Tinman race plan

https://bestbikesplit.com/public/42619

As anyone who has been following this blog knows, my big goal for 2016 was the Honu 70.3. Coming as it did in June that leaves about half a year with nothing to do. When Tinman sign-up opened I decided to put my conditioning to work one more time, but where Honu was serious stuff, Tinman is more about having a good time.

Based on my recent swim data I can expect a pace of 2:45/100yds. The course is 750 meters, about 820 yards, so that comes out to 22:30.

The bike is always a mystery because I never ride race distances at race pace. I used Best Bike Split to develop some models and came up with 1:39. Training Peaks just informed me my FTP has gone up again, this time only by two watts, but I am holding off changing my zones and stuff until after this race.

The run is as much of a mystery as the bike. Last Saturday I ran a 10K to get a better feel for the distance and sustained effort. Close to race effort but not nearly as hilly as the race course. Did it in 1:37. I was more interested in maintaining a high cadence than just going fast, will need to compromise a little there on Sunday. Let's just go with 1:40.

Here is how things stack up with my last two Tinman races:

	2014	2015	2016 est
Swim	0:35	0:29	0:23
T1	0:07	0:06	0:06
Bike	1:35	1:30	1:39
T2	0:03	0:03	0:03
Run	1:36	1:39	1:40

One thing we can see from this is how hard I have worked on my swim. For the bike and run I would like to improve, but it may just be that this is a fast as my body will go. Let's see what happens.

My fuel plan is pretty basic. The usual pre-race meal -- two pieces of toast with Nutella work well for me. On the bike I will carry a four scoop bottle of Perpetuem and two water bottles which I will swap at the turn around. I prefer to stop for that rather than risk a crash. I will get started on that coming out of T1 and as soon as I crest Diamond Head, to replace the calories I burned in the swim. At Honu I used Scratch Lab chews for this and they worked well, but for this distance an all liquid approach makes more sense. I will carry a Bonk Breaker, which I did use at Honu, but only as a backup plan in case I start to feel bonky, which did happen at Honu. I will take one Endurolytes tab every thirty minutes unless it is raining hard, which is a distinct possibility. For the run I will use my two bottle Fuelbelt, one two scoop bottle of Perpetuem and one water. I plan to have finished the Perpetuem as I climb Diamond Head on the return. I will also take Endurolytes as on the bike.

My goal for this race is to end my triathlon season with something fun. I am not going to worry much about pace and cadence and all that. Instead I want to perform well and be smiling at the finish line.

Improving my swim, part 2

In my previous post -- part one of what I plan on being a series -- I presented a video of me swimming with fins. The above water stuff was useless so I decided to do it again last Wednesday, and for this iteration I decided to see how much worse I was with bare feet. Much to my amazement I was not worse. If anything I was better! This is counter-intuitive, because the fins are supposed to help lift the feet, mimicking the bouncy of salt water. In any case I was surprised to see how high my hips are, most of the time.

This video consists of over fifteen short clips. (I rushed to get it done last night and got one out of order -- oh well.) I made notes on each clip, but to present them here would be really boring so I have boiled them down to a few comments.The overall sequence is

Underwater

1. Full length whole stroke
2. Half length freeze action drill with snorkel
3. Full length whole stroke with snorkel

Above Water

1. Full length whole stroke
2. Pool side - out of sequence
3. Same freeze motion drill seen from above
4. Pool side, not very useful
5. Dramatic finish

About the drill, this is based on something I learned last March in Kona from Celeste St. Clair, embellished by the "Hook, Line and Sinker" video by Suzanne Atkinson. (Please do not hold them accountable for what you see here. I take full responsibility!) My goal is hold a straight line from my spearing hand to my same side toes. This part of her video demonstrates the desired position, straight as an arrow where mine looks like a bent wire coat hangar. 

