Half IM pacing- Your thoughts and methods

Have a power meter?  I averaged 85% of my FTP, and it was just about perfect.

If not - the bike was right around my best 4 hour ride. 

my last race was prob the best pulled off half i have done,

swim was pretty much just under TT pace for the distance, ended up about 1 min slower than a TT would have been.

Bike i sat on the 80% of FTP on the way out, 86% on the way back, ave watts were right in the middle.

run i started off right at my goal pace and just tried to hang on.


next race i'll have a lot more running/biking under my belt, and the plan is to try and keep the bike around 85% or so of FTP instead of the 83 i did in the last race, run is a double out and back, trying to neg split the 2nd half with a goal time around 4:30-35.

I tend to go 100% maybe 95% on the swim but make sure to keep my hr in check. (ie if i'm getting kicked...no good and move to control the hr. If i lose a draft...no good and redirect but make sure i don't freak out.)

What you said about the bike sounds about right. And for the run, it depends on where i am and if i can race anyone around me. I like going out fast because that tends to lead to better times for me, but if i can use somone to pace for me i'll do that untill the legs feel great.

The following is from my game plan for my last half on 7/19:

Bike:
Feet on top of shoes until out of T1 hill
Opening 30 mins sit below target watts, approx 188 or 76% of FTP
Remainder of the ride, steady watts targeting 198. (80%)
Continue to push watts on the downhills and hills cap the watts at 220

Goals: NP 195-200 Watts, IF .79-.80, VI 1.02 - 1.03


Run:
Open up the run at 8:15 pace (Target pace + 30secs). Walk the hill at 1/2 mil into the run. At the turnaround (3 mile) move into target pace of 7:45. Target 7:45 until Mile 10 the last turnaround. At Mile 10 reevaluate the pace, systems check. Move into 7:30 pace if all systems go or damage control.

Give'm h8ll the last mile into the finish. Skip last aid station.

Solid game plan, just ran to easy....despite a PR. Live and Learn.

The take away is 30 mins below target on the bike and below the target on run for the first 3 miles.

..............

If you plan on going under 2:30 on the bike you can move up the intensity factor.

agreed on the bike,

ended up with 82-83% on the bike, came off in 2:27 i think on a rolling course.
next race will be a FLAT course, and 4 months more biking, goal is around 2:20, 85% or so.

Pretty much the same game plan as y'all.

Swim - Start out slow and build to just below TT.  I get to the point where bi-lateral breathing is tough, but can still be done.  All out TT I have to breath on one side every stroke.

Bike - Work up to 80% FTP, once HR has settled (middle of z3 HR usually corralates here), then cap it at 85%.

Run - Find rhythm, about 15-30s slower than goal pace.  Let HR settle.  Last hour will be upper Z3, lower z4 HR.

A smidge slower than what I pace for an Olympic...at least that's what it feels like.

But seriously, I try and:
swim at my Olympic effort.
bike at about 85% of max HR, or 90% of AT
try and run at 90% max HR, or 95% of AT and just try and hang on the last 10K. It's hard. This season on 2 70.3 bike courses with about 2500 feet of climbing and at 6000-7000 feet elevation, I manged to bike 2:22-2:24 but I was below that HR target by 10 bpm. Both of my runs after that were sub-par. In Clearwater I rode a 2:14 but I paid for it on the run and barley broke 1:30, so you may want to re-think that 2:20 bike target. 13.1 miles is very far.

Edited by bryancd 2009-07-30 7:16 PM

thanks for the thoughts.

right now the reason i am thinking 2:20 may be doable is that rockman was MUCH hillier, i was wildly undertrained, and took the course resonably easy (looking back at the numbers i actually ave 81% of threshold over it, not 84 or so.)

although i will be pacing of power for the most part so we'll see where the speed falls.

If I saw in you logs the ability to ride that, I might agree. As it is, 2:20 WITH a good run after may not be where you are.

roger that.

am doing a longer tempo ride tomorrow or fri weather and body coperating, will see what numbers look like then.

on that course, assuming good weather, i will need around 220ish watts to hit that, maybe just over.