Zombie Watch

This year's Texas State Time Trial Championship course is, once again, unflat. Additionally, the slight grade that will greet riders during the first five minutes of the effort will surely function as a grave for those who try to kick it over the top only to find, it's not really a top.

Too much too soon can doom a time trial in general. For this course specifically, the too much might come even sooner, with the hill shooting many competitors in the head right at the start.

Expect widely scattered zombies pedaling across the south Texas brush land near Lytle the morning of 7/30/2011. Some thoughts on how to avoid becoming one:

1) Warm up well (without overheating...more on that in the last point). Recommended protocol is as follows:

• 5 min easy spin
• 3x60 second fast spin efforts (110+ rpm, tbi=60 seconds)
• 5 more easy spin minutes
• 5 minute effort AT FTP
• 5 min easy spin
• 1 more fast spin effort (60 seconds)
• line up for the time trial when last minute details are concluded

2) Know thy FTP. Better yet, know it as an expression of w/kg to account for the event day's weight and adjust it accordingly.

3) Mind the initial dosage: In other words, keep the first 5 minutes of the effort constrained to below 90% of the weight adjusted FTP. Fact: no 40k ITT is ever lost in the first five minutes. Going out to hard on this course will be akin to climbing up on a hill in a gunfight, naked, with a single shot, and shooting up all the ammo before the eye-whites are visible.

4) Mind the watts: No, not the ones on the watt meter, but the ones gained from maintaining good form: head low, knees in, relaxed, listening to the body. An occasional glance at the pm is okay to monitor progress, but following the advice in #3 above will attune the mind to the body, allowing for a successful toeing of the fine line between going and blowing.

5) Mind the cadence: This course is not flat, with just enough hills to challenge everyone's cadence monitoring and selection skills. Higher cadence on the up-gradients keeps the leaden acid at bay. Modulating it a bit lower on the downhills can exploit momentum while stealing a few recovery moments from the course. Unlike last year's course at Castroville, however; recovery moments are few and far between on this course.

6) Of course, in south Texas, this goes without saying, but should always be repeated. Keep as cool as possible and hydrate. Frozen water bottles, ice vests, ice packs under the skin suit (upper back, thighs, chest) prior to the start can all help in this campaign.

Look for a posting on that other blog about how fun it is to forget to apply the w/kg factor to a body that has lost a significant amount of lean body mass.