SBR Utopia ---- Permanently OPEN!! (Page 59)

It's about a minute faster than actual for Miami. 

Considering you're riding for about 160-180 minutes, I'd say that's pretty darn accurate.

Think I goofed on the minutes, should have read 140-160, I would be at 160-180...

Originally posted by JAYCT Thanks James! There is a 10 race mass start rule before you can upgrade out of Cat 5 regardless of results. Then it is all points based once you are looking to move up from Cat 4 and you get a different number of points depending on race type (Crit vs Road Race) and field size. I only have 5 race starts. I plan to be Cat 4 by summer if I'm able to get my races in (there's a clinic that counts as 3 races as well). To go from 4 to 3, you need either 20 points or experience in 25 races w/ a minimum of 10 top ten finishes. 30 points in 12 months is a mandatory upgrade. For reference, on that field size, Rudy would have gotten 5 points...then one point less all the way down to 5th place who would have gotten 1 point. If you win a large crit you could get 7 points for the win. If you win a big road race you can get 10 points for the win. So you can see it can be done if you are dominant in all your races but it is pretty hard to go from 4 to 3 in a short time unless you race a lot and consistently podium. Once you get to 3 and beyond (and Rudy probably knows even more about this), things get pretty serious. More organized teams, everyone is strong in some way (whether they are crit monsters or good climbers who crushed a hilly road race in the 4s). If someone tells me they are a Cat 3 racer, they generally deserve some respect as being a strong or smart tactical cyclist.....And NO, being Cat 3 power profile on the Coggan Chart doesn't count!!! Probably more than you ever wanted to know but there it is. You happen to catch me with my 'planning' excel workbook open so I had all the points and rules handy. Sorry if this has a dilutive effect on the thread as it isn't 'Tri' specific, but you guys may run into it.

Bike racing is complicated! For women, we don't have the 10 race rule to go from a Cat 4 (the lowest) to Cat 3. Instead, it's points from the get go which is hard because our field sizes are smaller. I managed to get from a Cat 4 to Cat 2 in a couple of months this year by racing a lot (like 12 times) to get points.

For guys around here there is usually a rush to get the 10 races in and out of Cat 5 because those are the crashiest fields in crits!

I just got back from a weekend of training down in Tucson (I live near Phoenix). We did the big group ride (Shootout) on Saturday (very fast!) and climbed Mt Lemmon on Sunday: 80 miles, 8600 feet climbing round trip from the hotel. It was warm at the bottom, snow at the top! It was so nice to get out of town and all we had to do was ride bikes, eat and lay around by the resort pool.

Back to reality today.

Trying to decide whether or not to race this coming weekend. There's a road race in Tucson, one of only a few in the state (most races here are crits). I'm not sure I want to make the drive back down there but it's the last road race before the State champs in June. 

I swear I will get back in the pool or go for a run one of these days....

I know lots of folks like the Edge 500, Clever Training has what look to be some good prices currently

http://www.clevertraining.com/?utm_source=Clever+Training&utm_campaign=24e91a29ef-CT_Edge_500_Sale4_9_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_16698c7d88-24e91a29ef-92217305&mc_cid=24e91a29ef&mc_eid=bff92d3bf2

I saw that Art's is also offering the same deal - would love to pull the trigger on that but it's not in the cards at the moment.

On a different note, did my first 5min test since January tonight and was able to add 5 watts to get it up to 308 watts.  I think I may have been a little too conservative at the beginning as I avg'd 300 watts for the first 3min and then 318 watts for the last 2min.  There's always next time...

I dread the 20min test that has to happen later this week.

Yeah, it's amazing how long 2-3' feels for an interval, and then how short it is for a recovery!

Nice running, riding, swimming and RACING all!  Quite the past week here on SBR Utopia.

I'm sidelined again, this time with a knee (other side from the hamstring).  Snakebit...

Good news is I can swim without aggravating it, so can keep that steady.  Going to try a sooper easy bike spin later and see if the motion is OK, but I suspect I'll be taking Marc's good advice and aqua jogging after my swims…  Setting a time with the orthopod, too.

So close to the start of the season.

<sigh>

Matt

Sorry for your loss Jay.    New bikes are fun though!

What's the story on the PT, why does it have to go?

Just got an email today from Tri Bike Transport saying they've (re)added St. George to their schedule.  They had SG listed as an event they'd service initially, took it off back in December, and now three weeks before the race, they've decided to add it to the schedule again *smh*....I just bought an Ochrana bike bag (haven't even taken it out of the box yet), ironically enough.

TBT is super convenient, but the problem is that it results in a less than optimal taper (especially for someone who owns only one bike....n+1, I know).  So I think I'm going to forego the convenience and just pack my own bag....which brings me to my question.

What's your strategy for taper?  Lower the volume, but keep the intensity?  Lower volume and intensity?  I'm asking mostly about the bike, as all of my running is kept easy, so I have an idea of what I'll do for that.  And swimming....last year worked out pretty well with keeping volume and intensity until the week of the race and then dropping back a bit, so I'll probably do something similar again. 

Cutting volume on the taper goes without saying, and as mentioned above you cannot cut out intensity altogether.  Too many people think "taper" means "rest" and they lose some fitness - especially if they start the taper very far out from their goal race.  Cutting the volume addresses the deep fatigue you may have acquired during your buildup and lets you absorb that buildup of training.  Keeping intensity allows you to maintain the fitness you have worked so hard to earn. The neat thing about the Raceday Apollo software modelling approach is that it models the ideal timing of an individual's taper for each discipline.

Yup! this is me as well. This is yet again one of those areas that can be really personal and as James said it can take a while to get just right. After a lot of years I think I have finally figured out what works for me - I work better with a little shorter taper than what it seems many others utilize. IM taper is about 9~10 days, HIM is about a week, OLY maybe 5~6 days. In each case I cut the time, keep the intensity. The pre-race brick the day before the race (no matter the distance) is a HUGE plus factor for me. Before IM or other ultra-type events I also have a particular dietary regimen I do starting about 9 days out, but I have already been shouted down by the group as being rather looney tunes in that area, so I will keep THAT to myself! Ha ha. :^)

Ugh -come on Matt!!!! Really feel for you - healing vibes coming your way. This too shall pass.

definitely been there, Jay - I tend to keep my bikes for a long time and nurse them along a few years longer than I should - and when they go, they go. It does stink that when you find yourself needing a new groupo it is often better just to replace the whole bike. Sounds like you are being smart about it though: don't buy the bike you can afford, instead buy the bike you can afford to replace. And even if I only raced triathlons and was limited to one bike it would definitely be a roadie. For what you are doing it makes prefect sense. A number of years ago I ditched every bit of tech and trained and raced completely by RPE for about two seasons. It actually really brought some joy back and I found myself completely re-calibrated when I reintroduced HR and added power to my protocol. You will at least be fine; my experience says you might just be better for it.

Edited by TankBoy 2014-04-11 9:17 AM