RR for CDA
Plan:
Ride 6 hours at 158w, IF .71, TSS 262.
Food: 3 bottles Infinit each 250 calories. 3 extra servings of infinit for the ride in my pockets. Drink one bottle plus 1/2 bottle of water per hour.
RUN: 10:35+30 HR <148</p>
Actual:
Rode 5 hours (89 Miles)due to babysitter constraints. 151 watts, IF .738, TSS 273 HR average was 139.
Left my house to do a rally of 63 miles. Since I had to be home one hour less than the plan I figured 90 miles round trip would be good. Good ride there. Stayed away from all groups all day. Just did my ride dropping back as if I was getting passed and passing as if I was racing. Groups sped past me on hthe hills and I passed them on the flats. Became quite obnoxious actually. I actually lost it a t mile 56 and one group came by and as I was staying right they buzzed awfully close without calling out. Pissed me off and I lost my cool So I rode up by them and wiggled my way into the second position and when my pull came I split their group apart. It was nice. They never came back together and I got back into my pace and watts and thought, CRAP I am putting this in the forum and am going to get yelled at by everyone. I'm not even that fast. So if I cut that section out then my IF is better.
Stopped at 60 miles to fill up on accellerade and water and use the port o potty. Right back on the bike with the man that introduced me to triathlons. he rode with me for a bit to chat and catch up all the while holding my watts.
Food: drank on schedule for the first three hours. Realized my bag of extra mix was on the table at home. second two hours was accellerade and water.
Got home changed shoes and took off on the run. Actually had to run to CVS to get my kids antibiotics to make a more efficient use of the time. 2 minute rest there and water. Yes I timed it. 6 miles done at a 10:41/m while I was supposed to do 11:05. Average HR 149.
Drank water only on this run. Humid all day but felt okay. Got Ethan his medicine showered and ate and we all took a nap while watching the Giro. AND paid the babysitter.
Pros: Did good even though nutrition was messed up. DIDN'T panic. Ran okay.
Cons: Forgot my nutrition on the table. Run???
Questions: Besides going an hour short on the ride all critiques are appreciated. I do have a question about the run. The 11 minute pace HURTS! I feel better at the easy run pace. When I say hurts, I mean painful , I am just bouncing up and down and pounding. Do i stay at that pace or is changing it to my LRP of 10:30 where I am comfortable more beneficial. Side note: I weigh 190 and am 5'6. goal weight for the big day is only 180. I have been dropping 1.5-2 pounds lately per week.
Please help.
Comments
I will post this here and IMCDA week 6:
Plan:
Ride 6 hours at 210w, IF .70.
Food: 7 150cal eGels q 45’, 76 ounces of powerade for the ride = 230 cal/hr x 6 hours. + 48 ounces of water for the bike. For run 16 ounces of powerade and 16 ounces of water = 100 cal.
RUN: 10:50 (vdot of 43 @ 75% from pace charts)
Actual:
Bike: 6:05 hours (109.2 Miles with 4300 feet of altitude gain). 181 watts, HR average was 116. iBike power seemed low compared to perceived effort and average HR.
Run: 1:00 (10:20 pace with average HR of 127bpm).
I did the RR on Friday due to schedule constraints. I picked a 8 mile loop around a local lagoon due to three traffic lights under I-5 (easy to time myself through only stopped twice at lights and once for commuter train) and a lot of free right turns. I figured goal mileage would put me in mid 4000’ range for elevation gain. Started easy but without wind a little before 6.
I wore cycling jersey with tri shorts and over my EN singlet. Made two stops at home to grab liquids at 2:30 and at 5:00. Ibike power seemed low – it became quite windy and I am not sure that anenometer picked up wind I was working against. Felt good in the aero position for first 2-3 ½ hours but started to sit up on short 2-3 minute climb to stetch my back out – but stayed aero for a least 5:40 of ride. I kept my power for the short hills at 230 which is power gear 4 for me.
Food: Took eGels every 45’ with swig of water and powerade every 15 minutes ( I carried 20 ounce bottle of powerade and 16 ounces of water for each 2:30 segment).
Took 5’ to stow my bike, put shoes and socks on and ask my wife to get me some Coke. I was aiming for 10:50 (10:20 + 30”) and was running low 9:XX. I would walk about a minute every mile. First mile hurt but rest were only difficult due to my efforts to stay at goal pace. During my minute walks I would drink about 3-4 ounces of water alternating with powerade.
