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Asphalt Junkies Summer Edition - OPEN
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 2014-05-23 12:23 PM |
 NH |  Subject: Asphalt Junkies Summer Edition - OPENWHEN CAN YOU START: Immediately. GROUP FOCUS: This group will be an encouragement to athletes of all experience levels and provide whatever assistance possible to help achieve your personal goals. Though I'm the primary mentor, there will have a few other experts helping to serve as mentors and coaches. The group will be more of an interactive back and forth experience than a classic coach/athlete relationship. This will be an intense training group but with a very social attitude. The idea is for the members of this group to become accountability partners as well as to be coached. USERNAME: wbayek NAME: Warren STORY: I am currently 52 years old. Team sport guy through college, mainly hockey but played football as well. Played competitive racquetball in SD for a number of years, but at age 30 added a few pounds a year until mid-40s. At a yearly physical, my doc pointed out that every year I was adding a few more pounds and few more points of all the bad markers, so after 15 years the numbers were actually quite alarming. I immediately went into my typical addict mode and lost 40 pounds and greatly improved all my numbers. While rehabbing tennis elbow from hockey, the PT kept talking about the Ironman races she and her husband did, and I signed up for a sprint on a whim - despite not being able to swim and never having run in my life other than as part of a sport. Five years later, I'm fully addicted to S/B/R, and I'm a member of a loosely organized team run by the aforementioned PT. I’ve migrated to the front of the pack on the bike, while my running and swimming are improving but still under construction. FAMILY STATUS: Married 20 years, 3 sons - 17, 15, 12. My wife has been a runner her entire life and we love running together on weekends. The oldest son is my sherpa and comes to all my races. Me and my two oldest do a sprint as a relay team each year. My youngest has Down syndrome, which adds a lot of color to our family. JOB: I'm a software guy who has managed to Peter Principle my way to directorship level. CURRENT TRAINING: I am continuing building my endurance base and learning how to stay healthy while increasing volume. Even though biking is a relative strength, I still maintain a bike focus as I love cycling. I also plan to keep doing relays as I have two very close friends who are a swimmer and runner respectively, at least until I convert them into triathletes. LAST YEAR'S RACES: Last year I had three A races – a half iron, a half iron Aquabike and the relay bike leg of a half iron team. I won the aquabike 70.3, my team won the Ironman Timberman Half Ironman race, and I completed the Pumpkinman 70.3 with a slight PR. I also had great satisfaction in winning another sprint tri relay with my 2 oldest sons performing the swim and run legs! As a 50-something, it was thrilling to continue to build speed even as I am in the “older” category. THIS YEAR’S RACES: I will be defending my Aquabike win and competing for the USAT national AG title, my boys and I are doing our yearly relay, I’ll be doing several sprints and an Olympic-ish distance race, I have a 70.3 to end the year. My philosophy on this sport is to have fun and keep your family balance. WEIGHTLOSS: I have no real weight loss goals. I'd like to keep my weight around 170 for the race season. WHAT WILL MAKE ME A GOOD MENTOR: I absolutely love triathlon and the triathlon lifestyle. Despite a less than ideal endurance athlete background and body type, with focused training, I've improved in every discipline each year. I’m a techie geek, so I am very comfortable talking technical training in any of the three sports, and I am especially well versed in training with power for the bike. As a busy and older triathlete with 3 sons I have learned to best ways to maximize time spent vs. gains to be made, and how to stay healthy to maintain consistent training. Most importantly, while triathlon is a fun and consuming past time, I think it is very important to balance this addiction against the truly important things in your life, and I really enjoy helping everyone find that balance and learn how to make sure this sport fits into your overall lifestyle without compromising your family and other life interests. Along with the other mentors, we each offer a different perspective on many of the issues facing triathletes, which I feel is one of the major strengths of this group. |
| 2014-05-23 1:40 PM in reply to: wbayek |
 21 | Subject: RE: Asphalt Junkies Summer Edition - OPEN USERNAME: CaptainChris Name: Captain or Chris STORY: At 46 years old, I am a big man… currently 6’0” 215lbs, but 2 years ago, I went 307! When I finally decided to get healthy, I lost 80 pounds in about 10 months with a combination of dieting, weight training and running. I live in Maryland in a little town on the Chesapeake Bay. FAMILY STATUS: I am happily married to my wonderful wife, Cindy, I call her The Admiral. JOB: I am a computer Geek during the day while working for the department of the Navy, I operate a Charter boat on the Chesapeake Bay on weekends, and day’s off, hence the name Captain. I am pursuing being in full time ministry working with men. CURRENT TRAINING: I spent my winter swimming and trying to reinvent my stroke. I am swam 3-5 days a week doing very basic drills and working on stoke count. I run 3-10 miles 3 to 5 days a week and did 2-3 spinning classes a week. THIS YEAR'S RACES: I am doing a sprint tri on 7 June on the Navy base I work at and have registered for the Nations Triathlon http://nationstri.com/in Washington DC on 7 September. I am also registered for the Army 10 miler with some friends form Church on 12 October. MY BIGGEST SUCCESSES: I am very proud of finishing the MCM and losing 80+ pounds. WEIGHT LOSS: At 215, I am 10 pounds overweight. I have a large frame and will never see 200lbs but would love to see 205! Grammatical Integrity: none Spelling Skills: None |
