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Rob Tune 2019 Official Coach Thread [PlanEN]

edited July 22, 2019 12:50AM in Coaching Forum 🧢

Rob -

Here's your personal Coach Thread, as promised. This is where you'll return to post all your "coach" questions as responses; I'll see them and reply. This first post is here to guide you through your first year on EN, so you can always come back here.

As you'll see in this forum, I handle all manner of edits and changes. So post away, know that I reply here usually M/W/F each week.

Power User Tip: Click the Star icon by the Title of this thread to subscribe, and you'll get email updates when I do reply.


Coach Notes


Your Races

  • Ironman Chattanooga (2019-09-29) #IMCHOO_19

Your Notes

Elkhart Lake Olympic Triathlon (1st Tri), June 8 (3:12)

Bigfoot Olympic Triathlon, June 23 (2:42)

Been taking last two weeks off, prior to that, working out 4-5 times per week (approx 6-9 hours)

Two-A-Day workouts twice a week


Season Outline

These are your recommended training plans, including the date you should start each one (sometimes you won't complete a full plan but transition to another one). You can change your plans on Final Surge by clicking on Training Plans / My Plans. Learn more about each plan on the Training Plan Central Page.

>> Last updated by Coach on July 15, 2019

  • On 7/8/2019 Load the -- EN*Full Bike Focused to end on 9/29/2019
  • On 9/30/2019 Load the -- Post Ironman Transition Plan, All Levels (4wks) to end on 10/27/2019
  • On 10/28/2019 Load the -- Run Durability for Triathletes 1 (9 months out) -- 4 weeks to end on 11/24/2019
  • On 11/25/2019 Load the -- Run Durability for Triathletes 1 (9 months out) -- 4 weeks to end on 12/22/2019
  • On 12/30/2019 Load the -- OutSeason (Bike Focus) Plan, 14wks to end on 4/5/2020

Training Plan Support in Your First Month

You can connect with @matt limbert as needed in your first month to get dialed in with your training plans and data. You can set up a call with him online here: https://calendly.com/new-member-phone-call/1 and he'll be on this thread shortly!


Your Homework

Tell Me Your Season Goals

  • What will make you consider this season a success?
  • What's your biggest limiter right now?


Start Learning

Every month we hold live events as part of our commitment to make you just as smart as you are fit. Feel free to visit our Coach Lesson page and our Office Hours page to find the next opportunity to connect with Coach Patrick and your Teammates.



Contact Points

As part of your journey to becoming a Self Coached Triathlete inside TeamEN, we are prepared to give you excellent support for your first 90 days. Our goal is to transition you from live, in-person support to using our digital resources and the Team to help you continue your progress as you execute your Three Year Plan.


These are all the key points in your first year where we must talk. Please remember to include your phone number.


  • Welcome Call in Week One (set it up here)
  • Training Plan Call in Week Two to talk about your season (set it up here)
  • End of Trial Call -- We review your experience & Unlock Year One / Race Execution for you (set it up here)
  • End of Season Call -- We review your year & Strategize for your End of Year Gap and Year Two (TBD in this Coach Thread)


Questions

  • Coach Questions - Right here in this thread. Always reply to this same thread, it keeps a record for us as we evolve together!
  • General Questions - Simple stuff can go to the Q & A Central Forum for the Team to answer. For example, Best Bike? How to improve run cadence? How to flip turn?
  • Need Help? - Please check the EN Help Site first!
  • Admin Questions - Billing or orders or whatnot? Use the red chat button at the bottom of the Members Site (not forums) or email us here.
  • Specific Questions about a Race or Power, etc? - You can post those into the General Discussion Forum and set the title or tags for that topic. Race questions to the Racing Forum, etc. Not sure where to post? Put it in the General Discussion forum and we will sort it out. Whatever you do, PLEASE ask your questions!!


For short or last minute questions, we recommend you use the Red Chat Icon on the main Members website.

We have also organized a complete chart of the best ways to contact us online here.


Your First Month on the Team

You have quite a few things to do when you start up. There are instructions on the top of the website, but you can review them under Resources / Trial Member Welcome.


Your First Year Inside Endurance Nation

This will be unlocked after your trial expires.


Looking forward to working with you this year,


~ Coach P

Tagged:
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Comments

  • Rob, Congratulations on your first triathlon. Our goal is to help you get as fit and as smart as we can for IM Chattanooga.

    Here are some easy steps to get the most out out your training plan, Coach Thread and Final Surge.

    First, Power user tip! Click on the red star and check box just to the right of your thread title. This way you will get an email when you get a response in your Coach thread. See video here:


    I'll monitor this thread for your first thirty days and help you get up to speed with your plan, your basic schedule, terminology, and all of our resources.

    Next, getting setup in Final Surge. Coach Patrick has just made your season plan in Final Surge, so you can sync your Garmin or Strava (only one!) and get your workout data uploaded. (Chose Strava if you ride on Zwift.)

    In Final Surge: Workouts -> Garmin / Device Upload


    Then chose either Garmin or Strava. Just chose one, otherwise you will get double workouts recorded in Final Surge.

