Bumping up IF in the Ironman
Patrick,
Good talking to you the other day. I remembered one thing I wanted to run by you after we hung-up. I think another way to shave some time off the IM, and hit that sub 11 goal is to be able to ride the bike at a slightly higher IF than I have been.
In both IM's I've ridden a .69, which is what I rode in the RR's. However, all my long rides this year were at .75-.76 IF, and I felt pretty good in doing a 45-60' run afterwards (did a run at LRP after all my long rides, instead of a run with TP work before the rides). I guess I've done the RR's, and thus the races at the .69 "just to be safe", and now I'm wondering if I'm leaving some time out on the course by not just trusting that I will be fine at .70 or even .71....What do you think, does everything indicate that I should be fine doing that? BTW, my TSS at Florida this year was 258, so that also leads me to believe I've got room to gain some time on the bike....as long as I get used to it in the RR's, and it goes fine of course. Sound reasonable?
Comments
Keep if mind that IF is also a function of the amount of time your are out there on any given course, i.e., If I ride a 5:15 split, I can afford to push a .74 IF and 285 TSS, if I ride a 5:45 split and turn a .71 IF, I still hit a 285 TSS........
At the end of the day, I am looking for about ~285ish total TSS because I know personally that I can run off of that amount load and execute my run plan.....any more and I begin to role the dice, any less, and I have probably left something on the table.
Coach P's response of course overrides my opinions...
SS
@Steve, yes you should be looking at .72 as a target from the 60 minute mark to the bike finish (first hour is JRA / easy at .69). Your training rides are designed to be harder, but they aren't the ultimate indicator as they haven't been preceded by bad sleep, a 2.4 mile swim, and a crazy transition. Might be worth dialing in an hour swim before your next 112 just to see what .72 feels like by hour 3....4....5....you get the idea!
And don't forget, a TSS sub-260 means you have had a very good run lately...Increased bike exertion will eat into that margin!