Have you figured out what your goal power/IF should be? I would do that first, then go for some test rides and figure out how you want the data to be displayed. Most people do 3 or 10 second power, as well as lap average power or lap normalized power, with an auto-lap ever 5 or 10 miles.

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the world's still turning? >>>>>>> the world's still turning

Shoot for 80% FTP.

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2019 T-Rex Tri Series

I would still ride favoring HR targets, with a "loose" ambition of using power. Your power should be close to to what you have done in a race sim. If you haven't even gone that far yet with the meter, just collect the race data and see where you land. This is data collecting time, so collect the data so you can analyze. The more data from training and racing the better idea you'll have going forward.

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Matt Leu, M.S. Kinesiology
San Pedro Fit Works, Los Angeles, CA
Endurance Athlete and Coach
Consistency/time=results

Use it to make sure you don't go too hard too early. Use it to taper your efforts on the hills. Otherwise go by feel.

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This

Doing a FTP test alone isn't enough to formulate a power based pacing strategy for long course. The more data you collect that is closer to race simulation, the better and more confident you will be in your resulting pacing strategy.

If you haven't yet experimented with various power targets over 3ish hour rides, and possibly a short run after to see how you feel coming off that power effort, then you aren't ready for power based pacing. Just go by HR/RPE and glance at power to make sure you aren't doing anything stupid out of T1, trying to pass someone, or on any of the hills.

How would you set the heart rate targets?

This is pretty much what my coach has me do. I have my ftp then a few weeks out from my big races she has me on some long rides to dial in my target power to determine if I’m going to be able to hold 78%, 80%, 82% .... whatever it may be.

I think this is pretty subjective as you don't know what legs you are going to have on the day. I know what is good power for me after racing many 70.3 and my last my legs didn't feel good so I was rode to feel roughly 10 watts lower but the. Ran my quickest half ever. To the OP I would get an estimate based off calculation what you believe you should be able to ride and then see how it feels on race day. Don't be afraid to listen to your legs and trust the feeling. You may have a great ride and not drop in power but then have a poor run. It takes time to find the best balance between the ride and run but if it feels my legs aren't at what I have done in the past on the day I don't force it.

Race by feel and look at your power after the race is a good option.

I look at my power numbers during training rides. I don't look at them during races. I go by feel and HR. I like to analyze the power data afterwards.

How long have you had the meter and have you taken more than one FTP test? For me, I had to learn how to test when I first got mine. It wasn't until my third test until I feel like I properly left everything on the table for 20 minutes and generated an accurate number. The FTP number between my first test and third test were huge, even though they were in the same month. Good luck!

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"If it costs you 30 minutes at Maryland so what" -dwreal

So to get this out of the way first, the "rule of thumb" for a 70.3 is to target around 80% of your FTP.

That said, there are so many variables that go into the answer to that question that the rule of thumb is at best a starting point. For you, being new to working with power, I would say you are best going off HR (assuming you previously trained with HR) and then analyzing the power data afterwards to give you a good baseline for the A-race. If you really just raced by feel in the past, then I would continue to do that for this race.

On the other hand, Quassy is a perfect example of a course where using your power meter to pace might be extremely helpful. But rather than try to target an average for the whole bike leg, use it to help temper your enthusiasm on the big climbs. In this case, you want to probably make sure you aren't spiking your power above FTP for very long, and do your best to keep any time spent over your FTP to an extreme minimum. It's going to be impossible, obviously, to avoid going into threshold power on the climbs, but you can use the power meter to keep yourself from stomping on it up the hills and burning your legs out.

To sum up - my advice here is to race the way you have done before (HR, or even RPE), and use the power meter to keep yourself in check on the climbs. You can also use it to keep a general eye on what you are doing, like if you see your NP climbing towards 90% FTP that should be a sign to back off. But the rule of thumb 80% might even be too much for you, so don't make the mistake of attempting to target that. Once you get through this race, and a few more training rides, you will know much more about how your 2-3 hour ability on a 70.3 course relates to your 20 minute ability in an FTP test.

turn it on at the start then put duct tape across the head unit and just race....