 Comments

• Overall my hips are closer to the surface than I thought. This is good.
• My knees want to be lower than my hips (thighs angle down). This is to some extent a flexibility issue. Even when I do a quad stretch I have a hard time getting my stretching side knee even with or behind my standing side knee. A result of years of cycling.
• In an attempt to raise my foot I bend my knee instead of lifting the whole leg. (This and the previous bullet are conjoined twins.)
• Underwater, swimming away, hips drop as left leg lifts in preparation for kick. Not so bad on right side. At the same time right foot should be low and steady, but mine flicks up and down as if reacting to left leg trying to lift and kick.
• As my hands enter they go too low.
• Neither arm is straight enough.
• Right arm too far in towards center, even crosses.
• During recovery, right upper arm goes vertical trying to make breathing easier. Arm should be at 45 degrees, rotate head enough to get air.
• Overall, I need to have a bit more quickness during the spear, get that lead hand forward, then hold the long, straight line longer to extend the glide. Being so crooked there isn't much glide to enjoy, leading to too much activity. The lack of smoothness snowballs.

For the next phase of swimming I am going to focus on arm position. I think correcting my legs will be easier when my arms are moving correctly.

Here is this week's video:

https://youtu.be/ieSeQRQnBvE

Improving my swim, part 1

The number one take-away from last Month's Half Ironman is that I need to improve my swim. Specifically, my efficiency. A seemingly more straightforward way to say it would be that I need to get faster. The trouble with putting it that way is that it invites a solution by way of increasing effort. No doubt a harder pull and a higher stroke rate will result in a faster swim, but at a terribly high energy cost. It was the near depletion of my energy that led to my downfall on the bike and put the run entirely out of reach. I cannot just hold back a bit, either, because with a swim time of 1:07:45 I am already too far back in the pack and precariously close to the cutoff time of 1:10:00. Nope, the only path to improvement is improved efficiency.

Back in March I finally learned how to do a proper two-beat kick, which is the preferred Total Immersion (TI) technique. When I start swimming for triathlon a couple years ago my friends all told me to forget about kicking and just let my legs drift along behind me, because if I did kick my stiff feet would just make me go backwards. I tried some kick board drills and what they said was true. I went nowhere, or backwards. Unless I wore fins.

When I worked through Terry Laughlin's Freestyle video it so happened that nothing was said about kicking until near the end, and even then there was no explanation of a two-beat kick, only instructions to use it. I guess experienced swimmers know what a two-beat kick is. I didn't.

At the TI Open Water swim camp in Kona last March Coach Celeste spent a lot of time on how to do a proper two beat kick. By the end of the week the personal direction from Celeste and Coach Bill was that I need to get my butt up to the surface and my feet as close to the surface as possible. I tend to go through the water like a rear-heavy power boat, which creates a ton of drag. I am certain that by getting my body level my efficiency will go way up.

I have included some links to some videos that set a good example. None are perfect, but each one offers something valuable.

First up, Shelley Taylor Smith and Mel Benson. I doubt these two women consider themselves TI swimmers. The kick looks exactly like what Coach Celeste taught us:

• Legs motionless between kicks
• Legs slightly apart
• High hip leg foot lower than the other (counterintuitive)
• Leg on low hip initiates body roll with downward kick, which lifts legs and hips

What is not TI about this clip is the arm motion. Both women thrust forward while still out of the water. The TI way is early entrance into the water, then reach forward and down. More on this a bit further down. This clip begins with Shelley Taylor Smith, Bel Benson enters at 2:30.

https://youtu.be/wt6_bqj_808

Here is a clip of Terry Laughlin himself. Notice how he brings his feat close together after the kick.

https://youtu.be/hC8ZZZhabp4

An oft quoted clip of good TI form is this one by Shinji Takeuchi. Notice how, like Terry, he returns his kicking foot to end up next to the high foot.

https://youtu.be/rJpFVvho0o4

Is this clip Coach Suzanne Atkinson is demonstrating a drill she calls Hook, Line and Sinker. It just so happens to show a key aspect of the TI two beat kick, how the high leg forms a straight line with the lead arm. The lick set happening in the background is not TI! The first shot of leg position comes about 4 minutes in, but the entire clip is worth watching.

https://youtu.be/P8s_B1sGTYY

At the TI camp Coach Celeste had us take a look at this clip of Sun Yang finishing a 1500M freestyle race. His stroke looks to me like TI perfection, at high speed. His legs are mostly a two beat kick with a little flick in the middle, up until he decides to turn up the heat. Pay close attention to the comments my the female commentator.

http://youtu.be/u6uqZd8Tn3Y

The other thing Coach Celeste helped me with was a low spearing hand position. Take a look at Suzanne's video and notice how her hand enters early but stays close to the surface until she is ready to set up her catch. Now listen to the master himself address a similar swim camp a few years ago, especially how he describes dropping the lead arm through the mail slot right on down to the catch position. It was this advice that got me to a low hand position. Most likely a misunderstanding, but TI technique has evolved.

https://youtu.be/pITBtglEUGk

Now brace yourself for how I swim now. Right off the bat let me point out that I am wearing stubby fins. I find they give me a better feel for the water in the pool. In the ocean I do not use them. I will shoot this again in a few weeks, without fins.