| 2014-05-23 7:02 PM in reply to: wbayek |
Veteran 498  Redding, CA | Subject: RE: Asphalt Junkies Summer Edition - OPEN WHEN CAN YOU START: Now USERNAME: JonnyVero Name: John Chelonis (Vero to many of my online friends. Since there were 3 "John's" in my first run with the Junkies I told everyone to use my gaming name "Vero" to help avoid confusion. Since so many of the Junkies are my Facebook friends now too, please feel free to use John if you'd like) STORY: I’m 45 years old and I’ve been playing with being a Runner and Triathlete for about 3.5 years. Previous to that I was an out of shape 41 year old Dad who played a little softball and rode my mountain or road bike only occasionally. Never did any running and only swam at the lake on summer days and that was just splashing around with my kids. In late 2010 my family was in a car accident and my wife and I had to do some physical therapy because of ligament damage to our necks. We transitioned from PT to learning to run together with a couch to 5k program from this site, and then we learned how to swim using the Total Immersion videos. We did our first 5k run together in May 2011 and then our first super sprint tri in September of 2011. Since then I’ve done a few races each year. I think it was early 2012 when I first joined the Junkies. I had a really fun Tri season that year (4 sprints) and I pushed my personal boundaries into some longer distance (10k and 12K) runs. The latter half of 2013 has been a bit of a letdown because of work schedule but I’m FAMILY STATUS: I’ve been married to my wonderful wife, Becky, for 16 years. We have two daughters (13 & 9). I also have a son (22) who will be making me a grandfather sometime in June. JOB: I’ve worked for the same company 24+ years and I’m an Engineering Technician. Basically I draft plans for roads, bridges, retaining walls, pipelines, dams, and manage the electronic “CAD” drawings for those types of projects. The project schedules are completely out of my hands and will sometimes step on my race plans as they did this last year when I had to cancel doing my first Olympic distance tri. CURRENT TRAINING: I’m 5 weeks into a 12 week Half Ironman plan. I built up my run after some shin splint issues earlier this year. I have been revamping THIS YEAR’S (2014) RACES: I have registered for 2 races so far the Tri for Real (Olympic distance) on June 1st and the Ironman 70.3 Vineman on July 13th. They will be my first Olympic and then Half Iron distance races and my only goals are to finish and have fun in both. I am also hoping to do a sprint tri or two later in the season if budget and time permits. LAST YEAR’S (2013) RACES: I completed 1 sprint and 2 super sprint triathlons in 2013. I ran the frosty fun run series, a couple of 5k races, a 10 mile and a half marathon in 2013. MY BIGGEST SUCCESSES: Completing the Half Marathon in May 2013 WEIGHT LOSS: I’ve was packing on the pounds the last half of 2013 and was back up to 194, from my 2012 race weight of 181, so I have some work to do on that front to improve my eating habits and get things under better control again. I’m down to 189 now, but I have lots of room to improve. WHAT WILL MAKE ME A GOOD MENTEE: I’ve done my share of short Triathlons but I certainly don’t know it all, and leading up to my first HIM race in July I will need all the advice I can get from the wealth of experience among the Junkie’s Mentors who have gone longer distances. |
| 2014-05-23 7:58 PM in reply to: JonnyVero |
Expert 2380 Mastic Beach, NY | Subject: RE: Asphalt Junkies Summer Edition - OPEN I'm in for another round and I'll get my bio up some time this weekend. Just claiming a spot before we go live  |
| 2014-05-24 6:55 AM in reply to: wbayek |
Master 3486 Fort Wayne | Subject: RE: Asphalt Junkies Summer Edition - OPEN STORY: I decided to begin running close to 10 years ago because I was noticeably out of shape and overweight. I wouldn't have fit into the obese category but I probably wasn't far off that mark, or at least if I had kept going in my current direction I would have been. A coworker talked me into doing a 5k race and after I placed 3rd in my AG at my first ever running race I knew it was going to be something I would enjoy, so I kept training Then, after having been injured playing football in the late 90's and having an ACL reconstruction in 2003, some old injuries creeped in and in MArch of this year I had my third knee surgery on the same knee. I am currently getting back into running and trying to build my run back up to be able to complete my first Ironman distance triathlon. FAMILY STATUS: I am happily married to a wonderful and understanding wife of over 26 years. . We have 2 gorgeous daughters (18 and 20), who MOST DEFINITELY take after their mother. JOB: I am a Line Crew Supervisor with a very large electric utility and my hours can get kind of ridiculous during the storm seasons. I also can get some ridiculous call outs from any variety of reasons. I have responded to hurricanes in Florida and Louisiana and ice storms in Oklahoma as well as countless storm events in our own service territories. CURRENT TRAINING: I am currently focused on returning to running after having to take a brief hiatus because of an injury sustained following bike crash and compounded while running a half marathon. As I get back into running I will begin a focus on training for my first full