kenj mentor group - back for another great season! CLOSED (Page 19)

Just being around all that cycling should be motivating and a great start to the outside season!

Don't forget to stay hydrated!! It looks like it is going to be warm there this weekend!  I am a bit jealous, when I did Goofy in 2010 it SNOWED during the half on Saturday and was 24 degrees at the start of the race Sunday and never went above freezing.  I have been asked not to return !  Enjoy yourselves!

Jennifer, I'm a lot like you when it comes to bike maintenance.

I can now change a tire. I do better with one on one instruction, so I had someone show me how to do it on my bike, and then I just did it over and over again one evening in front of the TV until I got faster.  It helps that I live in the goathead capital of the world and get lots of practice out on rides, too.  I'm now teaching my other tri buddies how to change their tires and we are going to have tire changing races one day this winter.

I also wipe down my bike and look for cracks in the frame and lube the chain when I remember.  Other than that, it goes to the professional.  I'm gonna try the You Tube videos now, too, though.

-Jaime

I treat my bike better than I treat my car...don't feel bad. :D

I recommend Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance, or Bicycle Magazine's Bike Maintenance.   Those two books is a little bit MORE than what you need seriously. 

DO NOT use detergent OR OIL! It can ruin your chains/cable and the frame. I'm sure you did the detergent weak enough, but still, it's not a good idea.  

Get ZEP Orange Degreaser instead.   Go outside and hook up your bike to a bike stand or trainer. I use my trainer when I clean my bike and I make sure that I take my bike off the trainer to wash it off, if it's that bad.  Get lots of Terry towels. You will want to work on the dirtiest part of the bike - the chain/derailleurs (there's plenty of YouTube videos on this). Then work your way into the derailleurs, your chain rings, then your frame. You can spray the degreaser on the Terry Towel and wipe it down with any spots that are really bad such as the bottom of your bike at the BB, the chainstays, etc.  With a CLEAN towel, make it wet, then just give it another wash down with just water (just to help get rid of any film left over from the degreaser) as well as wiping down the rest of the frame.  Dry with towel at the same time as it can leave water marks...think wax on, wax off. :D     Very rarely I spray down my bike, only if it's really dirty.    

After that, lube your chain (I recommend White Lightening Dry Lube.  The wet lube will just muddy up your chain very quickly, and it's good for wet weather, cold, etc.  Not Vegas because of all the desert sand/dirt that sticks to it like crazy. 

Then I give my bike a spray down with Finish Line Showroom and Protectant (you spray it on your frame, then wait a min or two, then wipe down with clean terry cloth), it gives my bike a shiny look. 

To Maintain the cleaniness, grab a terry cloth, and just give it a wipe down wherever you see dirt.  Because o the Showroom and Protectant AND using the degreaser, it sort of acts like teflon, and it's very easy to wipe down dirt/grease spots. 

You do want to keep cleaning the chain once every 3-5 rides (depending on how long, how dirty, etc). And lube it after every time you clean the chain.  

I don't know what you mean by "I can't get in around the chain."   I rarely ever touch my cables, if I do, I just give it a wipe down with the clean cloth without degreaser or water.  

If you really are feeling a little awkward, I suggest you go to your favorite LBS, and ask them to spend some time with them, and have them show you exactly how to clean your bike.  You can ask them to check your chain length. I didn't realize that my chain was so stretched out until I got a new wheelset and the chain was making a horrible noise. Turned out they didn't realize that as well because my chain was always so clean. LOL! Some LBS do offer maintenance class, that's how I learned all of this...not by books. :-)

Good luck!! I LOVE cleaning my bike!! If only I can give my car more TLC. 

As for the chain dropping/changing inner tube - again, ask LBS if they have a bike maintenance class.  It is most likely will be covered there as well.  I've done it a few times and I won 2nd place for fastest changing of the tube and got a nice gift certificate for the bike shop.  

Most of the time, I think people drop their chains on the hills when going from large ring to small ring (front), when they're in their hardest gear.  It's a knowledge of gear shifting issue (human based), not the bike.  You should always have your bike checked before your races and ride it once prior to your race (let someone else give it a check through...you've been training and stressing out with the race that you may not pay attention to details). 

Am I the only one that hates to clean their bike? Last time I cleaned it - I screwed up the chain and ended up bending the derailleur (don't ask me how I have no idea!) - had to take it in to the LBS to fix. Maybe with my new bike I will be a little more attentive.

In my experience changing a flat for the first time was really hard - however after a few times it kind of clicks and gets way easier!

Day off today!  I did have a 45 min run that I decided to change to Fri (my original rest day) as legs are feeling really fatigued after the long trainer ride and masters skate ski yesterday.

Happy Wednesday!

Heart Rate training question...

I am testing this week for the first time since last March.  On my bike test this morning (30 min time trial) my average HR was 180 compared to 163 last time.  Course was the same although perhaps a little breezier.  Pace was faster.  Just curious, does this mean I am in better shape than last time testing?  Worse?  What does a higher average HR mean? (other than the fact that all my zones move up!) 

I KNOW!  It means I'm getting younger, right?  Something about max HR going down with age? 

Means you didn't work hard enough last time!  

If these were all out tests than something might have went wrong with the HR reading.  It doesn't seem right.  180 is pretty high for an avg.  Possible, but very high, especially taking into account your last reading.  

