Swim Day
1 x 150- Warm-up
5 x 150- Pull
5 x 200- 100-5, 7, 9/100- stroke focus
1 x 400- Strong
1 x 100- Cool down
total- 2400yds
Had some trouble with the 5, 7, 9 this morning. I think it was because I was working the second hundred hard so the heart rate was up, somewhat decreasing oxygen efficiency. Or I'm weak sauce sometimes. One of the two. Still, the swim was good. I'm at the point in my training now where I think my swim distances are going to drop off significantly over the next few weeks as I start putting more energy towards the bike or run workout at the end of the day. My swim isn't going to be the fastest out of everyone, but it will get me out of the water in the front third or better. I need to get strong enough to hold that position now.
Bike Day
distance - 27.51mi
time- ?
At some stop or another I forgot to restart my watch, then at the next stop I started it, and so on, so my time was all screwed up by the time I realized what was going on. It wasn't as fast as it should have been, let's put it that way.
Today was my first ride with aerobars on and, well, I can see how it will make me faster. It feels faster being in that position. But I am in no way aero yet. Like I mentioned in the post where I mounted the bars, my seat-to-bar drop is non-existent. I didn't think it would be that big of a deal. It will be. I can totally tell as soon as I get leaned over. My seat is too far back, causing my shoulder/body angle to be obtuse rather that right, which means my upper arm/lower arm angle is also more open than it should be. Figuring out how to get the bars lower, which will happen tomorrow and which I should be able to do (there are spacers and I can flip the stem if I need to, good call Cycle Dirtbag), and the seat pushed a few mm forward should make a bunch of difference. And if I can't seem to get it dialed in then Friday I'll head to IT&B and say, "Halp! I tried to make my bike faster and now it doesn't fit and I don't know what I'm doing." They'll hook me up. Rather do it myself though.
But because I was thinking about how off the fit seemed and because I was getting used to the aerobars and the incredible way my wrist has to stretch to get flat (which hurts now but should get better), and because I stopped twice to fiddle/tighten/adjust, I don't feel like I had all that great of a workout. It was more of a test ride. I need to start pushing these. Gotta find that Fast.
Showing posts with label aerobars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label aerobars. Show all posts
Monday, April 4, 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
It's About the Bike
Ride Day- RW
time- 1:15
distance- 18.2mi
Today's ride felt great. The weather was perfect and my attitude was a simple "I'm gonna cruise home from school, no real work going on." I felt smooth, even during the small climbs that roll my route. Averaged around 15mph, which isn't very fast but I wasn't trying very hard. Frankly, part of me is just happy my seat stayed where it was supposed to after I fixed it Monday.
Also, today was a
productive day with bike upgrades (hopefully!). Super Awesome Wife and I spent about a half hour getting my new Profile Design T2+ aerobars set up. I'm pretty excited about having these on, but honestly, I'm not sure I saved myself any time. You see, the point of aerobars is to reach a more aerodynamic position, decreasing drag and therefor increasing the effectiveness of the power output. Aerobars will/should allow me to get my chest and head lower, making my back flatter, and getting my arms and elbows in closer. Closer elbows mean more aero, but it al
so means less control and, because I have wider shoulders, a closing off of chest area making it harder for me to breathe deeply. So my bars are set up about shoulder width apart, as suggested by the below book. Viewed from the front, this presents a much smaller face to block wind. But every tri bike set up I've seen or read about (including in Zinn and the Art of Triathlon Bikes, which Super-Awesome Sexy Wife bought for me a few weeks ago and which was very helpful in getting the aerobars properly placed) has the seat height much higher than the bars, that way the rider gets the proper drop and angles. Well, my seat is already as high as it's going to get before I can't reach the bottom of the downstroke and my bars are as
low as the current hardware will allow. So while the aerobars might make me feel faster, I'm not sure how much time I just saved. Feeling faster is good though. Mental improvements often lead to actual ones. Hopefully I haven't sacrificed too much comfort, which is also important, but less so over the shorter distances I'll be racing. More on the whole aerobar issue as I ride. It was too late tonight once they were on.