iron distance race at Wisconsin in September. I am more swim and bike focussed currently as I'm getting back to running right now. THIS YEAR'S RACES: As stated above, my focus for 2014 will be on Ironman Wisconsin. With the current injury I have not committed to other races just yet but I plan to do one half distance race prior to Ironman. This half distance race will likely be Challenge New Albany near Columbus Ohio. Other races I may consider would be the Warsaw Optimist sprint and Tri-Indy olympic. LAST SEASONS RACES: I completed 5 triathlons in 2013: 2 sprints and 2 Olympics and 1 half iron distance events. I ran in the Boston Marathon this past April which made for the most memorable events I've participated in, for a number of reasons besides the bombings. MY BIGGEST SUCCESSES: In the world of athletics my biggest success has been my marathon experience. In 2011 I attempted to train a qualify for the Boston Marathon. I outlined a race to make the time cut for my age group and missed it by 20 seconds. But what makes this experience so notable to me is that I was able to turn around and run another full marathon 3 weeks later and make the qualifying cut. I learned in late March of this year that I been "Earned the distinction of Triathlon All American." I didn't even know there was such a thing but after reading what it takes to get there I guess it's something to be happy about. MENTEE/MENTOR: I plan to help out where I can with other athletes during this summer session and enjoy the camaraderie of friends through this forum. . |
| 2014-05-24 6:44 PM in reply to: DirkP |
Expert 2380 Mastic Beach, NY | Subject: RE: Asphalt Junkies Summer Edition - OPEN WHEN CAN YOU START: Already started! USERNAME: strikyr Name: Anthony (Tony) Holewienko STORY: I'm a 46 year old guy who was out of shape and overweight 5 years ago. I started working out strength training and doing cardio beginning in March 2009 and dropped 80 pounds in 8 months. I took up running in Dec 2009 and within 5 months I was able to complete my first marathon. Not the smartest thing I have ever done but I was able to do it. I’ve become an avid runner since the end of 2009 and have completed everything from 5K to Marathon distance races. I made the transition to triathlon following the Hartford Marathon in 2011. Initially I wanted to take on a bigger challenge but after reading Jacques Steinberg’s book “You are an Ironnman” my goals quickly changed. While reading that book I thought “This could be me, why couldn’t I do Ironman”? I set the goal of being able to complete an Ironman within 24 months of starting my foray into triathlon I successfully completed 4 triathlons in 2012, two sprints, one Olympic and one half iron distance triathlon. This past year I hit the quadfecta so to speak completing a sprint, Olympic, HIM and Ironman Wisconsin 2013. I was able to fulfill the dream I’ve been chasing for the last two years of becoming an Ironman. It was a very humbling experience which I’ll never forget. I’ve participated in the Asphalt Junkie mentoring groups for the past two years and I can say you will not find a more supportive and awesome group of people here on BT. They have been very instrumental in helping me learn, grow and succeed within the sport and are a big reason why I was able to cross the finish line in Wisconsin this past year. FAMILY STATUS: I’ve been married for 26 years. We have three children two daughters (26 & 20) and a son (17). My wife and family have been very, very supportive of my triathlon and endurance sports exploits. We also have a dog which we got this past year. She’s a real piece of work but was the perfect addition to our family. JOB: I’m a Network Architect and work for a large Telecomm company supporting a well-known financial company. I work from home which used to provide good flexibility for my training schedule. However we got a dog this past year and that sort of relegated me to training in the evenings during the week. I lost a lot of the flexibility I had after we got her but I have been able to make it work pretty well. CURRENT TRAINING: I am currently training for Ironman Mont Tremblant . I wasn’t going to do an IM this year but some very close friends who mentored me and helped me get started signed up for it so I just could not pass up the opportunity to do it with those guys. I completed the Endurance Nation 14 week outseason training plan which improved both my bike strength and run pace. I’m currently in the midst of my 20 week EN IM training plan. With only 12 weeks to go until IMMT things are going very well for me. My goal is to take 2 hours off my finishing time at IMMT. THIS YEAR’S RACES: I have registered for 2 triathlons so far, Syracuse 70.3 and Ironman Mont Tremblant. I am registered for the NYC Marathon this year as well. I was supposed to run it in 2012 the year they cancelled it so I deferred to 2014 as I was not sure how I’d feel after IMWI. It was the right thing to do. I also completed a Half Marathon Trail run in May. That was a pretty awesome race and I did well and was happy with my results. I’ll probably sign up for a few more races but IMMT is the focus right now. LAST YEAR’S RACES: This past season I completed 4 triathlons, one sprint (Cedar Beach), one Olympic (Riverhead Rocks), one HIM (Syracuse 70.3), one Ironman (Ironman Wisconsin). I also completed one 10K (Seeds of Hope). MY BIGGEST SUCCESSES: Well that is pretty easy, finishing Ironman Wisconsin was a dream come true. I can’t even describe how amazing it was coming down the finishing chute. The highlight of it all was getting to hang out with fellow Junkies JoAnne and Brenda as they were there volunteering. What an awesome experience. I’d say overcoming the swim at IMWI was the hardest