How did your final RR's go this weekend?
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I'm not doing mine until next Saturday, going with a 2 vs 3wk taper, though I start bringing things down quite a bit next week. Anyway, today was my last "hard" long ride, did the Cool Breeze Century with Dave Ambrose, Rich Sawiris of Wheelbuilder and another guy. Had a rip the cranks off the bike kinda day, even with very tired legs. 99 miles in 4:33 with 5300ft of gain, about 5:10 pace for 112. Very, very surgy ride, had fun drilling myself on climbs. Ride was about 8w higher than same ride last year and felt more comfortable.
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gear 1=121; gear 2/goal watts = 128; gear 3 =134. Based on past rides/experience, I was hoping to be somewhere between gears 2 and 3... Usually during a normal interval ride on hillss I can't get my interval PN high enough and for my big days/race rehearsals, I can't keep them low enough...
I went to River Rd (roling hills). I stopped only to go to the bathroom and refuel in between loops (first loop 60mi, second 50). Nutrtion was 2 concentrated 3 hour bottles of Infinit (dont remember all the calories, etc offhand, but I know it's within the EN range) and 1 S!Cap per hour. I started the infinit an hour in. I rode with my 40oz speedfill filled with water.
total mileage 110.5
total time 7:19
PN 127
TSS 310.3
VI 1.09
avg speed 16.4
cadence avg 76
that includes the hour warm up. the stats not including the warm up:
PN 128
TSS 273.4
VI 1.08
avg speed 16.6
avg cadence 77
My cadence was unusually low - not sure why but I noticed throughout the ride.
As far as fit goes, was getting stiff between the shoulders/neck, but I think that's just a product of being aero. My low back felt good. I did notice some fatigue in my upper calves, sort of near the outside of each knee - this was in both legs. I didn't run off the bike bc of the PF, but I will say that getting off the bike my L foot was hurting and I limped around the parking lot to put my stuff away and stretch. After stretching it was a bit better - so my calves are definitely not quite right. I was not limping out of bed this morning, so I do attribute it to my calf fatigue - welcome your thoughts on that. My foot was taped (by the ART/Graston doc yesterday) and I had yellow superfeet inserts in my shoes.
so, all in all, I think the day was a success. I hit the numbers better than I expected and my VI was in acceptable range for a hilly course. Because I ride for so long, I know my TSS will be higher than the chart provides and that's just how it's gonna be. I think I can expect similar on race day. Oh, I might add that it got warm/humid as the day progressed and I definitely noticed a slow down in my second 50... and actually drank 2x as much water on that loop as the first 60 (actually ran out with 5 miles to go). So, with cooler temps I might fare slightly better - but WI is a tougher course than what I rode today...
super glad that Suzanne Kinsky met me out (she got a later start, can't blame her for not wanting to start at 6:30) and met me at mile 40 and rode the next 30 with me... definitely helpful to have some company.
Hope everyone else had a successful RR!
This all said and the RR went amazingly well. The first 30 miles was super easy. I really tried to dial it back as per EN guidelines. I then tamped it up for the next segment but as I rode I realized that the approaching thunderstorm was going to hit me with a vengeance. I found two densely packed pine trees and ducked under them for 45 min due to the severe lightning and painful rain. The storm passed and I continued. And it got better as the day progressed. I finished the ride strong. My goal watts was 175 and ended with 165. Since I am in a new location as of 2 weeks ago I still dont know any real routes so I am playing this by ear. Anyways I got in all 112 in 6:20. But that includes some potty breaks and lots and lots of lights. I did turn off the garmin during the storm.
The best part was the run. I got off my bike and changed my socks and ran my easy pace +30 which was hard to do. After 4 miles I was feeling so well I finished by running as I felt which was about 1min faster per mile. I won't do this in the race unless it is my last 5 or 6 miles.
Thanks again to everybody for being on this journey together.
Jon
Turned out to be pretty solid. No overachieving, but solid. My kids had eaten all my Perform I discovered....Grrrrr... so I used InfiniT, which I know I tolerate quite well. Kinda annoyed I didn't get another round with the Perform.