    As you get all your tech setup (Connecting to Final Surge) either Garmin or Strava. Also consider downloading the Final Surge App. This might make it way easier to add comments about how you felt, ate, weather etc (for the bike) and sets, paces etc (for the swim). Those are all super helpful to you as you track your progress, prepare and plan your 70.3 at Waco.

    Final Surge | Mobile Apps

    https://www.finalsurge.com/apps

    It makes it super easy to add comments about your workout. Click on the "pencil" icon to tap "how I felt" or "perceived effort." Then add a few notes about what you ate/drank (helps to figure out what works best for you on the bike), how you felt mentally, the weather or any aches etc. Just a quick not goes a long way.


    Those comments are really handy when you are comparing workouts, tailoring your own training, evaluating progress and planning for your ride. It also makes it easy to look at and plan for your upcoming workouts.

    You can also setup Final Surge to send you emails with your workouts every day.

    Let me know how I can help. I look forward to hearing more, helping you build your fitness and learn how to execution your race for IM Chattanooga!

    My goal is to make your first month of Endurance Nation as simple and as awesome as possible! For any questions you have getting started - chat with me here in this forum or schedule a call with me here: https://calendly.com/new-member-phone-call/1

    Talk with you soon.

  • Rob,

    Here is the swim ebook:

    https://app.box.com/s/q50ds6x5j9

    It is a great place to start for drills and getting smarter about your swimming technique.

    You can also look at triswimcoach:

    https://www.triswimcoach.com/

    They have some free resources too. TEAMEN folks get a 20% discount. FYI.

    Remember, you can always post a video the forums. We have several folks who are talented swimmers - they can look at your video and suggest corrections or drills to improve your technique. If you do post a video, try to get a clips of you swimming towards and away from the camera. This helps them look at your hand entry, upper and lower body.

    Here is our workout modification guidance if you to change an individual workout:

    WorkOut Triage - Modifying individual workouts

    If you go to work out and it just ain't happening, we suggest, in order:

    1. Cut the Interval Length but Keep the Intensity. IOW if 2 x 15' on the bike isn't working for you, can you do 3x10 with more rest or 4x7.5, etc.
    2. Do the Time but Drop the Intensity. If #1 doesn't work, then get in your 2x15' at .9 or .85 instead.
    3. Do the Time Only. If #2 doesn't work, then just get your 45-60 minutes done.
    4. If You have Zero Motivation and #3 is Wicked Unappealing, Do Nothing. Stretch, core, etc is okay but take the day. Better to save now than pay later.

    Schedule Triage - Modifying Your Training Plan for Work Travel, etc.

    Big Picture:

    • Travel is part of your real life. Your workouts are fun, keep them that way.
    • When in doubt, go shorter and harder.
    • When in doubt, just run. In other words, try to keep the run frequency up, even it means banging out 20-30' from the hotel. That said, see first bullet. Don't be a geek about this.

    Flavors of travel:

    • Won't have access to a bike, but can run
      • If possible, go "bike heavy" the week before vacation. 
      • Example: Bike Tues/Thurs (FTP), Sat (Long), Sun (ABP).....OR....Mon/Wed/Fri (FTP), Sat (Long, no FTP). Make the travel time a "run week," usually by increasing frequency (5-6 runs vice 3-4, for example)
      • Alternate quality runs with easier days. 
      • We prefer you do no intensity or no workouts on actual travel days due to stress.
      • Full Week Example: Monday (Travel), Tuesday (4-6 x 3' at 5k pace), Wed (Easy or OFF), Thurs (2-3 x 1 mile @ z4/TP), Fri (Easy or OFF), Sat (Longer run with a negative split finish)
      • Short Example: Just do the two intense runs with an easy / off day between them!Back to normal schedule when you get home. No such thing as missed workouts/tests you gotta make up, etc. It's done, move on.
    • Have access to a bike and can run. No swim
      • Your call if you want to use the gym bike get the work done. If ou can't do it - make it a run only week and see note above. If you want to make it happen then - only recommended for workouts under 1:30. Not recommended for longer/long weekend rides.
      • If no power or heart rate. Use your best judgement to get the intensity done. Excellent time to work on you perceived effort.
      • Keep the run schedule the same.
      • Skip the swim on a double workout day.
      • On a swim only day, just do another easy day on the bike or rest.

    Rob is 12 weeks out and using the minimalist Half plan for Augusta 70.3 in Sept 28. He is most confident in his run (7:15/30 runner). He would like to develop his bike power and improve his swimming technique. He is okay with swimming distance but knows that he needs to focus on swimming technique in order to improve. He is all about developing a consistent workout schedule based on a variety of intensity and using heart or power power as a metric to help measure his effort. He is concerned about the time commitment and the lack of rest days in the plan. We talked about how to modify the workouts or schedule and settled on executing the plan as written for 2-3 weeks at the Level 1 workouts and then checking back in order to see how things are going and make any major adjustments or modifications. We talked about the importance of logging the workout data and comments in Final Surge so we have a baseline. The data and comments will be useful in the first 30 days to dial in the training and become even more useful later on - so he can look back and develop a solid race plan based on the data and how he was feeling during the key workouts. In the meantime, use the workout and schedule triage posted above to adjust as necessary. He is interested in getting a power meter and we talked through some options. It looks like Stages might have a single sided crank that will work with his budget and bike. He has an Apple watch and Polar Heart Monitor. He can download the the heart rate through his phone after the run, but doesn't like to run with the phone.

