Gray Guys/Girls Maturing Triathlete - Always OPEN (Page 26)

Thanks Nathalie.

I have a question about staying aero with regards to climbing hills.  I am a skinny guy who is really flexible.  Two weeks after I go from a mountain bike to my first TT bike I was doing all of my bike rides under 90 minutes 100% in aero and rides longer than that I only come out when arms, hands or feet got numb and needed to be shaken out.  I was told to always ride in aero and to resist coming out of aero on hills so that i could practice holding that position.  Well climbing hill in aero can drop my speed to about 1/2 may average speed for a ride so about 2 years ago I started to come out of the seat a lot during work outs because 1) it helped prevent my hands, arms, feet from getting numb on longer rides and 2) it got to where I was only dropping about 25% of me speed instead of 50%. 

I noticed my heart rate rises about 10-20 BPM when I am out of the saddle on hill climbs.  I figure I am using more of my running type muscles and my run thresholds are 10-20 BPM higher so that might not be a big deal.  What is recommend for long race triathlons on the hills.  Do you sit down and let your pace fall so you don't raise your Heart Rate, or do you stand up to keep your pace from dropping too much?  

Hey Curtis,

I've kinda talked about this in the past although not specifically in the context of how to ride hills.  The short answer to your question is it's best to "flatten the course" when riding a triathlon - slightly more power going up hills, slightly less power down hills.  You want to avoid large surges that spike your heart rate.

When you are riding at a steady state as you would be during a flat section of the bike leg in a triathlon, your body is largely using fat for fuel.  However, when you surge up a steep hill or in the face of a strong headwind - your body will require more energy than the aerobic energy system can provide.   To meet the increasing energy demands, your body will begin processing higher amounts of glycogen (carbohydrate).  The problem is there's only a limited supply of glycogen in our bodies.  Glycogen stores can't be replenished while you are exercising so when those glycogen stores are gone, they are gone.  You've likely heard the term - "burning matches."  This is specifically what that term refers to.  You only have so much carbohydrate stored in your body.  If you burn it up during short surges climbing hill or making a "vanity pass" (for example, catching and passing that young kid that just blew by you and damaged your ego) you won't have the carbohydrate later in the day when you need it during the run.

Below I uploaded a sample pacing guide for a 70.3 triathlon.  This particular guide is for an athlete that has an FTP of 300 watts.  the important takeaway is that the plan doesn't allow for any surges.  It outlines steady state riding with slightly more power going up hills.  Following the pacing guide, even the very steepest hills, power is never above 100% FTP to avoid surges and using critical glycogen stores.  While it's true you will use increasing amounts of glycogen as your power output approaches your threshold, you will still be using less than if you make a sudden surge.

Hope that answers the question.

(70.3 pacing.jpg)

Steve,

Welcome back!  Glad to see the Lions didn't get you!

Hey Rob,

The goal of training is too create that fatigue.  Just remember to listen to your body.  While it's good to push and continually challenge yourself, there is a point where enough is enough.  Your body will tell you if you get to that point.

Look on the bright side - it's only 9 1/2 more weeks.  Of course, then you might find your self signing up for another one!

One of my friends in college used to tell me that when the sun comes up in Africa each day the gazelle knows that it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will not survive.  As the sun comes up in Africa the lion knows that it must run faster than the slowest gazelle that day to survive.  So, it makes no difference if you are a gazelle or a lion, when the sun comes up in Africa you better be running.  

-Curtis-

Oh... and yes, on the hill climbing question I thought it might be more of an aero thing to not come out of the saddle and save watts.  If it is just the heart rate I can manage that.  When I come out of the saddle on hills I might have the Heart Rate climb from 118 BPM to 128 BPM.  I am not racing up the hill though, just using my  weight and rotating my hips at a cadence that is 10-15 RPM lower than my cadence on flats to keep the rhythm going and not kill my momentum.  I usually don't come out of the saddle until I can't keep the RPM over 85 RPM in the gear I want to ride in. The pace chart helps too.  :-)

Hi Nadine,

As Steve said, there are a number of plans right here on Beginner Triathlete.  You didn't mention what race distance you are considering - however BR has plans for all the distances.  The most important thing is having a plan.  WHICH plan isn't so important as HAVING a plan.  Obviously you want to choose a plan that it commensurate with your fitness level - i.e. you don't want to jump in to a plan requiring working out 20-hours per week if you've only been exercising a couple hours per week.  Once you have a plan, consistency is the single most important factor that will contribute to success.

Don't hesitate to ask questions.  There's a great group of people here that are only too happy to help.

Thanks!

I'm the same way.  At least if there are millions of dollars on the line, I can understand the motivation.  That doesn't make it right, but at least you can see a "why."  All I can think is getting the accolades from Social Media is everything to this woman.  When you dig in to this, it's pretty obvious it was premeditated and she was planning to lie all along.  So why didn't she just go out to the race venue, snap a couple pictures, go home and post "look at my race" to Facebook (or whatever).  Nobody would have been the wiser and everyone would have been happy -- she'd of gotten her "atta-girls" and the race wouldn't have had a cheater.  As it was, she made ridiculous public claims that begged to be looked into.  The sad thing, beyond she clearly needs some help, is the people in her social media circle probably aren't running in circles that would have seen the whole incident exposed - so she'll be free to do it all again.

I've had athlete's competing in this race each of the past three years.  I've been to the race on multiple occasions.  You don't just "miss" the turns on this bike course.  Why did she soft-pedal the bike unless she was PLANNING to cut the course and wanted to keep her time from being more unbelievable than it was.

Then, when she went completely off the deep end when confronted, well, "The lady doth protest too much, methinks."

I showed my wife and said, "Look babe, you're almost a Unicorn."  

She rolled her eyes as she said, "So you think I'm crazy?"

Millions of dollars doesn't motivate everyone.  I went to the University of Wyoming where a large percentage of my close friends grew up in rural communities on small family farms.  Three of those friends were first cousins that were children of my dad's older brother. They didn't have any money. I make the 5 hour trip home with my cousins one week end when I was in college and seeing my uncle using orange bailing twine through the belt loops on his trousers to hold them up really hit home how poor they were. My Cousin Sarah had things figured out though.  One night when were sitting around in college apartments talking about the weightier things of life she said that money didn't matter to her because her parents never had money they were always happy growing up.  I loved going to visit them growing up.  It wasn't until I was getting into my teens that it ever occurred to me that they were financially disadvantages.  My Cousin Ben also had it figured out.  He was a missionary in Jamaica under a Mission President from the Denver.  When Cousin Ben returned to college his Mission President returned to his home in Denver just a short Drive from us.  Of the hundreds of missionaries that worked in Jamaica under this mission president Cousin Ben was his favorite.  This Mission president had millions of dollars and want to help a struggling college student.  He found out that Cousin Ben needed a car and as a young person without established credit or a full time job was wondering how he would qualify for a loan or be able to get the vehicle that he needed.  His Mission President offered to loan him the money but Cousin Ben wouldn't accept the loan because he thought that his mission president would let him make one or two payments then gift the rest rest to him.  He said that wasn't right. He believed that if he wasn't able to make the sacrifice to earn something himself that it was the lazy man's way out to accept it as a gift and that laziness would lower his self work more than the gift was worth. 

So....happiness comes from hard work not from money. Trying to find happiness from cutting corners or cheating doesn't work.  The praise and accolades are empty when you cheated.

I did win $200 at a race last year (not millions) and i donated it right back to the race organization 2 minutes after it was awarded to me.  I wasn't there for the money.