RR1 IMSG
Hi Team,
It has been almost 2 weeks since I did my first Race Rehearsal and I am just getting around to putting this up, before I start I would like to thank Tom Glen for looking over my data last week and giving me some sweet advice on it. If anyone else has any thoughts that would great. By the way, where do we submit the WKO file to Patrick? I seem to remember seeing it somewhere but am having no luck finding it in the last week. Anyway, here is the report:
I know I was suppose to pick a super easy course for the RR, but since I have only really done real climbs like twice in my life, I thought I would try my first RR at Skyline drive, if it was disastrous then I will do the 2nd one else where. My goal was the following:
-stay within my watts on all the hills, and try to negative split the watts
-stay on top of drinking and eating
-be out there for about 6 hours and not to worry about how far I went since I knew it was super hilly.
I was fairly on top of nutrition, I was trying out the Carbo Pro syrup which has 1200 cal in a bottle, I was drinking about 200 cal an hour plus one fig Newton. I would drink water and some syrup every 15min and every 4th time I would have a fig Newton and some water (without any syrup). I think this worked pretty well for me. Over the last couple month I have figured out that all liquid does not totally work for me, I need a little something; and one Fig Newton for 50 cal seems to do the trick.
I was not as on top of drinking though, I have always had a lot of problems with this. I drank just over 2 bottles every 3 hours. I know I should be drinking 1-1.5 bottle an hour, and if I don’t get better at this St George is going to be a long day. I think the dehydration was why my run wasn’t quite where I thought it would be.
I think I did a pretty good job pacing, I remember reading about something Tom posted that we should ride easy the first half and pick it up a little in the 2nd half and towards the end. It is a little hard to tell from the data below, because at Skyline drive you are either climbing for 20-40min or you are descending (fast and twisty) for 5-10min. Because of the nature of the course my Norm Power seems to drop a lot during the descends. my goal was for each of the hours was (my FTP is set at 253):
1-165
2-170
3-175
4-175
5-180
6-185
In WKO if you skipped all the descends then that is pretty close to what the norm power looks like for that hour (with ascend only).
Something else of note is that my cadence was very low compare to what I normally ride, I am usually between 82-90 depending on the course. But the avg for the ride was 68 and I think I was really around 50 most of the time. I am running a compact crank with 11-26 right now.
My run was ok, actually it is probably the best I have ever felt after a long bike (Half Ironman bike leg included). It is hard to tell what my pace was, since it was just as hilly, but Garmin told me it was about 10:30 pace. My z1 pace is around 9:05, but given how hilly it was and how dehydrated I was I think it was pretty good.
Anyway, here are some questions that I need to figure out during RR2 and IMSG”
-How to make sure I stay on top of the liquid, I thought I was doing a pretty good job, but I guess I wasn’t sucking as much water out of the bottle then I thought I was.
-Should I do the same course again for RR2? Or should I go with something easier?
-Should I get a 12-27 or 11-28? Am I going to run into the same problem at St George (I weight about 160 with the FTP of 253 if that make a difference)?
I guess I should end here, I would really appriciate any thoughts you mgiht have.
Thanks in advance,
Wei
By the way, Tom and I talked about guessing what our time at St George would be, we couldn't figure anything out, not that it is that important since we should just stick with our watts and see where the chips fall, but it would be nice to know roughly when I might get off the bike though. I am hoping for around 6:15, but am not holding my breath or anything.
Here is the data (I was out there for about 6:33 but I was riding for about 6:15, had to find water, bathroom and all that good stuff):
Lap 1:
Duration: 1:00:05
Work: 589 kJ
TSS: 44 (intensity factor 0.663)
Norm Power: 166
VI: 1.01
Pw:HR: n/a
Pa:HR: n/a
Distance: 10.51 mi
Elevation Gain: 1852 ft
Elevation Loss: 810 ft
Grade: 1.9 % (1042 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 260 164 watts
Cadence: 45 147 69 rpm
Speed: 4.2 41.5 10.5 mph
Pace 1:27 14:12 5:43 min/mi
Altitude: 1811 2987 2330 ft
Crank Torque: 0 443 209 lb-in
Lap 2:
Duration: 1:00:37
Work: 530 kJ
TSS: 44.2 (intensity factor 0.662)
Norm Power: 165
VI: 1.13
Pw:HR: n/a
Pa:HR: n/a
Distance: 14.491 mi
Elevation Gain: 1625 ft
Elevation Loss: 2128 ft
Grade: -0.7 % (-503 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 256 146 watts
Cadence: 36 191 72 rpm
Speed: 0 40.4 15.1 mph
Pace 1:29 0:00 3:58 min/mi
Altitude: 2360 3396 2822 ft
Crank Torque: 0 420 180 lb-in
Lap 3:
Duration: 1:00:03
Work: 593 kJ
TSS: 47.9 (intensity factor 0.692)
Norm Power: 173
VI: 1.05
Pw:HR: n/a
Pa:HR: n/a
Distance: 10.012 mi
Elevation Gain: 2138 ft
Elevation Loss: 985 ft
Grade: 2.2 % (1151 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 376 165 watts
