RR#2 Cedar Point
Hey Team,
Morning of the race rehearsal, I was not as organized as I should have been. I went to bed late (1am) and woke up late (6am) to start at 7am.
My morning nutrition was:
1 piece of bread
1 power bar 250 calories
1 spoon of peanut butter
2 bananas
Honestly it was just anything I could just find on my way out that morning.
Ride nutrition:
I weigh close to Coach P @ 188lbs. So I decided to follow his steps of drinking Gatorade endurance 2 bottles(160 calories per bottle, 400+mg sodium, 42mg carbs), powerbar gel (100 calories, 32mg carbs 200mg sodium) every 30 mins, Powerbar bar (125calories, 20+mg carbs, 100+mg sodium) every 30mins after the gels. These are all just on top of my head. I can confirm when I get home.
Bike ride
With my new FTP of 234 (from 242) and after Peter have been reviewing some of my rides, we decided to start from the IF of .65 the first hour (152w) then go .70 IF for 5hrs.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/364386992
First hour
I tried to maintain a low wattage as much as I could but both of my legs were somewhat sore. I believe this was from the long run on the thursday before the race rehearsal. Even though I cut the long run by 15mins and stayed almost on target for the work out, I was really feeling it on my quad that morning. My speed was slow and at the same time it felt like it should be, holding back. I thought I was holding the wattage fine at 152w but according to Peter when he checked it in WKO my Pnorm was 144, Pave 138 and VI of 1.04 My nutrition was on the spot. I would eat on time whether I was climbing a long hill or flat. I was sipping on my aero bottle when I can and I finished my aero bottle at 45mins (my aero bottle holds 1.5bottles)
Last 5hrs Goal watts 164 IF .7
My legs were still sore and this lasted for the rest of the ride. I tried to match my lap Pave and lap Pnorm through the ride and I would come very close to the 2km window that I set my garmin to alert me. Sometimes I find that I have difficulty producing power in the slight downhill. My power 3s ave jumps alot from 110w-180w really fast and at the same time the lap Pave and lap Pnorm were as low as 120w-130w. In the climb I tried to maintain the 164w. For the most part I am succesful at staying below except this one very steep hill. I dropped my cadence to 35 and my screen was telling me that my speed was 3.8 kph (2.4mph) going up the hill. I stepped it up a little bit to avoid falling and just to go over the hill but during my race I believe there will be no hill like this in the course so I should be okay. Again thanks to Peter for taking the time to check my file, but my Pnorm was only 156w and 147w Pave for the last 5hrs VI 1.06. Since I learned only a week or two weeks ago on how to ride steady and what to look at in the screen, I think this is the factor why my numbers are low. When I say "learned to ride steady" I mean that for the past 8-9 weeks Ive been focusing on the wrong screen. Ive been looking at Pave ride, Pnorm ride and IF. I was just informed that these numbers dont really change after 2+hr ride. This was in my first RR. Just a week ago I added lap Pave and lap Pnorm in my front screen and matching those two is what Ive been focusing mostly during the ride. At 3.5hrs I stopped at the store to buy gatorade bottles and a few minutes later I had the urge to use the toilet (#2). If its any consolation, it was quite a few. I didnt go in the morning and I assumed it was from the day before. Prior to that I had no major stomach issue but just flatulance. That was the only one during the ride and after the ride I had to go again (before run). I find when I relax, I need to use the washroom. The last1.5hrs I was starting to feel tired but my goal was to keep as low VI as possible even if its not 164w.
I think a few factors affecting my VI during the rides are:
-safety. some of the streets I rode that day were quite busy. some had speed limit of 80kph and some 60kph. I used my race wheels and there was a huge cross wind heading home. Crosswind and heavy traffic and race wheels (85mm) dont really go together.
- stop lights and stop signs. I tried to keep on pedaling until a few meters to the stop sign or lights then brake really hard for some part for some I just really needed to cruise cause of traffic.
Transition
It was starting to get hot. I soak myself with water to wash off the gatorade and freshen myself up. A few minutes into preparing to run, I had the urge to use to toilet as mentioned above. It wasnt much but just flatulance.
Run 4k
My legs were really "fresh". I didnt feel the sore quads while running and at the same time my hamstrings were not tired during the ride. My Epace is 10min/mile + 30secs. I spent a lot of time looking at my watch. The first few seconds I was running 8:40 and it felt EASY!!! First I thought it must be the garmin signal, but a few seconds reliazed that it is my actual pace! I spent a lot of time holding back after that. The first mile was 10:10m/m pace. Then at 2k, I felt this dull pain in my right shin. It feels like a knot im not sure but its pulling on my calf. I slowly jogged it but it was slowly to hurting me. I stopped and didnt force anything. I walked back to my car. I looked at my shin and there was nothing I could find. No bumps or lumps. If I point my toes I feel it on the right side of my shin bone. I walked around for a bit (20mins) and it disappeared. I tried jogging around my car and it wasn't there. I decided to stop the run there. I was afraid of injuring my legs more.
