Why on earth you would short change yourself on calories on any 5hr ride is unfathomable to me... But on the 1st of 5 big rides in a ROW? Down right CRAZY! DO NOT DIG A HOLE !
I did a 3:50 ride at .79 and 32 min brick yesterday on 1150 calories .... Can't even imagine riding that hard or long again for another week...
Can't wait to see your weekly totals but for god sakes EAT and think about the downstream effect of this week as it unfolds...
You're going to need to eat more during the race. Figure out now how to get yourself into that head space, to allow yourself to get more in. That's the one thing I've been struggling with the past few years and it shows in my race day efforts. You will perform as you practice. And Tim is right, there's the immediate risk of digging a big hole in your ability to train.
Don't worry...I practiced my in-race calorie plan the last 3 long rides including brick runs to make sure the calories stayed put, haha. I got up to ~270/hr and will take it up just slightly for my last race rehearsal via front-loading in the ride. As for this week, the vacation is full of eating and I'll be hard pressed not to gain weight this week for sure!!
@Matt-- as long as it doesn't cut into your vacation, please keep sharing. I love living vicariously through you this season.
I sort of agree with Tim and Al, but I also sort if disagree. Don't want to dig a nutrition hole at the front end of a big week, but it also sounds like you are taking care of it in your "vacation" eating when you're not actually riding. The flipside of that coin is that you now know that you "can" go long and hard under-nourished. But you also learned what it starts to feel like when you needed that Mexican Coke. Don't get to that point during the race, but you'll have an aid station every 30 mins to help you avoid that.
My observations are the following: You were able to hit a big number! 216W for the whole ride and 220W for 4:38 and all with a low VI. However, it looks like you faded in the last hour. That was likely nutrition/hydration related, but maybe not... Not counting the first 40 mins of admin, you still had ~10 mins of stopped time. Doesn't sound like much, but your legs won't get this rest during the race (I'm still hopeful that you won't be taking porta-potty breaks).
You're going to be getting a ton of TSS into your legs in the next few days which is just awesome. I'm really curious to see the types of numbers you will put up in the ensuing days (i.e. if you can hang on). Regardless of what avg NP you are putting up, try to make sure your last hour is the strongest. This is a mental game. Also, You DEFINITELY know how to ride with a low VI, you have proven that. I wouldn't worry about that for the next couple of days and just ride hard. And you will get better "race" training if you can carry more fluids/nutrition on your bike and stop less (or not at all).
Ok Withrow, today's ride done and dusted…very strong. Total of ~70 mi in 3:18, 21.1mph. Today I rode in the opposite direction down to Indiana and it was a much hillier course and with many more corners. Temp maxed out at 88 degrees. Humidity started at 94% and ended at 84%. I stopped at a gas station right after the warmup 20' into the ride and was already SOAKED. https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/867944868
Interestingly if you go to the original post in this thread, these two rides are virtually identical courses to days #1 and #2 of my first bike block…the only difference is that both days I rode ~3 miles longer this time around. Last time the NP's were 201 and 204 for the Saturday and Sunday rides, respectively. I'd assess RPE as similar.
Like yesterday there was stopped time but it was front-loaded. Ride time of 3:18 and elapsed of 3:31 says 13 mins stopped. But 6:30 of the stopped time was right at the beginning, only 20 mins into the ride to take my empty bottles and fill them. So there were only 3 other stops after that for a couple of mins each to water the trees.
Excluding the first 20' warmup the NP was 215 for the ride. Unlike yesterday there was no fade…my peak hour was the last hour (NP 218) and my peak 30 mins was the last 30 mins (NP 220). Even my peak 20 mins was the last 20 mins (NP 223) and also my peak 12, 10 and 6 mins were also at the very end (226, 226, 228).
FWIW I did a LARGE breakfast with the family just before the ride (hence why I was riding in the heat of the day). The breakfast was ~1100 calories and involved 2 bagels, lox, bacon and pancakes. I started riding less than 30 mins after eating and surprisingly my stomach felt fine. But you can then excuse my rather sparse nutrition for the remainder of the ride…400 cals total in the form of 2 gels and 28oz of Gatorade. Oh, and I was also working on last night's steak and various side dishes. It would be nice to have my diet on lockdown but if I'm going to be doing these bike rides during the vacation I can't exactly opt out of the meals.
Nice ride! Especially the strong finish. I don't know if I'm more jealous of the ride or of the breakfast! These rides will surely pay dividends in 4 weeks!
Looks like you have a couple more rides ahead to earn your way to a 210-215W goal race wattage.
Still hoping that you'll be eliminating those potty stops during the race...
Well I took Monday off and ate 4000 calories in anticipation of riding ~115 miles on Tuesday. Woke up and the weather was just brutal. I had brought my old bike in case I had to ride in inclement weather but this was violent storms and the radar picture showed no hope. An afternoon ride wasn't an option so that day was shot and I ate another ridiculous amount in anticipation of riding today.
