Fred D Mentor Group Part III (Page 94)

I'll race you this winter.  First one to get to 3.75 w/kg.

I'm guessing my 5min test tomorrow is going to be somewhere just shy of 300, which would put me around  3.4-3.45, so I get a head start if you're game. 

Since your focus is sbr I would do them after your workout sbr workout.  As you adapt to strength training it will impact you less and less though.  But I would usually do mine after my runs (even after my long runs).  When I swim all I ever wanted to do was go shower but if you can handle waiting it is also a good place to do strength.  Now my focus is more strength training so I do my workouts before my runs (talk about a brick workout). 

It's on!

My old coach had it after.  2x week this time of year.  1 after an endurance swim and I was supposed to do one after my long run but that never worked out because I don't have all day to do whatever I feel like.  Thought process had something to do with longer slower efforts creating a catabolic effect and the strength session after with heavier weights would counteract with an anabolic effect.  Then once spring came it went down to 1x/wk and I basically stopped because strength is not a limiter for me.

That being said, I did squats and deadlifts before my 6 mile run this morning and surprising felt good running.  I wasn't going light either...225lbs for 8-10 reps for a couple sets on each.

But yes...do what your focused on which is SBR.  I'm sort of just wanting to get in good overall shape and work on strength a little because I miss it so I did that first.

That number is always 4.0 w/kg ...unless you are already there...than it is 4.5 because that starts translating to a competitive Cat 2 rider and basically a front of the front of the pack triathlon cyclist.  4.0 brings you up to the front pack and 4.5 puts you in front of it...for most.

not that I've thought about this before in ridiculous detail

Based on your writeup, I'd say you should also write a polite note to the race organizers.  OK maybe extra course marshals is a cost they couldn't shoulder.  But to have no patrols AND have a winding course that encouraged cutting was a bad combo.

They could have avoided much of the problem with better course design, to remove the opportunities to cheat.

That's how it looked the day after my race.  Weather can change in a hurry there, so hopefully it will clear up for you.

The good news is that the water holds a pretty steady temperature (~70F) no matter what.

Go explore the area, do a morning swim and have a meal at the Goose

YAY! Go Yanti Go!!

Where do you think we're going to go after 3.75....  I want 4 watts/kg in the next 9-10 months.

I don't know if this is feasible for me or not, but I'd like to think I can follow some structured training that will help me chase it.  I'm guessing that the best I managed this season was close to 3.7, but that was with a pretty low weight.  We shall see!

On a separate note, who can provide input on making position changes during the winter months?  I'd like to try and get myself lower, but can't do any type of outdoor testing, so I need to figure out the best way to at least validate that any changes are not negatively impacting me.

Thanks guys.  Right after/before doesn't really work for me - it would likely be a separate workout.  I'm most concerned with feeling sore the next day or so, rather than same day.

So I dusted off the old calculator and, well, you boys have fun.

Wind tunnel is ideal, followed by outdoor testing with a power meter.  A velodrome helps, if you can find one.

One thing you can do indoor is find out at what point going lower impacts your power output.  But it's hard to tell what the effect is on aerodynamics.  Your intuition on what is better doesn't always pan out in practice.  No matter what you do, be sure to make incremental changes and only modify one thing at a time before you test again.

I had a good initial fit when I bought my bike.  Since then, I've fiddled with my bars a bit.  I lowered the seat a tiny amount when I changed shoes just because the new shoes had a slightly lower stack height.  But beyond that I don't usually mess with the saddle.

I want to play too.  I'm guessing we're using tri bike power right?  Haven't ridden my tri bike since early June so I'm not quite sure where I'm at.  It was a 40k @ 253w, which wasn't my best performance.  That would have put me at 3.48.  I'd like to get my tri bike FTP up to around 270 @ 150-155 pounds...so roughly 3.85

On my tri bike I peaked at about 3.6w/kg last year, but that was at 150lb.  I think I could hit 4w/kg with some work, but next year I'm going to add more weight and just work on overall power, rather than w/kg.

Yup, tri bike for me.  Do you see much difference between them?  I hardly ever ride my roadie.

When I was swimming masters last night, the class was fairly small, so my coach stuck me in the fast lane with this ex college swimmer.  It was funny getting lapped TWICE, when just doing a 200.

Ha, just to keep you humble of course.

Big generalization, but *for me*, 240ish watts (3.5w/kg) puts me at roughly 23mph.  That's my Oly territory.  I'd like to improve my top end enough to hold that for longer distances, but I have a lot of work to do.

Are you guys doing the test in the aero position or just sitting up?

I don't test to be honest (SHAME on me)  I just know my indoor numbers and then I know my real world numbers because I like to do hard solo tempo rides.  My numbers on my road bike are probably 10 watts higher than Tri bike in real world situation...so would be aero for 45' bombing as fast as I can or whatever...not on trainer.  Road bike would be trying to stay low to cut through the wind w/ a mixture of drops and hoods depending on fatigue and terrain.

Also stronger outside...even though I don't test I've ridden over an hour at wattage that makes me want to cry after 20' on the trainer.