thing that I’ve ever had to do. The conditions were brutal, 18 mph winds with 30 mph gusts made for a very tough and unpleasant swim but I did finish it and had a great day following the rough swim. Finishing the Syracuse 70.3 in a torrential downpour and thunderstorm along with racing it with JoAnne was a pretty close second to IMWI. Overall 2013 was a great year. WEIGHT LOSS: I'm getting close to my race weight of 167. I’m down to 169 consistently now and will definitely be at race weight come August. WHAT WILL MAKE ME A GOOD MENTEE: I think I’m good mentee because even after two seasons of triathlon and four seasons of endurance sports I feel like there is still so much that I don’t know. The sport is constantly changing and there is always something new to learn about it. I felt like one of the reasons why I was able to finish IMWI last year was that I was a great student. I listened well to those who took the time out to help and mentor me. I feel like I learned my lessons well and was able to apply them to be successful. The mentors of this group have been doing this longer than I have and they’ve learned a lot through trial and error. Their knowledge and experience goes a long way for me not having to learn lessons that they have already learned and are so willing to share. I also want to continue to improve. The biggest lesson I learned last season was that you don’t do an Ironman on your own. It requires a tremendous amount of help and support which this group provided to me this past year. I am smart enough to know that I can’t do it on my own and I am looking forward to taking the journey again with this group and sharing in everyone’s experiences and successes in 2014. |
| 2014-05-25 8:16 AM in reply to: strikyr |
Extreme Veteran 868 Racine, Wisconsin | Subject: RE: Asphalt Junkies Summer Edition - OPEN WHEN CAN YOU START: Today USERNAME: Jo63 Name: Jo STORY: I’m 50 years old; I did sports in High School, Cross Country, track, softball. I wasn't a “lettering” athlete but did alright. After high school I took time out…about 22 years to raise the kids but when I saw the Ironman Championship on TV back in 1984 I knew someday I would be doing triathlons. I attempted IM Wisconsin in 2012 and unfortunately got really sick and only made it to mile 85 on the bike. The most important lesson I learned from this with the help of my Dr and my trainer is that I had under nourished my body ( didn't realize I wasn't eating enough) for over a year and I had some work to do to get healthy again which I have and now it is time to redeem myself and conquer the IM Wisconsin course! FAMILY STATUS: I've been married for 30 years, we have 3 kids (AJ 30 Amanda 28 and Justin 26) and our Chocolate Lab Riley. I also have a daughter in law, and my youngest is engaged and she has a daughter who once in a while calls me Grandma JOB: I own a salon and have 15 employees, and most of them are under 25 which can be a bit trying at times but they are a really great group of people and it is fun to mentor them and see them grow, this is probably the best part of my job! CURRENT TRAINING: Iam working hard at getting faster on the bike, I have struggled to many years with it and am not sure why, I also am looking in to getting a coach, and have a phone interview set up for this week THIS YEAR’S RACES: I am registered for 3 triathlons an Olympic in June , Ironman 70.3 Racine in July ( i sure hope the water temp warm up) currently they have said its 39  ......and IM Wisconsin in September which I am really excited about because Dirk & Brenda will be doing this one too!!! LAST YEAR’S RACES: This past season I completed a Half Marathon (I ran this with my daughter, my daughter in-law and my youngest fiancé) I did HIM in Syracuse (with Tony) as he said this one ones crazy with thunder lightening and torrential rain and he forgot to mention the heat index that day if I recall was 116. MY BIGGEST SUCCESSES: I’ll be honest I have yet to feel like I have had a race that I can say wow that was awesome. So I am still a work in progress. WEIGHT LOSS: yep, still need to loose 12-15 pounds WHAT WILL MAKE ME A GOOD MENTEE: I am heading into my 8th year of doing triathlons off and on but last year felt like my first year. I have found comfort in this group knowing I can ask all the silly questions I need to and know that everyone is there to help me. I am really looking forward to this season. ----- Jo Success is not final, failure is not fatal........ It is the courage to continue that counts. |
| 2014-05-25 8:24 AM in reply to: Jo63 |
Extreme Veteran 868 Racine, Wisconsin | Subject: RE: Asphalt Junkies Summer Edition - OPEN Yesterday I rode 1 loop of Madsion. Good news is I was able to average 14 mph compared to my 12+ whatever when I raced it.....bad news is on the second " big" hill that is part of what they call the 3 I crumbled. There isn't much recovery time between the first and second hill and I got about 1/3 of the way up and my quads were on fire so I thought I would stand to get a little more power and I had nothing, i thought I was going to fall off my bike there was no strength to support me WTH, so I walked my bike ..... I was able to complete the rest of the ride though so question. This was my first ride on the course since the dreaded fail do you think it was more mental seeing as I was able to finish but......as far as leg strength not sure if I should be adding more quad work with weight? Thank god it is only may and I have some time to figure this out |
| 2014-05-25 8:56 AM in reply to: #5000821 |
