Austin Race Rehearsal - Report
So....how did everyone's RR go this past weekend?
Our 16 year anniversary was on Friday & we had the kids outsourced for 24 hours - all six kids GONE for 24 hours. It was awesome! That meant I got a fantastic steak dinner on Friday and got to sleep in on Saturday morning...as in 11 hours of sleep!! Had a great brunch (chicken fried steak!) and then went for a nice 4 mile walk with my bride & then came back and took a nap! It was a great day.
That meant that I had to push my RR to Sunday to bank some SAUs. I typically do my RR at White Rock Lake in Dallas. It's a nice 10 mile loop and I can hit my truck for nutrition, spare tire, etc.. as needed.
I didn't really prep well for this RR. In fact, I'd say it's the most un-thought through one I've done to date. I've got my nutrition nailed down pretty tight & I'd read through the HIM protocol a couple of times and felt I knew the drill. My plan was to stay between 80%-83% of my FTP for the bike (216-224w). And my runs have been all over the board - some nagging glute issues have had me afraid to retest for fear of straining something. So I'm not super confident on what my zones are...except that I know they aren't what I've got loaded up. I figured I'd start set my Z2 at 8:30 per mile (it was at 7:40 per mile - ha! It's been a long time since I've seen that as a Z2 pace!!)...so the 1st three miles were going to be targeted at 9 minutes per mile and then I'd try to settle in to 8:30 for the final three miles.
Went to church...got home...got wife and kids settled and pulled my truck up to the lake around 12:40 and had wheels turning 10 minutes later. First thing i immediately discovered was that my PowerTap wasn't communicating with my Garmin. Turned the Garmin off and then back on...still nothing. Then I remembered that I'd been getting some low battery warnings on the PowerTap for the past two weeks. I guess I should have paid more attention. Stink...my whole ride would be done sans my power meter. Made a quick change to the display on my Garmin to include cadence on the same screen as my HR & just figured I'd wing it. I haven't been paying much attention to my HR so I really had no idea what I needed to be shooting for. I arbitrarily picked the mid to high 140s as the range to stay within and would try to keep the cadence around 90.
The first two hours were perfect...lots of cloud coverage and cool (which has been a much needed...the Dallas heat and humidity have been oppressive the past few weeks). Then the clouds broke and the sun came out and it started to get hot. I'd been lulled into a false sense of hydration by the cooler weather so I worked quickly to try and get more fluids in me knowing the run was going to be warm.
Finished the bike in 2:40:xx with an avg speed of 20.9, avg HR of 149 & avg cadence of 88. But again, NO power data.
Here is the Garmin File - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/590820720
I could tell right away that the run would be tough. It was pretty stinkin' hot and I didn't have a ton of shade to run in. I was about 10 seconds per mile too fast for the first 3 miles but felt pretty good about the last three. I pushed hard the final mile...and finished fairly wiped out.
Mile 1 - 8:48
Mile 2 - 8:50
Mile 3 - 8:49
Mile 4 - 8:37
Mile 5 - 8:28
Mile 6 - 8:15
Here is the Garmin file - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/590820749
Lessons:
1) Listen to the low battery warning
2) Be more thoughtful about my RRs
3) I think I rode the bike a little too hard...but tough to know without my PM.
4) Need to really think through my run paces. I'm not sure the 8:30 per mile would have been sustainable for another 7 miles. The temps played a big factor in this...so if it's cool in October maybe that would have been okay.
So...how'd it go for you guys?
Our 16 year anniversary was on Friday & we had the kids outsourced for 24 hours - all six kids GONE for 24 hours. It was awesome! That meant I got a fantastic steak dinner on Friday and got to sleep in on Saturday morning...as in 11 hours of sleep!! Had a great brunch (chicken fried steak!) and then went for a nice 4 mile walk with my bride & then came back and took a nap! It was a great day.
That meant that I had to push my RR to Sunday to bank some SAUs. I typically do my RR at White Rock Lake in Dallas. It's a nice 10 mile loop and I can hit my truck for nutrition, spare tire, etc.. as needed.
I didn't really prep well for this RR. In fact, I'd say it's the most un-thought through one I've done to date. I've got my nutrition nailed down pretty tight & I'd read through the HIM protocol a couple of times and felt I knew the drill. My plan was to stay between 80%-83% of my FTP for the bike (216-224w). And my runs have been all over the board - some nagging glute issues have had me afraid to retest for fear of straining something. So I'm not super confident on what my zones are...except that I know they aren't what I've got loaded up. I figured I'd start set my Z2 at 8:30 per mile (it was at 7:40 per mile - ha! It's been a long time since I've seen that as a Z2 pace!!)...so the 1st three miles were going to be targeted at 9 minutes per mile and then I'd try to settle in to 8:30 for the final three miles.
Went to church...got home...got wife and kids settled and pulled my truck up to the lake around 12:40 and had wheels turning 10 minutes later. First thing i immediately discovered was that my PowerTap wasn't communicating with my Garmin. Turned the Garmin off and then back on...still nothing. Then I remembered that I'd been getting some low battery warnings on the PowerTap for the past two weeks. I guess I should have paid more attention. Stink...my whole ride would be done sans my power meter. Made a quick change to the display on my Garmin to include cadence on the same screen as my HR & just figured I'd wing it. I haven't been paying much attention to my HR so I really had no idea what I needed to be shooting for. I arbitrarily picked the mid to high 140s as the range to stay within and would try to keep the cadence around 90.
The first two hours were perfect...lots of cloud coverage and cool (which has been a much needed...the Dallas heat and humidity have been oppressive the past few weeks). Then the clouds broke and the sun came out and it started to get hot. I'd been lulled into a false sense of hydration by the cooler weather so I worked quickly to try and get more fluids in me knowing the run was going to be warm.
Finished the bike in 2:40:xx with an avg speed of 20.9, avg HR of 149 & avg cadence of 88. But again, NO power data.
Here is the Garmin File - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/590820720
I could tell right away that the run would be tough. It was pretty stinkin' hot and I didn't have a ton of shade to run in. I was about 10 seconds per mile too fast for the first 3 miles but felt pretty good about the last three. I pushed hard the final mile...and finished fairly wiped out.
Mile 1 - 8:48
Mile 2 - 8:50
Mile 3 - 8:49
Mile 4 - 8:37
Mile 5 - 8:28
Mile 6 - 8:15
Here is the Garmin file - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/590820749
Lessons:
1) Listen to the low battery warning
2) Be more thoughtful about my RRs
3) I think I rode the bike a little too hard...but tough to know without my PM.
4) Need to really think through my run paces. I'm not sure the 8:30 per mile would have been sustainable for another 7 miles. The temps played a big factor in this...so if it's cool in October maybe that would have been okay.
So...how'd it go for you guys?
0