Dirk's Junkie group - CLOSED (Page 28)

AG win - no chance - but, I compete to compete - know how far I can push myself - know the limits.

stength:

1) run - HM time under 8 - but as already mentioned - need to be 6. I think 7 I can work and achieve.

2) bike  I've been a MTB rider - road bike is relatively new.  riding my first road bike. I'd like to pick up an older tri bike? I try to be "best in class" on my road bike vs tri bikes.

3) swim - my Achilles heal  - took one set of lessons - need more. Agree what I've read on site - need to budget for swim lessons - and I will keep working on my swimming --- you bet!!!

3.5) transitions - btw swim/bike is average - btw bike - run - I do above average in times. I have not worked up to having my shoes pre-clipped in and jump on bike - maybe 2012?

thanks for everyone's help

I agree on the nutrition aspect for races.

Sprint - H2O is all that is really needed. Anything that is an hour or less, water and some gatorade is all that is needed.

Oly - Basically the same, but adding a gel and gatorade helps add the electrolytes and salts needed.

Anything over that, then some easily digestible food is a good idea.

My main reason for adding nutrition was more about leading into race day. Keeping a daily nutrional log of calories in and exercise of calories out is really beneficial. If you can do this on a daily basis then it makes it so much easier leading into a race. You never want to change what you do nutritionally up to race day. Otherwise you could spend unwanted time in the porta jon instead of racing.

I have some great info on nutrition before race and during race and will post it in the next few days when I get the chance.

X2 what he said!

I know that I can run a 10K since I did one last year.  I know that I can do a 25 mile bike ride.  At this point, I am definitely not able to swim 1500 meters.  I don't know what to expect for my first tri, but at this point there is no doubt that swim is my weakest event.

I've been reading TI, and looking at videos on YouTube to get a better idea of what I should be doing in the water, and I do feel that my form is improving, but I have a very long way to go to get my cardio up.

This is a copy and paste of the testing procedure.  This hurts really bad if done correctly and it's really easy to screw it up the first time you do it.  The reason being it's hard to gauge what kind of effort you can actually put out for the full length of the test.  Basically you have to find an effort that will be your maximal effort for a full 30 minutes and then go just a little bit harder at the end.

1h 00m
WU:
10' @ 68-73% + 5' alternating 30" @ 95-100%
30" @ 68-73% + 5' @ 80%

MS:
30 min all out test
*For the 30min test start a bit easier for 5 min of you ‘think’ you could sustain for the entire duration. Then settle into the effort you can sustain for the next 20 min and finish as strong as you can for the last 5 min.

CD:
5-10' @ 65%

The percentages above are all HR.  The MS goal is to find a maximum lactate steady state (MLSS) HR to use for your training program.  When you fond your proper MLSS plan on suffering A LOT for almost all of your WO's on the bike after that.

I did get my 7 mile run in after the bike last night too and felt pretty amazing doing it actually.  I think the main reason was that I had taken some calories on the the bike.  And the weather was cold and windy but clear.  We had a snow squall earlier in the afternoon that was really wicked.  Definitely white out conditions.  It only lasted 10 minutes and that was all the snow we got for the rest of the day

I wish I knew more about finding sponsorships.  I will tell you what I think I know.

First off, the Rudy sponsorship is a BRO program.  More or less a good customer discount.  I think they approve everyone that applies.  http://www.rudyprojectusa.com/sponsorship.php

As for the typical sponsorship program, those are team sponsorships that build their rosters usually through November-December for the upcoming year.  Wattie Ink is one good example.  Most of them seem to take a mixture of pros and amateurs. 

As far as I can tell, they are after the best possible embassadors for their products.  To that end, they want someone passionate about triathlon.  They also want someone that is an influencer.  Some type of formal or informal leader among their circle of triathlete friends.  It helps if you have a triathlon related BLOG with thousands of readers, or a facebook page with thousands of friends.  Of course, it helps just to have a blog and facebook page.

I would think that on your 'resume' it would look really good to be leading a BT mentor group. 

