RR#2 for IMCDA
I did my RR#2 on Sunday. I was in Phoenix roasting on Thurs-Sat.
I picked a different route than RR1. This one had more water/bathrooms, but had more bike traffic (bike path for 40 miles out and 40 miles back). So I had to slow down quite a few times on the way back and wait until I could pass people. Ride time was 6:11, 100 Miles, PNorm was 151, tss 247. VI of 1.07. My goal was 160 watts, so it was a little lower than planned, but I'd rather be a little slower than a little faster. I may adjust my expected watts from 160 to 155, just so I am at .69 IF and not .70. This is my first IM, and I would rather err on the side of caution. The Run was ok. As expected, I had a hard time slowing down to 9:20. I ended up running 9:05's. I only ran for 40 min because of the 90+ temps. After being in Phoenix in the 107 heat, I was just tired of being hot.
Overall, my nutrition went well. I had 3 bottles of 4 scoops of Inifinit. Basically drank half a bottle every hour. Then drank water from my aero bottle. Instead of just the Infinite (like RR1 that didn't work well), I added a powergel every 1:15/1:30 and a piece (almost a half) of powerbar every 2 hours (cause I get hungry). That seems to have gotten rid of the dead legs I experienced at about 3 or 4 hours of RR#1. I may need to make sure I have a gel every 1:15 for the last 3 hours cause I could have used a little more.
The one problem that I had was that I had to pee 5 times. That added about 15 min to the time I was out there. Since I'm a tri newbie, what do people do? I really don't want to stop 5 times to pee. I could see stopping once or twice just to stretch the legs for 2 min, but not 5 times. What do most people do? Do you just pee on the bike? If so, do you 'rinse' off at the aid stations?
Can't wait for the 27th. I joined the local Tri club last month and they all joined a May is bike month site to post their milage for a month. One guy doing IM France did 1100 miles in May and 2 guys doing CDA did 800-850. I think I did 600ish. I think all that long slow distance would bore me to death.
Comments
Good work, Peter. Nice TSS. Nice VI. Well done. You will be more than ready to hit the run with those numbers.
As far as peeing? Yes, on the bike. If you are moving it kinda blows back. Then at the next aid station grab a bottle of water and rinse off while still moving. It may take a bit to get the "flow" going, but it will happen.
Have a GREAT time on the 27th!
I posted this on the IMCDA week 9 thread but will add it to this thread as well:
Plan:
Ride 6 hours at 220w, IF .70.
Food: 8 150cal eGels q 40’, 40 ounces of powerade for the ride = 255 cal/hr x 6 hours. + 40 ounces of water for the bike. For run 16 ounces of powerade and 16 ounces of water and a little coke = 200+ cal.
RUN: 10:50 (vdot of 43 @ 75% from pace charts)
Actual:
Bike: 5:57 hours (112.4 Miles with 3314 feet of altitude gain). 207 watts, HR average was 121. iBike power seemed low for my 4th hour as I was riding into head wind. IF .68, TSS 277
connect.garmin.com/activity/35792679
Run: 1:00 (10:14 pace with average HR of 132bpm).
connect.garmin.com/activity/35792687
I changed my route to ride predominately on Camp Pendleton with fewer stop lights – although I did have some slow admin mileage through Carlsbad for the first 30’ and towards the 5 hour mark.
I wore cycling jersey with tri shorts and over my EN singlet. Ibike power put me in the 210-220 for the first 2 hours or so. Later as I hit onshore breeze it seemed low – Had power numbers below 200 and as low as 168 (for 8 Mile segment) while maintaining >18 mph with HR in 120s.
Food: Took eGels every 40’ with swig of water and powerade every 20 minutes ( I carried 2 - 20 ounce bottles of powerade). This time I carried a Camelback and made one stop for a Coke. Total time 6:10 with rolling time of 5:57.
Took 5’ to stow my bike, put shoes on and take off cycling jersey. I was aiming for 10:50 (10:20 + 30”). I walked about a minute every mile for the first 2 miles. Run felt a lot better this go around. During my minute walks I would drink about 3-4 ounces of water alternating with powerade and a little Coke.
Pros: Bike went well – although power numbers were better they were still low but I was happy with my average pace on the bike. I was also happy with staying aero most of the ride. I peed five times on the bike and weighed my starting weight – 2 pounds after the race rehearsal – so my hydration worked pretty well.
Cons: Power goals not met.
Tom -
Holy big font batman!!! I think you might have gone a bit too hard in the first hour looking at your garmin hr/power data....would like to see a concerted effort at staying EASY there. As it stands, it looks like there was a slight drop off in power after 4:30/4:45 mark (could just be terrain) and an easy first hour is the best way to fix that. Otherwise things seemed to go really well for you, nice work!
P
PC -
Good call on the bike path and lowering your FTP on race day...quite cagey of you. As for the peeing, you have to find a place you can coast, stand up with one leg straight / other bent...and relax (making sure no one is around you). Sit down when done and squirt shorts with water. No socks please (too stinky / soggy on race day) and then hose off shoes and bike when you get home.
P
I finally had time to go look at my power stuff. Looks as if I went with a norm power of 153 for the 1st hour then 158-160 for hours 2-4. Then from 4-6:11 norm power was 150ish. So, My goal for the IM has been changed to 155. Does it make sense to ride hours 2-4 at 158 or so and then slow down to 153 for the last 2 or 3 hours to recover? Or is CDA just too hilly for part that its going to end up evening itself out and I should just keep it simple stupid and do 155? (now that I type it... I suspect its keep it around 155.)
Peter, you might want to factor into your thinking that the hills on the second loop are from miles 78-98. For my 6:10 bike split, this was about 4:00 through 5:20. The time to think about "raising" your power from 155 to 160 would be after that, the last 45 minutes when the road is flat to downhill, the pavement is smooth, and it's very easy to keep a steady pace. Steady watts of 155 in the two hilly sections (miles 22-42 and 78-88), sloooow uphill to keep the watts down and attention to pushing the downhills to keep them up in that zone, is really the key to a successful race here. Many people @ CDA on the second lap will be coasting the downhills to try and get a little rest. Keeping the uphill work @ 0.7 of your FTP will allow you to take advantage of those downhills to make some progress.
Peter
@Al -
I second what Peter says - if I see that you have commented on a thread I read what you have said and I appreciate your sage wisdom.
Tom
Thanks - getting the chance to comment helps me consolidate what I know, which helps ME, too.