IMAZ Power Numbers
Plan for the bike was to pull off a sub-5:10 bike split on as little watts as possible as save everything for the run. I wanted to have the easiest swim and bike of any previous IM and see how that impacted the run. I know the course and my power well enough that a sub-5:10 bike split was pretty easily achievable at around 180 - 185w (IF = .67 - .69) unless the wind was brutal and I knew that was unlikely given that it's Tempe in Nov.
Somewhat interesting numbers... Now I'll admit that I've never seen an IF around .75 on a flat course from just about anyone with an accurate FTP but mine was pretty ridiculously low for a 5:08 bike split.
Entire workout (176 watts):
Duration: 5:09:33
Work: 3268 kJ
TSS: 232.8 (intensity factor 0.672)
Norm Power: 181
VI: 1.03
Pw:HR: 4.78%
Pa:HR: -4.96%
Distance: 113.507 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 396 176 watts
Heart Rate: 136 165 154 bpm
Cadence: 30 150 87 rpm
Speed: 2.2 36.6 22.0 mph
1st lap: 175w/181w, 151bpm, 22.7mph (there was a bit of wind on the first lap)
2nd lap: 177w/183w, 154bpm, 21.2mph (wind picked up a bit)
3rd lap: 176w/181w, 155bpm, 22.0mph (wind totally died. I did the first 31 miles @ 180w/184w, 157bpm, 21.9mph and the last 7 miles @ 158w/165w, 150bpm, 22.2mph)
I provided some additional detail on the last lap since you can see I really soft-pedaled it those last 7 miles. I just figured since I knew I was going to come in under 5:10 and my speed was relatively high during the early part of that 7-mile section that I would just go real easy to set myself up for the run. I felt really really good on that last lap and it was quite difficult not to go harder.
To provide some perspective, this was my lowest NP ever recorded on the IM bike but it was a bike PR by 4 min. Run was a PR by 10 min but I don't think I paced it too well. I really really suffered those last 6 miles of the run. I honestly think I would have collapsed or just started walking if I had to run one more mile.
I clearly could have gone harder on the bike but I also felt like I gave every single once on the run. I had absolutely zero left in the tank.
I'll have a full race report done soon.
Thanks, Chris
Comments
Almost unbeleivable that the watts being that low would produce that fast of a bike split. What do you weigh may i ask?
I had a buddy racing and he too said without any more effort than ever before he PR'd the bike by 22 minutes. Had to be the conditions a little I guess too huh?
Anyway great race and awesome to track you throughout the day.
I was probably around 148 lbs on race day.
The funny thing about conditions is that they probably weren't even as good as last year. We actually had some wind this year on lap 1 and worse on lap 2. The wind completely died on lap 3 though. So, I don't think conditions had anything to do with it. I'm pretty convinced I would have been faster with no wind at all which is what it was like in the days prior to the race. However, I do believe we had an advantage on lap 1. Since the winds were picking up we actually had a stronger tailwind than we had a headwind, relatively speaking. Now, unfortunately it reversed on us on lap 2. We had the strongest headwind of the day (nothing compared to April winds) on lap 2 but since the wind started dying about the time some of us hit the turnaround we didn't have as strong of a tailwind coming back into town as lap 1. This is why most everyone's lap 2 was slower even when their power was higher.
Either way, what I will say is that it's just a fast bike course with slight wind or not. Much of the road was newly paved too. I also believe you get a draft on laps 2 and 3 because you're constantly passing people. Or at least I was.
I will probably not do this race again though. One thing I really didn't like is the amount of effort required to keep yourself from illegally drafting. This was a much different experience for me. Usually I'm riding with very few bikes around me on the 2nd half of the IM bike. It's really hard to have a VI of 1.01 - 1.02 on this course because there are so many bikes to deal with from my experience.
Definitely an ego boosting course though. :-)
Thanks, Chris
That's really cool. What is your FTP? (I could do the math myself, but feel too lazy for all that dividing and thinking this morning - it's offseason.)
FTP is around 270w. I had this weird experience this year where I had my FTP up to about 285w prior to IMC but afterward I was never able to get my long ride power back up to the levels it was prior to that race so I adjusted accordingly. Maybe I'm just getting too old... ;-)
I'm enjoying the fact that I move up to the 45-49 AG next year. Funny how I thought last year's times in the 40-44 AG were fast. I really couldn't go any faster though. I might have left 2 or 3 min on the course due to suboptimal run pacing and probably could have shaved about 2 min off my transitions but that's about as good as it would get.
Just got to work that much harder next year...
Thanks, Chris
Thank you for sharing, Chris. It's all very interesting and helpful. So given your "low" IF of 0.67 and that you left it all out there on the run course, if you could do it all over again (it's always a woman who's gonna bring up a hypothetical question!) would you have gone harder on the bike? The course doesn't look like there's any real steep climbs that one would burn a match. Looks like most of any power surges are for passing people and/or riding clean.
tom
Hi Kitima,
That's a really good question and I've spent some time thinking about it too. I'm quite certain I wouldn't change a thing. In fact, I might have learned more from this race than any previous race. I spent the entire time on the bike really holding back and it was quite challenging but I'm a true believer that you just have to lay it down on the run. My friend said to me after the race that he could have gone harder on the bike. I was thinking, if that's the case then how could have he really given everything he had on the run? I thought that was unfortunate. If I went harder on the bike my run would have changed substantially. I have no doubt about that. How much it would have changed is something I will never know though.
Thanks, Chris
Tom,
I have a lot of hills where I live so I spent the entire race prep period between IMC and IMAZ avoiding the them and staying in the aero position as much as possible. Having said that, I ride a tri bike year round so it probably wasn't that much work for me. I have a habit of lifting my head too high so I did spend a ton of time breaking that habit. Hard to do in training but it was something I felt was crucial to do for IMAZ. I was even going to write "Head down" on my arm just as a constant reminder.
The tricks or tips are really no different than what you've heard from others. Mancona gave some great advice about how he rode IMWI. I did the same thing. On the fast sections at IMAZ (after the turnaround) I'd really try to get as small as possible keeping my head down and somewhat tucked so it was in line with my shoulders. The one place nobody ever passed me on that course was on that section. I flew by people (on slightly lower power than the outbound section). When people did pass me, which was primarily on the 1st lap, it was only on that outbound/headwind section. I don't think a single person passed me on the entire last lap though.
My position is reasonably aggressive too. I have normal body dimensions and my drop is about 18cm. It took me a little bit of work to find a good saddle though. I ended going with the Cobb saddle (V-Flow Plus).
Thanks, Chris