SBR Utopia Season II - OPEN (Page 44)

The day we were supposed to drop our bikes off to Tri Team Transport for Vineman, my husband and I went for a short, fast ride (I told him I had a goal and he offered to pace me).  We got to a stoplight about 3/4 of the way through and there was this metal "plink, plink, plink" sound right as we came to a stop.  Turned out one of his spokes broke and fell out.  I asked if it was still rideable and it wasn't -- he told me to finish up my ride and keep the pace up.  It hurt, but I did it.

Anyways, I got home and picked him up and we only had a couple hours to get the spoke fixed before we had to drop the bikes off.  Two shops said they couldn't do it....third shop said "80% chance we can do it -- come on in."  We got in and the guy said, "Almost guaranteed I will NOT be able to do it." 

Panic ensues as we are supposed to be dropping the bikes off....eventually, we do get it fixed and manage to drop the bikes off before the transport company picks up the bikes.  But it was a lot of drama for a silly ride!  Thankfully it happened then instead of at the race.

So hopefully getting your spoke fixed won't be quite as dramatic -- and, again, thankfully it happened on a training ride instead of in the race!!

Awesome, I love the strategy!

BTW, I wouldn't have a clue what to do if I broke a spoke.  Guaranteed end of ride/race for me.

My wife was driving SAG since we were riding point to point (she's an angel    )   She drove me 3 miles to the nearest bike shop, they just snipped the spoke off at the nipple and we carried on, only had 15-20 miles left to go.

Wheels are only 5-6 months old, supposed to be bombproof DT Swiss 32 spokes....   But we were on some rough roads, so who knows.

If it were me I'd either try and break it off or attach it to another spoke if at all possible until you can get assistance.  well...it works with mountain bikes anyways.  You'd have to limp it though unless you can remove it

If you're riding like say 3 times a week for about an hour each time (and with an IF at least 0.8), it's likely those are all threshold workouts and there's really only so much you can do. There won't be a substantial difference in TSS and it won't accumulate loads of it either. Probably looking in the 240-280 range or so. When the bigger rides are somewhat similar to each other, then yeah, you can get a feel for them.

For someone like me though, I'm all over the place in what I'm doing. It's fairly normal to have 1-4 hour rides throughout the week with scores of 80-215 or so. I might have a couple in the 180-200 range on a bigger volume week and a weekly total of at least 500, trying for 600-700 if I can fit it in. The size also helps in estimating recovery time. Under 100 and I might be feeling quite good the next day, unless it was rather high intensity. Although then I just don't push it hard, but can do more volume ok. 150 plus is going to be noticeable for a day or two no matter how I get it in. A century could be 260 or have gone up near 370 when going after it on those hilly ones. For me, it's easier to see that kind of difference looking at the TSS as opposed to guessing from an IF of 0.7 vs 0.8 or so.

The fact that you were able to ride the last 15-20 miles with one less spoke tells you about the durability of that wheel with 32 spokes.  Most wheels with less spokes could be so out of true with one broken spoke that it would not spin freely even with the brakes wide open...or if it did, still not safe to ride.

And my guess is that when a 32 spoke wheel breaks one spoke (unless you hit a massive pothole), it speaks more about the quality of the spoke (might have been weak or defective out of the box) than it does the wheel itself.  I know there was a recent bad run of Saipim bladed spokes that were recalled due to unusual breakage...so even the top end spokes are prone to failure if not produced properly.

OK seasoned racers, help me pace the bike this weekend.

I have only done 3 tris (all this year and in this order): One sprint, one oly, one HIM.

My Oly time was 2:32:56 (I think--that's what the official race results say, though USAT is reporting it as 2:32:59 in my rankings, whatever).  On that oly I avg 19.55mph and then ran 7:31/mpm for the 10K.  I would love to have HR data but I don't.  It was my second time riding my bike outside all year, the first time being the week before at the sprint, lol. This race was no race wheels, no aero helmet, FWIW.

I then spent the next month doing a bike focus in preparation for my HIM.  For the HIM I got 5:18:21, and rode 20.89mph (avg HR 161), but avg 8:53/mpm for my run (avg HR 166). (Details and links to Garmin stuff are in my log, date July 21.)  The consensus is that I probably pushed to hard on the bike for my HIM, resulting in my crappy run split. I also just had not done enough long rides in preparation for the HIM. This race I did have race wheels and an aero helmet.

OK, so, now I have AGN (oly) this weekend, and I am not sure how to pace my bike.

I don't have power, so I'm left with HR and RPE.  My plan is to try to average under 160 HR on the bike (hoping for a 21mphish split, if the wind stays down), and then go by feel on the run (I've been running for >20 years, been biking for almost two, though only one in any serious capacity). 

Thoughts? Other things to consider?

Rush order the PowerTap

Where is your HR threshold at? And have you been able to get a better feel for RPE on the various rides you've done?

second, just my opinion but I can't relate oly pacing to HIM pacing. HIM is much more to me than double the distance, and should not hurt throughout. An oly should. I'd try to pace te bike just under your HR threshold on the bike and keep it there. 3 miles off the bike steady 3 miles as hard as you can go

HR threshold?  Um, uh, what's that over there?  *looking away and avoiding eye contact*  This is a number I should know, huh? My MHR is 180 or pretty close.  In the HIM I averaged 161 on the bike.  I'm guessing threshold is 170ish?

I do feel like I'm pretty good with RPE while I'm on the bike.  Should I just go for a certain RPE?

^This is for the run, yes? 

