swbkrun with us!!! - Closed (Page 118)

Good luck to all the racers! No racing for me.

I love & hate breathing drills.  Our masters coach makes us sets of 3,5,7,9 stroke breathing.  I'm dying by the 7 count, but it really helps with my lung capacity & bilateral breathing.  After a few sets of these, 3 stroke breathing seems so much easier.  It's a shame I revert back to 2 stroke breathing.  I'll get there...

Holy crap. 186 bpm VO2 max. I didn't think I could get my hear pumping over 180. wowser.
now to interpret and train properly with it.

Not racing, but am going on a nice hike with Stardust!

Swim drill - 3/5/7/9/pool length breathing drills. Because I can do it at ease. :-P

Bike drill - Hill Intervals and high cadence drills. I always have issues with hills, so it taught me how to do better on hills, and spinning instead of mashing it.  High cadence - teaches me smooth turnovers.   Speed - it ain't there...but I'm working on it! 
 
Run drill - Haven't done any. I'm still a "newbie" runner. Hopefully I'll add more speedwork now that I have a good base to start with. I remember at this time last year I struggled a lot with the running.  

Someone mentioned a few posts back about maximizing shifting gears when riding.

I seriously need to work on this. Is there any GOOD videos or articles that can help me with gear shifting?   I am noticing the last time I rode, I was shifting a LOT, while the others are staying with the same gears. 

When I go on flats, I try to find my sweet spot and stay with it.  If I'm approaching a hill, I go in my highest gear (I hope that's right), and even so, there are times I have such a hard time "spinning", and instead I feel like turning over the cranks is difficult for me. It's like I'm pushing on a low gear on flats.

When I reach the apex of the hill, I go in my big ring, and smallest rear gear, and just pedal hard (it doesn't feel hard at all, but I go zooooooom). Then as soon as there's another hill, I go in my small ring then start shifting so many rear gears to get to the highest gear.
 

I hope I'm making sense, but I *know* there's a more efficient way to spin up the hills, and going fast on the decents.   Can someone point me to the right way?  Do I need to build up leg strength to "spin" better? 

Edited by fowlmood 2011-02-23 10:20 PM

A few people mentioned single leg cycling drills.  How often do you do that drill and how long on each leg?

My coach usually schedules them in b/t my tempo intervals or sets on my CT erg file over the hour workout.  So there will be 2 or 3 5 min chunks of SLDs alternating 30 to 45 sec on each leg.  For some reason, he seems to think it's a recovery exercise.  HA!!!!

They are by no means recovery for me.  I often think of them as the down dog position in yoga which seems to be thought of as a recovery pose.  That position hurts like hell and has my body trying to stretch every tight muscle at the same time.

For SLDs, I do 3x(1' Left, 1' both, 1' right, 1" both) in the middle of various rides, but most often as part of a Z2 effort with additional 3x1"s focusing on highest cadence possible withouth my rear bouncing off the seat. 

You got some  'splaining to do.  Really, how do you interpret that and what will knowing that do for you.  I have a friend that works in the lab at the university and she said she could do one for me, but I didn't know if it would tell me anything. 

DJ, many people tend to attack the bottom of the hill and give out by the time they reach the top.  Sounds like you have the right idea, but this thought may help.  Most of us do not have power meters, and our heart rates usually don't tell us where we are at in the moment, as HR usually responds after the work we have just done.

It may help to think about the pressure you are applying to your pedal stroke.  As you approach the bottom of a climb, gear down in a manner that your feet feel a consistent pressure on the pedals.  Many people will blow past you on the bottom of the hill, let them go.   Keep dropping the gears as needed, and if you have the energy at the top, now is the time to push a little harder if you need to pass some of those people that are having to catch their breath. 

Reverse your shifting, by shifting up and keeping that pressure on your feet consistent.

Good way to look at it.