Pros: Bike went well – although power numbers were low but I was happy with my average pace on the bike. I was also happy with staying aero most of the ride. I have noticed on HIM that my back starts to hurt around 2:15 – this didn’t happen until 4:30 on the race rehearsal. I peed four times on the run and weighed my starting weight after my post run coke – so my hydration worked pretty well.
Cons: Power goals not met. Ran a little hot off the bike.
@ Thomas - Impressive quick transition for a long ride! If I'm not racing, then my transitions are longer. I just need more time to rehydrate.
Here's my RR:
Plan- just do it as if I were racing. Most important...follow the double secret squirrel method for the 16 miles of hills I was going to hit (yes, there are hills, but that was the extent of them.
Actual -
Bike - 126 miles in 6hrs 18 mins at a very even 20 mph. No power- I use RPE only. Felt the effort climb at about 4.5 hrs, but knew I was still well within myself. Started at 0630 with temperature of 73 heading to 90 and heat index of 101. Drank...lots! Water with Nuun tablets, and the Gatorade that I started with plus some Gatorade from one 7-11 stop. The main bike trail I ride has cold water stops that are continually restocked by the rangers...virtually life saving as well as super nice! Food - 3 Gu packets and 1 Snickers Bar. Actual race will be all Gu on the ride and PowerGels from the aid station during the run. Relatively light on the calories to ensure some fat burning. Elevation gain - maybe 20 feet except for the 'hilly part'.
Transition - Got home, had a Propel, Diet Coke and quick PB&J that my wife made for me (she's the best)! Probably 15 mins to make sure I was ready for more heat.
Run - 45 mins @ 8:23 avg = 5.38 miles. Friggin' hot! I was too quick on the first two (8:10) but then started to feel the heat. Nothing to drink until I got home.
Post Brick - 20ozs Vitamin Water, 20oz regular water, 20oz Propel and 3x12 oz Diet Coke + 1 Greek Yogurt, a bowl of fruit, 5 MAP, 2 Allieve, 30 mins laying down with the feet up and I felt great.
Overall - I feel very strong and am confident that I will be ready. I am going to follow the EN Taper protocol and hill climbing plan to the letter...must...flatten...the...course!
RR IM CDA #1
Plan: Bike - .70 IF, 6 hours, ?? miles, 171.5 NP. Nutrition: Bring 6 scoops of Perpetuem (780 cal), 5 shot bloks (167 cal), 6 oz of Hammer Gel (540 cal), Gatorade (100 cal). Total 1590 cal, or 265/hour; expect some spillage to allow for 1500 ca - 250/hour-l total intake. Hydration - as needed depending on Temp, Sun, sweat, etc.
Run: EP for race will be 8:57 (I'm using a lower VDot, from a recent HM, rather than my highest VDOT from 5Ks), will use 9:00 for ease of computation. 1pack Gu during T2, a shot blok, and gatorade carried with me as needed.
Pre RR food: Oatmeal with raisins, blueberries, and bacon, OJ. An hour later, 200 cal of metabolol in 8 oz water.
ACTUAL
Bike - First hour @ 152 watts, IF=61.5. Remainder of ride at goal pace, except for about 9 miles in the middle when due to the exigencies of being with my local tri club's group ride, I was in a strong pace line. I expected this, had planned for it, and tried to limit the damage. But the IF for that 25 minutes was 80%. First and last 1.5 hours were on my own, riding to and from the group ride, and at other times, I led a train of folks who welcomed the steady pace (and the fact that I knew the route!)
Numbers: IF=0.696, NP=171, TSS=286.1, 105 miles, 5:54; HR avg = 107. Climbing totaled 3500' (altimeter based). This is the flattest route I have around here. Wind was a non-factor; my iBike says the net wind was 0.2 mph, and the wind varied between -5 and +5 mph. For the first time I can ever remember, I took exactly the number of calories I planed for an IM RR or race. Given the usual slowdowns of a non race ride - like less weight, aero helmet, disc wheel cover, traffic control (no stops for cars), draft effect of 100s of people ahead of me. etc - I was satisfied with the speed and distance covered, as I will be looking for 1 mph faster on race day.
Run - My house is at the bottom of a hollow - all ways out are up. First mile is up, next mile is down, third is rolling > down; then reverse. Here are the comparisons of each mile going out and coming back, as I was trying to hit 9:30/mile going out and 9:00 coming back:
9:57/8:05; 9:00/9:25; 9:21/9:24; total 28:30/27:03. HR avg = 116 (113/119); this is a "recovery" HR for me.