Anyway, 0.70 IF = 161 W.
30 minute wattage splits (NP): 147, 161, 168, 168, 162, 158, 162, 156, 163, 163, 161, 158
19.5 mph ave overall
161 NP overall
So that was pretty spot on target. Maybe a little variable, but we have some hilly areas that correspond to the 4 highest average splits. I did a 56 out and back twice. :-)
The run started out and I thought I had massive jelly legs. However, within ~3 minutes I was running at 7:00. Whoa, buddy!
EP = 8:00
Mile paces: 8:14, 8:04 (downhill), 8:20, 8:23 (uphill). I decided to practice the eacceleration for the last two miles: 7:53, 8:09.
I definitely noticed not having any nutrition on the run. Normally, a 1 hour run doesn't include any nutrition, but I was definitely craving something sweet and water the last couple of miles on this one.
Overall, I have to count this as successful, if not parfect.
total mileage 113
total time 6:25:44
NP 174 (goal wattage was 184, but just wasn't feeling it)
TSS 293.5
VI 1.08
AVG speed 17.3
AVG cadence 88
Max Temp 93.2
Decided to slow the run down a bit b/c of the heat. EP-8:12, Instead I did 9:00 then 8:30. Stopped at the local pool to get some water but the fountain was broken and only hot water came out of the sinks. :-( Felt pretty drained at the end of the run. This RR definitely felt harder than the one I did at the camp. Definitely ready to start the taper...
Total run volume for week at 55 so happy.
Saturday was my only bike of the week cause I was in New York all week.
I am getting excited for the race and am ready to start the taper. We have a lot of work left this week and weekend then its on in full force. The mental game's will then start.
Doing my swims this week in Raccoon River All open water swims from here on out.
I went up to Madison to do the Open Water Swim and then ride/run. The more I thought about it, the less I wanted to do the swim. The wave went off at 8:40 and when I calculated my day, it had me driving home pretty late. I was much more interested in getting in a good ride and run. I decided to skip the swim and ride out from the Clarion in the morning. As I was pulling out of the parking lot it started to rain. By the time I got to Irish it was a downpour and very windy. I almost pulled the plug before I got to the loop but decided to keep going. Most of the first loop was in very heavy rain. I had to take it pretty slow on the turns and descents. I had the whole course to myself until I came around to do the second loop. That was great! I hit the halfway point at .694 IF, 175 NP and 1.08 VI. I was targeting 180-185. Not too bad although the time was a bit slow.
It cleared up by the second loop and the roads dried pretty quickly. I made it through Mt. Horeb and as I was turning onto Witte my bike went out from under me. I didn't take the turn too fast and the road was dry. I don't know WTF happened but I went down pretty hard. A guy stopped to help. He was a fireman and a triathlete. We checked my injuries and the bike. I had a flat front wheel. He offered to drive me to the Uphill Grind but I told him I would just change it and keep going. He took off after he was confident I was OK. As soon as I started to change the tire I realized that my right thumb was seriously hurt. I couldn't use it, basically. I somehow managed to change the flat and took off down Witte. As I was going up the second roller, I dropped my chain but didn't go down. I almost lost it at this point. I got the chain back on and continued. It was at this point, riding the rollers on Witte, that I realized that shifting was a problem. I could do it but it without using my thumb. Good times. Going down Garfoot I was having PTSD so I took it very slowly. As I came to the Uphill Grind, I almost stopped and was considering trying to get a ride but I was managing alright. I had enough fuel and water to get back to the hotel. I did go quite a while without eating or drinking after the crash. I was just kind of stressed out. Before I hit Old Sauk I realized and took some InfiniT, water, S-Cap and caffeine. I felt much better but I couldn't focus on riding my goal watts and my power fell off quite a bit. I just wanted to cruise it in. That's what I did. I was pretty convinced that my thumb was broken the whole ride back. I called Karin from the Clarion and we agreed that I would go to the hospital and then come home. That was a great idea as I was in and out in no time. It would have been a nightmare going in Chicago. The hospitals around here get a lot of business from th west side. Also turned out that Famous Dave's was right across the street. I had a big brisket dinner before going to get checked out!
