Ironman Lake Placid : Official Thread (Page 45)

Tonight's workout:

Bike: 30' RPE 3/10
Run: 1m @ 8:30
Bike: 30' RPE 6/10
Run: 1m @ 8:00
Bike: 30' RPE 9/10
Run: 1m @ 7:30

Yup.  Anyone want to pick me up after I'm done? 

I did similar workout like that last year with the tri coach from my LBS. It was 94 degrees. Except we got slower, not faster. Kudos to you!

I'm about ready to burst. UPS just delivered the new kits for my tri club. They came out great. I've been sweating everything from the artwork to getting them here by Thursday for our happy hour party prior to the first tri of the season this Sunday. Yay Rocket Science Sports!!

How did you feel at the end?  I'm thinking I'll be trashed from it.  I've never done a brick like this!

Overheated and covered with gnats. It's harder workout than we did because you're increasing tempo. This was done on the MUP by the river, out and back, so the bike was 20 mins but we did 4 sets. We had support and they brought a cooler full of water and a box of donut holes. I remember the donut holes!

Then we had to bike 12 miles back home.

Oof.  That was rough! Loved every second of it.  More please.

Got an email from my coach after my swim on monday and started off with "Dolphin mode activated".  Haha! Love stuff like that even though I'm not a great swimmer...made me feel like I was.

Hey, sorry for not following up earlier! short answer is yes, my personal experience on the same courses and routes ridden lots and lots of times with both race setup and training setup  has pretty much mirrored the kinds of time savings the industry research touts. 

While the time savings that a good set of aero wheels is not insignificant, I agree that there are lots of things that you can do that have a better "return on investment" ($$ per watt, as they say). You are 100% correct there is nothing that has a better ROI than improving the engine. You are passing people on "better" equipment because your engine is better and/or your plan is better executed. People are passing you on "lesser" equipment for the the same reasons. But being more aero will make you faster than you not being aero. Body position is the most significant factor to work on, but probably the one folks work on least. Most things you can do are relatively insignificant by themselves: 2 watts here, 3 watts there. It is in the aggregate in which these things add up to count. 10x2 watt improvements is a lot - ask anybody who has worked a whole season to raise their FTP by 20 watts.

It is counterintuitive, but if you work the math aero actually saves you more overall time the slower you are. the gist is that while the slower rider saves less per second than the faster rider, they are on the course for more seconds so ultimately save more time overall.

As to weight vs. aero, aero wins every time, at least with the kind of equipment and course differences we are talking about. If you are racing a long course TT in such a manner that weight might make some difference (surging on hills, attacking riders around you, making quick accelerations through corners, and sprinting for the dismount line) I might suggest you would be faster riding with a different overall strategy no matter what equipment you roll. It is often a little bit of a red herring in the first place when this conversation comes up re: wheel weight as it is a gross overgeneralization to assume that aero wheels are "heavy" compared to non-aero wheels. Most of us (myself included) train on the wheels that came spec'd on our bikes, often something like a pair of shimano R500s, which probably weigh a good 500+ grams more than a pair of zipp 404s. You are probably looking to spend $800~$1000 for a wheel set that weighs less, and if you want a true "climbing" wheel a little more than that. And then it will be a wheel that is significantly more fragile than a 404.

I agree with you that I would do a whole lot of other little things first before I purchased a pair of aero wheels. But I would definitely go about doing the other things. Many of them are free!

Hey Mandy - that is a long ride for only the 3rd one of the year outside! If you did not have any issues with the same fit last year I would chalk it up to just having to break yourself back in hours in the aerobars and give it a few more rides before monkeying with my fit.

Prior to my last two IMs I did a half and honestly found them to be counterproductive to my IM build. If you race them (and how can you not?!?!) the recovery time is way too great (for me, anyway) And if you don't, well then the swim and bike are not long enough and the run is too long (again, for me) to learn anything of real value about IM pacing, nutrition, hydration, etc. From my perspective setting up your own test protocols as you suggest doing is the better route to go. But, HIMs are fun - so do one (or ten!) before IM if it makes the season enjoyable - but if you are only doing one (or ten!) for IM prep then you might find there are other ways that are better for that.

