Time Trial Success, Part 4: Race Day Prep and Mental Fitness

(This is the final in a 4-part series on Time Trial Success, written by Peter Cannell. Peter is the reigning Masters 30-34 National TT Champion, his second stars and stripes jersey after winning the Masters 30-34 Road Race Championships in 2007. Peter also won the 2008 Tour of Washington County Stage Race, and landed on the podium against the NRC Pros in Crystal City in 2007. When he's not setting course records on his TT bike, he's coaching other racers. You can follow his training and racing on his blog (where he is generous with his power data), and leave any questions for him in the comments here.)

Time Trial Success, Part 4: Race Day Prep and Mental Fitness
by Peter Cannell
2008 US Masters 30-34 Time Trial National Champion, Professional Cycling Coach

It is now race day - how do you best prepare to race and make your way through the 20 to 60 minutes of effort that are about to begin?

Pre-Race Preparations

First things first - get to the race early. Pack all your stuff ahead of time. Don't get there late and run around like a fool trying to register while yelling at everyone.  No one likes that.  Know your start time; get there an hour before that at least.

Plan on finishing your warmup and getting to the lineup 5 minutes before your start time - of course verify the official time prior and be there on time.  I can't stress this enough.

Hit the start ramp in the proper gear that will allow you to accelerate quickly to speed.  Don't be shifting or messing with the bike at this point - you should ready to go when you line up.  If you have someone with you take a drink and give them the bottle or leave it at the start.

It's Go Time

Ok - now the race has begun.  Get in the aero position as soon as you get up to speed.  Settle down into your pace as soon as you can.  I can't stress this enough - don't start too hard.  If you are using a powermeter get settled into your pace as soon as possible.  But what will invariably happen is you will start too hard, because you will feel fresh and excited.  Then 5 minutes into the race you will want to quit.  You will be thinking about faking a mechanical, flat tire or some other ailment so you can stop.  I'm not kidding.  I'd bet 80% of the "mechanicals" in time trials are from starting too hard.

So you are now in the race - what are you thinking about?  Pacing and staying aero are a good way to pass the time.  Focus on being as fast as possible, don't loose focus on how you are sitting on the bike, your head position, etc.  Keep the effort steady.  STEADY!  Remember that everyone else is hurting too, and the winner will hurt every bit as much as you - maybe more.  Don't wimp out - you are riding a pace that your body can handle for the distance, just like the interval work you do regularly (at least you should be) - so the feeling of a steady hard effort should not be a new one to you.  Because you have been doing a variety of 20, 30, 40 and even 60 minute intervals – the time trial effort is no different - maybe higher intensity but it essentially a nice hard interval workout.

Breaking Up the Race

I like to break the course up into 3 parts - first half, second half and the final few KMs.  On the first half your job is to make it to the turn around safely and not have completely blown up by the time you get there.  As you approach the turn around, you can take a very quick glance at your time, power, etc as you break for the turn.  You should probably practice this ahead of time and make sure your bike works. TT bikes are notorious for being cobbled together pieces of crap that don't work.  Practice.

I should also mention that unless you have done many TTs, don't have any preconcieved notions of what time you are expecting to see at the turn around - all that matters is your time relative to everyone else's on that day - not what some guy did 2 years ago on some other course. Even so, don't worry about the time itself, just that you are doing the best effort you can.

In the second half focus on ramping up the effort ever so much – you want a slightly higher speed/power/effort here, slight negative split. You are now over 1/2 way done, which should be a good feeling.  It may seem like a long way back to the finish, but at 25 or 30 MPH, those miles go by fast, so stay focused and enjoy the race.

Now - as you approach the finish, the final 5:00 or so is when you can really ramp up the effort and drop any remaining juice you have left - you should be above threshold at this point, doing a VO2 type effort right to the line.  Once you see the line, or know you are 500m to 1km out - let loose.  Stay aero - don't get out of the saddle and sprint - it looks silly and will slow you down.  Once you finish hit stop on your computer and quickly turn to see your time - if there is a pace clock.  Hopefully you will see your best time flashing there and even possibly a #1 if you have the fastest time!

Get yourself some recovery drink asap and get cooled down.  Your legs may feel great, you may be feeling super at this point but get the drink and do a cooldown anyway.  It will be a while before you see any results anyway, so get cooled down, changed, cleaned up and then hang around the tent for results.

Mental Fitness

A few additional comments.  Mental preparation for any race is very important.  Before the race mentally go through the motions of getting ready, warming up and riding the race.  Visualize a perfect turn around, being perfectly aero and riding strong and fast.  Do this as often as you want - the more the better.

I have found that during the race, time trials are actually rather easy mentally, at least compared to tactical crits and road races. You simply ride your pace and hold it for the distance.  It hurts, but you know exactly what to expect out of your body and you do it.  In other types of racing you have to make split second decisions on attacking, countering, etc that involve drastic changes in effort and possibly quite a bit of pain.  In time trialing the pain is metered out, nice and evenly.

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Also in this Series:
Time Trial Success Part 1: The Training Plan
Time Trial Success Part 2: 10 Things You Can Do to Go Faster this Weekend
Time Trial Success Part 3: Fit, Positioning, Equipment

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Peter Cannell is a professional cycling coach and one really fast dude. Based in Mebane, NC, he coaches racers up and down the eastern seaboard. For more on his coaching philosophy and availability, contact him by email.

Comments

[BJ]

Pete has got is all dead on again. Perfect.

It is also a good idea to have an idea of how much of a warmup you are going to need and how long that takes.
Have a nice boring repeatable routine. It makes things tons easier if you know what you are supposed to be doing and when without having to guess and experiment on race day.

Pete, bummer on the flat at nats. Happend to me two years in a row at Boonesboro at almost the exact same spot 10 miles from the finish.