Ironman Lake Placid : Official Thread (Page 33)

Rusty - that's 1 hr 45 min for the 2.4 swim. 1:45 / 100 meters is possible in bursts but not for anything longer than a couple hundreds. 

Did the 8 minute test on trainer road yesterday and my FTP went up 11 points from 140 to 151 in almost a month.  I don't know how to quantify it but its definitely going in the right direction.

I hope you're feeling better quickly, BernardDogs!

I have never heard of a Y pool closing because of snow.  Ours has never closed, it only closes due to AFR (accidental fecal release).  Yummy.

I'm heading to Curacao tomorrow for a week.  SO looking forward to some outdoor riding for the week.  My coach has ramped up my bike workouts to take full advantage of the sunshine with 12 hours of riding next week.  Hopefully I can move to outdoor rides when I get home, too.

What kind of cassette/gearing is everyone running for LP?

I have a compact (50/34) on my bike and currently have 12-25.  But I'm thinking of going to a 12-27 to let me spin better up the hills.  I rode a double loop of the course last year, and while I wasn't fully trained for it, I was close.  And the second loop was tough!

I am fairly certain it's been proven the hills near Whiteface get bigger, longer, and steeper on the second lap ;)

I have no idea what I have. Def not a compact. I think I have an 11-25? Not sure. 11-something. I am really bad with that gearing stuff. But it'd be good to see what I do have compared to everyone else (even if I don't know what it means) haha

Mandy

Edited by manfarr1974 2013-03-08 11:46 AM

Did it last year on my road bike (with BernardDogs, no less) and compact 12-25. Plan on doing it this year on the tri bike, probably stick with the 12-25, but also have an 11-28. Might want it for that second loop

Yea! One of the first signs that spring is just around the corner is when the topic of gearing comes up in the IMLP thread!!!!  

Compact & 12-25 here. For IMLP I take the 12 off and replace it with an 11, just because I like to keep a little force on the cranks without spinning too quickly down the Keene descent - makes my legs feel better. In previous years it has been advised by folks a lot smarter than me that if you can afford the switch a compact is the way to go if you think you will be over 6 hours at LP. I imagine that about 95% of us triathletes might be better off 100% of the time riding a compact crank. That said, it is just gears and you can get similar combos in a standard with the right cassette and (maybe) rear derailleur. 

This might provide some frame of reference: Last year I went 5:50:38 on the bike, and ran every step of the marathon - I felt great. I weighed 156lbs and my FTP was 260. My powermeter of course bonked out race morning, so I don't have good accurate numbers from the race, I just went by RPE, but I was trained to ride at 75% effort. Average cadence for the entire ride was 82 - up the bears it was 82 for the first loop and 80 for the second. VI (should be accurate even though the power numbers are off) was 1.02 - that number is probably the most important of all of them.

Two other (female) friends that had very good races last year - they both rode compacts & 12-28s. Both right at 135lbs on race day one had an FTP of 160, the other 185. Both rode at slightly lower than 75% of FTP.

Hope that helps!

Quick cassette change at Special Needs? 

You never know! Last year when I was volunteering I ran almost a mile to the mechanical tent with someones rear Zipp tubular because they flatted and the glue was no good on their spare. The guy did track me down to give me a big thank you after the race. Cross-training

Brian - that is awesome! Lake Placid volunteers are always the best!

Mental note: check glue on spare tubular...

Well according to Rusty, I am riding a fixie that I tested out last year doing one legged drills up Whiteface.

Most likely I’ll ride with a 12-25 39/53

Very useful data. Do you know what their bike times were? I'll be just about their weight but higher FTP. And I will change every battery the week before the race!

Of course you will! but remember folks, James weighs 106lbs, has an FTP of about a billion, and wheelied the entirety of both loops in 2010 in 4:37:28...

Here he is near the top of the bears:

A little under 6:30 and just a hair over 7 hours.

Oh, I changed batteries in everything (everyone put that on your checklist) My power meter literally went south - the manufacturer wound up replacing the whole thing when I got home. Just one of those things...

Can't believe the weights that get posted on here - OMG, I haven't seen those numbers since 9th grade .  Gives me something to work toward...

HAH! I was thinking grade school.  But at 6'6" I have a slight disadvantage! 

Since I went with the Quarq...I've got no choice but to stick with my standard up front.  Unless I want to give up power...I'll probably put a 12-27 on the back...but have kicked around an 11-28 as well.  So many decisions...

Next topic: Nutrition!

For what it's worth, I ride a standard 53-39 on front with a 11-25 cassette.  Last year for IMLP, I tipped scales at 185 and I'm planning to ride this year's race at 179.  (I'm a shade under 6'2" and at about 192 pounds now -- go ahead, cheer for me to lose the weight. )

I don't ride with power so I cannot give you data on that aspect.  However, I rode IMLP a few minutes over six hours and was within a couple minutes of an even split.  I rode nearly the whole way within my comfort zone and only came out when I was doing something stupid like going too fast out of town and up the first hills toward the Keene descent.  I ride with an eye on cadence and heart rate and last year my cadence hovered in the low 90s excepting up some of the big/long climbs where I kept it in the low 70s for most of those sections.  

While I didn't run the whole marathon, I walked about half of the aid stations and a section of mile 15, the bike ride was the critical component of the whole day.  I was fine with the gearing and think the vast majority of people can probably ride without a compact and with a 25 on the back, however, if you have the funds and the time to practice for several weeks leading up to the race I don't think you can go wrong by hedging a little toward a compact crank (or even a triple) and a 27 or 28 on the back.  Having a little extra margin could make the difference if it is really windy, if you forget your "go easy on loop 1" race plan, or if you tip scales over 200 pounds.

Again, take this for what it is worth.  I'm only an amateur and have only ridden the course doing the race -- not like you New Englanders who can get up there for training rides.