I will make several entries between now and the 24th. These musings are likely to be nothing new but will hopefully cover areas that can improve our performance.
The mental side of preparation is often overlooked. Teenie has taught us that "we act in accordance with the truth as we believe it to be". What is your truth about MM?
* Riding vs racing - Either is OK, just level with yourself. If you have a time goal, you are racing.
* Team event - 'Have to' or 'want to'? How do you think LA would have done in the 7 tours without a team? better or worse?
* Harder or easier??? Do you believe going slower would be easier??? If your goal is easier(and mine usually is), let me challenge you to consider that 'faster is almost always easier'.
* How can I go 6.5 hours? I have not ridden that long all year? I am unprepared?.......Does anybody ever run 26.2 miles in training for a marathon? It is your cumulative training that has prepared you(or not) for MM, not any one day.
There are many more 'truths' to examine. If your truth is close the real truth, you are setting yourself up for a good day.
The race plan is another area of mentally preparation. You can break the race into parts and MM is easily 4 parts:
1. Spartanburg to Marion
2. Marion to the Pkwy
3. The Pkwy
4. The ride to the summit
Know your pace, food, hydration, exertion for each. Know your bike positions, pack position, clothing.
Know your limits:
* Z1 HR - Easy
* Z2 HR - Endurance zone - conversational
* Z3 HR - Tempo zone - you can say phrases
* Z4 HR - Threshold zone - you can say words
* Z5 HR - Anaerobic zone - can't talk
For a distance like this, most athletes find that the maximum average effort they can achieve is between Z3 and Z4. Any time in Z5 can be deadly. Of course, the lower your HR the better.
Part 1 will challenge us in that it is important for us to stay together for economy yet we have different capabilities. You will not be able to go 'too easy' in this segment. If the ride up there is easy for you, it is all the better. You can attack the climbs! The danger is the ride, to Marion, being too hard. If you average between Z3 and Z4, this means that you will have considerable time in Z4 so stay calm. Consider yourself a car with a fuel tank. The more fuel you have at Marion, the faster you can drive to Mitchell.
It is really important to think about this prior and know you limits before the race. The heat of battle is not the time to negotiate with yourself. You will not find your analysis to be solid when riding 21-22 mph in peleton.
So, give a few hours, if not many hours, thought to this event. Train mentally, as well as physically.
See ya there.
4 comments:
I think it's important that we learn to communicate from behind. The onus is on the people behind to let the people in front of them know that they are there, slipping, need to go potty, or whatever. It keeps the person in front from having to look behind all the time to check, which can put them and others at risk of crashing. You don't see George looking behind him for his sprinter, right? Sorta, kinda the same idea here.
What do y'all think of this?
AMEN
I agree. It would be good to have a "gatekeeper" at the back to open the gate for teammates to get onto the train, and close it to other riders. This person could also monitor for those in trouble, mechanicals, etc and communicate to the front.
Spot on.... Beth and I have already discussed this, and it is very important..... "ease up", "redlining", "I'm OK", "X is off"....
don't be shy and be heard (I am a bit hard of hearing.... age thing)....
Also "P-break" we need to do this collectively as then we have a group to work together....
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