Olaf Sabatchus Camp, Day 8. The ride to Betencuria
With hills there is an end-point, a place you can see and strive for. It all occurs on the hill… strength, weakness, fear, solitude, and finally accomplishment. When the hill is behind you, there’s a feeling of completing the task, reaching your goal.
When repeating this again and again in a workout, week after week, you soon develop a sense of comfort on reaching your goals. Your fear of striving for your goal becomes blunted. This translates into a comfort with pain as you near the end of the race…and you become stronger.
-taken from a blog I wrote in February 2006, 2 days after completing a 122 mile bike ride in thunderstorms, with 11,240 feet ascent. This was just over 1 year before I hired Olaf Sabatschus for coaching, and 18 months before I set personal bests in every triathlon distance, including my 26 minute PR 9:11 at age 42. Meeting Olaf not only changed my approach to training, racing, and recovery, but changed my life as an athlete.
Some groups have taken off. The remainder await their take-off times for ride to Betencuria
The ride to Betencuria, Fuerteventura Canary Islands, Olaf Sabatschus winter training camp 2011
The beginning of the ride went well with a nice 25 mph headwind for 5 or so miles before Andreas and I rode off away from the group on the first sustained climb.
Riding out with Group 1. Riding 2 a-breast is accepted and legal on the island.
Group 2 as we pass
We reached 5000 ft of ascent at 35 miles and with Andreas as my only riding partner I figured it would hurt a bit. Fortunately, Andreas has been riding more specific for ironman time trial, not bike racing or short course triathlon. So, he held his watts under 400 on the climbs and kept his heart rate below his threshold of 160. So, I was able to ride with him on the hills, holding my watts at below 300 and my heart rate below 146, my HR threshold. The gearing was of course to my advantage with my 54/23 while Andreas is using a Cervelo test bike with a 53/25 combination. So, while he was around 50 rpm on many of the climbs, I was able to hold 40 rpm and keep my power and heart rate under control.
Andreas climbing. About a 400 foot drop beyond the small stone guards along the side of the road, with 25 mph cross winds
Andreas and I make a quick stop for photo at the top of the first sustained climb, before our descent to Betencuria
Yes I had to ride with those quads today. Andreas is very strong and has an overwhelming lactate buffer system. However, this is not necessary in ironman. If Andreas keeps his bike split controlled at 4:50ish at ironman Germany, I think he will be able to run his sub 3:30 and he will sneak under 9:40, and will likely be on his way to Kona in October.
The roads here are about the best condition I’ve ever ridden. The descents are smooth and with broad sweeping turns, as well as good sighting of the road ahead, you can descend quite fast off most of the climbs.
The descent into Betencuria, before the next 1500 foot climb.
Climbing up and out of the next set of hills with another couple of descents leads to a strong tailwind for the final 15 miles of the ride. Andreas and I picked up a group of 5 other triathletes from another camp with 7 miles to go and they latched onto my wheel. After a minute or so, I spun up to Andreas who was pulling, and looked over and smiled at him, which was the clear indication that the group on my wheel had “opened the box”. I then spun ahead of Andreas and held 300 watts for about 3 minutes and upwards of 32 mph in the tailwind, and the group hung on. I backed off after the sustained burn in the legs became intolerable, while Andreas pulled ahead. I had about 20 seconds to allow the lactate to clear, and was then an inch behind his wheel as low as I could get…yep, back at 300 watts in his draft. This held for another 3 minutes or so as we topped 35 mph and I looked down…375 watts, in his draft. As we approached the left turn, with 3 miles to go into the resort, we both held up and looked behind. The other tri guys were at least a minute behind us and it was clear who had closed the box. Andreas looked over at me with some slight worry on his face and we both laughed as I said, “come on man, you can let go for a few minutes every now and then”. So, I called him the “German hammer” the remainder of camp because this guy can drop nearly anyone in a short TT if he decides to. He’s never had a power-lactate test but I’m certain his lactate levels exceed 20 at peak blood levels. I was barely hanging on at max effort that final minute on his wheel…very impressive.
We took recovery, and had about 90 minutes to the run. The 10k run went well, with Ann, Andreas, Uwe and myself running up the road to the lighthouse and back.
Ann running on the way back from the lighthouse after the ride to Betencuria, trotting at 7 pace
So,
I think of hills differently now. They are not some monolith of goals in which I hammer out a race simulation over and over again. This is not sustainable for peak ironman performance. Rather, I have learned to remain controlled on hills, reaching the summit at wattages below or at threshold, I play a game with myself to try to climb with the lowest heart rate possible. This, like proper time trialing in preparation for ironman, will lead to the ability to sustain sub threshold power for long periods by properly building strength in the slow twitch fibers most used in ironman. Sure, as I said to Andreas, its always fun to pedal past a group of roadies hammering up a climb at 100 rpm, as you over-take them at 45 rpm in a 54 chain ring, well over threshold. However, you can’t make a habit of this. You learn more about yourself by holding back to a reasonable effort, within the zone most conducive to ironman racing…then you do by always hammering the hills trying to prove something to yourself.
After my long spring of hill dedication in 2006, with numerous 100+ mile rides, a few 120+ mile rides and climbing about 200,000 feet in preparation for CdA….I went on to set a personal best by 1 minute on the bike. Was it all worth it? I went on 1 year later to set back to back personal bests on the bike, dropping up to 20 minutes, with 30-40% less miles and relentlessly climbing in my proper zone and cadence. I remember that year in 2007, when I would climb 5000 feet over a 65 mile ride, with an additional 45 minute TT…and feel completely recovered for my long run the next morning. My runs that year were of the highest quality coming off my ironman rides, and my legs never felt “blown up”. This is what leads to eventual success in long course time trialing, and success in racing (not struggling through) the marathon afterward. On the next hill ride, try staying a bit behind your partners wheel. Don’t make hills your race, and don’t dilute your race-day motivation by creating too many races on the hills in your preparation. Relax. You’ll get stronger.
