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Peter IMCDA 2014 Race Rehearsal #2 Plan
Peter's Race Rehearsal #2 Plan
Breakfast: (Same as #1 which went well)
3.5 cups apple sauce
1x scoop of whey protein
1 banana
16 oz of Perform
Coffee
Bike:
On my first rehearsal my FTP was 231 and I rode targeting 167 watts (IF of 0.72) for a total time of 5:30. I felt really good coming off the bike and I ran just fine. The biggest challenge on the run was containing myself and not running too fast. I recently tested my FTP and it is now 240. 167 would be a 0.69 IF and totally in the safe zone. I want to try targeting 173 watts this time, which is back at the 0.72 IF and still well within the safe zone on the chart. Or should I perhaps try even higher watts to see what happens? In the 8x25' interval rides I routinely found myself hitting intervals in the 185-190 range.
I also want to ride closer to my race configuration:
Wheelcover
Flo 60 front wheel
Latex tubes
Less junk attached to bike
(I didn't have any of this in my last rehearsal)
With the higher watts and aero improvements I anticipate going faster than the previous 5:30. My course is pretty flat, whereas IMCDA has some hills. Is their any consensus on how a flat time compares to the IMCDA course? Or is this an individual thing? I want to dial in the watts in relation to time in relation to TSS for the course.
Nutrition worked perfectly last time so I will repeat. 24oz of perform per hour as well as a caffeinated salt tab per hour.
Run:
Run went fine in first rehearsal so will not change anything. Will use 50% diluted perform and drink a 24oz bottle every 30 minutes. Will also have salt tab on run.
Thanks!
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Comments
If you gain on the downhill what you lost on the climbing portion it all should work out to pretty close. There are approximately 20 miles of climbing 5-6% grades on this course. You will likely gain most of that speed on the way back down the other side. The only problem is if you don't stay in your power range climbing, you'll suffer on the run, there are lots of opportunities to do stupid stuff on the ride.
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You don't have anything to loose if you do so but if you don't you may experience some nasty surprises on race day!!
For the hilly vs flat course I'll say "It depends". There are a lot of factors that play into this but usually if you have steep hills with pretty long decends you may compensate the hill easily but only if you are able to produce that power on downhills which is NOT as easy at it sounds!
I will definitely wear my tri-shorts, but I need to wear a normal bike jersey to be able to carry bottles. I could wear the tri-top on the run at least.
I guess for those 20 miles if I average 8-9 MPH, then on the downhills I need to average 31-32 MPH. That will probably be tough!
Hey Peter,
Good luck, and have fun. Like Coach R has said, unless you've raced the course several times, you may just have to take an educated guess at time for the TSS chart. Some courses are simply slower and require a little more VI (and, thus, NP) than flat courses. I think Coach R says he adds 10 minutes to his flat-course RR time for CDA and 15 for Moo to come up with a TSS chart time guesstimate.
My recent experience shows that, by adding my 808 + disc + helmet - excess junk for race day, I was about 1mph faster than my non-aero RR, which is about 10-15 minutes. So, if you rode your RR in 5:30 in full aero, then maybe 5:40 is your TSS time estimate for CDA. If you'll be more aero on race day, maybe 5:30 is the right guesstimate. I suspect your TSS risk would be higher if you were targeting the razor's edge @75% IF. So, if you target 72%, keep your NP under control (low VI, flatten those hills) and maintain good speed (maintain power going downhill, stay aero the whole time, porto-johns and SN bags are for true emergencies only), I think you'll be fine. Of course, this all assumes you've got hydration/nutrion/sodium nailed.
And don't forget your Coach P voice: the goal is to get off the bike and be able to run effectively. The run is your weapon. Very few can run 7-minute miles in an IM. Everyone can walk a 16-minute mile. Coach P "only" rode IMTX at 68%, but then ran a 3:15 and won his AG.
The above is just the $.02 from someone who's done 6, but is still searching for the recipe for the perfect IM day. Looking forward to following you and the rest of the team on race day.
My suggestion: ride @ 0.72 of your new FTP between :45 and 4:30 of the ride. 5% more watts is a BIG deal; even 1-2% too hard can make or break an IM. After 90 miles/4:30, if you feel frisky, increase to 0.74 in the last hour. If you can still run well after that, then MAYBE on race day, you can consider starting to rise from 0.72 during the second time through along the lake, and after the first two hills on 95 on that second loop. As Stefan points out, the hardest thing may be to keep your IF up during the last 5-10 miles of the bike leg, which has a fair amount of downhill in it?
The WORST thing you can do is ride too hard during the first :45-1:15 of your bike leg. Concentrate on keeping yourself under tight control during that initial period of this RR, and then follow up with equal discipline on race day.
@PN, my notes:
My course is to start at the Arcadia golf course and take the Rio Hondo path 28 miles, flip it, go back to my car to refuel.... and then do it again. This worked out pretty well for my first rehearsal. I have a torpedo, a bottle on the downtube, and then a bottles in my jersey. Good tip on the butyl spares.
Yeah, RHT is probably better. I could meet you at the end of the long beach section, before you head back via the model airplane dealio, and sell you a cold coke for $50