    Post any questions here or set up another call here: https://calendly.com/new-member-phone-call/1

    It was great to talk with you. I look forward to hearing more about your training. Talk to you soon.

    ~Matt

    @Rob Tune

  • Rob, Your comments this week were spot on! That kind of insight on how you felt (perceived effort), nutrition and results are really going to help you dial in your training and recovery - leading you develop quickly as a self-coached athlete. Keep it up!

    @Rob Tune

  • What will make you consider this season a success?

    Finishing my HIM (Augusta), Improving my fitness, Becoming a Smarter Racer


    What's your biggest limiter right now?

    Time.

  • Rob, Thanks for sharing thoughts on season success and your limiters. I read your comments about your long ride last weekend. You mentioned that you had a hard time the second half (flat tire, fueling). My guess is that you were short on calories if you were just using GU for fuel. Fueling is a key skill and very personalized. Here is an excerpt from some of the TeamEN content to give you an idea of what is part of the the learning resources available in TeamEN and how to become a smarter racer. Coach Patrick also has several video lessons on this and there is a nutritionist on the team that gives great advice. Consider this to get started:

    Bike nutrition: Race goal is to get off the bike hydrated and fueled for the run. That requires:

    • Target Bike Calories = (Your Body Weight in Pounds) times .625 times 4. For example, Coach P weighs 185 pounds. He uses the Nutrition Calculator, after his sweat test, which multiplies 185 x .625 to give 115.6 grams of carbs per hour. That number is multiplied by 4 (a gram of carbs has 4 calories), to get a baseline target of 462 calories per hour.
    • Fluid Calories on Bike = Determined by Your Sweat Test Results Your sweat test tells you how much fluid you need; depending on what you are drinking on race day, the majority of your calories should come from fluid (Ironman Perform has 175 calories per 20 oz, for example.) Additional fluid is determined by race day temperature (hotter days = more fluids!). 
      • Note 1: You will need at least 24oz of fluid per hour on the bike...most need more.
      • Note 2: We do not recommend drinking water.
    • Eating Calories on Bike -- This is your Total Calorie Needs MINUS Your Fluid Calories. The bigger you are / harder you are racing, the more frequently you eat. Can be refined in training. 
      • A baseline target is aiming to take in 25 grams or 100 calories of food every 30 to 45 minutes depending on your needs, etc. 

     Define your nutrition plan so you can practice it in EVERY SINGLE WORKOUT


    Your limiter. Time. Could be your biggest advantage. Many triathletes (beginning and experienced) often over train. In your case, you will be limited in the amount of time to train and it will keep you in a more balanced state of stress and recovery so you can make consistent progress and avoid doing too much.

    Keep up the dialogue here and making notes in Final Surge. Take another look at your fueling plan for the long ride this weekend and keep dialing in your fueling.

  • This is awesome info Matt, and I am sure that I am not consuming enough calories. But, I wanted to assure you that I was also drinking Tailwind as planned for caloric intake... just likely not nearly enough.

  • Rob, Nice work on that challenge ride! Book a call with me (https://calendly.com/new-member-phone-call/1) or post here and we can get that data upload sorted out.

    I love the consistency and your comments. Super excited for you.

    How is the schedule and time commitment working out?

  • Rob, If you send me your questions. I'll get you answers tonight. We can also reschedule the call. I apologize and don't want waste your time. We are traveling and I chose a poor Wifi location. I will solve my WiFi problem when we talk again.

    Here is the background on Nominal Power. https://www.trainingpeaks.com/blog/what-is-normalized-power/

    Using the 3 sec avg gives you an idea of what your are doing on the short term. Normalized Power / Nominal Power (NP) gives you an idea of the longer durations. You can have a lap NP and the overall ride NP. I use 3 sec avg and lap nominal power with the goal of keeping both in the targeted zone.

    NormalizUseed Power® (NP®) or Nominal Power is an important metric for cyclists and triathletes to understand. While it sounds complex, it is very valuable to understand what NP is and how you should use it in training and racing. In order to better understand NP, let’s first consider some basic exercise physiology to give us context.

    Fundamentally, to build fitness, an athlete needs to apply a stress to the body, and then through recovery from that stress, the body adapts and becomes stronger and is able to accommodate a greater stress in the next round of training. The fundamental components of “stress” are intensity, duration and frequency, or how hard, how long and how often. The “how hard” piece has historically been difficult to quantify, but for cycling, power meters have given us a very direct objective measurement of the actual work an athlete is doing.

    Taking Average Power (AP) by simply averaging the highs and lows of an effort over a given duration is pretty simple to understand and calculate and on the surface seems like a great way to capture how hard an effort is over a particular duration. But, it’s actually somewhat limited in its application.

    Example.

    As an example, let’s take two different efforts of 1 hour. First, a steady 1 hour ride on a trainer with little to no variation in output at an average of say 200 watts might be a fairly easy ride for a particular rider. Next, consider a 1 hour ride on a hilly course, and insert 10 to 15 short intervals where the same rider is putting out 300 to 400 watts for 15 seconds to 1 minute at a time followed by easier pedaling below 200 watts for recovery. With all the higher highs and lower lows, the athlete may still average 200 watts.

