Newbz' group is FULL (Page 16)

Yes.

I had a position i rode for about 2 years (with VERY small changes), the photo of it is my avatar.
I changed it in june of last year, and picked up about a a half MPH, on 10 watts less power, by simply changing where my bars were (took them further away, a tiny bit lower, and a bit more narrow).

this stretched my body out a bit, and got my head down out of the wind.
I'm not a wildly powerful person, so i need to get any advantage that i can to get myself out of the wind.

David - did you alter your aero position by trial and error, using a mirror or what? How did you quantify your gains?

I used a power meter on a short (2 mile) dead flat sheltered course.
All testing was done in the early morning or late evening, no wind, over the summer.

You can do the same thing without a power meter, but you wont have the power savings, just the speed increase.

Some of it was trial and error though, i made a few changes that not only dropped my power, but also ended up being slower (i moved my elbow pads almost touching which closed up my shoulders/chest WAY too much, lost a lot of power, but because i cant change the extension width on my bars my arms were touching all the way out to my hands, and then got wider as my hands were further apart, bad news).

getting my bars a bit further away and down just a tiny bit was the best change though as it let me get my head down out of the wind (biggest gains came from this simple stem change).

The aero position for me is going to come up here soon when the weather breaks.  I purchased a set of bars (Easton AeroForce) on clearance for $50, regular $100, over Christmas and I will be needing some tips on positioning when I can try them out outside.  Are there any simple tips to make adjustments before being outside?

I got a decent swim in today despite being shorter than I had planned.  I started to work a little harder than my last swim, which was just to get something going again after the storm break in training.  I did a couple of 500's as my main set and ended with about a 7:50 avg. for each of them.  Once I get a few more swim under my belt I should be a little better than that.

I also got a trainer ride in today too.  As with the swim I made it a little harder than the first ride after break and was glad to be back in the saddle and re-begin my training.  The bike I think will be a little harder to catch up on, at least thats what it felt like today.

Tomorrow is a run and I hope to get a good 6 -7 miles in.  I am not trying to push my distance for at least another week.  I was up to 9 miles on my longs before Oklahoma.  What does anyone think about going longer than 7 miles after not running for almost 2 weeks, running 11 miles over a 5 day stretch and then running 3 last night?

0.5 mph on less power, very nice.  I've been thinking about taking out one of the spacers on my P2C.  My two big concerns are being able to accurately gauge improvement (no power meter yet) and the impact on my comfort for longer events (IM/HIM).

Dirk,

Which shape bars did you get, the ski bend or the s bends?
I would say get them put on the bike, and then post a photo from the side with you on them on the trainer and we can see what things look like right now and make adjustments from there.

On the running i would not push the longer runs right now and would prob cap it at 6mi or so. going much over that sounds like a good chance at getting hurt right now.

Hitting the trainer harder is the way to go. its a great chance to get in a short hard focused workout without needing a lot of time. save the longer stuff for when you can get outside.


To wiky,

If you have the option of riding outside on it for some longer rides before you races, try it with the bars a bit lower. the first few rides might be a bit harder/some soreness. if it doens't go away after a week or so, or is not rideable for your longer rides, then bring them back up.

I'm going to give it a shot. Any idea how hard it is to take a spacer out of the head tube? I'll take a look on Google.

BTW -I did some googling on W/kg correlation with TT efforts and found exactly what you said. There is a huge variation in the power and W/kg people put out for a given average mph on a flat course TT. I didn't realize there was that much variation in the drag of the different positions/equipment/riders. Makes me realize I need to examine my position a little bit more than I have been.

Edited by wiky 2010-02-20 2:54 PM

if you have a set (or the one you need if its all the same size) of allen wrenches it take about a min to move them. put hte bike in the trainer if you have one (easier to keep it still).

unscrew the top cap, loosen the stem bolts, and simply lift it off the tube. pull how however many you want to move, replace stem and then put them back on top. remember to tighten everything back up, and that you put the stem/bars back on straight.

tighten the top cap before the stem so you are sure its all the way down.

*if* the stem wont lift off due to the cables being too short (if you have a lot of steerer tube this might happen), simply take the bars off the stem and let them hang on the front wheel while you move the stem. this will add two (or four if you have a four bolt pattern) bolts you might have to take out but either way its a fast move (i've done this mid ride multiple times when playing with position changes).

FWIW outside at least you probably wont even notice, or not for more than one ride, one spacer move unless they are huge.

