Options
2018 IMLP Lessons Learned
Congratulations to all of you on an incredible race. It was a fantastic day to spectate and watch you execute like veterans. I hope you are enjoying the beginning of your recovery.
I’m starting this thread to give you a chance to share your lessons learned from the training build up and race day changes that you made this season. I know each of you try things a little differently, and some of them were small but some of them are huge. I’d appreciate if you could share it back to the team so we could all learn and grow!
Tagged:
2
Comments
Transitions: I knew this was an area I could save some time. I didn’t physically practice it (other than at Syracuse 70.3). Instead, I spent a lot of time visualizing the items in my gear bag and the order in which I would put things on and/or decide if I needed them. Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast. Took about a minute each off T1 and T2.
Bike: The changes on this year’s course and the weather on the day were definite issues that affected the bike. What I did the best this year was to just stick to the plan. As hard as it was to see my average speed dropping in that horrible headwind on the Cascades, I stuck with the JRA, Bucket O’ Chicken effort. Ended up with the 6th fastest bike in my AG. Also, all of those hours on the trainer—the FTP, VO2 and ABP rides—really prepared me for both the Syracuse (another tough bike course) and IMLP bike legs. I was able to stick to my plan and come off the bike running.
Run: Highly recommend the RDP plan. Even though I do have a hip issue (diagnosis and prognosis in progress), I had a very good run at Syracuse (fastest in AG), and had 16 good miles at IMLP. The hip issue forced me to walk, but while I still could run, the fitness and pace were there. Had this issue not developed when it did, I believe I would’ve had a very consistent run, and I believe the RDP was the difference.
1. Zwift races. I raced about 1x per week in place of the FTP workout. Those races, plus the Hangon and Sunday EN zwift rides made me realized I could ride harder and longer than I thought possible. I was able to get comfortable being uncomfortable in high Z3 to high Z4. Huge confidence builder.
2. Incorporated Paul's Inside Out rides (called challenge rides in the IM plan) and Crush workouts.
My Tri bike FTP only increased 8-10 watts from last year, but my muscular endurance strength significantly increased.
Run: Use cooling towel and ice bag to keep cool. Also used ice under the hat occasionally.
Overall: wear one kit all day to save time in transition ( not sure what happened in T2 because it was way too long but I wasn't changing).
1) So much easy/free speed is available. Get a good fit, get comfortable descending fast, nail transitions.
2) Don't get behind on nutrition...the longer the day the more important. I had to pee by mile 30 and probably went 5-6 times on the bike. I was diligent taking in 100-150 calories of solid food every 30 minutes.
3)Stick to your plan. Like every race I was out early with few others on the bike but after 35 miles the slower swimmers started passing me. I let them zoom past me on the flats and climbs, would catch them on the downhills, and after mile 60 I never saw them again.
4)Embrace the challenges. While most people were fretting about the weather I loved it. One...it makes you feel like a total badass in those conditions and two...it's an opportunity to put time between you and your competition as they over-react.
Thank You to everyone on the team.