They seem to favor long course triathletes more so than sprint specialists, but I am willing to bet that they would appreciate a really prolific racer with a busy race schedule.  If you podium on a regular basis that always helps to get exposure for their products.

I suggest you try.  About a year ago I stopped doing squats because I was having a rough time with quad tendonitis.  I've just begun to add it back in to see if I can.  Since I do my workouts in the morning and weights in the afternoon I only have to deal with being fatigued when squatting.  That's OK with me.  I do it on swim/run days rather than bike/run days and that helps. 

But in the past I have squatted before cycling and before running.  Besides having the legs pre-fatigued, it's fine.  It wouldn't work well if you were about to do a key workout.  But it works fine adjacent to easy stuff, which is most of the time anyway.

I can't say that doing squats will make you a better triathlete, but I feel like it has given more better short-burst power on the bike.  And in some situations that can be translated in to racing better (I'm thinking mostly mtn biking here).

Shoe report....remember the new Adizero XTs that I ordered?  They worked like a charm yesterday.  My feet handled 12.5 miles of trial running with ease.  I was absolutely sure-footed even in rocky, muddy slop.  The larger size kept my feet from being beaten up in the toes and the heels.  This is really, really big.  I hurt my achilles last April and really haven't had trail runs, nor long runs in my training routine ever since.  And it's really hard to over emphasize how important a weekly long run is for continued improvement (even if you specialize in the 1600m on the track).

On the topic of relative strengths I would say this:

• Bike
• T1 (T1 and bike are tied, I'm often the fastest at both)
• T2
• Run
• Swim

These are some photos of the trails that I typically run on the weekends.    The elevation changes are brutal.  Maybe the next time I'm out there I will snap some photos of the more interesting sections.

Matt, you have the frame, bottom bracket, crank, headset, fork, front derailleur.  Next up:

• stem
• handlebars
• brifters (brakes/shifters)
• rear derailleur
• wheels
• chain
• cassette
• cables
• pedals
• handlebar tape
• seat
• seatpost

Let's find you some super hot deals on e-bay and put together a very respectable bike for a paltry little sum!

I will help advise you through the mechanical work as much as I can while remotely located from you.

As for the crank arms, you can install them now.  I left the bolts in the bottom bracket spindle, just pull them out by hand with their washers and slide on the crank arms.  Obviously the chainring arm goes on the right,  the other arm goes 180 degrees in the other direction on the left side.  install the bolts and crank them down dang hard!

Here are some wheelsets that look promising:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Alex-Rims-Shimano-Ultegra-Custom-Built-Road-Bike-10-Speed-Wheelset-Great-/290662171236?pt=Cycling_Parts_Accessories&hash=item43acd0c264

I actually own a set of these and have never been sorry.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/700c-Vuelta-Starlite-Road-Wheels-Shimano-Hubs-/200699647558?pt=Cycling_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2ebaa19646 

Jeff - Those trails look awesome! I just downloaded the AllTrails app for my phone and found a whole bunch of cool local trails to run on.

Dirk - Do you do those rides on the trainer so you don't have to worry about interference from cars, intersections, hills, stop signs, etc? When I'm in the neighborhood, I feel like those are the biggest limiters to my speed!

Allison - I hope you're feeling better today than you were yesterday! x3 on the R and R until you're feeling better!

Brenda - Thanks for adding transitions. Mine would go somewhere WAY at the bottom because I've done exactly two - T1 of the tri from last year and T2 from the tri last year. I probably need to practice those.

Matt - Nice job on the awesome weekend of running and a great pace on the second one. I guess that's kind of a negative split right?!

Jonathan - How's the training going while you're on your business trip?

Continued my swimming plan today - got 1200 yards in with the spits. It seems to be working well and I'm actually getting more confident in the water. I was able to get my kick breaking the surface today and make sure I was using the full length of every stroke. Just these two things have made a HUGE difference to the effort I'm putting inm, although I've been working on distance not speed so I don't know if they've made me any faster.

Since we're posting pictures of where we do stuff, here's a snap of the "mountain" I rode around on Saturday. Seeing sights like this is an AWESOME way to wake up on a Saturday morning.

