking hard the real-time watts on the uphills to make sure I don't overcook it. I barely even go above my ftp on climbs - although I did notice that after sharp turns I briefly get into V02 max territory as I accelerate.  What I find is that on the downhills, I usually hit speeds at which point I get scared and want to put on the breaks somewhere between 80-100 watts, so that's my limiter, not so much the fact that I'm overcooked from the uphills.  I can't recall ever exceeding my watts number or my RPE getting high on the downhills so I'm not too worried about that.  My HR is a pretty stable low to mid 130s on the bike. 

@ Chris - you're right - definitely no water in jersey during IMLOU. And I'll rethink the 2nd bottle water vs perform issue - good point about not wanting to be stranded without perform ...

@ John - yupp, I have low cadence on the bike.  Always have, and never really felt comfortable doing high cadence drills. I might make that a focus for next year.  Also, I have a compact in the front - not sure how I'd survive Dickerson/Poolesville area without .  I do love the scenery out there though!

@ Chris - you nailed it with this: "RR's are tougher than the race, IMO, other than running the rest of the marathon." -- if it weren't for that little detail, I'd be much less worried