Tinea, good luck and keep us updated.

Slightly OT but one question: when are you going to get a power meter? They're not for everyone but you seem like someone who would benefit greatly and would love it. Why this self denial?

I'll be hearing more about the study this week. All being well and good I should be starting it Thursday and the stuff I'll be doing does not seem too dissimilar to what a coach would have me doing....wouldn't hurt to still have a chat to one though.

And SQ there's a few things that have gotten in the way of a PM - the first, major one, being buying a new house and now the missus really wants me to get a mountain bike to we can take the boys out riding. So sneaking a PM past her is going to be tricky....if only they weren't so expensive I you know of anyone with a PT going at a good rate let me know and I'll see what I can manage....

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Baum Ristretto, Baum Mondrian Corretto & the '89 Merckx! | "If you could eat it in one sitting, hold your line." | twitter.com/Tinea_Pedis

He he, stole a move on you there -- sorry mate!

Best of luck on this ride. Sounds pretty exciting.

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2011 Cannondale SuperSix HiMod: 6.19 kg. / 13.65 lbs.
2005 Fuji Team Issue: 6.6 kg. / 14.5 lbs.

Bad news - crippled with a case of kidney stones on Friday. Pain was just so intense missed racing and might take a week to get back up to decent speed.

Good news - due to being hospitalised with it, it meant I got a blood test that showed haemoglobin at 170g/L. Which I was pretty happy with!

Now to get healthy and back into training.

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Baum Ristretto, Baum Mondrian Corretto & the '89 Merckx! | "If you could eat it in one sitting, hold your line." | twitter.com/Tinea_Pedis

If you're "simply trying to finish" I suggest that you approach it like I do 12hr MTB races. In this format, tactics rarely come into play, it's basically a big long time trial to see who has the biggest engine.

Ride lots and ride long. You should be able to do 200km in a day (in, say, sub 7 hours). At that rate you'll get over the line in around 9hrs.

I'd get in a few 150km days, followed up by riding the next day.

Keep lots of gels in your jersey and get lots of fluid.

I reccomend HEED by Hammer nutrition. So many calories. At least in 24hr and 12hr racing, it is very much a case of your stomach winning the race.

Nutritionally, I would equate this to something like a 12hr race. The bulk of your calories should come from simple sugars. Feed every 30-45mins.

If you're just looking to finish, which is in itself an achievement, sit at tempo. Don't follow breaks, ride with people who are about your own strength, pull turns. Pretty simple. If you're riding with a mate, ride together. If one of you drops off the back, so should the other, if one is feeling stronger, they pull bigger turns. Good luck.

Back when I was racing, my coach was setting me up to race the Warnie, and the one tip I can think of that hasn't cropped up yet is to try and make the time to ride to and from each race, or, even better, go on a training ride, then ride to the race, then ride home. If not every race, then at least a few. It's a great way of getting the legs used to the type of effort the Warnie will require.

Depends on how far you're away from the races that are happening at the moment, if the distances are too large then perhaps consider driving part way there, and then riding the rest. While it might compromise your racing a bit in the short term, it'll really help you survive the Warnie. I still remember racing Phillip Island and seeing guys I knew riding on the hard shoulder as we drove down, and then the same guys heading back after the race was over (though I think they pulled out with 3-4 laps to go).

And Tokyo Drifter is right, make sure you've got your nutrition sorted before the race, so you know what works, and what doesn't. Prep like crazy for grabbing musette bags from the feed zones, with the member of your support crew that will be responsible for handing you the food. Always carry enough food that if you miss a feed zone, that you'll still be able to survive the rest of the race, because it happens. But don't just rely on gels though, harder cakes, bananas, biscuits, those type of things, you're going to crave the variety over the 260kms, and you'll need to keep on eating, the amount you'll need to eat will be deceptive.

Good luck with the Warnie, it's a great experience, enjoy it. And be prepared to be completely wrecked after it - get in the good books around the house in the weeks before the race, you'll need it afterwards

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This board would be a nicer place if everyone would take themselves less seriously.

I almost miss Mr Search...

How's the training going Tinea?

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This board would be a nicer place if everyone would take themselves less seriously.

I almost miss Mr Search...

Not bad....but not very well either....

