I am writing this mainly because when I Googled “100 Mile
Time Trial Pacing” it returned very little of use. Maybe I used the wrong
search term or maybe its because time trialling is a peculiarly British pastime
with the 100 being an even smaller niche or maybe even because the keepers of
this wisdom want to keep it to themselves. I very much doubt the last
possibility as you can’t stop most of the testers I know from offering advice
on anything and everything.. Every chance they get.
I am not a coach and don’t claim to have any special
knowledge on the subject. I have just done my first 100 and I will just tell
you what I did, what I thought worked well and what didn’t – this doesn’t
necessarily make it right for anyone else – first rule of seeking advice; take
what you find with a pinch of salt and remember everyone is different. Most
crucially – adapt and try to apply it to your own situation.
Firstly, my background – I am a very average club level time
triallist. I am nowhere near a pro, or even a good amateur, but equally I am
not coming into this with no experience at all. Most of my testing is done on
the club Evening 10s, local Open 25s and 50s – in total, I probably time trial
about 25-30 times a year. Currently my 10, 25 and 50 PBs (mostly on sporting
courses I hasten to add) are 24.03, 1:04.54 and 2:09.17.
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| Rovers Open 50 |
I am 45, male, 1.83m and about 79kg. All of this is
relevant but please adapt and apply this to your own situation, even if you just sit
down and think realistically about who are you and what you might be capable
of. Oh, my resting heart rate is also about 44bpm and my max at 185bpm. That’s
about all the science clues you’re going to get because that is pretty much all
I know myself.
Having failed to find anything much about 100 mile time trial preparation on Google, I asked around. I asked on Twitter and I asked clubmates,
specifically about the pacing issue. Frustratingly, opinion was evenly divided.
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| Rovers Open 25 |
1. Go out easy. Save yourself. Gradually ramp it
up. The last quarter will be the worst thing you ever experience
2.
Don’t go out too slow – the last quarter is
never as bad as you think its going to be.
Take your pick.
This is where I started to look at my known performances and
ask another question – if I can do a 50 on a sporting course in 2:09, what should
I be aiming at on a dual carriageway 100?
The answers came back again and this time varied between
4:20 and 4:40…
Take your pick… but… I now had a level of expectation and
potential for a target time. I also looked at previous performances by clubmates
I regularly race against and was able to get things a little clearer in my
mind. I now knew I should go under 4.40, but would be happy with anything under
4.30 (based on bragging rights – another important consideration)
The leap into the unknown also involved the course – I have
only ridden one dual carriageway time trial before and had experienced the
significant increase in speed, but I had no idea of the topography or the
organisers ability to marshall and signpost this one correctly. I have to say
at this point that the organisers (Eastern Counties Cycling Association) put on
one of the best organised, signposted and marshalled events I have taken part
in. Anyway, I’ve gone off course too many times before, so the only answer was
to drive it, which I did a week or so ahead of time.
I was mildly freaked out by the volume of traffic when I
drove the course but had to remind myself this was why the event started at
5.00am.
Driving the course also gave me a chance to record it on a
Garmin blu-tacked to the dash – this gave me a file that I could check for
gradients etc and a course that could be used on the day if directions were a
concern. Most importantly, I had seen the roads and turns, giving me a much
better overview of the course and a bit of extra confidence. I found that
building confidence and removing as many concerns for raceday as possible was very important.
Because I was doing this race unsupported, I was now also
able to start working on my nutrition plan – I am rubbish at eating or drinking
on a TT bike and avoid both as much as I can as it interferes with my rhythm
but most importantly is hard to do in windy conditions (which most of my races
seem to be). Please note that I am not a camel and although I don’t eat or
drink on 10s, 25s or 30s, I do drink on a 50. I will also take a gel on a 50 but
rarely use it at this distance. However, I knew I had no choice with a 100 –
you simply have to fuel responsibly. The knowledge gained from the drive was
crucial in coming up with a simple plan – basically down a gel at each of the
turns (4 of them) where I could get some
shelter and not lose too much speed and then to drink every 10 miles. It was rough,
but it was a plan.
Nutrition will always come down to personal
preference. There’s no point downing stuff that is going to make you puke – it
slows you down and gives you lost fuel to make up for…You need to experiment
with different products in good time for your event. I personally like the SIS gels that don’t need water but they only
have 31g of carbs. I hate the Zipvit gels that do need water (I can never get
them down properly) but they have 51g of carbs. I like the gels with caffeine
which seem to work for me… so here is what I did.
Zipvit bag of gloop 15 minutes before start with water
SIS nice gel at first major landmark - 14 miles
Zipvit stuff at 34 mile turn
SIS nice one at 54
Zipvit Caffeine at 70
Zipvit Caffeine at 90
Bacon sarnie at 102.
I love the caffeine gels and regularly have one 15-20
minutes before a ten. I’d assumed this would be fine for any distance but was
correctly warned by a friend the week before the event to only use caffeine products
towards the end when you really need them. The low that can be experienced once
the effects of caffeine wear off is not worth it – nor is the diuretic effect.
Also (and this one takes dedication) the effect of the caffeine gels is
increased if you abstain or at least cut down on caffeine intake for about a
week before the event.