    However, from a “feel” perspective, the variable ride is much harder and leaves that athlete more fatigued and in need of recovery. Where the 200 watt steady ride may have been easy enough to be considered recovery unto itself, the variable ride may have been more equivalent to a much harder ride physiologically depending on the particulars of the variance. As this example illustrates, average power is not sophisticated enough to capture these nuances, and this is where the concept of normalized power comes into play.

    Physiological Cost

    Normalized Power is calculated using an algorithm that is a little complex, but in a nutshell takes into account the variance between a steady workout and a fluctuating workout. The resulting value is an attempt to better quantify the physiological “cost” of the harder “feel” of the variable effort. For a highly variable workout, NP can be much higher than average power, where for a very steady workout, NP and average power are equivalent or very close together. A relatively high NP is showing that the workout had a lot of variation, and was harder physiologically than what average power may reveal.

    So where do we use Normalized Power? Primarily in any calculation were we speak to training stress, stress balance or training load. The planning challenge for every athlete is how much stress and how much recovery is needed in order to maximize adaptation and in turn maximize fitness. Since there are a lot of individual factors that come into play with each athlete’s situation, anything that can enable us to better quantify “stress” means we can plan workouts and recovery better to meet a particular athlete’s needs and maximize time to help better enable them to reach their goals.


    Riding Hills. Solve hills with gearing and cadence first, then apply more power. Shift early and often. Keep power and cadence consistent. Apply more power gradually. Experiment with your style of climbing, but use the mechanical advantage of the gearing first, keep cadence constant or increase it, then apply more power to stay efficient.

    https://www.endurancenation.us/cycling/conquering-the-climbs-part-ii-gearing/



    Welcome to Part II of my Conquering the Climbs series. In Part I we discussed the physics of getting up a hill more quickly. In Part II of the series we’ll discuss what the gears on your bike will, and won’t, do for your ability to get up that hill more quickly.

    Gearing

    “If I change the gearing on my bike I’ll get up the hill faster.”

    This is not necessarily true. Think of your body and the muscles in your legs as the engine of a car. The gearing on your bike is the transmission that connects that engine to the rear wheel. Work is performed by the engine, is applied through the transmission (gears), and is measured at the rear wheel as watts. Watts are what turns the wheel of the bike and propel the bike/rider system up the hill, at a speed that’s determined via the watts per kilo of body weight discussion we covered in Part I of this series.

    As a cyclist, think of watts as a function of:

    • Force: how hard you push down on the pedals, and…
    • Cadence: how often you apply this force to the pedals.

    If Timmy and Tommy are riding side by side at the same watts, but Timmy is riding at 60rpms while Tommy turns the pedals at 100 rpms, Timmy is pressing harder on the pedals with each pedal stroke. Note that while they are both performing the same work (watts) and are going up the hill at identical speeds (oh, Timmy and Tommy are identical twins with the same weight), how they experience/feel their equal work loads are likely very different, due to their different cadences. Let’s now discuss how cadence is related to watts and how this creates some unique conditions when climbing a hill.

    Recall that watts is a function of cadence and how hard you press down on each pedal stroke. So if we keep power constant and decrease cadence (for example, staying in a big gear or running out of gears on a hill) we accomplish these watts by pushing harder with each pedal stroke. This “harder” is experienced as increased pressure on the soles of your feet as you pedal the bike.

    Likewise, if we keep power constant and increase cadence, we accomplish these watts by pushing less hard on the pedals with each pedal stroke. This “less hard,” or “easier” is experienced as decreased pressure on the soles of your feet.

    There are two important considerations to be aware of in these scenarios:

    There are No Free Watts: while lower cadence may feel harder and high cadence may feel easier, if the watts of each effort are identical then your body is performing the same work load. Likewise, if your cadence is higher or lower and you find yourself going up the hill faster it’s important to realize that changing the gearing on your bike didn’t magically add watts to you or your bike. The only way you increase your ability to output more watts is to become more fit. But what has changed is your experience of these watts, as a change in pedal pressure and associated cadence. So a gearing change doesn’t make you faster, it simply changes how you experience the watts you produce.

    The Dog on a Leash Effect: so given a choice between high and low cadence, which is better? I’d like to make you aware of what I call the Dog on a Leash Effect — as cadence decreases, at the bottom of a hill, for example, our natural tendency is to push harder against this increased resistance, much like a dog pulls against a leash, resulting in a spike in our power. It is very, very difficult for most riders to avoid this “push harder” phenomenon and it’s even more dangerous if it’s applied across the length of the entire hill because your bike is over-geared for the course. And it’s even more difficult when everyone else around you in a race is doing the same thing, spiking their power at the bottom of hills. So being focused on maintaining a higher cadence, especially at the bottom of climbs, is a good technique to avoid this nearly inevitable power spike as the Dog on a Leash Effect begins to express itself.

    Finally, higher cadence cycling on hills is generally easier on the muscles of your legs, saving them for the run. But of these two scenarios, avoiding the power spike and easier on your legs, the former is more important to keep in mind. In my experience, if you’re climbing up a hill at low cadence you’re nearly guaranteed to be throwing out much higher wattage than you should.

