I was thinking it might be good to share Ben’s race file data, and answer questions about his prep, his year, the race, and more. Here’s a summary of his bike power file from Nice. I will share his run power file in a later post.
This was what he trained for, so he was quite prepared. You can see one the last workouts he did before Nice, while in a training camp with me in San Diego, was discussed and filmed in Triathlon Taren’s video: https://youtu.be/IAx8qcfSExQ
I realize this is untraditional, but figured why not offer it up? Fire away.
In his reflections of the race, does he feel as though the profile of the course sapped his legs. Correct me if I’m wrong, but when mapping out this race were the numbers for the run below what was expected? I thought for sure Ben would have held on for a 1:12ish run.
Does Ben see himself going long after Tokyo, it seems like his consistency would play well over 140.6.
Thanks for posting this. Already someone is complaining. I don’t see what people’s problem is with taren. The guy is incredibly genuine and I really appreciate his videos even if they are a bit hokey.
Anyway, this is really cool data. Can’t fathom spending that amount of time at 300+ watts.
What type of short interval bike stuff is Ben doing? 40/20s? How often? I’m wondering what he is doing to increase his max power and how often he’s doing it? Or is this just a product of long workouts and lots of miles?
Where do you get this screenshot on TP? I am even struggling to locate my NP, it provides average everywhere and only in the analysis tab it gives IF (which I can use to manually calculate NP). And I have been using TP for a year!
97 cadence? No way. I averaged 79, I am sure he had higher RPM as he obviously went faster, but not 97
Where do you get this screenshot on TP? I am even struggling to locate my NP, it provides average everywhere and only in the analysis tab it gives IF (which I can use to manually calculate NP). And I have been using TP for a year!
Do you see TrainingPeaks logo anywhere on that picture? There’s other graphs and charts than those in TP, you know? This one is apparently from Today’s Plan (https://www.todaysplan.com.au).
TP = Today’s plan…it’s the same platform I use. It drives me crazy trying to identify the same basic metrics that trainingpeaks provide, one of which being normalized power or VI. Almost nowhere to be seen, some of this stuff is proprietary. I was just wondering how Jim created the custom screenshot
Oh I see, shame on me then, looks like I am the one thinking of TrainingPeaks only!
Unfortunatelly I dont think said graph is a screenshot from Today’s plan interface, it is a picture you get when you share an activity (there’s a share icon in activity detail)
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Same tactic as 2017 70.3 Worlds with a less favorable outcome…
How do his numbers (particularly HR and power on the bike) compare to Chattanooga?
Ben has incredibly high cadence on the bike, likely higher than his run. Do you consider it to be optimal for the 70.3 distance bearing in mind the similarity in his bike and run cadence? (effectively 3.5 hours at a similar cadence range).
Where do you get this screenshot on TP? I am even struggling to locate my NP, it provides average everywhere and only in the analysis tab it gives IF (which I can use to manually calculate NP). And I have been using TP for a year!
97 cadence? No way. I averaged 79, I am sure he had higher RPM as he obviously went faster, but not 97
Thanks
What purpose would he have giving out false data? Odd thing to say the data is false.
I am saying the data is likely wrong, not false. Seems like a crazy high cadence so I wonder whether the cadence meter was defective etc. Just curious - or maybe was he pedaling all out on the descent etc?
In his reflections of the race, does he feel as though the profile of the course sapped his legs. Correct me if I’m wrong, but when mapping out this race were the numbers for the run below what was expected? I thought for sure Ben would have held on for a 1:12ish run.
Does Ben see himself going long after Tokyo, it seems like his consistency would play well over 140.6.
Yes, I think every athlete would likely say the bike course sapped their legs. It was a very challenging bike course. The run was a bit of a disappointment, I thought we were prepared enough, apparently not. He did have a slight nutrition issue on the bike, and with them gaping him on the descent, he ran a bit aggressively early, paid for it. I believe Ben could have run 1:10, based on what I’ve seen in his training, but even if he had, that puts him about 4th again. It’s just how the race and the descent played out. Hats off to GI, AB and RVB.
I can’t speak to a specific decision or timeline for Ben, but in our discussions there is no rush to 140.6, post-Tokyo. He has hardly scratched the surface of 70.3, as this was just his 8th 70.3 race ever. Jumping to 140.6 at such a young age, (he’s only 26), would prematurely end it, and limit his potential.
Thanks for posting this. Already someone is complaining. I don’t see what people’s problem is with taren. The guy is incredibly genuine and I really appreciate his videos even if they are a bit hokey.
Anyway, this is really cool data. Can’t fathom spending that amount of time at 300+ watts.
What type of short interval bike stuff is Ben doing? 40/20s? How often? I’m wondering what he is doing to increase his max power and how often he’s doing it? Or is this just a product of long workouts and lots of miles?
It was a tough race, but like I said, it went about how we predicted it would output wise. In the video, the workout he did was…
3x10 mins with 3 mins recovery, first two needed to be aggressive, third one back off (395, 381, 350). Then he climbed Honey Springs Road, which was 371 watts for nearly 30 mins, then a descent down Lyons Valley technical road. Then another 10 mins strong at 360, 3 mins rest, finish with 45 mins steady at 300-310. Transition run off the bike was 4x10 mins at 70.3 goal pace, with 2 mins rest.
The shorter stuff with surges was definitely a part of what he has been doing, although not since Tokyo Test Event, as that is also how we balance it out for Mixed Relay, Super Sprints and 70.3. He was doing about 2 of those workouts per 3 week cycle. I didn’t feel the need to do more, as he was showing great response from those and especially the volume work we were doing. For example, his Edmonton WTS race came right after a big volume block.
What were his key sessions in each discipline in the weeks leading up to the race.
See above for one of the key sessions I outlined. For his 70.3 specific phases and sessions, he was doing a lot of tempo run efforts, (up to an hour), and 15-30 min intervals on the bike at 70.3 watts, generally totaling anywhere from 1:40 to 2 hrs. For the swim, it’s usually just maintenance for Ben, as he is such a solid swimmer. He swims 2-4 days in a week. Volume phases he swims more, intensity phases he swims less.
Are you at all concerned that the stated goals last year of getting on the podium at 70.3 worlds and making the tokyo olympics mixed team relay could leave him missing both since they are such different events?
Also, what were the deciding factors in Kanute switching from his old to coach to you shortly before 70.3 worlds 2 years ago? I may be mistaken but I think he was with the other coach for pretty much his whole life.
