SBR "U" (Page 13)

Karen, welcome to the group.   Biking can be a tough area to make improvements if you don't (as Marc mentioned) have a goal and a plan.  If you haven't taken a look at the program he and Shane ran last year I would highly recommend it.  All you need is your trainer and a HR strap as a minimum - if you download Golden Cheetah (free) and have a trainer that they matched the power curve on then you can train with power - better.  One thought is that if you have lots of solid bike endurance, but are lacking the power, then working through a spell of VO2 workouts will help to bring up that short term power level, which can then be translated into higher threshold level efforts after. 

Nothing wrong with the trainer at all!  I think that's where you can make the best gains in power as you can control the conditions so much better than outside.  Do you do structured workouts on the trainer, if so what sorts of workouts do you usually do?

You are probably right that having a marathoner's body doesn't help you in the flats where raw power rules but if you have a good position on the bike and make some good equipment choices to improve aerodynamics and rolling resistance you can still get some good speed.  Being small and light will probably save you more time on the run in extreme heat than it costs you on the bike!

Got to ride the new PanAm Games Velodrome this weekend - pretty cool.  Never been on a fixed gear bike before and getting started/stopped was the strangest feeling ever.  They are running a bunch of "try the track" programs, and my group spent an hour on the track being led around by Steve Bauer, which was very awesome.  The whole trackis banked at 42 degrees, it just feels different higher up on the track.  For the most part we ha to ride the lower section of the track, but they let us have at for the last 5 min and I got to pass a couple of people while riding higher up on the curves, and consequently got passed by a couple of strong riders, but it was all fun.  My 10 year old got to ride the track in the morning - but he's lacking a bit of speed to ride higher on the track, so he's going to have to work on that.

That's pretty cool Neil!  Fixed gear sounds like a recipe for me to fall on my face.  

Karen, another plug for using the workout files and program that Shane and Marc put together for the power mentor group. I'm using it again this year. The links are on Marc's training log. I have used golden cheetah but also use Trainer Road. All the workout files are loaded there as well. And while I don't have anything close to your running ability/endurance, I can empathize with the challenge of developing bike speed on flats. I get pretty lean (125lbs at 5'10") and do ok climbing. Hopeless on flats.

James, you should find the mrc files for each week on the respective link. You can prob jump ahead a few weeks and find some workouts w longer intervals/duration.

Couple of folks went down trying to stop, and I came in  too fast (though I thought it was slow) at one point and had to go around the whole group to get myself slow enough to actually stop.  But then I ended up at the front of the group which I figured out was likely a safer place for me to be.  Go back in a couple of weeks for the certification classes.

I have found my fixed gear is a pretty cool training tool, I'm glad you had a good experience on it.  Starting and stopping is a whole different animal, but it forces you to think about some things that you might otherwise take for granted. The Velodrome sounds like a really cool thing as well, I hope you and your son have fun on it.

So much fun. I'm a little jealous

There's a movement to get a velodrome in Tucson, but even if that does happen, it's a long way off.

Run focus is finally over....back to swimming (3000m this morning -- pace is down and effort is up, but for being out of the water for nearly two months, it's really not that bad) and biking (easy spin on the trainer planned for tonight).  Thank god!

Welcome Karen!  Always good to have new voices in the conversation (as in, someone else to ask questions from which I always learn!).

The crazy factor here has upped a bit recently.  Just got back from a trip to San Francisco, during which we negotiated an offer on a new (to us) house.  So, we're moving within Austin (to a spot in Rollingwood from which we can run into the park, to the springs where I swim, we can cycle with reduced chance of getting mashed by traffic, closer to work and the kids' schools and swim team pool, etc.).

All good, but has disrupted what had started to feel like a routine.  Soon... soon...

Ran yesterday with Kim - flat and slow (my run, that is, as neither of those would describe The Better Half).  Achilles is sore today, but not much different than before the run.  Wondering if it's something to run through or stop altogether until it doesn't hurt.  I'm better at the former, but not always smart.  Probably going to run the HM race we have on the books this weekend, if my Achilles handles a couple easy runs this week, but as a workout rather than a race.  I just miss the race scene and want to run with Kim again...

Can't wait to move.  I'll be able to bike from home again!!!!!  I'm even getting excited about racing tri's again.    I've been surprised by how much one's address can help of hinder training - even within the same school district!

Matt

Not too shabby to jump back in the pool and rip off 3000m.  

Good to see you can get back into the full set of training, it's too bad your HM didn't go as planned though.