Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Critical Points

I was thinking yesterday, while swimming my 20 X 200 in the pool, about critical points during my 40 minute time trial on the bike this past weekend. The goal of most of my time trials is to stay within a pre-determined wattage zone and specific cadence. Speed, distance and heart rate are ignored...always.

In staying in a specific watt zone, it can be misinterpreted to mean, "as long as my final wattage is in my zone, I'm ok". This is not always the case. For myself, the primary goal of Saturday's TT was to be about 315 watts for 40 minutes. Not only to average this, but to stay as close as possible to the mean. As far as time trialing most effectively goes, it's not just about the final average of 315, its how close I can stay to that number without huge shifts either way. If I average say, 313 for 35 minutes of the 40, then push to 360 (Z6) for the final 5 minutes and blow my legs up to get my average to 315, then I've defeated the purpose of the time trial. Sure, "drifting" into low zone 5, say 325, 10 watts higher will not break me toward the end. But, hammering the final portion leads to a breakdown in the metabolic equilibrium you've established during the time trial and pushing your systems to an extreme at the end defeats the purpose.

So, I typically look down at my wattage at various points during my TT. One is as I enter a hill initially, I'll see the watts spike up to 50 above my average. Another is immediately at the bottom of a hill as the road straightens out, another spike of about 50. This subtle change in terrain on a race course, if not payed attention to, will lead to short duration massive spikes in wattage that push the equilibrium into a non-sustainable state.

A third is when passing. In triathlon, yes, passing has to be on the quicker side with the limited time of 15 seconds allowed without penalty. I notice when I pass, I easily get my front wheel beyond the other riders' front wheel in 15 seconds once I break the plane of 3 bike lengths. I dont have to do this in 5 seconds. Just cruising along and increasing my watts by 10 will get me easily past. Without paying attention, commonly my watts will jump more than 50 just to pass.

A fourth is cornering and turning around. I purposely do time trials out and back for this reason some of the time. This reassures me that the drop in your average watts you see when turning around (very common in races) does not have to be "made up" in the next 1 minute. For instance, in a 20 minute TT I did last tuesday, I turned around on the road and went back at about half way. My watt goal was 330 average for 20 minute TT. I was 330 on the button at the turnaround. After turning and heading back, my wattage dropped to 327. Yes, surging to 375 watts for 1 minute would likely get my average back to 330 quickly, but again, this causes a disruption in the metabolic equilibrium I've established. So, I have learned (actually a few years back) that you can easily get your wattage back to average off a turn around and near stop during a race. It doesnt require spiking 50 watts over a minute, but rather 5-10 watts higher over 5 minutes.

These critical points above are not obvious. It requires a subtle easing up on the effort through these points, and thus your power curve becomes nearly straight on the axis during the interval.

Lastly, the "I've got balls" factor. In one recent time trial with a couple of athletes, the goal was low Z4 average wattage for 40 minutes. I purposely passed them at 25 minutes putting myself 10 watts into zone 5, and sustaining this for 15 minutes. This increased my speed by 2 mph and after 15 minutes should have easily had a 45 second lead on them at the end. Instead, one was 10 sec. back and the other about 20. So, I know it was impossible for them to have stayed in zone 4, despite their claims that they had. A similar phenomenon occurs when there are a group of guys training for similar race coming up. And thirdly, this occurs if for some reason someone falls off pace due to transient problem, then tries to "get back to the group" quickly. All these scenarios are centered around a common factor. The athlete is not confident in his/her ability. This lack of "athletic self esteem" is the primary factor that leads us to over training, peaking too early, and racing not to our potential. I have said this oh, 20 times over the past 3 years to those I train with. Nobody remembers your workouts, they remember your race. How is it possible that I TT 305 watts at over 24 miles and hour at ITU, for 75 miles, and 23 mph at 265 watts for a 112 mile TT in an IM, and yet finish way behind a group of people who are 20-30 minutes back in a race. It's simple. I am typically ready for most races through proper training, and a constant control over my real-time training stress, as well as patience and foresight that what I am doing is right.
As an athlete, if you dont have the self confidence to know that how you're performing in a workout compared to others is irrelevant when it comes to racing, then it's your limiter. Think about this next time you dont accomplish your goal.

All these "critical points" lead to unnecessary wattage spikes which take us away from equilibrium, and take us out of "the zone" when preparing for a key event, as well as during that key event. Unfortunately, you can coach and coach and coach, over and over again. Some athletes just cant make the behavior adjustment necessary. These athletes are the one's that train for a 9:45 Ironman, yet go 10:30-11 hours on race day. Myself personally, I have been coached most of my adult life in one discipline or another, and have learned to maintain control most times, and learned how to approach my maximum without exceeding it in workouts. Of course I am talking about generalizations in controlled rides, runs, and swims with structured intervals. Not those quick fun moments in a workout when we race to a sign or hammer a hill or 2. These short fun hard efforts will not make or break you in a race because they are very short compared to the total workout, and are never done during a structured interval or TT. So, when I race, I can go to my maximum and in alot of cases, exceed my maximum. How is it that racing at 43 age, and competing in triathlon for nearly 6 years that I can set personal bests in the Sprint, Olympic, Half, and Full Ironman distances just over this past year?

Do you get aggravated when someone passes you on a TT in a workout and feel you have to "go with them" or you're "not good enough"?

Do you allow someone to pass you on an uphill during a workout? especially a girl?

As a women, do you feel like you have to "keep up with the boys" in order to feel strong or feel like a competitive athlete?

Do you feel like you nearly fall off the bike after many workouts because you've hammered until you cant even stand on the pedals? Do you finish those final intervals or final few miles of your long run like you're racing for the olympic gold?

Do you nearly always finish the last 25% of a swim interval session slower than the first 25%? Are your warm up and cool downs in running and swimming near your goal race pace? Is your warm up and cool down on the bike at or near IM wattage?

Do you feel disspointed in your race performance, time and time again, and cant seem to approach your personal best in any event, yet, you're blowing away people clearly faster than yourself in workouts?

Coping with these things and learning to keep even a small amount of control can result in significant gains on race day. If you cant figure this out, I cant help you.