Some questions
With the FTP thats showing right now, Peter suggested that I should ride in those wattage. But does that mean that I can have the cushion from 144w-164w? Can I change my goal FTP through the ride within the limit of IF.7?
I think my nutrition is really good. I peed 5x in the bike during a 6hr practice and these are nice a long white pee but Im thinking of dropping my power bar and swap that with gels? So I would be eating gels every 30mins. Do you guys think that the power bar is making me go to the toilet at the end of the ride andcausing all these flatulance? Like mentioned above I didnt have any major stomach issues.
Ive probably forgottten to mention other things but Im open to any changes (if any now that Im 2weeks away) or any advice.
Thank you Team!
Comments
1) sleep better before big days and races.
2) practice your race day morning nutrition on these days
3) I think your bowel movements were "normal"... I definitely need to do that before every workouts so I kind of trained my body to have it's discharge first thing in the morning. And often after long rides as well, so that isn't necessarily unusual. Getting up early enough and eating first thing will often help trigger that a little later on, but before the race. (I doubt it was the Powerbar, but not positive).
4) There are very few hills on the Cedar Point course, so you should have a lower and steady VI during the race which will help (especially with no stops for traffic and intersections during a race).
5) 1.04 VI with ~4,500' of elevation change is still pretty good though. And from just glancing at your Garmin file, your power looked pretty steady throughout the ride with only a few spikes. It looks like your power faded a bit in the last half hour, but this is understandable since that was a pretty long net downhill section.
6) it is definitely the EN plan to ride at the lower wattage for the first hour, but if I'm being totally honest, I can only do that for about 30 mins before I dial in my goal watts. If you cook yourself in the swim, you might need the whole hour, but my HR normalizes very quickly and after getting my nutrition started and being totally relaxed and settled in, I go to goal watts.
7) do not change your goal wattage mid-race unless it gets hot or you know you are cooking yourself and in that case, dial it back a bit. I would stay in that tight range of 144W-164W, but after that first 30 mins, try to stay above 155 and below 170. You had a few spikes up to around 300W on your RR which you should NEVER have during a race (and the flat course will help). But let's say if you EVER see a number greater than 200, immediately take note and dial it back.
8) It was smart cutting the run short. Nothing to gain by hurting yourself at this point of the game. BUT, you MUST SLOW DOWN in the first handful of miles. 26.2 miles is a long way, so give us those extra 30s per mile in the first 6 miles. 3:00 mins is nothing on that long day and if it means you delay walking at 20 mins per mile by even 1 mile then it is well worth it. And if you end up not walking near the end, you will get those 3 mins back. Trust me!
9) Ice your shins/calves/quads and do lots of stretching. The taper will help your legs feel better, but you have to eat healthy, maybe get a massage and take care of your legs now.
10) Good Luck. You've asked a lot of thoughtful questions. Think through the day over and over again. Race smart. Always err on the side of being more conservative at every decision. You're gonna do great.
Thank you John for your tips and advice.
The friday night was out of my control. I had to pick up my in laws at the airport and delays after delays they actually made it out of there by 11:30pm.
I will stick with the powerbar then. I just gotta make sure race morning that I empty before heading out!
In the section where I just coasted downhill, is a major street. With traffic+crosswinds+85mm wheel I decided to just get off my aero bars and slowly descent to safety. Im sure it hurt my VI a lot. Im gonna write a race plan in a couple of days and my goal wattage would be around 160w, hoping my taper legs would help me achieve that. For the first 2kilometers of the run all I actually tried to do was slow down. At first I thought the garmin was just starting to pick up the satelite but quickly realized that it wasn't. For the run it says in the wiki after 6miles to run at a comfortable pace but I plan to stick around 10-10:30min/mile pace until mile 18. I want to hit a 4:30 marathon and I think all I need is a 10:15min/mile pace.
P.S. I dont know if this is realistic or not but looking at cedar points profile it seems like its less challenging (1400ft elevation). I want to achieve a sub 6hrs bike split. Can you tell if the 160w make that goal happen? If of course everything goes to plan with no issue.
Thank you guys very much! I've learned a lot more here than anywhere else in internet space!!!
My mantra in an IM: "pay attention to your nutrition and your pace; your time and place will take care of themselves."
I think thats my taper self talking lol thanks for the gentle reminder Peter!