| NH | Subject: RE: Asphalt Junkies Summer Edition - OPEN Jo, first, dont despair, you WILL do this. To get a plan for you, I'd like to get some more details about your bike and your ride. Do you have a garmin (or any gps) file for the ride? Np if not, just gives more info to work with. I'll answer in more detail from my pc as I'm on the phone and it's harder. Do you have the gearing of your bike? That's the first place to start. We want to know how many teeth are in the smallest front ring and the largest back ring. Do you know the speed you were going right before you walked? And btw, it's not a sin to walk the bike if you need to conserve your legs. Many, many, people walk the biggest hill at Timberman, and that's a half! As a general rule, it's never a good idea to stand and pedal in terms of saving energy. It did change the pressure points and the muscles being used, but it uses more energy than spinning, and it uses largely the same systems as running so it's not ideal for triathlon. We'd like to get your gearing such that you can spin as much as possible up the hill. More to follow. |
| 2014-05-25 9:31 AM in reply to: 0 |
Extreme Veteran 868 Racine, Wisconsin | Subject: RE: Asphalt Junkies Summer Edition - OPEN I've got 34 in the front and 28 in back, I was probably at about 3 mph on the hill and I have an ironman watch and loaded everything on training peaks I will see how to get the data on here so we can see for sure. A couple other things as I was ridding I was remembering a lot of the crappy stuff that happened in the race.....such as this is where I had to pull over With the dry heaves..... This is where my chain fell off so that's why the question regarding " mental" strength comes in I sound like doom and gloom but in spite of that I had fun yesterday, i met a bunch of people waited for me thank god at every turn and had a couple of awesome guys that kept coming back to check on me. I was able to do well on the less hillier parts and flats so in comparison to 2 years ago I am ahead of the game. Just saw in my post above they took out my name for the 3 hills lol ......they are the 3 biatches Edited by Jo63 2014-05-25 9:35 AM |
| 2014-05-25 3:34 PM in reply to: Jo63 |
Expert 2380 Mastic Beach, NY | Subject: RE: Asphalt Junkies Summer Edition - OPEN JoAnne I gotta agree with Warren don't get upset and don't despair over your ride as a matter of fact I think you did great job. If you're avg is up 2 miles per hour that is great news. When I did IMWI I think I averaged 15-16 miles an hour. You are definitely making progress. It also sounds like you have the right gearing. If you have a 34 for your small ring up front and a 28 as your biggest gear in the back than you sound like you have what you need to get up those hills. I also agree with Warren about not getting up and grinding up the hill. IMO the best way to do it is to stay in your seat and just spin up the hill as best you can. Yeah you might be going slow but you will use less energy and burn fewer matches in the process. You have made tremendous progress on the bike. Don't get down on yourself those hills out on the IMWI course are just like any other hill you'd ride up. So my advice is if you've got some hills closer to home start riding them. If you can ride up the hills on the Syracuse course you can ride the hills in Wisconsin. |
| 2014-05-27 12:18 PM in reply to: Jo63 |
| NH | Subject: RE: Asphalt Junkies Summer Edition - OPEN Jo, here's some thoughts. So it sounds like you have a compact front and nice 11 or 12/28 on the back, so your gearing is good. The only other option would be going to a triple on the front (which would give you a 30 smallest ring) but that's a major change since it requires a lot of new stuff up front to be able to shift into three rings. In terms of getting up those stinkin' three biatches, make sure you are completely well rested prior to hitting them. I'm not sure looking at the course exactly which hill you died on, but there's definitely a few shortish steep ones. But I also see a few areas with rollers and some longish false flats. If you're chasing a time or speed goal, those false flats in particular can be energy sappers. Do not get caught up in trying to maintain any specific speed during the "flats" - just be sure to stay totally relaxed and comfortable knowing the hills are coming. Then take the first hill as slowly as you can manage spinning. Again, don't try to push at all, other than as much as you have to get up the incline. Then soft pedal and recover as much as possible before the next one. Remember that the ride fatigue is cumulative, and what you do on mile 10 has way more impact on mile 30, 40, etc than any of us want to admit. Particularly for Ironman, the overall bike effort should be VERY easy. Like, the easiest ride you've done all year easy, in terms of momentary effort. I'd highly recommend not displaying your speed or avg speed as that will only make it easy to push too hard trying to be sure to keep it above 14.5 or 15 or whatever your mind decides is a good target. This is where having power can be super valuable to keep your effort at an honest level. There are simply too many variables that determine speed to use speed as a good tool for portioning your race day effort. In terms of lifting for leg strength, I would say just keep riding and pushing intervals even on long rides. There's actually nothing magical about climbing. Hills just force the watts/kg equation to be more important. On the flats, only power really matters, but once you the road tilts the kg becomes critical. That's why you see the super skinny guys in the Tour killing the hills, not the big powerful guys. So for you I'd say just keep riding lots and be sure to include some threshold or near threshold intervals in your rides. If you can do a few intervals at 10 minutes or so with really hard effort, you'll be ready to conquer those hills. Also do as I say and not as I do and cut out the ice cream! Maybe the best thing you can do to help with the hills is to get the kg number as low as possible. |
