Why not "Tri"? - Closed (Page 5)

I have found at my LBS that there a few X-racers and the knowledge about bikes is imense. I baught my first road bike off of craiglist, the guy convinced me a 62cm will fit me, im 6ft and now ride a 56cm.

If anything go to a bike shop to figure out your size that is the most important aspect of a bike.

Bikes Part 2

Ok, so now you've gotten yourself a bike. What next? This sport is saturated with gear and widgets and promises of faster times if you buy/upgrade to XYZ component. It will make your head spin, so let me interject some of my opinion here.
First, lets define the left and right boundaries. What do you NEED for your bike? Well, to get from T1 to T2, you need two wheels, a seat, a handlebar and a crank with at least one gear. Streamers and a bell are optional. (I guarantee that you will see a bike like this at one or more of your races). What do you WANT for your bike? You want to look like those racers in the magazines with carbon fiber everything and a bike so light it actually floats when you aren't sitting on it. Reality needs to be somewhere in between these two extremes. And to be honest it should be a little closer to the bell and streamer side of things for the foreseeable future.

Material: Bikes are made from three materials. Steel (cromoly), aluminum and Carbon fiber. Steel is the strongest of the three but also the heaviest. A steel frame will last a while is more durable. Because of steels strength, the tubes wall are thinner which means it has a little more flex, so for many that means it feels like a smoother ride, in that it absorbs the bumps of the road. Aluminum is lighter but weaker, so the tube walls must be thicker and less forgiving. Aluminum also cracks rather than bends, so if you crash an aluminum bike, you probably won't be able to repair it. Carbon fiber is the lighest of all, but also weakest. If you crash, its done. Most mid-range bikes these days are a combo of aluminum and carbon for different pieces and parts.

Frame style, Road vs Tri. You may have seen folks talk about a road bike vs a triathlon bike. Lets discuss. A road bike is designed for bike races and riding in a fairly upright position with your hands on the hoods of the brake levers. The handlebars look like a "C" when viewed from the side (downward curve). In triathlons, you race in an "aero" position, where you are bent at the waist, laying down on the handlebars, so many people put clip-on aerobars to the road bike and off they go. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this plan. However, at some point in recent history, someone realized that they could "optimize" body position when laying down in aero, by changing the bike frame slightly. Thus the Triathlon frame was born. The seat tube is a slightly different angle than that of a road bike (about 5 degrees), which supposedly makes your hips more comfortable when bent forward for long periods of time and is supposed to let you engage your hamstrings more and save some effort on your quadriceps (so you have them for the upcoming run). A Tri-bike also comes with aerobars as the default handlebars, usually a flat bullhorn base bar and then aero extensions much like the clip-ons.

Accessories. Read any Tri magazine and you will be bombarded with advertisements for the latest pedals, cranks, water bottle cages,etc. Each promising improved performance, higher power output, lighter weight, greater self-esteem, less acne, whatever. Lets look at a little reality of weight on the bike. You can get a $65 carbon fiber water bottle holder that is 29 grams. Or you can get a $3 steel holder that is 60 grams. So what does that 30 grams mean? 30 grams is about one bite of a banana. So if you take a single bite of a banana, or have a raisin bagel instead of plain on race morning, you just invalidated your $65 purchase of a stupid carbon bottle holder...

AVOID THE HYPE. It is all about the engine (you) not the toys!

So as you do your shopping, dreaming, scheming, find a bike that fits and that doesn't hurt to ride for hours and hours. Don't not sweat how much it weighs, whether its a road bike with clip-ons or a triathlon geometry bike. Get what you can afford and work it.