Remember that triathlon cycling is very different from road bike cycling.  The idea in triathlon cycling is to try to ride the course as evenly as possible.  Which is easier with a power meter but not too difficult if you don't have one, using the method that Barry posted.  Cadence can also be used as another indicator.  Try and keep an even cadence from flats to hills.  Once you run out of gears obviously you have to go with what you have, but up until that point try to keep your cadence from jumping up or down.  Hills are also a feel thing.  The more you ride them, the more you learn when to shift to keep yourself comfortable and "even".

You want to get to the run with legs left.

Road cycling is all about crushing it when others can't (or at least attempting to).  That is why most roadies work so hard on hills.  Hills and wind are the great separators in a bike race.  When you get to the base of the hill ride as hard up it as you can trying to drop those behind you, then open up enough of a gap and ease up on the downhill as most will go down the other side at the same speed.

There is no run after a bike race so you don't have to worry about having anything left.

Did you do a true max or LT test?

Just curious how different they would be. I've done the LT test which from what I understand doesn't go to true max but estimates it.

You get a sheet of paper that puts together all of your HR zones based on some formula that is calculated from data that is collected as you progress through the test.  The max HR number is generally when you cry uncle and would be in your
Z5 range. 

The VO2 max is actually a number usually b/t 30-50 for the average athlete that measures the maximum amount of oxygen your body can use during intense exercise.  You are generally born w/ a single VO2 max as its based on genetics.  You cannot change it.  However, the idea behind HR zone training is to raise your LT threshold as close to your VO2 max as possible.  That way your body is operating at its most efficient and powerful ability.

First, I am very happy you went to the doctor.  I've had to do the latter test quite a few times and it has been very useful.  Hopefully, it is nothing, but better to know.

Second, I think incorporating drills in a swim workout is important and would hope your plan already includes them.   For running, I only include them when I am doing some type of speedwork.  I'm sort of on the fence with SLDs so will let someone else comment on that aspect.  All I can say is make sure you are doing the drills correctly, especially in running.  Otherwise they can do more harm than good.  PM me if you want a link to some visual images of the running drills.

Oh I like that drill. Might help with breathing on my weak side as well... I need to get better at that.

What she said.
And I did a VO2 max. I cried Uncle at 186 bpm. When I couldn't physically continue any further.

The guy in the video makes it look so simple.  In Master's this week we had to do single arm pull, but rotate to breathe to the other side.  There was one person in the class that was a total disaster at it

lol I had a coach that made me do that.  it's easier to work on with fins.  I think I swallowed 1/2 the pool trying it without.

why?

I personally haven't found these to be all that helpful.  When I started them I did have a dead spot around 6 o'clock, but it was consistent riding and thinking about pushing forward and pulling back that helped me, not the drill itself.  I am lucky to have a CT and use spinscan.  I have been pretty religious on working to improve those numbers, but using both my left and right leg at the same time.  If I look at my single leg SS#s they are still poor, but I have no dead spots.  And since I ride with two legs, not one, I say heh!  Yes, I do them on the plan, but only because someone told me to.  As a beginning rider, I am not sure the value would be worth the time spent.  That's why I defer to those with more experience.  Make sense?

Is that your dream home and one of your GA home boys?

Thats a great show

yep, makes sense.  lots of folks on both sides of the fence... "studies", experience and and those with nothing but a hey it works for me, which is all that matters anyways.    typical, really.


i thought that was paul.

jarrett turned it on one night.  i told her to change it.     now, several months later we have every episode recorded.  and walk into my house, when are you coming out here btw?,  and yell "IF THERE'S A PROBLEM".  and two little voices yell back.. YO I"LL SOLVE IT.   hysterical.  no, they don't watch it.  

my favorite guy is wes!  

AND ITS ON TONIGHT!!!!!!!    9EST!!!

edit.  and look at my sig, updated it yesterday!!!!       word.

Edited by fattyfatfat 2011-02-24 3:13 PM

MY 2 cents:
I think for those of us without the CT, single leg drills are essentially the equivalent of what you get on the CT. The info you can pull off the CT Spinspan tells you leg power, balance, etc doesn't it?
Without a CT, you have to rely on the deadspots to learn where you are losing power,etc.