Good luck with the neck!

Thanks, Brian.  Do you use a specific computer on the course, with what data?  It is funny because Friel talks about racing with power as almost cheating, but the implementation has been hard for me to adjust to.  More rides (particularly with hills) will help, hopefully.  Thanks again! JC

BTW, finally got back in the pool today.  It actually felt awesome!

This was good to read. I don't have a HIM nearby enough to take the budget hit, so I was thinking about running my own with friends joining me for each segment. I think I'll just train through and not coordinate such a day. I would still need to wait a bit before the lake up here is warm enough. Then I've got my marathon over Memorial Day weekend and then I'd be getting a bit too close to IMLP.

Interesting discussions on aero - I've been a believer that a TT bike is worth it just about all the time if you have one. I just encountered a wheel dilemma myself this week. The PowerTap training wheel I use on my road bike doesn't have clearance on my TT bike, so I have to choose to race and train by HR again with my 808 (I was planning to race with the PT), or to risk the tire rubbing (not inclined). 

So there's that, then this was supposed to be a heavy base week, and of course, after a mild, but rainy long ride on Sunday, I start feeling like arse after my Tuesday morning run, and to boot, the pool has been unexpectedly closed since Monday, so I am at 50 minutes of training for the week!

Still, there's always next week, and I could always go to crank-based power! Maybe the Garmin pedals will see the light of day this year. 

Hope everyone else's week is somewhat less of a trial than mine. No-one ever said IM was easy, right!?

Went out for a brick last night and got lit up by a hornet.  On a decent going 30+ felt a whack on my left foot.  Next thing I know I can feel something moving around and my foot just starts throbbing! 

Stung me 5 times in about 2 square inches.  Swelled up immediately and was killing me.  Rode back to the car and called it a day...10 miles in.  Ugh.

Still a little swollen this morning and had some cramping issues with it in the pool.  Little bastard! Just need it to be better for tomorrow's 80 miler!

The new Power2Max FSA crank was just released at $1150 for a crank based system.  Can't beat that!

I am tentatively back to running since last week, after being on and off (but mostly off) since late February.  Panic is setting in, since I don't have a solid run background to fall back on.

I'm going to enjoy my 3-hour zone 1-2 ride tomorrow as I finish up my recovery week this weekend.  Then I'm sure my coach will be piling it on.  She didn't give my 7 extra hours of free time this week for nothing!  This was my easiest recovery week yet, which kind of scares me for next week.

I'm friends with a few of you on FB, so this will be a repeat of what I posted there. Had a de-motivating ride yesterday. I know it's just one training ride and, granted, it had a lot of climb (but so does IMLP), but I had really hoped to see better numbers. This is the App Gap ride, so it's up a pass through the Green Mountains. I'm a terrible climber. Here's the data:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/307659821

Still feeling pretty beat up, so we'll see what today's long run turns into. Had planned for 23 as my last long run prior to the Vermont City Marathon. I'm just going to take it nice and easy and hope to get in at least 20. Find my long slow running zone and hopefully clear my head.

Thinking about getting realistic with a 7 hour goal for the bike at IMLP. I had hoped to be in the 6:30 neighborhood, but I really don't want to sabotage my run, which will still be my strong leg. Anyway ... I appreciate the space to lick my wounds. Onward!

FWIW, I did get some nice, sharp cycling tan lines:

I got a tan like that on Saturday too.  I also got my arms, from the bottom of my sleeves, to my wrists (had gloves on).  It looks mighty ridiculous when I put on a t-shirt with shorter sleeves than my bike jersey.

Sorry about the rough ride.  Keep in mind, they happen.  Hopefully the next one will be better.

I'm just coming off a recovery week, so I had a nice easy 10h30m week last week.  I had so much free time, I think that was my lightest recovery week so far.

I have a Garmin 800.I plan on mapping out the course during a training run and figuring out power numbers to try and keep to the overall plan. I do have last year's ride data too.

My training took a huge hit after Boston, I was just completely demotivated and hurting, and got stuck in a rut. I've biked, but that's really it. Sunday I went to a triathlon with my club and I think I'm back on course. Biked yesterday, had a great swim and bike today.