HIM RR #1: Just can't figure i out...
If anyone has suggestions to the questions in BOLD, thank you in advance...
Training for my 4th HIM and still haven't figured out the pacing. Previous race times have all been in the 5:30 range.
Pre-workout:
- normal dinner the night before but took 5 Saltstick caps (~1075 mg sodium);
- 2 bowls of Quaker oatmeal about 45 min before ride;
- Gu about 15 min before ride;
- pre-ride (post-breakfast) weight = 170.5 lb
- Weather: 78 at start, climbed to 90 by end of workout, with almost 90% humidity
Q: Felt a little bloated before ride and during first hour. Was this meal too close to start of ride?
Ride:
- 56.3 miles in 2:39:56
- NP= 202 (FTP = 260)
- IF= .79 (felt like I rode harder but lots of stoplights and turns on this route)
- Nutrition: 110 oz water, 4 x Saltstick cap (215 mg sodium each), 710 cal Infinit (1537 mg sodium total)
Run:
- VDOT = 48
- Mile splits: 8:08, 8:07, 8:07, 7:55, 8:22, 8:01
- Nutrition: 28 oz water, 2 x Clif bloks (66 cal total), 4 x Saltstick caps (215 mg sodium each)
Q: Goal was first 3 miles at 8:02 (MP + 30") and then drop to 7:32 (MP). Is this really the right pacing for HIM? I thought it was going to be hard to hold those paces even before the workout. And I have never hit MP in a HIM run.
Conclusion:
- Post workout weight was 165.5, so I lost 5 pounds despite the intake above.
Q: This seems like a lot of weight loss. I really can't drink much more water than this. Should I switch to Gatorade or something similar?
- Felt pretty bad on the run and had to battle to hold that last mile pace. IOW, I could not have done anymore miles at this pace.
Q: Since my bike was actually a little low on the IF, should I think about increasing the NP on the bike and then slow down my goal pace on the run? Maybe I am just not a good runner after so much fluid loss?
Comments
On the ride & run, your sodium intake seems really high. Have you had cramping issues you're dealing with? For the IF, look at splits on your ride too. I take 10 mile splits to try to average out the stop lights and such. Looks like your run was about :50 but you took 28 oz of water. That might be a little high and bloating you. Of course, if it was hot/humid, you could've been right on. I usually try to eat as little as a I can on the run. For me, it's a gel every 5 miles.
Have you confirmed your Vdot on anything but a 5k? It may be worth calculating it at 10k or HM distance. I know I can't hit my Vdot at 26.2, but I think it's pretty close at the HM distance. My PB open HM is ~5" slower than my 5k predicted Vdot. Probably worth doing a little SWAG here.
Sounds like you lost a total of 9 pounds over ~3.5 hours. That is completely consistent with my sweat rate (3 pounds per hour) so it doesn't sound out of line to me.
On your last point, that might be a little overreaction. Riding at .8 is not bad. I know people say .85 but remember that's at the top end of the recommendation. I usually end up somewhere in the middle. My reco would be focus on running strength. Kick up the incline on the treadmill and make yourself hit hard paces. I'd be careful about shooting for an easier run after a harder bike. Decisions at the margin in this sport don't seem to pay off. And remember that even though 7:30 and 8:00 miles seem like a huge difference, you're only talking about 6 minutes over a 5.5 hour race.
@Roy - Good point about the bloating coming from the previous night's salt intake. I was experimenting with that due to sodium-loading protocols. But I think that experiment may have failed. How often do you take the saltstick caps on long workouts?
In more detail, a 'good' HIM run is somewhere between 88% and 93% of your threshold pace. So using your Vdot of 48, gives a HIM run pace of between 8:03 min/mile and 7:37 min/mile. So if you chose to use 88% then your first 3 miles should be at 8:33, and then try and move up to 8:03 pace.
However, at the end of the day, the 'correct' run pace for each of us is an individual thing that you need to find out by racing to see what works.
I use the 88% of my threshold pace for HIM and it seems to work for me.
YMMV
What was the thought about having the pre-ride Gu? That may have also been part of the problem particularly if you didn't drink plenty of water with it.
Yes, that is a lot of weight to lose, but not unheard of. Doing the salt loading the morning of your ride vs. night before may help.
I ate the Gu because that is typical of my pre-workouts, regardless of distance. I normally don't have any issues but that was on top of the oatmeal and salt loading.
I only point to the weight loss because it seems I have specific performance loss when I lose that much weight. So it seems like a correlation. But I don't know how to keep from losing that much sweat when it is 90% humidity!
John, FWIW, I took notes at the nutrition webinar on weds and applied what they said to my HIM RR ( we must be on the same track
and it worked literally perfectly with exception of about 10" slower during MP segments. Overall my run avg was perfect. Here is what they said and what I did :
Morning of : 2 cups unsweetened applesauce with 1 scoop protein powder, banana, sports drink. They also suggested a power bar, but like you, I ate about an hour before the workout, not three hours like before a race so I didn't have one. On race day I will have one three hours before with above, and then they said a gel 15-20 mins before the start. I did not have that either due to timing.
They said 600-1800 mg sodium per hour during race/ training with anywhere from 150-300 calls per hour depending on body weight. I weigh approx 155 so I opted for 150-200 calls and 650-800 mg sodium. They also were vehement NO WATER! Only electrolyte sports drink. They literally said if your stomach is feeling upset, drink more with sodium and by golly it worked!
Seems like maybe oatmeal is a little heavy. I ate a power bar on the ride and 4 gels for 600 calls (3:30 hrs of riding) and a stinger bar 160 cals as I went out on the 1 hr run. Seriously, I K'd some A for me on this workout. 2 cups of applesauce is a lot, lol but it worked! Just what the nutrionist Jesse K. From QT2 said, not my plan or ideas, but as I said, it worked. Good luck!