Long Ride - Felt Great

Today was supposed to be a long race rehersal brick, but as often happens, life got in the way, so I did not add the run after bike. I did, however, ride nearly 115 miles at goal race effort, and it seemed to work out terrific, as I felt really good the whole way, and I had plenty of energy coming off the bike. I've included a couple of graphs showing training data from the ride. I'll explain what my strategy was, and then we'll look at the graphs to see how close I came.

The Ironman "Race" Strategy

I put "race" in quotes, because I wouldn't call what I do "racing," as I'm never in contention for a very high finish... but I do try to pace myself to have the best possible finishing time I can do. My basic strategy for the 2007 Ironman is to swim easy, ride smart and then run as much as possible on the marathon. My limiters are that run volume is nowhere near enough to really go hard and fast (for me) on the marathon. My swim base is lower than when I did the race in 2004, but I think that shouldn't affect my race too much if I can make sure I go easy for the entire 2.4 miles.

The bike is where I think I've really made fitness gains. Although my overall volume is much lower this year than in 2004, I've been riding now since 2003, so I really have that cumulative base. In addition, I've been able to focus my bike training using an Ergomo power meter, so that I think I've really improved my biking ability.

The bike plan for Ironman is to monitor my power output metrics and to keep them within a particular average. If I can do this, I think I'll be able to set myself up for the best possible run split and minimize the amount of walking I'll have to do.

The Race Rehearsal Ride

My ride today consisted of 115 miles at my race goal power effort. Unfortunately, I don't have easy access to a practice course that accurately simulates the IMMoo course. But, I DO have easy access to 115 miles of stress-free riding. However, it's flat as a pancake. Still... if I manage my power accurately, that shouldn't make a difference, except that I'll probably go a little slower over the hilly IMMoo bike course.

To the left is my power and heart rate data for the ride. My average power was 201 Watts, with an average heart rate of about 137 bpm. That effort felt really easy at the beginning of the ride, and never really got too difficult. I did have to make 2 stops on the ride to re-fill water and sports drink. However, I tried to make these very quick stops so that they wouldn't significantly impact the ride data. I would have eliminated them altogether, but I just can't carry enough liquid on my bike to do that.

These two graphs represent Speed and Cadence, respectively. My average speed was 20.9 mph, which is pretty awesome (for me) for a 112+ mi ride. Granted, this was a very flat ride (maybe 800 ft descent/climbing over the course of the entire ride). I expect that IMMoo will be much slower due to the non-stop undulation of that bike course. Cadence averaged about 92 rpms, which is rigth where I like it. I used to try to stay between 85-95 rpms, but I've found I do better at a higher cadence. I now like to be between 90-100 rpms, and I'll often spin at just over 100 rpms for a "rest."

I finished the ride feeling really good. I targeted about 300 calories/hr while riding, including 2 GU gels (100 calories ea.) and supplementing with Gatorade Endurance formula and water as needed. I think I need to target more water, because Madison will probably be a lot more humid than Denver, and I tend to sweat a lot more in the humidity. Alo, I think I'll target an additional 50 calories/hr of food. I'm pretty sure I can absorb it, and it might make the difference on that brutal bike course.