While there are differences between a pure time trial (TT) and the cycling leg of a triathlon, the similarities are huge and mastering this discipline should be high on every triathlete’s to-do list. That is why it is so surprising to me why so many triathletes have never done a TT. After sitting out last season with an injury that kept me from running, I became a student of this specialty and over the course of the last year really made some improvements that will help me in my triathlons this year. Cycling season is officially underway and there are a number of great TT’s on the schedule so the following is a summary of what I have learned about getting your best result on race day.
Mindset:
I think what draws me to the TT is that there are two specific factors that go into mastering this specialty. Keep these thoughts in mind as your read on.
1. Work: Unlike road races which require frequent max efforts and sprinting followed by recovery, the TT requires the ability to maintain a steady state of work-it is an event of work much more than speed.
2. Pain: The other aspect of a great time trialist is that he/she can dig down deep and suffer like a dog!
Day Before the TT:
One of the top US coaches, Hunter Allen always stresses the importance of “blowing out” your legs to a certain extent the day before the race. The best and most efficient way to do this is by doing some hard intervals. He recommends at least one effort in the 12-15 minute range at your max sustainable pace for that length of time. You should also include at least 3 intervals in the 2 minute range. These are much more intense than your longer effort, and they are intended to help “open up” your legs to a super intense effort. Give yourself adequate recovery between efforts and be very sure of staying hydrated the day before. You will want to eat plenty of carbs and be sure to have your chocolate milk or other appropriate recovery fuel after your workout.
Race Day Breakfast/wake-up:
Like triathlons, a frequent problem with TT’s is an early morning start. Many riders find it hard to do a maximum effort so soon after sleeping. If your race starts at 7 or 8 am, your body needs a minimum of two hours to be awake so get up at 5:00am at the latest. Have your pre-race breakfast and keep a bottle with you to sip on during your warm up to keep your fluids and electrolytes topped off. If you have a later start time, try and work it so you have your main pre-race meal about 2 hours before your event. There is no pre-race meal formula, it is different for everyone and should be determined through trial and error long before the morning of the race so that you are not doing anything different that morning. I always have a gell w/ a Red Bull about 15 minutes before my send off time. This may be purely psychological but it works for me. Remember that caffeine is a proven and legal performance enhancer (both physically and mentally) so if you are a caffeine drinker, take advantage of this benefit.
Day of a TT:
Just like with triathlon, I recommend arriving 2 hours before the event. Arriving late is stressful and definitely not optimal. If you get there to early by the time the race starts your initial psych and adrenalin has gone and you just want to get the whole thing over. Neither of those two options will lead to a very good race.
Warm up:
A successful time trial begins with a super warm-up. You must be ready to make an intense effort right from the first pedal stroke. Find out exactly what time you have to be at the start, then begin warming up with one hour to go. Wear a watch so you will be certain of the time remaining…I say this from experience as I am still smarting from missing the podium of last weeks TT due to missing my start time…ouch! So you have to get your body ready for the “shock” of the hard effort that you are about to do. This shock will come in the warm-up and NOT in the first 5 miles of the TT. Do some 2 – 4 minute efforts and sprint in the last 15 seconds of each one. Your goal in the warm-up is to get your body so ready that when you get on the line and take off, it’s just like your warm-up and you can immediately get into a rhythm. 20 minutes before your start time go back to your car and put on your skin suit, dump any water bottles you don’t need, dump your spare tire and change kit, get a fresh bottle if the event is over 20 minutes and have your Red Bull. You should have another 5 – 10 minutes to ride around the start line and be sure not to pull a Spencer and miss your start time. As you get in place shift into the gear you want to start (remember you are starting from a dead stop so make it a relatively easy gear), and as you get in place clear your computers GPS’s and any other data-retrieving devices. When the count reaches 5 seconds to go start your watch, grab your bull horns, get out of the saddle and GO!
The Start:
Stay out of your saddle until you are up to speed then sit down and start shifting toward your primary gear. Do not get out of that saddle again except after sharp turns that slow you way down, the turn around or a short, steep hill.
