Three weeks before an Ironman, our coaches have us do the second of two race rehearsals, encompassing a 6 hour bike ride (or 112 miles, whichever comes first) followed by a 6 miles or 1 hour run. I have been doing these in the Roaring Fork Valley the past few years. This year, I chose to stage at the half way point on the Rio Grande Trail, where it meets Hooks Lane. My plan was three segments of 37-8 miles. First, down to Glenwood and back in the early morning on the bike path, hoping to avoid any other trail users. Second, up to the end of the Woody Creek Road and back via a combination of the Trail and River Road. Third, up the Fryingpan to where the steep hill starts, 12.5 miles up. The trip back from there would be hot and windy, I suspected. Then, run along the trail where it follows the river towards Catherine. There’s nothing flat here, but the climbs are all long and steady, about 1-2% grades except for two segments of 4 miles or so where some 4-7% grades are thrown in.
The weather was clear, with smoke haze from forest fires down on the NM border. The temp ranged from 50F at the 8 AM start to 85 at the finish. It got warm during the third loop, and hot on the run. Good.
Here are the numbers, poorly formatted:
Seg. Miles Time HR IF NP VI Elev. Gain/loss Wind
1 19 52:30 99 0.62 133 1.04 Down 880′ Calm to 5 mph tail
2 18.8 1:02:38 104 0.70 150 1.03 Up 880′ Calm to 5 mph V
3 18.9 1:14:50 107 0.684 147 1.04 Up 1710′ 5 mph mostly tail
4 18.5 50:10 Unk 0.51 109 1.24 Back down 5-10 head
5 19.7 1:06:50 114 0.674 145 1.04 Up 1222′ 10-20 mostly tail; now it’s 80+F
6 17.1 51:08 101 0.52 112 1.13 Back down 15-20 mph mostly head
Total time 5:59:30, distance 112.3, TSS 244, Total elev gain 4640′ (I left out the gains on the downhills above), IF 0.64
The last segment always gets windy like that, and I put it there to test my persistence and toughness. I don’t understand why I get the high VIs when I’m doing downhills like that. Some of the time, I am coasting, which accounts for the low IF, and may also affect the VI?
For the run, I had consulted our soon-to-be released app for determining pace degradation when running in the heat. The course I ran was down the first three miles 1-2%, then back up. So my plan was to have the pace for the first 3 to be the same as the second 3, to reflect both the change in gradient and the 30 sec add to the first three mile. I ran the heat app the night before @ 80, which showed I should go 9:45 (+ 30 sec for the first 3 miles), so I was planning on 10 minute miles. I went back and checked the numbers for 85 F (the actual temp), and it showed I should expect to go 10:14, compared to my LRP of 8:58 (from a VDOT of 47, based on a recent HM; my LRP from my 5K VDOT is 49 >> 8:39)
Mile Pace NGP from WKO+ HR
1 9:13 9:55 114
2 9:41 10:06 116
3 9:21 9:48 117
4 10:03 9:31 119
5 9:48 9:22 120
6 9:45 9:08 122 Total time 57:55
The NGP (?Normalized for Grade Pace) supposedly accounts for differences in grade. The HR rise demonstrates how I gradually increased the effort level during the course of the run, confirmed by the drop in NGP. I drank (while walking) about 7 oz each mile, ’cause that’s all I could carry with me.
I probably could have used some salt tabs the last 2 hours of the bike, and I could have done with a lot more rest the week before!
But all things considered, this RR was a success. I demonstated to myself a number of things I was concerned about: I can safely and successfully eat and drink on the bike (I have ongoing swallowing difficulties from my accident 9 months ago). I have enough bike fitness to go 4 miles farther than last year on the same course, and still run well in the heat of the day.
What can I learn (maybe not before the Ironman)? I need to get a better handle on descending easy grades, so I can have a better VI and IF on that type of terrain.
BTW, don’t freak out about my HRs; my resting rate is 38, and my max is something less than 167!