Narional 100

[George]

Up to Yorkshire for the national 100 tt on Sunday.
The course was a nice fast DC for the first 60 miles then onto a fairly quick Spocco type course for the remainder.
All night long the weather was really trying to mess things up, drizzle and wind was the order of the ride.
Off along the DC and I really couldn't get my head into the ride for some reason, I don't know why but my heart rate was only in the 140's which is way too low for racing.
Past the 50 mile mark in 2.08 which was a very not a good sign.
Finally got onto the 2nd circuit after 60 miles and this is where I started to get things together and really start to drive the pedas round properly, I was spurred on by a rider 10 higher than myself coming past so I took him again one one of the spocco type hills, he then repassed me 10 miles later so I responded with a counterpass, never saw him again.
At around 75 miles Michael Hutchinson whooshed passed, he looked so strong and had taken 32 mins out of me at that point, amazing he finished with a 3.27.
Then to add insult to injury 10 miles a rider came past and I thought oh hang on, that looks like the rear end of a lady, well it was Julia Shaw on her way to comp record 3.52.
I finished strong with loads in the bag and wasn't tired at all, just goes to show I really didn't push myself at all and had messed up my ride.
4.14
Oh well sooner or later I'll get the hang of this TT lark, I know I can do it its just a fact of pushing harder and not worrying about blowing up

[Snoop Doug]

You'll get it one day George, you ole slowcoach!

Good learning.....maybe. Well done another 100 dans le sac

[Dominic]

Shame about that George, it's a long way to go and then not perform as you would want to.

How did you get on the day before?

[Sylv]

[quote="Dominic"]How did you get on the day before?

[Toks]

well done Georgey mate, you're still new to the TT lark so you've got loads of time to get it right. You'll still the man! How about making the 2010 Ras De Cymru stage race part of your training for next years National 100

[Andrew G]

Shame you didn't feel on it after such a long trip, but still a superb time that most of us could only ever dream of.
[quote="George"]Oh well sooner or later I'll get the hang of this TT lark

[Col]

Sounds like you were tired or your not doing the right type of training at present, maybe to much hard stuff not enough btwn. 60 & 80%? What is your HR max?

[George]

http://www.trainingpeaks.com/sw/P7PRSVC ... UVPXJPEGAU

Heres my data from this race as

you can see there was 2 x 30 mile DC laps
followed be 2 x sporting 20 laps

my HR was dropping off on the DC

The DC was actually a greater height gain than the sportiung second half

I raised my cadence for the final hour and a half

[Robh]

[quote="Col"]Sounds like you were tired or your not doing the right type of training at present, maybe to much hard stuff not enough btwn. 60 & 80%? What is your HR max?

[Col]

Yes, I agree you can’t tell from the file on the day, but my experience is if your unable to raise your HR to normal racing levels it indicates a problem from over training, ‘tiredness’ or the wrong type of training before the event. What I’m trying to ascertain is George’s max HR compared to his average for this ride. I would assume it is lower than expected, my max in the last few years is 198 and I would expect to be able to hold circa 180 for a TT and dependent on my training beforehand how long I could remain at that level.

I don’t often do TT’s but the main one’s I have done well or badly at showed up the reason’s looking back at prior training. i.e the same 75 mile mountain TT as part of a Triathlon over two different years produced very different results and the training beforehand was also quite different. The first year I done mainly long endurance rides with very little leg pain no lactic etc. and the second year was harder interval type training. The result was the fastest time the first year and about 20th out of 100+ the next year, also the first year I was fresh for the run and the second knackered.

I only had HR monitoring the second year and after a poor swim I was flying on the bike feeling good HR 190+ (max was higher then) but when I hit the 1st mountain I went bang despite having felt really good up till then and everyone I had gone flying past gradually came back past me again.

Now I know you can’t go by just two rides, but to keep it brief I use these as examples and with many years experience at road racing up to the highest level in this country I feel it’s relevant to consider what George was doing prior to the event as that often informs the result.

I think we all agree George should have posted a faster time and we would like to find out if it was training or some other reason. I’m sure Robh with your considerable scientific knowledge we should be able to give George a reasonable explanation for the below par performance based on his training before the event etc. and probably inform ourselves to avoid similar mistakes, mind you I still make the same mistakes mainly going to hard to short, but that’s just what suits me and despite the science there’s still a lot of guess work and all very dependent on the person and the stage they are at.

George the bit about blowing up is unlikely to happen if you have got the right background training in and have good fat utilisation, a few years ago I rode the 115 mile Ronde Picarde Grand Trophee on two bidons of sports drink and not having trained more than 50 miles max distance in the previous 6 months and got stronger as the race went on (4th on age and just behind Jimmy Casper), of course make sure your rested and have full carbo stores beforehand.