Hi everyone!
I completed my first race this weekend after a few months of training.
First of all i had a blast, It was totally worth it to do early morning indoor sessions and I am happy with my overall result. While it was a ton of fun it was also an eyeopener regarding my weaknesses. Which gives me even more motivation for improvement and brings me here!
A little bit of background; I started cycling more seriously in july last year and did some fun rides until fall. At the time i didnt have indoor trainer so i switched to running in the mean time. In January i got an indoor trainer with zwift(initial FTP 220W/84kg). I started reading about strucured training and started using TR two months ago. That got me to 240W @ 81 kg, around 2.9W/Kg. I’m 33 yo.
Course was 80 km long with 1100m of altitude gain. Biggest climb was 370m 6.8% and 5.5 km long around half way through followed by a rolling terrain with finish at sea level.
I obviously made a lot of beginner mistakes one being following fast paced group from the start-180 bpm avg for the first 15 km, by that time I knew I have to slow down or I’m going to blow up before i complete half of the course.
I’d say this was purely on an adrenaline rush because this was my first mass start race. Plan was to keep a steady pace, give my best on the biggest climb and use everything that’s left for the last 30 km on rolling terrain.
Most of the course went according to plan but in the last 20 km i started to fade really fast, i just felt my legs were getting weaker and weaker every km. I’d loose a group, get caught up by another and manage to hang on them for a while and then lose them.
Now I know this was a race and my average heart rate was 175 bpm which is basically my threshold hr. ( i also noticed that my hr is always higher outdoors and when I’m focused and tends to rise more than usual, and not match RPE at all- that’s why i have assioma uno on the way) but same thing happens to me on hard solo rides (165bpm avg) past the 2hr mark.
I fuel with 90g/h drink and gels combined.
So my question is what to do to improve my “duration? Am I going to hard for my current fitness?
I also noticed i tend to suffer more on rolling terrain than on climbs, what to do about that?
I have a race in September that i set up my TR for, which is 140 km and 2000 m of elevation and I want to be able to give my best effort.
I’m on LV plan with some additional z2 around it. I’ll add more hours now as the weather improves.
Thank you for your time!