Behler Racine 70.3 Race Report
This race didn't go as planned for many reasons. First was out of my control...weather. Showed up at transition and the big question was what to do about a big line of thunderstorms coming through. At 6:30 they indicated that the 7AM start time is delayed as the lightning was expected to arrive at that time. They would update us at 9:30 and the earliest potential start time was 10:30. Shortly thereafter they announced that the swim would be cancelled (57 degrees, whitecaps, and 20mph winds from the south in a southbound swim coupled with more lightning threats) and the bike would be shortened to 30ish miles. Not great for me as I tend to perform better on longer races and where all three disciplines are involved as I don't have any real 'weak links'.
This delay and change brought a few challenges. First, nutrition plan was out the window. We went and grabbed breakfasts and I got oatmeal and a pancake thinking those would be relatively easy on the stomach. That worked out fine. The second issue was race plan. My goal was to snag a 70;3 WC spot and to race pretty hard, with RPE and HR as my guide on the run. I was planning on .8IF for the bike, but with the lack of swim and shorter bike I decided to push that to .85 which is about 250 watts.
At 9:30 they confirmed a 10:30 time trial start for the bike. I was a low bib number so was glad to get out on the early side. The bike was very congested with everyone starting closely. We started out northbound with a 20MPH southerly wind so the speeds were very high considering the tailwind and legal drafting as I passed many of the first racers. I was averaging 26.5MPH through the first 4-5 miles but knew that wouldn't last. Once we hit the roads perpendicular to the wind it got much tougher. I was having a hard time generating as much power as I wanted and was generally 7-15 watts low. The crosswinds required some confidence in aero position and when we turned into the headwind it was mentally challenging, particularly given the roads were relatively empty. I ended up coming in at 1:16 for 31 miles with NP of 237 and Avg HR of 148
I felt great getting off the bike, has a smooth transition, and was off on the run. My goal for the run was to push the envelope a bit here and only pay attention to my RPE (Primary) and HR (secondary) and tow the line a bit more than normal. I raced on Olympic about a month ago and averaged 150BPM and 6:41 pace so my goal was to push hard,and have a MAX HR 160 and hang on. I didn't look at pace. And this is what perplexes me. I felt like I was straddling the line well from and RPE standpoint and HR was where I wanted most of the time. Looking at my files it was exactly as planned...averaging 158BPM. Unfortunately my average pace was 7:19. It started out at 6:40-6:50 but consistently dropped until I was running 7:30-7:40 the last half of the race.
I finished 10th in my AG which was a bit disappointing and nowhere near a 70.3 spot as M40-44 only had 3 spots! There were actually two roll downs so the top 5 headed to Chattanooga. 4th-10th were only separated by 2 minutes so I was in the ballpark, but not near the bases. I don't know how the AG only had 3 slots as we were the only AG with 3 swim waves and there were 50 spots total. IMWI had 50 spots and the M40-44 group got 5 spots.
I'm going to do Steelhead and give it another run at a 2017 70.3 WC slot as I continue my prep for Kona in October.
I'm admittedly less experienced and versed in 70.3 and am interested to hear the thoughts on:
-Why do you think it was so hard to hold my power on the bike? I can hold 250+NP on a 30 mile training ride all day long, and with no swim beforehand this should have been feasible.
-How could my HR be so much higher than the Olympic last month but my pace so much lower on an easier course in similar conditions? Perhaps I should have looked at pace and pushed it a bit more, but I'm not sure I could have done that without blowing up. My power on the Olympic was well below target (PM issue) and the HR lower too so that likely was at play.
-Lastly, for your 70.3 wizards out there...any thoughts./suggestions to better execute at Steelhead?
Data files:
June Olympic Bike / Run - https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1207931153/3
Racine Bike - https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1260435926
Racine Run - https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1260478608
Comments
Look forward to seeing what you can do with the full arsenal in steelhead!
Jeremy - good learning experience, if only learning about the various ways one's day can be upended by changes at the last minute.
Holding power on the bike - just my personal theory here, but I find it harder to channel my effort into power at the pedals when it is windy, especially a side wind. I suspect that;s because I am spending a larger than usual effort at simply trying to maintain stability on the bike in the face of a cross wind; my core seems to be working on that task to a greater degree than in a tail or straight on head wind, and thus is not as available to keep my legs smooth.
HR higher than the faster Olympic on a harder course? Well, you note that your pace gradually slowed down. I tried looking a the attached file, but Garmin Connect says I don;t haver access privileges. So just speculating here ... I've found that if I want to hold a steady *pace* during a longer run - HM or marathon - that I need to have a gradually *increasing* HR and RPE, E.g., during an HIM run, I would be starting out at an RP consistent with what we;re calling TRP for the first two miles. Then moving through MP for mile 3-9, in HM (remember, I;m talking about how it *feels*, not what the actual pace is) for the next mile or two, finishing up with 10K, then 5K pace for the last two miles. HR should go up accordingly, consistent with what I see during training sessions at those paces.