Thanks for the kind words.  I have felt pretty good about this first season, but am kinda ready for it to be over so I can focus on big training blocks. Now that I have concrete goals and know my weaknesses, I really want to start working and get out of the clueless zone:)

Yes, off the bike.  I just think pacing for an Oly is more of a "hang on by your fingertips" kind of thing.  If you can find that pace that is *just* under blowing up on the bike, keep that going.  You obviously have the run fitness.  For me, I think you can bump up to that hurt threshold in an Oly bike, where you'd never do that in a HIM bike.  that's why it's hard for me to comapre pacing between the two.

My power goal for Wildflower (hilly olympic), for example, was I think 240.  That's pretty high and probably a good 30-40 watts over what my power goal for a HIM would be, that was about 80% threshold at the time

Ah, that puts it into perspective.  Thanks.

Made me start freeaking out, what do the SAG wagons at IM carry, etc????   But my new mantra, instead of HTFU, is CTFD....   given to me by a friend.    Guesses as to what it means?

Calm the eff down?

Control Thy effin destiny?

CTFD--I like it :) 

This sounds good.  It is so much shorter than the HIM, that if I can just not blow up, I should be able to get through the 6 with a decentish pace.  It sounds like there's going to be quite a crowd, and that's always good for a little performance boost on the run.

Thanks for the input guys.  Much appreciated.

That's my Canadian accent coming out eh?

Starting with a disclaimer - this is also my first full season of tri racing, and I haven't done a HIM (yet).  2 sprints and 2 Oly's this year, HIM in a couple weeks.  So, not exactly a huge data set from which to extrapolate...  However, since that has not yet ever stopped me, here goes. 

Oly pacing:  Totally agree with the "bike one or two bpm below threshold, run hard just below blowing up for the first 5k, then TRY to blow up the last 5k" sentiment, or thereabouts.  Worked for me and left me pretty empty.  If I'd biked much harder (e.g., averaged a HR a couple beats above threshold, with some anaerobic excursions on hills or passing), I THINK the run would have been grim.  As it was, in one race I was able to drop someone on the run and the other I finished with a steady run that was about a minute above my open 10k PR and with a little left in case there was a sprint finish (I was racing rather than "time trialing").  But, I felt like if my legs were at all more tired from the bike that I would have been left with no kick or reserve (and prolly would have been slower all around, too).

HIM:  You got me...  But, I did have an interesting training ride last week (that will bear on the Oly pacing - wait for it).  I pre-rode my upcomging HIM course (plus another 10 hilly miles) and then ran the first half of the HM.  Biked at an average HR on course of ~28 bpm below TH (my max is 179, threshold - what I can hold for an hour - on the bike is low 160's) and then ran well for the 10k or so at 155-160bpm (my threshold on the run is high 160's, as I can hold ~165 for an open HM), with more in the tank when I finished.

The bike was lower HR than I was planning for the race (was thinking of averaging 10 bpm below TH), with the run right about what I want for the first half of the run (then ramp up each mile until I blow up or finish!).  What was the surprise was that after 63 miles, that easy breeeezy HR actually took more out of me than I was expecting!  I'm thinking about biking closer to that (maybe 20-25 bpm below TH?) for the race, which is way easier than I initially planned.

I know you're asking about the Oly, so here's where this ride/run come back to your question.  We have similar HRmax numbers, with your TH being a bit higher (I'm surmising).  Having held what you did (agree with the "stud" performance comment!) on the HIM, then I would GUESS that shooting for low-mid 160's on the bike and mid-high 160's on the first 3/4 of the run (with the end of the run being whatever you can handle without actually passing out ON the course) is in the range.  My recent Oly HR was 154 on the bike and 159 on the run, and I could have held a leeeetle higher on both (still getting this pacing thing down).

Aside:  Dang, I wish I had my PM on my tri bike this season instead of my roadie!  Well, live and learn... next year.

Hope that helps.  It sounds like you have a decent sense of where to be for this, and it matches what my very (very very) limited experience would suggest based on your other races, as well.  Again, worth what you paid here.

NOW CRUSH IT!!

Matt

Ha!  That's great.

Mine has lately morphed to "STFU and WORK!" (talking to voices in head while training) or "STFU and RACE!" (when anything - at all - enters my already too small brain in a race).

How are you defining "max"? The percentage seems really high for an HIM the way I understand it. It almost looks like you're using max in place of threshold. Otherwise you *really* went after that HIM bike.

Generally though, an Oly is probably going to be in the comfortably hard to hard range for most. For me it's somewhere in the knowing I'm working well, not going all in on the bike, but wondering some if I'll have enough for the run. Definitely harder than the HIM bike, but how much is a good question. My threshold HR is just over 180 and I try to bike in the 170's for an Oly. Have had some trouble with that on the last few, but that's what I want.

Speaking of pacing,,,,   When I got my fit I liked what the fitter said.  I could get [XX] more watts out of the bike fit, but he suggested riding at XX-10 watts and saving those matches for the run.  It's an interesting concept and has to be adjusted going from sprint/oly courses to HIM/IM courses.  Sometimes it's hard to see a number and not want to better it.

On my training rides, I've really been working on (and sometimes struggling with) the concept that, if I can't be right on my target wattage (which I usually can't, especially on rolling terrain), it's better to be 20 watts under it, than 10 watts over it.  My default setting is when I am told 2 hours at 200, I want to see a number at or over 200.  I think that's the wrong approach.

When I trained for the last IM I remember reading something like, Go too easy on the bike? you've got 26 miles to make that up.  Go too hard on the bike?  You've got 26 miles to remind you.

Just musing......