Fred D Mentor Group - Part II (Page 8)

On a hilly course I love NP.

I try and keep NP/AP as close as possible which forces me to work the downhills and cap the uphills. I did a 240NP, 215AP 2hr ride the other day, which if I look at NP I could grunt and thump my chest (for me). But I was really disappointed because my VI was way off.

Also, the closer I keep the two numbers, the faster I will end up. I love NP, not for the higher number but to keep guide me to an more even ride.

While maybe NP gives a high number, to chase a AP target on a hilly course could overcook you. I now track NP on hilly courses, AP on flat courses

Well I have finally found myself in front of a computer. My belated updated bio:

NAME: Melissa Dymond.

STORY: This is my 4-5th year doing triathlon. I'm a former competitive swimmer--hit about jr national level and swam varsity for UofAlberta. I started triathlon for 2 reasons: to lose weight and to get involved in competitive sport again. I spent a few seasons doing shorter distances and then decided to set my sights on IMLP in 2011 and finished in 14:02. I had a fairly successful 2011 season with finishing the IM and podiuming a few times in sprints/olys. I'm currently entering my final year of medical school and have a fairly travel loaded schedule over the next 12 months. I'm applying to residency with emergency medicine as my primary choice and anesthesia as my second. I have a two week vacation right now and I'm in Iowa right now for a week and then going to Victoria for a week before starting off with a rural Alberta elective in anesthesia, followed by a trip over to Toronto for emergency medicine. I'm pretty much just a ball off excitement and nervousness right now!

FAMILY STATUS: Single and living at home to try and minimize my debt load due to school.

CURRENT TRAINING: Started training via online coaching with Mike Ricci about a month ago. His approach is definitely quality vs. quantity so it has been a bit of a learning curve over the past month or so. I have been starting to feel stronger in the 3 sports over the month, which is nice to see after fairly abysmal winter-spring training due to my core rotations and call.

2011 RACES: Pigman sprint (2nd place AG), IMLP 14:02, Banff International Triathlon (2nd place AG) Last season went really well with the IM and then getting best times and podium finishes in sprint/oly distance races. I also had a few strong HIM with a 1:53 in January at the Carlsbad Half Marathon.

2012 RACES: Alberta Challenge (sprint or oly--haven't decided) Aug 2012, San Antonio Rock and Roll HM--Nov 2012. California 70.3--March 2013, IM France--June 2013

WEIGHT LOSS GOALS: I would like to lose around 10-15lbs over the year before IM France. I'm on the stocky side at 5'6" and currently around 166lbs. I've never been particularly lean though and my lowest weight when swimming was around 145lbs in grade 10-11.

WHAT WOULD MAKE ME A GOOD MENTEE: My triathlon experience isn't nearly as vast as the majority of the members of this group and I am not the most active poster due to time constraints but I do learn a lot from the conversations that happen on here. I like hearing the different perspectives on training and following you all throughout the season in your races!

Watching some Olympics and I just watched the semi finals of the 200 IM.  When did they start doing the funky touch-flip turn when switching from back to breaststroke?

I'm probably 10 years late noticing this...  

Nope. I don't remember seeing them in Beijing, but that could just be me. Also, not everybody does them.

Very smooth execution and congrats on the win!

Well the power discussion has my head spinning a bit although can definitely see where having a power meter on a hilly course would be a huge nenefit.  I definitely look forward to using one in the near future.  TrainerRoad has really been a great tool for me.  I am pretty much done with HR as a guide in HIM racing and shorter....just not working well for me. 

A gift for understatement

Whats a PM???  LOL

i have never raced with a power meter, i usually go by RPE, and make sure HR is in a reasonable area. But like anything i think that takes practice and knowing your body and limitations. Something i would not prescribe a beginner.

I think a PM or some sort of power is necessary for training indoors though, there are too many variables by RPE inside, you really need a benchmark

I just ordered a 12-27 9 speed cassette for my GF, and a couple additional cogs to turn it into a 13-29.  That should be enough to get her up to the top of Haleakala with good spacing.  I'm guessing she'll be in the 27 most of the time, but may need the 29 on the steeper parts.

I also ordered a 12-27 10 speed for myself.  I figured I would be floating around mostly between the 21 and 25 and wanted to have 3 gears (21, 23, 25) instead of just two (22, 25).  28 was a good "bail out" gear for me when I started to cramp, so 27 should be enough this year.

