Actually it was 7’41 and a group of 8 riders so plenty of protection from the wind 
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Still a proper speed for that distance and that amount of climbing.
Did my last long hard day yesterday with 145km and 1700m of climbing, with about 110m of SS in there for 5h. Pretty happy with it and my fatigue resistance, maybe I get another 4h easy ride in on the Weekend, after that it will be mostly 1.5 -2.5h rides and Tempo/ SS session. Still struggle to take in 90g/h of carbs 80 seems to be the sweetspot over that I seem to get some bloating in the intestines. This week will probably 15h and then next back down to around 10h and last week will be probably 5h before I drive down on Saturday. Finally got my doctors Certificate, still have to do some test because my Hemoglobin is a bit to low, but my blood values are all good…
As for the Pacing, I think it’s not only going to hard on the Telegraph and Glandon, but also underestimating the Altitude it’s no coincidence that people start to blow after plan lanchat when it goes over 2000m if you try to hold your normal Tempo power while already having a lot of time at that intensity in the legs it’s no surprise that most can’t hold it. Still not sure how I will pace it exactly but will probably go at least 10W less then on the Glandon and then see how I feel and dial it back even more if I think it will get to hard.
I probably would stay in Bourg-d’Oisans can’t tell you where exactly, since I only stay from Saturday to Monday I have an Air BnB on the Alpe, but I would probably not stay up there if I would be there for a week else you either have to ride up there all the time or take the car down to ride. Sadly no Idea about places to rent bikes.
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Yep this is where I need to be disciplined and shoot for 190-200 watts at 2000m. That will still probably be hard but at least it won’t be so hard I will be tempted to stop like last year
whats youre ftp?
Should i aim for high zone 2 pace at every climb except on alpe ( and tone it even more down at the Galibier, low zone 2? )
The bike shop right in the centre of Bourg D’Oisans do bike hire. Having just looked it up it’s called Cycles et Sports
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Personally I plan to ride the glandon at around 80% of ftp. (250w for me) And probably start the telegraph around that and then dial it back a bit on the galibier probably 220-230 and see how it goes. Then hope I have something left on the Alp.
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AIFTP says 295 but in the real world I think it is closer to 280 so I will use that to gauge efforts. I will aim for 230 on Glandon, Telegraph. I will discount 15% of FTP above 2000m so something like 195 seems reasonable on the Galibier and maybe push harder towards the top if I feel decent.
Last year I averaged 199 from Valloire but it was hell and I had to stop for 10 mins at the food stop, averaged 230 for first third then collapsed for remainder. Hopefully I can pace it much better this year and avoid the food stop. Totally under estimated the impact of the altitude.
Yeah, I think that people really have to look at how effective you can be at elevation and adjust for that.
According to literature, if not acclimatized, @ 800m you are only 96% effective, and @ 2000m only 88%.
So if you are planning to climb at a steady power output from bottom to top of 85% of your regular sea-level FTP, then that effectively becomes riding at 89% of FTP @ 800m, and 97%(!!) of FTP @ 2000m. That is very likely going to blow you up.
I made a table to reference what watts to ride at what altitude for a certain SEA-LEVEL intensity equivalency. This in preperation of the Maratona Dles Dolomites.
This tells me that if I want to do steady 210W (‘just’ 78% of FTP 270) at the Passo Giao that that effectively means riding at 84% to 90% FTP at elevation.
I know (and trained specfically so) I can ride ride roughly 88% for an hour at FTP at sea-level (also after 5 hours), but it still will be a challenge.
And that’s is why my tempo-training at sealevel is at significantly higher watts then I plan to ride during the Maratona.
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You have to experimente that yourself. I know riders with higher FTP (or W/kg) then me. After Telegraphe I am 5-10min behind. But on top of Galibier I am 5-10min front and on the Alpe I am 30min in front. You have to know how long you can sustain efforts around tempo/sweetspot/ftp.
Last time I did Glandon at 84%, Telegraphe at 83% but then Galibier and Alpe were at 75% more or less because the heat was coming in and maybe also altitude of Galibier played a role.
I think 80% is a good place to start for Glandon and bit more conserved is around 75% and try that for every climb…
How about using heart rate/rpe instead of power? I am starting to get a pretty decent feel of what is threshold rpe/heart rate or above at sea level
I think no problem, certainly not for this long events. RPE is pretty good. But one of my tips would be that RPE on first climb will be pretty good if you have good form. So be sure not to go to hard on that one. I think on that climb power would be very helpfull. But for example on Galibier or Alpe it is pretty much what is left in the legs ;-). The biggest mistake I see is going out way too hard on the Glandon.
But for overall performance…rpe, bpm, watt…everything works 
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What @stino77 also said, RPE is definitely valuable, especially as an upper limiter. If it feels to hard back it off. But the power targets are a safety feature at the start, where excitement and adrenaline may suppress RPE.
And believe me…this happens ;-). I am certainly no top rider but did this one 6times so have some insight in how to tackle this ride. If I have one tip…take it easy easy easy on Glandon. This one has some tougher sections and fresh it is not that uncommon to go out to hard.
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Here are my notes from Maratona in 2018. After doing Marmotte I was thinking Giau wasn’t too bad compared to Galibier but yes Giau is equally brutal late in the ride!
Ouch 
, yeah, the first half of the Maratona seems easier then the first half of the Marmotte I did last year. But the Giao is another beast indeed. Impressive time btw, And no stopping time? Very quick!
Yeah, complete Maratona twice and only stopped for few mins each time. Marmotte last year 13 mins due to collapse on Galibier 
I only stop for food and water, recover on the descents. One of these years I will just plod around and take in the sights. Maratona is superb, enjoy!
So had not the best week, because kids were Sick and lots of Work this led to not enough sleep and not as much volume as I wanted. But did 2x Alpe de zwift @90% yesterday (55m each) pretty happy with how it went. But my oldest is sick again and can’t sleep so I have to see how I get enough sleep. Probably will do one ride outside over the local hills on friday if I get the chance as last hard workout.
Just saw somewhere that there is still a lot of Snow on the Galibier and that it isn’t even sure that they can open it until the TDF goes through. Lets hope that the weather is good enough to get rid of it in the coming days.
The latest weather forecast is 38C on Sunday the 30st!!! We will be happy with some snow on the Galibier to cool off. For me hardly any training this week. Try to take a lot of rest after a tough ride on Sunday. 115km 2K elevation in 4hrs 20, and a recovery ride on Monday of 75km. The Sunday ride was a good Tempo no race, windy, rain and cold in the Ardennes (short steep climbs…). From now on rest is my main training, next to some slower social rides. I understand I wouldnt gain anything in these last couple of weeks other than fatigue…
The temp is in Grenoble so valley level but still…Will be on the Alpe from Monday onwards. Looking forward to some nice (easy ) climbs other than the Marmotte ones! Take care all, travel safe and hope you all will get the sleep/rest/nutrition/training etc your are looking for.
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Finally seeing some good watts in training and weight start to peak into the 65kg range.
Unfortunately my airline is starting pilot strike (work to rule) from wed 26th so not clear yet if my flight on 28th will be cancelled. I haven’t done any other events and just focused on marmotte, typical 