Upgrades that do make a difference.
There are a few things that do make a difference. Some are real, some are frankly placebos but I will admit that sometimes if you feel fast, you'll feel confident, and you'll perform better.
1. Good, aero helmet. While the big Bell helmet from walmart is ok, you can cut down on a good portion of drag by having a slightly better helmet on your head. You don't need to go crazy with rear tapered thing that makes you look like the Rocketeer (yet), but air flow over your head can be improved with a more streamlined shape.
2. Clip on aero bars. If you have a road bike or even mountain bike, you are probably riding it in an upright position. Adding clip-on aerobars, so you can lay down will cut your drag (and make you feel like a triathlete). Yes, I put clip ons on my mountain bike. It was probably ridiculous looking but it made me feel fast.
3. Wheels. The rotational weight of the wheels can make a big difference on how your bike responds to your energy input. This is another area that people can get crazy on, so maintain control here. You don't need ultra carbon deep rim super wham-o-dyne wheels. Carbon is nice, but a lightweight set of aluminum rims can be all you need, especially if upgrading from a big store steel set. Triathletes change out their wheels like they change their socks, so its very possible to get great deals on craigslist and BT classifieds for folks selling "last years" carbon wheels.

We all would love to improve our performance by buying speed. Its a scam. Speed and performance come from training. Its tough, its long and many times its hard to schedule with real life getting in the way (case in point, I haven't run in two weeks now.. HIM is going to kill me in May). But you can't buy speed. You have to earn it through time and sweat.

Cheers
Mike

Hi guys, I'm really worried I have pulled a muscle at the top of my calf behind my knee, I have been resting but have now not trained for 3 days, I'm on a tight weekly training programme and don't want to get behind. Should I pick up where I left of in the schedule which is currently week 5 and repeat or rest this week but go straight on to week 6, I don't want an ongoing injury but I don't want to stop training and get behind or lose fitness , what would you do to lessen the impact ?

Loops
1. A training plan is only a guide. Follow what your body tells you. Meaning don't worry too much on missing specific workouts.
2. If you think you are ready, if you've only missed a couple of days, then I'd pick up on what ever day you start again. If the intensity is too much, then back up a day or two.
R/
Mike

I will be in the same boat in a couple of weeks. I am going to try and get my swims in on the preceding and following weekends. This will likely mean I will be doing swims on back to back days as one week rolls into the next. I think this is frowned upon though.

I use to do back to back workout with my other sports. Get the training in if you and you probably will have to move items around per your schedule.

Side note, I'm having a hell of a time to even get to the gym my motivation is way down with the shitty weather here in minneapolis.

All,
A plan is a point to deviate from. or A plan never survives first contact. These are two popular expressions in the military. The point being, a plan is a great thing to have as a point to start from, but real life will cause you to deviate in some way. Its fine, its a guide not a law. There is no award for keeping to a plan and missing workouts on your road to your race will not cause you to DNF a race. So if you miss a workout, move on to the next one. You only run into problems if you miss weeks at a time, then you may find that you might not be ready for the proscribed duration or intensity. In that case, back the plan up a week. Honestly the biggest hazard of missing workouts is breaking your routine and losing your motivation. For me, the crappy weather has blown my schedule for two weeks now and I'm way off track on my plan. So I will do what I can and do my best to reach the intensity/durations that my plan says I should be now, but I accept that I just wont' be quite getting there. As to back-to-back issues when you juggle workout schedules...listen to your body. I can swim back to back, I can bike back to back if the ride was not too intense, I certainly can't run back to back.
r/
Mike

Thanks for words of wisdom Mike! I will calm down and try a gentle bike ride tomorrow and look at what I can do rather than what I'm missing

Thank you Mike! I didn't chime in earlier, but am in the same boat. I've missed most of my training sessions for two weeks due to weather and workload. I'll just push myself to get back into my routine and get the time in on each workout going forward. I am trying to follow a 'plan' for an Olympic distance as that is my goal this year, so it was difficult to see how behind I am. Especially, when I have a hilly sprint picked out for May.

I've been thinking about nutrition, on the bike is it best for pacing to stop halfway and take 5 mins and on some nutrition or at HIM distance should I be aiming to stay on bike all the time and eat/drink etc on the go? Just thinking about the run afterwards and needing to have some fuel and energy left after the bike

I am wondering what/how much to eat before the race and when in relation to my scheduled start time. Should I down some pizza about a half hour before my swim start like I do now with practice I have been drinking a 50/50 mix of regular gatoraid and water during my spin class when I have a scheduled run right after. This gives me about 130 calories, which is about what my body can absorb during my spin class.

