Fast Twitch Tri-FULL (Page 34)

Yes, I have. The Kansas 70.3 freaked me out on race day when they announced no wetsuits! I was not mentally there. My first 70.3 was Branson and that one gave me some willies but was also the better of the two I have done so far-because it was my first I went at it very thoroughly and executed my race plan well, Kansas saw me with a lots of little things piling high! Yesterday morning, new Years AM I was talked into a 120 mile bike ride and felt intimidated by that even though I have done the distance before-just not in this decade, or the previous one!

The secret is to achieve some sort of mastery over whatever it is that intimidates you-even if you cannot attack it directly yet you can endeavor to simulate it in training. Your cycling looks lite-almost non existent in your logs, perhaps due to the injury, but the good news is that cycling fitness comes quickly with some consistent effort. Get an endurance base down, do some hill work, do a few bricks and have fun. IMO

KATE -

Oh, yes, I have!  Many times!  And you're in my realm if you think that signing up will stretch you, especially if you are about 99% sure you will catually do the thing.  It's a great way to get motivated and stay motivated.....and I recommned it oh-so-highly!

Ah, Boulder Peak!  back in the days I was a travelin' fool, I often thought about Boulder Peak, and couldn't get enough of the photos of people slogging up (something "Coach" road, is it?) that climb on their bikes.  Such masochistic fun!

Here's what to think about:

1. Drive it once, twice, thrice -- however many times is needed to feel up close and personal with it.  Know it's every turn and change of pitch; get intimate with it!
2. Think about investing in a cassette with a 27- or 28-cog as the biggest.  What do you use now?  My guess is a 23 as the largest, but maybe a 25; would you count teeth for me, please?   If you are in a 23, jumping to a 27 will be huge, and you might feel as if you've died and gone to heaven.  If you use a 25 now, the 27 will still make a considerable difference.
3. Start thinking about working hard on timproving your hill-climbing technique, which in my parlance involves "spinning small circles".  The whole point here is to get into a cog (probably the 27.....) in which you can just easily spin perfect circles, with no need to get out of the saddle or eaven struggle all that much.  I said "work hard", but in fact the technique is not too tough to learn -- and will reward you hugely whenever you are on a tough hill.
4. Recruit DAVE, who has just joined, to tell you about the "camp" he went to on the Savageman course in MD.  The savageman hill is legendarily horrific, and I think it makes BP look kinda easy (?) by comparison.  And to this end I will steer DAVE to you, and then steer you to some riotous videos of the S-man climb.  DAVE also took part in a few wicked-tough hills in Pittsburgh, so he's a good one to get psyched by!

DAVE -

Great to have you here; I was wondering if you would show!

But right now -- SIC!   See my post to KATE, right above, and then look at hers about Boulder Peak.  (She appears here as "moonrocket").  Thanks!

Thanks STEVE -

KATE - that course looks awesome. I particluarly like the bit about the 35 MPH speed limit will be strictly enforced on the descent! 15% climb over 2/3 of a mile doesn't sound terribly bad, but as STEVE mentioned, I live in Pittsburgh where we have some wicked hills. One of these lays claim to being the steapest paved street in the world at 37% grade. Each Saturday after Thanksgiving, there's a non-sanctioned event here where crazy intrepid cyclists race up 12 or 13 of the steepest hills around. The event is called the Dirty Dozen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oiu-y-WxHqc

I haven't done the event, as it takes 6 hours and it fell on my wedding anniversary this year, and I went away to triathlon camp on my wife's birthday, and that would not have been popular, but I did ride a few of the hills with a friend of mine who was training for the race, and I did make it up Canton Ave on the 3rd try. whew!

