Target thresholds

Mary- I remember working towards Eagleman (70.3) which is incredibly flat, so the idea was to hit my target wattage in the race and stay right there. Kurt P. gave me a formula where I targeted about 225 for the race while my FTP was somewhere around 270, which is below failure in a test (300?). I am far from being a coach, but my memory is that you shouldn't be doing much target race pace riding at this point. 1) Do an accurate FTP test- let's say you fail at 210 and FTP is 190. 2) Determine your IM wattage, say 160. 3) Design workouts at this point in the season to work above and below 160w. A good one is "over-unders" where you ride 3-5 min at 180, then the same time at 140, repeat several times with no break inbetween. I think as your season progresses, your acutal work will get closer (narrow) to the target wattage. Something else to keep in mind- you might consider doing long sections (20 min) at 180w to simulate the hills. In the race, those are followed by long down hills where you'll rest as much as possible. Last bit of advice- don't spend much time doing the course- it may not be the right kind of training at this point in the season, and you'll get stale.