Fred D and Queen Zipp's SWIM, BIKE RUN consistency thread.... CLOSED (Page 63)

Bragging rights and the respect of your peers.  What more is there? 

Happy with my April totals. Didn't swim much, but I was at least consistent getting to the pool. My run training pace has gotten back under 10 min/mile, probably due to loosing 10 pounds.

Saddles are such an individual thing. I've never tried an Adamo, tried a Cobb and hated it. I ride a Koobi Tri, and it is very comfortable for me. Usually I don't even know it's there.

I gave myself and my bike a little test this past Sunday, 33 miles with about 2600 feet of climbing. The big climb is about 500 feet of climbing in about 1.2 miles. I made it up there a little quicker, and even moved up from 11th out of 11 on Strava up to 8th. I was more concerned about going down the other side because I am a chicken on long fast descents. My new bike felt much more stable, so I was very happy with that, but I was still on the brakes most of the way, and was only going about 25 mph. I have no problem with short fast descents, but somehow I have a mental block with the long ones. Gotta work on that. I was 4 minutes faster than my previous PB on the same route, so I am extremely happy with my new bike. Can't wait to race her!

While I agree with your decision on the wetsuit, to me, at this time of year that's really warm!  We're still not in open water for swims yet because the water's still probably only about 55 degrees.  My tri this weekend is a pool swim and the first open water events don't start for nearly another month.

Looks like we've been archived!

2300yds in the pool this morning with splits ~2:20ish.  Feeling really good about both those numbers.

Last day of classes for the semester, so I hope everyone has as good of a day as I'm going to have!

Oh we got archived! 

Here are my April totals:

 Need to increase the swim volume and start building a longer bike on the weekends, but otherwise I feel very good about where I am for IMLou

Late start at work today so did a mini brick this morning including hitting the hills with the new tri bike. Unusually strong headwinds this morning so was extra cautious esp when the bike lanes narrowed and on some of the fast blind turns. However, some of the long descents did bring a smile to my face  =)  Did one full loop and ran 3 miles afterwards and felt pretty good.

So I had a few newbie questions on riding aero on either rolling hills, steep hills and long hills since I've heard  different things.  Do you ride aero as much as possible then switch to the brake bars and sit upright ? or do you main ride aero on descents and flats and go to the brake bars on any hills ? do you ride hills gripping the aero bars but sitting upright ?  I tried different positions today but curious on what is most effective, efficient and comfortable. 

Also, what is the preferred hand position ? Are you gripping the aero bars, gripping over the gears, just letting the fingers dangle, etc  Since I'm new to aero, I do find myself gripping the bars half the time which explains my fingers being a bit sore.  Thanks !

Have a great day crew and great job on everyone's April totals !

When the goal is to go as fast as possible, generally you want to stay down on your bars for improved aerodyanmics.  My rule of thumb is basically not to sit up unless I'm going less than 12 mph.  At this speed (in most cases), the reduction in aerodynamics is equivalent to the increase in power you can put out while sitting up.  The one exception is if you are climbing into a fierce headwind.  If at all possible, you still want to stay down on your bars unless you can't pedal comfortably in your easiest gear.

I had a situation like this at the Hawaii 70.3 last year.  The climb to Hawi is not steep at all.  Maybe about 2%, but it's 5 miles long and into a 20-25 mph wind...gusting over 40.  My speed was ranging from 10-13 mph at times, but I stayed down on my bars while a lot of people felt it was okay to sit up.  I think that was a huge mistake for them.

As far as hand position...it varies but as Fred mentioned your shifter shouldn't be that far from your fingertips.  I have short arms/forearms, so I actually had to cut off about 6 inches of my extensions to get the length right.  My hand orientation will vary during a ride to sort of stretch out my wrists, but 90% of the time the thumbs are on top, palms to the sides, and my fingers are interlocked under the aerobars.  It's really personal preference though.

Rich,

You have gotten some great advice.  I just want to add that keeping the fingers/ hands/ arms loose will help keep some of the muscle tension down from the upper body which of course makes it a nicer ride and in a race situation easier run.  Say NO to the death-grip on the bars.

Thanks Fred, Jason and Judi for the great advice on aero riding and hand position !  I just gotta put the time in now =)

Ta-da!  I've wanted this bike for a very long time.  It took a lot of work with my fitter, the Parlee team and the Chicago builder to get it to fit this 4'10" body of mine.  

Jason, thanks for the input on when to stay in aero.  On my road bike with clip ons on some of our steeper Wisconsin hills, I am on the hoods around 6mph. Maybe on this new bike, I can do a little better.

Have a great weekend all!