Today’s workout was a race simulation brick: 6hr ride / 30min run. To do this workout, I used a course that I have used the past couple years. I posted a workout on motionbased last year from the course (2 loops of the course):
Motionbased chart of Race Simulation Loop
Just for a little more information about the loop, I did an analysis of this loop versus the loop at Ironman Wisconsin:
Ironman Wisconsin Route Elevation vs. Race Simulation Route Elevation
The key element regarding the loop that we use for race simulation is that the elevation gain for 1 loop is 2,926ft (36.2 miles).   Looking at motionbased entries for the Ironman Louisville course we get a few different numbers, but it appears that approx 8,000 to 8,500 ft of elevation gain is common for the full 112 miles. That appears high compared to what I’ve been told, so I’ll have to dig a little more.
Ironman Louisville, Motionbased downloads
Now that we know what today’s course looks like and a glimpse at IMLou’s course, let’s look at my data from today:
Today’s Workout:
Distance   Time            AveHR    MaxHR     AveSpeed
36.17 mi     02:16:10     123            189              15.9 mph
36.22 mi      02:08:33     131            156              16.9 mph
36.15 mi      02:04:26     138            165              17.4 mph
The parameters that I put on these loops were as follows:
loop 1 – cap heart rate at 140bpm
loop 2 – cap heart rate at 145bpm
loop 3 – cap heart rate at 155bpm
If you look at the data then it appears that I failed this objective. I don’t think that it was as bad as the data appears. The first loop was really easy and I know the the 189bpm max is not accurate. For one, I was never working even moderately hard. And two, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen my heart rate at 189bpm on the bike (maybe in the lap 8 or 9 years ago?).
I personally believe that I did an excellent job maintaining those objectives for the 3 loops, but there is one climb during the loop that peaked my heart rate every time. So those max heart rates were likely for 30secs to 2mins out of the 2 hours, as I tried to calm myself down each time I came to the hill.
An interesting comparison is to compare today’s workout with my Race Simulation #2 in 2007 as I got ready for IMMoo: Race Sim and Nutrition 2007 #2 That workout was 6 weeks out from IMMoo. Today’s workout looks very similar.
The one difference is that I appear to be running stronger right now!
Run Data:
1.00 mi    00:07:46   157   165     07:46/mi
1.00 mi    00:07:52    161    167    07:52/mi
1.00 mi    00:07:23    164    170    07:23/mi
0.12 mi    00:00:53    164    169    07:35/mi
Nutrition Review:
All I can say is that today was really poor! I made a big mistake before I even started the workout: I didn’t order my Infinit Nutrition refill soon enough. So I was left using what we had at the house: gatorade, gu’s, egel’s, luna moons, ale 8, salt tabs and water.
Needless to say, that was too much stuff to try and take in on a pretty hot (88F) day. Especially when I’m not used to using any of those items right now.
What ended up happening was I was mixing things a little too much and ended up having some serious stomach cramps by the end of the second loop. For the 3rd loop, I used water, 2 bottles of ale8 and salt tabs and things got back to normal.
My order of Infinit should be here Monday (those guys are fast!). And I should have enough to get me through until the Ironman.
All in all, I was pretty happy with the workout. I keep waiting for this sudden jump in cycling performance and it will come. Patience is a key to success in ultra endurance events, but a highly uncommon trait to those that are attracted to this sport. Master patience and humility and you’ll be above the normal curve come race day… that is what I continue to believe and coach.
