TT's make me sick!

Triathlon Forum
1

Here in Austin, there is a monthly 8 mile TT sponsored by a local timing chip company (http://run-far.com/). I’ve been looking forward to this month’s TT for awhile now because a lot of the good local riders come out and I wanted to see how I compared to them. I also ride this 8 mile section of road a lot and I wanted to see how fast I could really handle it. This month’s TT was this past Tuesday so I leave work a little early and get out there to warm up. I followed some advice I saw here on ST and had a nice slow warmup. I started sprinting up some hills and doing some intervals towards the end. I noticed that my heart rate was slightly elevated for the level that I was riding at. Oh well. In the end, I did about 20 miles of warmup for the 8 mile TT.

I get my chip and I head to the starting line. This is very informal so we wait about 30 seconds between riders. I get a start before I hit the mat and I’m off. My heart rate almost immediately jumps to about 180 which is close to the max for me on the bike. I’m going fast though and I’m really pushing it. In the first 5 minutes, I over take 2 male and 2 femaie riders. I passed the first guy going up a small hill. and I pass another guy awhile later at the bottom of the hill. The road eventually bends to the right and I pass the first female. After the bend, there usually is a headwind that picks up. There is nothing and I keep going. I dial it back a bit in preparation for the big hill on this course. I hit the hill pretty strong and power spin up it. I pass one girl like she was sitting still. I didn’t get below 19mph going up the hill and I think I paid for it. At the top of the hill, my heart rate peaked at 187. I have never seen it that high on a bike. I keep powering through the top of the hill and I’ll rest on the downhil.

My heart rate does not go below about 176 even going downhill and I’m just spinning just to spin. This is weird because i usually recover fairly quickly. I keep going and keep pushing. I get passed by some guy that was like 6’4" (I always think tall people on bikes look goofy) and I kept going. I kept him in my sight most of the way, but there was no way I could catch him. At the turn around point, I’m doing good. I have a tremendous PR of 9:55 for doing that section of road. I think my previous best was abotu 11:3x. I’m hauling ass for me. I’m excited because after the turnaround, the course is either flat or gradual downhill and I’m usually 1-2 minutes quicker coming back than going out. So, I turnaround and I hit nothing but this fierce headwind. It’s ridiculous. I’m really hammering to go 26mph when I usually cruise by going 28mph. I keep powering away with my heart rate at a constant 180ish. I’m starting to feel like crap, but I keep pushing. Towards the middle of this leg, there are a couple of hills. I do my best to attack them and keep up my speed, but it costs me. After the two hills which usually aren’t bad without a headwind, I’m really not feeling good. My breathing is shallow and my legs are dead. I look at my time and I’m really starting to fall off pace. I keep pushing but I’m in pain. At one point, I just dial it back and try to rest but the headwind is decently bad. I decide that I’m almost done and I keep going. I attack the last hill and my heart rate spikes to 185 again. I power over the top and keep going. I see the last mat and I give it everything I got. I’m off pace for my time goal, but I try to make it anyways. I get out of my saddle and aerobars and power up the last incline to cross the mat with a well deserved beep.

And I’m done. Holy crap, I feel bad. Really bad. I have absolutely nothing left. I go back to where the cars are parked to hang out with some of the other riders and I really don’t feel good. I’m completely drained of energy. This is odd because no matter how hard I push myself, i usually recover fairly quickly. I go get some water and I’m dead. I feel like I’m dizzy and I can barely stand. I do a 3 mile cooldown and that is the lowest, but most difficult 3 miles that I have done in awhile. I finish my cooldown, put my bike on my car, and start hanging out with other riders. I still feel bad. I have to sit down because I’m getting dizzy spells. I eventually get in my car and head home where I still feel like crap. I’m just drained. I go to bed at like 9pm and I don’t get up until almost 7am the next day. I still feel bad. I’m sore and I have no energy. I get to work and I keep getting worse. Weak, dizzy, hot flashes, cold spells, I feel like I have the flu. Work is miserable all day long and when I get home at 6, I take my temperature. I have a temp of about 100.1. I crawl into bed and and sleep off and on until about 8:30am this morning. I get up and I feel much, much better now.

