Originally Posted by
Hermes
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The above two sentences may define the outcome and I suspect her coach gave her the best advice based upon his/her knowledge of the individual. Or it is just bad coaching advice that is very common. Or your friend misunderstood the instructions.
Belonging to a racing club and attending presentations by coaches and other racers on racing time trials, the biggest problem for a new racer is going out too hard. And most racers have a million things swirling in their head at the start of the race so picking one that is relevant and easy to remember is important.
Intellectually, I like the ride as hard as you can comment with a change is go easy for the first few minutes i.e. your one mile. She will have a better outcome if she rides tempo power for the first few minutes versus going out at anaerobic threshold / VO2max and then slowing down for the rest of the race. During my first race, I was so nervous and anxious that my heart rate spiked at the start from the adrenaline. And it is the adrenaline that causes racers to overcook the start because it feels so easy.
I would suggest telling her to use perceived effort and go moderately hard at the start since I think HR will probably not be reliable, if at all, until she settles down.
My first two coaches focused heavily on cadence and I could not spin fast enough for them and always had a cadence goal along with the effort.
IMO a good range for a beginner is 80 to 90 rpm for time trials. I know of racers who do very well and spin 100 or more and likewise some do well at cadences below 80. However, one cannot just decide on the day of the TT to ride 100 rpm if all the other training is at 80 to 90 or conversely 60 rpm.
Thanks @ Hermes, helpful as usual.
I think its pretty likely that she was told to "ride as hard as you can". Because she thought that sounded wrong/too simplistic which is why she asked me about it. Plus she was telling me how that same day she'd done a climbing ride with her coach (and a large group) and at one point her coach was following her up a long hill, telling her to shift into a harder gear and push the pedals harder, that she had the strength to do it. (OMG, I was thinking, how annoying would that be???) So reading between the lines, maybe the coach is just trying to get her to go harder in general. That said, I also know this coach is part of a large women's cycling organization that yet-another friend is a member of. Before I knew anything about TTs this other friend was telling me how she went to a women's cycling camp put on by this coach and was encouraged to try a TT. I remember her telling me how to ride a TT and she said you basically just ride as hard as you can. (She also told me how she blew up in the 2nd half and that she never really needs to do that again.) So I do think this coach might just tell everyone to ride a TT by "going as hard as you can".
Good point on the cadence thing, I will try to figure out what they've been working on.
I don't know if her coach is a good coach or a bad coach, but no way am I going to comment or express my opinion unasked and even then I would be reluctant, not knowing that much about the big picture myself. She seems to like the coach well enough and I know the coach is a very accomplished cyclist and an experienced coach. That part is none of my business.