Jul 10 2008
Tabor data
So I’m finally getting around to taking a closer look at the data from last weeks (7/2) Cat 4 Tabor race. The graph above is just a snapshot of the race itself and is smoothed by 5 seconds. The raw data is pretty noisy and I think the 5 sec. is a little easier to interpret here.
7 laps, each of them lasting about 3 minutes making a 21minute race (give or take). I don’t bother hitting the lap button anymore usually because I can never remember to be consistent in doing it. So I’m ballparking from the peaks.
For reference, I have a threshold power of 355w (the dashed line). Granted, I’m just under 90 kg so the 355w is nothing earth-shattering here.
The nice thing about this race is that it’s pretty clear where the uphill and downhill is. Each uphill portion seems to last just under 2 minutes. I was peaking just shy of 700 watts and averaged about 400-450w for the full effort. Based on the limited anaerobic work I’ve been monitoring, I’m confidant that I was in the match-burning range.
The uphill of lap 4 (around the 48:00 mark) was where I tried for a break. I didn’t peak as high, not because I was tired but from keeping a very strong but steady pace up the hill. It was a between-prime lap and the pack wasn’t going that hard, which was primarily why I went for it. I hammered it down the hill, skipping the 30 sec rest in an attempt to open up a gap.
The next uphill (51:00), I had maybe a 3-5 sec gap so I thought that if I dropped power output a bit to something more sustainable over the rest of the race, it would work. I felt 450 watts or so could possibly do it.
Well, it didn’t. There’s a teeny little sag around 51:30 where I got sucked up. Going by the flat at the start line, I let it sag a bit more (52:00) and absolutely struggled up the hill to keep up with the pack. There’s a little blip at 53:00 where I needed to put some effort in on the downhill to hang on, hitting almost 37 mph.
The 6th lap at 54:00 was about hanging on. The bell rang and I was fairly well cooked at this point. HR was at or neat 180 which is a few beats shy of my max. I stayed with the pack around the reservoir until the pace picked up. I made a very, very brief attempt at keeping with the front group but gave it up pretty quickly and just coasted in.
So what did I learn from this…
- Excelling at Tabor is an exercise in anaerobic endurance. Any training plan to do well here needs multiple 1-2 minute intervals well above threshold power.
- From the first few laps where I was fresh, it took about 450 watts to stay near the front of the pack. That’s about 5 w/kg average. Surges in the ballpark of 700 watts (7.75-8 w/kg) are close to what’s needed to win some of the sprints. I didn’t seriously challenge many of the sprints so I’d plan for even more.
- Right now, I’ve got a pretty lean matchbook when it comes to hard efforts. Granted, I haven’t done a shred of consistent VO2 max or anaerobic work since last fall. So we’ll just make a note in the training log [Needs Improvement: anaerobic endurance] and call it good.
- I don’t think I have enough info on what it would take to make a break and stay away. A better way to look at it would be to look what I did…and not do it.
Looking back, despite concentrating mostly on tempo and a little bit of LT interval work so far, I managed to stay competitive. I stayed with the main pack, did not get dropped, and even managed to push the pace a bit. I knew full well that I’d done no training to date that was relative to this type of race. But I went for it anyway and got some good info on what my current limitations are.