Always learning (A poor weekend at the National Champs)

Well 4 weeks ago I was flying along and everything was looking hunky dory. Mt 20 minute power was up to 360+ watts and my weight was down to under 70kg. Everything was on target and with the xmas holidays I was very hopeful of a good showing at the National TT and Road Champs. Coming from England I have done a fair few TT’s and with the purchase of the new Specialized Transition I was looking at doing a ride.

New TT rig with aggro position

Well that was before I went to WA and the surf was pumping!!!!! Checking over my last 8 weeks of data is has become very clear that 6 hours a week average just isn’t going to cut it at the top level. Sometimes family and commitments outside cycling have to take priority. It was a great holiday and it has renewed my determination to train hard and get super fit for the Terra Australis and National 24 Champs in late March and April.

Below are two TrainingPeaks files for nearly identical TT’s. One is the National Champs and the other a local TT with a very similar course and distance that I completed back in May 08.

What I should have done!!

Bad day at the office

 

Now then what is the difference when my FTP for both events was very similar??? The TT position that’s what. I was fitted and set up with no time to really test the positon, I am quite flexible and went for an aggro position to gain max aero advantage. This is where it all went wrong, as I was only able to hold nearly 300 watts around 50 watts down on my target power. Now this has some major implications the biggest being the numb old fella, and the demotivation caused by looking at your SRM and seeing it telling you that you are running like a nose!!! It is very funny because I would never let one of my athletes go into an event without prior testing to see if the position was ok, but, for me it shouldn’t matter (what a plonker) The Road Race was just a brutal race from the start, I managed around 10 laps of the 16 total. The first 2 showed average power on the 6 – 7 minute climb of 420 watts!!!! very big numbers. With my weight up to 72k’s I just wasn’t going to be able to stay in the game. I estimate a power/weight ratio of 5.2 watts/kg would be needed to hang in and more to be a player. Stats for the road race were a normalised power of nearly 320 watts for 2.5 hours so it wasn’t a walk in the park thats for sure, with 9 x VO2 max efforts of between 6 and 7 minutes of between 358 – 420 watts. lol

So lots learned and lots to digest and get right for next year, it’s the MTB Nationals next weekend so I will go and have some fun and use my new S-Works Epic ;o) more on the machine later.

Cheers

Fenz

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