Q: “Thanks for this service. This is very cool. I stumbled across your web page from a blog link. I’m training for IMWI this year and have gotten in some big rides, like last weekend I did a 120 miler. Now that I’m in my last 9 weeks before the race I wanted your opinion on whether it is more beneficial to do 2-3 more overdistance rides for IM prep at slow pacing, or do 2-3 shorter distance 80-90 miles at race pace?”

A: Coach Patrick [http://www.performancetrainingsystems.com/blog]: Good luck at IM Moo! Thanks for the link to your workout log…I can see how you have done some serious biking over the last 8 weeks. In addition to that 120 miler, you have done 100 or more miles at least 4 times. That’s a lot of miles unless you are planning to aim for an AG slot to Kona. Without knowing what your race day goals are, I can say that you are getting closer to that window where you start to question yourself, “Have I done enough?” This is the most dangerous part of race day…I experience it too, spending hours pouring over my workout data to see if I missed anything. Note: This is a vast improvement over going out and actually working out more.

But I digress. Based on your log, you have 9 weeks to go. The only two rides you need now over 100 miles are at 8 weeks and 4 weeks to go. These are race simulation rides where you will ride 112 as you plan to on race day (intelligently!) then run 4 miles afterwards as you will on race day (stoopid easy). Full documentation on race sim protocol is here: [http://www.performancetrainingsystems.com/newstips/tips.html#rac].

Other than that, you can do week 7 + 6 as 75 miles w/ quality work (see below), week 5 as an easy 60 miler on Sat, easy 40 miler on Sun, week 4 is race sim (see above), week 3 is 75 miles of quality (see below), week 2 is 80 miles in a group (that won’t crash) where you get to do some drafting / not do too much work, week 1 is 50-60 miles easy with a short hard run off the bike.

The quality work on the 75 milers is something like a 90 min warm up that’s 45′ easy, 30′ as 3′ @ 60 rpms aero / Zone 2 HR, 3′ standing @ 60rpms / Zone 2, 3′ easy @ 90 rpms, then 15′ easy. Then do 4 x 25′ at Half IM effort / HR (mid- to top- Zone 3, 80-85% FTP for you Powermeter freaks), with 5′ easy recovery. Then spin home. You should feel absolutely shelled. Note: if this is your first quality ride in a long time, you might want to start w/ 4 x 15′ or 4 x 20′ and a larger rest interval.

Again, good luck!

Coach P