| 2014-05-27 12:52 PM in reply to: wbayek |
| NH | Subject: RE: Asphalt Junkies Summer Edition - OPEN And for everyone following along at home, that same advice can apply if race day is windy. You can completely screw up your day if you are riding into the wind and try to keep the MPH at the number you know you have been able to hit in training. Riding the first three hours at slightly above the prescribed effort will completely undo you in a full, either at mile 90 of the bike or mile 15 of the run. The half distance has more leeway of course, but the same rules apply in a general sense. Going at the correct effort is the key, not a set speed. I'll get off my power horse in a minute, but again this is where having power can be uber-valuable. I know from my own riding that I can cruise around my house, which has tons of short steep hills and always seems windy, and ride for 2 hours at 220 watts and get an avg speed of 16.8. Then I'll head out on the state "highway", which is much flatter and 220 watts has me at 21.5! In fact, the hardest ride of my life was with Jonathan two summers ago and we averaged under 15 mph! That was before I had power, but I'm sure my watts would have been through the roof on that one. All this is to say speed on the bike is the least reliable way to measure effort, so don't get locked into using the speed readings during your race day to meter effort for long course triathlons. Ok, I'm done now! |
| 2014-05-28 7:15 AM in reply to: wbayek |
Extreme Veteran 868 Racine, Wisconsin | Subject: RE: Asphalt Junkies Summer Edition - OPEN So I have been rideing with power inside, so will see what I can do to get power on the one I ride outside....with that said I know what my threshold is on TR so how do I know what I " should " be riding during a race. Also as a side note has anyone been having trouble with power slipping on TR? The last few times that I used it it drops continually during my ride even though Iam not slowing or stopping. |
| 2014-05-28 12:36 PM in reply to: Jo63 |
Expert 2380 Mastic Beach, NY | Subject: RE: Asphalt Junkies Summer Edition - OPEN Warren thanks for the posts on power and riding effort. I agree I don't even look or care about my avg mph. If you judged me on that my rides would look pretty slow. I only care about power and my effort based on the watts I'm putting out. If you don't have power than HR and RPE would be a better measurement then avg mph. For my IM last season I used HR and RPE and did just fine although power would have been a lot nicer of course. You are absolutely right that your IM ride is going to be at an effort you easily maintain. It's like the EN philosophy of ride your should bike time not your could bike time. My feeling is you should error on the side of caution and be conservative. Push the pace where you feel you can, backoff the pace where you need to and take it easy on the climbs and conserve your energy. You'll burn some matches on the bike course for sure but save as much as you can for the run. You can always make up time on the run if you've paced yourself well. This season I'll be doing the IM bike off of my normalized power numbers and using HR and RPE as the backup metrics. I just hoping my should do will be a little bit faster this time around. |
| 2014-05-29 1:22 PM in reply to: strikyr |
Veteran 271 Ft. Lauderdale | Subject: RE: Asphalt Junkies Summer Edition - OPEN USERNAME: tmoons Name: Terry STORY: At 56 years old, … currently 5’9” 174. Started triathlon about two years ago when my son was old enough for me to begin the volume necessary to compete. FAMILY STATUS: I am married to Marjorie and have a 16 year old son, Michael. JOB: I am a criminal defense attorney. CURRENT TRAINING: active... will begin a taper next week for the Grand Rapids Tri. on June 8. my volume depends on work and "Dad" duties (Band Dad, Scout Dad, Honey-Dos...etc) I try to get anywhere form 6-12 hours a week. THIS YEAR'S RACES: At this moment, Grand Rapids Tri (70.3) on June 8. Challenge Atlantic City 140.6 on June 29. New York City Triathlon on August 3. Space Coast Marathon on November 30. MY BIGGEST SUCCESSES: having an amazing wife who understands and is patient enough to allow me the hours to train (she will be doing the Disney Marathon in January) and a great son. WEIGHT LOSS: At 174 I want to drop about 8 more for race weight but feel pretty good. |
| 2014-05-29 1:37 PM in reply to: tmoons |
Extreme Veteran 872 Tx | Subject: RE: Asphalt Junkies Summer Edition - OPEN Hey friends, I'm in. I'll be out about half the summer, so I'll be creeping in the shadows... if that's okay with everyone. Bio: Name: Will Hagle Username: pistuo (greek work for "faith") Story: I am a 35 yr old youth minister in TX. I have been into tri for about 4 years now with 3 sprints, a HIM and a full IM under my belt. Also did a marathon and didn't like it. Have a wonderful wife and baby girl. Current training: Just trying to maintain some fitness mostly biking and swimming. Races: already did a 100K and 100 mile bike race this year. Looking at one more 100 mile ride in Little Rock in Sept. Would like to find an Olympic distance somewhere close as I have never done that one and would like to try it. I'm also considering volunteering at IM Florida so that I can sign up to do the race for 2015 (I believe it filled up 2 minutes after the sign up started this year... impossible to get in). |
| 2014-05-29 1:46 PM in reply to: Jo63 |
