Home› Racing Forum 🏎

RR1 Plan and Results for Vineman 70.3 in July

Bob IrwinBob Irwin
in Racing Forum 🏎

 

This weekend was my first RR for Vineman 70.3 in July.  

 

Plan

 

Breakfast: Get up at 5:30, have 300 calories Perpetuem.  For the race, I would normally get up in time to finish 300 calories of Perpetuem and a protein bar 3 hours before my start.  Didn’t have the protein bar because it was too close to when I was going to start.  This is what I did for my IM RR’s last year and it worked fine.

 

Out the door at 7:00.

 

Ride: 30 minutes easy. Remainder at goal watts of 137 based on ftp of 178 and IF of .77 (my run hasn’t come along too well this year, so I used the bottom of the range).  Hills at +5-10% depending on duration. Ease off last 15 minutes to get ready for the run.  Nutrition - 200 calories of infinit per hour. No need for concentrate – just carried 3 bottles.  

 

Run. First 30 minutes at 30 seconds below my easy run pace.  Last 30 minutes at marathon pace. Nutrition – 150 calories per hour of Gatorade endurance.

 

Pretty straightforward really. After two successful RR’s for my IM last year, I thought I’d be reporting a RR with no big issues, and not too much to tweak.  

 

Results

 

Bike: The Ride - I’ve only had my PT since March, and I’m still struggling with riding steady – especially downhill.  The first half of the bike is rolling, but mostly uphill (gain of about 1,000 feet).  I did pretty good sticking to my plan, finishing the first half with NP of 130 and a VI of 1.06.  The lower NP is probably due to a couple of stop lights and drinking.  Going back was not too good – NP 115, VI of 1.11. I just couldn’t seem to hold consistent watts going downhill, even though it’s not very much downhill.  Bike fit – I had changed the bike fit a couple of weeks ago.  Felt fine during training the past couple of weeks, but it was clearly to low in front when I tried to stay there for nearly 3 hours. My neck got really sore, and I had trouble staying aero for longer than 5-10 minutes during the second half of the ride.  The contact points were right, but I’ll need to move it back up for next time.  Nutrition – Stuck to my 200 calories per hour – stomach was fine. Still trying to sort out how to carry the bottles. Had 2 behind my seat and 1 on the downtube – I know this isn’t very aero, but I’m used to it. Thinking about trying one on the aerobars, one on the downtube, and one under pulled up under the seat.  

 

Run: The run was terrible. Kept to my pace the first mile, then had to run/walk the rest of the way.  Only completed about 4.5 miles in the hour. I’m not sure what I learned, and I’m not sure what to do.  Three weeks ago when we had the big week, I did the 3 hour ride and 1 hour run just fine.

 

Questions:

1) Should I stick to the plan and only do one additional RR two weeks before the race, or should I do one or more additional RR’s to try to get more consistent on my downhill riding at goal watts?  I guess an alternative would be to do the out with the planned intervals and then stick to my race goal watt plan coming back on the downhill.  

2)  Still can’t figure out how to carry my nutrition on the bike.  I’ve tried aero bottles several times, and my stomach always gets full of air.  I’ve tried with and without bite valves. I’ve tried them for as much as a month straight, and just haven’t been able to get it to work for me.  So I guess that eliminates the Speedfil (at least for now). Thinking about trying one on the aerobars, one on the downtube, and one under pulled up under the seat.  Suggestions?

3) Any ideas what happened to my run?  Maybe I was just tired. But I can’t figure it out.

Comments

  • Beth_SBeth_S
    1. I'll let the smarter peeps chime in, but I bet your next race rehearsal will be MUCH better. We've all have race rehearsal horror stories (and then have gone on to have good races.)

    2. I've been experimenting with the mancona/rich/Jim Hansen setup of zip-tying a cage between the aero bars. So far, so good. It may be worth a try.

    3. What was going on during the run? Hurting legs? Headache? Could it have been heat or dehydration? Did you drink any regular water or take an electrolytes?
  • Nemo BrauchNemo Brauch
    What was your bike route? Out & Back? Double Loop? Or one big loop? I'm trying to figure out why the execution of the second half of your ride was so much different than the first half. You did great on that first half- so what changed? It's possible the position changes simply made it uncomfortable for you to ride and thus made it tougher to keep a steady VI.