Gastritis after the kidney stones had really kicked a hole in the training plans. And the weather has really made things horrendous


Knocked out 130km + 45min on the aero yesterday, certainly feeling it today. And got in a 170km ride 3 weeks ago. So getting in some decent distances, but need to race a bit and certainly get some more longer rides in.

Also having some stomach issues, which could be related to hydration or gastritis/possible bacterial infection. Unsure of which yet. Either way it's very annoying (and painful).


Oh, might also be having another Vo2 max test done next week. Results should be interesting, as throughout all of this I've dropped over 2kgs and now sit at 76.5 or so. Just praying I've not dropped any power......

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Baum Ristretto, Baum Mondrian Corretto & the '89 Merckx! | "If you could eat it in one sitting, hold your line." | twitter.com/Tinea_Pedis

Hey mate
these are just a few things you may want to consider with your training coming into the warny or any race really. I will say that I havent raced a warny yet but did prep for it last year as a bit of a trial effort. I know i was all good to go last year, had 3 mates make that break last year so was really easy to compare my form to theres.

1) focus on your 2 and 5 min power efforts. these are the power efforts that I fell really matter in racing full stop let alone the warny or in the wind. If it put in the gutter and/or find small gaps opening up it really really helpful, these are times where you just got to dig in deep and most riders, even at national level, just dont seem to get this idea.

2) do efforts towards the end of sessions. you will get tired in the warny and you will need to be able to perform tired. Best rides to do them on are 5+hr training rides, do them in the last hr or so. I usally mix the efforts up between 30 sec, 2 min and 5 min efforts. Do them more on perceived effort more so than power zones, but use power to monitor the effort and help keep them even. Mix up the rest in between efforts too.

3) Prob a little late now but still handy, do some low cadence strength work. keep the cadence around 60rpm and power output up around threshold. the warny is a race of last one standing. Its just like the marathon in an ironman, to get a good time its not about being quick but being strong.

4) dont really focus on the amount of km's on a ride worry about time. Over the shorter course you can expect around 7hrs on the bike. One or 2 rides that length is needed just to get used to it.

5) look at calories/Kj burnt on the bike. Try to get you body used to riding with some pretty large calorie deficit. Keep eating on longer riders but minimize how much you consume.

Dont panic to much about getting tonnes of km's in. my Prep last year was 1hr ergo sessions 3-4times a week and 3-6hr training rides on the weekends over a 4 week period. This year will be pretty much the same with one 200km ride and some sessions behind the postie bike with my coach.

Any other questions don't hesitate to ask

^^ This is some good advice

Another thing I forgot to add into that is that dont slack off on the recovery between efforts. There will be times in the race where you will need to recover after a hard effort at a fairly high tempo eg if the pace is high and your near the back, a rider drops a wheel you need to make an effort to jump across that gap asap before it becomes to big and secondly no point doing that effort if your not going to be able to hold a wheel once you have crossed it.

Also dont be afraid to put your nose in the wind if you have to just be smart about it. A number of very good "pro" riders in aus seem to lack this ability along with the skill to ride cross winds. If its a real warny and the winds are up get near the front from the start it will break up really quick if theres any pressure on and you could end up with a better than expected result for less effort. It takes good positioning and brains to race well in the cross winds, most riders dont have it.

Less than a week out now and the outlook for this Saturday looks horrid

I'm as ready as I'm ever going to be. Now just working out my soigneurs for all 4 feed stations, how I'm going to get to the start and how much food to pop in each musette - which were made up for me by my mother

http://twitpic.com/2vkyon

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Baum Ristretto, Baum Mondrian Corretto & the '89 Merckx! | "If you could eat it in one sitting, hold your line." | twitter.com/Tinea_Pedis

Good luck TP. Given the type of race this is stay focused on your goals. If you just want to finish then race that way, suck every wheel you can get and do no work at any time. If you are actually racing then be sure to layout the pain. Best compliment you could get is to get [insert pro name here] asking you ease off the pace

Just my personal view, I'd rather chalk up a DNF and leave nothing on course than to save it for a middle o pack finish. Though I appreciate that the Warny is a special race.

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"Physiology is all just propaganda and lies... all waiting to be disproven by the next study."
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Thanks Tapeworm

Might check what grade the handicappers have given me to decide what tactic I might take

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Baum Ristretto, Baum Mondrian Corretto & the '89 Merckx! | "If you could eat it in one sitting, hold your line." | twitter.com/Tinea_Pedis

Best of luck TP!

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