1 to 3

career move

Dilbert75 wrote: »

I'm no CM.

Be thankful for small mercies

Dilbert75

career move wrote: »

Be thankful for small mercies

One is enough...you're unique.. :P

Dilbert75

Neady83 wrote: »

I was sent home from work so I had to find something to do with myself :

You've done some great running and adventure races. Whats the plan for 2016?

Tooth still at you?

No plans for '16 yet apart from Loughrea Tri on July 31st... Not finished with '15 yet!

Neady83

I'll come and cheer you on in Loughrea

Yea, it's bothering me when the pain killers wear off but it should start to go down tomorrow, be grand

Nice, sounds like you've plenty in the pipeline. First things first though, I'd really really enjoy a SCAR race report next week, I think we all would

Dilbert75

I'll Google one for ye. Tbh I don't know if CM would survive the shock if I were to do one myself.

Btw I'll be bringing two newbies to Loughrea for their first tris. Yourself and CM should join us. Ye've plenty time to get ready.

Dilbert75

SCAR Expert 2015

career move

That is not an acceptable race report

Dilbert75

career move wrote: »

That is not an acceptable race report

I'm an engineer - we're trained to let the data do the talking... :P

sconhome

career move wrote: »

That is not an acceptable race report

Definitely not #TriHarder standard!!

Were you really doing star jumps for 12 mins or is that kayak?

Nice work Dilbert!! Looks like a lumpy enough course

Dilbert75

AKW wrote: »

Definitely not #TriHarder standard!!

Were you really doing star jumps for 12 mins or is that kayak?

Nice work Dilbert!! Looks like a lumpy enough course

Time out was waiting for kayaks to come back - it was a one-way course - a group of us arrived in close succession, so there was a delay. No cafe close though

Lumpy doesn't come close. Only 4 people cycled up one of the hills - everyone else walked. There were a few other hills nearly as bad.

Barry Badrinath

Dilbert75 wrote: »

Time out was waiting for kayaks to come back - it was a one-way course - a group of us arrived in close succession, so there was a delay. No cafe close though

Lumpy doesn't come close. Only 4 people cycled up one of the hills - everyone else walked. There were a few other hills nearly as bad.

Nice time Dilbert!

Man, I did this last year and I still have nightmares from those hills! Particularly that mad one! No shame in admitting that I pretty much walker it.

Here, did the bus reverse down the hill to the start line this year? It was worth going just to see that!

Are you better with a kayak yet?

Neady83

Well done C, nice job

So you conquered the Wall at Coomb Hill? I saw some picks, it looks like a seriously challenging course, yikes them hills are vertical. How did your pairing on the kayak go?

Dilbert75

Haha yeah that bus driver was some piece of work. Kayak actually went well - single seat sit-ons and I was comfortable throughout. A guy shortcut the first buoy and was heading rapidly for me and I was easily able to up the cadence and leave him behind, even though the speed didn't rise due to the water current.

Didn't cycle up the 2 or 3 biggest hills - but did take one in the last 15k or so , that everyone around me walked, and regretted it for the rest of the way back. Legs toasted.

Are ye trying to get a race report in chapters or something?

Neady83

Dilbert75 wrote: »

Are ye trying to get a race report in chapters or something?

We've been rumbled, we figured if we kept asking you questions about various parts of the course, we'd eventually have the makings of a report from you

Dilbert75

Tonight I did a short high-cadence turbo session (and the kitchen consequently needs fresh air:o).

Having raced on Sat, swam Sunday, cycled today and with a club swim tomorrow, this is as close as I've been to actually engaging in regular training for quite a while (3 points makes a trend). If I end up getting fitter and more competitive, Dory and Oryx in particular will have questions to answer - all this inspirational iron-hoochiness could yet be heading for tears...

If none of that happens then it's probably because I fell off the wagon myself...

Dilbert75

Actually here's another newbie question for any other turboists: how to select the correct gear? Last night I was trying to stay in gears 8,9 or10 throughout but nearly fell off the bike after a half hour. Obviously it'd have been a lot easier to hit the cadence targets in a lower gear but less valuable from an effort point of view. So how to hit the happy medium?

MojoMaker

This is why you need to train with power or virtual power, it will always set the correct effort target for the specific workout you're doing and all you have to do it hang on - takes the wondering right out of it.

Dilbert75

Thanks MM. Will have to see if my 310XT can show that, because otherwise I don't have power meter gadgets (Garmin connect does show simulated power so hopefully!).

