In Search of the PR

Sometimes it's just about throwing PR's aside and finishing a race out of commitment to the sport, or teammates or yourself. Huge pat on the back to you. For going in knowing that this would be a tough race and doing it anyway! Many others would not have shown up to the starting line!

                                                                        Sue Talent Alschuler

In triathlon circles you hear the term PR thrown around with wild abandon.  PR, or Personal Record, even becomes part of the whole race goal.  I will be the first to admit that I fell into that trap.  My goal for the Lake Stevens 70.3 was to better my time from Boise.  As my earlier blog noted, events conspired to render that goal moot.  I came away disappointed.  I felt like I’d let down myself and let down my coach.  I completely ignored the fact that I’d done the race just over a week after having a bike accident and sustaining a major injury.  But I’d also ignored something else – that each race is different.

When I got back from Seattle I went over to Jaime’s house to help him paint his basement.  Before we got started he pulled me into his office and had me look at a print out of the race I’d run in Lake Stevens.  He had crunched the numbers and the data and compared it to my race in Boise.  He went over it with me and shared some thoughts that I had maybe not considered. 

Two things he shared with me gave me cause to be upbeat about the race.  He noted that my Normalized Power for the race at Lake Stevens had been 210.  Normalized power basically takes into account everything on the racecourse, hills, descents, and flat segments and comes up with a power average.  Basically, this is the amount of power you’d be able to constantly maintain over the course of a workout (or in this case, a race).  Earlier in the year when I raced Boise Jaime had me shoot for a constant power level of around 170.  It may be hard to understand but I will train at a certain power level but then race at a certain heart rate.  This is to keep me from essentially using up all my energy and ‘bonking’.  At Lake Stevens my Normalized Power was a 210.  Mentally this was a big boost as I remember training sessions during the winter where intervals at that level of power would cause my legs to liquefy after three or four sets.  He also noted that my VI, or Variability Index was a 1.21.  The Variability Index is essentially Normalized Power divided by Average Power and basically gives an indication of the smoothness of the ride (not the road, the rider).  You’re trying to get as close to 1.0 as possible.  Hilly courses make for a higher number.  The hills along with some places where I was essentially trapped behind slow moving cars waiting to pass around a slow going rider up a hill made for a potentially high number.  Jaime was pleased with the number and noted that most athletes, let along an average age-grouper such as myself would be happy with that number.

Once we went over the numbers he referenced back to a major variable that differentiated the two races.  In Boise, there had been 1800 feet of elevation gain on the bike course, the majority of the climbing came within the first five miles of the race.  All of the major climbing was done prior to the turn around.  At Lake Stevens there was 2800 feet of elevation gain, the majority of which came in the last 20 miles of the race.  Most of Lake Stevens bike course was what could be considered ‘rollers’ – lots of up, followed by equal down.  Interestingly enough there were a lot of corners in Lake Stevens – 90 degree turns where you would have to slow down – usually on a descent, make the turn, and then immediately start climbing again.  This was vastly different from Boise, where the turns were fewer and flatter.  Most of the race in Boise had roads blocked off so there was little if any traffic with which to contend.  Lake Stevens on the other hand was an open course and there were several instances on some of the hills where I was basically trying to stay upright as I stayed on the bumper of a slow moving vehicle that was waiting to pass an equally slow bike.  All in all, a slower bike time of 5 minutes wasn’t that much to be disappointed about given the data or the conditions.

The run in Boise looped along the DesBois River trail and had an elevation gain 69 feet.  In Lake Stevens the run also looped but there was an elevation gain of 724 feet.  One hill at Lake Stevens in particularly was long and gradual and occurred right before the turn around.  Jaime himself admitted that he seriously questioned his sanity when he knew he’d have to run up that hill again.  Psychologically, the hill took it’s toll on many of the runners and I lost count of how many racers I saw walking up that hill as I made my way back down to the finish.  Given the elevation change, in addition to my left hip and my right foot hurting, a slower time of six minutes wasn’t something to be ashamed of by any means.

Interestingly enough, although my power numbers in Lake Stevens were higher my average heart rate was actually lower, by three beats per minute.  One thing that Jaime has tried to drill into my head is that my heart rate zone numbers will remain the same.  Where I will see the change is in increased power at the same heart rate.  As I noted, earlier in the year, I struggled to maintain a power level of 210 for any extended amount of time.  The fact that my Normalized Power was at 120 for the race showed me that I was improving even if my time didn’t necessarily say so to the rest of the world.

Once we concluded looking at the numbers Jaime noted something that I had failed to consider in my quest for a PR.  He told me that each race is different and it’s impossible to compare one to another.  Each course is different as well, as was noted in the almost 1700 feet of elevation gain from Lake Stevens to Boise.  Races are run at different altitudes.  Coming from 4000 feet at Bend to almost sea level at Lake Stevens was a bonus, which wasn’t as noticeable at Boise, which sits at 2,700 feet above sea level.  Even if a race is run over the same course from year to year it doesn’t mean you’ll have the same conditions.  Two years ago in Boise it was snowing and this year the temperature was in the mid-80’s.  You may go into a race feeling differently.  In Boise I was pretty close to 100 percent.  At Lake Stevens I was working my way through an injury that was just over a week old.  Coupled with all of this is the ‘shit happens’ factor, be it a wrong turn, a flat tire, or a broken derailleur.  All can contribute to a busted PR and all can happen without warning.

After my conversation with Jaime I realized that I need to rethink how I approach each race.  This year I’ll be doing the Leadman for the second time, and sure, I hope to lower my race time from last year.  However, as Sue noted so eloquently, sometimes you race out of commitment to the sport, your teammates, and perhaps, most importantly to race out of commitment to oneself and to the time put into training for that race.  If I come out of a race knowing that I gave the best effort I could at that point in time and in that situation then I shouldn’t worry about whether or not I accomplished a PR.  I should be happy in the fact that I am able to compete and push myself to give my best effort.