bike speed is there, two months till HIM, what would you do?

bueller.......

I think the average 26.3 speed has most of us feeling a little inadequate in giving you bike advice....man, that's impressive....   

x2

Not to many folks are at your level here so maybe they will chime in.

What zone do you expect to ride your HIM in?

My coach has me doing zone 4 intervals 40'-60' at low rpms before my HIM and IM. Zones are zones for everyone speed is all relative.

kathy, thats what i was hopping.

Speed wise i am moving faster than some people, but the training should still be relatively the same?

My issue right now is i know how to get myself faster/fast at the shorter stuff, but still working on nailing down the longer stuff, which is as of junes HIM WAY off from the shorter distances.

i rode that right in the middle of zn3, 83% of threshold.

Yeah, first of all, if I could maintain 26mph for any length of time on anything other than flat smooth roads, I'd celebrate.

My plan had me do my long rides (3+ hours) where I'd do something like the first hour in Z1/2, second in Z2/3, and third in Z3/4, perhaps even with some Z5 intervals thrown in. I think the idea was to train yourself to go hard (i.e., fast) even when you're tired.

It sort of worked for me.  My HIM bike split was quit fast (for me - 21.5mph), which was actually not much different from some of my shorter races.  (Different courses, I know....)  In fact, it was a little too quick, as I blew up on the run, but the point is that I do believe that these workouts where I increased the effort gradually over the whole ride helped me to hold speed for a longer and longer time.

But as you know, David, I'm certainly no coach or bike guru; that was just my experience.

yeah i like to include a decent amount of harder stuff in my longer rides, issue i think is not enough of them, or not enough longer rides at all. i really should be going over 2hrs a LOT more than i am, and am prob answering my own question right there.

my plan was to do a lot of climbing out in boulder from june to aug, and now i am back in ohio and have lots and lots of long flat roads, thinking its time to lengthen some stuff out, and get used to the aerobars for longer rides again.

I'm not too certain I would toss in much more speed work... you're not going to short bursts of speed, but rather a higher average speed over a longer distance; that's not speed work per say, but rather longer, hard intervals to raise your tempo pace. Do intervals of 2*20min with a 10min easy between.

That speed you have is already pretty good.

as of tonight, between talking to another coach, and what i have been hearing from people + what i know, all seem to be leaning in the same-ish direction.

plans for the next few weeks are to have 5-6 rides a week look like this:

1 longer ride, good portion spent in zn3 with some 4

2 tempo rides, 2-2:30 hr range with at least 40 min at tempo

1 threshold ride (alternating weeks of local TT and threshold intervals on the off weeks)

1 vo2max or hill repeat day 1:30ish.

1 easy zn2 ride- 1-2:30 depending on how things feel.

I would not do this schedule every week. I think your longer ride should be in a mid to low Zone 3 and be of 3 hours in duration building to 3.5 as you get close to the Half. I like the tempo rides but you don't need tempo + Threshold + VO2 work every week. I would do interval work once per week coming off of your easy Z2 ride the day before and bring in an additional 1.2-2 hour Z3 ride during the week. You'll need more aerobic endurance for the Half and your plan doesn't allow for a lot of that. A Sprint and a Half are completely different animals.

thanks again to both of you.

jorge,

weight is around 150 right now,
last FTP test was actually a 20 mile TT, flat, no wind, out and back
Had me at 264 watts ave, 269 NP.

ave for some of the rides over 2 hours are in the 190 range for just riding, just over 200 for rides including tempo, and sitting in the 215-220 range for tempo stuff.

We are similar to me in terms of FTP although I am 10 pounds lighter (but I might be shorter). Given your power numbers and speed avg it seems your position on the bike is killer (low CdA) so you are already ahead of many!

I would place more emphasis for sure on tempo mid distance ride (50-60 Mi or 2-3 hrs @ 80-85% @ of 60MP) and some long rides 70-80+ Mi (4+ hrs) @ 75-78% of 60MP. That will help your endurance and benefit your run a lot! Of course don't stop chasing the watts, that is keep on working to increase your 60MP.

Do the threshold work I suggested or you can do the TT you suggested on another post instead. Finally a good way to increase power with relatively low time/fatigue cost sessions are doing sest @ your 20MP which is slightly harder than 60MP but not close to VO2max (or 5MP). A simple workout can be 6x4' @ 20MP with 1' rest. Keep power even on 1st 5 sets and last one try to avg a bit higher power and use that as your benchmark for the next week session. (i.e. avg for 5 sets 280w, last set 282wm then next week use 282 for 1st 5 sets and try to go higher on last one and so on.

sample schedule:

Tue -  60' threshold session (i.e. 20-25Mi TT or 4x10', 3x15' or 2x20' @ 60MP with 2-4' spin as rest)
Thur - 45-60' min 20MP session (i.e. 6x4' @ 20MP w/ 1' spin as rest)
Sat - Tempo session (2-3 hr @ 80-85% of 60MP)
Sun - Long ride (3-4.5hr @75-78% of 60MP)

extra - a shortish steady ride (i.e. 1-2 hrs 70% of 60MP) or if tired a short 30-60' easy ride @ <60% of 60MP

The above is a general suggestion but you'll have to find what works for you; make sure you are getting your swim/run training, make sure to take care of details for faster recovery (warm up, cool down, fueling, diet, massage, stretch, compression, icing, etc) and see what's the right mix of load for your body and current fitness level.

Good luck!

i'm sure you are actually taller than me (i am rockin in at like 5'7'' on a good day).

just a few more numbers, 20 min power is at 311 as of last week, going to check to make sure i have the right FTP number.

thanks again.