What is the optimal way to pace a bike leg of an Olympic triathlon using a power meter (assuming flat-to-rolling terrain course and possibly a couple turnarounds)? In the past I have heard several ideas with targets ranging from 90%-95% to “pretty close to” FTP.
Did several races last year and tried to stick with a target that made sense for me. What I found out is that even with slightly rolling courses and 1-2 turnarounds average power seems to plummet (on turnarounds and downhills) and for the remainder of the race I have to go somewhat above FTP to “catch back up” to the average target (which can’t be great from overall energy management perspective). Consequently my NP would be 10-20 watts higher than my average power.
That being said - how do you pace your races? Do you have “average power”, “normalized power” or heart rate in mind that you try to get to? Do you split race into segments and have a target for each segment? What is the strategy for the hills - any specific targets (% FTP, etc) on the uphill/downhill? What is a good target for total bike TSS and VI for an Olympic distance?
I haven’t managed to race an Olympic since I got my power-meter, but I used to be quite confident about my HR: My threshold HR is 166bpm - lab-measured and twice checked in the field - and I knew that racing the leg at 160bpm average would guarantee a good run (near my “clean” PR), 162-163 is getting hard, and above that it falls apart.
I don’t train or race with power, but if i did, I would use bestbikesplit. you enter your data, select a course, and it tells your exactly what to do! couldn’t be easier than that, right ? – http://www.bestbikesplit.com
I just look at 3s power when racing. After that I just let the chips fall where they do. I don’t worry about “catching up” or looking at an average power. In an olympic I try not to stay above FTP too long or too high on the hills and that’s about it.
chasing watts/average etc is always a bad way to use a powermeter
use the powermeter as a limiter/alarm. For exemple:
flat riding: never exceed 300watts
short 1min less hills, do not excceed 350 watts
Long hills 2min + do not exceed 320 watts
etc…
with guide line like this…ride hard…look at the powermeter as a reference to inssure your not doing anything stupid. A olympic distance is a very hard effort. Focus on that and using the powermeter as reference. if your parameter are set properly, you will pace properly. but dont chase a average…
Your pacing strategy is actually correct. You actually SHOULD be producing more power on hills and then less on downhills. The reason for this is aerodynamic drag. Producing extra watts at a high speed (downhill) provides less of a benefit in terms of actual speed to you than when you produce extra watts going uphill.
This is a direct quote from “The Power Meter Handbook: A User’s Guide for Cyclists and Triathletes”: “The bottom line for pacing has to do with an old adage that says that if you are riding on a fast portion of a course (downhill), ride easy, meaning use lower power, but if you are riding on a slow portion of a course (uphill), ride hard, meaning use higher power.”
Is there a table some where showing what the maximum power should be on hills according to your current FTP? I live in a flat area and plan to race IMLOU this year and would like to know what my maximum FTP should be on the hills.
chasing watts/average etc is always a bad way to use a powermeter
use the powermeter as a limiter/alarm. For exemple:
flat riding: never exceed 300watts
short 1min less hills, do not excceed 350 watts
Long hills 2min + do not exceed 320 watts
etc…
with guide line like this…ride hard…look at the powermeter as a reference to inssure your not doing anything stupid. A olympic distance is a very hard effort. Focus on that and using the powermeter as reference. if your parameter are set properly, you will pace properly. but dont chase a average…
+1…
At Lake Stevens last year I raced with a powermeter for the first time and had a general average watts that I knew I could maintain and still have a decent run. I based this off a course pre-ride I had done 3 weeks prior. I ended up being 5-8 watts lower then that average, but almost 2mph faster (based on aero gear and TT cockpit). The reduction of those 5-8 watts allowed me to run well off the bike and blow my previous year’s time away be almost 20 minutes (16 minutes of which were on the bike).
those limits have to be set depending on your distance, training, and course profile. i usually set those with my athletes during their preparation for the race.
i m not aware if there is a time table that give you rough numbers?
For a olympic distance, it s a safe bet to say that if you are well train and near the 1h mark on the bike, you will pass most of everything at threshold and going above for longer period would be a bad idea (more than a minutes…)
if you are on the other hand, in the 1;15 or more range for bike time, those value will have to be move down as no one will substain those high FTP % for that duration. Case by case…
Agree with others for pacing a race as short as Oly. When I race Oly I have a wattage guide but if I am feeling good I don’t pay too much attention to it as long as I am not like 120% my FTP. For me, I can race it pretty damn hard and still run well whereas a 70.3 needs to be paced more carefully since the run is longer and other things come into play as well. I’d say, go out and race it hard. If you are above your target power but feel good keep going, if you are above and feel like crap, reassess. And as far as hills, I haven’t really paced too much by a target. If there is a hill I attack it depending on length of hill. Shorter I might go after it hard, but a longer climb I will settle into a good output but not crazy high, maybe 100-110% of FTP depending and then use the downhill as a “rest” while still spinning and putting out power.
I think you still have to race mainly by feel ad pay attention to your breathing. the most important thing is not going out too hard the first 4-5 miles. Easy to do with all the adrenaline blasting out of the water and T1 and hitting the bike with fresh legs. I would mainly set limits.
Overall I’ll let you know in 4 weeks. I have my first race with power. It’s a sprint with a hilly course… so it should be interesting. In the past, I bet I hammered a lot of the hills, accelerated too hard out of corners, did a lot of coasting downhill and went too slow on the flats. By the later 1/4 of the bike leg, I was fading quickly. Should be interesting.
Ha thanks for the plug. No wonder I saw a big spike in people today. In general a bit more on hills (to a point) and less downhills, but wind plays a big part too so the conditions on a course are as important in some cases as the gradient of the course. Lets say you have a beast of a tail wind going out, you better believe it’s going to hit like a ton of bricks on the way back in, and due to drag you are going to have to eat up some hefty watts coming back in. Below is an example of Galveston with a pretty nice tail/cross wind out and a rough head/cross wind back (not this weekends exact conditions as they shifted mid race quite a bit). Note: this is from updated currently non released site (hopefully this week).
I find the 30 second power average to be the most useful for my TT pacing. Speed is useful also if you know spots on the course where you can softpedal.
If you haven’t used power before, you will likely see that as you crest a hill, your power drops off as you relax for the coast / easy pedal down. This is precisely where you do NOT want to lay off and where a power meter can help. Keep pushing over the top and get up to speed on the downhill as fast as possible. If it is a shallow descent and you are not spinning out, then keep putting some power into it. Not as much as you were on the uphill but still some. Many people coast or freewheel too soon.
On a side note, this is one of the great things about a Computrainer, no coasting, you have to work to get down all hills, even 10+% ones. After riding like that, I find I keep applying power longer on the downhills (till I spin out).