Does this happen to you often? Have a hard race in the heat and then you get sick afterwards? I really pushed myself, but did I push myself so much that I actually had a fever to recover from it? I think I was coming down with something before and the TT just broke my system. Now I’m feeling much better and debating on whether or not to go to work today.

BTW, my time was 20:13.5 (23.7mph). My goal was 20:00.0. I’m getting it next month.

Thanks.

2

I did my first TT 2 weeks ago I didn’t get sick, did feel like I wanted to puke though. But I noticed my HR remained elevated for hours later, TT was at 9am my heartrate was still in the high 80s low 90s 6 hours later. And it completely drained me.

3

sounds like you were dehydrated going into the race. Whenever my HR is above where it should be for a given level of effort and temperature, it generally means I haven’t taken in enough fluids during the day or the night before (in the case of a morning workout).
Concentrate on taking in a bunch of fluids before next months race.
Just a thought. Remember, though, I’m generally full of shit!

4

Of course all I can do is guess, but unless you knew you were overtrained, I would bet you were starting to come down with something already before the TT, and you just hadn’t notice it yet. That would also explain the high heart rate compared to normal.

5

In the week leading up to the TT, I had alcohol 6 of the previous 7 days. Each day, it was only 2-3 drinks, but alcohol affects me very negatively when I’m trying to stay in peak athletic shape. Because of this, I think I was dehydrated before the TT even though I had about 3 water bottles of fluid before the TT. Also, before the TT, I had a hard bike ride on Thursday, Friday was rest, and I missed my workouts on Saturday and Sunday. I had an abreviated swim on Monday because I wasn’t feeling it. So, I’m pretty sure that I was getting sick already and I wasn’t overtrained. It still sucked though and I will be better prepared next month.

6

Codexo is right…you were probably dehydrated going into the TT.

Good luck on the next one.

7

I love time trials. No I don’t believe I’ve ever felt as bad after one as you described. Sounds almost like a heat related problem to me.

8

Great story, BUT i am tall and yes tall people may look goofy but he passed you. (:

9

sounds about right. good job.

10

Hi Jim, there are several time trial pacing articles on www.timetrial.org that address starting and finishing a time trial. Using heart rate to pace can be quite frustrating in some cases, especially in the heat. It sounds like you used a “j pace” strategy, starting hard, dipping in the middle, hanging on to finish strong.

For a TT with rolling climbs, I suggest a variable pacing strategy of putting a little more effort on the climb and recover a little on the downhill. In training you can try to alternate pedal strokes as mentioned in other TT posts. Start your next TT a little easier and gradually increase your speed. Use perceived exertion to keep pacing in check at the beginning and in the middle. Good luck.

11

I tried to start easy, but I felt fine for the first half of the TT. My heart rate was 180 but I felt perfectly OK doing it. I’ll ready some of the articles on TT.org and I’ll be better prepared mentality next time.

THanks.

12

Actually, I don’t think anything was wrong with you - sounds like every single short time trial I do. I’ve done several where I dry heaved 4 or 5 times in the last minute. A HR of 187 is nothing extraordinary really, not in a TT of that length. Was it above 80 degrees? Your HR will be higher if it’s warmer. I’m in my 40’s and it’s not uncommon for me to average 185-187 for a 10 mile TT when I’m in shape (can’t hold 170 early in the season though), with occasion trips into the low 190’s on hills. I’m guessing my max HR is probably 195-197 (I haven’t seen a 200 on my HR monitor in over 5 years).

I think some of the problem is that you are just not used to having your HR spike that high for that long. Also, you’re blood pressure goes sky high during these things, and the immediate stop at the end will cause it to plummet, which can bring on nausea.

I can’t sleep for shit the night after I’ve done a short, hard TT, and feel like crap well into the next morning. Don’t underestimate how much these things can hurt.

