Final Race Rehearsal Before Ironman Canada - Confidence is Shaken. Input appreciated
Training for Ironman Canada has been pretty great. IMC is going to be my 4th IM and this build has felt pretty good. I am lighter than ever before and posting my best test results. Before RR#2 yesterday I was pretty sure I was going to Whistler to have a blast.
BUT, yesterday, during RR #2, I managed to drill myself and now my confidence has taken a bit of hit. Today I feel like crap. Stiff, sore, dehydrated. I feel like I DID an IM yesterday.
RR1 and RR2 are really a tail of two cities. RR1 could not have gone better. I didn't swim before hand, but rode well and ran like my version of Prefontaine. I targeted 200 watts normal power. The biggest IM number I have used, but based on this year posting my best ever FTP numbers, it's where I should be. Prior IMs were done between 165 (my IM at CDA) and 185 (my last IM at Chattanooga). For RR#1, I rode from home in Sierra Madre to Oceanside where I met my family, jumped into my running shoes and knocked down 6 miles at 8:00 minute pace on the IMCal course. I felt great! I thought I ran like a deer. Afterward I took everyone to dinner and the next AM and long ran 14 miles.
Today, after RR#2, I would have wanted to run 14 miles... At all.
Here are a couple numbers for Race Rehearsal #1:
197 watts, which was right at my 200 watt target. A little bit of gain, but the net was actually down hill. Here is the run:
Run was really good for me. My last three IM splits have been 4:17:xx to 4:35:xx. Target for Canada is sub 4:00:00. To do that I need under 9:07/mile average. This run made me think 8:45 would be achievable.
Nutrition for this ride was text book. I only drank water and ate food that would be available on course. I went with water only because I have been training that way focusing on Body Comp and have been riding without the extra calories of gatorade. The weather was very mild riding along the coast and I sweat very little.
After the IMC webinar, I woke up to the notion that Canada has 7k of gain on the bike. So, for RR#2, I wanted a route that would deliver that kind of gain and test my approach. Like Canada, I designed a route with early climbing, then flats, followed my a long climb to my car. I followed the training plan and started with a 1 hour easy swim. For RR#1, I swam the day before. I have never swam in the AM of a RR before.
The first half of the ride was pretty hot without much shade. I remember sweating a lot right away. I drank 3 bottles of water in 3 hours. Probably not enough, but I was not alarmed. When I hit a Circle K store at mile 57, I was out of liquid, but I had just run out. There was no extend period without water.
Here is where I know I made a mistake. It was hot and I felt like really topping off. I also thought it would help my mood if I switched to gatorade. While at the store, I drank 500ml of coconut water and ate 1/2 a milky way. No idea why I did that. A little treat I guess. When I rolled out of Circle K I was worried. My stomach was FULL. Too much liquid in very little time. I felt bloated and I was worried about my stomach shutting down on me as I headed back into the mountains for another 2.5k climb on Hwy 39 as an out and back.
Climbing Hwy 39 to the East Fork bridge sucked! I felt bloated and terrible. I burped a couple times, but twice I got bile in my mouth. YUCK. On the trip to the bridge and back, about 18 miles, I drank two bottles and thankfully stuck a bottle of smart water from Circle K in my jersey and drank that too. After coming down out the mountains, I hit 7-11 and should have gone back to water, but stuck to gatorade for some reason instead. I this point I had about 20 miles to go and just felt rocked. Legs felt good, but I was light headed, my feet hurt and stomach was still in revolt. In hindsight I was likely severely dehydrated. Can you get that and be bloated at the same time?
Here is the ride summary:
Here is the first half:
Here is the second. The second half sucked....
When got back to my car, I felt terrible. I was looking for reasons to NOT do this, but I carried on. The run was a harder course than RR1. It was uphill out and downhill back. RR1 was pretty flat. My stomach was bad and I was 8 tired. I walked in a few places to simulate aid stations and also stopped at the mid point to catch my breath near a water fountain.
I drank 8 bottles on the ride and 1 on the run. I still lost 7 pounds.
Here is run data:
The other big issue versus RR1 and RR2 is the tumble I took the day before RR2. I was running downhill with my dog and we got tangled up. I went down pretty hard and got a road rash on my right knee, right hip with a nasty bruise, right elbow and even a nice lick on my left shoulder blade. All this stuff hurt on the ride. My right elbow and left shoulder blade barked at me while in the aero bars and my right knee complained early on and took longer than normal to warm up and was sort of stiff with a few new scabs.
Also, ignore the IF number as an absolute. MY FTP is set too high for aero bar rides. I use it as a marker and compare real watts from ride to ride.
Any thoughts?
Was this a bad day with bad nutrition? Am I just banged up?
Do I need to dial it back for 7k of gain on race days versus a pretty flat ride for RR#1?
