I decided to do that Miamiman half despite not training for it properly with all my move related issues in the last few months. Bike fitness is there and so is swim fitness. It was the run I was worried about. And I’m close. But what makes this race extra different, is I’ll be riding my road bike. So, I do not have the benefit of aerobars or a power meter. I do have a cadence sensor.
I’ve been using a power meter for almost a year. I casually noticed over that time that my hear rate zones weren’t matching, but never really put much thought to it until training for this. My last two showed me there is a big different. I have done my Power Threshold testing in the last two months. I set my heart rate based on that. But here is what I noticed.
I don’t live where there is enough flat open land to really go out for simulation.
My heart rate rest well within zone 1 (115 - 119) while my power is in the upper part of zone 2, 160 - 170 watts. Then after taking a steep hill, my heart rate set at a good zone 2 rate of 130 - 135 while I road in the low to mid zone two after that hill near the end of a 60 mile ride (hill took the last bit of energy out of my legs. I averaged outside of hills 17 - 19 MPH. 17.5 average overall
So, my plan seems to be to ride at an 85 - 95 rpm cadence at a speed 17 - 19 MPH, watching that heart rate to ensure it doesn’t go above 138, and dialing back if and when it does.
Anybody else have this issue, and does this sound like an appropriate plan for a glorified training race?
For additional info, I’m 210, lean. But still have a lot of fast twitch muscle from years of power lifting that hasn’t been easy to shed.
If you are using Joe Friel HR zones, they are too aggressive for most people and typically won’t match up with your power zones (zone 2 heart rate will typically result in zone 3 power). I suggest switching to Andy Coggan zones (available as a zones option in Trainingpeaks and also laid out in “Training and Racing with a Power Meter”).
As for racing without a power meter, I wouldn’t use speed as a measure of intensity (winds can skew it too much). I’d personally go by feel (you want a “tempo” effort) and also keep an eye on heart rate. If you have previous HR data from a successful HIM, you’re better off using that than a % of threshold HR. For a glorified training race where you are going to have a crappy bike split (road bike), I’d err on the side of biking a little too easy to ensure a good run.
I’d do a couple training rides with a power meter where you go out and ride some extended intervals at what ‘feels like’ your 70.3 power. Don’t look at the data until after the ride. Do this a few times until you have a really good feel for your race effort, then use RPE to pace your ride at Miamiman. Double check your HR to make sure you are not redlining the bike, but keep in mind it may take a while (up to 20 minutes for me) for it to settle after the swim depending how hard you swim, distance and how hard you run to T1 etc. I find HR isn’t a terribly useful metric to pace the bike by - its too variable depending on cadence, fatigue levels, thermal stress, etc. Far better to be in tune with RPE and use HR as a secondary metric.
I’m glad you mentioned the swim. I was tempted to hit a hard interval after warming up in those rides to simulate an elevated heart rate. The swim may make up for a lot Of that variance.
Have both books and will consider for next year. I’m not committed to a speed. That just seems to be the sweet spot. If it is windy. I’ll adjust accordingly by feel. I figure this will be a good exercise in gaining the feel.