Gray Guys/Girls Masters Focus Triathlete Forum--OPEN! (Page 8)

Karl,

Absolutely no offense taken.

Lots of people choose not to use the available technology.  I am an I.T. Consultant so I am kind of a nerd by definition.  I always seem to find a way to introduce a 'geek factor' to everything I do so yes, I use all the electronic toys.  As I said in my earlier post, training by RPE and feel is becoming a lost art.  We all would probably be well served if we were to take a page from your play book and train without the electronics every now and again.

As far as swimming.  That you for the kind words.  My swimming success was many years ago.  I can still get down the pool, but my days of swimming glory are likely behind me.

I would hate to see you give up tri's because you are having a bit of difficulty with the swim.  That seems to be the one commonality among nearly all triathletes - that they struggle with the swim.  It seems that unless swimming was a triathlete's first language, it is a challenge to conquer the swim.  A couple things to remember, swimming is highly technical.  It is the most technical of the triathlon disciplines.  It also takes a fairly significant amount of time to become successful.  You said you had taken some lessons.  I would encourage you to take a couple more with a different coach.  I have NEVER seen ANYONE that cannot learn to swim properly and develop an efficient stroke.  Maybe you just didn't "click" with the coach rather than not clicking with swimming.

Good luck Steve!  Hope you have a great race.

What brainiac thought that schedule up?  Wow, I had no idea the federal government was now running tri's!

Are you setting pace with RPE or did you break down and get a power meter?  Good luck with the hills and the wind.

Good Luck Steve!!   Good luck Bill!!

Safe travels Dan!

Scott:  I took a look at your blog and the article about breathing.  I've read many things and watched many videos, but your way of explaining it resonates with me (especially the "poor body roll equals poor breathing" part).   I will be back in the pool on Sat or Sun to give it a try.

Non-power meter users:  if price is a problem you may want to take a look at Trainer Road's virtual power option:

http://www.trainerroad.com/features/virtual-power

Dan,

Glad it helped.  In my humble opinion, body roll is the single most important thing to doing freestyle properly.  Get that right and everything else will begin to fall in to place.

Let me know how it goes when you try it out in the pool.

Steve,

Glad to hear you finally joined the power club.  When I got my new tri-bike last Christmas, I decided to upgrade to Garmin Vector for power.  Takes about 5 minutes to swap pedals between bikes and now I have power regardless of what I ride.

Yes, having power numbers absolutely opened my eyes.  Same thing as you, found out RPE and HR aren't terribly accurate, especially when hills are involved,  and that I could train much harder than I had been.  I think the thing I like the most is that now when I ride, I know what number I need to  strive for to accomplish the days plan - no more guessing and hitting the wall.

Rock you race tomorrow!

Did you get a bike fit when you got your bike?  My first thought is that your fit is wrong.  Higher handle bars and/or lower seat will help.

Hey Dave -

Have you had a bike fit?  Same as BG, your fit is likely off just a little bit causing the minor pain in your hands.  Adding aero bars may actually make the problem worse if you don't get a proper fit after adding the aero bars.  Sadly, adding aero bars doesn't change the seat tube angle so there is no change in the geometry of the bike.  There are however, several adjustments that can be made to get you into proper position.   If/when you get the new bars, I would take the bike in and have a professional fit done or you run the risk of being miserable down in aero which translates to you won't be in aero very long - defeating the purpose of purchasing the aero bars in the first place.

Just my humble two cents.