I was also told by another friend who does 24hr MTB stuff
that the body can absorb 1.3g of carbohydrate for every kg of body weight and
this is what you want to aim at. I learned this the day before the event, did
some sums and thought… bugger. Not enough. But decided to stick to my original
plan. Taking the plan apart would heave created too much disruption and uncertainty at this pont. To be honest, I couldn’t have downed more gels if I had tried. Well, I
could but they would have come back up again and then my sums would have been
seriously affected.
All this nutrition stuff
hasnothing to do with pacing, apart from I found it useful to start
thinking and planning and conceivably
have fewer things to worry about on the day. I suppose this is what Dave
Brailsford might describe as “process”.
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| Even World Champs can over-prepare |
Now. To accommodate all this nutritional luggage, I had to
do away with the skinsuit for this event and stick with the club jersey and its trusty rear pockets. This was also useful as I normally ride with an aero bottle with a can of
Vittoria Pitstop tucked inside in case of any p&*%ture dramas with tubs. As
I needed both bottle cages for bottles, I had to find a home for the Pitstop, of
which I decided to carry two cans for this race.
I had two 750ml bottles – one with my isotonic drink of
choice and the other with plain water to help wash down the gloop.
Another challenge presented by the 100 was the start time – the event started at 05:00 with me going off at 5.36. Working things back, I knew
I wanted to be there an hour before my start, it takes an hour to drive there
and I wanted my regular raceday breakfast of cold skimmed milk, organic
porridge oats and sliced banana 3 hours before my start. This meant setting the
alarm for 02:30, which in turn meant an early night. A very early night.
On the drive to the HQ I sipped at a 500ml bottle of
Lucozade sport and munched through a well filled PBJ sarnie. All very slowly.
Inevitably, I needed the loo a number of times before the
start – the last time in a hedge about 4 minutes before my start time. Bizarrely,
I was then dying for a wee from about 8 minutes into the ride – that desire
finally left me around the 60 mile mark and I have no idea why.
In the days leading up to the race I was keeping a very
close eye on the weather forecast although in reality this is a variable over which you have no control – its just nice to know.
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| A busy Eagle Road Club Hut at 5.00am - ECCA 100 |
Fortunately raceday remained pretty dry (just a few spots of
drizzle early on) but it felt windy as hell. I hate riding into the wind,
just as most sane cyclists do, but you have to play with the hand you’re dealt
and as it turned out the wind was very helpful in
determining the final pacing strategy which was created partially on the hoof.
I elected for the go out easy and try to build steadily but
with a few crucial wind inspired amendments. A wonderful tailwind meant I was
able to keep the heart rate down, put the minimum effort in but still roughly maintain a 25mph average. For the first 35 miles or so.
Due to my unnatural speed, I knew there must have been
significant help from the wind – often you don’t realise how much until you
turn to come back the other way – and realised I had to keep a lid on this wind
assisted effort as I would need every ounce of power to get me back to the
roundabout turn a further 20 miles back the other way. Wise move but it needed
great discipline – I was just itching to power along at 30mph plus – I just had
to keep that lid on.
At the turn I was able to pick up the pace again with the
help of the wind but this time, having experienced 20 miles of the headwind, I
kept just a little bit more in reserve. More discipline – its not my normal
approach, honest!
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| Anyone can turn their hand to testing |
This section was crucial as I knew it was not just the 20 miles
back to the roundabout but the course demanded the final 30 miles back into the
wind with the last 10 being on slower roads. As a result of saving a bit more
while the going was good I was able to complete the first 20 of that final
headwind section faster than the previous lap.
One nutrition point raised its head at about 95 miles when
my left quad started to cramp a bit, suggesting that I could have
possibly done with a bit more of the isotonic drink earlier.
Once over the line I was pretty pleased with myself on the
one hand but felt a bit too fresh for the end of a time trial – I hadn’t left
everything out on the road. On the other hand, due to the cramp, I
would not have been able to go much further at any kind of speed – in that
sense I had done the best my body would allow and I had the confidence to set a more challenging target for the next race at this distance . The thought I couldn’t get out of my head was that I
only time trialled half of it – the windy bits. For the rest of it I was just
riding my bike. With the benefit of hindsight those sections were crucial in being able to complete the distance and beat my target time.
I finished with 4:25.17 – an average of 22.7mph – and am
very happy with that, particularly in the conditions. As is the way with
testing, I now have my marker and the plans for the next one will be built on
this experience.
The Strava file with heart rates, speeds etc can be seen here - the effects of the headwind section are clear to see! http://app.strava.com/activities/62279490
So to summarise this waffle – the best piece of advice I can give is to
start thinking about your event as early as possible and write stuff down. Do
different calculations and compare the results – imagine what it might feel like
and compare it to some other exertion you are familiar with. Ask questions, use
Google, talk to people who have done it and read forums. You need to raise the
bullshit filters but you’ll get a feel for sensible advice after a while. Oh,
and ride your bike as much as you can – I ‘ve not touched on training here at
all as that’s a whole subject in its own right. Ride as much as you can and
rest as much as you can. There you go… I managed to sign off with my own piece
of contradictory advice… Go figure…
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| 100 mile TT + 2 x Leffe Blond = ........ |