    I'd also like to hear more about what specifically felt bad on the run. Did you just feel dead legged? Tired? Sore? wassup? Also- what was the week like leading up to the RR? Keep in mind you aren't going to be rested so this won't feel like a breeze= but you shouldn't have to walk it either.

    Also- Beth is right on. Many of us blow the first Race Sim. Don't panic. One more is all you need.
  • Coach RichCoach Rich

    Bob, congrats, this is why we do two race rehearsals . My notes:

    • What, specifically, is uncomfortable about your bike? You have time to fix it and/or adapt to the position.
    • VI: we have this conversation every year, it seems . You are in a dojo full of power/low VI ninja's so it's easy, and can be confusing, to compare your numbers to the numbers you see tossed around here. 1.05 is great. 1.1, while still a little high, isn't really all that bad either, considering. The two big components of VI are:
      1. Your power on the hills, specifically, how much are you spiking/increasing your watts at the bottom of or on a hill. Riding on the flats at 150w and spiking to 220w at the base of a hill is bad, even worse if you come down to "only" 190w, for example. The combination of that spike and holding watts too high will raise your VI. More importantly, it can toast your legs.
      2. Power on the downhills. This will also raise your VI but is more related to how to get around the course the fastest. Next time you're going down a hill, ride at watts x and watts > x. At some speed the marginal speed difference for staying the watts you're "supposed" to hold vs just soft pedaling or even coasting just isn't worth it. So, in my head, there are the watts I'm supposed to hold and then there are times where I say, "yeah, but I can sit on at 33mph at 150w vs 37mph at 300w...or I can just coast at 31-32mph. I'll take the free ride in that case, good enough."
  • Bob IrwinBob Irwin

    I'm glad we have 2 rr's.  I guess I wan't expecting this though since both of my IM rr's last season went fine.  anyway - to answer questions so I can get more help.

    Bike course profile is an out and back.  Mostly uphill (but not much) on the way out, and mostly downhill on the way back. 

    My watts went above 200 watts about 8-10 times, never for more than 7-10 seconds before I got back to my 4th gear (according to the chart - 151 watts).  There were two hills that caused me to be above my 4th gear (but below ftp - 178) for 50-60 seconds on the way out.   I was having trouble being steady at my goal watts on the downhills even if they were only 1-2% and going 27-28mph.  I think that's why my VI went up and my NP for the second half of the bike.  It was also a couple hours later in the morning, so I hit more traffic lights.  I turned the computer off and on, but I'm sure it had an impact on both.  So maybe the VI wasn't really as high as it looks, but my NP for that part of the ride was definitely below where I wanted it. 

    I can't really use the zip tie method for the cage on the aerobars - I can't get a flat stem without using too many spacers, and I don't have room on the bars for a bottle and my computer (and I'm too new to using power not to have the computer where I can see it - it's really an eye opener to see how much the power can vary without really noticing it).  I just got a bottle holder that mounts on top of the headset top cap.  If that works for me, I think I'll get one of the head lollypop mounts. 

    The bike fit issue was caused by lowering my stem by 1cm (to about 11 cm drop from saddle to pads).  My neck got really sore was the problem.  I got a new bike in March, and I'm still trying to dial in the fit.  I'll move it back up to the last one that Todd looked at.  I seemed to be able to hold that position just fine.  Assuming it works ok on my long ride this weekend - I'll just leave it.  Like Nemo said, maybe just being uncomfortable on the second half of the ride made a difference as well.

    On the run, I was just tired/dead legs.  They just didn't seem to want to go.  It was warm (85 degrees), but not really hot.  I don't think that I was dehydrated.  I got real dehydrated at Vineman last year, and I'm really careful now.  I have no idea - my runs have been fine this week. 

    This week the bike has several intervals at ftp, and then intervals at 80-85%.  I'll ride the same course as last week.  I was thinking doing intervals for most of the way out, and trying to be constant at my race goal watts on the way back.   Does that make sense?  I have no idea about the run, except to just try it again this week (even though my bike doesn't have a run afterward in the plan).  Thanks everyone.

Sign In or Register to comment.