I ended up riding 110 in just under six hours, which isn't too bad considering the storm and the crash. Time to rest up and let my body heal for the race. Overall numbers are off and I didn't run afterwards. I ended with a NP=170 and a VI=1.11, IF=.676 and TSS=283.
I'm very disappointed about not running. However, I felt great after my run on Thursday and I ran well off a .714 on my Big Day. I would say that I'm ready, well, except for my thumb.
Duration: 2:15:16 (2:15:26)
Work: 1166 kJ
TSS: 108.7 (intensity factor 0.694)
Norm Power: 146
VI: 1.02
Distance: 40.31 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 243 144 watts
Cadence: 31 182 85 rpm
Speed: 0 41.8 17.8 mph
Duration: 2:12:56 (2:13:02)
Work: 1157 kJ
TSS: 110 (intensity factor 0.705)
Norm Power: 149
VI: 1.02
Distance: 40.034 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 317 145 watts
Cadence: 38 147 86 rpm
Speed: 0 44 18.0 mph
I was very excited to go back to Madison this weekend to do MOWS, the full bike, then a 6 mile run. However, on Monday, as I was changing lanes in the pool, I turned, pushed off the bottom, and twisted me knee. I was in a decent amount of pain. I skipped all bike and run workouts last week. A PT friend took a look and thinks I bruised my meniscus. Not good. He worked on it Thursday, and it felt MUCH better on Friday. Saturday felt a little better. I still did MOWS, but only one loop of the bike, and got in the full 6 mile run. My knee felt ok enough, but every time I stood up on the bike, I worried about twisting it wrong and making it much worse. The running felt ok for the first half, then just fine for the second half. Thankfully today I don’t feel any worse then Saturday morning. I will be visiting him twice this week to hopefully get it all back to good.
Anyway, I really wanted to get in the loop because this time I was riding with Aero helmet, disc cover, and deep front rims. With this being such a hilly course, I wanted to see for myself if the extra weight of the disc cover would be worth using. This time I started and stopped the lap at Grey’s Tide House:
Duration: 2:17:41 (2:17:54)
Work: 1139 kJ
TSS: 103.7 (intensity factor 0.672)
Norm Power: 142
VI: 1.03
Distance: 42.476 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 230 138 watts
Cadence: 33 206 84 rpm
Speed: 0 44.2 18.5 mph
I knew as I was going that my power was low. My PE was higher that last week, and I just wasn’t feeling it yesterday. I think this is more due to the knee tweak then to having a 2.4 mile swim prior. I’m happy to find out that even though my Norm Power was lower, I was .7 mph faster then the first loop last week.
What I learned after 2.4 mile swim, 71 mile bike, 6 mile run yesterday…
• If the IMWI swim is like MOWS, the crowd really does thin out after the first turn, and the time goes by pretty quickly.
• The “I’m being stabbed in the back with a VERY pointy knife” feeling starts on the stick instead of on loop 2 when I swim before hand.
• My nutrition is good.
• I think I can judge my ‘should’ vs ‘could’ on the bike fairly well
• The first 6 miles of the marathon will go well
• I can do this!
I rode from my house on relatively flat and rural roads. Very hard to hold back on first two hours as part of ride that I usually do FTP tests and intervals on. I swag my FTP at 290 for IM racing based on long ride performance.
Nutrition pre-ride was Tj's unsweetened apple sauce with muscle milk vanilla protein powder and 1 ensure. Also had 3 via's with 10oz cold water. Total of about 530 cal.
On bike had two 750 cal infinit bottles and took in about 250 cal/hour. Two sips every 15' with water only first 30'. Also had 2 S-Caps every 60'. Mentally got myself psyched up for "totally partying" at 4 hour mark. The "party" was a honey stinger waffle and 400 mg caffeine. Crazy shit!. Big t-storm around mile 90 which made visibility really tough but cooled me off. Average speed of 20.4 mph and moving time of 5:30.
