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Swimmer looking to try a tri
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 2015-05-16 3:57 PM |
 216 |  Subject: Swimmer looking to try a tri27 years after graduating high-school, this former swimmer decided to take the sport up again. After 8 months of working out 4-6 times a week in the pool, I'm back in pretty good swimming shape. I broke 6:00 in the 500 yard free at the last meet I swam at, and can swim laps at a pace of ~1:20/hundred yards for pretty much as long as I'd care to. My primary goal this year is to break 5:00 in the 400M free at the Master's Summer Nationals in early August. Because I tend to be a little A.D.D., I've also decided to compete in my first sprint triathlon the following week. Obviously I have the swimming part mostly down. I am planning to compete in at least one open water swim this summer to get some experience in that type of environment. I've done a modest amount of run training, and am seeing decent progress there. I won't be fast, but I think I'll be to a respectable race pace by late summer. Where I'm really slow and need to make the most improvement is on the bike. I recently upgraded from a mountain bike to a road bike, expecting to see substantial gains in my speed. I saw some improvement, but not as much as I hoped, going from an average speed of ~14 to ~16 mph over a relatively flat local 6 mile route. When I look at even entry level triathlon results, 16 mph average speed on the bike would be at or near the bottom of the pack in most any event. I need some ideas how to improve my bike performance within the following constraints: -I can only devote 2 days a week to bike training, ~ 1 hour each time -Whatever bike training I do cannot wipe out my legs so much that it's seriously detrimental to my next swim training session, 12-24 hours later. Am I asking too much to expect to pick up another 2-3 mph in that time with those constraints? Or am I destined to be an obvious frog in the race (at or near the front at T1, but DFL by T2)? If I can only afford to get one "gadget" to help achieve the goal, should it be clip-on aero-bars, a cadence meter, or a heart rate monitor? Edited by gary p 2015-05-16 3:59 PM |
| 2015-05-18 1:24 PM in reply to: gary p |
Extreme Veteran 1190   Silicon Valley | Subject: RE: Swimmer looking to try a tri I was a swimmer who took up the sport except 37 years after HS. I wouldn't worry about aero bars or anything else. There is only one way I know to get faster at cycling, Time In The Saddle. Ride hard. Will it impact your other training, some. But that is the nature of the sport. Moreover, the ride is the longest, both in distance and time, for most triathletes. Good luck. |
| 2015-05-18 1:52 PM in reply to: gary p |
| 123 | Subject: RE: Swimmer looking to try a tri I will echo that sentiment and add this from my experience: I had been riding 3 months by the time I did my first sprint and managed to be around 17 mph. (top 10 out of the water, run over the rest of the time). 6 more months of riding and I'm now right at 18 mph, still top 10 out of the water, and still getting run over-- but more now on the run. It is glorious fun and I hope you enjoy the days when you get to train with your head out of the water, I sure do! Ride, ride, and ride some more. How does your run look? |
| 2015-08-23 7:40 PM in reply to: 0 |
| 216 | Subject: RE: Swimmer looking to try a tri I decided to defer triathlon training until the Summer swim season was over. I didn't quite get to my goal time of under 5:00 in the 400M free, but I came pretty close all things considered (5:09.26). Now I'm ready to mix in some run and some bike training without worrying about it affecting my swim training. I did a ~half-sprint time trial today, minus the swim, to see where I stood with biking and running. The course was 6.25 miles bike, 1.65 miles run. My bike split was 22:33, transition was 2:00, run was 12:56. Looking at results from area sprint events, it seems I'm farther off the pace for my age group (45-49) in the bike than the run. The consensus seems to be that i just need to get out and ride to get faster on the bike. The question for me is, how do I ride? To build my swim conditioning, I had a deliberate plan. Specifically, I used USRPT (Ultra Short Race Paced Training) to build my speed and stamina in a focused and time-efficient manner. I'm looking for guidance of how to do something similar with my cycling. At this point, my objective is to improve my bike speed for a sprint-length leg, assuming optimal environmental factors, from ~16 to 19 mph. I have a decent general aerobic capacity from swimming, but have done almost no biking or running this year so I'm pretty much a "blank canvas" when it comes to lower body potential. Edited by gary p 2015-08-23 7:41 PM |
| 2015-08-24 9:46 AM in reply to: gary p |
| 82 | Subject: RE: Swimmer looking to try a tri As a long time swimmer, who has also been training for his first tri (Olympic distance), please take my comments as plainly as possible. I started road cycling two years ago, and I have been a "runner" for almost 10 years. I've gone from averaging 15 MPH on a hybrid, to holding around 19 MPH for 25 mile rides and 18.5 MPH on 35 mile rides. There are lots of training plans you could choose from to improve your cycling. I would suggest looking at a few of them via Google or any other internet research, and choose the one you like the best. At your current speed average (sub 17 MPH) any training plan is going to get you faster. I personally think you just need more time on the bike, getting comfortable with the distance and speed of road riding. If I were you, I would keep things as simple as possible. Make sure you have a good warm up, and then hit your training plans. Personally I didn't follow any plan. I just rode more. After a brief warm up, I would just try to hold as high an average as I could (18, 19, 20 MPH) for as long as possible, and then slow down to 16/17 MPH for the rest of the ride. I figure at this point I'll need a specific plan to get any faster, but I'm happy where I am. it will be fast enough to not lose too much time on the bike and get me across the finish line hopefully in under 3 hours. |
| 2015-08-28 6:26 PM in reply to: gary p |
| Veteran 244 Ohio | Subject: RE: Swimmer looking to try a tri If you are in a part of the country where cycling outdoors in the winter is out, I think I made my best cycling improvements in the winter months on the trainer. With the trainer I could focus more on a "workout" and not just ride. There are many good cycling programs for use with trainers, I found Trainerroad well worth the cost. Best of luck. |
| 2015-08-29 7:08 AM in reply to: buck1400 |
| 216 | Subject: RE: Swimmer looking to try a tri Buck1400, Yes, its cold here in winter and I was thinking of getting a trainer of some sort. Thanks a ton for the suggestion, looks like an interesting product that will give me the direction I'm looking for. |
| 2015-08-29 1:47 PM in reply to: gary p |
| 216 | Subject: RE: Swimmer looking to try a tri Did a full Sprint distance bike/run time trial today. Concentrated on keeping my cadence up on the bike. I don't have a meter, I just simply kept down a gear from where I felt comfortable. Did 12.5 miles at 17.0 mph (44:07), a 1:56 transition, and a 5k in 25:41. Definitely feeling it a lot more than the half-distance trial I did last Sunday.  |
| 2015-08-30 7:47 AM in reply to: gary p |
| Veteran 244 Ohio | Subject: RE: Swimmer looking to try a tri Keep working at it Gary, you will see progress. Get some more hours on the bike and recovery should come quicker and speed will improve. As for TrainerRoad, I don't have a power meter, but use the virtual power setup using the cadence/wheel sensor. Not as accurate as a power meter, but works well for training purposes; I don't really care much about my "true" power. They have lots of workouts with their system, but also have training plans which group various workouts into a plan designed for a specific purpose, ie base building, etc. I found those helpful. Although it may sound like it, I am not affiliated in any way with trainerroad; just use it and feel it has helped me improve my bike speed. |
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