My First Race Simulation - IMSG
Race Simulation #1 for IMSG is scheduled for Saturday per the plan. Because a major winter storm is predicted to hit Denver tonight and stick around through the weekend, I decided to take advantage of today's spring-like 65 degree temps for my race sim. It was sort of a last minute call to take the day and just get it done. Luckily I had done the planning for this a few weeks back so I was ready for it.
THE PLAN
Calories before the outing would be 2 Odwalla protien drinks and a banana and some coffee.
My plan for the bike based on the gears I calculated according to my 211 FTP are:
Gear 1: 140
Gear 2: 148 (target watts)
Gear 3: 155 (long hills)
Gear 4: 162 (short hills)
I knew from the beginning that I would have to do some of this ride on the trainer. I figured that would be the easy part. The outdoor riding would be critical, though. I was planning this ride to not just put in the time but to gain insight and knowledge on:
- What my variability looks like and what I need to address there between now and 5/1
- what it feels like to ride at my gears
- whether my nutrition approach on the bike would leave me feeling reasonable and ready to run
- how much I feel like I need to pee
My run plan based on my LRP of 9:22 was to turn in splits at 9:52. I hadn't planned to take any nutrition on this run because I wanted to see how my bike nutrition held out for the hour. I figured that based on how I felt after this RS I'd be able to come up with what I feel like I want/need during the run. I will then take that on for R#2 in 3 weeks.
THE EXECUTION AND ANALYSIS
Took in my breakfast while reading the forums!
Due to a conf. call I had to be on at 1:30 PM, I had a defined time in which to get this done. This would prove to be a bit of an issue because I didn't budget for wardrobe changes, pee stops, traffic slowdowns, and digging mud out of my cleat after a pee stop.
I had to start the day indoors on the trainer because of how early I needed to start. Ended up with an hour indoors then transitioned to layers of clothes, gloves etc. to go outside. Once outside I was struck by how easy I felt like I was riding. I was also struck by how difficult it was to try to get to my target watts of 148. It seemed like I was either over or under, but rarely could I get that number to stick. I seemed to have a genuine concern about overdoing it. I guess a combination of that concern, plus the down hill sections of my ride, the times I slowed to look at deer munching in the bushes, or waiting for said deer to cross the road in front of me, or looking at the eagle hanging out in a tree I kept passing all led to lower numbers for the whole ride than what I should have had.
Here's the total workout details:
Duration: 5:26:52 (5:53:17)
Work: 2444 kJ
TSS: 211.9 (intensity factor 0.628)
Norm Power: 133
VI: 1.05
Pw:HR: n/a
Pa:HR: n/a
Distance: 91.033 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 286 126 watts
Cadence: 29 244 68 rpm
Speed: 2.2 31.9 16.9 mph
Pace 1:53 26:49 3:33 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 297 52 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 531 162 lb-in
You can see that my total ride time was abbreviated as a result of the extra time added to my day with the above list of administrivia.
I felt good though generally....but now I realize that's because I was under-performing! I was a little worried about cutting the ride short,
but having covered 91 miles, I'm OK with it at this point.
WRT my objectives for the day:
- my variability is better than it has been during the workouts that include intervals, but I still have room to improve. A few weeks ago as I was preparing for this day I listened to the race execution part of the power webinar again and I think the guidance was 1.03 to 1.04 for hilly rides. OPEN Item for next RS.
- because I was off my main target watts consistently for the day, I have to say I can't answer "what it feels like to ride at my gears" yet. OPEN item for next RS.
- nutrition wise I felt good, but I haven't yet nailed it. I did two three scoop bottles of Infinit which was 427.5 per bottle. I went through all of one and 1/4 of the other; so ~534 total or just over 100 cals/hour. When I think about that it doesn't seem like enough, but I felt good! During the 4th hour I had a bit of tightness in my stomach. Coincidentally that's when I ran low on water and was on my way home to refill. Once I took on more water, that resolved. I think I may need to try some salt tabs to help handle the peeing issue. I went 1x/hour for the first 3 hours like clock work, again at 4:30 (ride time) when I refilled water, and felt I could have gone during the run. Temp wise the day warmed up very nicely (I shed clothes along the way) but I know it wasn't as hot as it will get on race day in SG. OPEN item for next RS.
- I started and finished the run feeling great! I could tell that if I were going to run longer I'd need some calories and some caffeine (and a pee stop), but generally A-OK. At this point in the day it was shiny EN singlet and shorts which felt sooooo soooo good! Now that I see my underperformance on the bike though, I understand why I felt so good on the run!!
After all of this I felt great. Not ravenously hungry, not dead tired (like last weekend). I'm feeling good! Got some fine tuning to do, but at this point I feel confident that I'll see that finish line on Main St!!!! 