This video was shot July 1, 2016, at the Oahu Club 25 yard pool, where I swim Monday and Wednesday mornings. It begins with whole stroke warm-up, then a freeze action drill I use to work on balance and leg position. For this drill I use a snorkel. What I feel is that my right leg is good at getting into position. When it is the left leg's turn to form a straight line with my left arm it does not know what to do and flops around like a headless chicken. When I watch this the thing that jumps out at me, something I am not aware of in the water, is how much I bend my knees. That has to improve.

The last part is some above water stuff. I was too low to see any useful leg work, but it does show arm position during recovery. Sorry for the tilt.

https://youtu.be/L22m8Tj24vs

In the coming weeks I will continue to post videos of my progress. Let's see how much better I can do that 2:40/100 yards. My short term goal is straight legs!

Fatigue exposed

In my Honu race report I described how tired I felt on the bike. How, even after a reasonable warm up period, I was unable to produce the watts necessary to follow my plan. At first it just felt weird. Then I began to understand that my fatigue was very real and the result of an hour long high power swim. Had I not been so aggressive in the water my race would have ended on the beach.

In the days that followed I did what any athlete would do in a similar situation, I began to question my preparation. Had I prepared adequately? Was I right to expect that I could produce the necessary power? In short, what went wrong? Fortunately Training Peaks makes available a ton of data, and I decided to look there for answers. I found them, too.

First, a quick review of what the data means. These are my definitions.

FTP - Functional Threshold Power. The maximum sustained power a cyclist can produce for an extended period of time, typically one hour. Equivalent to the power generated at Lactate Threshold Heart Rate (LTHR).

NP - Normalized Power. An average power, expressed in watts, for a period of time, adjusted to express the impact on the body. A ride on rolling hills at an average power of 120 watts will feel harder, and require more energy from the rider, than riding a flat course for the same duration at an average of 120 watts. In that case the flat ride will have an NP of 120 watts while the NP for the rolling hills ride will be higher.

IF - Intensity Factor. The average percentage of FTP produced for a period of time. IF = 1.0 means the ride was done at an NP equal to FTP. If the goal is to ride at an average of 85% FTP, IF will be 0.85.

VI - Variability Index. I am still not completely clear about this one. VI expresses how much the power varied from an ideal. Typically a time trial is done at a smooth, continuous power level. On a flat course VI should be close to 1.0, with anything between 0.97 and 1.03 being excellent. I am not clear how hills affect this number. A good strategy is to work harder on climbs and recover while descending. Seems to me that this will increase VI, unless the software also takes into account elevation changes.

The remaining columns in my analysis should not require explaining.

What I did was go back and get the most recent useful ride data and compare them with my Honu ride. To a certain extent this comparing apples to oranges, because none of the rides have the same profile. By focusing on a twenty minute continuos climb I was able to find something significant.

On May 8th I did a workout on Pineapple Hill -- Hwy. 99 from Haleiwa going up towards Wahiawa, which consisted of three ascents of twenty minutes each. On May 15 I did the Honolulu Triathlon, which has no hills, but I did ride at my planned Honu intensity, the goal being to sustain 85% FTP as smoothly as possible. On May 22 I did Pineapple Hill again, but this time only one ascent followed by a long flat ride with some all-out intervals.

The results of these rides and my Honu ride are given in the table below. (Click to see a larger version.) There are two sets of columns. First, the data for the entire ride. Then, for all except the Honolulu Triathlon, data for a twenty minute continuous climb. Note that I include all three ascents from the 15th.

