EB Race Plan for Tahoe Trail 100k MTB
Tahoe Trail 100k (2 loops 29.5 miles)
Total Elevation: 6,871 ft
FTP: 203w
FTHR: 162
Training Leading Up:
I began my training in Jan OS on the bike and have felt incredibly strong with my efforts. My goal for this race is to use this as a rehearsal for the Leadville 100MTB on August 10, 2019. I’d like to have a solid training day with the chance to bump up a few starting corrals for LV in August. I’ve averaged around 700-800 TSS, 180 miles a week for almost 10 weeks now. The majority of my training is 50% trainer rides (1.5 hour loads of sweet spot/Vo2) and the rest on local single track (10%) local strong group rides (5%) and long mountain rides training between 3,000/4,000 feet up (35% both on road/MTB)
I had a chance to go out and pre-ride the LV course to see how my body handled the altitude, and I was pleasantly surprised with my results. I went into camp with 230 TSS for the week before the training rides.
FRIDAY: Pipeline to Columbine: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/3792858565
NP: 144w
AHR: 130 bpm (about 10 beats lower than training rides in NC)
IF: .71
SATURDAY: Start to Pipeline: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/3796323914
NP: 138w
AHR: 124 bpm
IF: .68
GEAR:
Possibly wearing EN Castelli kit OR Bike Law kit (bigger shammy)
Specialized EPIC Full Suspension
Specialized Fast Trak 2.1 on both front and rear
PSI: 16 in front 17 in rear
Saddlebag: 1 spare tube, levers, 2x 20g CO2, inflator head, tubeless patch bullet, dollar bill.
Road helmet
Smart Lens Glasses
Full finger gloves
Thicker sole socks
Arm coolers
Wind vest (first lap)
*Possible knee covers
MTB shoes
HR Monitor
Thin neck gator for dust
NUTRITION:
First Lap: (252 calories per hour, pacing for 3-hour splits)
- 1.5 liters SKRATCH (4 scoops 320 calories for 2.5 hours)
- 24 oz btl water on the downtube
- 2 Luna Bars - (190 calories) open and broken for easy eating access
- PB & Pickle Sammie cut into quarters. (245 calories -- hope to eat at the turn)
Second Lap: (250 calories per hour, pacing for sub-3 hour fingers crossed)
- 1.5 liters Gu Roctane (500 calories for over 3 hours if needed)
- 1 24 oz btl of water on the downtube
- Snickers (250 calories for the top of big climb around mile 44)
- 1 espresso Gu’s (100 calories) *just in case
- 3 Clif Blocks (100 calories) *just in case
- Gatorlytes in case of emergency cramping
DROP BAG/Cooler:
- 1.5 pre-mixed bottle with Gu Roctane
- 1 24 oz water bottle
- Small Ziploc with cold-ish Snickers, Gu, Blocks
- Extra tube, lube, towel, 2 CO2
RACE STRATEGY:
Monday (today): REST -- I had a pretty big week last week and can feel I NEED this rest day.
Tuesday: Easy spin for about an hour .69 IF maybe?
Wednesday: Another endurance/tempo ride 1.5 hours with 4 1 min efforts just to keep the blood moving.
Thursday: Travel day. I’ll probably take this day OFF as well.
Friday: Get my bike together. Head over to athletes check in at Northstar.
12:00 pm - Registration -- Buy Co2
1:00 pm - Pre-ride 6 - 8 miles of the start/finish area with ride leaders. Thinking of doing this to:
A: see what I can see of the course without having to do too much and
B: make sure my bike is indeed in working order. Get back to the Airbnb, legs up, hydrate, pack food/bottles/drop bag for the race.
3:45 pm: Athlete Briefing
RACE PLAN:
3:30 am - Ring a ling wake up alarm
Breakfast: ( 600 calories, just under 200 calories an hour before start )
- 24 oz water bottle with ½ scoop of Scratch. (40 calories)
- Quick Oats, Protein powder, berries. (272 calories)
- 2 rice cakes with PB. (290 calories)
- 2 cups of coffee with a protein shake as creamer. (70 calories)
5:45 am - Get to start, get drop bag to the right place, get by bearings before 7:00 am start.
7:00 am - GUN TIME
If I were racing this flat out, I would NOT wear my hydration pack. But since I am using this as a race rehearsal, I’ll use my 1.5-litre hydration pack with a prepared 1.5 liter bottle to fill pack at the turn. I’ll have 1 24 oz water bottle on my downtube for both laps in case I take on too much sugar. I’ll have a bento box on my top tube and will plan to eat every 45 min and finish my pack in the first lap. On the second lap, I will take the time to fill hydration, lube chain if needed, grab food for the next 3 hours and go.
