IMCDA Dave Sacoman
Less of a race report than some thoughts on training and race day. Overall a great/tough day of racing. The further I get from race day the more I enjoy what the day had to offer. I am a new EN member so much of my training was based on volume and lots of it especially on the bike. I enjoyed numerous long rides at zone one. I was sure that volume was the key to a faster race becuase up to the point of finding EN that is mostly all that I had read.
Turns out my bike split on race day went exactly like training. As a reference during race prep I completed four race simulation rides two flat steady rides and two with hills to simulate the CDA course. The flat average speed was 18.0 and the hill average speed ride was 15.5. Could I expect much faster on the race course that the 15.5? Somehow after all that volume I had done in training I was hoping for more but I knew in the back of my head that my bike split was goning to be much slower than 6:30 or so. I was hoping for some race day miracle and a much faster bike split. Well racing conservatively and just like in training the bike split was 6:52 or so, big surprise. I felt good the whole way though, so I had that going for me.
The real effort on the bike was leaning to ride the hills the EN way. I spent a great deal of focus on the first lap concentrating on the soles of my feet and watching the other riders. At times this got me out of my box until, of course, on the second lap when I rode with Tucker and Al. Tucker commented to watch the master and it was like seeing a zen master and suddenly I understood. After following for a couple of hills I was able to ride the hils and stay in my box. Thank you guys so much for the lesson. The bike had me confident going back into town that I had ridden a solid bike. If I am not mistaken I rode a negative bike split so I accomplished two things. Number one, I executed my four keys ride plan well and rode exactly according to my training. My average speed 16.4 was right on with my training pace 15.5.
How do I get faster on the bike? I cannot tell you how excited I am to jettison the old training methods and jump into the EN way and actually ride fast. I've got more miles at zone one than I care to share. All this riding has done well to make me a very efficient back of the pack rider.
The run was solid. In the back of my mind I had hopes of a four hour marathon. In this my training does follow the EN way a little closer so I had some expectation of a time goal. I was just a hair under 4:30. In the end I am very happy with this for a number of reasons. While this was the slowest of my four marathon times it was clearly run at my limit. Motoring along the last eight miles I finally learned where the line was. Everything hurt and it became all about putiing one foot in front of the other. I had never felt thet before. My guess is that the difficultly of the course was a major factor. I also did it to myself by not folowing the four keys. I ran the first six miles faster than I should have. My 9:49 pace really should have been 10:30 or so. How could I have executed so well all day and messed that up. I am still kicking myself and it kills me to know that it will not be until IM AZ in 2012 until I can rectify that mistake. I figure that it cost me a good 10-15 minutes down the road.
It was a great experience to be at a race with people I knew. I really enjoyed talking with everyone prerace and of course all the encouragement during the race. I love what I have found in Endurance Nation and look forward to meeting and training with more of our members. Good job to all.
Comments
Welcome to the Haus. That first 6 miles at EP+30' is critical as you well know now. But it only takes one race screwed up to teach you, you won't make that mistake again. Are you doing any shorter races before IMAZ 2012?
Steve,
I'm going to do a half in late September. Have not looked past the transition guide but know I am going to need guidance going forward. My whole triathlon life has been based on a great deal of tooling around at zone 1. My run and swim are really where I want them but my bike is severely lacking. I am wondering if I should dump the rest of the season and get on the out season plan. I want to get fast now. So at some point I will need to address the issue of using a half training plan and trying to get faster that way or making use of the out season plans.
david: u r already ahead of the game in the run due to the visor!!!
great job at CdA. you have a lot of time before IMAZ2012, so if the september race isn't important, then start an OS now and just hack in the HIM to practice swimming in a group, cycling at 80%, and running fast. the HIM hack for the OS is in the wiki section.
be well.
gh
Loved running in the visor. Perfect fit. Not sure what you recommended, but it sounds pretty good to me. This will be the first year that the race will have a HIM distance so any finish will be a course PR. Would nine months be too long to spend in OS?
David - It's great to see the light bulb go off! It took me about 6 IMs and reading an article by Rich in 2005 before IM CDA #3 before I got it, and then another 6 years before I had the brains to buy a good power meter.
I suggest, if you do want to improve on your bike fitness, that getting that power meter is a great next step. All I was doing on the hills was just being a slave to the numbers I saw on my Joule (the headset for my PowerTap). Next OS, really focus on the hard workouts you'll be doing on the bike; then when you hit the roads in March or so, you'll be amazed at how much faster you are at the same effort level.
Having a SEPT HIM, then starting the OS in Oct or November after some time off, would be a good plan. But you should think of 2012 as two seasons: the early season of 20 weeks in the OS, then 12 weeks to an HIM, then rest 2-3 weeks. Your Second season would be prepping for IM AZ, maybe preceeded by either some "fun with your fitness" stuff in July or racing some Olympic/Sprint distance races in the summer. Training for IM AZ should not really begin until the end of August!
Anyway, sticking with EN, you'll get a chance to get some personal feedback on your "2012" season from RnP this fall. In the meantime, if you're feeling up to it, you should be starting rthe HIM plan for that late Sept HIM NEXT MONDAY! Go to My Training Plan under Training on the far left of the menu above, and get yourself started.