As part of my training for IM FLORIDA, I've done a few big rides. By the way, the above picture has nothing to do with the content of this post. I just like it. It's from back in the day, 4th of July Tri in Elma, circa 2006. It's a reminder to me of how far I've come. Back then, the idea of an IM was so remote as to be laughable. So, all you folks out there that say "I can't" well you're wrong. You can. Get it through your head, and life will be far more rewarding.
Three rides in particular I'd like to discuss, and the pacing/power numbers for them. Here are the rides, simply by the numbers:
August 7th:
Duration: 5:50:45
Distance: 100.28
Average Power: 177 watts
Normalized Power*: 195
September 10th:
Duration: 5:30:51
Distance: 90.34
Average Power: 177 watts
Normalized Power*: unavailable :-(
October 1st:
Duration: 6:06:55
Distance: 118.65
Average Power: 176
Normalized Power*: 189
So from the numbers you might conclude that I haven't really gotten any stronger or fitter at long rides. Honestly, I don't know myself--that would require a bit of formalized testing. However, with an n=1 experiment of the Black Diamond Half from last week, where average power = 278 and normalized was 290 for 2:25:49, I certainly feel like I'm as strong as I've ever been. Strong enough that my wattage numbers surprised me at the race.
But so much of long course tri is pacing. This is something that has been reinforced again and again by Gordo's coaching. So, let's look at the general wattage trends for the three rides:
August 7th:
September 10th:
October 1st:
Look at the three rides....what do you think of my pacing? There is a big up down near the middle of Oct 1st, that was when I had to climb up a highway overpass because of a deceitful road. But what's the general trend? Getting stronger, maybe, or at least maintaining a somewhat even power profile. Look at the other two and there is a lot more variability (partially because I was on mostly flat roads for Oct 1st) and a general tapering off.
Why is this important? This tells me that while I may not be putting out more watts, I am getting stronger as the ride progresses, and that had I run a marathon off the tail end of these three rides, the Oct 1st marathon would have been a heckuva lot better, since I had a lot left in the tank. That's something important to grasp in IM training; it's not necessarily who has the fastest bike split, it's the smartest bike split.
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