Here is the race course: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/1313298
Tahoe Race sits at around 6,000 - 8,000k which is right within my mountain training zones. I do not think the elevation will affect me here and plan to race with my same numbers. There are a total of 6 climbs avg anywhere from 3-7% which is right in my strength zone. I will race the first lap conservative, keeping my IF around .67 and watching my HR, not letting it get out of the 140’s. The second lap will be game on, staying conservative with my descending, but giving more effort on the steady fire road climbs. My goal is to finish somewhere in the 6-hour range which will bump me up 3 corals at Leadville, OA NP around 145 NP.
Help a sister out -- Any feedback is greatly appreciated!!
Comments
This is great, thank you for posting it. I think your preparation physically has been excellent in that attention to detail here also mirrors that. My biggest point for you is to not get too hung up mentally on how things are going. You will not know your final time until you cross the finish line and until you hit that point you race with excellence in mind. Do not let a lap one time or any other intermediary time stop you from doing what you can do.
My only contribution to your race plan is to make sure that you have some form of salt pill or something at that turn around in case your stomach isn’t happy. Taking one or two sore pills can deathly help settle things down and get the absorption back up.
As your resident evil coach, I already gave you guidelines for this week. I would still like to see a little bit of bike intensity to stay sharp. Those workouts are not so big as to create residual load overall, you should otherwise be good. Feel free to remove any of the recommended runs as needed.
@Emily Brinkley You sure have put in a lot of work! Thanks for the detailed plan. I don't have anything helpful to add, but I do have a few questions:
1) Did I read that correctly, Peanut Butter and "Pickle" sandwich? Hopefully this is not the first time you've tried that. I'm intrigued... Please elaborate on the why's and what's and how's you started eating these and why they are awesome mid race...
2) How easy is it to refill your pack with water at the turn? Can you describe the steps and approx how long it takes? This is more for me to learn as I'm contemplating upping my long distance mtb game next yr.
Good luck!
@John Withrow Ha, I'd like to take credit for the PB & pickle sandwich idea, but I can't. I actually heard the guys from the Leadville 100 Podcast talk about it. They put honey on theirs as well... I've tried it mid long rides and one race so far. The amount of carbs, fat, and salt it gives me saves my butt and switches it up from typical bars, plus I really dig the sweet/salty/crunch. I've even got my 9 year old asking for them at lunch!
I really try to eat solid foods up until hour 4 if I can. Blocks/Gu are last resort for me on long ass rides. I'll go to a Snickers and Coke before a Gu (Thanks to @Donnacha Holmes )It also helps that I don't have a marathon to run after...
I'm only refilling my pack on this race since I'll be solo. LV I'll have a crew and a second pack to switch out at Colombine. This race I'll have a pre-mixed, 1.5 liter bottle ready to dump in the pack at #3 aid station. It will hopefully take me less than 3 minutes to take pack off, slide the clasp, dump drank, seal and re-engage slide, zip her up, put back on and go. I plan to have my extra fuel in a snack size ziploc to throw in my bento, ready to eat on the fly. I could do it in less time off of course nutrition and bottles, but I don't know how they mixed the drink mix. Maybe over thinking, but since I'm going off of drinking my calories for second lap, I'd rather know I'm getting all 250 in.
looks great. have fun. am envious.
Enjoy the ride... One thing I can tell you is that 6000-8000' WILL affect you more than you are giving it credit for. When I did Sea to Summit Tri, which tops out at 6200', there was a point somewhere over 5000' where I wanted to crawl under a rock and cry... Seriously, I think that was in my RR from that race.
This will affect everyone that doesn't live at 5000' or higher, so you will have lots of other people. How do you combat it? just lower your expected HR, power, etc... and hydrate more than you think, especially in the lower humidity of the west vs the east.
Otherwise, it's a solid plan which is better than flying by the seat of your pants, looking forward to the Race Report & the lessons learned to carry forward to the big show!
go get it!
@EB - Great detailed plan. The only thing that caught my attention is the pre-race breakfast seems like a lot, but I am the one who is always getting burned for not eating enough. Since this is a "practice" race, I will be curious to see how this works out for you. Peanut butter pickle sounds delicious!
You've been rocking your training for 6 months now, and I am looking forward to seeing you crush this race!
Have fun!
I feel bad you're only two hours from me and I won't be there to help you out. Tom is going up on Friday. I will PM you his phone # in case you have an emergency.
The weather looks great. Though it says 76 the altitude will make it feel hotter and dry! Tom rode the course the last two weekends and said it felt harder than Leadville because the climbing is condensed. You may want an extra bottle of water in your drop bag since the course can get really dusty.
Local tips:
GO EB !!!