Eriq's Mentor Group - CLOSED (Page 6)

This brings up a question I had about aero bars and road bikes/tri bikes. At what point do aero bars really help on a road bike? I am thinking if I survive my first year of tris and want to do more next year then I will start shopping for a tri bike. Until then, I'm not sure how necessary aero bars are (again, trying to watch expenses so I have enough for a nice tri bike!) if I'm only traing for olympic distance. I usually do a Sunday long ride of about 40 miles to build my base over the winter, and no one in the cycling group uses them. I admit I think they look cool, but I'd also be worried about a decrease in handling/control. 

Any thoughts from anyone???

(Enjoyed my first day back to work and took a rest day. Sadly I am still exhausted, so I'm going to bed now to make sure I make my spin class in the morning before work!)

i think i've written this in a previous post, but the most important thing is budget. don't go spending all sorts of money just because. you'll be totally fine with a road bike. if you want to spend a little money, then tack on some aero bars. they aren't necessary but will likely make you faster, if you spend time in aero.

handling does change. you weight is shifted towards your front wheel and for a lot of pople that makes them uncomfortable. also if you arent fitted right, you can get stretched out, which will further decrease your handling. but you can slide your saddle forward to accomodate reach.

i say see if decide to continue doing triathlons for a long time, and if so, then go buy a tri bike.

enjoy spin!

In terms of aero bars...I agree with Eriq on the budget concerns.  I would also say it depends on what you're looking to get out of your racing.  Are you looking to podium, then you'll need them. Is your bike course flat, then aero bars are a good idea.  Aero bars aren't as helpful on hilly courses, and for group training rides.

My suggestion is to not worry about aero bars for now.  Do some races, see how you do and figure out what makes sense for you down the road.  At the end of the day, aero bars will help you with speed (approx 1-2 mph), but the key to a good bike leg is solid training.  So, focus on training first and build your engine. 

The real key to racing is you and your training, not the gear. 

Just wanted to share something I read today. A tweet from Mario Fraioli, running coach and part of competitor.com.

"Racing well is a matter of learning to deal in discomfort. You need to get comfortable being uncomfortable to really realize your potential."

There must be something going around because I have a bit of a cold myself.

General rule from what I've read over the years, if your symptoms are below your neck, you should not exercise. Then if it's mild above the neck, probably okay to get low intensity stuff in.

with the GPS, it can definitely be a bad thing.

i used to be a 2:00 half marathon guy so when i'd see my watch go below 9:00/min, i'd freak out because i thought i was running too fast and put on the brakes. then i'd get workouts with runs at 8:20 pace, i'd totally have all sorts of nerves the whole week leading up to that workout, but then i'd knock it out. never did i think it was possible before. it's that comfort zone that we create for ourselves and we play all sorts of mind games with ourselves to keep us in it. the GPS further builds those walls. even though you may be feeling good, you look at the watch and think "oh no, slow down! i'm not capable of that."

but on the flip side, you look at your watch and it tells you you're going fast. but then you ignore it because you're feeling great. a hour later, you're lying in the grass at some random park a few miles from home dry heaving and calling your wife to pick you up. not that that has ever happened to me or anything...

maybe it can hold you back. maybe it can keep you honest.

KEY LESSON I'VE LEARNED: if you don't try, you'll never know. and on those days where you push out of that comfort zone and get uncomfortable, you'll learn a thing or two. honestly, i've learned a lot of valuable lessons in training from those days blowing up that have helped me in racing. you learn about that fine line your body is capable of walking. and whatever side you end up on, it'll be a good experience to look back on in the future.

Hey party people! It's hump day, middle of the week. I've been struggling to get my workouts in this week but I'm getting them in. It's the last week of my current block so I've been really pushing myself in workouts and am in need of a recovery week. Today's workout was 3 mile run at threshold pace, so for me that's right around 7:25/mi and I actually ran around 7:15-7:16 NGP according to TP. So super stoked about that. Oh! NGP = Normalized Graded Pace - pace adjusted for varying elevation as if you were running a flat course. helps compare apples to apples.

Now looking at everyone's logs, well the ones that have been shared...

Danelle - great job getting out of the house and to the pool. I know it can be frustrating but keep it up. Any chance you might be able to get some video of your stroke? Might be a good learning tool, for the group as well, to see your stroke on video and break it down some.

Thomas - only thing I saw that you had logged was the swim from last Friday. If you are comfortable breathing on one side, go for it. But definitely suggesting keeping at the bilateral breathing. It'll help on race day if the waves are coming in from different sides. Plus it can help balance out an imbalanced stroke.

Jana - how's the cold coming along? I know you replaced your swim for a run. Did you enjoy spin class? Definitely nice to get that extra push from someone else every now and then, right?

Tony & Brian - how were those bike sprints? putting in some VO2 work!

in your settings, there's a box you can click that makes your new workouts default to public.

any chance you'd be able to get a vid of your swim?

here's a link to what my stroke looked like back in june, Swim 06/2012. this was at the end of my set, just cooling down. a couple things i noticed...