    Coach Patrick’s Gearing Recommendations

    Below are my recommendations, based on my experience as a triathlon coach, given the goal to have you run well off the bike. Within this stated context:

    1. You can never have enough gears on your bike…seriously.
    2. Never ask your local bike shop for their gearing recommendations, unless they have significant triathlon experience and are 100% on board with my discussion above. For whatever reason, LBS’s often attach masculinity issues, for lack of a better term, to gearing and so will often discount the value of “easier” gearing.
    3. My advice below assumes you will ride and race on a variety of terrain and so what gearing that will work well for you in a variety of training and racing situations.
    • Advanced Cyclist:
      • 11-Speed Gearing Systems:
        • Front Chainring: 52/36 “super compact”
        • Rear Cassette: 28-11 for hilly courses, 23 or 25-11 for other courses.
      • 10-Speed Gearing Systems:
        • Front Chainring: 50/34 compact
        • Rear Cassette: same as above.
        • Front Chainring: 50/34 compact
    • Beginner to Intermediate Cyclist:
      • 10 and 11-Speed Gearing Systems:
        • Rear Cassette: 28-12 for most courses, consider a 30 or 32t rear cassette for extremely hilly courses.

    After reading this article I highly recommend running out to your bike and identifying what gearing you have your bike. I’ve seen far, far to many extremely poor gearing choices in my time observing triathlon races and it’s clear that many triathletes simply don’t know their gearing or how to change it. Changing your cassette is as easy as turning a bolt and YouTube is here to teach you how.

    Join me shortly for Part III as I discuss the various flavors of perspective involved in climbing. Good luck!

  • Rob, I recommend checking out this post.

    Dustin is a new member and posted a question about his race at IM Lake Placid. A lot of experienced folks weighed in and gave him some good advice for race fueling and hydration which can apply to your HIM.

    Let me know what you think.

    https://endurancenation.vanillacommunities.com/discussion/25966/dustins-2019-ironman-lake-placid-report

  • Nice work. You have some really good consistency going. You are developing some strong fitness, it would be nice if you could take a look at this race execution guidance. You have a race rehearsal coming up at the end of the month and these are some good ideas to keep in mind.

    http://members.endurancenation.us/Resources/RacingMemberCentral/RaceExecutionDetails/MasterRaceExecutionPage(HalfFull).aspx

    Coach Patrick and his partner (Coach Rich) developed the idea of 4 keys to race execution. You can read or watch the video.

    Key #1: Execution, not Fitness

    Key #2: The line.

    Key #3: The box.

    Key #4: The one thing.

  • @Rob Tune

    Welcome to your SECOND MONTH  inside Endurance Nation! 


    To help you continue your progress, we have a few short questions for you. You can copy the questions and put your answers in your reply to this thread (no need to copy the questions, just keep the numbers the same!). 


    ** Rankings **

    Please rate the following items on a Scale of 1 to 3 (1 = Unsatisfactory,  2 = Satisfactory, 3 = Great!):

    • Swim Fitness: 
    • Bike Fitness:
    • Run Fitness:
    • Weight / Body Composition:

     

    ** Subjective Information **

    • What is Your Biggest Improvement So Far?
    • In What Area Do You Need Additional Support? 
    • Would You Recommend Endurance Nation to a Friend?

     

    ** Additional Learning **

    Now that we are beyond the initial learning curve of Endurance Nation, it's time to give deeper into some additional resources that can really help you out. 

    You have several options: 


    ** Need Coach Input? **

    Don’t forget you can schedule a check in call with Coach Patrick online here: https://calendly.com/pmccrann/15min


    We are looking forward to your answers!

  • @Rob Tune I saw your chat post. While Brenda and Patrick sort out your account permissions - this is a cut and paste of the page you were looking for.

    Race Rehearsal Protocol

    Endurance Nation Full and Half Ironman Race Rehearsal Protocol

    Your training plan will include 1-2 race rehearsals before your goal race. The following is guidance to help you navigate this very important training event.

    Timing

    The timing of your first race rehearsal isn't super critical, nor do we expect you to be rested, etc. This is basically a very focused training event where you'll make your mistakes, fix them, and then rehearse the real deal for real about two weeks out from the race. 

    So if travel or life dictates that your first RR not happen on it's scheduled weekend, no worries. Just move it forward or backwards on your calendar, ideally so that you have one "normal" training weekend between your 1st RR and 2nd RR. The purpose of this ~2wk gap is so that you can process and apply the lessons you learned from RR #1.

    The final race rehearsal is the single most important training session of your training, particularly if you are racing with power. This final RR is two weeks out and, yes, that's plenty of time to do the RR and recover properly for your race. In fact, as you progress through your training plan you'll likely find the race rehearsal and the race itself are your easiest rides within Endurance Nation! Remember, the hyper-important RR is two weeks out so do your best to stick to that timing.


    Terrain and Course

    The ability to ride EN-style, very steady and disciplined, is a skill you'll develop with our guidance well before your race rehearsal. Therefore, you should be able to turn this skill on and off, essentially "flattening" any course you choose, or certainly doing a better job of flattening it than your competition. For this reason, duplicating locally the terrain of your goal race is not critical. So if you're doing Lake Placid, you don't need to search out an area with a 45' climb at the end of each loop. Have faith in our ability to teach you the skills and mindset you need on race day. 