And finally, I have something I have to admit. I...I just need to get it off my chest. I think...I think I'm becoming something of a cycling nerd. You see, I've been a swim nerd for years and year. Simple goggles or a new kind of suit will have me all excited. And for over a year now I've been becoming a run nerd, starting with my discovery of minimalist running and the wonders of VFFs. But a cycling nerd...this is you. You see, yesterday I was on the internet watching, oh its hard to say, Lance Armstrong videos. That's right, I spent a good half hour yesterday watching YouTube clips of a man from Texas riding a bicycle! And Ohhh-ing and Ahh-ing. In this video he attacks while climbing. So he rides faster than the other skinny guys up a mountain. And I'm totally blown away. And now if you ask me what I think of The Look I can tell you I think it was a pretty badass thing to do and I think he's lying when he says that he was, "just checking to see what the field looks like." It totally was. And you can't watch this without being impressed. He should have crashed and burned four times.
I am now a Total Tri Nerd. I feel complete.
time- 1:15
distance- 18.2mi
Today's ride felt great. The weather was perfect and my attitude was a simple "I'm gonna cruise home from school, no real work going on." I felt smooth, even during the small climbs that roll my route. Averaged around 15mph, which isn't very fast but I wasn't trying very hard. Frankly, part of me is just happy my seat stayed where it was supposed to after I fixed it Monday.
Also, today was a
productive day with bike upgrades (hopefully!). Super Awesome Wife and I spent about a half hour getting my new Profile Design T2+ aerobars set up. I'm pretty excited about having these on, but honestly, I'm not sure I saved myself any time. You see, the point of aerobars is to reach a more aerodynamic position, decreasing drag and therefor increasing the effectiveness of the power output. Aerobars will/should allow me to get my chest and head lower, making my back flatter, and getting my arms and elbows in closer. Closer elbows mean more aero, but it al
so means less control and, because I have wider shoulders, a closing off of chest area making it harder for me to breathe deeply. So my bars are set up about shoulder width apart, as suggested by the below book. Viewed from the front, this presents a much smaller face to block wind. But every tri bike set up I've seen or read about (including in Zinn and the Art of Triathlon Bikes, which Super-Awesome Sexy Wife bought for me a few weeks ago and which was very helpful in getting the aerobars properly placed) has the seat height much higher than the bars, that way the rider gets the proper drop and angles. Well, my seat is already as high as it's going to get before I can't reach the bottom of the downstroke and my bars are as
low as the current hardware will allow. So while the aerobars might make me feel faster, I'm not sure how much time I just saved. Feeling faster is good though. Mental improvements often lead to actual ones. Hopefully I haven't sacrificed too much comfort, which is also important, but less so over the shorter distances I'll be racing. More on the whole aerobar issue as I ride. It was too late tonight once they were on.And finally, I have something I have to admit. I...I just need to get it off my chest. I think...I think I'm becoming something of a cycling nerd. You see, I've been a swim nerd for years and year. Simple goggles or a new kind of suit will have me all excited. And for over a year now I've been becoming a run nerd, starting with my discovery of minimalist running and the wonders of VFFs. But a cycling nerd...this is you. You see, yesterday I was on the internet watching, oh its hard to say, Lance Armstrong videos. That's right, I spent a good half hour yesterday watching YouTube clips of a man from Texas riding a bicycle! And Ohhh-ing and Ahh-ing. In this video he attacks while climbing. So he rides faster than the other skinny guys up a mountain. And I'm totally blown away. And now if you ask me what I think of The Look I can tell you I think it was a pretty badass thing to do and I think he's lying when he says that he was, "just checking to see what the field looks like." It totally was. And you can't watch this without being impressed. He should have crashed and burned four times.
I am now a Total Tri Nerd. I feel complete.
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