I too have been wondering about breakfast we are in the water for swim at 6 am, so going to be up very early to get there for then I don't want to have to get up even earlier to eat

Hey gang,
Race nutrition. I hate to sound like a broken record but once again "it depends on personal preference". Or in this case personal reaction. For sprint and oly you generally don't need to worry about refueling during a race (aside from maybe a gel on the bike prior to run). For HIM and IM, you definatley need to restock your energy supply during the race. Many do gels exclusively. I had some nuts, a granola bar and chocolate in my bento box for my IM. I know some folks who wrap up half a banana. The trick is to make sure you try it during training first. Never, never never do something for the first time during a race. Especially food. The stress during a race and the physical effort you are putting forth will likely do a number on your gastrointestinal processes. You will need to know what kind of food you will be able to handle under stress.
As for breakfast, I try to eat two hours before a race so I can get something in my system but not still "feel it" when the race starts. I usually go with oatmeal and a bagel with peanut butter and banana. But that's what I found works for me after some trial and error.
Nutrition should be considered the fourth training discipline that you should be practicing for your race.

Finally getting back into the swing of things after a 2 week no gym vacation. Spend the weekend hitting the weights pretty hard and yesterday i did an hr on the bike trainer. Tonight is running night, i just need to make it another week or so on the treadmill and the temperature will be warmer outside. Its snowing here today and going to drop down to negatives over the next couple days......i need to move somewhere warm.

Well, my $12 strapless heart rate monitor performed just as you might expect. Not hardly at all. But bless amazon prime they took it back no questions asked and i already have my timex ironman. I'm pretty happy with it so far

I've got my gym split workout time up to 15/45/30.

I went on my first long bike ride on a major highway Sunday. i was more than a little nervous in traffic but i made it 9 miles .

I still haven't put a toe in the water......

For my education what is "gym split workout time"?

"For my education what is "gym split workout time"?"

Well...i guess it's a term i made up because i don't know the proper one

It's a brick workout i do at the gym. 15 minutes on a cardio machine that i can work my arms hard on then 45 minutes on a bike then 30 minutes running on the treadmill. no rest in between. I'm trying to get my time up to 20/60/40 while I procrastinate some swim lessons.

Sounds like a good workout.

I had a rude awaking tonight. I got some toys from swim outlet.com today and in particular was interested in trying out my new kick board. I have suspected that I am not using my legs very efficiently, so I moved my swim night up a couple of days and gave it a try. I was scheduled to do 3 sets of 50 yards. I got out my new kick board and kicked and kicked and kicked and hardly moved at all. Either I am not using the kick board properly or I am not really using my legs at all when I swim. I do flutter kick when I swim, but it must just be a complete was of energy and not giving me any propulsion. I know to check out you tube. Any other ideas?

So in my opinion the kick will not give you much propulsion. I think I read somewhere that even elite swimmers only get 10 to 15% propulsion out of their legs. The main point of the kick is to keep you in a streamlined position and reduce drag in the water while your core and arms are doing most of the propulsion. I wouldn't be discouraged that you barely moved with the kickboard, unless you are an elite you won't. The key is to learn how to use your legs efficiently to help the rest of your body.

^This
If you ever join a master swim team with dedicated swimmers, the first thing the coach will do is complain about your kick (or lack there of), and you'll get an eye roll about "typical triathlete". Truth be told, as johnthecat said, unless you have size 14 feet and are an elite swimmer, your kick is mainly to keep your legs from sinking and making you look like a sideways "L" in the water. When you do kickboard drills, it is normal to feel like you aren't going anywhere. It can feel like you are wasting time. To overcome this sensation I'd recommend getting swim fins. These will work like swim paddles and provide resistance to give a little more workout but also make you go faster and make it less frustrating when doing kick laps. If you don't want fins, try doing kicks on your side. You get a little more range of motion and thrust and don't quite seem to flail around. Or do flutter kicks on your back. Both ways get a better kick and are essentially the same motion if you were on your belly with kick board.

Has anyone every broken up their run session into morning and evening? I have to run for about 90 minutes tomorrow but don't have the time to do it all at once. Any suggestions please!!