Cadence: 36 218 64 rpm
Speed: 0.3 37 10.0 mph
Pace 1:37 193:07 5:60 min/mi
Altitude: 2330 3593 3046 ft
Crank Torque: 0 455 227 lb-in
Lap 4:
Duration: 1:00:08
Work: 484 kJ
TSS: 41.2 (intensity factor 0.641)
Norm Power: 160
VI: 1.2
Pw:HR: n/a
Pa:HR: n/a
Distance: 13.38 mi
Elevation Gain: 1171 ft
Elevation Loss: 2257 ft
Grade: -1.5 % (-1087 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 368 134 watts
Cadence: 37 231 78 rpm
Speed: 0 44 17.2 mph
Pace 1:22 0:00 3:29 min/mi
Altitude: 2356 3721 3213 ft
Crank Torque: 0 404 152 lb-in
Lap 5:
Duration: 1:01:41
Work: 550 kJ
TSS: 46.8 (intensity factor 0.675)
Norm Power: 169
VI: 1.13
Pw:HR: n/a
Pa:HR: n/a
Distance: 13.068 mi
Elevation Gain: 1974 ft
Elevation Loss: 1983 ft
Grade: -0.0 % (-10 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 245 149 watts
Cadence: 35 212 64 rpm
Speed: 2.7 38.9 12.7 mph
Pace 1:33 21:57 4:43 min/mi
Altitude: 2361 3398 2851 ft
Crank Torque: 0 422 204 lb-in
Lap 6:
Duration: 1:00:25
Work: 484 kJ
TSS: 44.7 (intensity factor 0.667)
Norm Power: 167
VI: 1.25
Pw:HR: n/a
Pa:HR: n/a
Distance: 14.237 mi
Elevation Gain: 1603 ft
Elevation Loss: 2459 ft
Grade: -1.1 % (-857 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 247 133 watts
Cadence: 36 196 63 rpm
Speed: 0 40 14.8 mph
Pace 1:30 0:00 4:04 min/mi
Altitude: 774 2437 1653 ft
Crank Torque: 0 444 186 lb-in
Lap 7:
Duration: 11:13
Work: 116 kJ
TSS: 9.6 (intensity factor 0.717)
Norm Power: 179
VI: 1.04
Pw:HR: n/a
Pa:HR: n/a
Distance: 1.303 mi
Elevation Gain: 525 ft
Elevation Loss: 192 ft
Grade: 4.8 % (333 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 232 172 watts
Cadence: 47 117 58 rpm
Speed: 0 14 7.0 mph
Pace 4:16 0:00 8:36 min/mi
Altitude: 1600 1944 1789 ft
Crank Torque: 0 385 254 lb-in
Entire workout (147 watts):
Duration: 6:33:25
Work: 3546 kJ
TSS: 293.9 (intensity factor 0.669)
Norm Power: 167
VI: 1.11
Pw:HR: n/a
Pa:HR: n/a
Distance: 82.783 mi
Elevation Gain: 11298 ft
Elevation Loss: 11310 ft
Grade: -0.0 % (-12 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 376 150 watts
Cadence: 35 231 68 rpm
Speed: 0 44 13.3 mph
Pace 1:22 0:00 4:31 min/mi
Altitude: 774 3721 2597 ft
Crank Torque: 0 455 196 lb-in
Comments
WHEW! - 11,000 + feet of climbing! The race will seem easy after that. You seem to have the pacing thing nailed pretty well, so your big problem is, as you said, "remembering to drink". Of course how much to drink is VERY temperature dependent. I find I can get away with minimal fluids up to about 70F, then my need starts to rise, and sky rockets over about 82F. Another sneaky factor at StG is the dry air, which sucks away your sweat, so you miss some clues about how much you need to drink.
A lot of people swear by an on-board hydration system, like Speed Fil, or an aero bottle between the aero bars. Currently, there's a conversation about these at this link. The advantage seems to be there is a straw right in front of your face, reminding you to DRINK DRINK DRINK. Also, most sports watches have a timer function, which can be set to beep every 10, 15, or 20 minutes or whatever you think you will need to be drinking.
IMO, the BEST reminder to drink is those aid stations, which are usually about 10 miles apart. Grabbing a bottle of H2O drinking (& maybe pouring the rest over your head), and then tossing at the end of the station give me something to look forward to, and keeps me topped up.
Finally, you noted you might want to try a flatter route for your next RR. I agree!
Wei, incredible effort and what Al said: timer for the fluids and flatter course. 200W is still 200W whether you are going up a hill, down one, or are flying through the air.
Seriously though, i'd rather you not dig too deep a hole and focus on getting the nutrition and pacing right. Don't worry about the predicted time as IMSG is such an anomaly, but do focus on that cadence....you will have to keep it up higher wherever possible or you will suffer mightily on that run! Good luck!
P
Wei,
That is a huge effort 11,000 feet of climbing. I hope you are all healed up.
As Nemo said if you are not using your gears then do so otherwise I'd consider a 27 or 28. Also you mention an 11 or 12 I'd go with a 12 as you can just soft pedal on the down hills once you get over 28-30 or even sooner. I'd probably opt for the tighter cassette.
I believe my new specialized comes with as 12-28 and I put a compact on it as well. I'm much bigger (216) than you and have a lower FTP (220) so take that in to consideration as well.
Gordon
Thanks for your thoughts, I am actually pretty good at remembering to drink every 15min but I am just not drinking enough each time to add up to the amount I need to drink per hour. I have found a solution that I am going to try this weekend.
Patric,
Check on easier course, I will either do the flattest course I know, or my normal riding area which is still pretty hill.
Nemo,
Yeah, I would be on the largest clog in the back or the 2nd to largest because I see the pitch will change up the hill and wanted a bail out for that. Seriously thinking about a 28 in the back. I am already dropping a lot of many getting everything set up though, so if I can save on that it would be great.... we will see.
Thanks everyone!