If you are racing with power, what is the best strategy when climbing a moderately long hill (2-3 min)?
In Triathlete magazine the articles always say, “don’t go too hard on the uphills”, “maintain even power on the up and down hills”, “do not go more than 10% higher than your target power when climbing a hill”, etc.; so I have used that strategy in my short and Olympic distance racing. At the Duathlon Nationals it was a three lap course with a timing mat at the bottom and top of the main hill climb and I now realize that I am clearly not going hard enough on the hills. I ranked 40th in the bike overall and I have yet to find anyone in the top 60 whose slowest hill climb was slower than my fastest climb. Compared to other riders with similar bike times it looks like I am gave up about 70 seconds over the course of three 2 1/2 minute climbs.
Is 120% of target a better strategy for these hills? I weigh 190 so I will be slower on the ascents, but I am certain that I taking them too slowly.
Part of it depends on what the part after the hill looks like. Is it a plateau where you have to go back to ave. watts? Is it a moderate downhill where you need high RPMs to keep near your power numbers? Is it a steep downhill where you will have some tuck/coast recovery?
If the latter, 120% is probably OK for a 2-3min. effort. For the first example, stay at 100%. As far as looking at others, most people overcook the hills on the bike, and the payback isn’t as much in their bike split as in their run. The key is not to “burn a match” for no reason.
At 190, your climbing is going to be weaker than your competitive set (but your speed on the flat, and into headwinds should be better); that’s not a problem, that’s playing to your relative strengths.
I am 48, 6’5" and currently weigh 190 pounds (racing weight was around 200 last year). I do very little hill training with the majority of my training on a trainer (especially in the winter) and the remainder on a relatively flat road. I tried one time trial last year, however it was drizzling that day so my power data from the race was not accurate. My best 20 minute trial on a trainer was 330 watts. (Is there other data that would be helpful? I have relatively clean data from an Olympic distance race earlier this year.)
The bike leg is my strength relative to the swim and run. As an example at the sprint nationals in 2013 I was 298th overall, but 86th on the bike. I actually would have placed better on the bike in St. Paul, but my seat post dropped 2-3 inches during the race adversely affecting my third lap.
If you go faster on the climbs you will go slower after. It’s generally not worth it to go too hard on the climbs. You’re a pretty heavy guy so you will be going relatively slower than others on the hill but make up for it everywhere else.
The rule of thumb that I’ve seen is go X% over your target power on a climb for X% grade.
Who cares how fast you were on the climbs? What matters is your bike split and you had a faster bike split than others that went faster up the hill, maybe they went too fast up the hill?
This is one of those items that seems to have an air of controversy, but I literally can’t think of any reason why it isn’t cut and dry. You go a little hard on the uphill and a little lighter on the downhill. A 10% change in either way won’t over cook it for anyone and it makes perfect sense. You have less wind resistance on the uphill portion and clearly more on the downhill. It’s pretty easy to model and clear that it is the best strategy.
This is one of those items that seems to have an air of controversy, but I literally can’t think of any reason why it isn’t cut and dry. You go a little hard on the uphill and a little lighter on the downhill. A 10% change in either way won’t over cook it for anyone and it makes perfect sense. You have less wind resistance on the uphill portion and clearly more on the downhill. It’s pretty easy to model and clear that it is the best strategy.
I think this is the win from a pen and paper POV.
I think some of the variation can be how you train and feel. If you are suffering already on the bike (say hot day, poor recovery, something something is wrong)… you may not really have 10% extra to give on the hill. May be better to keep 100% power on the uphill, and do 90% power on the downhill to recover a little bit.
I’m 5’8" 145 and my last two climbs were faster than yours …i negative split the climbs…but you outbiked me by almost 8 minutes… I would say you played your strength very well
I’m 5’8" 145 and my last two climbs were faster than yours …i negative split the climbs…but you outbiked me by almost 8 minutes… I would say you played your strength very well
It also depends on how steep and technical the downhill is.
If steep enough that you will rapidly spin out and have to glide, may as well use that as recovery and go harder up the hill (I’d be looking at up to 120%FTP). You need to train for this type of riding so you can adapt to being able to go hard/recover quickly.
If you’ll be able to maintain close to target power on the downhill, keep uphill power closer to target power.
Everyone likes to say ‘‘don’t burn all your matches’’. You are talking about a 2 to 3 minute hill on a 21 mile bike course. You better be burning your matches, what would you be saving them for? Races are won on the uphills both biking and running. Everyone is fast going down and on the flats. If you are racing short course, you have to go and get it. There isn’t anything to save your matches for.
Another thing they will tell you is that climbing is all about power to weigh ration. It’s also about technique and confidence. Get yourself to the hills and push yourself going up, then again, then some more. There are plenty of big guys who can climb.
Everyone likes to say ‘‘don’t burn all your matches’’. You are talking about a 2 to 3 minute hill on a 21 mile bike course. You better be burning your matches, what would you be saving them for? Races are won on the uphills both biking and running. Everyone is fast going down and on the flats. If you are racing short course, you have to go and get it. There isn’t anything to save your matches for.
Another thing they will tell you is that climbing is all about power to weigh ration. It’s also about technique and confidence. Get yourself to the hills and push yourself going up, then again, then some more. There are plenty of big guys who can climb.
This is what I was thinking. Attack the hills. Attack the flats. Recover when the run is over.
Thank you for the feedback. It sounds like step 1 is to study the bike course and develop a strategy. I remember in high school the cross country course at Van Cortlandt Park had steep hill followed by a second steep hill followed by a downhill. Taking the first hill easy and the second hill hard proved to be a great race strategy. Step 2 is to practice my hill climbing. I used to think power is power but my sense now is that skill at hill climbing matters. It seems likely that I should have pushed harder up the hill at St. Paul, but still want to be careful about pushing too hard depending on the course.