The camp to which I went, and to which STEVE referred, was held in Deep Creek, MD where they hold the Savageman Triathlon each September. There are 30 and 70 mile races. The 70 mile course, which was called by Dave Scott the most brutal and unforgiving race course he’s ever been on, includes the Westernport Wall. Check out youtube again or the event site for more people in lycra falling over: http://www.savagemantri.org/

Unfortunately, being a noob cyclist, I did the 30-mile course which does not include the Wall, so I can't really comment on it's difficulty, but I'm gonna guess it's high. We did ride some long, painful hills. As STEVE mentioned, I did swap out my 12/25 cassette for an 11/27 before going which was smart.

I've found that there's a real climbing culture around here and that these sort of events develop a cult following and a real machismo about them. I've also noticed that the best climbers in general weigh about 130 lbs soaking wet. I hope you do Boulder Peak so we can live vicariously through your triumph!

Thanks STEVE, DAVE & JEFF! 

Steve, I'm assuming b/c I have no clue about bikes that you are asking how many teeth are on the bigger of back cogs, right?  If so, I counted 25.  When you get a new ???  is it all of the cog wheels that you get?  or just a new bigger one (seriously, I can change a tire but that's all I've got when it comes to bikes.)  Do the front cogs always stay the same?  Would I want to keep what I have for the rest of my flatter races?  Are they easy to exchange? 

I'm actually getting pretty excited about this.  There are some funny Savageman Youtubes!

I'm going to make sure I heal up for another few weeks with some biking increases and think about signing up. 

I know I have no bike training- so definitely will have to put in some hard work.  Luckily there are a ton of bikers at work and my office is 1/4 mile from the course.  Also, if I commit there are plenty of people who will keep me honest on it.  I told the biker on my 70.3 relay I would bike with her a lot too- so it will be good for both of us to have a goal. 

The problem where we live is it is pretty flat right up to the mountains- so it's easy to avoid the hills.  I guess I have to stop doing that.  I got a lot better at hills mountain biking a lot last year!

Thank you for the encouragement!

ETA- STEVE- we have a guest room and live 10 minutes from the start if you're still itching to try it :-)

Oh and the 35 MPH speed limit I think was started after this incident:

http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-201_162-1833579.html

KATE -

Don't feel bad, as I have been riding seriously since '00 and cannot do much more than change tubes myself.  This is perfectly in keeping with my pathetic computer skills, which bely a staggering inability with most machines and tools.   I am fine with: scissors (and not just blunt-tipped ones!); many hammers; some screwdrivers; most spoons; any manual toothbrush.  That's about it.   And inately I am vastly more proficient with pencils and pens (and crayons!!!) than the computer -- where I am strictly a two-fingered typist who needs to maintain absolute eye-contact with the keyboard.  I mean that very seriously, and what's odd is that even though I could not draw and label a keyboard.......once at it I can find keys very quickly.  That's not to see I am a quick typist -- just quick enough (and persistent enough....) to manage about 10,500 BT posts in my career here.

But i digress!   You will need to get an entire cassette, which would maybe be a 12-27 as opposed to a likely 11-25 that you now have.  I say "likely" because most cassettesd with a 25-tooth cog will have a smallest cog with 11 teeth......and most cassettes with a 27-toother will need a 12 as its smallest, just to reduce "gaps" in shifting.  You need proper tools and lots of bravery and confidnece to do it yourself, and so I recommend getting a bike guru to do it for you.

As for the rings up front, you can get those replaced as well.  You probably have a 39-53 pairing, or close to that, as it's par for the course.  There are options, though, and if you have a bike shop you trust, tell them your needs and ask for what they'd recommend.

If JEFF sees this, he can clarify what i may have muddled.  He has been my go-to bike guy in the couple of groups we've been in, and not only does he have lots of knowledge and experience with cycling, he also has the wherewithal and general borderline chutzpah to do repairs and adjustments himself.

The problem with having a 12 instead of an 11 as your smallest cog is that when you go downhill, you "run out of gears" slightly more quickly.  That is, you get to the point where your legs are moving faster than the 12-toother can accommodate them, meaning you are pedaling agaisnt zero resistance ------> and it's time to stop pedaling, period, and just coast at that speed until you either slow down enough or hit a place where the incline increases.  But that is wotrth it if you have killer hills and just really need that big cog, a 27. 