So luckily the weather was better today and I got in 108 miles in 5:02, avg. 21.5mph. The wind was brutal…I averaged 22.2 mph on NP of 209 through the first 2:40 then the rest of the ride averaged 20.8mph on NP 223. So I worked on my mental fortitude in the second half for sure.
Power was good NP 215 / VI 1.01 for the ride overall (NP 218 for 4:40 if the first 20 min of the warmup is excluded) and as mentioned above it was a good negative split, power-wise. The course was not technical or hilly – I rode ~25 miles to the start of the 70.3 Steelhead course, rode the course then rode back to the vacation house. Cadence was low today at 84 and I had some trouble easing into the ride at the beginning and my HR took a long time to get up to the high 130's where it usually is on these rides. But eventually I got going. The "structure" after the 25' warmup was: 37'@ NP 214 / HR 131 / cad 87 / VI 1.01 31'@ NP 215 / HR 132 / cad 85 / VI 1.00 61'@ NP 216 / HR 132 / cad 85 / VI 1.00 54'@ NP 224 / HR 140 / cad 84 / VI 1.00 65'@ NP 223 / HR 142 / cad 84 / VI 1.00 15'@ NP 228 / HR 151 / cad 82 / VI 1.01
Yet another STRONG and STEADY ride! Nice work! I'm particularly impressed that your NP steadily grew in every single segment. That takes a ton of mental and physical fortitude. I still think it shows that after your initial admin period of the race (~30 mins for Coach Rich, but only 10-15 mins for me...), if you dial in like 210-215W and just nail it there for the entire duration, your last 2.5 hrs will be ~5-8% "Easier" than in the ride that you just did. This probably means you could stay pegged right at that ~132 bpm HR number and just smile in the last 2 hours as you "bank" energy for the run (during an IF ride that would kill most mortals).
This will be my second-last post of this thread. Today was the fourth and final ride of this bike block that spanned 6 days and totaled 383 miles. I came up one ride and 42 miles short due to t-storms on Tuesday but two back-to-back efforts of 114/70 and 108/91 separated by a double-rest day isn't the worst effort either. Tomorrow or on the weekend I'll dutifully summarize the data and post it although 90% of that activity is for my own benefit as all 4 of these rides have been posted already.
This afternoon was 91 miles in 4:29 averaging 20.2 mph. The course was hilly with lots of corners and more to the point WINDY featuring >20mph wind from the west. Consider this: - A flat westbound segment NP 215 for 11:32 covering 4.91 miles @ 25.5 mph - A flat eastbound segment NP 211 for 19:47 covering 5.95 mi @ 18.0 mph
Today was a tough ride and major lesson learned re: nutrition. Strictly by the numbers it wasn't horrible – NP 207 / VI 1.00 which is pretty good following yesterday's 114 miles @ NP 215. Although I managed to rally at the very end and finish the last 15 mins or so at NP 215, I just overall didn't feel terrific, had a lot of trouble getting my HR up into the high 130's (average for the ride overall was 130), and faded badly at the end…this shows up a bit in the power numbers (my 3-hour peak was from 0:55 to 3:55) but more I just FELT brutal.
The lesson here I think is regarding nutrition. I've been on this family vacation and there have been a lot of big meals. As such, I've gone light on calories on the bike since I've been fueling so much before and after. But last night wasn't a huge dinner and had very few carbohydrates, plus my ride started at noon and there wasn't much of a brunch. So I should have fueled more on the bike but I didn't, instead doing only 1.5 Clif bars and 3 gels (575 calories total for a 4.5 hour ride). No shock then that at about 3 hours I really started to hurt. I also underhydrated since it was cool and windy. Clearly none of these rides have been practicing my IM nutrition protocol which is now up to 270/hr and on a 20-minute cadence, but all the same LESSON LEARNED.
Comments
I did a 3:50 ride at .79 and 32 min brick yesterday on 1150 calories .... Can't even imagine riding that hard or long again for another week...
Can't wait to see your weekly totals but for god sakes EAT and think about the downstream effect of this week as it unfolds...
I sort of agree with Tim and Al, but I also sort if disagree. Don't want to dig a nutrition hole at the front end of a big week, but it also sounds like you are taking care of it in your "vacation" eating when you're not actually riding. The flipside of that coin is that you now know that you "can" go long and hard under-nourished. But you also learned what it starts to feel like when you needed that Mexican Coke. Don't get to that point during the race, but you'll have an aid station every 30 mins to help you avoid that.
My observations are the following: You were able to hit a big number! 216W for the whole ride and 220W for 4:38 and all with a low VI. However, it looks like you faded in the last hour. That was likely nutrition/hydration related, but maybe not... Not counting the first 40 mins of admin, you still had ~10 mins of stopped time. Doesn't sound like much, but your legs won't get this rest during the race (I'm still hopeful that you won't be taking porta-potty breaks).
You're going to be getting a ton of TSS into your legs in the next few days which is just awesome. I'm really curious to see the types of numbers you will put up in the ensuing days (i.e. if you can hang on). Regardless of what avg NP you are putting up, try to make sure your last hour is the strongest. This is a mental game. Also, You DEFINITELY know how to ride with a low VI, you have proven that. I wouldn't worry about that for the next couple of days and just ride hard. And you will get better "race" training if you can carry more fluids/nutrition on your bike and stop less (or not at all).
