IMAZ RR#1 - Not the best RR I have ever done.
Not the best RR I have ever done.
Started out in the morning with the usual process. Full breakfast 3 hours before the start. Lots of protein and complex carbs. Got out to the start of the bike ride just before sun up. The temperature was 55 degrees. A little cold for Houston in October, but not a bad start.
Started out on the ride. After the first 40 minutes I move from gear 1 to gear 2. In looking back over my power results, I ran the first 40 minutes a little higher than I wanted by 2 watts, but that’s pretty close. Picked it up and moved into Gear 2. Things were feeling good, and before I knew it I was a quart of the way into the ride.
At about the halfway point I started to feel the load in my legs. I figured that it was just the rough road surface and kept on. 3:35 into the ride, I stopped and refilled water. At this point I had made it through 4 water bottles and was pretty much on top of my nutrition. Back on the bike, and on the way back to the start. It was at this point that I started to struggle to maintain my wattage. The wind was starting to blow a little, but nothing horrible. My legs were just feeling fatigued. I pushed through the rest of the ride, definitely not feeling as smooth as the first half.
At about the 5 hour mark, my body started to protest a little and my back definitely let me know that it was ready for all of this stuff to stop. I pushed on through to the finished and rolled up to the car at 6:05:20 for 112.59 miles. A little slower than I was planning by not off by much given having to slow down for lights, left turns across traffic, etc… I checked the temperatures and by this time it was 88 degrees.
When I got off the bike the idea of a 1 hour run was not high on my list. 
Definitely not feeling great at that point. Forgot my Garmin, but knew that I had a run course of about 6.4 miles, so headed out and finished up the run in 1:10 feeling pretty good, but another 20 miles would have been painful. I took down about 16 ounces of Infinit and another 16 ounces of water.
Definitely not feeling great at that point. Forgot my Garmin, but knew that I had a run course of about 6.4 miles, so headed out and finished up the run in 1:10 feeling pretty good, but another 20 miles would have been painful. I took down about 16 ounces of Infinit and another 16 ounces of water.Bike results:
Hour 1:
Duration: 59:40 (1:00:04)
Work: 523 kJ
TSS: 47.8 (intensity factor 0.693)
Norm Power: 151
VI: 1.03
Pw:HR: -3.98%
Pa:HR: 1.37%
Distance: 18.913 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 414 146 watts
Heart Rate: 75 147 133 bpm
Cadence: 30 136 91 rpm
Speed: 2.2 24.7 19.0 mph
Pace 2:26 26:49 3:09 min/mi
Crank Torque: 0 1028 138 lb-in
Hour 2:
Duration: 1:00:00
Work: 501 kJ
TSS: 44.1 (intensity factor 0.664)
Norm Power: 145
VI: 1.04
Pw:HR: 0.49%
Pa:HR: -3.37%
Distance: 19.075 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 350 139 watts
Heart Rate: 104 140 130 bpm
Cadence: 36 177 91 rpm
Speed: 3.5 27.9 19.1 mph
Pace 2:09 17:15 3:09 min/mi
Crank Torque: 0 669 131 lb-in
Hour 3:
Duration: 1:00:02
Work: 498 kJ
TSS: 42.8 (intensity factor 0.654)
Norm Power: 143
VI: 1.03
Pw:HR: 3.62%
Pa:HR: 9.05%
Distance: 18.248 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 389 138 watts
Heart Rate: 101 141 131 bpm
Cadence: 37 150 91 rpm
Speed: 6.2 21.6 18.2 mph
Pace 2:47 9:45 3:18 min/mi
Crank Torque: 0 497 130 lb-in
Hour 4:
Duration: 1:00:02 (1:03:19)
Work: 462 kJ
TSS: 38.6 (intensity factor 0.621)
Norm Power: 135
VI: 1.06
Pw:HR: 8.37%
Pa:HR: 8.48%
Distance: 19.608 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 399 128 watts
Heart Rate: 103 143 132 bpm
Cadence: 31 150 88 rpm
Speed: 2.2 25.3 19.6 mph
Pace 2:22 26:49 3:04 min/mi
Crank Torque: 0 637 124 lb-in
Hour 5:
