American Zofingen Race Simulation
I wrapped up a great BBW (280 miles in 4 days) with my first race simulation for the upcoming American Zofingen (5/16). Counter to the plans suggestion of "choosing a flat course", I decided to duplicate the amount of climbing in the race (~6500 ft gain). In addition to practing the normal execution stuff, I wanted to see if I could really flatten the course.
The Plan
Nutrition
- Pre-ride: Solid breakfast with 500-600 calories plus sipping Gatorade while prepping.
- Ride: 3 2-hr bottles of Infinit for nutition and water for hydration
- Run: Nothing
- Extra: banana, snickers bar, 1 gel and 1 shot-block
Ride
- Planned a 30-mile loop with ~2000 ft gain which end at the house. Planned to ride the loop three times for 90 miles or 6 hours.
Run
- Standard 6 mile loop, which is relativlely flat.
Gears (based on 215 FTP)
- 1st: 149
- 2nd: 157
- 3rd: 165
- 4th: 173
Pace:
- 9:00 min/mile splits based on LRP of 8:49.
Kit
- Standard bike shorts
- EN bike jersey + arm warmers
Execution and Analysis
It turned out to be the best day of the year so far: mid-70's for the day and no precipation in sight. Woke up at 6am in order to have time to eat breakfast (oatmeal, chocolate milk, bagel w/ PB) and prep for the ride, plus see the kids. I finally hit the road at 9am.
The first set of climbs came after only 4 miles of warm-up. Probably not the best choice since it made it near impossible, at least for me, to stay at the 149 watt goal. During the first loop I managed to loose my only bottle of infinit on the way out. So at the 15-mile mark I flipped the bike, slurrped a gel, and headed back to complete the first 30-mile loop in just about 2 hours.
The return trip included the hardest hill in the area, which I had never ridden before (bad mistake). I ended up having to walk the last section 
. At this point my mental six-pack was blown and unfortunately set the tone for the rest of the day. I altered the 2nd loop to include very little climbing so that I could try and get some mojo back. I managed to complete the next 30 miles in 1:45.
Feeling a bit better I deciced to attack the hills once again (just not the final hill) for the final loop. At this point my legs were fried and butt was sorer then hell, but knew I needed to push as hard as I could to make the 6 hours. I ended up cutting the final loop short by 4-miles. so ended up with 86 miles (4350 ft gain) in 5:50.
Here's the bike details:
You can see that I totally overdid the climbs and was not able to hold the suggested watts during the rest of the ride. As expected my VI sucked. I need to find a way to flatten the hills a bit more. Unfortunately, I am not sure if there is anything I can do about this.
This ride was done with a triple & 12/15 cassette. I have a new bike coming with a compact and 11/26. I am actually considering buying a 11/28 as well. This will give me a few additional gears in the back, but I don't know if they will actually compensate of the loss of the 30-ring.
At this point my w/kg is ~2.5. I can increase this to almost 3.0 if I loss ~10lbs. So I have started paying close attention to my diet, but I may be a day late and a dollar short in this area.
So at this point I have to consider that the ride is just going to be TOUGH! I have 6 weeks left and think I need to plan on climbing as much as possible.
Here is the run data:
As expected the run didn't go too well. I managed to maintain my goal pace for the first 3 miles and slowly fadded after that. Going by feel I think I could have pushed through for the remaining 9 miles, but the pace would probably have keep dropping. Probably to a walk before I was finsihed.
Overall, I think the nutrition plan worked out quite well. I don't feel that I necessarily bonked due to lack of fuel. One thing I did notice is that I felt hungry. I may need to add some solid food to the plan. Or following some newer posts up the amount protien in the Infinit.
I was definitely happy to have bike shorts instead of tri shorts. I am not sure how I am going to make this work during the race though. I may have to perform a wardrobe change.
So there you have it....I think it is going to be a very long day. I hope I can build up enough mental-foo to allow me to push through and at least finish, which at this point is my major goal. I plan on using the actually bike & run course for the 2nd RR, which I think will also give me some confidence, or totally break my will.