*edit*-Just to clarify, you shouldn't see big changes in HR.  What should change is your speed, or amount of performance you get at a given HR.

Well, you might have a point about the age because if my HR hit 180, pretty good chance I would flat line next.

I agree with Brian, there is something wrong here.  Ideally, your HR would go down to accomplish the same result.  Since you mentioned the wind and the speed on the same course, it is tough to gauge your fitness between the two as the conditions changed.  The fact that you held a faster pace in the wind would be an indication of better fitness, but since your HR was elevated compared to the original test last March it is an indication that it took a bigger effort to accomplish this result. 

My first guess is that the HR monitor may not be working properly as that is an extremely high avg., especially compared to March.  You may want to wait a week or 2 and try the test again.  The other thing that effects HR is humidity, hydration level, and temperature. 

This is an excellent topic that is a bit confusing.  Keep the questions coming.  Also, there is an excellent article on BT, that I need to find the link to from Mike Ricci, the coach that wrote many of the plans on BT.  It is about how 220 minus age is not the best way to determine your HR zones.

Hi all,

I am still fighting this miserable cold or whatever I have.  I have not been sleeping at night.  I emphasize at night, because yesterday morning, I feel back asleep after my alarm went off and I was late for work, and just now I was trying to catch up on a bunch of back pages of posts and I actually nodded off here at my desk.  Maybe it is time to see the doctor...

The spreadsheet of races is awesome and I will add mine when I get a chance.

I did firm up plans with my coach for the Beach2Battleship full.  I really think she is as excited for me as I am!  Her confidence in me really helps!

Karen

Well, average was actually 170 (typo in earlier post), but I think it's correct.  I hit 189 regularly on hard parts of sufferfest videos on the trainer.  My max ever was 200, but that was doing CPR on a gunshot victim I happened upon on the side of the trail this summer.  I'm 36 years old, so that max seems pretty high to me, too, but it doesn't seem to be getting lower!

Last spring when I tested I was in great shape for running but a beginner on the bike.  This year I've worked a ton on the bike and I'm not in great running shape.  So now that I've had time to think more about it I'm hypothesizing that my bike skills were my limit last year as opposed to my heart rate.  Does that seem possible?

The bug going around this year is certainly a persistent one!  I hope you get it out of your system soon Karen!

Glad your coach is on board for your B2B training!  Enjoy the journey Karen!

I looked at your logs, and you have your HR avg at 170 and max is 184. Something is off there, as I believe there should be a bigger gap between the avg and the max. If your HR hits 184 just for ONE second, it's recorded as max. I never pay attention to the max HR because it's not really important (at least to me it's not because if you hit your HR strap or had a hard hill, it will record a 190 or even a 200 while for a normal ride, my HR won't reach that...hope that kind of make sense).   

Also - are you looking at the AVG HR during your 30 minute test? Max HR doesn't count, only avg.   I would do the test again in a couple weeks and see what comes up. Keep wearing your HR monitor and see if you see any disparities. TYPICALLY - someone that does the runs for the same amount of RPE (ie - Easy, Zone 2), the avg HR is HIGHER than the bike HR avg  (I could be really wrong, so if anyone disagrees, please correct me.  I notice this for my runs and quite a few other people's run/bike HR). 

I would question the HR avg, something is off...

The 170 makes more sense.  I have found that my max HR on the bike and the run are miles apart.  For 5k races I routinely avg. around 165 - 168.  I rarely get out of the 150's on the bike even on long climbs on hot days.  So to respond to your last statement, yes your legs and bike skills can be more of a limiter than your HR on the bike.  It may well still be even with the improvement. 

Some people have more carry over from bike to run and vice versa than others with fitness.  But, until you get a solid bike base, the muscle memory and adaptation will create a limit that can only be over come by time in the saddle.  Fortunately riding is fun! Keep up the great work!

170 sounds better!   But I still think you just didn't go out hard enough last time.  The little differences could be conditions or stress or whatever, but in general your HR s/b pretty constant.  The performance is what changes.  If you're fatigued your resting HR will be a bit higher but, for me when I'm really fatigued, I can't even get my HR up to normal levels.  Like you and Ken my HR is way different on the bike vs run.  I'm much higher on the run.  You use more muscles on the run so this makes sense.

Good morning all!!

Almost the weekend!  I had a less than stellar ride on the trainer this morning, but none the less it is done! 

I think that part of my problem this morning was that my bike work is getting both more intense and a little bit longer.  I have always been a morning person and trained predominately in the morning but have not always done a good job with the pre-workout nutrition.  I guess for at least the harder workouts I am going to need to add in some calories. 

Morning nutrition is a tough one...  I'm pretty good at fueling up on race morning because of the time between eating, getting to race site, etc.  But on morning workouts, I doubt I could roll out of bed and eat something before working out.  I tend to run a deficit, then eat an unreasonable amount of calories after

I'm hitting the time of year that tests my commitment to training.  Aside from my upcoming family duties, I stayed at a hotel near work last night then ran from there.  On the bright side, it way downright balmy and clear here this AM.  I'm hoping my run focus helps with staying consistent. Have running shoes, will travel.  I don't travel for work, but from January-March, tend to stay in hotels a lot.  It allows me to work late, be in early and skip out of 3 1/2 hours of commuting.