There is a lot to look at, but one comparison in particular stands out, Honu and the second ascent on the 15th. On Pineapple Hill I was able to generate 172 watts for twenty minutes at an average heart rate of 135 BPM, while on the climb to Hawi I was making 115 watts at a heart rate of 137. What these data do not reveal is that in both cases I am very close to LTHR. Any attempt to go faster was unsustainable. There is a huge difference between 172 watts and 115 watts, and I could feel it. Even on the second day at Pineapple Hill I did 147 watts. On the first day I was going all out, On the second day I was trying to hold back as if it were a race. (The goal is to be able to run a half marathon after the bike.) For Honu my overall IF goal was 0.85. I planned to do the climb to Hawi a little above that; here I did 0.89 and followed the climb with a hard set of intervals and could still run off the bike. One more number. On the twenty minute climbs on Pineapple Hill I gained over 500 feet. For the twenty minute Honu segment -- not the entire climb but most of it, I only gained about 300 feet.

These data show that in the weeks leading up to Honu I had the strength to do well. The one thing I did not take into account was the effect of the long, intense swim. I think this confirms the conclusion I arrived at in my race report, that to do any better ay Honu I need to improve my swim efficiency. Of course there is plenty of room for improvement in my bike and run performance.

Honu pau - Ironman 70.3 Hawaii race report

Sometimes winning does not happen at the finish line.

Much of what I wrote in my previous post has a direct bearing to this one. I am not going to repeat all that, so if you have not already read it I suggest that you do. What I will summarize here are the outcomes I predicted:

1. I would miss the swim cutoff time
2. I would make the swim, do fine on the bike, but miss the 2:00PM halfway run cutoff
3. I would finish

By my calculations, if I did finish I would just barely make the swim and run cutoff times, with a total time just under 8:30. The bike, specifically, was to come in just under four hours to have any chance of finishing the run in time.

My result was none of the above.

I did make the swim cutoff. It was close, as predicted. My recent best effort swim pace has been around 2:45/100 yds. I was hoping to stay below 3:00, and to have any chance of finishing the swim in time I need to get down to 2:40. I did 2:41. The cutoff was 1:10 after your wave start. I finished in 1:07:45.

Was I last out of the water? No. But I am confused by the results. There were eight people slower than me. Three made it under 1:10, and one of those finished. But there were two with swim times over 1:10 who got times for the bike and run, even though they got a DNF for the race. Hmm. They should have had their timing chip removed on the beach. Apparently they were allowed to continue. No big deal.

I was so surprised that I finished the swim in time that I hardly knew what to do. Of course I had planned everything, I just never thought I would get that far. All I really wanted to do was celebrate, but I had to hustle up the ramp to T1 and get going on the bike. I probably would have stopped at the water's edge had my sherpa team not been screaming at me to run through the arch.

Finding my bike in the corral was no problem, because it was one of a handful still there. No problems with transition, got going on the steep uphill start, executed my bike start plan perfectly. Go easy on the climb up to the Queen K and take advantage of the first long downhill to take on some water and solid food -- Scratch Labs chews.

Two things were radically different than my practice runs. My heart rate was through the roof, and I felt really tired. The degree of fatigue I felt was like nothing I had felt before at the end of a swim or the start of a ride. On my way to the turn-around my the Mauna Lani my goal was to get my heart rate down from zone 5 to below 4.5. It was not until Kawaihae that it settled down, but every hard effort would make it go up again. Basically my heart rate was one to two zones higher than what I consider normal for RPE, especially as measured by respiration.

The other thing I began to notice was that I was not hitting the power levels I had planned on. I was typically around ten watts below plan. If I tried to get back up to plan, my heart rate took off and I felt an intense wave of fatigue. But then, a bit of good news. I hit my way-point time at the junction of Highway 19 and 270 exactly as predicted, fifty minutes from the start of the bike. I thought perhaps my power levels were a little off, and that I should keep doing the best I could.

Unfortunately this would not hold. My next way-point was Lapakahi Park, which I was supposed to reach at 1:40 after start, but arrived at 1:45. Along the way my legs felt like cottage cheese. I was supposed to get to the Hawi turn-around at 2:15, I made it at 2:25. To be clear, these were maximum times to finish before the 5:30 bike cut-off. My goal was to beat them without burning all my energy. Instead I was falling behind while using every ounce of strength. This is not the way to ride the bike segment of a triathlon.

It was at that point that the words Guy Hagi said at the start really sunk home. Words I have heard countless times before, even from Terry Laughlin. "You cannot win a triathlon in the swim, but you sure can loose one." Now I knew what my problem was. Not a lack of fitness or training, some sudden, mysterious loss of leg strength. I had just had the swim of my life, a full hour going as hard as I could. No wonder I was so tired. No wonder my legs could not muster enough energy.

