For the past year Ive been considering what I could have done differently. Was my training insufficient for the LT100? Am I doomed from the the altitude of Santa Barbara? Am I genetically incapable? For much of the past year my theory is the altitude was just too much. On race day last year my heart rate could barely break 145 bpm, with one single moment at 150 bpm. Considering I'd trained my max HR to 202 bpm and my lactic acid threshold up to around 174 bpm, I was missing much of my performance on the one day I needed it.
The working theory has been the altitude at ~10,000 feet was too much for for my lungs; they maxed out first preventing me from even pushing into my LT performance zones. Then the other night I remembered my ride up to Montezuma 4 days before the race. I went back and looked at the heartrate data: no issues due to altitude. The elevation was just shy of 10,000 feet, but my heartrate pushed up to 176 bpm with no problems, and I sustained 160-170 efforts with easily.
My new theory? I went up in altitude at the wrong time. Not too late, not too soon, just wrong for me. There is a bunch of conflicting information about acclimating to higher altitudes before a race. I think there are too many variables in our individual lives and physiologies to find an absolute rule, but I believe I arrived from sea level at the wrong time for me. Since I don't have the luxury of arriving 3 weeks before a race, if I ever do Leadville again, I will arrive the day before the race, perhaps in the 30-40 hour range. My advice to others? Try to avoid arriving a week before hand.
Other factors certainly may have played a role, such as adrenaline during the race. I'm not sure how to counter that since it was 7 months of focus and preparation all culminating in one big effort. But the data I do have shows a huge difference in HR at day 2 versus at day 6, so I'll work at it from there.
2011 has been all about getting married - which has been one amazing year that I wouldn't trade for any belt buckle, trophy or accolade. While my mileage has been a fraction of last year's, I have maintained my lower weight. This has actually been the longest length of time that I've stayed around 165 pounds since high school. While I don't have the miles in my legs or hours of interval training, my performance is pretty good. Not lugging around an extra 10-15 pounds makes a huge difference. It's like riding my road bike as if it had zero mass; that's what I've lost.
So with thoughts of 2012, I'm considering getting ready and starting training long before I can even enter the lottery. Right now I've considering a weight lifting routine, while locking down some solid base miles. Cycling is fun again. This time last year I was done with riding. I don't think I could have pushed for more miles, but I also don't think I needed to. I believe I was ready, but something the day of just didn't work for me and depressed my HR capacity.
Today, that sweet, happy place my bike can take me has returned and I feel it pulling me back outside.
-PW
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