tri808's Spring Pot Luck (CLOSED) (Page 41)

yeah...gearing is huge when climbing hills like that.

I remember my first experience with real hill climbing.  We were out on a 65 mile group ride.  I was feeling good, so I started hammering at about mile 45 to catch up with the faster part of the group.

Then I see the group turn up this hill that we never did before (it was my first year riding with them).  So I'm like...okay...WTF...it's like 9% avg grade.  I ask a guy how far up are we going...and he says we're going 2.5 miles to the top...holy crap.

So we get to the top and head back down...and start heading back to the ride start..you figure the ride is over right...wrong.  About 2 miles away from where we normally finish, the group turns up another hill...another 2 miles at 8% avg grade.  Talk about being totally spent.  Not to mention this was done at around 11am in the summer heat of Hawaii.

Best part about it...we rode another 50 the very next day...thank God no hills though.

I'm so looking forward to going through that training again this year though.

Now thats a killer ride, I am going to ride with a group this year. Plus this is my first year on a bike, so no group experience. Hopefully they don't kill me

Hills are definitely something I miss from this part of the world.  If I ever enter a race with them I am going to be in deep trouble.  For me I think of the wind as my "hills."  But with no experience riding hills I am not sure what it feels like to have to ride on them.  what are some of the things a rider should be looking for when riding hills?  Should your cadence be similar to riding flats and rollers?  What type of gearing should I be riding in (if I ever go someplace to ride hills)?

I got a couple of awesome swim workouts in the past couple of days.  The first one was with the 500's I was able to hold 7:20 for both reps.  Yesterday's workout had me back to my 50's that almost killed me when I have done them.  Normally I would have done 6 reps per set but since this was my first time back with this workout I dropped it to 5 reps per set.  The first 2 sets were very easy with the 50's on 1 minute and then :55.  Each of these reps I landed at 37-38 seconds.  The third set was on :50 and I landed on similar times.  The final 5 reps were much harder to pull of and have any recovery time at all.  The first couple I landed at 39-40 seconds but it feel from there.  By the last rep I had about 2 seconds to recover, and that ain't a lot.  Nothing was all out but it was at a difficult pace to have to hold for all of the sets.

I also ran my long run yesterday, which was 10 miles.  The run was a little quicker than it should have been but I got rushed because I thought I would be late to pick up my daughter who had a minor periodontal surgery.  The miles went fast and I never felt uncomfortable but my long runs should be slower.  I finished with a 7:40 avg for the run and had 4 miles that were 1.5 seconds different in pace.  Then I had a few miles that were in the 7:30's and the final mile was at 7:23.  It turns out I had plenty of time to pick up my daughter, so I panicked and risked injury for nothing.

Yesterday was my first real hill climb, I was in the biggest gear in the back and the smallest up front. My gears are compact so I was in  a 34 up front and a 26 in back. I don't have a cadence computer but it felt like I was around 60 on the cadence. For a comparison picture a roller that you would normally shift down on, but instead shift up 2 gears to wear your really mashing the gears. Then do that for 3 miles and that gives you an idea of how I felt.  When I stood up for the steeper sections it was fine but sitting I would of liked a quicker cadence. For the climb I did I think a 30 up front would of helped a lot. I could speed up which I tried a couple times but I would get winded pretty quick, I'm sure after I get stronger it won't be as bad. My goal was not to stop until I hit the top, which I did so I was happy. It took my 35 minutes to go the last 3 miles if that helps in picturing the climb. Here is a picture at the top of the climb you can see the valley and how much stow is still up top. The parking lot up at the trail head still has 4 ft of snow. I just bought the helmet to and that was my first ride with it. It breathed alot better then my old helmet which was good for the climb. It was a little cold going down at 40 though. I checked with the route manager today of BT and it was the last 3 miles was 1534 ft of climbing a little more then 1400 I was thinking.

Thats a serious climb. 

I just rode 40 miles and had a total of 568' of climbing and this route is one of the more hilly ones I ride.  It has a lot of smaller steeper hills that are challenging only because I have to gear down and I will stand up to add intensity to the ride. 

I used today's ride as a gauge to see what kind of fitness gains I made over the winter training session and it appears that I made some solid gains but it will take a race to really check things out.  I was happy with my ride but I am wanting to put everything to the test sooner than I am going to be able to.

How much are you willing to take to part with the adamo road saddle? I've been meaning to try one of them b/c although I like my saddle now... I have a feeling it could be a LOT more comfortable. 

And as for climbing, I used to climb very little back in Montreal but now that I am outta there, it's a whole different story!! I just did a cycling weekend and on one ride I covered 8806ft -- vomit inducing. 

I am interested in the aero bottle and mounts.  PM me with the price you are looking for.  Actually I am interested in the xlab too but not sure I could swing both right now.

Why are you wanting to sell these so close to your race?  Have you got other stuff?

Dirk- The down tube on my felt doesn't have a place for a cage and I dont like the behind seat mount and dont think I'm going to like anything on my aero bars, so I ordered a speedfil... basically, i'm just trying to get rid of a few things I dont need so that I can get some new junk...

krystyna- make me an offer.  I consider this group like a little family, so it's not really about the money...

I replied to your PM, thanks! 