I have the S bars and will post some pics later today.

The running....I felt good for 6 miles and gave some serious consideration to going 1 more while I was out but thought I would be better to under train than over train, especially with my injury history.  I felt good all of the run except for the first half mile, but that was lack of nutrition.  So when are you thinking I should build up some mileage again?  I am hoping to PR a 13.1 on May 8 (Indy Mini) and I was hoping to crush my old PR of 1:47:08.  Micro has inspired me to push myself harder in races but I obviously want to get to the race first.

Dirk -

Listen to David. I think that right now it is much better to finish each run feeling strong. That way you are less likely to get hurt and your recovery will be much quicker. How much good is a training run if it sets you back a couple of days (or longer)? Consistency is the name of the game!

7 Days until the Mardi gras marathon - they are expecting 25,000 runners!

I just finished a 10 mile run at a tiny bit faster than my marathon race pace (marathon pace is 7:08ish and I ran 7:04 pace for the 10 miles). I was hoping that the run would be super easy. It was not super hard but it got me thinking about 16 more miles!!!

I am excited about the marathon. I did a similar run 5 weeks ago and my average heart rate for the run was 171 BPM - today it was 165 BPM. I believe in my training. I believe in myself. I will be able to execute on race day!

Yeah, its tough to hold back but I know it's the best thing for me to do.  I really want to start pushing again to start getting the mileage up and gear up for the half marathon in a couple of months.  The big picture for me is not the half marathon in May.  It's the Marine Corps marathon in October.  That's the one that is what I am training for! Period!!!  This is what I was working toward last year when I screwed my knee up and couldn't run for 2 months and completely took me out of the race.

I am going to try to post some pics of me on the bike in the aero's but don't hold your breath I have only posted a couple of pics before and it's been a while.



 

There they are, how bad is it?  These were pretty much thrown on there with very few adjustments after the installation.  I know I nees to turn the S bars in some to accomodate a more natural grip.  Right now my wrists are turn up and it fels very unnatural and uncomfortable.  I also a pretty sure my overall geometry is way off too.  Any help wil be greatly appreciated.




Edited by DirkP 2010-02-21 5:56 PM










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off the bat i would say see if you can turn the stem over 9angle it down,) and move the seat forward (all the way if you can to start), and maybe up a tiny bit after you move it forward. When you move it forward you need to move it up to maintain the same distance between the saddle and the bottom bracket.

Off the bat I would think that there is not enough drop from your seat to your bars. This is personal but I think the flatter you back the better. But that is a great idea - I am going to try to get some photo's on my race bike. I would love an evaluation!

+1, great idea.

BTW -- Good luck this weekend. A couple local runners are headed down for that race. Sounds like fun (except for the marathon part ).

I'm going to work on that as soon as I can tonight to try to get more pics in for evaluation.  As the bars are currently I can't stay in them long because of discomfort and because I can't get enough air.  I was going to begin to work with this later but since we are all looking at this now I might as well start and get a head start.

James
It looks like David and you are onto something and I am glad I posted the pics.  Now maybe you guys can see how foolish I look and have your rig looking better than mine before you post pics.  I'm used to looking like the weirdo all the time just ask my daughters.  LOL

I got in the water tonight and did some hard sets.  I tried to keep up with the 50's I had done about 4 weeks ago (before the 3 week 'non-vacation") and what a laugh that was!  I did 8x50 and was hoping to stay about 35-37 seconds like before. Huh! Yeah right!!!  I got the first set at 35 then it steadily went up from there.  The last 3 were at 40 seconds and I was shot.  I was warmed up good but didn't have enough gas in the tank.  I'll catch up in time but I guess I just got a 3 week layoff dose of reality.

on the position, for me the issue is not so much the flatter back but how far out your arms are in front of you. moving the seat forward will put you a bit more over the bars. It will take some getting used to (and aerobars are always more uncomfortable on the trainer, i cant stand mine for more than about a min on there).

35 sec for a 50 is no joke, i am struggling to hold 33-35 right now. If you did the first in 35 it will come back quickly. start the first two a bit slower next time and that will help (starting too hard can catch up FAST and make the whole set a LOT harder).

x2. I have to push hard to hit 37.

Those are fast swim times for me!