13

Hey, All,

The **FREE **Tuesday night TT is further proof that “Austin is the Center of the Triathlon Universe”. Where the TT is held is a great place to train especially for intervals. In fact, I’m recovering right now from an interval flog fest I did this morning.

I agree that a) you were dehydrated b) you pushed yourself c) your fitness level may not meet where your goal is. I used to think my Max HR was 186, and then I did some interval work with a group and I got my HR up to 192. Wow, I thought, that’s high. I ran it by my coach ( who is Stanton Truxillo, great guy , great coach) and he said that the group pushed me beyond what I would do alone. Now a days when I do the Tuesday night TT and when I do intervals my HR routinely visits the low 190’s with no deletrious effects. After doing a test with my coach I know my Max HR for running and biking is in the low 200’s like 205 or so.

All of this is to say that the Max HR nbr is fairly meaningless. What’s important is LT. All kinds of factors such as heat, fatigue effect HR. Since this was a standalone TT you could really give it the gas which is good. Additionally, you have pretty good picture of your fitness level and you may need to do more base riding to be able to tolerate more high intensity rides. Also you may want to consider where you are in your training program if you have one.

Last year I was very disappointed b/c I bought my new tri bike (QR Santo-Awesome) and I went down to the TT course and only avg’d 22.3 mph on my TT. I was pretty disappointed since I dropped 3k on a bike that it didn’t make me faster. The other piece of data was that I had just started my base training again and really nailing that TT was a tad unrealistic. I did the TT last month and surprised myself and coach by doing it in 19:20. This was with base miles and no interval training.

In short, look at your base mileage and work on building a solid base before expecting a whole lot of high end performance. Base training is fairly underrated and not very glamorous but without a solid base we’ll be always coming up short. I think it was Dave Scott who said that the difference btw having a solid base and not is the difference between having a high performance engine and a lawn mower engine.

Lovin’ it here in Austin!

Best,
Robert

14

“Was it above 80 degrees?”

hahahahahahahahahahaha - Austin in June - hahahahahahahahahahah

more like “how far above 100 degrees was the heat index?” I believe it was what, 96, 97 that afternoon?

But seriously folks, DRINK!!! I’ve never met an athlete in Texas that wasn’t at least on the edge of chronic dehydration. Alcohol, (even in what seems like small amounts) - will kill you in this heat.

Carry a water bottle with you everywhere! Mix in a low concentration of electrolytes with sodium. DRINK!! DRINK!! DRINK!!

15

Dehydration, all the classic symptoms. Had you pounded fluids and electrolytes your next day would have been swell. I find the most amazing thing the body does when you get like that is to feel sick. You think thirst would be a better response, not like your going to puke.

16

You have a point about fitness level and max HR. I would routinely hit 195 or so when doing runs when I played in ultimate frisbee. Ultimate though is mainly a bunch of short sprints so I tried to mimic that training often. Switching to endurance sports made me not be able to reach my max HR as easily. Since I started triathlons, I hit 188 one time running and I think I can go higher, maybe to 200 or so.

Ever since I did St. Anthony’s 2 months ago, my fitness level and training have been out of whack. I haven’t been able to run due to peroneal tendonitis so I have been relying on the bike to push myself and get my heart rate really high. I’m starting up on HIM, I mean 70.3, training program now with a race in October. So, I’m starting with some base miles again and I’ll see how I do in a month.

BTW, once I recover from this dehydration and sickness and get into a little bit better shape, I need to get a LT test done.

Thanks.

17

Yeah, it was hot. I’m not that used to training in the heat either so that had an affect as well. I usually drink at least a gallon of water a day and i think I need to increase it more in this awful Texas heat.

18

good on you for pushing hard. I know exactly how you feel, its always like this for me on TT or short races. As I said on another thread the worst I have ever felt was after a 100m short course swim meet,not even a long hard IM race where I had a melt down came close. My club mates had to pull me out of the pool and I almost puked there and then. Last 5m I thought I was going to pass out!