Beth's RR (Light) Plan for High Cliff 1/2
I was scheduled to do a race rehearsal last weekend, but rode the Horribly Hilly Hundred and IMWI courses instead. Good decision? Clearly. With three good rides outside on the new tri bike, my bike handling skills are way better. And, can anything be hard after riding the HHH?
I'm in the OS, which has my training head still stuck in March mode. I'm racing High Cliff in the middle of a college reunion, where I will be drinking with all my friends, staying up until all hours, and engaging in antics, like visiting Joe McCarthy's grave and climbing the bell tower of Main Hall attending lots of dinners and learning about the excellent work of my alma mater in educating young minds. Needless to say, this race has been downgrading from "A" race to "B" activity for the weekend.
Goals: Triathlon skills. I'm throwing out time goals for this one. To delcare victory on this race, I will a) never, ever, not once break out into my beloved breast stroke on the swim. I don't care if it takes me two hours to get out of the water. b) spend as much time in aero on the bike as possible. c) practice racing with power. I may be an EN sophomore, but I'm definitley a power freshman d) just get used to all my new toys. This will be the first race on a new bike, with a powermeter, and with a Garmin.
To that end, I'm doing a race rehearsal (light) tomorrow.
Plan
Friday night:
I've been doing OS, drill-heavy swims for a while now. This week, I decided to switch to the HIM swim plan and will do the endurance workout schedule for tonight.
Saturday a.m.:
Race rehearsal on the Lakefront Path. I have three loops mapped out for 54 miles. There is one baby hill. High Cliff apparently has one big hill.
Bike Setup: I have a wheel cover. I have an aero helmet. Since I haven't raced with either of these before and am going low maintenance for this race, I think I'll leave them home for both race and rehearsal. Bento box with tools, bag of emergency ibuprofen, pepto bismol tablets, Moojo. (Race plan is to copy mancona and Jim's bike setup with universal computer mount between aero bars and water bottle zip-tied in-between aero bars.)
Nutrition: Smoothie, coffee when I wake up. Triple concentrated bottle of Infinit in downtube cage; One bottle up front, and one in jersey pocket. Consume one gel 30 minutes before end of bike as run prep calories. Two spare gels, just in case. S-caps.
Clothes: Sunscreen. Favorite desoto tri shorts I will race in. Jersey. Sunglasses. Helmet. shoes. socks. Garmin on wrist.
Goal watts: (FTP 178) These numbers are based on indoor FTP. Hopefully, this will be the most boring ride in the entire universe.
1st 0-.5hrs, slight downhills 132
2nd Goal Watts (GW) 139
3rd Long hills (>~3') 146 (um, there aren't any of these)
4th Short hills (<~1-2') <b>153
The Run - Six miles. VDOT = 40.7
Change shoes, add EN visor.
First three miles: MP + 30" = 9:05 min/miles
Next three miles: MP = 8:35 min/miles
I'll try out these run paces. Considering my bike will likely be over three hours, I may need to slow down a bit on the run. Right now, they seem do-able.
Any thoughts? Did I forget anything? Will my bike be too conservative? Is the learning curve on the wheel cover low enough that I should just buck up sometime before race day and try it out? Thanks!
Comments
Hey Beth, after seeing you ride HHH and IMWI back to back last weekend I think you are being conservative in your bike pacing as it looks like you are at about an IF of .75. However, since you moved it to a B race and may feel the best the morning of the race, it probably is smart to do it this way.
If you feel great in the last 16 miles of the bike, I would say push a little harder but stick to your plan for at least the first half.
Otherwise you look ready to go to me.
I personally would bring the aero helmet and wheel cover to the race. No need to wear them at the lake front this weekend, but see if you can try them out for a short ride the day to two before the race. As long as they feel ok, give them a try at the race. This way you have that over with and it is not an issue or even a thought when you are training for IMWI. The helmet and disc cover really are no big deal once you have riden with them once. If nothing else, skip the disc cover but bring the helmet to the race. I didn't think there was any learning curve to using either other then how to put them on :-)
Looking forward to seeing you in Appleton. Theresa and Abigail will be on the look out for you on the course!
Thanks, Matt! All good suggestions. Next week, I will plan on taking the cover and helmet out for a test spin.
I'm looking forward to finally meeting Abagail!