Awesome work man!
Yesterday 5:15 ride time: NP 216 / VI 1.01 / HRavg 138 / cadence 86
Today 3:18 ride time: NP 212 / VI 1.01 / HRavg 139 / cadence 85
Interestingly if you go to the original post in this thread, these two rides are virtually identical courses to days #1 and #2 of my first bike block…the only difference is that both days I rode ~3 miles longer this time around. Last time the NP's were 201 and 204 for the Saturday and Sunday rides, respectively. I'd assess RPE as similar.
Like yesterday there was stopped time but it was front-loaded. Ride time of 3:18 and elapsed of 3:31 says 13 mins stopped. But 6:30 of the stopped time was right at the beginning, only 20 mins into the ride to take my empty bottles and fill them. So there were only 3 other stops after that for a couple of mins each to water the trees.
Excluding the first 20' warmup the NP was 215 for the ride. Unlike yesterday there was no fade…my peak hour was the last hour (NP 218) and my peak 30 mins was the last 30 mins (NP 220). Even my peak 20 mins was the last 20 mins (NP 223) and also my peak 12, 10 and 6 mins were also at the very end (226, 226, 228).
FWIW I did a LARGE breakfast with the family just before the ride (hence why I was riding in the heat of the day). The breakfast was ~1100 calories and involved 2 bagels, lox, bacon and pancakes. I started riding less than 30 mins after eating and surprisingly my stomach felt fine. But you can then excuse my rather sparse nutrition for the remainder of the ride…400 cals total in the form of 2 gels and 28oz of Gatorade. Oh, and I was also working on last night's steak and various side dishes. It would be nice to have my diet on lockdown but if I'm going to be doing these bike rides during the vacation I can't exactly opt out of the meals.
So…strong work today and encouraging results.
Looks like you have a couple more rides ahead to earn your way to a 210-215W goal race wattage.
Still hoping that you'll be eliminating those potty stops during the race...
Keep up the strong work man!
So luckily the weather was better today and I got in 108 miles in 5:02, avg. 21.5mph. The wind was brutal…I averaged 22.2 mph on NP of 209 through the first 2:40 then the rest of the ride averaged 20.8mph on NP 223. So I worked on my mental fortitude in the second half for sure.
Power was good NP 215 / VI 1.01 for the ride overall (NP 218 for 4:40 if the first 20 min of the warmup is excluded) and as mentioned above it was a good negative split, power-wise. The course was not technical or hilly – I rode ~25 miles to the start of the 70.3 Steelhead course, rode the course then rode back to the vacation house. Cadence was low today at 84 and I had some trouble easing into the ride at the beginning and my HR took a long time to get up to the high 130's where it usually is on these rides. But eventually I got going. The "structure" after the 25' warmup was:
37'@ NP 214 / HR 131 / cad 87 / VI 1.01
31'@ NP 215 / HR 132 / cad 85 / VI 1.00
61'@ NP 216 / HR 132 / cad 85 / VI 1.00
54'@ NP 224 / HR 140 / cad 84 / VI 1.00
65'@ NP 223 / HR 142 / cad 84 / VI 1.00
15'@ NP 228 / HR 151 / cad 82 / VI 1.01
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/870903020
Overall a decent ride and based on the family schedule tomorrow I'll be doing a big brunch followed by a noon start to a targeted 4.5-hour ride.
You're a machine.
This afternoon was 91 miles in 4:29 averaging 20.2 mph. The course was hilly with lots of corners and more to the point WINDY featuring >20mph wind from the west. Consider this:
- A flat westbound segment NP 215 for 11:32 covering 4.91 miles @ 25.5 mph
- A flat eastbound segment NP 211 for 19:47 covering 5.95 mi @ 18.0 mph
Today was a tough ride and major lesson learned re: nutrition. Strictly by the numbers it wasn't horrible – NP 207 / VI 1.00 which is pretty good following yesterday's 114 miles @ NP 215. Although I managed to rally at the very end and finish the last 15 mins or so at NP 215, I just overall didn't feel terrific, had a lot of trouble getting my HR up into the high 130's (average for the ride overall was 130), and faded badly at the end…this shows up a bit in the power numbers (my 3-hour peak was from 0:55 to 3:55) but more I just FELT brutal.
The lesson here I think is regarding nutrition. I've been on this family vacation and there have been a lot of big meals. As such, I've gone light on calories on the bike since I've been fueling so much before and after. But last night wasn't a huge dinner and had very few carbohydrates, plus my ride started at noon and there wasn't much of a brunch. So I should have fueled more on the bike but I didn't, instead doing only 1.5 Clif bars and 3 gels (575 calories total for a 4.5 hour ride). No shock then that at about 3 hours I really started to hurt. I also underhydrated since it was cool and windy. Clearly none of these rides have been practicing my IM nutrition protocol which is now up to 270/hr and on a 20-minute cadence, but all the same LESSON LEARNED.
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/872267751