General Discussion Triathlon Talk » Best bike tips for building base? Rss Feed  
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2012-01-18 3:01 AM


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Subject: Best bike tips for building base?

On the weekend I did my third tri - and BOMBED on the bike, despite having introduced more bike to my training. I commute ride daily just 10k each way which I leave at moderate pace for the most part and incorp an additional 25-30km hard ride and 40-50km hard ride on sat or sun leading up to this tri (month leading up). Come race day, came out of the swim ready to ride... thought I was gearing up to blitz my time from the month prior... added 5.5min over 20km (46min - groan)!

Interested to hear people's top tips for building a strong bike base?



2012-01-18 3:15 AM
in reply to: #3996505

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Subject: RE: Best bike tips for building base?
Your groan pace of 16 miles per hour is my dream pace LOL
2012-01-18 5:22 AM
in reply to: #3996505

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Subject: RE: Best bike tips for building base?
Nothing in your logs, so two questions that might help...

1) How did the swim go for you, and what has your swim training looked like?

2) Was your bike leg a steady effort throughout, or did you attack it hard and then fade at the end?

My WAGuess is that either you swam too hard for your swim fitness and it affected your bike, or you jumped on the bike "gearing up to blitz your time" and went out too hard and ran out of gas. Or.... it could be you just had an off day - it happens....

It takes time to build up your fitness. You're on the right track by riding more. Try to add in some hard interval training if you can (see the bike plans here on BT for examples how those intervals might work).

In a race, pacing is key - on all 3 legs. Go out too hard on the swim and it will affect the rest of your race - same thing if you go out too hard on the bike. That's something that takes some experience to figure out. A heart rate monitor or power meter might help you with more effective bike pacing in a race situation.
2012-01-18 5:31 AM
in reply to: #3996505

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Subject: RE: Best bike tips for building base?
How was your run off the bike? Other than losing a few minutes , what do you attribute to the " bombed " feeling? Tired legs? Uncontrolled high heart rate ? When you ride hard do you try to hit different HR levels?Sorry about all the questions but trying to give accurate advice. If you are like me when I felt I trained the bike hard and got crushed on a hilly bike segment in a tri was that I did not ride " hard " enough on the trainer / road and I needed to add harder intervals such as Jorges bike plan found on this site. IMOP depending on the length of tris you are doing you volume seem ok but maybe you need to add intensity to your other rides. You may be better served adding 1 trainer session to your training to focus on intervals. Good luck
2012-01-18 5:37 AM
in reply to: #3996548


12

Subject: RE: Best bike tips for building base?

I've been looking at working in some invervals to work on establishing higher top speed. I think this is good advice. 

In the previous tri I cramped up after both transitions from improper pacing and too much kick on the swim. But I felt I controlled it well this time. On advice I got here after that event I intentionally dropped gears and went higher cadence at both start and finish to avoid the cramps and the rest was pretty consistent. 

More training can't hurt and the intervals you suggest. Also I won't go into the next one with out a specific goal pace/lap time... I think that might have been silly. 

Thanks for suggestions - I'll work out how to use those logs too!

2012-01-18 6:06 AM
in reply to: #3996562

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Subject: RE: Best bike tips for building base?
Gospedration - 2012-01-18 6:37 AM

I've been looking at working in some invervals to work on establishing higher top speed. I think this is good advice. 

In the previous tri I cramped up after both transitions from improper pacing and too much kick on the swim. But I felt I controlled it well this time. On advice I got here after that event I intentionally dropped gears and went higher cadence at both start and finish to avoid the cramps and the rest was pretty consistent. 

More training can't hurt and the intervals you suggest. Also I won't go into the next one with out a specific goal pace/lap time... I think that might have been silly. 

Thanks for suggestions - I'll work out how to use those logs too!



Yeah - that's almost never a good idea... your pace can be affected by so many factors - course terrain, wind, heat, etc... Better to pace your bike on effort - which you can gauge by RPE, HR, or power, whichever works for you.


2012-01-18 7:08 AM
in reply to: #3996505

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Subject: RE: Best bike tips for building base?

Secret top tip #1:  Ride lots.  Ride hard.

Secret top tip #2:  Ride lots more.

(Don't tell!)

As others said, many factors can play into performance on any given day.  Follow those top tips and on average your days will get better.

2012-01-18 7:16 AM
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Subject: RE: Best bike tips for building base?

Caveat--I'm an awful biker compared to the other two events. But I have managed to go from about 1:30 to 1:17 for 40 km in the past year. One workout type I found very helpful was race-pace intervals. I identified a goal pace for the distance or time (in my case, 30 kph for 40 km--kind of arbitrary but figured it would give me a hope of winning AG and finishing FOP in regional events) and then, each week, after about 15 minutes of warmup, rode for an hour (gradually increased to about 1:30 for some workouts) with repeats of X minutes at race pace (or effort, if going into the wind), Y minutes recovery, 15 minutes or so of cooldown. X increased and Y decreased, usually every two weeks, as time went on. I started with 5 hard/5 easy (even that was torture at first) and worked up over several months to 12 hard, 3 easy. Mostly done on a fairly traffic-free, flat loop; could also be done on a trainer.  Also, as others have said, Jorge's bike program is useful, esp. if you have access to a power meter. Just don't do like I did and take an entire year to do it!



Edited by Hot Runner 2012-01-18 7:17 AM
2012-01-18 7:21 AM
in reply to: #3996643

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Subject: RE: Best bike tips for building base?
Experior - 2012-01-18 8:08 AM

Secret top tip #1:  Ride lots.  Ride hard.

Secret top tip #2:  Ride lots more.

(Don't tell!)

As others said, many factors can play into performance on any given day.  Follow those top tips and on average your days will get better.



Sheesh... next thing we know, you'll be giving out the secret hand-shake....
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