Hi everyone - I’m doing the middle distance (65mi) BWR race this Saturday. It’s about a 3.5hr drive from where I live and I probably can’t drive down until about noon on Friday due to work and family obligations. Obviously it would be best to do the openers 24hrs before the race, but it would also be ideal to pre ride a defining section of the course too, which I wouldn’t be able to do realistically until 330 or 4pm (~16hrs before the race start time). Do you all see any issues with doing about 45-60min of openers while pre-riding the first / main climb and descent? Or would you prioritize strictly adhering to TR’s prescribed (30min) openers on the trainer first thing Friday morning?
I see no issues at all. Do your preride and hit a few efforts per your plan or ad hoc. Then rest easy.
Eat, sleep well and be ready to line up at the FRONT of the corral the next day. Have fun and good luck!
With the caveat that everyone is different, so keep track and see what’s best for you…..
I’ve been in the same type of situation several times, and an easy ride (or no ride) is good for me the day before, I just don’t want to put fatigue in my legs by doing too much of any intensity. I had one event where I got in the day before, and same as you couldn’t get on the bike until late afternoon. I did pre ride the first main climb, but I did it at as low a power as possible, and stopped a couple of times as well. So I knew what to expect, but tried to minimize any stress in my legs at all, tried to keep into z2 as much as able.
On the other hand, I’ll usually take any downhill sections at closer to race pace so I know what that will look like when going fast, since it won’t take anything out of my legs.
Then just do a bit of a warmup before the race in the morning to make sure the legs and lungs are ready to go. But not too much there either
That has worked well for me. I’ve also had too much “fun” the day before and went too hard, and paid for it on race day. Don’t do that.
My N=1 experience that seems to work for me…
My legs quickly feel like trash if I don’t ride regularly, and I often feel best with some recent stress during the week of an unimportant race where I’m still training through and haven’t tapered at all.
Before a key race, I will do a few efforts, but my guideline for duration is to keep it, at an absolute maximum, about the length of an interval for the next training zone up. Specifically:
I’ll do up to 5sec of anaerobic (but not sprinting).
I’ll do a maximum of about 45sec of consecutive VO2 the day before, but no more than 90sec total.
I"ll do up to 4-5min of threshold, but not the day before. Two days before - yes.
I’ll do up to ~15min tempo.
If your body can take it , do both, if not do the pre ride. As others have said “ it’s a fine balance “. I am fond of doing some of the start and some of the finish. Finish is most important to me. I have passed people and prevent people from overtaking me at the finish. Knowing where those corners, rocks and other obstacles are at the finish line sprint is critical in my book.
My hope would be to do the openers while pre-riding this section of the course… my question was more like is that too close to the race time that I risk coming in with too much fatigue or something! But it does seem like everyone is saying to go for it but just make sure to take it easy and adhere to the opener protocol (Laurel) as much as possible.