| NH | Subject: RE: Asphalt Junkies Summer Edition - OPEN Originally posted by Jo63 So I have been riding with power inside, so will see what I can do to get power on the one I ride outside....with that said I know what my threshold is on TR so how do I know what I " should " be riding during a race. Also as a side note has anyone been having trouble with power slipping on TR? The last few times that I used it it drops continually during my ride even though Iam not slowing or stopping. Ok, these are just super general numbers, since Tony is right about riding by all metrics and evaluating as you go. He's the IM execution ninja, so anything he says about IM racing is gold. In general, IM avg power should be in the 68-73% range of FTP, with very fast cyclists (maybe 5:15 and faster) and very strong runners able to go above that. The faster you are, the higher you can go, and the more advanced runners can go to the higher you can go. If you're expected time out on the bike course is over 6 1/2 hours, it's probably better to be in the mid to high 60s. For the truly geeky power people, the real measurement which seems to correlate with being able to run well is TSS, which is why faster riders can go a bit higher on the pct, since they are on the course a lot shorter time. The "safe" TSS for an IM seems to be about 270 for most people, with great runners able to go above that into the 300 range, and unsure or weaker runners should probably be conservative and stay around 250. Tony's right, and I love the EN guys when they say if you screw up and go too easy on the bike, you have 26 miles to make up for it. If you screw up and go too hard on the bike, it's game over and you'll be hating life for 26 miles. When you say power slipping with TR, what happens to you? I get the app "freezing" where nothing at all changes for between 10 seconds up to a minute. Even the time freezes. I don't think it's a TR thing but a laptop issue, but I've been working with the TR people and we can't figure it out. |
| 2014-05-29 2:09 PM in reply to: wbayek |
| NH | Subject: RE: Asphalt Junkies Summer Edition - OPEN One last power geek item. Most people find their indoor power is lower than the outdoor power. Typically the difference is 3-8%. My tested numbers are about 6% lower inside. There are lots of theories why this seems to be true for most riders, but I don't know that there is a definitive answer. You can choose to either maintain different numbers, or use your indoor numbers and then let the outside long course races have some cushion built in. I say long course only because I really don't thing we should race by power on short course. Keep the power meter on, but only for analysis after the race. That's my take anyway, which is a qualification for everything I write on here I suppose! |
| 2014-05-29 3:59 PM in reply to: wbayek |
Extreme Veteran 868 Racine, Wisconsin | Subject: RE: Asphalt Junkies Summer Edition - OPEN Originally posted by wbayek Originally posted by Jo63 So I have been riding with power inside, so will see what I can do to get power on the one I ride outside....with that said I know what my threshold is on TR so how do I know what I " should " be riding during a race. Also as a side note has anyone been having trouble with power slipping on TR? The last few times that I used it it drops continually during my ride even though Iam not slowing or stopping. Ok, these are just super general numbers, since Tony is right about riding by all metrics and evaluating as you go. He's the IM execution ninja, so anything he says about IM racing is gold. In general, IM avg power should be in the 68-73% range of FTP, with very fast cyclists (maybe 5:15 and faster) and very strong runners able to go above that. The faster you are, the higher you can go, and the more advanced runners can go to the higher you can go. If you're expected time out on the bike course is over 6 1/2 hours, it's probably better to be in the mid to high 60s. For the truly geeky power people, the real measurement which seems to correlate with being able to run well is TSS, which is why faster riders can go a bit higher on the pct, since they are on the course a lot shorter time. The "safe" TSS for an IM seems to be about 270 for most people, with great runners able to go above that into the 300 range, and unsure or weaker runners should probably be conservative and stay around 250. Tony's right, and I love the EN guys when they say if you screw up and go too easy on the bike, you have 26 miles to make up for it. If you screw up and go too hard on the bike, it's game over and you'll be hating life for 26 miles. When you say power slipping with TR, what happens to you? I get the app "freezing" where nothing at all changes for between 10 seconds up to a minute. Even the time freezes. I don't think it's a TR thing but a laptop issue, but I've been working with the TR people and we can't figure it out. Thanks on all of this!! The power literally goes from say 165 to 59 and as I said i am not slowing or stopping, take a look if you get a chance at my last couple rides and you will see |
| 2014-05-29 8:09 PM in reply to: Jo63 |
Veteran 487 Nova Scotia, Canada | Subject: RE: Asphalt Junkies Summer Edition - OPEN Hey guy, I'm in again. I'll post my bio tomorrow if I can. |
| 2014-05-29 9:53 PM in reply to: BigDaddyD79 |