Thanks for listening, Pete
Comments
Bike Data:
Entire workout (139 watts):
Duration: 5:57:51 (6:26:16)
Work: 2983 kJ
TSS: 354.6 (intensity factor 0.778)
Norm Power: 167
VI: 1.2
Pw:HR: 9.08%
Pa:HR: -3.83%
Distance: 85.498 mi
Elevation Gain: 4357 ft
Elevation Loss: 4350 ft
Grade: 0.0 % (13 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 416 139 watts
Heart Rate: 91 172 147 bpm
Cadence: 19 120 86 rpm
Speed: 0 71.5 14.3 mph
Pace 0:50 0:00 4:11 min/mi
Altitude: 117 636 315 ft
Crank Torque: 0 685 146 lb-in
Run Data:
Entire workout (139 watts):
Duration: 5:57:51 (6:26:16)
Work: 2983 kJ
TSS: 354.6 (intensity factor 0.778)
Norm Power: 167
VI: 1.2
Pw:HR: 9.08%
Pa:HR: -3.83%
Distance: 85.498 mi
Elevation Gain: 4357 ft
Elevation Loss: 4350 ft
Grade: 0.0 % (13 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 416 139 watts
Heart Rate: 91 172 147 bpm
Cadence: 19 120 86 rpm
Speed: 0 71.5 14.3 mph
Pace 0:50 0:00 4:11 min/mi
Altitude: 117 636 315 ft
Crank Torque: 0 685 146 lb-in
Reading your post scared the crap out of me. Six weeks is really really soon. I have been planning on racing at least the middle distance but not doing nearly enough training. I have a feeling that there is going to be either a very small field or a lot of carnage out on the AZ course, likely both. It is way too early in the year to even consider racing az, should be a blast. I talked to last years winner yesterday and his long ride since last year is 26 miles.
FWIW the first huge hill is about 1/10th of a mile into the bike loop. You go out of the dirt parking lot and turn left on to the road about a 1/3 of the way up Mohonk Mountain. Straight up. Not sure how you flatten that course as I did a terrible job of it last year.
Gonna be fun either way.
Pete;
First, holy crap, I looked at the bike profile for this race and nearly fainted. I think picking a hilly course for your RR wasn't such a bad idea- I'd have probably done the same. It doesn't hurt to see just how far off you are from being able to sit & spin up those steep hills when you need to and then figuring out what to do for the next time.
This is a Long Course Du (5M, 84M, 15M), right? I'm wondering if you have considered modifying the Race Rehearsal to account for that first run. Yeah, we don't normally swim before an IM RR, but Du's are different and that first run can make or break you. Perhaps on the second RR consider breaking up that 6 mile run into 3 before and 3 after the ride.
Finally- your run pacing looks a little "hot" to me. I realize its only 15 miles on that second run, but it's still a total of 20 miles accross the day, and that's pretty much IM distance stuff. I'd recommend you reconsider you pacing plan for the run and adjust the first few miles of that second run to be something closer to LRP + 0:30 (especially given the killer bike course).
What are your pacing plans for the first run?
I know we're a pretty IM/HIM focused place here- but I want to be sure you really get a chance to work out your entire plan. Du's are a LOT harder in my opinion!!! And that's coming from someone who DNFed twice because of the swim!
Breaking the run up in the next RR sounds good as well. Especially since I plan on using the actual race course. This may help give me a better feel for how things may go.
You all, and my son, have convinced me to move into the IM/HIM world, but EN has definitely helped me progress in the DU world as well. Who knows maybe RnP may eventually bring DUs under the roof formally. I think they would be great at it!
Pete
I would not worry too much about the run pacing thing for AZ, it will kinda sort itself out. The first half to 3/4 miles are kinda rolling on dirt/gravel/trampled grass paths with a couple of stream jumps. After that it goes straight up hill more like a hiking trail up a mountain than anything else. Lots of rocks and exposed roots etc. Best to go slow "power hike" as you will be later anyhow. Once you get up to the top of the mountain you kinda run around for a bit and then there is a long downhill section on carraige trail which is like a dirt/gravel road but wide enough that you could drive a car on it [well a jeep anyway]. The downhill are not technical. After that you run along a ridge maybe 100 feet from the pavillion [where the music and the irish car bomb aid station are] before heading up hill again, then down again and then a long false flat uphill slog to get back to the pavillion so you can start all over again.
I think that I will be doing the middle distance F1 race. Too scared...
Hey P you coming?
The Iron Individual Time Trial should be good assuming you can't run
http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=9956
The great think about AZ is that regardless of when you finish there will be plenty of beer. Having Keegan Ales as a sponsor is the kind of thing all races need to incorporate...
Pete,
That's definitely a tough RR. I have not done the gearing from the triple to a compact but it might make for smoother shifting with only two rings upfront. The 11-28 or even a 12-28 if you want tighter gearing would probably be a good decision. If you can minimize the spike in power go for it.
For reference to this point. I rode the lake placid course in early 2004 on a 10 speed. Planned 2 loops and did one frying myself on the hills. I realized I needed more gears and bought a 8 speed cannondale still not enough easy gears 53/38 and 25 on the back but it was easier than the 10 speed.
Gordon