In other news... I think I might have just seen the last hot summer weekend in Australia. I think it's all downhill from here -- not necessarily COLD (it hovers around 12-13C in the dead of winter), but pretty much regularly rainy. You never know when to expect it, or, rather, you should ALWAYS expect it. It makes planning rides frustrating and depressing. Nevertheless, I just spent a FABULOUSLY hot weekend (28-33C) in the high country (Victorian Alps) riding in the mountains and running. Who could ask for more??

First tri of the season in the books.

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=245417

Somehow managed to podium again.  Honestly, my AG was soft.  I would have placed 5th in 25-29, and 9th in 35-39.

I was very happy with my bike...pleased with how well I ran considering how well I did on the bike.  The swim...don't let my pace fool you.  The course was short.  I felt I had a good swim simply because I latched on to someone's feet and got a free ride for about 350 meters.

Got home...rested up, then decided to scout out the time trial course I'm doing in a couple weeks.  4.25 miles with 1400 feet of climbing...and I must say...I don't know how I have never ridden this route before.  It's one of the most popular routes on the island, but I thought it was just for crazy people.  It's actually not that bad as far as climbing...but the ride is simply awesome.  And the descent is amazing.  I would have done another loop of it, but it was getting dark, and my legs probably needed some rest.

So my biking seems to have made some decent gains over the winter and I thought of a question today.  I am currently doing 3 rides a week and I would like that to continue for the next couple of months before I turn to a run focus again (another marathon).  Do you think adding one 10-12 mile easy ride would provide any positive impact to my training? 

I am currently doing 2 rides of 20-25 miles and a long ride of about 40 miles.  The shorter rides have been pretty focused with some decent intensity, for me.  It doesn't seem to me that there would be much gained from one 10 mile easy ride but I will defer to other more experienced riders.

There is also another complication.  I would have to make Friday a triple workout day.  A long run that will be building to 12-13 miles over the next month or so and a swim that could have a high level of intensity depending on the lap lane schedule for the weeknights.  All other weekend work outs would stay the same....Saturday - long ride 40-50 miles, a short run 2-3 miles and Sunday - 5 mile run and a 20 mile ride.

ran 6miles yesterday. heat is getting bad now. and it will stay like this all the way till October...

today was a holiday here so lots of things to do and no training... oh well.

Dirk...the only reason I would do a 20-30 minute ride is for active recovery.  Just spinning to get the blood flowing, but not exerting any real energy.

I'm a big fan of intensity on the bike...and it normally takes me about 15 minutes just to warm up.  So there's no real workout I could do in 20-30 minutes.  If you're really looking for a workout, I think if you could extend it to at least 40-45 minutes, you could get some value.  10-15 minute warm up.  20 minutes of hard intervals, and a 5-10 minute cool down.

I really think the warm up is important.  I find my intervals get much better if I start them with a slight sweat broken out.  And if you did the intervals properly...you will need a cool down.  Whether it's spinning for 5-10 minutes, or laying on the floor for 5-10 minutes.  Either way, you need to account for that time. 

Congrats tri808.

Good to see the chatter going strong here!

Crappy week of stomach flu for wife and I the past week, among other excuses to not train as well. Getting back on the horse....one of those weeks at home last week where being at work yesterday was like going on a vacation.

Got an 11 mile run in today... D-day is right around the corner and I'm not as ready as I wanted to be, but I'm hoping to get some OWS in this week!

I've been watching the weather report in Galveston the past few days... avg wind is 20mph... oh billy!

I really figured the same about a 30 minute ride but the bike is probably my weakest part of the three.  I thought I would put it out there and hear what you had to say.  I am getting closer to being able to ride outside for all of my rides and when I am able to I'll stretch my rides a touch to try to get some extra work in.

I agree about the 10-15 minute WU and CD.  My intense workouts are performed better after a solid 15 minutes of effort prior to the first hard interval.  I need to get my pulse up to within 10-15 BPM of where my goal HR is or I'll be sucking air so bad I can't focus for the first one.

6miles again last night. I pushed it near the end. felt incredible but I hate the heat these days...

and I have a bit of a tight ITBS. yay!! 

Got in some hill work on the bike last night and a 6 mile run early this morning.  Training is going well.

Training has been going really well.  For some reason I am still getting sore after my runs, but I do not think it is anything that bad. 

My wife and I are running a 5K next weekend, this will be our first race together, so it should be fun.  My goal is to bring it in under 22 Min.  It might be a little agressive, but I want to try and push it alittle bit.

It is spring break here, so my pool has been closed all week, and I will have alot of work to do next week.

For all of the Midwestern people of the group spring is coming soon. Ha-Ha.

"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do. "
John Wooden

I got another tempo run in tonight.  Another 6 miles with a 3 mile tempo run in the middle.  After I got back and looked at my numbers I think I was slacking off a little during the hardest part of the run.  I allowed myself to run a t a slower pace than I should have.  I should have seen a little higher pulse rate and I wasn't as short on breath as I could have been.  I will nail these tempo runs down a little better as I progress.

The weather broke a little colder so I am not going to be on the bike outside over the weekend but that's okay.  I'll hit the trainer again.  I have learned to like the trainer over the winter and I can focus better on my intensity and do better intervals on there too.