Finally, I'm a fakltlander by residence, and need to make a big effort to get to real hills,  Mostly I am disinclined to do this.....and only through the grace of wahtever, I became very good on hills despite my lack of attention to training on them.  I really do attribute that to the "spinning small circles" technique, along with doing lots of riding in my big ring and smaller cogs, which even for a flatlander can help to simulate the grinding nature of hillwork.

Wheeeeeeeeeee!!!!

Steve's summary of changing cassettes is accurate. I think having an 11 is overrated unless your just that fast! a 12x27 is a good choice. Changing the chain rings is an option but probably not worth the expense. Shortly I will dig up a chart that shows "chain inces' as inthe amount of travel per revolution for a given chain ring/cog combination. That will illustrate what is happening and why calling a bike a "10 speed" or 21 or whatever is usually a misnomer.

Changing the cassette real is easy, especially when compared to a freewheel. You will need a special socket that is splined to fit inside the lock ring that is threaded onto the free hub. The freehub is simply the mechanism that ratchets so the bike can coast or be propelled by the chain-it is where the clicking sound comes from, you will also need a chain whip-this is not some crazy BD/S&M toy but a specific tool that is basically a lever with two sections of chain, one hanging free for several inches the other more rigidly attached. This tool is used to hold the cassette stationary while you  remove or install the lock ring-keeps it from turning and finally you need a wrench, an ordinary 10" crescent (adjustable) will do.  So, assuming you have removed the wheel from the bike and removed the quick release skewer, you wrap the chain from the chain whip around one of the cogs so that the lever is pulling the whole thing in a clock wise direction, insert the socket into the lock ring-the smallest little ring after your small cog and use the wrench to unscrew that from the free hub. Once that is removed the entire cassette will slip off the freehub either has one big assembly or separate cogs and spacers, or a combination of both. I try to keep them together in the correct order so i don't have to re-order them later. Putting one on is just the reverse except there is a master spline on the free hub-one of the splines will be thicker than the others and this will have a matching grove on the cassette-it will only go together one way. Honestly this is one of those things that is harder to describe than it is to do!

For Shimano Cassettes

A Chain whip You just need one for a cassette-not 2.

Bicycle gearing chart

On the back, it is a cassette that is composed of cogs. 9 or 10 cogs (for 9 or 10 speed) is common nowadays. You buy the whole cassette together, all cogs come as a package. Shimano and SRAM both have their cassette ranges listed on their websites. These will generally go anywhere from 11 to 28 teeth. Usually 11 or 12 for the small cog and 23 to 28 for the large one. Then a bunch in between.

To determine what you have now, on the cassette there should be some small etchings that say the number of teeth (11, 12, 13, etc). Occasionally there is a cassette where the largest 3 or so cogs do not have that, but some other thing listed. All the other cogs should have the number of teeth etched in though. Or you could count everything. Well, actually the biggest and smallest will do. The rest can generally be figured out once those are known.

Changing out a cassette is actually rather easy, but you have to have the right tools. The two necessary ones are very specific (and really don't have much other use). One is a chain whip and the other is a lock ring nut. The nut will have splines on it that match up to the lock ring that holds the cassette in place. The chain whip is a big handle with a section of chain attached to it. I'll stop there because it takes a bit to write and comes out looking at least 10x harder than it is. See how this looks to you first.

For the front, those are called chainrings. They do not have to stay the same, but usually they do because cassettes are easier to swap out. Like with the cassette cogs, there should be numbers etched onto them. Find those. They fall into two rather general sizings. The big ring will likely be either 52, 53 teeth or 50. The small one will be either 39 or 34, 36. What you could change here depends on what you have. If you notice, there are 5 bolts holding the rings on. And they're in a circle. The size of the circle is called the Bolt Circle Diameter (BCD) and is either 110 or 130mm. This can usually be determined by what size chain rings are on. The bigger sizes of the big (52, 53) & small rings (39) fit onto the 130. The smaller ring sizes (50, 34, 36) fit onto the 110, though you can also get a 52 that fits onto the 110.