Now a quick question (you knew it was coming right?) - bikes this time. How do you guys deal with hills? I'm spinning up them, but if I can spin up at 11mph at 80rpm or 8mph at 80rpm, which should I choose? I save energy at 8mph, but obviously go much slower, I can sustain the cadence at 11mph, but I feel like I'm really pushing to do it. How do you guys do it?!

J

Nice areas for workouts, guys. I’ll post some shots after my next outdoor bike ride.

As for strengths and weaknesses I can only guess. Since I’ve only done the one super sprint tri and once I caught up to my wife on the bike I stuck close to her and we did the run together.

Having looked at finish times for my age group in previous events I’m around middle of the pack in all events.

I’d put them in this order

1. Transition  
2. Run
3. Bike
4. Swim

There is always room for improvement but my transitions at last year’s event were pretty quick. So I’d say that’s where I’m strongest.

I hope to make the biggest gains in running this year. There are just so many possibilities for racing in running events.

I hope to build up the swim yardage quite a bit, but more from a standpoint of finishing the swim without being exhausted.

Bike I find hardest to train. I rode so much as a kid just for the love of riding that I have difficulty doing a focused workout when I’m on the bike. When I’m out on the bike It’s more for the fun of riding than anything.

That's a deceptively difficult question.  The answer is so nuanced. 

First, I treat hills differently in training vs. racing.  When training I bust myself up every hill using the technique that gets me to the top the quickest.  In races, I use whatever technique gets me to T2 fastest and they aren't always the same tactic.

I break hills down in to 3 rough categories conceptually.

1. Rollers that I am able to maintain momentum over
2. Hills that I can get over anaerobically
3. Hills that must be ridden aerobically because they take over 1 minute

With #1 I Push like nuts to maintain my average speed and I stay in the saddle.  Once over that hill and going down the backside I lighten up enough to catch my breath while still exceeding my average speed.  In this situation I will have maintained my 90-100 rpm cadence that I use on the flats.

With #2 I will either treat it like #1 if I have enough gearing, but if the hill is too steep to allow that and I run out of gears I then get out of the saddle and crank it standing up. 

#3 I maintain both my effort level from the flat road and my cadence via shifting.  I slow down, sometimes to 8mph where I end up running out of gear.  At this point I make a judgement call between standing or sitting at a lower cadence and sometimes alternate between both standing/sitting until I make it over the top of the hill.

That's a nice road to ride/run on!  Even though I'm in New Hampshire, I feel like I'm in the city compared to that picture.

I admit I'm a little odd since I love riding hills.  Not long climbs, but short hills.  I typically will push hills hard - they become my built in interval sets.  We have lots of these short, sort of steep hills around my house, so I use them to do 30 second to 1 minute intervals. 

I also suppose it depends on the ride.  If I'm going for a multi-hour ride, I won't push the hills hard but I'll spin at a much slower pace to conserve energy, or if I'm doing a TT ride I'll be smart about how hard to do the hills.  But with my typical hour long rides, I'll redline almost every hill.  Not sure if that's a smart tri training strategy or not, but it's my way once I get outside.

Here is my run photo from yesterday, it doesn't seem to look as warm as the other photos posted!!  The blowing snow doesn't show very well, but shortly before the photo was taken it was basic white out conditions.  The front of my black coat had turned white from the snow sticking to it!  But as my son Zach would say: "The Black Samurai can handle anything"!

g

Rides:  For the rides for this time of year I am always on the drainer.  I don't have cold weather gear to ride in and I can focus very well on the trainer.  More specifically, if you're asking about the test I did yesterday, the testing should be done on a trainer.  There are to many variables on the road to get a solid set of numbers that can be worked with in future training session.  Many of the variables are as you have mentioned, others can be wind, road surface or anything that would cause you to slow down and decrease your effort even for a very brief period.  They key to a proper test is steady consistent effort.

