How do you approach the bike leg in an Iron distance race (physically / psychologically).
I’ll be doing my first ironman at louisville this weekend.
My plan on the bike is to just basically take it easy and save for the run. I’ll probably drop into my small chainring on hills. I plan on being sub 6.
I will be carrying 1200 calories so 200 per hour. No special needs for the bike.
Definitely easy on the first half. Calories in early and often along with hydration. Easy on the hills(going up), hammer it going down, gravity is your friend, use the momentum to carry you up the next hill. See the people passing you going up hill as you pass them on the run. Concentrate on efficiency, it will pay off big time.
First third should feel easy. Keep that pace (power, heart rate, whatever). It’ll get harder. If you feel good at mile 80 you’re doing it right.
I spin easy with the fastest comfortable cadence I can muster. Avoid laying the hammer down, you’ll pay later.
Some people coast down hills, I like to soft pedal (just turning the cranks to keep loose). Also if you feel like passing someone make sure you really want to pass them.
. What is your mental approach?
I just try to zen out. “Here I am. I am here.”
350-400. I’m “big” 180.
Be bored…the whole time. Same applies for the marathon until it starts to get ugly (and that’s a case by case basis)
haha, last time I rode bored in an Ironman I nodded off and ended up off the road upside down in a barbed wire fence. Great Floridian 1998 I think.
How do you approach the bike leg in an Iron distance race (physically / psychologically).
Do you take the first hour or two somewhat easy (lower MPH / watts) and then kick into gear a bit later on?
How do you approach hills?
How do you conserve energy?
What is your mental approach?
How many calories do you consume per hour?
Not really, I probably should but I haven’t in the past. First IM I tried to keep up with the cute deaf girl that didn’t work for very long though. Second I went too hard on the first lap and hated my life for the last 15 miles or so (but somehow despite that ran fairly well).
2a. Depends on the hill. Short rollers I may stand a bit to maintain my momentum to and over the top, nothing ridiculous though. Hills that have a coasting descent on the backside I’ll go a bit harder up than I would otherwise.
2b. Know your limits? Or gear preferences/climbing style (I prefer hands on the base bar or pads on a TT bike) when I’m climbing, around when the grade puts me below 15 mph ish, feels easier for the same power.
Breaking the race down into smaller parts, pretty common tactic.
300 in gels plus some in gatorade (50 maybe?)
LOL
note to OP…not AS bored as mike was.
Dork! 
haha!
I fell asleep one time swimming. Probably just as bad as your bike ride
yeah I’d call that a toss up. The tie breaker, I have fallen asleep running too. Back in college when we had mandatory 6 milers at 6am every weekday morning. We’d roll out of bed, shorts and shoes on and out the door, closed my eyes just for a second one day and I was on the ground.
Take it easy. The entire time. I’ve talked to a couple of ‘pros’ who recommend figuring out what your average speed/ output needs to be in order to meet your goals and just sticking with that the whole time. My first IM goal was just to finish the bike and feel as ready as I could for the run. Most people benifit from the ‘just finish the $#^% thing’ mentality with their first IM.
As was stated before, as fast as I can comfortably handle.
Its boring. STAY AWAKE and just do whatever you need to to keep your head in it. When you’re thinking about racing, you’re performing. The catch here is not to panic if/when things go bad. If you had a bad swim/transition/weird mechanical (my rear bike wheel came off in Florida, 2008) just ease into it and make the necessary changes to your plan. DON’T ATTEMPT to make up lost time. If your’re like me, you’re not a professional, and you’re not getting paid to be here. Don’t throw your entire day away because of some weird thing that happens in the first couple of hours.
Depends on your body and your needs personally. Experiment with it to find out how much. If you’re doing Ironman, you’l have plenty of opportunity to experiment on the MANY long rides you’ll have.
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haha, last time I rode bored in an Ironman I nodded off and ended up off the road upside down in a barbed wire fence. Great Floridian 1998 I think.
Was there a tv car involved? Did you hold onto the mountain jersey?
How do you approach the bike leg in an Iron distance race (physically / psychologically).
1)I will take the first 30 minutes or so to spin the legs and get HR lower/more under control. It always starts high coming off the swim, so I am diligent to get that settled down. Mentally its hard to let so many riders pass by, but experience has shown most of them come back. Starting slower has meant finishing faster - not only on the bike but the overall race.
2)I generally let HR and perceived effort dictate my speed going up hills, with some exceptions. Climbs like IM Canada (long grinders) have meant finding the gear and pace and sticking to it, staying in the appropriate HR range. There are sections in the IM Wisc course where its more about constant awareness of what my effort and HR is over a period of time rather than every minute. I will allow my HR to spike in order to keep momentum going over the rollers after I have blasted the downhills. It has felt more efficient from a total energy output for me. Plus, climbing out of the saddle, recruiting slightly different muscles actually feels good, especially on the 2nd lap. It helps me stay comfortable on the bike. I’ve never done IM Fla, could not imagine riding a flat 112 miles. For me, staying comfortable on bike = conserving energy. The entire race is about energy management - physical and emotional.
