Things to consider in endurance racing

There are so many things to think about in endurance racing. Big things, little things, they all matter. Knowing how you are going to race is one of those things that becomes a necessity if you are toeing the line at a long event and a 12hr race is just long enough to teach you a lesson if you haven’t thought things through.

This week I asked Jillian to write about her recent experience at a 12hr race, Jillian did her homework before she got on the line and it made a difference in her results. She had a solid plan, enough flexibility to adjust to the conditions and the right mindset. I’ve read other reports on the race and it sounded nasty, congratulations goes to Jillian on a solid performance under tough conditions!

Recently I competed in my second endurance event, the Dirty Dozen 12 hour solo race. The Dirty Dozen is held on a short, normally fast and fun course, a nice little loop that I was looking forward to riding for 12 hours. However, the days before the race brought a lot of rain to the area.
I arrived the night before the race, ready to camp before the 8 am start. It didn’t seem so bad, the ground in the camping area was dry. When I went to check in, they said the course wasn’t too bad but they were cutting out a big section of it just because it was wet. Ok, still no problem. Next morning, the race started uneventfully. I remember thinking during the LeMans start that the ground seemed a bit soggy. I got on the bike, no problems, the course stayed on high ground for a bit before going into a twisty, fast singletrack section. Right when I got into the singletrack, I thought to myself, oh no! The normally fast course was now a giant mud pit. It was sopping wet and the mud was deep. Many of the areas where you could allow your momentum to take you through with no effort were super slow and just hard to get through. Also, it was rather cold so each puddle was giving me a nice splash of cold water. Not to mention the creek crossing which is normally a very small amount of water was coming up to my bottom bracket. I thought the course would get drier as the day progressed, but that wasn’t the case. It seemed to get sloppier each lap. Racers were dropping like flies throughout the race but I managed to stick with it and get a nice 3rd place finish.

Shaun asked me to write about the three things I did to overcome the race conditions and finish strong, here they are.

First, and most importantly, I came into the race with a good plan. I knew exactly what I wanted to do in terms of pacing, nutrition, and just general racing strategy. I knew that as long as I raced intelligently, and didn’t pay attention to the people around me, I would be fine. I focused on conserving whatever energy I could for the first 6-9 hours, so that I would have something left in the tank for the end of the race. I had specific targets in my head, such as minimizing pit stops, with a goal of less than 1 minute in the pit for the first 6 hours, less than 5 minutes after that.

Secondly, I was able to take a look at the conditions during that first lap and quickly alter my whole plan. I think it is very important to be able to assess the situation and adapt your original plan. In perfect conditions, my original plan was great. But with the course in such bad shape, it was not feasible. The sections of the course that I should have been able to get through with almost no pedaling were very frustrating. I had a target wattage that I did not want to exceed for long stretches (greater than one minute or so) but I was at 120% of this wattage just to keep my bike upright and moving for most of the first half of the course. Most of the sections of the course that would be good for recovery were suddenly difficult just to get through. I stuck to my original pit plan for the first three laps, then changed it drastically. I found that if I took 10-15 minutes in the pit, my legs felt so much fresher when I went back out for a lap. So that is what I did. I took a few minutes to stretch and clean my drive train and cleats which got really muddied up each lap. Now this did take away a lot of racing time, but there was no way I could have finished strong, or at all without doing this. Mentally and physically, this little break really prepared me for the next lap. And as the race progressed, I noticed that I was passing the other racers in my category.

The third thing I did to finish strongly was to just keep pedaling. I knew that I had to win the battle of wills for this race. I made a point to pay absolutely no attention to what anyone else in my category was doing, until almost the end of the race. I knew I was going to keep going. My pit area was after the check in point, so I didn’t even think about stopping or leaving the course. Every time I finished a lap, I said yes I am starting another. I would then start the lap, and stop at my pit area about 1/3 mile down the trail, compose myself and hop right back on. Mentally, I was already on my next lap and I wasn’t going to give up without finishing the lap I started. This mindset was particularly helpful when all the racers pitted around me were giving up. I just told myself one more lap every time I crossed the start/finish line. I came through for the last time at 7 pm, the cutoff for heading out on the course was 7:59. This was a perfect time to come through, and also the first time I stopped at the desk to look at the standings. I knew that I could conceivably get two laps in, so I wanted to take a look to see what I needed to do. I found out I was two laps behind the women in 1st and 2nd and they were still on course fighting it out. So I was not going to overcome them. I also noticed I was a lap ahead of the woman in 4th. She would have to do 2 laps to beat me, but since I saw her in street clothes by the finish, I figured that was not going to happen so I didn’t go out again. There was no reason to subject my bike and myself to the muddy, dark course when I had locked in my finishing place already.

So basically, I think in any race, especially when conditions are brutal, the main thing is to have a solid plan. Then have the guts to absolutely throw that plan out the window if you need to and just keep pedaling no matter what.