There was one more thing I realized just before arriving at Hawi. I had gotten behind on my nutrition, and very likely had not packed enough fuel. I had a four hour bottle of Hammer Perpetuem, the drink I have been using for over a year with excellent results. To supplement that I had one bag of Scratch Lab chews and one Bonk Breaker bar. The chews were to replenish after the swim/ The Bonk Breaker was to replenish after the climb to Hawi. The long downhill section would give my stomach a break and ensure easy digestion.

I felt better soon after eating the bar, and continued to push the Perpetuem. This was a 4X concentration, so every swig had to be accompanied by a good slug of water, which I did. By the time I got down to sea level at Kawaihae I was out of fuel. Not optimal, but at least I didn't barf. Next aid station was just past the 19-270 junction and I knew I could get a bottle a Gatorade there.

The climb from Kawaihae to the intersection was a death march. I could barely pedal. My handlebars were wobbling. Even so I passed someone. I could see vultures flying overhead.

I made the junction at 3:45 from start, ten minutes behind plan. I had not lost any more time, but I had not made any back, and I was cooked. It was there that I decided to throttle back a little so that I could at least make it into T2 without crashing. A few minutes later my feelings were underscored when I saw a truck go by with the bike belonging to the woman I had passed climbing up from Kawaihae. She was in the cab, condition unknown. I decided I was not going to abandon out here, not unless my feet fell off.

A little later an official van pulled along side to check on my condition and offer me a ride. I said I preferred to ride it in and they said that was fine as long as I was able to continue. I made it all the way to the Highway to Hell (Hoohana St.), about 100 yards from the dismount line, when the same van pulled me over. They were profusely apologetic as they explained that they had been ordered to stop and pick up all riders still on course because the course was closed. So I rode the last 100 yards in the van. Silly.

The interesting thing is that at no time did I feel bad about not finishing the bike. Well, I was annoyed that I was not allowed to ride all the way to the finish. What I mean is I did not mind missing the cutoff. Finishing the swim was a huge reward for me, and I could tell that I was doing pretty good on the bike. I had a good plan and I was prepared. I just had not grasped how much the swim would take out of me.

My supporters were more concerned about the swim than I was. They even made me my own race bling knowing that I was not likely to get a real one.

As I got off the bike both legs were flickering with the onset of cramping. Back at the condo I sat awhile in the jacuzzi, and again my legs were cramping when I tried to get out. I was really wrecked! A hard swim and a hard ride.

A number of people have asked me if I intend to do this race again next year. For now, my answer is that it depends on improving my swim. For a rough estimate I averaged the times in my age group, the idea being that if I could be a middle of the pack swimmer I should do okay. The average time in my AG was around forty-five minutes.  That is a lot of improvement to make in one year. My friend Steve Davidson did it in 54:40 and finished in 8:19:35 -- that's cutting it close! -- so perhaps that much improvement is not necessary. But there is another number and it is hard to measure. TSS is as close as we can get. I was swimming really hard. To have a good race I not only need to improve my swim time, I also need to improve my efficiency. I need to be more streamlined in the water.

It is too soon to say where exactly this is going. I will do the Tinman in a couple months. Let's see if I can shave a bit more off of my swim pace by then.

Last but not least, a big mahalo to all of my supporters, most of all Sonya Weiser Souza and my tireless sherpa and wife, Pattie.

Honu 2016 race plan

In less than a week I will do the race that inspired this blog. Ironman Hawaii 70.3, a.k.a Honu. Once it is over, whatever the outcome, the question will arise, at least in my mind, what to do with this blog. Right now I don't feel any desire to stop doing triathlon. A break would be nice. Doing Honu has been my goal for the last two years, and everything else has revolved around that goal. But the fact is my physical fitness is at an all-time high, and I am not struggling with injuries. I hate to throw all that away.

A lot depends on the outcome of this race. For example, one reasonable sounding outcome depends upon a decent result this weekend. In that case, find one or two more Half Ironman events to participate in, and if things continue to improve, go for the whole enchilada. A lot of my friends have done IM Cozumel, so that sounds like a good one to try. If this race does not go so well, I can see myself either trying again next year, or writing off the Ironman style races with their cut-off times and sticking with races that accommodate slower athletes. I am not getting any younger.

