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Bricks, Bricks, and More Bricks |
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Written by Vince
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Monday, 14 July 2008 12:41 |
In my quest for a powermeter (another topic for a later date), I have come across numerous discussions regarding athletes ignoring wattage numbers during a race. Miscalculating perceived exertion is one thing but ignoring your powermeter is like... well... it's like saying, "I’m glad I've spent several thousand dollars on a glorified cyclometer."
But regardless of whether or not you use a powermeter, heart rate monitor, or your just racing by feel, you need to be aware of your limitations in order to successfully complete the "running" portion of the race. That's right; you're actually supposed to "run". But many people do not understand this concept which is evident by the number of walkers at any given event. And the longer the event, the more walkers you'll find.
Looking at my numbers from CdA, I am in the top 20% on the bike but I'm in the top 7% on the run. I'm a pretty descent runner but those numbers do not reflect my speed, they are a reflection of everyone else over-pacing the bike.
It's hard for me to describe how to pace the bike leg if I don't have an understanding of your level of fitness. For example, if you've done Ironman, pacing for a sprint is simple... go as fast as you can until you can't breath. But if you've only done a sprint and you're trying to figure out how to pace for an Ironman... well... that's a little tougher. Without a powermeter, the best way to determine your pace is through practice. The more you ride, the more you will know how hard you can push without going too far. I think most people training for an Ironman know this pace but choose to ignore it in a race. Heck, I ignored it yesterday but I wasn't doing an Ironman.
My scheduled workout was a 75 mile ride with three hills of approximately 10 minutes. I decided I'd do one hill for 30 minutes. No big deal... I make substitutions like this all the time. The problem occurred when I arrived at the base of the hill and stopped to eat something. While I was pulling out my food, I was passed by a group from a local race team. Let me add they seemed a bit unfriendly. They had about 100 or so yards on me when I decided to take them down. It was like stealing candy from a baby except one of them didn't seem to like it.
After opening up a considerable gap on the rest of the group, I could hear one guy behind me breathing heavy. I was breathing pretty heavy too since we were moving along at a considerable pace. When we hit a really steep section, I hammered... HARD. When it leveled to about 10%, I picked up the pace and dropped him as well. I then started hammering harder and he was never to be seen again. Upon cresting the hill after a record of 26 minutes, I hammered the descent in order to ensure my victory. Upon reaching the bottom of the descent, I looked down and wondered how I would complete the remaining hours of my ride with my legs all spent. And that my friend is ignoring your pacing limits. From the moment the lone rider decided to follow me until I reached the bottom of the descent, I was well aware I had crossed the redline and was going to pay the consequences. I wasn't racing though. And that's the key. It's perfect to do this on a training day; it's reckless to do it while racing.
So back to the question... how does one figure out how to pace the bike while ensuring the run is not compromised. Well, for one thing, bricks, lots of bricks. For those unfamiliar with the term, bricks are the combination of bike-run workouts. A simple brick could be a one hour bike ride followed by a 20 minute run. Neither of these need to be hard, they just have to be back to back. The idea behind a brick is to get your body used to running on tired legs. Bricks aren't just bike-run either. They can be swim-bike, swim-run, or my favorite, bike-run-bike-run. Ideally, the run will be an out and back and the back will be slightly faster than the out. That is referred to as a "negative split". When you can successfully complete bricks at your desired race pace without a positive split, then you are well on your way to understanding your bike pace.
While this is simplifying things a bit, you should have a general understanding of how to determine pace and you'll hopefully remember these words when you're tempted to push harder than your abilities on race day.
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Last Updated on Saturday, 19 July 2008 14:49 |
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