SBR Utopia - OPEN (Page 19)

OK, when is the race? The "come to Fl" part is covered and if I can fit it into my schedule, I'll be driving there.

Friday-Saturday: http://www.ragnarrelay.com/race/floridakeys

With the Garmin 210, I can get a signal up on the 2nd floor, but always lose it before reaching the door on the first floor. So have to wait outside a minute. The 310 would do ok, but that one died off.

Yay for couple time!  Nice job getting on the treadmill the next morning.

OK, if you need someone I'll see what I can do.

Glad it's not worse.  I fell while running a couple of years ago. The road rash wasn't horrible but I was so sore from trying to catch myself! Sucks getting old   Wish I had an excuse to stay out of the pool.

I e-mailed the team, and 8/10 of us are willing to pick up an extra leg. There are only 6 open legs. Looks like picking a team of running addicts was the best choice I could make!

I think we'll be ok. THANK YOU!

Cool, it sounds like a blast! Have fun.

ETA: If something comes up, let me know. Both of the bosses are OK with me taking some time off

I'm still old skool with a 305

The run was a bit cold when going into the wind but not as bad as I expected.  This is what I looked like to anyone that saw me.

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Hopefully also with gloves on.  I have some awesome windstopper long sleeve shirts I wear when the wind is blowing and it's cold out.  They are great on the bike especially. 

Last time I tested outdoors it was 317 for the 20' (estimating FTP at 301) and 366 for the 5'.  The 5' test was done the day after the 20' test...so maybe I could have gone a little more.  It wasn't my plan to do the tests back to back...I was just out riding thinking I needed an easy day to recover from the 20' test but I felt so good I just went for it.

The difference puts me at 121.5% for 5' power compared to estimated FTP.  I'm not even quite sure I could actually hold 301 for an hour (at that time)...so the difference might be higher...thus  5x4' @ 120% of "actual FTP may be doable.

All depends on your power profile though...we all are not "well rounded."

So.... long rides.

I've pretty much been in the 20 to 30 mile range but next month I am gonna have to do some that are a lot longer. 

Do you guys do a lot of long rides in groups.. alone?

Have you ever gone crazy on a long ride.. alone?

The 50 mile (which is pretty long to me) distance kind of freaks me out. 

This really depends on the person. I go alone a lot because I'm fine with it, usually prefer that. Though I do look for events at times. Haven't gone with anyone in awhile, but it's nice just to have people around at times even though we're not actually riding together. These also have stops with food & such. Great way to do a long ride.

Ninja runner.

I'd really love to have a companion like that. I ride with my husband sometimes and that's cool, but it would be fun to go with some other people. 

I usually ride with a group, but when I was newer, I rode some charity rides for my first longish rides.  You can usually find some people around your pace to ride with, route is usually pretty safe, they usually have rest stops and SAG support might be available.  A little less intimidating than just going at it alone.

Yeah, organized events can be great, as long as you realize your training.  But I do both rides by myself and sometimes with a friend or two.  I know, you can't tell by my logs but I use to live were I could ride.   It basically came down to what would work with my schedule.  Having another person is great but you need to be able to handle it mentally by yourself as well.  Honestly I used music a fair amount once I get out of the busy streets.  Don't want to start the debate over music being or bad on the bike though.  We are all in theory responsibile adults.

I've done both. Groups can be good, but I've found there are challenges finding a group that moves at the pace as me. If you find a good group, it is very enjoyable. Alone has merit as well, since you can choose pace, stops, etc. One thing I've taken to doing lately is ride to the group meet up spot. I get in 10 or so miles, 25 or 30 with the group and then 10 more to get home. It breaks it up and I feel like the best of both worlds.

Back to the real world after 11 days of being on vacation....visiting the in-laws in the PNW and then a quick stop in LA for New Years with friends.  Being on vacation makes coming back to the world of working difficult....but I'm glad to get back to my normal eating habits (tons of produce and a little bit of lean meat) and am really looking forward to getting back onto my bike.  Spin bike saddles = incredibly uncomfortable!

I'm hoping to absorb much of the good cycling information everyone is throwing out!  I've only been riding less than a year....and recently discovered how much better trainer rides are with TrainerRoad (for me, at least).  I'm doing Jorge's program and feel like I'm making pretty good progress, but I'm honestly not entirely sure what to do when I finish it....and need to start training for upcoming races.  Thoughts?

Also, just out of curiosity, at what point did you feel that a power meter would be beneficial for you?  I feel like I still have a lot of improvements that I can make without investing in a power meter (especially given that I can use TR's virtual power while riding on the trainer), but I can see myself eventually wanting to move that way.

I do most of my outdoor riding with my husband.  He's a lot faster than I am, so I end up doing the rides mostly solo, but it's nice to know that he'll be waiting for me in a few spots (we have one turn off of a relatively big street that he waits for me at, and again at the turn-around point when we do an out-and-back type ride).

I haven't done any organized group rides....partially because it's easier to go whenever my schedule allows for it, partially because I ride a tri bike and some groups prefer/require you to be on a road bike, and partially because I'm not entirely convinced that a group setting where drafting would basically be required is really the best way to prepare for non-draft legal triathlons.

In regards to the distance freaking you out, do you have any short loops that you could do multiple times, that way you're never too far from home?  For example, we have a loop that happens to be 12.5 miles, so if I wanted to do 50 miles, I could just ride that four times.  It might get boring, but if being too far from home is what bothers you, maybe that could help?

As others have said, I've done both.  I've gone solo for as long as 160 kms and I've done 200 kms where I started out in a group of 6 and as the ride went on some of them quit and by the last 30 kms I was on my own.

I've done a ton of rides in the 40-60 mile range on my own and they can be very nice.  You get to dictate the pace and go as hard or easy as you want.

The loops is a good idea.  For the really long stuff I often set it up so that I do loops but it's a bunch of different loops.  So I might do a 40k loop that ends at my house then a different 40k loop in another direction, then I repeat the first one but in the opposite direction etc.  Gives me a chance to reload any nutrition/water as needed.

If I am not mistaken your HIM is about 11 weeks away, so yep, time to use those long rides to get use to your race position, pacing, nutrition......

If the distance freaks you out, maybe find a 15 or so mile loop and do it a few times. Race rehearsals, ie long rides at race pace, with short bricks, paying close attention to how you feel, in aero, without distractions, are your friend

I've been pushed my hardest in group rides where I try and hang on to those fast pups.  The more I tried the better I got.  I know that riding in those group rides would give me a way harder workout then if I just rode on my own.  That being said yes, you should get use to your pacing without drafting but you can actually do that in groupr rides as well by riding off the front or just dropping back the required distance (and your going to want to do that at the tail end of course).  I wouldn't shy away from group rides cause we cannot draft in races.