SBR Utopia Season II - OPEN (Page 66)

I don't know but if you're suggesting that Neil give birth to 4 childs a week to improve his bike...I'm not sure he'll be too successful with that.

Decided to be crazy awesome, methinks.

NICE!

I've had three kids, and I haven't done an IM, but I'm gonna guess that I would choose childbirth over an IM. 

Though, admittedly, that might not be what you want to hear right now :)

With this crazy IM virus spreading, I have a question for the full / long course folks.

Do you race much leading up to it?  Do you miss racing more frequently if you don't?

When I did marathons (in the waaaay back) and per our plan this year, there is at least a lot of racing leading up to it.  5k's, 10k's, HM or two… all good fun, and I really love races.

I've heard tell, and read in many training guides, that while you might race a HIM or two on the way to an IM, you don't peak for them - just for the main event and train through the HIMs.  Kind of keeps me from just jumping on board with IM's - not sure if one or two races a year (OK, save maybe if it were Kona - but that's not in my cards at the moment!) would be enough to focus me on months and months of training.  How do you deal with that?

As ever, your thoughts are appreciated and enjoyed...

Matt

No epidurals on the bike or run, though (although the way I swim with a wetsuit, it wouldn't impede my zero-beat-kick).  

One of the reasons that I decided the IM distance wasn't for me was because I felt like I couldn't do as many races as I typically would.  Maybe it was because it was my first and with experience that would no longer be the case as I know several ppl that race lots during IM training but I definitely missed a few races that I would otherwise have done.

I don't think I would use it as a reason to avoid trying an IM though.  I still really enjoyed the whole process and training (with the exception of the grumpy times that Jason referred to) and am glad I did it.  I'm just not in any rush to sign up again.  

I learned an important lesson as a result of my trainer workout this morning.  For the last couple of weeks I have noticed a clicking feeling and an odd noise coming from my bike when doing some higher power intervals.  It felt like it was coming from a pedal or cleat or maybe the bottom bracket area but I wasn't sure and was going to get my LBS to check it out.  Well because of the broken chain on the weekend I put a new one on last night and also cleaned things up a bit before doing so.  Holy cow what a difference!  The pedal stroke felt so much smoother and no noises or creaks.

I hereby pledge to take better care of my bikes.

Dummy Then there is the oddity like me. 3 years later, still very much active, but haven't gone for another IM. Thinking maybe big sometime in the future, but still not really sure on the marathon part of the IM.

As to the powermeter, tipping points for various options may have moved for some with pricing, but it's still basically the same factors towards what might fit a situation best. Like will this need to switch between bikes, your preference if so. Do you use multiple wheelsets and want power with each?

I've got a question about bike fitness (I think)...

After Vineman, I took about a month off the bike in hopes that it might help my knee (it didn't).  In that time, I bought a Quarq with 165mm crank arms, as opposed to the 155mm cranks I had on my bike.  I've only been back on the bike six times since my month off and I'm struggling like crazy to do workouts that were once quite manageable.  My HR seems to be fine, but my legs are burning like crazy.

Did my fitness really take that huge of a hit in one month off?  Or is this my body getting used to longer cranks?  Or maybe it's completely mental?  Regardless, whatever it is, it really needs to go away.  Curious if anyone has thoughts.

And, for the record, I have not retested my FTP.  I'm planning to do it this weekend, but I wanted to get back on the bike a bit before trying to retest....and I also have a fear of seeing a significantly lower number, which is a shot to the ego (though I know it is a very realistic possibility at this time).

It is an interesting thought point. One I'm still working with quite a bit. I think there are merits to both, probably more than I am familiar with just yet, and should be considered with part of the plan as a whole. So what else is going on matters too. Earlier in the year I had been separating things out. Weekday rides were shorter and tended to have more targeted intensity. The weekend (Saturday in particular) was bigger and generally in range of IM effort or slightly over. Trying to do more than that on a big ride would have been too much for me at the time. More recently I have been working higher effort into the longer rides. I'm both able to physically and have a hilly HIM coming up that will benefit from such rides. I have noticed that with the hilly outdoor rides I've been able to get up the hills more easily than before even when I wasn't feeling great overall.

I may be oversimplifying it a bit here, but a way to help out is to think of it as needing to further develop some key points or be able to incorporate aspects of a race. The key points being threshold power, performance at VO2, and generating lots of aerobic stress. The incorporation is specificity for a race or event. There may be more to consider than just those, but those are the big ones that keep coming up and seem to be the best ones to understand first.