Tuesday I did my last speed session before the marathon and I did it on the treadmill. I had done a similar workout a few weeks ago and this one seemed better. After an easy mile warm-up I did 6 repeats of quarter miles at a 5:42 minute per mile pace (10.5 MPH). Now, the treadmill takes a second or two to get up to speed and a second or two to come back down but it was a solid workout. The recovery consisted of quarter miles at an 8:00 minute per mile pace. The total was 5 miles in 40 minutes with 3 of those miles taking 20 minutes.

After the speed session I did my pull ups.

About 8 years ago I set a goal for myself. At the time I could not do ANY pull ups. I had just started to embrace fitness and a healthy lifestyle. I laid down the gauntlet and wanted to be able to do 30 pull ups (I quickly revised the goal to be 30 pull ups in 3 sets). I used to run around this park that had a jungle gym and I would stop on many of my laps and try to crank out as many as I could. I would then walk a short path for about a minute and crank out some more. I tried all variations of the number of repetitions. Once I was able to get 10 pull ups in a row I add a few more. Maybe a combination of 12 / 10 / 8 would be the secret or maybe 14 / 10 / 6. Nothing worked. I remember the first time I was able to get 20 reps and then 22. I was stuck for a long time.

About 3 years ago I finally achieved my goal. I got my 30 reps in 3 sets. Now that has become my bench mark for my strength to weight ratio. I started doing them again this past month. Eight pounds ago I was topping out in the high twenties.

Twice this past week I have had success -2 out of 2 actually. The first time was 15 / 9 / 6 and then yesterday after my speed work I got the 10 / 10 / 10 (and then added 5 more in a fourth set).

It might be time to try the 40 in 4 – I love a challenge!

tilely post! i tried to do a few pull ups at the boathouse while i was coaching yesterday, and managed a studly 5. I'm now sore today.

then again i am the same person that cant squat more than about 100lbs more than 2 times.

Well since you guys are talking about chin ups I thought I would see what my max would be.  I actually had been thinking about this recently myself but never tried as many as I could do at once.  I was getting ready for a run so I thought I would try it.  I only did one set and ended with 15 but the last 2 were not very pretty.  I did complete them all the way (chin over the bar) but there may have been a little uncontrolled swinging on the way down that assisted on the way back up.

I ran 3 miles tonight after the peer pressured chin ups and ran a modest 7:44 avg.  at a comfortably moderate pace.  But, I think the stars must have been aligned properly because I haven't done this recently and I felt very strong.  It was a really enjoyable run.  I am still trying to hold my runs back some and it is proving more and more difficult as the days go on, especially after how good I felt tonight.

i'd say shoot for that same comfortable effort each time and let the pace take care of its self.

I ran my last run before the marathon this morning. I had brought clothes to the gym earlier in the week so I was able to run straight. The training plan only called for an easy mile and then 2 miles at race pace.

I tried to play it safe but work is 6 miles from my house. I did an easy 2 mile warm up (about 8 minutes per mile) and then ran two miles at right 7 minutes per mile. This was about 7 seconds per mile faster than race pace. I wrapped up with another couple of 8 minutes per mile.

I felt pretty good other than the cold. When I left the house it was about 29 degrees. My feet were blocks of ice for about 1 ½ miles. They were very uncomfortable. I had run a half marathon in early January when the temperature was 23 degrees. It is funny how I do not remember the pain of the cold feet from that run but I am sure that my feet were frozen for much of the race.

The pace was not difficult but it was only for 2 miles. I cooled down for another 2 miles at 8 minutes per mile. My heart rates at speed have definitely dropped. 7 minute miles are in the mid to high 160’s BPM – I can maintain this cardio effort for a very long time while running (cycling is a different story). This race will be much more about muscular endurance!

Good luck on the race this weekend! 

I just got another 5k in at a 7:42 pace with a comfortably moderate pace.  Actually my watch crashed about 2.35 miles in so I am estimating my finish time.  I added the worst mile and rounded to the highest minute.  The first 2 miles were 7:31 and 7:39 with the .35 of the 3rd mile being at a 7:43.  These past couple of runs are giving me a lot of confidence combined with the TT I ran a month or so ago.  I think no mater what, the half marathon will be a PR for me again this year and I will be making sure I don't do anything stupid and re-injure myself prior.

Gonna go for a long swim later today after I go............I don't want to say it...................I'm going to see a chick flick with my wife today around lunch time.  I think I'm going to wear a disguise.  I guess she's my wife of 22 yrs. so I can go see something she wants to see every now and then, even though it hurts.

what are you going to see?