Got home and ran in tri-shorts and top since already soaked from rain. Very hilly at start/end of run so pace was a bit jacked up. Hit lap button at each end of each mile and walked 30" and drank water.
Had recovery paleo bowl at chipotle and then non-paleo banana fudge gelato at favorite ice cream shop. All in all, pretty happy and don't really feel too sore today.
@Daniela - it was good to meet you during the rain delay at MOWS.
Nice VI... 1.02 is very impressive on this course... i have done it only once and have rode the course more times than I would ever care to count. Most people will never even ride 1.02 on a flat course!
MOWS is a little deceiving. 500 people vs 3,000 is a bit different. I had less contact then any swim ever at MOWS and by the second turn I was on my own and swimming solo for the rest of the race with no one closer than 10 feet to me. At IM unless you are swimming under an hour, there will be significantly more people around. However, I actually think it is a good thing and we will swim faster at IMWI as there will be more feet to sit on and the pack of 3,000 people creates a pretty good draft. FWIW, in 2009 I went almost 4 minutes faster at IMWI than at MOWS.
I needed some confidence, so on Sat. did MOWS and had the rain screw up my nutrition, so another lesson learned. Biked stick-loop-stick, about 76 miles. My PT worked for 5 minutes 25 sec. before it quit. Reset it but it still was not working. I know I was working harder then I should have been but some could have been fatigue from Fri. I realized how much I depend on my PT to tell me when I need to take in nutrition/water(I also forgot to put on my watch, which I had in the car). I got to ride down and I rode up the helix, there was more room biking, then in a car, so I have better perception. I think Matt A said not to pass or there would be a penalty. Is that for up and down? Got back and ran 3 miles, but it felt great, I could have continued to run further but it was getting late, with the MOWS delay. I can't provide any power data but learned the following:
Don't take in caffeine, I can't handle it
Riding aero after a 2.4 mile swim is very different from 1.2 mile swim. Shoulder and upper back fatigue, causes me to get out of aero more often to stretch
Decreasing the calories,seemed to help. Not having the PT and only taking Infinit when I remembered seemed to make a difference but I will need to try it again.
I have been anxious about IMWI. I have all the pieces and parts of each 3 sections but having anxiety about putting it all together. My only goal is at this point is to complete. All ideas of time are out the window. I have 17 hours and will get it done if it takes all 17 hours.
Wow! 4 min faster at IMWI then MOWS. I didn't think drafting would get you that much of an advantage. I was able to draft for a little while as MOWS, but not as much as I would have liked. I was pleased with my finish time and pace.
I have wondered if I have a setting wrong or something on my Joule that results in a low VI, when it's not truly earned. Or, maybe it's just because I'm smaller, and have good gearing, and hate using a lot of energy to go up hills, and always pedal downhill until I spin out (I love the momentum it creates).
@Mary - Great to meet you and Sue! I realized yesterday how much I like hills as they are a good chance to sit up and stretch. My back was not happy after that swim. And neither is the part of my neck that is chafed!
@Daniela - yeah I was going to leave with the weather delays but after talking it over I cut my bike short instead. My theory was the swim is my weakest so it was good for me to do it and I highly doubt riding about 30' less then planned will impact me at all. I ended up being almost 3 hours late to the party I was trying to get to that evening but it worked out fine.
Good and bad for me.
I started with MOWS. The swim went well and I was pretty might right on my time prediction, swimming a 1:32. The rain delay really messed things up though. Post swim I had to drive back to my hotel, on the other side of the John Nolan construction. Some life stuff happened. In the end, I didn't get started on the bike until about 12:45.
I struggled to hold my power numbers the entire afternoon, and just wasn't really feeling it...nutrition seemed good, the body is just very very tired and my heart wasn't really in it.
Additionally, I had some problems with one of my cleats and banged my ankle against my crank and cut myself kind of bad, it bled alot, it was no fun.