The 10 K in an Olympic is probably short enough for you that such a progression is not nearly as marked - you just ease into the effort over the first mile, then run just below the redline the rest of the way, and its not long enough time wise to see any real cardiac drift.
Continued training will get you fitter for that HIM at Steelhead, and I don't think you need to plan anything different. you'll be better able to execute as planned by then, assuming the day doesn;t get buggered by the weather once again.
The bike...
Looks like in order to generate 250w, you were spinning pretty fast compared to other races. At the 70.3 you were averaging 94-95 rpm with max cadences by split of 108, 106, 107, 111... I looked at your IMWI file and you were locked around 89 the whole day. I loaded up the data from your OLY ride and your cadence average was steady at 87 for the entire ride. So you were spinning up to 10% faster at the 70.3 than in these two other races.
As your Racine ride progressed, your HR dropped nearly every split, starting at 156 and ending at 149 and your average dropped back to 92 rpm.
When my HR and cadence drop, my first concern is nutrition. It's a sign that I haven't eaten enough or that I am not sustaining carb levels. Could it be that your sugar levels were just wrong by the time the race started and the high intensity ride just bilked your energy levels much faster than anticipated??
Is your bike setup for a sustained ride at 250w (gears)? It is one thing to muster a 20-minute test at a cadence that is materially higher than you are used to riding in order to pump out big watts. It is another thing to maintain a cadence higher than you are accustomed to riding for over an hour. I ride a higher cadence, but it is something that I have to practice to maintain at the start of a season. At first, it is tiring. For you, it could be as simple as needing a different gear setup for short-distance courses than you need for long distance courses so that you can stay in your pedaling sweet spot at higher intensities.
I can imagine that trying to ride at 85% of FTP, accomplished by spinning at a higher than normal cadence, combined with nasty cross winds which (I agree with Al have a hidden TSS cost) could have left you in a poor situation for the run, and hence the drift.
Just some more food for thought...
As for your bike, seems like conditions are to blame. If you are thinking about crosswinds, in all likelihood they are affecting your ability to power through. I would not think nutrition to be as critical for that short of an interval of time on the bike.
Kinda hard to give guidance to a KQ dude, but I find it interesting you are trying to get to worlds while training for Kona. I mean, fundamentally, the mentality of the two distances is pretty dang different. Maybe the 70.3 mentality holds true for a KQ effort, but I would find it hard to train for 140.6, and then go out and pull off a .85 (or .81) bike split followed by z4 HR run for sure.
Rich - that's a good insight on the cadence. I wasn't looking at cadence much during the race but I did make a mental note to try and keep my cadence high as an enabler to the higher watts (vs turning a bigger gear). I had perfect Gearing for this flat course with a 53/39 and 23/11 giving me very tight ranges. I have always heard that at a higher cadence there is less muscle fatigue for the same level of output but perhaps that 89-90 rpm is my sweet spot beyond which there are diminishing returns. The higher cadence may have caused some fatigue and that, coupled with my decision to not use pace on the run, didn't allow me to realize the pace dropped so significantly.
possibility of overtraining syndrome ?
I took a long break over the winter. Now I am pushing higher watts at record low heart rates.
by the by. I switched to much lower bike cadences this training and racing season. 70s. sometimes low 70s. and I am running well off the bike with lower heart rates.
I think more folks should be trying the lower cadence bike thing.
will see how it pans out this weekend at IM Canada.
Jeremy - My experience is that cadence does help me a lot when I try to ride higher power levels - the RPE is less. But - it is something that I have to practice in order to sustain.
I've been practicing to learn/develop the opposite - how to push a big gear at a lower cadence - as a form or "resting" on long flat sections of road. I struggle maintaining power while doing this. I believe (personal opinion) that it may be beneficial for all of us to train hitting our power targets in the 70-90% at a range of cadences... for example, My FTP is 263w @93rpm - I believe I would be a more robust rider if it was 263w from 80-100rpm. It would give options as the course or weather change, or just to engage some different muscle fibers from time to time for a little relief.
I use cadence and HR as secondary indicators on the bike - cadence dropping is a fatigue warning. I notice cadence dropping before I feel the fatigue. Cadence dropping followed by HR dropping can mean fatigue - but it also can mean nutrition. My typical response to seeing cadence drop below expectations is to get some extra calories to make sure the HR drop does't' follow it. These are number that I tend to look at every lap or so just to notice trends.
Anyway - I'm just trying to figure all of this out - it is food for thought