Subject: RE: Bike pacing for IM A few notes: Rule #1: the purpose of the bike is to set up the run. There is NO such thing as a good bike split followed by a poor run. You should continuously ask yourself "is what I'm doing here setting up the run or am I trying to make a bike split happen?" I'm not saying that you don't ride fast or you're purposely going slow. I'm saying that you always keep this priority in mind. By simply doing this you'll ride smarter than 80% of the field and you can then begin have a conversation about the more detailed stuff below. Rule #2: about 80% of the field doesn't know how to pace an Ironman bike. Proper pacing is then largely a matter of continually finding yourself doing the opposite of everyone else. Rule #3: See Rule #1. Seriously. All: solid Z1/~65% of FTP/Easy/JRA for the first 30-60' of the IM bike, then: Projected split of ~5:15-6rs -- Z2/70-75%/Steady. Now...there's a good bit more that goes into that 70-75%. For these folks riding with power, with a well paced bike split will shake out at about 270-295 TSS points. Goal VI (Variability Index) is < 1.06. Projected split slower than about 6:00-10 -- Z1-2/~68-70%/Easy-Steady. These folks with power will shake out at 320+ TSS, but they are still good. Same or similar VI goal, though these folks are usually a bit higher because they typically lack the w/kg or absolute wattage numbers to get up steeper climbs without going sometimes well above their targets. However, if you do ^this^ above, you've come off the bike in a position to run with the maybe 15-20% of field who also paced it well. You now need to pace the run correctly, about which there is comparatively very little discussion. That is, of the 20% who've joined you at mile 1 of the run, a very large percentage of that group will go on to booger their run pacing. -- |