Which brings us to the main challenge this race presents to me. I know I have the strength, skills and endurance to go the distance. There is, however, a very real possibility that I will fail to make one of the cutoff times. I will be uncomfortably close to all of them.

For the swim, I should be able to average a little better than 3 min/100 yrs. I would say 2:40 tops. If we use 2,112 yds as the distance that works out to 63 minutes at 3:00, 55 minutes at 2:40. The swim cutoff time is 70 minutes. So, if all goes well and I manage to swim straight, I should make the swim cutoff, but just barely.

The bike is by far my strongest event, but Honu presents some very difficult challenges. Constant elevation changes, then a long, continuous climb to Hawi, all wrapped up in strong crosswinds. The trick to any triathlon bike event is to go fast without building so much fatigue in the legs that running is impossible. A lot of age groupers get this wrong and end up walking most of the run. I guess one strategy is to go all out on the bike and walk the run, by design. I have decided to go the other way, hold back enough on the bike to allow for a reasonable chance I can run the entire half marathon.

My bike plan begins with the decision to ride at an average of 85% FTP. This is a little low for HIM, but since this such a hilly course, and I am so old, I think it is a prudent choice. If the course were flat, like the Honolulu Triathlon, the rest would be easy. Just ride at 85% FTP. My Garmin Edge 800 can display that, no problem. But this is a hilly course, with significant wind, so a lot more needs to be taken into account. To help with that I use Best Bike Split.

After taking into account all the variables -- including elevation and wind angles of the course -- BBS estimates that at my 85% FTP average pace the ride will take 3:55 at an average speed of 14 m.p.h.

As I said, the challenge of this course is the constantly changing elevation, which leads to the question, how much power to hold at each point along the way. I have included the very nice speed and power chart that BBS produces. The blue line is altitude, the brown line is speed, and the shaded part is power. To me it is so convoluted as to be useless during the race. Unless I had a team manager riding in a car behind me calling out power targets. But I will be on my own.

The solution to this dilemma, if you can call it that, is a cheat sheet that shows power to hold for a list of conditions. Just print and stick somewhere where you can see it.

I suspect that much of my time will be alternating between 100 and 155 watts, with the long climb to Hawi at 163. To help with this I have my Edge 800 "race" page configured with grade, so I can do a better job matching my power to the BBS plan.

As a backup to this power plan I located some waypoints and found the times I should arrive. 

JCT. 19-270	0:50
Lapakahi Pk	1:40
Begin climb	1:45
Turn around	2:15
Lapakahi Pk	2:32
JCT.19-270	3:25
Finish 3:55	3:55

I should not overreact to being a little late to the first waypoint as this section includes the transition from the swim. The worst thing you can do here is go too fast. But after that I need to be pretty close. No sense arriving at T2 with great legs but past the cutoff time.

Let's sum up so far. 

With a good swim time and hitting my bike plan, and five minutes each in T1 and T2, I begin the run at 0:55 + 0:05 + 3:55 + 0:05 = 5:00. Cutoff time is 5:30 from start of swim, so if I have a perfect day I will make it this far.

The run is a real mystery. Much of it is on grass, which slows things down a bit. At my last half marathon I was averaging only around 15:30 min/mile but feeling pretty good until mile 8, when my right calf started cramping, forcing me to walk most of Diamond Head. I know I have gotten better, but just how much is hard to say. My plan is to take it easy after T2 to let my heart rate and respiration settle, then ease the pace up to high zone 3, what would be a 15:00 pace on a smooth, flat surface. If I can average that pace my run comes in at 3:17. Added to my "perfect" day so far that comes in at 8:17. The cutoff time is 8:30. Very, very close. If I can only manage 15:30 I get 3:23. Coming at it the other way, to cross the finish line right at the cutoff time, after my perfect swim and bike, I need to run at 16:00. I am sure I can do that.

Like I said. I have what I need to get this done, but it will be excruciatingly close the entire way. Talk about exciting!