My plan was still to do the entire race rehersal, but at 6:30 it was getting dark and starting to rain a bit again, so I decided to pull the plug and not ride the stick back. My mood wasn't the best, I had some safety concerns, and I wasn't hitting my numbers, so I figured I wasn't getting much out of the ride at that point.
I met my wife at fireman's park and bailed at 93ish miles and didn't run.
On the upside, even missing my power numbers I was 1 mph faster, and lowered my VI from 1.24 on RR1 to 1.08. Switching from a 12-25 to an 11-28 was the right call too, the climbs were much more managable with the 28 and the 11 helped me pedal on the downhills.
Hopefully I'll feel better on race day...
@Matt Sullivan - I'm very glad you are ok!
Nice work everyone!
Short report - Did full bike course and one hour run on Friday - Had fatigue going into it from long run Thursday - but that was okay. second 1/2 of second loop was really tiring. LYC acting up - stopped to look at torque and managed to clear out the data - duhhh - there goes 85 miles of stuff/data. Important thing was getting it done. Run was a mental and physical sufferfest. 93 degrees out - so hot - worked on the run one mile, walk 30 steps. Bike took a long time - makes me question myself.
Saturday - all prepped to do MOWS and stick-loop-stick. Waited too long to get wetsuit on, rushed, jammed the zipper - couldn't get it unstuck. NO WAY was I doing the swim without a wetsuit - just couldn't take that leap. So, used the opportunity to go to Farmer's Market for the first time this year (reminded me of what normal Madisonians do on Saturday mornings) while waiting for Mary L. Used the time to think about "what can go wrong" scenarios and how to get through them. Got all ready to head out on the bike...forgot helmet at home. This is a trial of perseverance. DH brought it down to Monona Terrace. Then, actually rode out on the stick with someone I didn't know who 1. Forgot helmet and rode anyway, 2. Had headphones on, and 3. Had never ridden the course - Gheesh! Really used the time to do an ABP bike - about 4:15 for stick-loop-stick (minus water stops). Did 30 minute run afterwards. Toasted.
Wanted a better RR weekend but will use what I learned and push through these final few weeks. Keep focused, stay positive, detail out my plans for race week/race day, don't worry, be happy.
It was a good ride and I managed to get through the course pretty quickly. Paid close attention to my fit and how my shoulders and neck were feeling with an aero helmet after the swim. There are a few tweaks I'm going to make this week and then give a full RR a try next Saturday.
What do you think about doing a 2-2.5hr ride on Sunday after a full RR on Saturday?
Matt, heard about your crash. Glad you're OK.
I did my swim RR today at a 50m pool. Planned to do it yesterday but the weather was questionable besides that would have put me at 3 swims for the week... and I can['t do that!@ LoL
if nothing else I'm pretty darn consistent. he whole 4000 took me 1:19:16. The 500 breakdowns : 9:52/10:01/9:55/10:00/9:55/9:52/9:49 -- the 2 10 min sets were sets I floated while peeling tape off my foot (didn't stay put and it annoyed me). The last 2 sets I had a lane partner who was not only fresh but good and I didn't want to let him et a lead on me so I kind of sped up to keep where we passed each other in the same spot but he gained on me for sure.
Last year my swim in fL was 1:15. I'm hoping for about the same.
Sunday started out better and we were on the bike course by 8am. Riding steady and keeping under by wattage limit on the hills. We were going faster than the day before with less effort and I was really working the down hills. Then in Verona I started to feel a dull ache in my left knee. The type of ache that says "I'm an injury about to happen if you keep rolling". So we made an executive decision to ride some of the stick instead of a second loop and call it a day. The knee issue was probably due to the new shoes and it hasn't bothered me walking around or swimming. We'll see tomorrow when I ride again with my regular shoes but I plan on hitting the foam roller like my life depends on it over the next couple weeks.
RR went well -> horribly.
