E-Coach Training Tips
Week Two
Time Trial Pacing
As a follow-up to last week’s tip on time trial warm-up, I’ll keep with the same theme and offer up some pacing strategies.
Just remember that there is no substitute for pure fitness. As athletes, we only have a finite amount of watts that we can throw out there during our race. We all know what happens once those “chips” are cashed in. A perfectly executed time trial will leave you with nothing left in the tank at the finish.
Go out as hard as you can… and hang on for as long as possible. Probably the worst strategy as you will be in severe anaerobic debt early on and have a greater chance of blowing up later on. For the shorter prologue TT’s, this may be fine with the proper warm-up. (see last week’s tip)
The constant effort… This is to maintain a constant power output (watts for those with power meters) or based on perceived exertion (will discuss this in a future coaching tip). Maintain this same output for the entire race regardless of terrain. This may also be an easier plan psychologically as well. The flip side of this is that to maintain a constant output one’s intensity may have to climb to higher levels than would be recommended for an individual’s fitness or for race duration. (ie. the effort needed to maintain 250 watts on a flat road vs. on an 8% grade climb)
The negative split… Starting out at a slower pace or power output that you know you can maintain and gradually bumping up the intensity as the race progresses. Ideally, this will give you faster split times along the distance of the event
The “happy medium”… Ride a slighter higher intensity/power output into the headwind or uphill sections (such as the 1st half of the Black Fly Prologue). On the downhill or tailwind sections, the rider recovers by slightly lowering their efforts. This could be a +/-5% give or take on intensity. Studies have shown that this has the most positive impact on average speeds with higher average power outputs over the other strategies mentioned above.
Remember that everyone is different and pacing strategies may suite other’s strengths and not your own. There are also numerous variables that can affect this as well such as terrain, weather, each person’s conditioning, nutrition etc…Most important is to have fun, be safe, and use your best judgement.
Last weeks tip