So, discounting the hilly course, I hit my planned pace perfectly. I felt a little full of fluids, and only drank during three of my five walk breaks, and then only 5 oz each time, much less than I would on race day. Temp during the run was 70F, hald in the sun, half in the shade.
Conclusion: I still know how to race an Ironman, and am looking forward to some RRs when I go to Colorado in a week, to see how I do at altitude, and have the scenery to distract me.
@Paul Another person I will see only before and after. Keep up the good work. I'll work on the run, obviously. Thanks for the input.
@Al thanks for all the previous help on power meters and other topics. All you guys are fast!! Enjoy Colorado and God luck.
HI Al, not sure if this is the right place to ask you but you always give me good advice. I am reviewing all the stuff I haven't had time to because I have had to "stand down and do nothing for 4 days", started getting a little bit over trained and having calf issues, shoulder issues, blah blah. So long and short of it I am catching up on how I am going to execute. I know I need to take in 250-300 calories every hour on the bike. As you know the bike is going to take me EVERY MINUTE to make the time cutt off. So I am going to wear a camal pac on my back (which has been working for me) and will have to load all the calories in there as the wind freaked me out so much in Havi that I couldn't manage my water bottles or even much goos. So if I am on the bike for 4.5 hours I would need approx 1,500 calories on the bike alone. I use Infinity designed especially for me but afraid it might make the wateri too thick to go through the straw. The other idea is I have one of those 6 0unce small bottles that I can fill up with Hammer gel and hopefully reach around when it is not too windy to grab a big slurp of it (has a top you pull with your teeth and just squeeze in moiuth) I am not adapt at tearing the little packets, my hands get all sticky and thare are DQ checks if you dump any trash which one could fall out of my hand. I am also going to add some salt capsules into my INFINITY into the bag (Pat or Rich had that on a video) because I am a ridiculous sweater and it is going to be really hot and humid in Kona June 5th. Think I will do your oatmeal breakfast and I guess fill up another 6 ounce hammer thing to attach to a little velcro bag I have for my running belt and then just use their water. The run will take me every bit of 2:15 hours. So I will have 8.5 houea ro complete the HIM, which is close to 2,400 calories. One more thing, should probably do a prepared bottle of infinite with salt capsules in it and drink right after I get out of water before getting on bike. I think my pac is only 30 ounces though, will have to check that out, the other version was just too big for me (99 pounds dripping wet), worse case scenario I COULD get off my bike for a few minutes to refill it and have extra goos and a baggy of ininity to place somewhere. I plan on putting ice in my hat during the aid stations on the run to stay cool too. I have yet to do a full 8.5 hour work out but did get up to 9 miles with my whole bad knee, so figure with all the adrenaline and it being the BIG DAY, I could pull off 4 more miles walk/run.
Please when you respond try not to say anything scarey because after I read your "experience" it set me back for quite a while, so I need "positive" feedback if you know what I mean, I really respect you and hope you don't mind figuriing this out with me. I don't want to mess with FOOD, because I have never trained with it, all the stuff I have mentioned has worked, I have also used caffenieated jelly beans. But an entire packet is only 110 calories.
The night before I will eat fruit and vegatables, ice cream and maybe wake up at 4:00 and have a banana or a bagel (little nervous about that) I know I won't sleep all night. Can you think of anything else?? I am afraid with the wind I am too unstablel to reach out and grab a bottle during the bike, so wouold stop and unclip.
The reason I am taking 4 days off of running and biking is I was getting faciitous in my calf and have tendonitis in my left shoulder, doctor is treating aggressively with a new fancy therapy machine they use for the Angels/Dodgers pitchers arms, it is real cool and heals quickly, it worked before several months ago and I got first plact in my age group but it was a very short SPRINT but still!!! So on my last 3.5 hour ride I just couldn't get my power up, couldn't get my heart rate up or my speed, my legs were dead from the minute I got on the bike (messed with my head), then it was a brick day so I had a 6 mile run (10 minute miles) and my calf was SCREAMING, so maybe 10 days off running and 10 days per Pattrick swimming and my race is exactly 21 days away, so this weekend would have been my race rehearsals I was SO BUMMED, but at the same time, he highly emphasized healing and said I wasn't going to get anymore fit, which of course is hard for my thick brain to take it.
OK, sorry this is so long, +
)) Your friend Linda
Great job everyone on their RR's so far!
RR CDA #1
Bike: 150 watts IF .70 6 hours. I had 2 bottles of 5 scoops of ininite and 1 bottle with 2 scoops. = 1500 cals. As a back I brought 1 powerbar and 1 gel.