3)Mental approach. I guess my approach has been to be in the moment. As I pass riders, I encourage them, tell them things like “Nice spin/cadence!”…things like that. I thank the volunteers at every aid station. Sections like Verona at IM Wisc or La Grange at IM Lou where there’s larger crowds, I ride by no-handed and get them to do The Wave. I feel like I get energy back from those things. Between monitoring HR, pace, conditions - heat, wind, traffic - cars, athletes, spectators, hydration, nutrition, my comfort on the bike, and taking in the scenery, I don’t get bored. If I’m trying for a Kona spot, then there’s less taking in the scenery and more focus on HR/pace, conditions and hydration/nutrition.
4)Calories/hr. Probably not much different that what others have said, something like 250-350/hr. Too little, you bonk. Too much, you get GI distress. Find what works for you. I’m a knucklehead, so it took me until my 4th IM race to figure nutrition and hydration. Kona was my 1st, I was clueless. Even forgot to put waterbottles on my bike to start the race. IM Can was my 2nd (1998). Temps were 95F+ on the bike, 90F+ on run. I think I had heard the word “electrolyte” before, but had no idea about managing sodium or potassium levels. Thank goodness for the Massage Angel from Calgary. Started experimenting w/ nutrition IN-RACE at Pineman in 1999, drinking 2 cans of Ensure Plus at the half way point of the marathon. Horrified the Boy Scout troop manning the next aid station with the chocolate projectile vomit. Finally dialed in the hydration and nutrition training for IM Wisc in 2002 and found eating small amounts of food frequently (every 5-10 minutes) was better than larger dosages less frequent. Test stuff in training so you know EXACTLY what will work for you in the race. Find what works in HOT temperatures, and COLD temperatures, because it can vary.
My approach to the IM bike? It usually involves a long swim, then an overwhelming sense of relief to be done w/ said swim, then a short run.
I try not to overthink it. If I were to monitor anything, it would be my hr. I like to keep it around 135-140 on the bike. Much more than that and I won’t have too much left for the run. If I start setting times and powers and calories I become a mental cluster. Pretty much just ride as hard as I feel I can and not blow up and drink every 7 minutes when the buzzer goes off. Take in half a gel flask an hour.
Depends on:
Came out of the water at 1:20 in TX this year and my approach was immediately to see how fast I could ride the first half with a tail wind, catch up to better groups of riders, and try to hang on the second half.
Each race is different, and the tactics change…simply riding to a certain wattage won’t always produce the best results…IMO
I shoot for 400 cal/hr on bike, all liquid
First, make sure that the song that is going through your head is one you like. 5.5 hours of one Kenny Chesney song would kill me. Oh, and try to know the words to the song. Just humming the tune gets old.
I don’t break my effort down into easy and hard. I try to be very consistent. I don’t train or race with power so I use an HRM to monitor effort.
It is important to actually pay attention to it. I have been known to go too hard on the bike on let’s say 95% of my races. I once watched my HRM through an entire IM ride knowing I was 5 bpm higher than the highest HR I should have ever seen the whole ride. I love the ride, not so much the run. The saying, “there is plenty of time on the run to make up for going too easy on the bike” is very true.
I try not to ever be “working”, hills included. Spikes in effort will doom me (and probably you).
I take in 350’ish calories an hour. 200 from fuel of your choice, 150 from Gatorade. (race weight is always 190- 195).
This except I’ll hammer the downhils at my target watts until about 35mph and then I’ll tuck and enjoy the ride.
jamie
Starting off, make sure i don’t fall off the bike with dizzy spells - usually 10-15 mins to settle in.
Hills - I try to limit my power to ~FTP while I ride to an overall average of about 70-72% of FTP (IF)
Calories - I usually stock ~1500 calories Infinit in fluid for my ride, (5.5-6 hours) and
I take in some bananas and chews for variety for another few hundred - about 2000 total. About
325-350 an hour.
(I eat minimally on the run - probably 100/150 calories an hour - so I want to be tanked up when I get off the bike, this
has worked well for me)
Mentally - I’m a chatty Cathy on the course. I will have short chats with other riders and even have been known to
ride side-by-side for a while on open roads. (please alert ST police for my flogging ). I’m sorry, but if you’re riding
near me after 4 hours on the bike, you are not in-line to win anything unless you’re over 70… the grim faced, solo
determination strikes me as a little silly at that point.
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