Pacing:
It is absolutely critical that you “hold back” in the first 5 minutes of the TT!! Power meters show us unequivocally that your perceived exertion will be very low as you are excited and ready to go. This is a trap and if you were to maintain what “feels” right, you would blow up in 5 minutes. It is better to start out and gradually build up to your TT HR and hit this HR at about 4 – 5 minutes into the race. If you are using a power meter, bring up to your goal power and hold it there despite the urge to push harder. Going back to Hunter Allen again, he describes a properly executed TT like the unrolling of a carpet. At first it starts un-rolling slowly, then picks up speed as it further unrolls and finally it slaps on the ground.
The key to achieving your best performance now is going to be your ability to focus. TT’ing requires total focus and concentration to keep you delivering that steady effort, high cadence and proper effort. The middle portion of the event is crucial as you are now really starting to hurt and questioning if you can keep up this effort for as long as it will take….resist the temptation to back off, you can! When asked how do you know how hard to push, the great British rider Chris Boardman said that at the half way mark, you should be seriously questioning if you can hold this pace to the end. Hold your rhythm and have a positive mantra to go over in your head. Decide that you may or may not win, but you’re not going to let anyone outwork you on this day. When you get about 75 yards to the turn stand up and stretch your legs, it is your only chance. If you are carrying water, now is your chance for a quick drink. As you approach the cone, shift int a slightly easier gear and go past the turn with the cone on your left and point your left knee at the cone (into the corner). Get up to speed out of your saddle as quickly as possible and then immediately back into the aero position.
Final Miles:
These are crucial and it is very important to keep your pace as high as possible in the final miles. You should try to gradually bring your speed a notch higher throughout those last miles. At the end of the TT, you should be riding faster than you have ridden the entire time! You should totally blow right at the finish line! Forget about standing and sprinting, you should be so maxed out in those final 100 meters that it is impossible to get out of the saddle and go faster. If you can stand and sprint, you haven’t gone hard enough!
Make sure to cool down properly and get that acid OUT of the legs so that you won’t be so sore the next day. Get your chocolate milk recovery drink and then get online and let us all know how it went!
While you can’t execute the cycling leg of your triathlon quite to this extent, you will be surprised how close you can come and still run well by simply backing off a bit in the final mile or two before transition. More importantly, this is one of the best ways to perfect that steady effort, focus and mental training that will translate to improved times on the bike. So including a few TT’s throughout the year can help you have your best year ever!
Mindset:
I think what draws me to the TT is that there are two specific factors that go into mastering this specialty. Keep these thoughts in mind as your read on.
1. Work: Unlike road races which require frequent max efforts and sprinting followed by recovery, the TT requires the ability to maintain a steady state of work-it is an event of work much more than speed.
2. Pain: The other aspect of a great time trialist is that he/she can dig down deep and suffer like a dog!
Day Before the TT:
One of the top US coaches, Hunter Allen always stresses the importance of “blowing out” your legs to a certain extent the day before the race. The best and most efficient way to do this is by doing some hard intervals. He recommends at least one effort in the 12-15 minute range at your max sustainable pace for that length of time. You should also include at least 3 intervals in the 2 minute range. These are much more intense than your longer effort, and they are intended to help “open up” your legs to a super intense effort. Give yourself adequate recovery between efforts and be very sure of staying hydrated the day before. You will want to eat plenty of carbs and be sure to have your chocolate milk or other appropriate recovery fuel after your workout.
Race Day Breakfast/wake-up:
Like triathlons, a frequent problem with TT’s is an early morning start. Many riders find it hard to do a maximum effort so soon after sleeping. If your race starts at 7 or 8 am, your body needs a minimum of two hours to be awake so get up at 5:00am at the latest. Have your pre-race breakfast and keep a bottle with you to sip on during your warm up to keep your fluids and electrolytes topped off. If you have a later start time, try and work it so you have your main pre-race meal about 2 hours before your event. There is no pre-race meal formula, it is different for everyone and should be determined through trial and error long before the morning of the race so that you are not doing anything different that morning. I always have a gell w/ a Red Bull about 15 minutes before my send off time. This may be purely psychological but it works for me. Remember that caffeine is a proven and legal performance enhancer (both physically and mentally) so if you are a caffeine drinker, take advantage of this benefit.