Extreme Veteran 1123 Sidney, Ohio | Subject: RE: Asphalt Junkies Summer Edition - OPEN What is this? You guys have a full page of posts before we even go live? How is that possible,...any way of course I am in! USERNAME: mambos Name: Matt STORY: Nothing very exciting, played sports in high school, then went to college and spent more time drinking beer and smoking cigarettes as I did studying, oh what fun it was. Then 12 years later I found myself round and out of shape smoking a pack a day and decided a change was needed. A few runs, a walmart bike and falling into a pool is all it took to get me hook on racing.FAMILY STATUS: married with 3 kids that just drive me crazy. And I wouldn't change a thing about them.JOB: production Manager at a plastic compounder, or a baby sitter for 300 people who want everything handed to them on a platter. I think it translates out the same CURRENT TRAINING: obsessed! Currently working on a run streak that is roughly at 170 days with at least 1 mile each day. I have also picked up the tri training and currently average around 300 miles per month on the bike and continue to increase this as the summer comes closer. Then comes swimming, this is difficult to find time for. Between work and the kids combined with the pool schedule and it is difficult to get any substantial time in. My goal is to finish the swim and then catch up with everyone on the bike This YEAR'S RACES: My definite races are a 70.3 at the mohican endurance festival in June, some kind of something in early august which I am still trying to figure out what the wife will approve. And then my A race and what all the concentration is for this year...Rev3 70.3 at cedar point in September. I have high hopes that this will be a very successful race. After that I still hope to schedule a late fall HM to end out the season.MY WEIGHT LOSS: Current,y sitting at 181 with thoughts of getting down to 168. This would put me back to high school weight which would just be amazing. |
| 2014-05-29 9:55 PM in reply to: Jo63 |
Extreme Veteran 1123 Sidney, Ohio | Subject: RE: Asphalt Junkies Summer Edition - OPEN Originally posted by Jo63So I have been rideing with power inside, so will see what I can do to get power on the one I ride outside....with that said I know what my threshold is on TR so how do I know what I " should " be riding during a race. Also as a side note has anyone been having trouble with power slipping on TR? The last few times that I used it it drops continually during my ride even though Iam not slowing or stopping. my trainer road is also going nuts, last nights ride looks like a mess of squiggles with the power constantly dropping off. I first thought it may be my equipment but the cadence has no problems at all. So all I did was find the gear and cadence that met target and held there. I know my app keeps saying there is an update available but I cancel it (who has time to wait on that), I wonder if that has something to do with the problems. |
| 2014-05-29 10:31 PM in reply to: mambos |
Extreme Veteran 872 Tx | Subject: RE: Asphalt Junkies Summer Edition - OPEN Hey everyone, looking for some help on some things. Please reply to any that you have input on: 1. Sunglasses. I need some for the bike. Not looking to break the bank on Oakleys or anything else super expensive. I like ones with no frame on top (easier to glance up in aero with no frame blocking top of view). But I'm open to trying any pair. Got any recommendations? 2. I've mentioned this in the past, but have never found an answer... during rides (especially long ones), my right ear will sometimes get stopped up. It feels like the pressure you get when you're on an airplane... and it only happens in my right ear and I've noticed that it happens when I sniff my nose. Any thoughts on who I can go to in order to get possible answers to this? 3. As some of you know, I dominated a 100 mile ride about a month ago, riding it about 1 mph faster than I thought I could. All my rides since (even ones half that distance) have been brutal. I think I may have found the culprit. All those rides have been mostly hot and humid (this is TX). I rode almost 50 miles tonight and felt super strong... the weather was nice b/c it was supposed to storm. So I'm wondering if a big reason I've been bonking is the heat... although it hasnt seemed to effect my fellow riders as much as it has me. Is it possible that the heat may have a more negative effect on me than the average person? Anyone ever heard of that? 4. Not a Q, but if anyone is looking for cycling shorts, I recently picked up a pair of Pearl Izumi attack shorts off amazon for $60 and they are working pretty well for me. thanks for any replies. -w |
| 2014-05-30 6:32 AM in reply to: mambos |
Master 3486 Fort Wayne | Subject: RE: Asphalt Junkies Summer Edition - OPEN Originally posted by mambos Originally posted by Jo63So I have been rideing with power inside, so will see what I can do to get power on the one I ride outside....with that said I know what my threshold is on TR so how do I know what I " should " be riding during a race. Also as a side note has anyone been having trouble with power slipping on TR? The last few times that I used it it drops continually during my ride even though Iam not slowing or stopping. my trainer road is also going nuts, last nights ride looks like a mess of squiggles with the power constantly dropping off. I first thought it may be my equipment but the cadence has no problems at all. So all I did was find the gear and cadence that met target and held there. I know my app keeps saying there is an update available but I cancel it (who has time to wait on that), I wonder if that has something to do with the problems. The update really only takes a minute or two to load, depending on your connection. Fro the general discussion about power dropping off, I have had something like this occur in the past but I've associated it with a low battery in my cadence sensor. Once the battery was replaced it seemed the problems seemed to go away. To be completely clear, my power never slowly dropped and maintained a lower number before coming back to where I thought it should be; it always completely dropped and then came back to where I was targeting to begin with. Maybe give the battery a shot and see if that helps. |
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