Run: EP pace was 8:45. So I will run 6 Miles at 9:15 pace.
Reality:
Bike:
6:19 100 Miles
Norm Power =146 Ave heartwate = 122 Tss =285
Felt ok, for the first 2 1/2 hours. Then started feeling like crap. At hour 3 I felt like I was going into a funk so I had 1/2 a powerbar. By hour 4 I wished I was done. My legs felt dead. It was getting hot, so I popped 3 salt tablets and had a gel to see if I could snap out of it. For the most part, it worked. The last 1 1/2 hours I felt a lot better, not great, but confident that I could finish. This was the 2nd longest I have ever ridden.
Run
Run felt ok. It was still hard to slow down. I kept ending up at my non thinking 8:30 pace... Splits were: 9:23, 9:05, 9:54, 9:02, 9:00, 9:21.
So, the run was ok. I drank some gatorade on the run since it was in the mid 80's. During the race, I plan on having gels every 30-40 min.
Thoughts:
I can't just use the ininit. I need something more. I need more salt than is in my infinit. So, next time I am going to try gel's ever hour to 1.5 hours, just to top things off and take a couple salt tabs every 2 hours. I will probably also eat a powerbar every 2 hours just so my stomach doesn't feel as empty (I felt hungry at times during the ride). I'll adjust my ininit down a bit to compensate for the added cals. I wouldn't have survived the bike if I hadn't taken that gel. I needed the boost.
@ Peter,
I have been using eGels Crank Sports:
www.cranksports.com/products/egel/
They are 150 calories and have 220mg of sodium and 80mg of potassium.
I do them every 45 minutes or so on the bike with a swig of plain water and supplement my caloric needs with powerade.
thank you, I checked it out and ordered a trial pack
RR#1
PLAN: Park at PCH and Kanan-Dume Rd. 25 miles or so up coast on PCH then couple mile past start back to car and repeat! Finish and do similiar drill on run, but only 1.5 miles out back then 1.5 other way.
Shooting for .73IF with pNorm of 196 or so for 112 and 8:57 EP or 9:00. Shooting for 286 TSS from pacing chart.
Drink 4 bottles of INFINIT (bit heavy on calories as not water stops), 1 power bar
EXECUTION
Day dawned (out door at 5:45 am) really socked in with heavy marine layer. Not fog, but a layer. Those of you who have been around know what I am talking about.
First loop of bike was uneventful and pretty close to goal wattage. Did not drink two whole bottles, but probably due to smoothie and bagel/nutella within 45 minutes of starting. Got kind of warm, but damp all over from marine layer. Shed jacket for 2nd lap and topped off both bottles, plus grabbed PowerBar.
2nd lap of bike started with chain stuck in small ring up front. Cable housing had come loose so there was no tension to move derailleur up to big ring! SHIT! Decided I would bang out 2nd lap in small ring and just try to hit goal watts. About 30 minutes in I realized if I pulled cable house real hard and stretched it over top of steerer tube it might work. Yea Baby...it worked. Back in business. At about mile 75 I think I was daydreaming and just cruising along because I was not hitting my watts. Think there was a bit of pre-bonk coming so I woofed down 1/2 power bar and felt better. Just had trouble focusing on 2nd lap. Used INFINIT for couple years, but the coolness of the air was making me not want to drink. For 2nd lap I only manged to get down one bottle which was 300+ calories plus the PowerBar at 200 calories. Not enough for 2:45.
Got off bike at 110 miles in 5:41 and hit the run. Managed about a 3:00 minute transition at the car including getting bike on car and locked!
Run was totally uneventful though it almost killed me to run 9:00/miles. First mile was 7:45 and it felt easy. took it down a notch and managed to average 8:45 for 5 miles.
STATS: 110 miles, .68IF, 264 TSS Well short of goal. Looking at chart and planning on .73 and 286 showed 5:40 ride and I just can not believe I am capable of that. Have to trust the training!!
All in all good RR but some important lessons:
1. Need to focus on watts. I left some time on the table!! Not sure if using avg or current on the read out is better?? What do you all do?
2. Must get the nutrition down. Going to try PowerBars and water next RR for one lap, INFINIT for the other. Last year at IMCDA i did two concentrated bottles of INFINIT and washed down with water from aero bottle.
3. Nutrition did not bite me in butt during RR, but would have been travesty on race day!
4. Cable problem could have ended the day but managed to think through it! Critical lesson for race day and focusing on what you CAN control and not worrying about what you CAN NOT control!!