Day of a TT:
Just like with triathlon, I recommend arriving 2 hours before the event. Arriving late is stressful and definitely not optimal. If you get there to early by the time the race starts your initial psych and adrenalin has gone and you just want to get the whole thing over. Neither of those two options will lead to a very good race.
Warm up:
A successful time trial begins with a super warm-up. You must be ready to make an intense effort right from the first pedal stroke. Find out exactly what time you have to be at the start, then begin warming up with one hour to go. Wear a watch so you will be certain of the time remaining…I say this from experience as I am still smarting from missing the podium of last weeks TT due to missing my start time…ouch! So you have to get your body ready for the “shock” of the hard effort that you are about to do. This shock will come in the warm-up and NOT in the first 5 miles of the TT. Do some 2 – 4 minute efforts and sprint in the last 15 seconds of each one. Your goal in the warm-up is to get your body so ready that when you get on the line and take off, it’s just like your warm-up and you can immediately get into a rhythm. 20 minutes before your start time go back to your car and put on your skin suit, dump any water bottles you don’t need, dump your spare tire and change kit, get a fresh bottle if the event is over 20 minutes and have your Red Bull. You should have another 5 – 10 minutes to ride around the start line and be sure not to pull a Spencer and miss your start time. As you get in place shift into the gear you want to start (remember you are starting from a dead stop so make it a relatively easy gear), and as you get in place clear your computers GPS’s and any other data-retrieving devices. When the count reaches 5 seconds to go start your watch, grab your bull horns, get out of the saddle and GO!
The Start:
Stay out of your saddle until you are up to speed then sit down and start shifting toward your primary gear. Do not get out of that saddle again except after sharp turns that slow you way down, the turn around or a short, steep hill.
Pacing:
It is absolutely critical that you “hold back” in the first 5 minutes of the TT!! Power meters show us unequivocally that your perceived exertion will be very low as you are excited and ready to go. This is a trap and if you were to maintain what “feels” right, you would blow up in 5 minutes. It is better to start out and gradually build up to your TT HR and hit this HR at about 4 – 5 minutes into the race. If you are using a power meter, bring up to your goal power and hold it there despite the urge to push harder. Going back to Hunter Allen again, he describes a properly executed TT like the unrolling of a carpet. At first it starts un-rolling slowly, then picks up speed as it further unrolls and finally it slaps on the ground.
The key to achieving your best performance now is going to be your ability to focus. TT’ing requires total focus and concentration to keep you delivering that steady effort, high cadence and proper effort. The middle portion of the event is crucial as you are now really starting to hurt and questioning if you can keep up this effort for as long as it will take….resist the temptation to back off, you can! When asked how do you know how hard to push, the great British rider Chris Boardman said that at the half way mark, you should be seriously questioning if you can hold this pace to the end. Hold your rhythm and have a positive mantra to go over in your head. Decide that you may or may not win, but you’re not going to let anyone outwork you on this day. When you get about 75 yards to the turn stand up and stretch your legs, it is your only chance. If you are carrying water, now is your chance for a quick drink. As you approach the cone, shift int a slightly easier gear and go past the turn with the cone on your left and point your left knee at the cone (into the corner). Get up to speed out of your saddle as quickly as possible and then immediately back into the aero position.
Final Miles:
These are crucial and it is very important to keep your pace as high as possible in the final miles. You should try to gradually bring your speed a notch higher throughout those last miles. At the end of the TT, you should be riding faster than you have ridden the entire time! You should totally blow right at the finish line! Forget about standing and sprinting, you should be so maxed out in those final 100 meters that it is impossible to get out of the saddle and go faster. If you can stand and sprint, you haven’t gone hard enough!
Make sure to cool down properly and get that acid OUT of the legs so that you won’t be so sore the next day. Get your chocolate milk recovery drink and then get online and let us all know how it went!
While you can’t execute the cycling leg of your triathlon quite to this extent, you will be surprised how close you can come and still run well by simply backing off a bit in the final mile or two before transition. More importantly, this is one of the best ways to perfect that steady effort, focus and mental training that will translate to improved times on the bike. So including a few TT’s throughout the year can help you have your best year ever!
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