Comments
Dino,
I'm no expert and you have more experience and fitness than I do, so I give "advice" to you cautiously. FWIW, BOTH of my RR have sucked. I'm finding that regular gatorade does not work for me as well as Perform or gatorade endurance. I'm not sure what I'm going to do, and have asked Coach P for advice. If you're going to use only water, just be sure you're getting sodium and sugar in what you eat...especially if it's hot. Water intoxication/hyponatremia will stop you in your tracks and ruin your day for sure (not to mention seizures, etc.).
Also, not sure about the conditions you rode in compared to what I'm seeing here or how much you sweat compared to me.....but....I drank ~9L of fluids yesterday.....no urge to pee.....lost 8.8lbs. It is HOT here (and pretty humid). I don't think it is physically possible for me to drink enough in these conditions. But, I started my rides mid-afternoon and finished/ran at dark.....IMC should be less hot even if it's a "hot" day (morning mostly for the ride). Based on what I know about you, I do not think you drank enough early in the day? Once you get behind, your gut just can't get you caught up unless you really back off on the effort.....at least that's my experience.
What sticks out to me about your rides is your VI. Were you trying to "flatten the hills" or were you treating this more like a long training ride? If the latter, then I don't think I'd sweat the dead legs on RR2.....just don't do that on July 26! If you were trying to ride with a low VI.....
. With your w/kg and the correct gearing, you should not have a high VI, even on the IMC course. Right?
My last thought/recommendation is to put your info into best bike split and see what IF you SHOULD ride at to get yourself the right amount of TSS points. Based on my w/kg (much lower than yours) and my bike/wheels on the IMC course, I'm looking at a 6:21ish bike split....at 0.67 to get me 285tss. Based on my RR yesterday, it seems that this is spot on. Rich recently commented (in the IMC webinar I think?) that he plugged in some of his old data into their website and it was spot on. Others have confirmed that it is incredibly accurate. If you haven't checked best bike split, I would highly recommend it. You can even set limits for gears 3 and 4 for climbs if you want. I think it is the best way to figure out (smartly) the right effort for this course that will allow you to run to your potential.
Looking forward to meeting you and to what others have to say.
You're fit. Now execute.
FWIW I've been struggling with similar thought process as IMLP approaches (same day as IMC) and I will be on my bike longer than many of my recent IM's... Note on BBS - they are much better at estimating my flat course times than they are at estimating my hilly course times - So far this year , they were 17min off my Hilly Quassy HIM and only 3 min off the Flat Patriot HIM...
2. Race nutrition should be what you practice in training. You deviated big time. Lesson learned I suspect.
3. VI looks like a "I just went on an epic climbing workout with Coach Rich".
4. I'm curious...why all the stop time during your rides (incl RR1)?
1. Lesson learned number 1 - Don't stop at Circle K during your IM and walk around grabbing random food that you haven't trained with.
2. LL#2 - Swimming takes more out of you than 99% of triathletes want to admit. For every race report that I see that contains the phrase - "Swam an hour, felt totally refreshed coming out of the water like I just woke up" I want to scream. Swimming takes a whole lot out of you, especially when you swim an hour.
3. . LL# the next one - Try not to subject your body to traumatic injury activities (dog tangle up) the day before your Ironman. Try not to do it at all as a matter of fact. You are likely also severely underestimating the effects that had on your ride.
You've done a whole mess of solid work. Your fitness is there. Go into your race as planned and execute like the ninja you can be. Shut up, stop overthinking things, and taper.
Notes:
In the end, I think the solutions are pretty simple:
Your w/kg, body comp and running improvements are going to pay off big on a bike course with that much gain and in an IM marathon. You just need to get yourself out of the way so the physics can do the work for you. This means:
If you can sort this stuff out on the bike and get off the bike in a position to run well, then the body comp physics of Chat vs Choo will really pay off. From having run with you, I agree that 9' pace is doable, but you need to set that up by, in general, being more disciplined in the bike, IMO.
Plus, RR2 was 2x elevation. Yikes!
I have no doubt that with the taper and learning from what went right on RR1 and what went wrong on RR2, you'll rock IMC!
Hey Dino,
You've got this man. You've done the work.
Echoing all the comments below, I'd just like to reiterate the VI. That is CRAZY high. I raced last year in Whistler and my VI was 1.03. Sure, I tend to be on the very low range but Rich is right... 1.05 - 1.08 is very doable. If you do anything in the next 2x weeks ride some hills and focus on bringing your VI down. Consider bringing your "lap" on your gadget down to 3' or 1 mile or something very small (if only in practice) and try to bring that lap right in at your targeted watts.
I don't see your AP but if your normalized power was 187w (I think of it as your body got 187w tired) then the math would take your average power was 164w (what your bike actually received). Take that same 164w applied to the pedals and your body would only get 172w tired with a VI of 1.05. That's a solid 15w less tired for the same speed!
