Galveston 70.3 Race Rehearsal Plan
1) Get up tomorrow morning.
2) Eat something.
3) Get on bike and ride it.
4) Get off bike.
5) Run some.
6) Stop.
Its an early season race. If I do these things in that order its pretty much a win-win.
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1) Get up tomorrow morning.
2) Eat something.
3) Get on bike and ride it.
4) Get off bike.
5) Run some.
6) Stop.
Its an early season race. If I do these things in that order its pretty much a win-win.
Comments
Hannibal: I love it when a plan comes together!
Back story: Two days ago I raced an 18K Nordic ski championship race full bore. Total time was 1:08, Avg HR was 161 (Zone 4 for me). So solid race. Yesterday was a slow 2.5 mile run with dog and some strength workout (chin-ups and push-ups). Today was still feeling the race effort in my back (mild achiness, a standard for this 43-yo chassis, ironic of course that I am a spine surgeon), and quads. All in all, quite a bit more tired than I would like to be to do this RR, but sometimes you have to do stuff when time permits. I'm on call 5 of the next 6-days, a situation that usually leaves me ready to strangle puppies by the end of the week so today was it. I had a few goals I wanted to sort out. Namely, could I really ride my Zone 3 watts for about 2:45, even though I haven't biked longer than 1-hour yet this year, especially since I'm riding at my highest watts/kg ever. Also, could I ride aero for the majority of the time and were my watts (so far determined on a road bike indoors) transferable to my aero position TT bike. Could I really run my projected MP run pace?
I wanted to do the RR first thing this morning, but after I typed the joking entry above, some work came up needing my attention first thing in the AM so I couldn't take the whole day off like I planned. Ended up in the hospital until 3PM (funny how those days off can vanish like that). Still it was an early day out of work and got home and had the green light from my wife to do the RR.
Nutrition was 3-bottles of gatorade mixed with 3-sccops each (Total of 450 calories) and 1 set of Clif Shot Blox for a total of 650 calories (estimated to take in 200/hour). Had 2 additional water bottles.
Venue: The pain cave. Biking on computrainer using SRM power meter to measure watts and computrainer to measure distance. Goal was to ride 56 miles on flat computrainer course at bottom of zone 3 watts (186 watts) with steady cadence. Take in fluid every ten minutes. Drain all 3 gatorade bottles and eat the shot blox.
Despite being fatigued and a little sore from the get go, managed to execute this pretty well. Avg 187 watts for 2:41 for 56-miles. Obviously computrainer miles are a bit hypothetical, but this should be a very doable wattage number and I would think the time should be in range of 2:40. Stomach was fine on the gatorade (I still don't know what will be on course, but usually I don't have problems with any of the sports drinks. I do hate gels though so might stash some shot bloks in my pockets). Overall I think for a HIM, its better to be at the low end of the calorie intake range. My HR was well controlled throughout. Averaging 133 for the first hour and then rising up to 142 for the last 40-minutes. So overall I was riding within myself. Only concern was my back which started to ache a bit more after the first hour so I had to alternate aerobars and drops for the next 1:40. I think without the skiing and sore back going in I would be okay. My watts both down in the aero position and sitting up were the same (i.e. I was able to hit and hold at 187 whether I was up or down).
Plan for the run was to hop off the bike and onto the treadmill. Mission accomplished. Started with 0.5 miles at e-pace (8:49) and then sped up to goal MP of 7:30 for another 1.5 miles. HR was holding steady at 142 so again, was running within myself. Legs felt pretty good, but could tell that that pace was going to get interesting at some point around 8-9 miles. Didn't want to overdue it, particularly running on tired legs to start with and felt I had accomplished the goal of knowing that I could run at pace reasonably easily after a solid ride.
So: I think I'm ready to go for Galveston 70.3. I'm bringing a level of fitness to this race that I've never had before. If fitness is the vehicle we drive, I feel like I've been given keys to a souped up BMW after years of driving a Chevy Nova. Want to run the engine, but don't want to drive it into the ditch on the first outing.