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Quassy HIM RR1

kmephamkmepham
in Racing Forum 🏎

This was my first-ever race rehearsal.

Bike

I picked a moderately hilly 56-mile course. 

Racing with Power targets: Complete in 2:52, IF 0.78, TSS 174, first 30 minutes at 172W, remainder at 181W

Actual results: Complete 3:05, IF 0.72, TSS 159.2

1st 30': NP 152, VI 1.11, cadence 83, HR 130 - a lot of stop signs/lights/turns/potholes on this leg

2nd 30': NP 172, VI 1.01, cadence 88, lost the HR temporarily

3rd 31': NP 169, VI 1.04, cadence 86

4th 30': NP 173, VI 1.02, cadence 87, HR 140

5th 30': NP 169, VI 1.03, cadence 87, HR 145

6th 32': NP 165, VI 1.03, cadence 83, HR 147

Run

Flat course (for RR2 I'll add hills).  "Aid station" in the middle of every mile which I jogged slowly.  As you can see I nailed the easy jog pace for the first 3 miles, but could not pick it up to Z2 MP though you can see from my rising HR that I sure was trying.

Mile 1: NGP 8:49 (tgt 8:46), cadence 86, HR 135

Mile 2: NGP 8:30 (tgt 8:46), cadence 85, HR 144

Mile 3: NGP 8:50 (tgt 8:46), cadence 85, HR 146

Mile 4: NGP 7:20 (tgt 7:02), cadence 87, HR 162

Mile 5: NGP 7:34 (tgt 7:02), cadence 86, HR 168

Mile 6: NGP 7:27 (tgt 7:02), cadence 87, HR 169

Nutrition

No 2am feed.  7am, ate my usual breakfast of plain yogurt/berries/granola plus 20oz fluid (mostly coffee w/cream & sugar).  Ate a bit more cereal just before starting the ride at 10am.

For the first hour on the bike, I ate a PowerBar Energy Bite every 10 minutes with a sip of water, because it was still too cool out to sweat much on the bike.  Then I switched to 30oz of regular-strength Infinit sprint formula in my Speedfil, which I intended to last me the remaining 2 hours.  But at a triple gulp every 5 minutes, I ran out after just over an hour, although it turns out I had 8oz left because the straw wasn't at the bottom.  At that point I switched to water.  Total bike nutrition: 38oz liquid, 460 calories (153/hour), 7.5g protein, 97g carb, 609mg sodium.  The liquid might seem low but it was fine for how little I was sweating on the bike.  I still needed 2 huge pee breaks, one at midpoint and one at ride's end, both very light color (I feel like an old man in a rest home discussing bodily functions openly like this LOL).  By next RR it will be warmer so I will drop the PowerBar bites, switch to 150% concentrated Infinit plus a lot more water, though I don't know how I'll carry the extra water bottles.  And my Infinit HIM bike formula will definitely have some protein in it. 

For the 6-mile 48-minute run, I had a half-strength 20oz bottle of Infinit (didn't want to overdo the run calories) which I placed at the .5 mile mark and treated as an aid station, taking a nearly-4oz swig from it every mile so that it was finished by the end of the run.  Total run nutrition: 20oz liquid (25oz/hr), 106 calories (133 cal/hr), 0g protein, 26g carb, 202mg sodium.  Calories felt OK, no bonk, no GI distress, but I was sweating heavily on the run so could have used more water and maybe a bit more electrolytes.   

Starting weight: 147.2.  Ending weight: 143.8.  Next time I'l weigh myself between bike and run as well.

Conclusions and Questions

I am baffled as to how I missed the 181W target by 10W.  I was watching the YLC probably more than I should have, goosing the effort any time it fell below 180W, and yet I get a result that says I spent half my time in the 150's and 160's?  Do I have to ride as if my target is 190 if I want to hit 181?  I will try that on this Sunday's ABP ride.  And I'm seriously considering upgrading to a Joule now (edited to add: I'm now beyond the consideration stage; this sentence should now read "And by then my new Joule should have arrived").

On the other hand, although my bike TSS of 159 says I left something on the table, you wouldn't know it from my disappointing inability to hit the Z2 run target despite how much I was pushing and suffering.  What's with that?

It sure felt good after I finished the RR, and I'm feeling OK this morning, tired legs but no injuries, just a bit disappointed at underperforming.

Comments

  • Chris GChris G
    Looks like a pretty good rr to me. Remember those gears are real time watts. It is easy to come up with less after downloading. Chasing a np on the joule on race may or may not be a good call. If you end up going out to easy and then are killing yourself later in the race to make up on the np it would be a really bad call. You will also cover the distance faster on race day than in any rr. For no other reason than traffic control this is always true.

    Keep up the good work.
  • chris malonechris malone
    The bike at Quassy is hilly (nothing really steep or long) but with very little true flat and lots of turns so your watts will be all over the place. I wouldn't obsess about being a bit low on the bike watts overall, as the run at Quassy is very tough, very hilly, and you will use those saved watts.
    It can also be wicked humid there. But the swim is really nice, a very clear pond and beach to go from and the race is really well run. Good luck.
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