Today we’re going to recon the bike course. The camp schedule is one lap (and a bit) of the bike course. A few of us will keep it rolling and do the full course. I’m told there’s a bunch of turns where figuring them out can save watts on game day.
With the broken marathon last Monday, I haven’t had a long day since last Saturday. I don’t like extended gaps between my long days. The long day is an important workout, regardless of structure.
My fears of the local food were overblown. Meals have been great and I’ve found plenty of salads/veggies/fruit to eat. Makes sense as German athletes are some of the best in the world.
Race Preparation
Technical Terrain: When I raced mountain bikes (LT100 Bike), I did a ton of riding on the Leadville course. By learning the course, I reduced my skills handicap to the best riders.
Nutrition: dial your intake rates, and products, for game day. Then go further. Test everything, on the bike course, at pace. Even further… test the way you will carry and ingest the calories. That’s the plan for today and something I first did 26 (!) years ago in Penticton, BC.
Hydration: ultrarunners are great at this. Figure out your required intake rate for different conditions, durations and paces. One of the benefits of my long treadmill session was confirming my breakeven intake rate. It was higher than I expected.
Clothing: will your race clothing chafe? The only way to find out is to run a broken marathon with it (done last Monday) and go for a long ride holding your TT position (today’s task).1 A friend of mine set a world best bike split, while experiencing nasty chafe. Discomfort costs energy.
Bike, Race Wheels and Helmets: if you tend to overheat then be sure to test your race helmet on a long ride, at race effort, in race conditions. Many athletes have cooked themselves at Kona (and elsewhere) by failing to test their helmet choice.2
Swimming Without Stopping: with Coach Julie designing my swim program, I figured I’d be ready but… I haven’t done any long open water this season. My favorite open water test set is 5x1,000. Not having had a chance to do the set, I did 4,000 straight with my wetsuit (yesterday) at slightly over race effort.
Fear: Mark Allen gives a talk about the wind, the heat and Dave Scott being his fears in Kona. Before he won his first title, he had to face each of those fears. Whenever you get a chance to listen to Mark, pay attention.
Each of us will experience fears and what-ifs. Listen, write them down and figure out to address them. Each of the tips (above) is born from a what-if thought that floated through my head. More ideas in our chapter, Training The Mind.
Long Breaks from Racing
Albert and I both had long breaks from racing. He came back before me and his success was quicker than mine. Perhaps because he held on to a bit of running (1x per week).
Looking back, there’s been zero performance cost to taking a break. There might even be benefits from not pounding ourselves with a decade of run volume. We don’t get a chance to see problems not encountered.3
Across your life, there will be times when it makes sense to put sport on the back burner. When that happens, perhaps you’ll remember Albert and me taking long breaks then performing well again. It might bring you peace in a difficult time.
Endurance Essentials eBook page
Story about skinsuits and treadmills. Last Monday, my skinsuit was dry. With my thighs rubbing, I started generating static electricity. Each time I touched the treadmill, I was getting shocked. When I started my main set, the shocks shorted out the treadmill (!). Fortunately, the treadmill rebooted quickly and I figured out how to ground myself before changing speed. Once I was sweating, everything went back to normal.
On the second lap of the Boulder 70.3 course I was amazed at the huge number of folks riding off their aerobars (on their first lap). The fastest bike position is the one you can hold. See Bike Gear in my Guide to Going Long.
The #1 thing you can do is get yourself a position where you can relax on the aerobars.
On an annual basis, avoiding future problems is a strong argument for a deep offseason, followed by a block that’s focused on health.
Good advice for life as much as anything else. Prepare, test and evaluate. Refine and repeat. ✅
Thanks for sharing. Some good reminders here.