JohnnyKay and Fred Doucette's HIM/IM focused Mentor group-CLOSED (Page 31)

This was my initial thought...95% or thereabout.

My last 20 minute test on the trainer was in early March, and averaged 262 watts.  But 4 days later I did a 20k time trial in 31 minutes and averaged 269 watts.  So my rough guess is that my FTP is somewhere around 250-255.

The course I'll be doing this weekend is pankcake flat, so it shouldn't be too hard to keep the VI close to 1.  I'm thinking about shooting for 240...which would put me around the 95% range.

The only think I'm skeptical about is my first sprint of the year...I shot for 250 watts, but ended up closer to 239 (I adjusted to 240 within the first mile of the bike as 250 felt way too hard).  But I did not taper at all for that race...and rode about 50 miles the day before.

I will use a small taper for this race...so I imagine 95% should be doable.

docswim24 - 2011-05-09 4:39 PM

Fred Doucette - 2011-05-09 4:27 PM

JohnnyKay - 2011-05-09 3:24 PM

Fred Doucette - 2011-05-09 3:12 PM

What would you ride an olympic at as a % of FTP?

You didn't ask me, but I would be pushing as close to 100% as I could while expecting to see something ~95% after the fact.  The only way to go over FTP for the ride is to have a bad FTP estimate. 

Yup and I think my prior FTP is *probably low.

Understatement^^^ My guess is your FTP is 310ish? so 290/310 would give you about 94% which is very good for Columbia, a course that takes everyone except Yoder over an hour to do. I am shooting for between 90-95% at Columbia.

Do you guys set specific limits on how much higher you'll let your wattage go on the hills?  i.e. 110-115% of FTP

July 23rd. Totally excited - can't wait to party my a$$ off then sit with my feet in the sand for a week in Hawaii.

So for the 1/2 IM and full IM distance will you have different goals for each hour?  Will you change your wattage goals based on the overall terrain - complete racel and per hour?  i.e. would you allow a slightly higher wattage for a flatter vs rolling/hilly section/course since your VI would not be as affected?

Whats on tap for everyone this week? I'll be in Madison Sunday and I am hoping to get in a double loop ride of the IM course.

Fred where are you staying in Madison for IM?

40 minute easy run and a low key 35ish on the bike this afternoon with the group.

Easy run this evening (~6mi, maybe).  Just going to do a few short runs and short ride this week along with some easy swimming.  Fighting off a little cold and training already pretty much washed out the last few weeks for my race.  So not concerned about a 'proper' taper.  Just hoping to arrive rested and feeling good on Sunday morning.  Will take what the day gives me and try to embrace the suffering on the 15mi run. 

In much better news, I have a new ride at home.  Won't be riding it on Sunday, but will have it ready to go soon after. 

Just an hour long ride on the plan for me today which I completed this am.  Thinking about getting a little crazy and adding a litte 3 mile run this evening.  It is a bike focus week for me, but only having about 10 miles worth of running on the schedule seems too light.  Another 3 can't hurt...can it? 

@John....Please post bike porn at your earliest convenience.

Okay help me out...I'm trying to figure out if I should put my new rear tire on now or wait until I'm done with this week's riding. I have to drop off my bike for shipping Friday, and will be doing my last ride on it (3 hours) that morning. Should I put a brand new tire on then? I don't know if tires need a little breaking in before a race.

Or I could put it on today or tomorrow, in which case, it would get either 3 or 4.5 hours of use on the trainer. I don't think 3-4 hours of trainer use would wear it down much at all...so I'm leaning towards just putting it on now.

Any thoughts? I know this is totally in the minutiae but I basically think about this stuff 24/7 right now. My brain is starting to get tired of it actually. I want to press fast-forward on my life clock.

docswim24 - 2011-05-10 8:44 AM

GoFaster - 2011-05-09 8:23 PM

docswim24 - 2011-05-09 5:00 PM  I do for all of my race distances. For Columbia (FTP is about 310ish for me right now) I don't want to see under 250 or over 360. For a sprint the upper limit might be 400 (lower limit similar - 250). I will jump up at the top of each of the ranges early in the race if someone goes by me and I will try to legally draft off of them as most people will fade after the first 5-10 miles and it can be an advantage in the race (both mentally - someone to chase, and for the draft legal advantage). For a 1/2 IM and my planned full IM, I do/will stick very closely to what watts/hr I want to do for the race.

So for the 1/2 IM and full IM distance will you have different goals for each hour?  Will you change your wattage goals based on the overall terrain - complete racel and per hour?  i.e. would you allow a slightly higher wattage for a flatter vs rolling/hilly section/course since your VI would not be as affected?

I go in with a an estimate of what I should be doing based on my training and how long I think the ride will take me (usually based on the terrain, though hot weather will effect power as well). For instance at the South Carolina half I thought I should be done with the course in 2:20 to 2:30 and thought it was pretty flat. I estimated my FTP to be 305 going in and thought I could hold between 240 to 250. The weather was nice on the ride (high 60's/low 70's) and pavement was good through most of the course so I stuck to my wattage goals (ended with avg pwr of 247). If the course was harder than I expected or it was a lot warmer than I thought it would be I would have likely drifted down towards the bottom of the range (240ish) or even lowered it. I do not have different wattage goals for each hour and unlike most people do not spike my power to get up a hill (more likely to spike it a bit down a hill actually). I don't just ride based on power - I use my HRM and feel as well and am generally more likely to lower my overall power target for the race than increase it - if I did go over my wattage range, it would likely come as a result of feeling really good on the second half of the race. This works for me and others may be more aggressive than this and still run well off the bike. Through many painful blow ups I have found I need these guidelines for myself as my instinct it to race anyone that comes by me on the bike. ETA - the above is for a half or full IM only.

Thanks for the feedback Dan, this is the kind of strategy I was looking to undertsand.

What type of bike do you have?  The only reason I would want to get a few miles on the tires is to wear off that thin rubber stuff in the center of the tire.  But also if you have a tight rear wheel cutout, you also want to make sure that your tire has enough clearance with the cutout.