Wendy Watson IMWI FTF 2014 RR#2
Age 61 Wt 60kg FTP 150 VDOT 34
Course : 106 miles of IMWI course followed by 1 hour brick run (sunny/80's)
Pre-ride: 2 scoops Perpetuem/21oz, one bagel = 540 cal, 680mg Na, 21oz fluid
Bike setup: four 24oz bottles of Perform ( torpedo and downtube (race setup) plus 2 behind saddle (training setup))
bike jersey (EN tri top for race day) and tri shorts
Intake (bike): 24oz Perform/hr, 3 margarita Clif blocs/hour, 1 Saltstick/hr = 300 cal/hr, 24 oz fluid/hr, 840mg Na/hr for 7 hr
Bike stats: NP 112, VI 1.2
IF 0.76
Intake (run) 4 oz Perform /mile, 1 Powergel + 2Xcaffeine / hr = 285 cal/hr, 20 oz fluid/hr , 675 mg Na/hr, 50mg caffeine/hr for one hour
Run stats: Z1 + 30" = 12 min/mile, interesting to experience how hard it is to run so slowly
Conclusions and plan for 3rd RR this weekend:
1. Finished ride dehydrated and craving plain water. Will increase Perform to 30oz/hr, decrease blocs to 2/hr, omit Saltstick on bike, carry and use as needed. Will add 6 oz water /hr. (36 fluid/hr, 323 cal/hr, 813 mg Na/hr) Increase pre-ride hydration. Wondering if the plain water craving is a sign of, not just dehydration, but of taking in too much sodium?
2. With my low watts/kg there is no way I can hit the magic IF and VI numbers like I have on flatter courses. After biking 6 of the hilly loops this year I know I can get over all the hills(except the 10% grade on TimberLane), shifting early, maxing out my watts at my FTP and keeping my cadence at 60 or over. Getting better at staying on the gas on the downhills. I keep hearing Coach Rich saying "don't coast!" on the downhills.
Mathematically, it seems that the smaller the FTP number, the smaller the watt range to stay at the correct IF and VI. Am I wrong here or just making excuses?
3. Feel 285 cal/hr is too much on the run. Target is 213 cal/hr. Plan to substitute 4 oz water(drink with hourly bloc /gel) for one 4 oz Perform/hr and eventually switch to blocs which are easier than gels to get down and easier to titrate calories. Aiming to get in 2-3mg caffeine/kg (120-180 mg) over the first 2.5-3 hours of the run. Found out on the 3 hour run RR that my GI system does not tolerate Coke, at least not in close proximity to a gel/bloc. Will experiment with Coke, alone, on the long run and brick run this week. Not in the habit of mixing a gel/bloc with a sport's drink in the past. Is Coke even riskier to mix with a gel/bloc?
4. Keep working on maintaining a consistent effort and power output.
Thank you for reading this!!
Wendy
Comments
2. With my low watts/kg there is no way I can hit the magic IF and VI numbers like I have on flatter courses. After biking 6 of the hilly loops this year I know I can get over all the hills(except the 10% grade on TimberLane), shifting early, maxing out my watts at my FTP and keeping my cadence at 60 or over. Getting better at staying on the gas on the downhills. I keep hearing Coach Rich saying "don't coast!" on the downhills.
Mathematically, it seems that the smaller the FTP number, the smaller the watt range to stay at the correct IF and VI. Am I wrong here or just making excuses?
You are not wrong. There's actually science on this--Phil Skiba's written some pretty good articles about it. The plain English version is that when you exceed FTP, it takes your body a long time to recover, and you get that much closer to bonking. The lower your FTP is, the longer the recovery takes (it's essentially a percentages game). The lower your FTP, the better your execution has to be in many respects--in my case, I don't have too much room for error either. I was talking with a buddy of mine who nearly KQ'd, and said that I feel slow to which his response was. "That doesn't matter. The physiological toll is the same."
3. Feel 285 cal/hr is too much on the run. Target is 213 cal/hr. Plan to substitute 4 oz water(drink with hourly bloc /gel) for one 4 oz Perform/hr and eventually switch to blocs which are easier than gels to get down and easier to titrate calories. Aiming to get in 2-3mg caffeine/kg (120-180 mg) over the first 2.5-3 hours of the run. Found out on the 3 hour run RR that my GI system does not tolerate Coke, at least not in close proximity to a gel/bloc. Will experiment with Coke, alone, on the long run and brick run this week. Not in the habit of mixing a gel/bloc with a sport's drink in the past. Is Coke even riskier to mix with a gel/bloc?
2 thoughts--I'm 178, and 200 cal per hour is a lot on a long run. I suspect you weigh less. More than that and I get bloated/uncomfortable. I would scale it back 85. If Coke, fine. If perform, fine. If shot bloks (I like those too) then fine. The specific cocktail is so individual that I couldn't hazard a guess, but it sounds like the problem is volume and not composition. YMMV.
Important FN--I'm doing a half IM plan, not full IM so take this FWIW.
Thanks Chris for your input. Good info and advice.
Wendy