2021 High cascades 100

Races, Rides, Runs
21

So @steveneal, i followed your training advice for building late-race, deep fitness, and i think results were coming around. I was never able to get it to where i could match my 5 min or 20 min power within a few percent at the end of a long ride, but i could grind a ton of tempo and threshold at the end of a long ride in a way that i never could before.

However, for whatever reason, i two weeks before race day, i started feeling pretty bad. I didn’t think that i was over extending myself, but i had some things come up. It was stressful time at work plus had to do last minute travel to michigan for my grandfather’s memorial service (which, really glad i did, my dad was super pumped i made it and you need to show up for people that you care about, otherwise they don’t know, and our time wtih them on this earth is finite). So last two weeks i felt fatigued, HR:PR ratio was going the wrong way, and hrv was meaningfully lower and RHR meaningfully lower. So i rested and then moved into a taper week, and i thought the bad metrics and feelings could have been as a result of the taper, which my body never likes. Usually as soon as i do hard trainings again it feels fine. well, this time not so much.

So, it just sucks because i came really close to timing it perfectly, i was only off by a week and a half. Which is way better than i’ve ever done before! I’m usually off by months :smiley: . But regardless, i’ll look at the training data and see if there’s any lessons. Maybe i shouldn’t have trained in the heat bubble, maybe i started high intensity too early, maybe i stared low intensity too late.

Today was race day. Still felt bad, all metrics still bad, but i was like, you know what? I’ve prepped a lot, i’ve got good low intensity power, i should be able to do this even if the top end is falling apart. So i just figured, give it a shot, recalibrate goals just to finishing–it still would be my longest race ever–and then take a good long break after that.

So i went for it, and actually surprised myself. I came in sub-9 hrs for almost 100 miles and over 9k feet of climbing, and 23 in my category (open men) and probably 25th or so overall.

I thought i paced it conservatively, but i definitely did not. I later learned that at the halfway point i was on pace for a sub-8 and sitting 5th overall, but then the wheels fell off at mile 48. But i didn’t pull it, i tried to break it into manageable chunks and focus on what i could still do well even with the bonk, and i think my flow even got better late-race, not worse.

But, i’m super pumped with it as a first effort and i think i know better now what it takes to actually race at the pointy end and then stay there (instead of going backwards like i did this time).

I don’t think i’ll do it next year. My wife has been super supportive and i’d like to spend more time with her next season. But i will be thinking about time-lite things i can do next season (skills, strength and conditioning) in preparation for another go in 2023.

Until next time!

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Glad to hear you were noticing some positive changes in the training.

It is tricky when trying this for the first time…many slightly overdo the work or don’t eat enough when training. It is very helpful to have a coach working with the many different metrics and feelings along the way, usually to try and check in on ride nutrition and make sure you are always on top of it, as well as hold you back a bit, also important.

I am sorry to hear about your grandfather, but yes these times are tricky yet an very important piece of our lives and those around us, I am glad you could make the trip.

Tough to say without knowing you a little better or seeing the data but yes building this type of fitness takes time, and then you can actually let the training stress drop over about two weeks to come into form. Sounds like you naturally peaked from this type of training focus which is good for you to know in the future, now it is just fine-tuning.

Congrats on the race and sharing the story I do appreciate it when people follow up, it means a lot.

These big races take commitment for sure, and finding time for others and coming back to this in the future is a good thing, or just trying something different the sport has to offer.

It seems you have trained well and kept track of a lot of data, this might actually be a good time for a consult to go through the data together and discuss the sensations you were having at different times. This would be similar to taking on a new client and looking over their past training to see what may have been missing or what might have been too much.

Let me know if you want to do a consult…either way, congrats on taking on such a big goal and it sounds like you learned a lot about yourself.

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23

Thanks Steve!

I think consult at this point would be a great idea, at least after a few days when i’m ready to think about training again. I’ll get in touch with you separately.

Also, again, really appreciate the guidance, feedback and discussion you provide on the forum. Wouldn’t have been nearly as good an outcome without it.

And, just so i’m clear, i think there’s a lot to be happy about here, at least projecting onwards:

  1. i’ve got a good idea now about what it takes to actually “race” these races and be competitive. I don’t think it’s that far off.
  2. Just from May to July, i extended the duration during which i could be competitive from about 2 hours to over 4. Still not quite long enough, but was a big improvement in a year where i really didn’t train much over fall and winter
  3. Skills are probably 80% of where they need to be. If i can get this up to 90, takes pressure off needing to keep gaining time on the climbs. but i probably started the year at more like 50%
  4. i think most importantly, mentally, i didn’t self-sabotage the way i might have in the past. Didn’t come up with excuses to not try that hard. I knew i was coming into the race feeling like sh%t, and basically just said, well let’s give it a shot anyway. In years past i would have cracked
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