Race Simulation Sessions - If you can't do it in training how do you know you can do it on race day?

The Simulation Session is a time for you to test a few race scenarios out, see what works and what doesn't work. Don't be afraid of making mistakes here.

The older and more experienced I get (as an Athlete and a Coach) the more I can see the benefit of a 'C' Category race, or a race simulation.  Back in the old days when I was young and felt I knew it all I would just turn up to a race and smash it out, having little idea if I was capable of maintaining the given intensity.  Fortunately back then participation numbers were much lower, so if I hit the wall early I could still grovel into an acceptable placing.  But now with larger numbers and so much more on the line ($$ invested, Kona Qualification, Age Group titles just to name a few), going into a race with the confidence of knowing where your limits lie can be a huge advantage, and a good way to avoid a disappointing result.

If you have the luxury of a shorter race where you can test a few things out, this is a great thing to do.  You should treat it as a 'C' race, and not have a long taper, so you don't loose too much fitness.  Give yourself a specific goal for the race and be disciplined enough to stick to it.  The information you will get from it allows you to decide what is achieveable when the 'A' race rolls around.

A race isn't always necessary though.  Often they are expensive, and to turn up without the goal of going 100% seems a bit of a wasted opportunity.  This is where a race simulation session is indicated.  I like doing these sessions on my own, but the work equally as well with a group of similarly paced athletes...just try to avoid going outside of your plan to race your mates in these sessions.

I go into a Race Sim session with some specific things I want to achieve.  I look for a course that has similar terrain and gradients to the target race.  Races overseas are now easier to account for with the advent of GPS mapping, Power Prediction Software and the advice from athletes who have raced it before.  Once you find the course that suits you keep it as your race sim course, and don't overuse it.  You don't want to get too accusstomed to training on the same route each time.  

Get familiar with your race day nutrition plan.  If you are going to be testing your limits you want to make sure you allow for fatigue, and therefore have plans in place to avoid that when the session really starts to bite.  Remember, when we are training at higher intensities we utilise fuel at different rates and concentrations to that of lower intensity, so you will feel very different.

Feel free to do a few sessions with your race gear on.  Get the bike race ready, wear your aerohelmet, wear your race clothing.  Don't worry what others will think of you fully kitted out, they clearly have different goals to you.

The distances of the simulation session doesn't necesarily have to match that of the race.  You can get pretty close to the intensity of race by increasing portions of the session to give you more stress.  This is certainly important with running, as if you are going to get injured then it will be here from too many long fast sessions.  

There is no harm in having back to back simulation sessions over a weekend.  For an Ironman, on Saturday  I prescribe a long swim followed by a race intensity and duration bike leg and a moderatly long run off the bike.  And then on Sunday I prescribe a moderate distance bike followed by a long run at race pace.  For long course Multisport athletes (Coast to Coast, Motu Challenge, Coromandel Classic) I like to split the whole race in half and do it over 2 days, but making sure the sessions are done at or slightly over race effort 

These are tough sessions, so make sure you give yourself sufficient recovery time in the days following.  If you have enough time before the key event you can schedule these sessions once every 2 weeks for the 10-12 weeks prior to the race.  It is important that you time these sessions correctly in your programme, as you certainly don't want to become stale from doing too much race pace work, you also run the risk of peaking too soon.  I really only bring these sorts of sessions into a plan within 12 weeks of the key race and depending on the athlete's experience.

Here is an example of a couple of Race Simulation weekends I have been using for the Long Course Duathlon World Championships in Zofingen, Switzerland.  I have been alternating these weekends for the past month, and will probably continue to do so for another month, which is 3 weeks prior to the race.  This duathlon is a tough one, with mostly hilly off road runs and a hilly 3 lap bike course - 10km run + 150km bike + 30km run.

Due to my midweek run sessions I have a fairly good idea of the pace and intensity of the first run, and am comfortable with the effort I will need to maintain though that.  It is going to be tough jumping straight on the bike with some fatigue already in the legs.  I have ridden plenty of long hill efforts at intensities over my race day power.  I have a good idea of running 30km off the bike from my Ironman racing.  I have used www.bestbikesplit.com to estimate my required race day power to achieve my goal bike time, this plan yields a bike TSS (Training Stress Score) of 270, and IF (Intensity Factor) of 0.80, to give me 4:20 of riding time.

Race Simulation #1:
Saturday - 30min moderate paced run, this is really just to get some blood flowing and bring my heart rate up a bit.  This bike session is a 140km loop on rolling terrain with some climbs similar to the ones on the race course.  I insert 4 x 30min intervals at IF 0.85, which is slightly higher than the race plan, the rest of the ride is done at endurance power.  With the 30min efforts being higher than the race plan I gain confidence knowing that race day isn't quite as hard as this.  The bike session yields 290TSS, which is 20 points higher than I have predicted for race day.  I finish this set with a 45-60min run off road on hilly, off road terrain.

Sunday - 90min hilly, but easy paced ride, again just to get some blood flowing in the legs and get rid of the dead feeling from the session the day before.  I follow this with a tough 28-30km run on a course that is hillier than the race.  I aim to run this at a steady effort, similar to my race day target.  The final 5km really feels like I've been in a race, and this is the time to start focusing on the mental side of it....keep pushing, maintain good form, visualise the race.

This is a tough, tough weekend of training!

Race Simulation #2:
Saturday - Relaxed 4hr ride, finishing about 50TSS points less than what I expect in the race.  easy 45min transition run off the bike.  The real test kicks in the next day.

Sunday - 15km hilly run just over aerobic threshold effort.  It should feel pretty comfortable.  Once on the bike a HILLY 60km ride at target race IF.  This should have a similar amount of climbing as the race course.  Follow this with another 15km run on the same course as the first run, but at the same pace (or slightly faster).  Again use the last 5km or so as mental training to see how tough the race can be without having to slow down.  

By the end of it over the weekend there has been the same amount of biking and running as the race, and much of it at an intensity around the expected race effort.

Your Coach will have you doing these types of simulation sessions as you get closer to your key races, the exact format of them depends on individual needs, and the event you are targeting.  If you are using one of our subscription plans then Simulation Sessions are still worked in to the plan, but because everyone is a bit different we have purposely not been too specific with them.  Feel free to ask our Coaching staff, or some of the other athletes through the Member Forum or 'Traffic Jams' Facebook group, if you want to incorporate these into your training.