So that's my day....any thoughts or feedback are welcome!!
Now need to figure out what day to to the long run I was supposed to do today......
Comments
Duration: 58:17
Work: n/a
rTSS: 62.5 (0.763)
NGP: 9:33 (168.5 m/min)
VI: n/a
Pw:HR: n/a
Pa:HR: n/a
Distance: 6.062 mi
Elevation Gain: 176 ft
Elevation Loss: 180 ft
Grade: -0.0 % (-5 ft)
Min Max Avg
Speed: 2.9 10.5 6.3 mph
Pace 5:43 20:33 9:34 min/mi
Altitude: 5349 5442 5398 ft
Olivia- first of all YEEEEEEEEEEHAAAA!!!! I'm so excited for you!!!! What a great feeling to have a good rehearsal with lots of lessons learned and another rehearsal ahead where you can sort all that out. Your head is exactly in the right place!
You made some great observations. Here are a few of my own:
- 100cals/hr on the bike seems really light- maybe too light esp since it's so hard to take in cals on the run. I encourage you to try increasing that to something closer to 200.
- Can you break down your ride into segments so we can analyze a little more? I'm thinking your total NP for the ride may not be as low as you think. You rode in Gear 1 for some period of the ride while on the trainer-right? Make that an interval and take it out of the equation. Then break the rest of the ride into segments: 1- remaining time on the bike, 2- about 4 intervals of equal time when you were outside. Then let's see what that tells us.
Again- I just couldn't be happier for you!
Great RR! I'm so happy to hear you feeling great and optimistic! I don't have any advice for you, but way to go!
IMHO, 1.05 VI for this kind of a ride is also a VERY good place to be for the first RR. You've got the steady part drilled into your muscle memory, it seems.
Good job, I planning to do my race simulation next weekend and can't wait
That knot in your stomach was likely due to taking in the concentrated Infinit (you mentioned that drinking more water fixed it). I use 2 bottles of concentrated Infinit too. Just remember to take a good drink of water with each mouthful of the concentrated Infinit, gel, or salt tabs.
I agree with Nemo: 100 Cal/hour is a bit low. Try increasing the Cal/hour during the upcoming long rides.
How much sodium are you taking an hour? I'm thinking the desert environment of IMSG will result in more fluid loss (sweating) and subsequent sodium loss.
Rock on, chica!
So cool to see race rehearsals happening in the house. It is almost race season, everyone! Out of the pain caves!
One thing of note- Not sure of the elevation on your outdoors portion.. your avg cadence of 68 - is that norm for you? Used to seeing a a bit more spin as def want to see you putting those miles down on the run.
WOOHOO! St George here she comes!
Nemo, I did look at my hour by hour power output, and they all were in the pNorm 138 -139 range. So still low. (Thanks for trying!
Kris, I don't follow your question. Are you saying that you would expect to see higher cadence during a spin downhill? If that's the Q, then I can say that I would tend to start coasting rather than spin through descents. I'm still learning to ride through the descents rather than coast. I think because I tend to coast a lot. The mountain passes that I really learned to ride on tend to be such that I feel more confident and stable during a fast descent when I'm not pedaling. So I'll spin for a bit and then hang on and focus on bike handling....It wasn't until EN that I realized that I should be trying to spin through the descents more. I'm going to put an 11 - 27 on my bike in the next week or so (in time for next RS), right now I have 12-25 that may help... Correct me if totally missed your point!
The calories probably were low. I have to admit I'm afraid of over doing it in the calorie department, I also have to admit that I have yet to get the Infinit concentrate and water combo gig to work perfectly. So good advice here. The plan had been to go through one full 3 scoop bottle in the 1st 3 hours and the 2nd in the 2nd 3 hours. But I didn't do that. That will have to be a focus for the next few training rides and 2nd RS. I do think that one of my issues is the movement required to get the bottle, drink, put the bottle back and then get water. The simplicity of the Speedfil system is appealing, but I really hate that it costs $100. There is something stupid about a water bottle with a drinking tube costing that much. Not that I can't spring for it, but man, really??
Did the swim on Friday morning. Pretty uneventful. Felt good and came in at 1:09. I love those days when people come to and leave the pool while you're doing your nonstop thing and at the end it's just you.
Very tired yesterday at work after all of this! Now back to the grind...
Would typically expect to see a higher cadence overall (yes more spinning and not alot of coasting or grinding up the hills in a bigger gear). Without knowing the course etc, didn't know which one if both might result in a avg cad of 68. My avg during IM training was around 85-90 rpms (on a rolling/hilly course- nothing like what I would think you have out west!) Think Coach R says anything over 30 mph, he coasts - for me it's abt 28 so without knowing the course, just throwing out the thoughts.