Are there many turbo videos that specify power targets or does everyone just set their own?

sconhome

Get yourself some sufferfest videos and hang on for the ride!

Can also try Ride Fit as an option. TBH I wouldn't worry too much about a PM or that. Go off effort for now. Intervals should be tough but not so tough that you can't finish them. Using HR as a guide to how your body is reacting also works as an option.

Hard to beat a PM but we managed before them (I'm not selling mine now though )

Dory Dory

If it makes you feel any better, zico doesn't train with a power meter.

zico10

Dory Dory wrote: »

If it makes you feel any better, zico doesn't train with a power meter.

Nor did the fastest AGer in Kona this year. Lots of people swear by them and I'm sure they're not lying. It's just the stock response to a lot of questions regarding bike training on boards, seems to be to get a power meter. I don't know what to make of that, other than to say, it's very easy to train very hard without one.

Dilbert75

So do you have any secrets for maximising potential in training without burning out? Does it just come down to experience?

zico10

Dilbert75 wrote: »

So do you have any secrets for maximising potential in training without burning out? Does it just come down to experience?

I don't like putting myself forward as a training guru, but seeing as you asked;

I'm not sure how to answer your question and who's to say I've ever gotten the maximum from my potential?

I don't think I have any secrets. I know when I'm tired, I don't need to check my resting heart rate to find this out. I feel like I'm fairly in tune with my body and by and large I know how hard I can push things. I guess this comes from the cumulative effect of all the training I've ever done.

Having said all that, you could strap a HRM on my chest, or stick a PM on my bike, and based on the data more knowledgeable people than me might disagree. But I've seen people freak out that their heart rates were a few beats over what they'd expect and fnck up training sessions as a result. And from listening to some people analyse races, I'm convinced having a PM did their performances more harm than good.

tunney

zico10 wrote: »

Nor did the fastest AGer in Kona this year. Lots of people swear by them and I'm sure they're not lying. It's just the stock response to a lot of questions regarding bike training on boards, seems to be to get a power meter. I don't know what to make of that, other than to say, it's very easy to train very hard without one.

Stock response on boards is to get a power meter. Agreed.
Very few train with power though.

Who is to say that with a power meter might have made a difference to you in Mallorca?

pgibbo

Can you adjust the resistance on your turbo or are you limited to cycling through the gears to increase resistance?

Dory Dory

I'll chime in here as well, with the same qualifying warnings that I am certainly no expert on the subject.

I think there is no substitute for being in tune to your body....and, for what we are talking about, that comes via repetitious experience...learning how your body feels, learning what it feels like to stay below the red, learning how your body feels in the different training zones, learning how to pace your effort so you can complete the task at hand in the way the session (or race) was intended. I think power meters have value in training (not sure about in racing because I have been instructed not to use them in races at this time), but zico is living proof that such a device is certainly not a requirement to achieve great things.

As far as how to train without a power meter, as noted by others, HR is a viable metric to go off of as you can set your training zones by your HR (various ways to do that) and work off of that. Additionally, pay attention to what gears you use and what your cadence is when you're doing a turbo session - write this info down, then when you repeat the session you can crudely determine your progress. To me, in the simplest of terms, the formula for power is: gear + cadence. So, if you know those two variables, you can determine your own "Dilbert-power"....and if you combine that with HR determined training zones, you'll probably be wondering what all the power meter fuss is about!

zico10

tunney wrote: »

Very few train with power though.

I get the impression even fewer train effectively with it.

Who is to say that with a power meter might have made a difference to you in Mallorca?

Among many other things, it is something I've wondered about.

Boardcore

I've found TrainerRoad very useful.
The Software can provide a virtual power algorithm for pretty much every Turbo Trainer on the market. It might not be accurate against dedicated PowerMeters but it would be a good baseline to work off - to set-up your zones.
Something to look at when your on the Turbo too.

Dilbert75

pgibbo wrote: »

Can you adjust the resistance on your turbo or are you limited to cycling through the gears to increase resistance?

Yep - 10 levels. That's kinda a confounding factor - gears + resistance. I've been trying to cycle at normal road speeds but blew out on high cadence the other night.

Dilbert75

Thanks for all the replies - I know so little about this stuff that I'd consider you all to be experts in comparison. It's sounding a lot like trial and error is going to be a big part of my turbo training for a while yet.