What race are you looking at? Saw Boulder Peak and Savageman show up.

And FWIW, I do use an 11, but think it's overrated for many triathletes. On any front ring, that will have you up in the 30's. Quite a few start coasting then. At short course power levels, I'm in it with maybe 8-10 mph tailwind or with 1% or so downhill. Concentrate on the gears you'll use more often, especially making sure there is enough on the low-end.

I concur

More on cassettes:

I have an 11-28 on my roadie, which is great for its wide range of gearing options, but there is definitely a sweet spot in the 21-22 mph range that is lacking (I think it's the 50-16 combo), so I'm thinking of switching out to a 12-23 because all of my tri's are pancake flat this year, or at least the 34-23 isn't going to send me over the HR edge.  The 12-23 will work great on the trainer, too.

As for the Boulder race and Savageman, you folks are crazy.  I'd put a 35 cog on the wheel if they made one. 

Oh, and Happy Purple Friday...GO RAVENS!!

The 11-28 doesn't have a 16T. That's why it feels weird. The gaps a little lower a more normal as a number of other cassettes don't have those either (like an 18 or 20T). Until you get down to the last few when the jumps are 3-4 teeth (ie. big), depending on which version of the 11-28 you have.

The 12-23 should work rather well when it's flat enough you don't need anything lower. I used one for awhile and really liked it. The tight spacing was nice for racing. I currently use an 11-23 a lot because it's fairly flat here and I'll be above the speeds for an 18 much of the time (I'm faster now than when using the 12-23). Also have an 11-28 that came with my road bike for hillier areas. I have more, but tend to just swap between those.

MIKE -

If they're pancake flat, don't stop at the 12 --- get a cassette with an 11, for sure.   That'll help delay the dreaded "running out of gears" whenever you hit spots that are usually blessedly a slight descent.

I can never remember my own cassette numbers, and I'm too goofy to write them down...........and right now I'm too lazy to go do a count --- so I'll try to remember what i have on my own 23.  It's got the 11 and the 23, and then which seven in between?  I'm thinking 21 and 19, and 12 and 13......so that leaves three in the deep middle.  Hmmm.  I think there is a 14 and 15 there, so then I'd jump that last one to 17.  (Give or take!)

At any rate, having the 11 with the 23 gives you all the range you would need for flat to slightli rolling, and for anything missing in cog-teeth, well, that's where creative gearing enters the picture.  Some people keep charts of their gears and can recite entire sequences of gear ratios, but for me it's just a matter of "feel", aided and abetted by tons of experience.  I think of myself as being "all over the gears" on rolling to moderately hilly courses, meaning that I shift a lot so as to always ride on the edge of resistance -- combining the best of high-cadence with enough resistance to generate good wattage.

ANYHOW!  As you look to get the best cogset for your flat-course season, 11-23 will serve you really well!

JEFF and BEN -

Great comments and clarifications and suggestions.  Merci beaucoup!

Steve,

I'm curious now about your love for L.A. I grew up in that area and like to visit but wouldn't want to live there now. I think I'm just so used to Northern California now and am spoiled with all the green.

So the Newtons I have are the Lady Isaac's. I'm trying changing my lacing a bit and I'll see how that goes. These shoes are an 'intro' shoe to the Newton style. Overall, I like them so far. Have you run in them for longer distances? I've heard of some people using them for shorter distances but then going back to a more 'stability' shoe for marathons. That doesn't make sense to me because I would think it would leave your foot confused. If a foot could be confused!

Thanks for noticing the profile pix I still just smile when I think about that race.

Let me know about your next travels. I go to L.A. occasionally for daughter visits. It would be pretty funny if we finally could work out a get together down there. 

