% FTP target for an Olympic Tri

kadler

Feeling pretty good training for IM Chattanooga in late Sept.  I have been reading all great insight about how to target the intensity of the IM bike available on the EN website and in the forums.

I am doing an Olympic race in a few weeks. Any idea what % of FTP should be targeted for this shorter distance? Is 90% to aggressive?

kimmydct

Ken- everyone is differnt and some faster folks may say otherwise but 90 sounds good. That was actually my target for the Quassy Oly last week. I came in closer to 88 but that was more a function of the hills and balancing coasting and pushing the hills. My run was fine and I actually PRd the bike and run. In 2013 for the same race I rode at 81 and had a good run so being able to ride harder and PR both was a good sign that the 88IF wasn't too much.

Peter Greagg

The EN approach suggests an IF of between 0.88 and 0.92.
That said, as Kim says, everyone is different so you will need to find out what works best for you.
Good luck.

kadler

Thanks Kin and Peter, that should work

morpheus

glad you asked. I have an OLY June 28 that I want to do well in.

I'm planning on capping my efforts on the climbs/false flats @ 95-105%, hold 90-93% on the level stuff, and just press by feel on the downs. It's hard to nail a target NP around here b/c of the downs. Believe it or not, I can really cook my legs by pushing so hard on the downs trying to keep the watts close to 95% or whatever. That's why I say I'm going to press on the downs but not get caught up with holding 90% on the downs.

BTW, I've asked this same question a few years ago and I received a wide, very wide, range of answers. I ended up shooting for 100% for the 40k. And, I blew up on the run. There are many that can pull that off. I was not one of them. I'm still working on building a consistently strong run so I will back off a touch on the bike, despite it only being an OLY, to give my run a fighting chance.

davidpettigrew

I know I could not hit 0.90 for 40k. Like other races you need to account for how long it will take you to ride the course. Also factor in that you will have just done a hard swim. Short course racing is intense - no such thing as "only an Oly". At my most recent sprint I rode 0.90 for 37 minutes. That was about as hard as I could go. I was holding hardly anything back for the run. I would likely be targeting around 0.85 for an Olympic that might take me 1hr 20min.

But, if you are a strong swimmer and get out the water in really good shape and you are an axe on the bike, then you could probably do 0.9 or above.

Or you could just forget about it, ride hard, see what you get and use it as a reference for your next short-course race.

Peter Noyes

I like to race an Olympic as an all out effort. Use the power meter as a whip, not a restraint! As hard as I have tried the best IF I have done is 0.93 (I was shooting for 0.95 or higher) and running was ok for me.

Steve Ross

I agree with Peter. For me the Oly distance is one of the hardest races that I really like to do. I approach it the same way as Peter, use the bike power as your friendly whip and push yourself to your leg/lung limits. Regain composure in transition then push that run real hard like a bear is chasing you but don't look back. In saying that no %,no #'s mentioned, just go "hard" is my approach. But in saying all his the biking at .90 is a solid marker.

kimmydct

One more note... I think another factor is how long you expect the race to take you. In determining IF for HIM and IM, you take into account how long the race is expected to take. The longer it takes, the lower the targeted IF. May not be AS applicable for a shorter race but it probably should be considered. My Oly took 3:33. Those that can finish sub-3 or closer to 2:30 may be able to get closer to .95IF+.

I tried the all-out approach with a sprint and was around 100%. The run was FUGLY. I planned on that going in since my run generally sucks so I figured "how much worse could it get?" LOL I found out! I would say it slowed my run down by about 3 mins for the 5k. Next sprint I'll pull back on the bike a bit if I'm looking for a good overall race vs. just a kick-ass bike split.

kadler

Thanks for the guidance. Definitely a few viable strategies. I am famous for blowing up on the run so in my case not going to far over 100% for very long probably important.

My race will be very hilly as well. Chris, my 6/28 is also a hilly course. any coincidence you are doing Stamford Ct?

morpheus

Nope

Chattanooga.

But I'll keep you mind the morning of the 28th. Sounds like we'll have similar concerns and approaches.

I'll send you some mojo as we set our transititions up!

davidpettigrew

Chris and Ken, It would be awesome if you guys returned here to give feedback on how the races went 

kadler

David, Will do and thanks for the advice!

Brad Marcus

@Ken - I am racing the KicIt Oly in Stamford, CT too in 2 weeks. I raced this one 2 years ago. General guidance that I can give: Swim was short of .9 miles (at least that year). Almost all climbing on bike was on the first half...mostly uphill, flat or rolling, and mostly downhill, flat, or rolling on second half. This, I believe, lends to pushing harder on 1st half of bike and getting some recovery on 2nd half before getting to T2. I did not do this last time, and had a very good run, but my overall time suffered...I was too conservative on the bike. The run was fast and flat (although they've changed it since I raced, but I believe it's still flat).

Hope to see you there in 2 weeks. If you have any more questions, let me know!

kadler

Brad,

Thanks for the course review. Look forward to seeing you.

Given the downhill 2nd half that is a great way to think about it.

morpheus

@ David- Definitely. I'll follow up after the race.

kadler

John,

That is a great observation, to do well in the Olympic you need a great swim, but taken to far and blowing up on the swim is a disaster. I have been fortunate enough to have experienced both!

for me, it is hard to know until it is to late. On the bike we have the power meter to guide us.

scott dinhofer

x2 what Steve Ross said - find your limits, ride the bike as if you aren't going to run, put it all out there.

recover (but not too long) in transition, then run like hell

morpheus

Here's my follow up after the race..

{crickets..}

power meter never fired up and I had to race by RPE. Raced well, too. But, that makes my follow up on how to target IF during a short course rather irrelevant here.

Sorry, maybe next time.

Maybe Ken has something to follow up with.

kadler

Chris, The swim part of my race was cancelled due to rain.

Really annoying as seems 100x more dangerous to race bikes in rain than to swim in rain. As a result, I got nothing to share except how bummed out I am about the weather in the New York area this past weekend