post race meeting

I had a meeting with my coach on Monday night. The last few times I've been explaing away a crash or missing the mark on my FTP test...

It was nice to have something positive to talk about. Like he said "You got it right when it counts!"

Here are the notes I made:

Tokyo~Itoigawa analysis

My observations:

I was very happy with my performance. I felt I knew how to win the race regardless of how it unfolded.

The first lap was in a group. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th laps were solo efforts.

I rode on feel and kept an eye on real time heart rate. As always, I had time splits on bike to compare my pacing to previous years.

I observed that I was mostly riding in HR upper zone 2 and lower zone 3, around the 145 HR mark. In previous years I have averaged around 150 HR so I knew this kind of effort was maintainable.

Zones 2 and 3:

• 2 Endu 175 - 233 W (120~145 HR)
• 3 Tempo 234 - 283 W (146~164 HR)

On the climbs in the group, I was pushed into zone 4 a few times (I noticed a HR of 175).

On the 3 big climbs I tried to ride mostly tempo, allowing myself into zone 4 and around 170 HR for the steepest sections.

This year I wasn't using power to gauge my efforts. Using this year's data and with experience gained of power training, I expect power will play a more important role next year.

Individually I thought my best effort was CP1 to CP2. I felt strong during this section.

On the last coastal section I felt I was fading a little. Soreness in the neck and shoulders and general fatigue after 8 hours in the saddle slowed me down a little.

Data analysis:

We analysed the data in trainingpeaks.

• Lap 1 218 Av Power / 249 Normalized Power / 146 av HR

• Lap 2 205 Av Power / 239 Normalized Power / 144 av HR

• Lap 3 190 Av Power / 223 Normalized Power / 147 av HR

• Lap 4 218 Av Power / 212 Normalized Power / 146 av HR

Comparison of the lap data is difficult due to the changing terrain, weather conditions and other dynamics.

For example, the first 1h 50 mins of the race to the top of Fujimi Pass:

• start ~ fujimi peak 238 av Power / 261 Normalized Power / 152 av HR

(As a group, I wonder if we could have maintained this kind of intensity to the finish?)

However, we think we can see a general trend of declining power. Of course this is to be expected in a long event. The drop off in power is at a relatively constant HR.

The "Power to Heart Rate ratio" analyses this relationship.

• For the entire workout there was a drop off of 10.5%.
  

We also looked at the efficiency factor for each lap:

• Lap 1: 1.71

• Lap 2: 1.66

• Lap 3: 1.52

• Lap 4: 1.44

Again, it is difficult to interpret these values. However, I hope that they will be useful for comparative purposes in future races on this course.

The Annual Training Plan

We modified the annual training plan due to a change in date of Fuji 200. We also tweaked the training plan so that upcoming races will fall at the end of a rest week.

The lead in to Uchinada

This week is a Transition week. This will be easy riding. Trying to recover from Saturday's big effort.

Next week is a Base week. I will increase the intensity a little and do some upper zone 2 riding.

This is followed by 3 Build weeks.

Then comes a Build rest week. I hope to do an FTP test near the beginning of the week before the race on Sunday.

• Transition (10 h)
• Base (15.5 h)
• Build1 week 1 (17.5 h)
• Build1 week 2 (17.5 h)
• Build1 week 3 (17.5 h)
• Build1 week 4 (10 h, including FTP and race)

Specific training for Uchinada

There are 6 weeks before my next race. I will enter the TTT and RR at Uchinada.

We expect the effort required for the TTT will be interval sessions with high resting power. For the road race, some punchy 2/3 minute power efforts will be necessary.

In the three weeks of Build before the race, I will do one or two hard efforts during the week, and one at the weekend (TTT training). We will analyse the TTT efforts to see if they are effective enough. Based on last year's TTT training, I expect that they will be.

• Build 1 week 1: 95% FTP 20 mins x 2 (or 15 mins x 3) x 1 + TTT group training
• Build 1 week 2: 95% FTP 20 mins x 2 (or 15 mins x 3) x 2 + TTT group training
• Build 1 week 3: 95% FTP 20 mins x 2 (or 15 mins x 3) x 1 + VO2 max x 1 + TTT group training

• Build 1 week 4 (rest): If possible, I will do the final TTT training on the Saturday, the FTP on Tuesday or Wednesday and race on Sunday.

Body weight

I reached my target of 75 kg before Tokyo~Itoigawa. A few weeks before I was still 77 kg, but the weight came off quickly in the last 2 weeks. I was surprised by this which was timed with a 3 week period of reduced intensity training. I hope to keep this weight or go even lower during the summer months.

Since starting working with a coach last Novemeber, Tokyo~Itoigawa has been the race we targeted so I'm very happy to win it. I've won it before but this was perhaps my best performance. Of course it's never easy. The weather was perhaps the worst I've ever ridden it. But I felt confident in myself and the training I had done. Riding hard to the very end...