At the risk of sounding corny, whether or not I make all of the cutoff times is not what this race is about. Three years ago Pattie challenged me to take up the sport of triathlon, seeing as how I was already a cyclist and running marathons. I took up the challenge without realizing how hard it is to swim well. In my first year I struggled through the sprint distance Honolulu Triathlon, then the Tinman, which has the same short swim but with Olympic distance bike and run. It was at that point we went to Honu just to watch and support our Try Fitness friends, especially Sonya Weiser Souza. At some point in the post-race haze the women insisted I should do this race, and for some insane reason -- assisted no doubt by an over consumption of beer -- I agreed, with the condition that I would need another year. Here we are, two years later, and I find myself heading to Kona. 

What really counts here is the journey. I have learned a lot. I have made a lot of friends. I swim much better than I could two years ago. That I am ready to start the race is all that really counts. However it turns out, I have already won.

Did I actually say I am considering doing a full Ironman? Let's take it one step at a time.

Understanding the power - heart rate gap

Today’s Tantalus ride was intended first and foremost to be a recovery ride, but my legs felt good so I decided to get more out of it by practicing my Honu climbing pace. This was especially challenging because I forgot my Edge 800 head unit, so I had to go mostly by feel. I wear my Fenix2 on my wrist and was able to glance occasionally at power zone and heart rate zone. At first I wondered why my heart rate was so low, until I remembered the the Fenix2 only supports one set of zones and I have them set up for running, whereas the Edge 800 is configured for cycling. My run LTHR is 154, whereas my cycling LTHR is 140 (this is normal). It works out that the zone displayed this morning on the Fenix2 was roughly one too low. The data as displayed on Training Peaks is correct.

After staring at the results on Training Peaks for a time I decided to compare today’s data with Sunday’s race data. Found something interesting, and not entirely surprising. To get a more meaningful comparison I only used the climbing portion from today and compared that to the entire bike leg of the race. Using the totals from today would include too much downhill. The climbing portion of the ride and the entire race leg represent continuous nearly constant effort.

 

Power
Avg	Max	Zone	%FTP	VI
154	362	4	94%	1.03
Heart Rate
Avg	Max	Zone	%LTHR
131	142	3 - 4*	93%
Cadence
Avg	Max
48	84
Speed
Avg	Max
5.35	9.82

Tantalus Tuesday, May 17, climb only (0:50)
* - HR zone 3 126 - 131, zone 4 132 - 149

Power
Avg	Max	Zone	%FTP	VI
115	266	2	70%	1.02
Heart Rate
Avg	Max	Zone	%LTHR
133	139	4	95%
Cadence
Avg	Max
81	106
Speed
Avg	Max
15.6	24.3

Honolulu Triathlon, May 15, entire bike leg (1:24)

The thing that jumps out at me is how similar the heart rate numbers are, yet the power output on Sunday was much lower than today’s ride. Sunday’s ride was flat, while today’s was a long, steep climb. This is reflected in the cadence numbers; Sunday’s average was 81, today’s was 48. On Sunday I was not monitoring heart rate at all, only power and cadence, but I could feel my legs getting the burn that signals getting close to the lactate threshold. Sure enough, I was at 95% LTHR. Really cannot do any better than that over an hour and thirty minute time trial. 
 

As good as that sounds, why was I only putting out 70% FTP on Sunday? Today my heart rate was 93% LTHR yet my average power was 94% FTP. I can think of four possible reasons. First, the excitement of the race. Call it nerves. Excitement will raise your heart rate. I was probably near LTHR just standing on the shore waiting to start! Second, cadence. I cannot spin up on the Tantalus climb. The long, slow pedal stroke is not quite the same as a fast spin, and since I do not get many opportunities to ride all out on flat roads my body is better adapted to climbing. (Hand me that polka dot jersey.) Third, fatigue. I did the bike leg on Sunday after a long, hard swim, and it lasted 50% longer than the Tantalus climb. But I did the first hour on Sunday at 72% FTP, and the Variability Index of 1.02 tells us I did not slow down at the end. Still, the swim could be the difference. Last but not least, speed. Like I already said, I rarely get to go all out for any length of time. Going twenty miles an hour down any highway on Oahu is to risk life and limb. Ford Island is good for this, but not the most convenient place to get to. My theory is that whenever I got up to 130 watts on Sunday my instincts told me to slow down.

I doubt that anyone could say for sure why the gap between power and heart rate was so much higher Sunday than today. One take away from all this is the need to monitor power and heart rate during the race. Forcing myself to hold a planned power could result in walking the run. As good a metric as power is, heart rate cannot be ignored.