Duration: 1:00:00 (1:00:37)
Work: 430 kJ
TSS: 33.5 (intensity factor 0.579)
Norm Power: 126
VI: 1.06
Pw:HR: 4.64%
Pa:HR: 10.44%
Distance: 17.836 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 414 119 watts
Heart Rate: 104 146 135 bpm
Cadence: 30 150 90 rpm
Speed: 2.2 24.2 17.9 mph
Pace 2:29 26:49 3:21 min/mi
Crank Torque: 0 576 115 lb-in
Hour 6:
Duration: 1:05:50
Work: 437 kJ
TSS: 32.1 (intensity factor 0.541)
Norm Power: 118
VI: 1.06
Pw:HR: -2.9%
Pa:HR: -0.17%
Distance: 18.929 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 434 111 watts
Heart Rate: 112 141 133 bpm
Cadence: 31 159 88 rpm
Speed: 2.2 23.7 17.3 mph
Pace 2:32 26:49 3:29 min/mi
Crank Torque: 0 533 107 lb-in
Entire workout (130 watts):
Duration: 6:05:30 (6:09:48)
Work: 2852 kJ
TSS: 241.8 (intensity factor 0.63)
Norm Power: 137
VI: 1.06
Pw:HR: 16.87%
Pa:HR: 4.8%
Distance: 112.586 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 434 130 watts
Heart Rate: 75 147 132 bpm
Cadence: 30 177 90 rpm
Speed: 2.2 27.9 18.5 mph
Pace 2:09 26:49 3:15 min/mi
Crank Torque: 0 1028 124 lb-in
When I looked at my power output after the fact it was definitely a WTF moment. I started out strong, and then it just fell apart. I went back and recomputed my nutrition and found the issue. At the end of the ride, I was only taking down about 24-28 ounces of liquid an hour on the bike. This was fine when the temps were 55 degrees, not so much once the temps got in the upper 80’s. I let myself get dehydrated and saw the direct consequences. This gives me something to focus on with RR#2.
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Comments
I'd second Paul's take; nutrition. For me ANY negative thoughts and/or emotions during a RR or an actual IM signal a need for calories. Once I'm able to get in enough calories my mood improves and oddly enough, my watts jump right up.
A heretical sidenote: my caloric needs are waaaay outside the "normal" guidelines; I need at least 350, better with 400 cal/hour. Do you have a real handle on your personal needs?
Sounds like dehydration/calorie deficit to me too. Were you peeing regularly? That jump in temp could have meant you were a bit behind in the fluids department, and it caught up to you when the temp kept climbing. Did you read the salt manifesto? You getting in enough salt to keep the fluid in your body? Many times during a RR or a race, I take an S-cap and quickly feel perkier and better overall. I bet it's related to intake of one form or another.
Remember, #2 is going to come at the peak of the fatigue. You've done these before, but it's easy to forget that. No one--not one of us in the WI group felt good in #2. It gets trickier to dial it in on that second one, if you ask me, b/c of the fatigue so be aware of that next time around too.
It's really important in hot weather (and for IMAZ it will be DRY---so more fluid losses!) to closely monitor your hydration status by keeping track of your fluid input and urine output. A sweat test is also important. The Hydration and Salt Manifesto can be found here: members.endurancenation.us/Resource...fault.aspx
All that being said, I had an awful 2nd RR. The hydration and nutrition was fine, but the cumulative fatigue caught up with me 4.5 hours into the ride. I could barely hold IF of 0.6. I went out 2 days later and did an FTP test just to make sure that I hadn't overestimated my power zones (I hadn't). Anyhoo, if you can rule out a sodium and hydration problem, then chalk it up to fatigue.
nice job, john and all others who got the RR done!
i got sick like chrisse wellington and terry.
however, unlike terry, i stayed home.
the good news is that i am better now and i did manage to get the bike ready for a rehearsal the next time around. for now, i'll just keep plugging away.
safe training to all.
GH