JOHANNE -

Make no mistake -- feet can get confused, very confused.  At the very least, feet are almost their own lifeforms, virtually sentient beings unto themselves.  and then for someone like me, whose brain often seems to be nestled somewhere within the network of metatarsals.......the possibilities for confusion are abject and endless!

Seriously, yes, you might think that about switching around shoes, but manty running gurus say that as long as a person stays within what works for their foot type and mechanics, that switrching around serves to reduce some of the problems that can come from repi-repi-repitition, especially in the same old shoes in which the feet sit in their same old positions.  i certainly notice differences when I switch shoes, and while it may seem weird-feeling........it never has seemed to lead to injuries.  So..........

I have never owned the "Isaac" models -- Lady for you, Sir for me.  These came along in maybe '10, and were a response to people who felt the lugs on the conventional Newtons (those two words are almost oxymoronic) did too much correcting of their feet.  I can almost certainly vouch for that, as my first forays into Newtons left me with extreme calf tenderness that later morphed into plantar fasciitis.  (There's a story that serves as a cautionary tale behind that, but i will spare you the details right now.)

The essence of the Isaac models is that the lugs are less protrusive, and thus don't "force" the feet into quite as radical of a forefoot position.  The secondary essence is that they are more built-up than the regular Newton models, and feel more like a traditional running shoe.   from waht i know of them, they are a brilliant entry shoe for people hoping to transition from heel-striking to a midfoot striking position.  And even if you are not a hard-core heel-striker, Lady I will just make your own journey less subject to woeful calf soreness.

It took me a while to (a) extend my runs in the Newtons beyond the 10km mark, (b) to have full confidence that they could carry me for 13.1 or even 26.2 miles without shattering my calves, and (c) to believe that such a lightweight shoe can stand up to the pounding of a half-marathon or full marathon.

My own evidence is that I successful ran two half-irons and one half-marathon in the Distance model..........and did the entire training for a marathon in Dec. '10 that I had to bail on due to ITB issues.  But at least as far as how my feet and the shoes themselves held up to all the long runs of the marathon training, I could not ask for anything better.

Presumably, the more "beefy" Isaac models should be able to handle long runs better than the regular Newtons, so for you that is a definite advantage.

Finally, here's two pieces of heartfelt advice on the Newtons and you:

1. Don't ramp up your mileage much more than a mile a week for the first 3-4 weeks.
2. At the first sign of calf pain, BACK OFF FROM THEM!  That might be a time to return to your normal shoes, and keep running in them and not the Newtons until the calf soreness is gone.

One more piece of advice is to feel free to call their customer service people with any questions or concerns.  i'm hoping they haven't grown too big to no longer give phenomenal c.s., as that was one great feature of the company up through maybe mid-'11, which was the last time I used them for anything.  If you have to phone, try getting through to Tori Oakland, who I think has now risen to be their c.s. head honcho.   She's terrific!

JEFF -

I agree!!!  That ("resisit the urge to over analyze") might even be sound advice for swimming and running, but it certainly works best for cycling.  I think that's been my position with cycling for several years now....but I am a looooooooong way from doing the same with swimming!  (Not too bad with running, though.)

Question, O twitchy ones.

So, I have a HM coming up in a month and a half.  Ran my last one (Nov 4th) in 1:43:30 after doing the last 6 of a 12 week plan (Higdon advanced, as posted about before).  Now am on week 5 of same 12 week plan, but started middle of week 3.

I'm running better than I was during training for the last one (makes sense, as I was really just starting at the end of the tri season/Fall and now have that much more base).

So, I'm trying to figure out what pace to shoot for on this one.  Do I say that "under 1:45 is goal, under 1:40 is stretch" or more aggressive, or like last time "under 1:50 is goal, under 1:45 is stretch"?

How do you all approach setting your target paces for races (HM or tri) as you move through a season and get faster (hopefully - unless you're already at your genetic peak and just trying to maintain - certainly not where I am!)?

Looking forward to hearing what y'all do.

Thanks!
Matt