Rusty - this seems to describe me quite well.  I just seem to have no fasttwitch fibers in my body - as soon as I'm on a steeper climb you'd think the light weight would kick in, but I get dropped by guys that are obviously just stronger.  As soon as the grade flattens out a bit, then my power to weight seems to trump their more explosive riding.  Too many hard/fast efforts will trash my legs. 

It's one of the things I won't like about the end of the HIM, because even though I plan to cap my power for the hills, there are a number of them at the end where I'll be well over 125% right before the run...

Rusty - this seems to describe me quite well.  I just seem to have no fasttwitch fibers in my body - as soon as I'm on a steeper climb you'd think the light weight would kick in, but I get dropped by guys that are obviously just stronger.  As soon as the grade flattens out a bit, then my power to weight seems to trump their more explosive riding.  Too many hard/fast efforts will trash my legs. 

It's one of the things I won't like about the end of the HIM, because even though I plan to cap my power for the hills, there are a number of them at the end where I'll be well over 125% right before the run...

Don't get too caught up in power numbers.  While it is ideal to stay steady, and within smaller boundaries, it's sometimes not possible.  Just do your best to stay within yourself.  Guys were doing successful tris long before PM were invented.

I cherish my PM as much as anybody, but by no means am I a slave to it...especially when racing.

Here's an example where NP comes in handy

This morning's ride

http://app.strava.com/activities/15648523

Average power 187w. Normalized power 270w. Workourt 1h03min. I consisted of a few climbs and descents where the up was 300+ watts and the down was 0 +/- a few watts. Avaerage it out, consider you spend less time going down and you get that 187. But let me tell you. I can do 187 for hours and hours. After this 187 I was crying for a coffee.

While NP may have been slightly overstating effort, 187 would have been grossly underestimating.

Power meters are an amazing tool. It is true one must not become obsessed with the numbers (which is easy to do), but the data they provide is incredible. I saw a post in Bryan's blog that his coach is measuring his fitness with TSS. This is one of the coolest features of using a PM and GPC watch. You don't need a coach to do it, you let a computer do it.  I am assuming his coach loads his workouts in TP and uses the Performance manager to measure his fitness.

The TrainingPeaks sight has a lot of articles on it. TSS is basically a score that is calculated on length and intensity of a workout. A all out 1hr TT would yield 100TSS points. A 3hr ride at 80% would yield roughly 180TSS points.

TSS is more of a training thing than a racing thing.

But there is what is known as a performance chart that looks at your load over time and accumulates your TSS. It also looks at your rest. It calculates short term and long term fatigue to come up with a measure of your fitness and your fatigue.

The thing I like the most about TSS is that I slightly increase it over time. This should allow me to find the load I can handle without burning out.

Bike TSS is based on your power. Run TSS is based on pace. Some people can do a HR to TSS calculation which is what I suspect Bryan's coach does since Bryan does not use a PM on the bike.

Remember, this can be as easy as turn on 910xt, do ride, upload once a week and voila !!

The above ^^^ is why I would need to hire a coach that understands and uses all of that data and be able to explain it to me.  

Unfortunately, I'm too cheap!

I will eventually go to a coach. I believe a good coach can help one improve tremendously. However I also think it's good to have some of the basic understanding to better understand what and why the coach is doing things.

It's like my tax return. I could blindly hand it over to an accountant and hope he is competent and optimizing. Or I can understand the basics, ask questions, run "what ifs" by him....When talking to my doctor, accountant, investment guy, mechanic...I like to understand the basics. When I get the feel they know what they are doing, I can just hand over and trust almost blindly.

But I would also bet that a large number of coaches know less than I do. And if there is one thing I cannot tolerate is paying good money for sub optimal return. That just drives me bonkers.

I have narrowed down to 3 or 4 coaches I would go with. I just need to decide when to pull the trigger.

I probably sound like my father, but it is harder and harder to find competent people that are able to do a job properly.

I find the hard part is drawing the line between when to trust and when to challenge. I used to challenge my investment broker all the time. I thought I knew enough. So I opened an self directed account, put money in it and he beat my returns easily 2 years running. So I said f-it, gave it to him and just try to understand where is going. And it's an easy measure. Rate of return.

My doc : I told him I would beat the diabetes without drugs. We argued (debated). Finally he said, "OK, let's try your way 6 months, then my way 6 months". We did. My way was better. The great part about it was he said "Wow, you were right, but 99.9% of the population is not like you"