• picking my head out of the water to breath. you can see both of my goggles at times.
• runners kick - bending at the knees. swimming with fins has helped this.
• inflexible ankles - toes pointing down toward the bottom of the pool. creates a lot of drag and have since spent a lot of time sitting on my ankles to improve flexibility.

if anyone wants to post pics/vids of form or position or whatever, feel free. i'll give you my non-professional opinion. =P

Eriq - my bike sprint session was tough.  I did a 15 warm-up, then 5x30 seconds full sprint with 30 seconds rest in between, then 5 min easy, another 5x30 sprint workout and then 15 minutes to cool down.  It was hard, but I guess that means it was good.  

I did that session again on Wednesday evening (movie selection was Mission Impossible, Ghost Protocol).  Today I felt it even more, but I guess that means I was achieving my goal for the workout.   I'll probably run tomorrow, perhaps outside if the weather cooperates, otherwise it'll be movie night on the dreadmill.

Hope everyone's training is going well

awesome. vo2 work is hard but makes for decent gains in a short amount of time. still needs to be supported with endurance work to get the full benefit, but definitely worth it.

I'm with you on it being tough. Yesterday's workout was 10x30sec, 30 sec RBI, 10mins easy and then repeat. then after that, 30mins of tempo work. yikes! there was a lot of swearing going on in my pain cave yesterday. with 30 sec rest, i get in like 2 breaths, a sip of water, and then i'm like oh crap, time to go again! it's hard, HARD work!

have you done 10x1min PIs, 2min RBI? i find these a bit easier to manage with the longer rest.  i think i have something like that scheduled for thurs. might even be 15x1min...

for me, i can do maybe a 3 week block of PIs and then i'm spent. i'm like give me a recovery week and then no more PIs in the next block!!!

Hi all,
Sorry for being a bit quite – work has got in the way, although I am training hard.

For my bike sprint session I had to use a stationary bike in the gym, I don’t have a road bike at the moment.
So my sprint session consisted of:
   5 min warm-up
   1min x 10 sprints @ 186w
   1min x 4 effort @ 286w
   With 1 min rest period
   5 min cool-down.
I have a question on equipment.  At the moment all I have is a good set of running trainers and goggles.  I also have an old mountain bike.
I’m on a very limited budget, so each piece of equipment needs to be saved for, so my question is what order should I buy things for my first triathlon.

My current thinking is:
    • Tri shorts (it’s a pool swim so no wet suit needed)
    • Cheap road bike (I can borrow a helmet)
    • Elastic Laces
    • Swim hat
    • Floats for training

Is there any essential equipment I’m missing?  It’s currently touch and go if I can afford a bike in time for my event, and if I do it’ll be very cheap.

no worries, and good to hear you're getting your workouts in.

for equipment, just get the basics. bike, tri shorts would be nice to have. everything else like the elastic laces arent necessary for your first. swim cap is usually provided by the race. swim training tools arent too necessary. you can still put in work and improve without them. esp if you're on a budget.

Tony - I agree with Eriq.  You don't need much to start.  For my first race (outdoor Olympic/international distance race), I used a hybrid/commuter bike.  Probably not that dissimilar to your mountain bike, but the wheels are thinner.  BTW, I've seen folks ride mountain bikes in tri races before.  But, perhaps you can rent or borrow a road bike for your initial race?  And in terms of tri shorts, you probably don't need those either.  I just wore a pair of compression shorts for my first race.  What do you wear now for biking and running?  That'll probably be just fine for your first race.  

The only things you really need are: a pair of goggles, a bike of some kind, a helmet, and a pair of running shoes.  Other things are helpful, but those are the basics, and you really don't need much more than the basics for your first race, IMHO.

Eriq - I've also done a longer interval set that is more similar to your 10x1min, 2 min rbi.  My longer interval work out is 5 mins warm-up at medium speed, 5x2.5min full speed (close to sprint speed, but just a bit less), 2.5min rbi, 5 min easy, then 5x1min sprint speed with 1min rbi, 5 mins easy/cool down.  That's also a really good workout for me.  (I've also used this on my treadmill, and that's good too.)  

Not sure if the longer intervals are 'better' than the shorter intervals, but at the end of the day, both workouts (and the treadmill versions) hurt....so I guess that's good.  

I try to do one speed workout per week, though when I was focusing on IMFL last fall, I stopped doing these and just focused on long-distance/endurance training.  Looking back on my IMFL training, I think I need to incorporate more tempo work.  I use the sprints early in the season, but generally ease up closer to race weeks.  

Yup I can see your log. I told my wife I'm trying to get all this triathlon stuff out of my system before we decide to start having kids. Hopefully the Kona lottery gods are with me this year. We've had our stay booked since Sept. =P

I like the one section of your Monday swim that's 100s (50 slow, 50 fast). Anyone else incorporate something similar in their swim sets? The only way to get fast swimming is to practice swimming fast. Same with biking and running. Not all the time, but some speed work needs to be included to add that stimulus to your training.

For me, sometimes you'll see 75s in groups of 3. So maybe something like this

12x75s
1 - 50 easy, 25 hard
2 - 25 easy, 50 hard
3 - 75 hard
Rest 1min and repeat

Yup. Training for IM was a whole different story. Lots of endurance, tempo type of work.

I've found that my body holds up better when I do the speed/high intensity stuff earlier in the season when I don't have to worry about doing the big volume, long workouts like 80 mile rides or 15 mile runs.