Titanflexr wrote:
For swimming I go off feel. On the bike and run I know what heart rate I can sustain without blowing up.
As mentioned, shorter races are basically all out, but knowing what pace you can hold is increasingly important as distances get longer. In a 70.3,
exuberance in hour two will hammer you in hour five. Definitely!
I find HIM's the easiest distance to pace and manage.
Nutrition wise, it's short enough you can kind of play fast and loose (I find as long as I have 2-3 bottles on the bike and a few gels, and feed off the run course, I'll be ok, with no real special timing or effort put in to managing things any further)
Pacing wise, it's long enough that, if I start breathing heavy or pushing too hard it's easy to think "it is a long day, save it for the last 10k or the run" and dial it back.
In shorter distances, I tend to forget that pacing mantra, and go too hard. In longer races, nutrition becomes more important to dial in.
Long Chile was a silly place.