Swimming:  Comfort in the water for most people should come pretty easily.  Most people used to swim recreationaly as kids and can adapt from there.  You mention using the full length of your stroke......One way to check this is to almost brush your cheek with your low deltoid to high deltoid as you stretch in front of your head.  You really want to feel a stretch down your side including your lats.  As you develop good form everything should begin to feel easier BUT you still have a lot of room for improvement if you have the chance to look at your own video recorded stroke technique.

For hill climbing:  I can demonstrate via my keyboard the techniques I use to climb the hills in my area of the country.  See below

First the hills that most of the rest of you have to climb and then northern Indiana and northwest Ohio.

                             ^                                                     ^                            ^

                          /     \                                                /     \                       /      \

          ^           /          \                                            /         \             ^    /          \

 ____/     \____/              \_________________________/              \_____/    \/              \______________

_______________^_________________________________________________________^__________________

Any more questions about how Brenda, Allison, Matt and I climb hills?

Didn't think so. 

One of the keys to making sure you get a good test is to keep the testing procedure exactly the same as all the other times.  So you don't want to change the resistance for any of the tests.  You are looking for the same tire pressure, seat position, temperature and any other variable that you could have.  The test environment needs to be very closely monitored to have a consistent accuracy.  Obviously you can't make everything like a scientific laboratory but there are many things such as the tire pressure and the like that you do have control over.

Strive to complete the next test in as close a fashion as you completed this one and you should get close to the same result as this test.

One thing is certain, as long as you are putting in very hard efforts on the bike with each and every ride, you are CERTAIN to be making cycling gains.  So don't be discouraged that you may have not done the test correctly.  You just may not have a real accurate baseline going forward.  It's kind of like you don't know how fast you started running before you looked at your Garmin but you kept running anyway.  The focus is on the end result more than the beginning. 

A cyclo-computer would definitely help you get some real type of information that will keep you in the same area for all of your rides too.  It can help you determine if you are working as hard this time as the last based on your speed.  BUT this isn't scientific either, just close.

mambos - 2012-01-30 6:08 PM

DirkP - 2012-01-30 5:53 PM

guitarfrk75 - 2012-01-30 12:27 PM Now a quick question (you knew it was coming right?) - bikes this time. How do you guys deal with hills? I'm spinning up them, but if I can spin up at 11mph at 80rpm or 8mph at 80rpm, which should I choose? I save energy at 8mph, but obviously go much slower, I can sustain the cadence at 11mph, but I feel like I'm really pushing to do it. How do you guys do it?!

J

For hill climbing:  I can demonstrate via my keyboard the techniques I use to climb the hills in my area of the country.  See below

First the hills that most of the rest of you have to climb and then northern Indiana and northwest Ohio.

 

 

                             ^                                                     ^                            ^

                          /     \                                                /     \                       /      \

          ^           /          \                                            /         \             ^    /          \

 ____/     \____/              \_________________________/              \_____/    \/              \______________

 

 

_______________^_________________________________________________________^__________________

Any more questions about how Brenda, Allison, Matt and I climb hills?

Didn't think so. 

haha that is classic! You forgot the corn stubble though!!

That cracks me up!  I was going to comment that I don't think I could take a picture near my house with a road that flat without some serious effort - and once I get up to the lake - forget it!

These photos are awesome.  Kind of reminds me of NH actually.  I can't wait to get back on the trails there.  I got a 5 mile run in today.  Legs are getting a bit fatigued.  They start out the run a little funky on my run today and they feel a lot better if I run faster...which as you guessed it, makes it hard to run slow.  Either way, I kept it under 150 for the most part.  Except when this chick tried to catch up with me.  Dammit! I can't run around other people.  What's wrong with me!?

Jonathan, what speeds are you spinning out on?  That seems kinda crazy to be running out with a 50/12.  I've watched threads on the main forum where people say if you're spinning out, get super aero and take the free speed. 

At those speeds (I'm guessing you must be well over 40), applying a lot more watts won't give you much return since you're really fighting serious wind.  I could be totally wrong.  Of course, an important factor is how about the other end - climbing?  You're pretty strong on the bike though, so I would guess you're fine on the hill parts.