    The more important criteria for a successful RR ride is to pick a course that facilitates locking yourself in the aerobars for 98% of the ride, with the bare minimum of stops to only reload fluids. "Positional fitness," the ability to sustain a good aero position for the length of your race is a critical success factor. In our experience, weaknesses in your position, and positional fitness, will only be exposed if you lock yourself in the bars as much as possible during your RR. 


    Length

    Choose a course that allows you to duplicate the expected duration (time) of your goal race, not the distance. In other words, if you expect to ride IMFL in 5:45, but live in a very hilly area, a 112 mile ride will likely take you longer than 5:45...maybe much longer. 

    This is also true for half Ironman athletes.

    So, both half and full Ironman athletes have two options:

    1. If it will likely take you 6:15 to ride IMCDA or 3.5hrs to ride the Vineman course, for example, go do a 6:15 or 3.5hr race rehearsal ride and be ok with only covering 105 or 50 miles. Trust us, you'll be fine.

    2. That said, we understand the psychological landmark of seeing 112 or 56 miles on the dial. If this is a big deal for you, go for it. Ride it as race-rehearsal-esque as you like, but don't go crazy over the metrics, particularly the time. Just put a check in the "I've ridden my race distance" ride box and move on.

    Race Rehearsal Execution

    Execute your Race Rehearsal according to the detailed guidance laid out for you in the pages below. And bookmark these pages while you're at it!

    Equipment

    • Bike: Hang all the stuff on your bike that you plan to on race day: bottles, tools, food, etc. You don't need to go crazy with race wheels and aerohelmets, unless you just feel like putting on your party dress as well.

    • Clothing: Wear the kit that allows you to carry what you need for the RR. Minimal stops likely means carrying food, bottles, baggies of powder, etc, and this might mean jersey pockets vs singlets. Try out the tri kit on your shorter long rides but wear what you gotta wear to carry the stuff you gotta carry for the RR.

    Analysis

    Once you have completed your RR, it's time to actually review what you were able to accomplish. Recall that the goal of this rehearsal was to put your body through the same hoops it will have to jump through on race day. As such, examine:

    • Your bike position/set up: Were you able to stay aero? If not, why not? What do you need to change or improve?

    • Your nutrition: Were you able to eat the whole ride without issues? Did you ever bonk/lose focus? Did you notice any rough patches?

    • Your pacing: What does your Power/HR/Ride file look like? Were you truly easy at the start and steady across the rest of the ride? Can you identify any places you went too hard? What can you improve for next time?

    Debrief

    We highly recommend you debrief your RR Race Execution Forum. TeamEN has a huge amount of collective, quality experience to answer any question you have. 

  • @Rob Tune

    Here is the content on 70.3 race execution too.

    Race Execution, Half Ironman

    The purpose of this post is to serve as your Half Ironman execution "how-to" resource: everything you need, our latest guidance, all in one place.

    The Big Picture:

    We begin your education with "The Four Keys," the big picture guidance with which we frame your day. We then drill this down into the specifics of race execution in the remainder of this post.

    As you know, EN has more resources focused on Ironman (IM) than 70.3 (HIM) racing. However, ALL of these tools are still very relevant and applicable to HIM racing. In our opinion, the major differences between IM and HIM execution are (don't worry, we go into more detail on these further down):

    • Swim: No significant difference. You're going about the same pace...just longer!

    • Transitions: Same, no difference

    • Bike: As you know, we have you sitting on Zone 3 a LOT in your training sessions. This is/is very close to your HIM pacing. It's just 'work' that adds up after a while. You're not going hard...you're not going easy (ie, Ironman), but it requires focus that just wears on you, mentally and physically. That said, HIM bike pacing begins to resemble IM bike pacing (ie, z2 vs z3) for bike splits slower than about...3:15 to 3:30.

    • Run: The Ironman run is run easy until it hurts, then keep going. This hurt is "I've been hit by a truck" hurt, not "this is the pain of going fast" hurt. HIM pain is "this is the pain of going fast" pain...and you're supposed to push through it and even go faster. So the HIM run is definitely much more "race-y" than the IM. You will find significantly fewer folks "just slowing down" in a HIM...you have to run faster than them to beat them vs the Ironman approach of "not slowing down."

    • Nutrition: You're working at a higher intensity than in an Ironman = you need to dial down your calories intake. If you apply an IM nutrition plan (~250cal/hr) to an HIM, you run the risk of having stomach problems because your intensity is much higher = your body is less able to process and absorb calories. For this reason we feel you should fuel less for an HIM than an IM. See more specific guidance below.


    Pre-Race (assumes Sunday race):

    • Big lunch Saturday, get take out to save time at dinner.
    • Begin hydrating with sports drink but no need to go crazy.
    • Early dinner + early bed.


    Race Day

    Breakfast:

    The intent is to take in 600-800 calories in an easily digestible form, giving your body enough time to digest your meal, given that fact that race day nerves will slow down your digestion. This food is critical to prepare you for the rigors of the swim (and not eating during the swim) and the rest of your day.