Keep us posted and keep your chin up - this is an easy fix with some focus.
Cheers!
one bad day is a head game. solid training. lots of know how. you had a bad day...maybe decisions, maybe timing of overall fatigue, cards in play like tough terrain.
recharge. hydrate, sleep lots and eat the good stuff, walk right past any low nutrient value stuff. then, sleep some more.
you learn lessons from this, you know this already. just be disciplined enough to make good decisions based on what you're hearing around here. Make the actions fit the intentions. Use the next few weeks to practice even the simplist of decisions.
Hang in there, mojo isn't restored until the Wednesday before the race
Thanks for your thoughts, Jeff. I honestly was not thinking a great deal about riding steady. I was in a way. I wa trying to just over deliver on my target watts because I know with 7k of gain there is going to be 7k of loss. This course Has a lot of features where I would spin out my compact or could only generate 100-150 watts.
Glad to hear I am not the only who doesn't like 42oz of gatorade...
Thanks, Al! I appreciate the mojo. In reflection, I feel much better because I know this stuff is fixable, but the day after I was pretty bummed that RR#2 was so poor compared to RR#1. It felt like a step backwards, but I learned some lessons, which, I suppose, is the point.
Thanks, Tim.
I honestly missed this point completely. I have trained on flat courses and was doing 112 miles at just over 20mph average. It felt could. When I added the gain, the time spiked and late in the ride I realized I was worked. Dialing back the effort based on extending the time had not occurred to me. I just missed it. I was focused on distance regardless of time.
1. Swimming was done the day before the bike and run in prior versions of the IM plan. Swimming in the morning is new last year, I believe. For admin reasons, I was just resistant to change. I was actually fun to swim first.
2. Yes. Lesson learned. I have already driven the IMC course. Luckily, there are no Circle K stores on the route.
3. VI is an issue I need to wrap my head around for this course. Truthfully, it was not a focus that day. I was trying to ride steady on the climbs and then either spun out or latter in the day coasted the decent.
4. The stops are from traffic, refuel or the bathroom. I don't position bottles or do loops around my car. I could, but I have never been that focused on recreating race conditions. I bring two bottles and stop and fill them at convenience stores. It's not perfect, or ideal, but it's my process.
Truthfully, not really. I got of of the water hungry so I ate. I had a bar in the first 30 minutes, which is normal for racing, but odd for training. No salt. I have tried plenty of drugs in my day (6 years of college), but have never taken a salt pill in my life....
Thanks, Roy! Awesome.
Yes, yes, yes. Blew it.
1. I was not really focused. I was trying to keep the watts going. Meaning, finish each 5 mile box at 200 NP, but that became small hard efforts on the step pitches and coasting on the downhills. I would get really close to the NP, but the average was all over the place in hindsight.
2. You are right, without the pressure to meet someone, I seem more leisurely about getting started. Saturday I got and early start. I was in the pool at 7:00, 1 hour of swimming and then the admin of changing sports put me on the bike at 9:00 AM. Plus, when I saw you I had a about 4500 feet of climbing down.
3. FTP is up about 10 watts from Choo. But I am trying to put a little more out there. My 200 watts is based on my long rides and RR#1. Now, my error is that those rides were all on the path I was punching out 112 in 5:30 or less. By adding 7k of gain and another hour to the ride, I 200 seems to stiff for me. 200 was certainly too stiff for me on Saturday based on my stomach.
4. Good points regarding dehydration and gatorade. Lessons learned the hard way....
Solutions
1. I ran the numbers based on a 4 week old Chantry test. Segment was 315 less 10% is 283.5. An IF of .68 is 192.7. Grrrrrrrr.
2. Yes. I just need to get into race mode and dial in the steady racing.
3. Developing those spread sheets now related to calories/ sodium per hour.
Thanks, Coach. Lessons learned.....
You have crystallised a major issue for me that has contributed to me having very long walks in all my 3 IMs to date. My RRs are on a much flatter course than IM Australia, with my RRs being around 6:15 whereas my bike splits have been around 7 hours. So I obviously need to dial back my IF for IM Australia notwithstanding the fact that I can still run well after my RRs. FWIW, I have used an IF target of 0.7 in RRs and all 3 IMs, but still ended up walking a very long way. I guess I should have posted my disappointment here.
Fuel and hydration are also issues which have impacted on the much longer bike split compared to my RRs. Coach P is working with me on them at the moment (thanks Coach).
So, thanks again for posting.
Cheers
Peter
Entertain yourself during your downtime by running simulations at BestBikeSplit for your FTP, shiny w/kg, and .68-69 IF on the IMCA course. Then do that on the IMChat course to see how the w/kg improvements would have shaken out there.
My point is that you've done a lot to improve the physics of riding your bike and you could gain some confidence by seeing some numbers over there.