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"Building into" my IM ride

Based on my Crucible Review:

Here was my hourly watts for my RR#2: Overall 179w NP 5:45/112m:

187>187>185>181>169>152w

Coach P recommending making my File slow UPWARD not downward (as above)

My Goal for IMLOU will be 180w:

How do this look for an hour by hour wattage build throughout the hours:

At 1:00 Joulle says: 165w

At 2:00 Joule says: 170w

At 3:00 Joule say: 173w

At 4:00 Joule says: 175w........then hit about "28mile to Louisville" sign...net downhill...then try to to get

At 5:00 Joules says: 180w (indicating the net downhill section slightly over total goal watts)

IF I can pull this off.....I looked back at this last 28 miles of last years race I had AP 128w/ NP 150w (18.6mph)....really limped home (I was at 180NP at 4:00 but ended up with 172w overall NP)

What do u think of this really slow "build"??

 

 

Comments

  • Michael,

    Suggest you go here and use the TSS calculator to model your IF, watts, and TSS across the day. Also, MattS has done some work to adjust his pacing on the bike to account for the increasing heat during the day, building to you then, of course, using the Heat Pacing App to adjust your paces for the run.

    Hopefully he'll wander into this thread and share is IMLou pacing plan with you.

     

  • This spreedsheet looks like based on a 5:15 ride for the approp TSS,  therefore I will be very slightly less hourly wattage percentages:

    If I'm using 180w(69% for 5:45 ride for TSS 274) as my target across the whole ride (rough FTP of 256w), then:

    1:00 Joule: 174wNP

    2:00 Joule: 178w NP going 71% that 2nd hr

    3:00 Joule: 180w NP going 71% that 3rd hr

    Keep it on 180-1w NP holding about 69% until 5:30 allowing for slow down last few miles to get ready for T2

     a less severe incline to whole ride....(looks like your PM wont actually say your goal watts until about the 3:00 mark if you build is based on the spreedsheet.

  • That's better. I'm not sure if you're planning on reading hourly interval NPs on the Joule, instead of looking at just the cumulative total. The latter makes it real hard to move your NP/IF in the last couple of hours, and you can work too hard and not know it. Hitting interval button every 30-60 minutes, setting a plan for what your NP/IF should read during that interval, is the way to go. 

  • Racing this way is new to me. The 'gears' based on Goal Watts makes sense and I'm using that as main priority, right? The plan to hit 'interval' every hour and watch the TSS is just to confirm that I'm not overcooking it? If I had to choose one thing to watch, would it be the current Watts and keep that in the prescribed 'gears' for race day?
  • As a slight aside - does anyone else with a Joule notice the TSS reported is higher than in WKO+? Not horribly so, but maybe 3-4%.

    I am a fan of the 30 minute lap (for HIM) to keep my effort dialed in.
  • I think I will use the lap function and dial in the exact watts for each lap.

    The Spreadsheet says 68%>72%>73%>73%>73% for a 5:15 ride

    For my 5:45 Goal time ride: I may do

    67%>71%>71%>71%>72%>67%....you get the idea. THis gives my overall 69% and 273TSS

     

  • Yes to gears -- dial in the appropriate gear for the terrain in front of you, look at your current watts as "I need to ride X watts on this hill, this flat road, etc."

    I do an interval every 30'. Al is correct. When you only look at the IF and Pnorm for the entire ride, it becomes almost impossible to move it, just like average watts. I've found that a 30' interval only becomes pretty sticky (hard to move) in the last 5-10'. The net is that relative flexibility of your IF and Pnorm in that 30' interval -- responds pretty quickly to wattages changes -- keeps you very focused and, I feel, makes it much easier to put up a very low VI across the whole ride. Finally, it fits in well with our Box -- you put yourself in a rolling 30' box and really focus within that box on riding the smoothest you can. It works and is a great focus tool.