    Two Methods:

    1. Middle of the Night Method: Wake up early, about 2am, and take in about 600-800cal, easily digestible. We recommend liquid. Go back to sleep, 2nd wakeup about 4-4:30. Or...
    2. Early Start Method: Wake up about 3:30, for the day, and take in your calories immediately. Begin prep for your day, etc. 

    Note: If you normally drink coffee every day, you can have a cup here to help make the morning breakfast move more "quickly."

    Transition, Pre-Race 

    • Work from a checklist. Get in, get it done, get out.
    • Sip sports drink until 1 hour to go, then have 1/2 to 1 full Powerbar or other easily digestible calories.
    • Minimal food/drink until 15' before your start, then have a gel + water, about 100-120 total calories.

    Swim:

    As most HIM swim starts are in waves, there isn't much opportunity to ask around and seed yourself. That said you can (and should) watch the earlier waves going off in terms of where y0uo should line up, what to sight for, etc. As a general pointer, we'd rather have you line up close to the front and be swum over/through by a few people than to have you start in the back where you'll have to swim over/through a ton of people.

    • Swim only fast as your ability to maintain form.
    • Count your strokes. If your form starts to fail, slow down.
    • If thinking about drafting takes your mind away from thinking about form, don't think about drafting so much.


    T1:

    Half Ironman transitions are generally right at the rack with your bike (whereas Ironman events have T1 and T2 bags with changing tents, etc.). You will need a towel to outline your space on the ground. You will also need to set out the equipment you'll need in order of how you will use it on race day (bike stuff on top of run stuff as T1 happens before T2, for example). 

    • Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. 
    • Eliminate as many moving parts as possible. Simple = speed.


    Bike:

     

    Big Picture Cues We Want to Put in Your Head, In Order:

    1. No Such Thing as a Good Bike Split Followed by a Poor Run.
    2. Ride the Bike you SHOULD, NOT the Bike you COULD.
    3. The 90% Rule: 90% of the field doesn't know what they are doing. Doing the opposite = A good thing.

     

    Bike Pacing and Execution Specifics

    Your actions and pace in the first ~20-30' of the bike are very important. Consider:

    • There will be a large disconnect between how hard you think you're riding and how hard you actually are riding. That is, your heart rate could be very high, post swim, but it feels easy, but watts (if you have power) are very high. In our experience it takes about 20' for all of your systems to come online, so to speak, and begin to match what you would expect on a training ride.
    • At the same time other competitors will be giving you a ton of feedback that you are going too slowly -- everyone is flying, I'm not, therefore I must be doing something wrong. Remember the 90% rule!

    So, for the first 20' (Advanced and Intermediate athletes) to 30' (Beginner), we want you to ride at a Zone 2 power / RPE

    Understand that your heart rate may not reflect this Zone 2 power/RPE so it's important that pay attention to your body. 

    Bottom line, you should definitely feel like you're holding back while everyone else rockets by you. Remember, this is a good thing!

    • Heart Rate Athletes should ride at an effort / RPE that allows your heart rate to come down to this Zone 2 level. 
    • Power Athletes should dial in ~75% of FTP.
    • Eat and drink very cautiously in the first 20' to 30', then, once you feel your HR has settled down, drop into your feeding and hydration schedule.

    Then, for the remainder of the bike leg you can do the following. If you want to dig deeper, please see the Team Endurance Nation Race Calculator section in the Wiki.

    • Heart Rate Athletes:
      • Expecting about a 2:30 - 2:50 bike split: Dial in a low to mid Zone 3 heart rate that may creep up to mid/high Zone 3 near the end of the bike.
      • Expecting a >3:00 bike split: Dial in a mid to high Zone 2 heart rate that may creep up into low Zone 3 near the end of the bike. 

  • Power Athletes:
    • Goal Watts, as a percentage of FTP as determined by your estimated finish time:
      • 2:20 - 2:30 -- 87-85%
      • 2:30 - 2:40 -- 85-84%
      • 2:40 - 2:50 -- 83-82%
      • 2:50 - 3:00 -- 81-80%
      • 3:00 - 3:15 -- 79-80% 
      • > 3:15 -- 78-76%

  • Goal Variability Index (VI):
    • High w/kg athlete with excellent gearing and ninja execution and discipline: 1.02-1.04
    • Medium w/kg with excellent gearing, but w/kg + grades of some hills require you to spike your efforts from time to time: 1.05-1.08
    • Everyone: < 1.1 or else!!
  •  


    Bike Nutrition:

    Here is some race-specific information, for more details and nutrition planning, please refer to the Nutrition Section of the Wiki.

