not sure about your question, but i did notice in your tagline that you are doing a full marathon pretty close in time to your first IM...my advice would be for you to be very very careful during your marathon...different people recover differently...but you dont need to run a full marathon as part of your im training...in some cases, it is likely to be counterproductive

I realize it's close but heck, it's the inaugural marathon in my home town. I've beeen doing marathons the last few years (always travelling a fair distance) and this is a new venture into tri's. I imagine it wil be very hard for me to go slow in the marathon if I'm in good shape.

I'm still not sure how I'm going to approach my training schedule, the 1/2 IM is 5 weeks after the marathon and I hope to do a full tri 8 weeks later.

I'm going to build bike base the next three months and I've joined a Masters swim group. In January I'll start increasing my running mileage, but I'm not sure how I'll approach my bike/swim schedule and whether I will train through the marathon without a big taper.

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http://www.actionshots.ca

When I first got on my P3C 6 weeks ago, I decided I needed to make some dramatic changes. I was riding a road bike w/clips, and I had 9cm of drop. I flipped the stem, removed all of the spacers, and I removed the risers on the elbow pads on the Vision Tech aerobar pads, and I moved the pads closer together. Now I am at 16-17cm of drop. I did not have any major troubles adapting to this position and I rode a half ironman 3 weeks later in that position and felt comfortable. Oh yeah, I have the fizik arione tri saddle and I really love it. It seems to take any pressure off the "nether-region."

My situation is similar, I´m planning on doing my first marathon (A-priority) June 3rd and my first HIM (B-priority) 6 weeks later. I thought this was a good idea and figured I´d have plenty of time to recover.

good stuff at masterstriathlete.com on positions, also Slowman's articles here

I say - no real upside to hurrying the process of moving spacers from below to above the stem.

I waited a year+ after getting low before I cut any of my steerer tube, and I left some room to raise back up if i want. Sure it may have looked dorky to some, but who cares really. Once you cut it, there is no going back.

I found that as I got lower, smaller increments had more of an impact. That is, going from 7-9.5cm drop was not all that noticeable, going from 12-13 was quite a dif feel, and from 14.5-15 was night and day.

You'll likely want to edge your seat forward as you lower your front end, so you don't pinch your thigh/torso angle too tight. As I dropped lower, my seat came forward, went to a shorter stem and saddle nose came down a tad.

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The Ride of Truth - OWN your ride.

I'm definitely looking for a new saddle as I tend to go completely numb after 50 mins on the trainer and a bit longer on the road. I sure wish I was near a bike shop that stocked these things so I could try them out.

I may have to go a bit slower at dropping my bars since I'm not as flexible as I used to be. Perhaps I'll take out two spacers next time.

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http://www.actionshots.ca

Thanks, that's the info I was looking for. I think I might take some pictures of before and after and check the angles out in relation to the Slowtwitch fit articles. I wonder if I can measure angles in photoshop?

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http://www.actionshots.ca

Yep. I've found it helpful to take before/after pics (post them here if you are brave).
I also keep a log of at least a few basic distance measurements. That way I can always get back to a prior set up.
bottom bracket->saddle nose
saddle nose->arm pads, stem bolt, aero bar tips
that kind of thing

have fun with it

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The Ride of Truth - OWN your ride.

When dropping the front ends on both my road and tri bikes, I do 5mm increments, and ride it for a good 4 weeks. Keep in mind, though that I was relatively happy with my starting position. If you get a new bike or just know that your current fit is way off, you may be able to change faster. On the flip side, if you have never ridden aggressively, or are not super experienced, you may need to go slower. I tried going to aggressive to soon in the past, and it didn't bode well for my long rides. An elite/pro position will take many seasons and years to achieve.

Maybe you shouldn't. At least until you have some means to quantify whether or not you are actually faster. I lowered my front end over last winter and was slower in my first race. Nor was I comfortable. I went to a fitter and he raised me up three or four inches to the point I had begun the previous winter. Problem solved. Lower is not always faster.

Chad