Hello,
This is my first post on this very interesting forum. I've been training with Power since January and it has already helped me progress quite a bit. I estimate my current FTP to be around 300 watts (based on what i can regularly do in 2*20min efforts). In a sprint triathlon a couple of weeks ago I did 320 watts on average for 20 minutes.
Now I have a duathlon race coming up (approx. 10km running + 60 km cycling + 10 km running). Last year I did the cycling in 1:52, but I think this year I can do it in about 1:45.
My question is about pacing. Since this is quite a hilly course, I think that a variable pacing strategy would be preferrable.
The course is like this:
5 km flat
12 km hill (2%)
5 km downhill
7 km easy hill (1%)
5 km tough hill (5%)
15 km downhill
11 km more or less flat
I've heard that as distance doubles, power will drop by 5%. This leads me to think that I should average between 285-290 watts for 1h45? Knowing that 20 km of this is downhill, maybe I should go even harder?
I also wonder what power to keep on the flats compared to the hills. What about 270 on the flats and 300 on the hills? Or maybe I'm being very optimistic here.... 🙄
Thanks for your help.