4ml TT: Flat out or not?

giannip said:

Hi

During a 3 day / 4 stage race in April we have a 4ml TT in the morning. So the questions is, start + ride to the end flat out or wind up all the way till the finish ?

I am very confused as to what you are asking but I am assuming you are asking how you should pace yourself for a 4mile TT. If that is the case, you are going to want to work on your 5 and 10min intervals. It would probably be best to start doing 4x5min (or more) at probably around 105%-120% of your FTP. I am assuming that since you are posting in the power forums, you are training with power.
~Nick

The answers will vary, but we all would need to know:
What day is the TT on?
Is the TT the only Stage on that day?
If so which is first?
Is the TT Flat or hilly?
Are the other stages flat or hilly and if there are hills what day and what type?

Are you a good TTer or better on a break in the hills?

And On and on.

But the TT is probably the first stage of the race and the first of a two stage day. The TT is very short and will probably not determing the race, nor will it wipe you out too much either.

With the information given; go all out from the gun for a 10 to 12 min effort.

If it is on a hill, depending on how steep you may want to pace a little as this will get to be longer than on a flat.

giannip said:

Hi

During a 3 day / 4 stage race in April we have a 4ml TT in the morning. So the questions is, start + ride to the end flat out or wind up all the way till the finish ?

giannip said:

Hi

During a 3 day / 4 stage race in April we have a 4ml TT in the morning. So the questions is, start + ride to the end flat out or wind up all the way till the finish ?

assuming it's flat and wind isn't a factor, I'd:
1. Get in an extremely good warmup.
2. Start quickly and settle right in at the power you can sustain for 8-9 minutes (I figure a 4-mile TT should take about that long)
3. Hold that effort until the last 500-1000m when you can let it all hang out to the finish.
4. Get in a nice cooldown to prepare for the afternoon stage.

Worst thing to do is start off really hard like an L6 interval and then just die about 2-minutes into it 🙁 .

Seeing the effort is so short, the warmup will likely take more o/o you than the race. I would race it "flat out for the duration" 😄

I do a 3.5 mile TT in a small SR every year. Let me tell you, there won't be time to gradually work into it. It will be over before you know it. The finish places will be decided in fractions of a second rather than seconds. Small things mean that much more.

Unless there's a significant climbing aspect to it, just start out at roughly the power level you can do for your expected finish time (7-8 minutes?) and hold it for the duration. Just like any TT, don't start out too hard. Since it's a short TT, being in the right gear for the start is very important too. If you start over-geared and grind away for 3 seconds, you've just lost a whole bunch of places.

The last minute or so should be "all out", au bloc, whatever you want to call it. Kill it. If you aren't ready to puke, black-out or cry, you aren't going hard enough. 🙂 You'll be able to recover before the next stage, even if it's only 1 hour later.

Like Rmur said, a very good warm-up is key. Make several trips above FTP for short durations (1-2 minutes) to get and clear some lactate. The shorter the event, the longer the warm-up.

Assuming you're wanting to get your best time on the TT, there should definitely be some pacing involved. There's no way you'd be able to hold a flat out effort for 4 miles, and that'd likely have you dying in the middle of the race.

frenchyge said:

There's no way you'd be able to hold a flat out effort for 4 miles, and that'd likely have you dying in the middle of the race.

???

Steve_B said:

???

???

8-9 minutes is definitely a 'paced' effort, as opposed to 'flat out.' We have a stage race here with a 2.5km prologue, which I would describe as a flat out effort, but not a 4mi TT.

frenchyge said:

???

8-9 minutes is definitely a 'paced' effort, as opposed to 'flat out.' We have a stage race here with a 2.5km prologue, which I would describe as a flat out effort, but not a 4mi TT.

🙄 Whatever, dude.

The point we all made was "don't blow your wad at the beginning". "Flat out" means "relatively steady effort" to me, regardless of duration.

Steve_B said:

🙄 Whatever, dude.

The point we all made was "don't blow your wad at the beginning".

Okay, dude. Looks like we're all in agreement, then.

Steve_B said:

"Flat out" means "relatively steady effort" to me, regardless of duration.

I do my tempo at a relatively steady effort, but I certainly wouldn't call it flat out. If you do, then that's fine, but in any case my comments were directed to the OP, and not your's.

Thanks everyone.

The TT is on the second day in the morning, with an afternoon stage.

My plan was to start out "steady" and wind it up untill the end.

Great to get confirmation + suggestions.

I did a 3 mile tt in a stage race a few years ago (as a cat 4). the course was two laps of a road race track with a little hill in it. I used the following strategy.

I was estimating about a 6 to 7 min effort so did some tests and was figuring I could do around 310 for that long. Traditionally, my biggest problem has been going out way to hard at the very start for the first 30s to min. My plan was to try to stay below 300w for the first lap (except to push a little on the hill) and into the second lap until the hill at which point I'd hammer up the hill, coast down and hammer the rest of the lap.

As it turned out, my first 30s were 420w (lower than usual), the hill the first time was 400w for 20s, second hill was 350w for 22s. First lap was ~ 325w, second 302 for an average of 311w. Managed to win it by 1 sec (and went on to win the whole race).

Overall, I think the strategy worked well. In spite of my plan, I still went out pretty hard (can't help it) Had I tried to go flat out from the start I would have surely popped and ended up with an average power well below 311.