    • Macro Information:
      • Your goal is to exit the bike completely fueled, having lost minimal weight to fluids, etc.
      • Your target is to pee once on the Half Ironman bike (stopping to do so is optional, socks not recommended). 
      • Water is USELESS on race day except to cool you. It doesn't leave your gut (no sodium), and is relatively inert. If you plan on taking water in, you need to make sure you have the additional sodium to get it out of your stomach.
    • Minimal Required Stats:
      • 150 to 250 calories per hour, preferably mostly liquid (Drinks, gels, a few 1/2 bars included), as a function of body size (smaller and older folks eat less, bigger, younger folks eat more) and per what you've proofed out in your training.
      • 1,000 mg of sodium per hour across all sources (Drinks, fluids, gels, etc.)
      • Typically drink 1 to 2 bottles of sports drink per hour, depending on your sweat rate / caloric needs.
      • Typically eat a Gel or 1/2 a Powerbar every 40 minutes, staring at the 20' mark on the bike.
        • Note: Powerbar products recommended for excellent baseline sodium levels and zero protein.
      • Additional salt as needed at 60 minute intervals.
    • Recommended Strategy -- Regular Calories:
      • Use the nutrition solutions provided on the course to alleviate logistics and fueling. If you need your own mix do your best to not concentrate it.
    • Optional Strategy -- The Concentration Method:
      • This involves making a "Feed Bottle" with ~ 750 calories, then drinking water around it.
      • It gets the calories, but:
        • Remember: Water is USELESS on race day except to cool you. It doesn't leave your gut (no sodium) so we recommend avoiding this option unless you have to.
        • Your body's ability to "solve the concentrate + water solution problem" you give it decreases rapidly as (A) time goes on and (B) temperature goes up.
        • Going concentrated means you can't really eat other stuff..so if you concentrate it's all in on that formula please. 
      • Eat and drink, regularly, until your body burps it back up, at which point you dial things down a bit.
      • The hotter the day will be, the more you need to plan to drink early in the bike. Example: 
    • Initial Fueling Guidance: 
      • You will eat and drink starting at 20' mark or as soon as your Heart Rate drops and you can eat.
        • Planning on 2 bottles per hour? Try for 3 in first hour on a hot day. 
        • Planning on 1.5 bottles per hour? Try for 2 in first hour on a hot day.

     

    Additional Half Ironman Bike Resources

     

    T2:

    Same guidance as above.


    Run:


    • "No Friends" -- Run your race and your pace until it gets hard, hopefully after mile 8. At that time it's fine to find a suffer-buddy.
    • "Don't Bring the Suck Closer" -- The run will hurt at some point, it will suck. All of us can only spend so much time in the Suck. All you do by trying to make something happen before it's going to happen is bring the Suck closer and increase the amount of time you'll spend in the Suck. Wait for Mile 8, then get it done.
    •  "Respect Your Training Self" -- Your Training Self did all the work to get your Racing Self here -- the 5am workouts, the long bike rides and runs, ice cream denied, etc. Your Racing Self owes your Training Self his/her best effort. That means potentially suffering, a lot. High pain tolerance, embracing the Suck, and respecting your Training Self vs giving up can be worth huge time at the finish line. 

    Run Pacing Specifics:

    • Heart Rate Athletes:
      • Dial in a Heart Rate that is 10 to 15 beats higher than the average HR you saw on the bike, run that all day.
      • Note the older you are, the closer your bike and run Heart Rate numbers will be. 
      • See the additional Run Pacing by Heart Rate in the section below.
    • Pace Athletes:
      • First 3 miles at Zone 2 / MP + 30" per mile: Give us 30" per mile, a total of 1.5' and we will make your day.
      • Middle 7 miles at Zone 2 / MP: NO FRIENDS, run your own pace.
      • Last 3+ miles at Best Effort: Time to suck it up and get it done!

    General Run Pacing Guidance:

    • Miles 0 to 3: 
      • You are on defense. Fairies, gumdrops, happy faces, you're not trying to make something happen. Doing so only accelerates the arrival of The Suck. 
      • Walk 20 to 30 steps at the aid stations. Go to the last water/coke/g-ade/gel guy, get what you need. Walk your magic number of steps and then start running again. Use walking as a reward for continuing to run at your goal pace between aid stations.

  • Miles 4 to 10: Smooth and steady here. Things are going to get hard, pretty quick, so continually self-evaluate to see what you need to keep things rolling: foods, fluids, sodium, caffeine, etc. Be as steady as you can for the body of your race, using pace to flatten hills and set yourself up for final push.

  • Miles 10 to 13.1: You now have permission to race. Count people, get mean, get angry, focus on your one thing. Find allies on the course but drop them if they slow you down. Find your teammates and encourage each other. Remember that fewer folks slow down in a HIM, meaning you have to pick things up if you want to beat them...get ready to suffer!

  • Run Pacing in the Heat / High Temps Guidance:

    • General considerations / overview.
    • Pace Athletes: Download the Heat pacing calculator (to adjust your times)
    • Heart Rate Athletes: Run at the 10 to 15 beats higher than bike HR; the effects of increased temperature will naturally express themselves in your HR numbers. 

    Run Nutrition:

    Here is some race-specific information, for more details and nutrition planning, please refer to the Nutrition Section of the Wiki.

    • A function of how well you ate on the bike. Bike fuels the run.
    • Have a nutrition plan planned across all aid stations. 
      • Example: #1 = G-ade, #2 = G-ade, #3 = G-ade + Gel, REPEAT.
      • That said, IF YOU FEEL GOOD at the start of the run, USE THIS TIME TO EAT.
    • Keep it to liquid or VERY easy-to-digest-sources only.
    • Carry additional salt to supplement should you need to take water or temperature spikes. 
    • Later in the day Coke is great fuel that can settle your stomach when all else fails.
      • Once you start drinking Coke, you probably need a sip every station to keep the buzz going.
    • Fix stomach issues by slowing down and/or backing off of calories a bit.

    Additional Half Ironman Run Resources