Larbot wrote:
ericM40-44 wrote:
Over heating is essentially over biking..
Interesting, how did you come up with that?
I seem to think that over biking is riding beyond your aerobic and/or muscle endurance abilities. You have now educated me on the fact that thermoregulation is also due bike fitness.
In my opinion I paced my bike appropriately based on the fact that I:
-Raced at similar or lower watts than my Kona Qualifier with similar fitness (as did almost all other posters here)
-Raced at <70% FTP
-Raced at constant watts and RPE
I've also done many hot weather races (including Kona on a hotter day), but never before had this same sensation of "overheating". In retrospect I do however think that I paid less attention this time to preparing for the heat. In that respect I found Dev's response quite helpful.
If someone's qualified for Kona I seem to think they probably have enough insight into their own training/racing to figure out how to properly pace. I tend to give them the benefit of the doubt on this.
However, it seems many here like proclaim "Bullshit dude, you totally overbiked!"
Point taken, I suppose the fact that you put together a solid run on Saturday makes you an authority on the subject.
All slow runs and all overheating are due to over biking.
Got it, thanks.
Reply to Larbot and Eric combined. Like Larbot, I did Tremblant and Kona. Tremblant I biked 190W, Kona 191W (average...Tremblant has more coasting, so really Tremblant was a harder ride....need to check my NP). Both my runs were bad at Tremblant it was my second IM In 3 weeks (4:03), in Kona torn hamstring (4:11). LP was around 3:51, which is what I SHOULD be running for all my Ironmans if I am healthy, uninjured and execute my nutrition plan.
In St. Croix, I rode my bike ride there at 195W....that is barely IM pace...normally half IM I ride at 215-218W. In St. Croix when I got out of the water, normally you feel cool as the water evaporates...instead, I felt zero evaporation (Korea/Japan/Hong Kong July humidity). I knew right there that I needed to take down my bike intensity by 10% and chose to essentially soft pedal most of the bike. I'm a small guy and dissipate heat well and even then I could feel it, especially the low velocity parts of the bike like the Beast where you're basically encased in a humidity "bubble". I ran 1:48 in St. Croix but I magically moved up from around 9th off the bike to 3rd because almost everyone was walking. Guys were walking every aid station and I was just jogging. Eric, you know what that Asian humidity is like and this was the same. I have been on runs in Taipei, when I go to the track and jog for 400m, and I have to walk from my heart rate exploding, but then as soon as I walk, my core overheats due to lack of air flow "cooling effect". It is a catch 22 when it gets that humid.
I have not been to Kona enough, but my Quarq said it was up at 35-37C...not super hot (like not 40+), but it "seemed" to be more humid than normal. Personally I chose to overbike a bit (for me), knowing that my run would be bad due to injury. But taking off 5-10W may have been the prudent thing on this day....looking at the implosions at the front of the field: Crowie, Docherty, Jacobs, Ralaert, Boeckel, Rapp etc etc etc....brutal carnage, and in general, at the front of the pro field they have to overbike a bit., but overbiking a bit in humidity is deceptive because we have some airflow and it does not "feel that bad", but it really is.
So Larbot, I THINK that we feel like we know what to do, but both for you and I, maybe we underestimated how humid it was. It is really hard to tell on the bike. It is clear that many pros underestimated the humidity+heat combo, and I don't think we age groupers were that much different (except, I was waaay in the back of the field). Many of my friends racing the same speed as me in LP + Tremblant (women and older men who KQ'd with high 10.xx times) went 1.5-2 hours slower in Kona.I think the slower you are the more dramatic the decline versus the faster guys.
Food for thought.
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