EagleMan Ironman 70.3 Triathlon : Official Thread (Page 5)

If I were riding outside consistently right now I'd be somewhere in the 60 - 80 range for my long rides.

But I'm not ...... so my longest have been only close to 50 the few times I've had a chance to go longer.  We'll see how tomorrow goes.  May try to go longer but I have to get into work for some time.

The last two years the race has not been terribly windy.  I for sure would have been on a disk if I had one.  But three years ago I do believe the wind was out of control.  I would have opted out for that.   Best bet is to bring all of your race wheels with you so that you have choices come race time. 

.....although the disk might have melted last year

I always get uneasy about those seeking to compare training load.  I'm every bit as tempted to compare my current training against others doing the race, but depending on your race day goals and the approach taken by your individual training plan or coach, how long your long ride should be right now is a VERY individual thing.  Remember that the long ride is only one variable in training for one of the three sports... so your weekly training load could be far higher even without a very long ride in the mix at the moment.  As a very simple example, on race day, a z2 ride of 3 hours today may be worth less than a z4 ride of 2 hours today.

For the record, my long ride is currently well below the others posted in this thread, yet I feel very on pace to peak for Eagleman.  And having looked at the logs of several others I know doing the race, my long ride is longer than many of them. 

All that to say, don't worry if you're not doing exactly what the person next to you is doing for a single key workout.  And definitely don't freak out if it that 60+ mile long ride being done by some won't show up on your schedule for some time...

As a very basic example, if you took a 2 hour ride on 4/4 and build 10% volume every week and took a recovery week every 4th week (no build), you'd be riding nearly 4 hours by the last ride in may (and have two weeks to taper for EM).  I personally think, again dependent on your goals, that is a long ride of sufficient length and then some to do EM (a totally flat bike course).

I bet there are LOTS of people who ride 56 miles for the first time on race day, who are very happy with their results.

Finally - ride lots!  None of the above was meant to discourage long rides (I have some very long one's planned in the near future)... but you're a long way from screwed if you don't have a long ride 2+ months out from the race that is longer than race distance.

....I almost melted last year.... LOL Pray for that to be different this year.  

In addition to volume in the saddle, I'd give consideration to riding while locked IN YOUR TRAINER, in relatively the same gear ratio.  The course is flat-flat-flat.  Aside from the heat last year, not having enough training time hunched over, in the same gearing, really caused me back problems late in the bike.

If I remember, they gave us bottles that were the ultra-electrolyte endurance version of Gatorade, which fit into the cage just fine.

This year, the folks at Gatorade seem to have rebranded themselves as "G".  Whether they will keep the bottles the same is anybody's guess.  Keep checking at your local stores for the endurance versions and buy one you like so you can check the fit in your cage.

Of course, you may want to check the Eagleman sponsor's list to ensure they're not changing to someone else other than Gatorade.

Regards,

pgd

Does anyone have a link to the bike and run course map?  I can't seem to find one ...  just wanna try and familiarize myself a little bit with the course.

65 Days to go!! 

Got an e-mail yesterday about the change in the swim course but the bike is staying the same