Short distance TT whats the best approach ?

broachboy

Morning competitive forum people

Its been a long time since my last TT :oops: , but I though I'd bite the bullet and enter a club event next week - its a 5K TT, so I though I'd be ok over such a short distance, but it seems after talking to some seasoned testers they would have avoided this event because of its distance :shock:

So whats the best way to approach it - balls out from the gun then only to blow at 4K , or pace myself only to find at 4K I haven't done enough early on ? maybe I can see where they are coming from now :roll:

Any advice much appreciated

TIA

Pokerface

Set off with a quick burst to get moving, then build slowly over the next minute or so and get up to a pace that you can hold for the next 15 mins or so. It should hurt a little, but something that you can maintain - so not sprinting pace!

Push as hard as you can and when you have just a KM left - give it all you've got left.


*Edit* Scratch that. All out from the gun.


Good luck and 'enjoy'

broachboy

I am quite tempted 'all out from the gun' but I just know its gonna fail The last 5k event we had was won in 6.55 :shock: now using this little gizmo (link below) we can see that he averaged just under 27mph

http://www.machinehead-software.co.uk/b ... _calc.html

.. and based on program that I would happy with 8mins 30 s like I say it been a long time :roll:

Tom Butcher

A very good warm up is going to be important. Go as hard as you think you dare for the first half of the course and then up it a bit from that if you can.

GiantMike

Before the event, do a 5k test. Go flat out from the start and see how well you do.

As above, you'll need to warm up properly before the TT to get the best from your body.

a_n_t

broachboy wrote:

The last 5k event we had was won in 6.55 :shock: now using this little gizmo (link below) we can see that he averaged just under 27mph

Not fast at all then! I did 26.1mph for 40K last week and came nowhere!

I'd just get upto 90%MHR in the first K and push it from there!

broachboy

Many thanks for the replies guys, I'll take on board all the info and try to put it into practice on the night

I'm kinda dreading it really, it will be my first TT in 13 years :shock: though it is on a pan flat course around a velodrome, so at least I haven't got to worry about cars & other external influences. I have always found TTs to be hard going, and have never averaged above 23mph in any TT I have ever done before :shock: , so I must say I am impressed with your performance a_n_t

Thanks again

bigmat

I can recommend getting stuck in traffic on the way, missing your start time, getting a later slot but still only just getting to the start line with 15 seconds to spare, no warm-up whatsoever, not even time for a drink so parched before you even start. Then, when you do start, realising you're in far too high a gear, cranking it up to 30mph through a rush of adrenaline, realising you can only hold that speed for a couple of minutes then hitting survival mode for the next 9 miles! Bizarrely, it worked quite well in the end but I'd love to have another go when not having the morning from hell :evil:

jibberjim

MatHammond wrote:

Then, when you do start, realising you're in far too high a gear, cranking it up to 30mph through a rush of adrenaline, realising you can only hold that speed for a couple of minutes then hitting survival mode for the next 9 miles! Bizarrely, it worked quite well in the end but I'd love to have another go when not having the morning from hell :evil:

Do you think you'd've been 30 seconds better? As that's all I would care about

Anonymous

Make sure you do a cracking warm up so that you are sweating and HR is up on the line.

Then start hard and crank it up from there.

That's what I'd do anyway!

bigmat

jibberjim wrote:

MatHammond wrote:

Then, when you do start, realising you're in far too high a gear, cranking it up to 30mph through a rush of adrenaline, realising you can only hold that speed for a couple of minutes then hitting survival mode for the next 9 miles! Bizarrely, it worked quite well in the end but I'd love to have another go when not having the morning from hell :evil:

Do you think you'd've been 30 seconds better? As that's all I would care about

Happy to leave a bit of room for improvement, just need to find some more road bike tt events (or buy a tt bike...)

RedGreenBaron

Just seen the results from Sunday's RP TT. Great work Mat!

Matt the Tester

5K TT isnt that long tbh.. i would suggest all out from the start since you wont be able to rectify any mistakes you make because the race is too short.


have fun

bigmat

RedGreenBaron wrote:

Just seen the results from Sunday's RP TT. Great work Mat!

Cheers! Even better effort by jibberjim though.

Pross

5k is incredibly short and with it being on a velodrome it is more like a long pursuit effort. I'd add to those who say warm up well - after that it is a case of going hard the whole way. In many ways it's a very hard distance to get right, a bit like an 800m running race as it falls between a 'sprint' and endurance.

oldwelshman

If you go allout from the start you will die big time.
You cannot go flat out for anything longer than 30 seconds roughly, without loosing form.
Treat it as a pursuit, go for an acceleration at the start to get up to speed, but not too fast or you will pay after first Kilo and start to do slower in next kilo so try to get even pace for 2,nd 3rd 4th anf 5th kilo.
If you go too fast on fist kilo, all time gained, and more will be lost in next two kilo's.
I speak from experience of going toooo quick starting a pursuit recently (even though I seemd to feel ok for fist 500m) was 3 secs upon schedul after 500m, after 1km was back to target, over target on 2nd km, losy 3 secs every 250m for last km so was pretty crap in the end :-)

I also saw a pusrsuit finale where one guy qualified 10 secs slower than the other finalist so had no chance of winning so he decided to go 100% flat out from the gun to try to catch him within 1km, failed miserably and completely died after1500m but good fun to watch :-)