  • Jeff, I notice that, too, but I attribute that to user error in my case. I used PowerAgent to tell the Joule that my FTP sits at 230 (for my outdoor riding), but my WKO+ power zones use an FTP of 200 cuz I'm doing most of my intervals inside on the trainer. I allow a little more freestyle on my outdoor rides, and make a note about that when I log the data, but I want my indoor sessions to be a little more 'spot on'. I don't even know if FTP plays any role at all with the TSS stuff, but I've always thought that the discrepacies must have something to do with my working with different values inside and out.

    30' lap works well, huh? got my first Half coming up in Oct, race rehearsal next week, and I'll be trying that.
  • I have never used the interval function before and like you say it is impossible to move the NP after a few hours. Do you just push the interval button and that's it? Does the numbers seen on the screen only relate to that interval?
  • Jeff, in my experience (been using the Joule for about 6 months), that is correct. Once you hit the interval button, the data window displays the info from the current interval.
  • Push the interval button once, "quickly". The Joule is now recording the interval in the background but the numbers on the screen are still for the entire ride.

    Press and hold the interval button until the screen changes. The screen now displays the numbers for that interval. FYI, it takes 30" of data before the Joule displays the IF and Pnorm for that interval. All of the data on the screen -- Pnorm, IF, TSS, speed, etc -- is for THAT interval

    To stop the interval, in either screen mode (ie, displaying interval data or full ride data), just quickly press the interval button. It will end the interval and automatically start the next interval. FYI, if you're in interval-screen mode, it won't show a summary of the interval data after you end the interval so you'll need to quickly glance down at the dial to take a screen shot with your digital eyeball before you press the interval button to end the interval. Assumes you can do this with tongue in spokes...

    To toggle the screen back and forth from interval to full ride mode, just press and hold the interval button.

  • Curious - If riding to a specific IF/Pnorm for a given section/time, isn't is counter productive to look at 'total ride'?

    My reason for questioning this is if we want to live in a 30' or 60' interval box, looking at 'total ride' will bias your efforts by showing you that you have been riding too hard or too easy.

    To me it makes more sense to look only at the current interval data and and keep current watts on target. Your current Pnorm/IF will do a better job of letting you know how well you are doing NOW - which is all that matters at that point.

    I'd say stay on the INT window and wait till later in WKO+ to see how good/bad you managed your watts..... then again, I only started with power in Nov and just finished my first IM.....so my n=1 doesnt carry much weight.
  • @Steve, yes, that's fine. However, I will toggle over to the entire ride information from time to time to see how I'm doing: Pnorm/IF/Pavg for the ride. Maybe my split at mile 56, average speed for the ride, etc. Not necessarily going to do anything with the information, just that I'm curious.
  • Thanks, I will check it out tonight
  • @ Michael

    The recommending making my File slow UPWARD not downward is what I attempted to do last year at IM LOU. I also like you was not successful. The huge dynamic that we have to deal with ( IM LOU 2010 was the worst) is the building temperatures as the ride progresses. I point you to this post on an alternative pacing approach for a HOT IM bike. Some hard decisions to make that will impact the run, I know I’m right there with you!!!

     

    An Alternative Bike Pacing Strategy for a Hot and Humid IM

    members.endurancenation.us/Training...fault.aspx

     

    Matt

  • Posted By Chris Hardbeck on 16 Aug 2011 08:30 AM

    Jeff, I notice that, too, but I attribute that to user error in my case. I used PowerAgent to tell the Joule that my FTP sits at 230 (for my outdoor riding), but my WKO+ power zones use an FTP of 200 cuz I'm doing most of my intervals inside on the trainer. I allow a little more freestyle on my outdoor rides, and make a note about that when I log the data, but I want my indoor sessions to be a little more 'spot on'. I don't even know if FTP plays any role at all with the TSS stuff, but I've always thought that the discrepacies must have something to do with my working with different values inside and out.



    30' lap works well, huh? got my first Half coming up in Oct, race rehearsal next week, and I'll be trying that.



    For me I have the same FTP in both PowerAgent and WKO.  Has me a bit stumped...

  • @Michael, I like your gear strategy, as you'll be conservative up front and if you still need to back off b/c of the heat at the end, you won't have totally cooked yourself for the run. IOW I am more than happy to take a 15' slower bike b/c I wanted to than a 2h slower marathon b/c I HAD to. image
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