The Great Western Loop
The Great Western loop is a 40-mile mountainous route in eastern San Diego county. Featuring long steep climbs (3200 feet of vertical gain), rural lightly trafficked roads, fast descents and scenic wonders, it's a staple ride for a lot of local triathletes.
It starts with a 20-minute warm-up on the flats, followed by an hour of nearly continual climbing--steep hard hills that demand attention (sometimes just to keep from rolling backward...). We regroup under an oak tree at the top, and then start on another half-hour of gentler climbs and rollers through an extremely scenic part of the ride.
On this last half-hour I've tended to fall off the back, and hadn't really figured out why--except maybe that I would see the hard part of the ride as being over, and generally would slack off and admire the views.
For each of the past two weeks I decided to hold the wheels of the people who were always in front on this stretch to see what I could learn.
Riding Like an Ironman--Smooth and Steady
On July 2nd on this stretch I held the wheel of Elizabeth, who sometimes joins us when she's looking for a short ride. Elizabeth races a 5-hour 70.3, wins her age group, and is headed to Kona this fall--for her, "riding the Great Western Loop" often means two laps around. On shorter distances she and I ride at a similar pace, especially when climbing. I would guess that our power/weight ratios are pretty similar.
Here's what my power-meter file looked like while holding her wheel for the 7.5 miles of this stretch.
On this file, the solid yellow line is the power in watts, and the blue speed in m.p.h. Note that the higher speeds coincide with low/zero watts--these are downhills where we're coasting. A brief spike in power indicates a short rise in an otherwise downhill stretch.
The most notable thing about this graph is the steady application of power. My normalized power was 210 watts (the straight, dashed yellow line), and all of the climbs ranged from 220 to 270 watts, generally hovering around the 230-240 range. For me, 210 watts is a zone 3 tempo effort, which is the zone that most non-pros race a half ironman in. The 230-240 watts is a low zone 4 effort, and is the zone most hit during climbs in a 70.3. Both of these are solid aerobic efforts, with very little anaerobic activity.
Even though Elizabeth also wins sprint-distance races, her specialty is the half and full ironman distances. So it's completely expected that she would train primarily in these zones for long distances. Remember, she often does this loop twice--with the second lap faster than the first. So it's important that she not fry her legs with anaerobic efforts.
Road Racing--Accelerate, Rest, Hammer, Hang On
On July 9th on this stretch I held the wheel of Matt, who rides this route weekly with me. Matt is in his second year of triathlon and races sprint and Olympic distances. His bike splits are generally in the top 10% of the men's field. For both him and me this 2:30-hour route is usually our long ride of the week, and we finish it with a few-mile transition run (after which we're pretty exhausted and ready for lunch/beer/nap). Matt and I also ride at a similar pace, and I'd guess that our power/weight ratios
are pretty similar. Here's what my power-meter file looked like while holding his wheel for the 7.5 miles of this stretch.
The most notable thing about this graph is the huge accelerations on all of the short hills. Even though my normalized power was higher (238 watts-the straight dashed line), the spikes above that are visibly much higher than the week before. These accelerations started at 300 watts, and progressed to 350+ watts. The 300 watts is zone 5a for me, and readily manageable for a few minutes at a time. The 350+ watts, however, is an anaerobic zone 5b--a few repeats at this level hurts a lot.
After the second-such 350-watt acceleration/recovery, I passed Matt at the base of a steep hill and held 270 watts (high zone 4) for 5 minutes. My thinking was that I really didn't want to have to do another 350 watt acceleration, so I was hoping to tire him out. It was an effective strategy--at the bottom of the next descent we were both tired and he was content to let me lead with a tempo pace for the last 4-minute climb.
For sprint and Olympic distance triathlons, going into zone 5a on short climbs is very effective for keeping momentum. Note that my time for this 7.5 miles was 2:30 minutes faster than the week before when I was in zones 3/4. But the zone 5b is really hard on the legs. The anaerobic effort builds a lot of lactic acid, which can be really bad for the run. This style of short, sharp accelerations is very typical of road racers who are trying to drop competitors out of their draft. But it's maybe not the best strategy in triathlons, where drafting is not legal.
So, Which Style is Better?
It seems that neither style is inherently better--it's just a matter of learning to train and race to fit the courses that you're racing. For 70.3 races, you'll race primarily in zone 3 and low zone 4 (for climbs). But training in high zone 4 and even zone 5a will make those race paces much easier.
For sprint and Olympic distances, training a lot in zones 4/5a is critical, as that's the effort you'll be racing at. Even some training in zone 5b (30-60 second sprints) is useful, so you can do some short bursts without frying your legs. But it's important to learn to not spend much time in 5b during a race. Matt's last race featured a lot of short steep climbs on the bike. He had a great bike split, but his run pace was well off his typical speed. My hunch is that, among other factors, he may have gone into 5b too often on the bike.
Training Strategies
Riding with training partners of similar abilities and goals is great in lots of ways. Matt and I usually push each other into zone 5a and 5b efforts because--well, boys will be boys and that's just how we are. It can be hard to self-motivate to endure that kind of discomfort.
Riding with Elizabeth seems to involve a lot of story swapping--which almost demands staying in zones 3/4 in order to be conversational. In fact, Elizabeth is well known for--at the base of long, steep climbs--asking questions that require long, detailed answers. But that's a whole different training strategy...
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