The ride was 5:22 on 'slow' Gatorskin training tires and without race wheels, and was a near-perfectly even split in TSS and time between the first and second halves. IF came in for both segments as .735. VI was 1.03. Normal Race EXecution Zones are z1=190w, z2=200w on FTP of 270, and NP for both segments and entire ride ended up as 199. Effort felt like CdA a few months ago, so I was in familiar RPE neighborhood.
Overall, I was pleased - this RR was on a slightly hillier variation of the route I normally roll, and on the old flat version, it's been a 5:30-5:40 excursion. Definitely attribute the found 8'+ to the no-coasting, low VI (despite mine being on the higher side at 1.03) approach R has prescribed taking at WI.
Run was a stinking pile of learning experience. I botched nutrition in the last 90' of the ride by choosing not to reload gatorade and clif bars at the gas station, so I started off from t2 feeling fine, but things never really settled, and my pace just dropped at 30' into the run. At 50', I quit. NP was about 8:30 for first 30' on HR average of 150, and then things turned to shite when I tried to settle into 8:00 pace.
The more illuminating part of the run was as much as I had hoped, schemed and dreamed, I just aint gonna run a 3:25 on race day based on my current fitness. I'll be spending the days ahead rethinking a run execution strategy and plugging in some new numbers to get me to the finish with a 3:30-35. Closer attention to HR is definitely going to be a factor on race day: I went through my races files since '08, and it looks like every course has been an avg 150 for the first 6 miles, pushing to 158 -> 160 for 6-18, and whatever is left from there.
Final Race Plan might get drafted around "scenario" statements like:
-miles 1-6: run 8:30 with 150 BPM cap (back off to 8:45 if 150 or more)
-miles 6-12: run 8:10 at HR cap of 158
-miles 12-18: Make a tactical decision. If HR remains at ~158, bump pace to 8:00.
If 160 or more, stay at 8:10.
and so on. Will post Race Plan in general forums for scrutiny.
between this and the loss of 2-3 KQ spots for 40-44, I also have to reframe my thinking around race goals.
Hey Dave,
Nice work. I've been bending P's ear a lot about my race and the consensus we've reached is that a large part of racing at the pointy end on the bike is largely about not coasting. Mentally I'm just setting myself up to be a super steady diesel out there that keeps pedaling, all the time, and doesn't need to take a break, at all. That said, a couple notes on the WI course:
I should probably do a screencast with this map, laying out what I'm seeing and how to ride the course.
For the run, I've been using Matt's run/walk calculator. I'll put it up in the Wiki later today. It's really good at dialing in what exactly you need to see on the dial while you're running, given a 20-30" walking every mile strategy. More importantly, it gives you a lot of confidence to stick to the game plan. On my training runs, when I think IM pace, I find myself dropping into 7:50's which, based on Matt's calculator, is too fast. All I need to do is run 8:10's as my real time pace in the GPS. This + walking 20" per mile at 17' miles = 8:23-24 pace marathon. Add about 2' to the marathon time for doing my thing for the first 6 miles and I'm at about a 3:39-40. I'm expecting this is a great tool to keep me sitting on 8:10's vs 7:50's, building some reserves for the last 6-8 miles of the run vs "putting time in the bank" by running a little too quickly.
@Jeff - just wanted to let you know there is a good sized LBS (with lots of tri stuff) just down from Monona Terrace - Machinery Row - if you're looking at the water from the terrace, it's to your left - just follow the bike path.
Rich - one other thought on the Not Coasting / pointy end piece, as it eventually works its way into the Kona Room (or whatever the high performance, invitation-only thing is going to be): tap into some of Chris Whyte's thinking on this. I remember he started a solid thread on this some time ago (but damned if I can find it now), and has been applying this adaptation to what is more or less the basic EN bike excution model to lots of success for some time. In fact, as you advance your thinking on this, might be worth getting some of his numbers to create a slightly expanded data set and test some assumptions.
Thanks Sue! We were staying in Middleton and were looking to start pretty early. I had thought about them and the Uphill Grind but didn't think the drive was worth it. In hind sight it may have been. Live and learn.