If you know your FTP and what your goal IF is. I found that using Best Bike Split and loading the coarse into my cycling computer helps a lot with races. Just pretty much constant reminders of where you should be to keep you honest based on where you are on the course.

Of course, YMMV but I also have HR as a metric for hydration and just as another way to triangulate actual effort.

The only downside is that if you have all the inputs into Best Bike Split correctly. I've found you pretty much know what your race time will be.

I just did my first race with a power meter (Olympic distance). I've been training with power for a long time and I'm used to watching the numbers, but only on a trainer. During the race, I displayed current (3 seconds), average and normalized power. The course was flat, but there were gusty 15+ mph winds that were either in our face or at our back.

I found the power meter helpful in a couple of ways. First, I realized I have a tendency to charge hills. When I looked at my power meter during the race it was clear I was going too hard, especially early in the hill. Also, I learned I have a tendency to soft pedal either downhill or when there is a tailwind. I'd always thought I was still pedaling hard, but my numbers disabused me of that notion. My sense is that the power meter will help me pace more evenly.

One other thing I experienced is that the target percentages are not as easy to hit as it might seem. I was aiming for 90%, which I've done a million times on the trainer. I ended up around 85%, which was plenty hard. Maybe I was just a little weak that day, maybe the wind blew away my will to fight, who knows. But I didn't force myself to hit 90 percent and did as others recommend, which was to go by feel. Overall I had a good race and a great run, so I agree with others about using power as a guide but ultimately relying on your own senses.

Use your Heartrate monitor and stay in Zone 3.

Lot's of good advice in here already. I'll just add some Quassy-specific advice as I've raced the course 4X.

Miles 1 - 17: I'd use the PM on the first dozen climbs to make sure I'm not overcooking it. So if you see 400+W and you still have plenty of gears left for spinning -- lower the watts and SPIN! You'll be thankful later on in the Bike and on the Run that you did. When you hit the the moderate climbs you can use the PM to cap your effort. When you hit the steeper sections and you're in your last gear, nothing you can do but get over the hill!!

Miles 17.5 - 22: This section has some sick downhills. No need to even worry about the PM.

Miles 23 - 31: This is the long grinding climb, that flattens our after 10k and then hits you with three more shorter but punchy efforts. Right around 23 miles I would try and cap my Watts right around that 80 to 85% FTP target. Spin as much as you can for this approx 10k climb. Once at the top it flattens for a bit but that's when the headwinds usually start!! Again, I'd use the PM to help me find the right gear to spin, tuck aero as best you can -- and you've just been sitting for the better part of 6 miles so getting a really aggressive turtle position should be easy. Then for the next 3 climbs I'd be Okay with going a bit over FTP just to get them out of the way and you'll have some descents coming up shortly to recover on. But again, I'd try and keep a cap on the watts.

Miles 32 - 45: As you probably know, there's not much flat about Quassy but on this section you'll hit some flat parts you can use the PM to your advantage. These flat sections are in exposed farm land at elevation so you'll encounter both fierce headwinds, crosswinds and tailwinds. Again, the PM will greatly help you gauge your effort and push an even effort. There's some screeeeaming fast downhills on this section. My fastest speed to date (49 MPH) was on one of these descents with the little red barn on the right hand side.

The rest of the course is pretty benign with a few more quick screaming descents and punchy climbs. But the last few miles (if Ironman has kept the same course?). Are all false flats and uphill... and again, I think the PM will help greatly to keep you from pushing to little or too hard, and making sure you SPIN!! Spin to Win!!

Good luck!!

Listen to some podcasts from Hunter Allen or buy his book called Training and Racing with a Power Meter


https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1937715930/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

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