First, amazing bike split. Not discounting that, congrats for sure. But your power numbers are off by 70w at least. I'm 178 and I go 25 mph on ~260w and your TSS is like 4x the recommended amount for that ride. Numbers don't jive at all. But you're a beast, so who gives a shit what the watts are. :)

I'm really curious...these numbers are fascinating, so I'll ask...
Do you guys ride standard or compact cranks? I have always been a standard crank guy, but seeing a lot of people going to compact.

So what is it...
compact
or
standard

????

Standard crank. 172.5mm length

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Proudly Team BSR

No, the power nazis realise that HR response is unreliable for such a purpose and more likely to mislead than reliably inform.

If you need a HR monitor to tell you about "heat situations, altitude, onset of training fatigue (over a duration of time, not one day), getting sick or just having a bad day", then you have bigger problems to address, like learning some common sense.

Here is an interesting tidbit from my ride file. On a 4:55 bike split, I spent 15 minutes of it at zero cadence. I purposefully tucked and coasted on all downhills when I hit 27 mph or so. I specifically remember dropping down into Kawaihai (after tuning off the Queen K) and hitting my race max. speed of 45mph in my tuck position, I passed 3 or 4 dudes that were pedalling!!.15 mins of zeros will decrease your average power quite a bit, so I'd be interested to know how much coasting folks that have higher avergage power on similar bike splits did. If I can figure it out, I'd like to know the average speed I maintained while zero cadence. I'd bet we'll be looking at close to 30mph. Think about that, 15 minutes of my ride at close to 30mph at absolutely no energy cost!

Thread participants: Please look at your ride files and let us know how much coasting you did.

Edit: I just figured out that average speed for my cadences between 0 and 20 revs was 29.5 mph!!!!!!
or looked at a different way, average mph for powers of 0-50 is 29.5 mph also.

For your amusement Russ I had 11 minutes of zero watts.

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Ben McMurray
Northern Michigan Small Farm Venture ---> http://facebook.com/hillvalleymi [/size]

I don't think it's uncommon for everyone to free wheel or soft pedal those sections and with less cross winds, folks were more inclined to do so this year.

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-Of course it's 'effing hard, it's IRONMAN!
Team ZOOT
ZOOT, QR, Garmin, HED Wheels, Zealios, FormSwim, Precision Hydration, Rudy Project

How wonderfully parochial...

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-Of course it's 'effing hard, it's IRONMAN!
Team ZOOT
ZOOT, QR, Garmin, HED Wheels, Zealios, FormSwim, Precision Hydration, Rudy Project

Same here 11 minutes, not sure how to figure out the average speed for those 11 minutes though.

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-Brad Williams
Website | Twitter: @BW_Tri |Instagram: @BW_Tri | Strava | Co-Founder & Coach at: KIS Coaching
Partnered with: Zoot Sports | Precision Fuel &Hydration | ISM

Brad, compared to last year is that more, less, or similar?

Here was my cadence from 2012, with the big drop off at the Penalty tent just after the turn in Hawi. I didn't coast as much..



But my HR didn't drop, so I was still putting out effort on the descent fighting the winds...

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-Of course it's 'effing hard, it's IRONMAN!
Team ZOOT
ZOOT, QR, Garmin, HED Wheels, Zealios, FormSwim, Precision Hydration, Rudy Project

I spent 19 minutes between 0-24 watts

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____________________________________

Are you ready to do an Ultraman? | How I calculate Ironman race fueling | Strength Training for Athletes |

12 min coasting for me...

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T. Guertin / Spocket

Bryan, your HR graph is very uninformative. When seen with your rare power graph, you can 'see' the true differences between different folks' ride. If you can apply your power the way you track your hr, I suspect your run gets faster. I know you'll attribute power spikes to getting around packs, in my opinion that is exactly opposite of what one should do. Ben and I dropped off the back of groups when they formed, soft pedaled and let things clear up until reasonable watts could make the pass.

Garmin 's .Tsx file can be viewed in Excel. Find the cadence column and filter by all low cadences, then find speed column and highlight all the speed values, the average will appear at the bottom of the Excel window. Note: in my file speed values were expressed as m/s so I used Google to convert to mph.

Really?! Tell me more... ;) It is a fair approximation of relative effort but here is that power file although I can't vouch for it's veracity, I never calibrated the meter when I had the bike I rode for 3 months.



Brad couldn't post from work but messages me:
"9mins last year, I was also out on the course 32 minutes longer 😉 Coming down Hawi took me 12:29 last year on 153W's, this year was 13:04 on 225W's. I can't see those images from work....."

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-Of course it's 'effing hard, it's IRONMAN!
Team ZOOT
ZOOT, QR, Garmin, HED Wheels, Zealios, FormSwim, Precision Hydration, Rudy Project

I can put out 5-10 more watts for a minute or so with very little detectable rise in HR (especially when tired). Accumulate enough of those events and minutes get tacked on the run. I cringe when you try to make associations with a flat line HR graph when there is no real information there. Most of the valuable conclusions you make from your ride last year is from your power graph, which you only happened to have . Why you don't get a Pm is beyond me. Someone as good as you is missing easy opportunities to get better if you have the data.

I see at least seven instances where you should be slapped upside the head.

3.3 minutes at zero cadence / avg speed for that time period ~29 mph. My opinion? You are coasting too much.

Also relevant, 67 minutes of my ride, similar in speed to yours, was at 27 mph or higher.

Why you think a PM is the only way to succeed is beyond me but you have drunk the Kool-Aid. I appreciate it as another tool, but I know enough to know there are no absolutes. I enjoy training and racing the way I do. HR served me very well last year at IMSG when the going got tough and other people crumbled because I am so in tune with it. I'm not adverse to using one, just haven't felt a huge compelling need. Maybe next year if we pick up Garmin as a sponsor, I can get try their Vector system. And I don't recall attributing power spikes to anything whatsoever and there is always something to be gleaned from all data, including HR, so please don't cringe, it's unattractive. :)

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-Of course it's 'effing hard, it's IRONMAN!
Team ZOOT
ZOOT, QR, Garmin, HED Wheels, Zealios, FormSwim, Precision Hydration, Rudy Project

I was wondering why my VI was higher this year than last year and discovered a few days ago that my increased coasting time was the big difference. Thanks for the idea about pulling the ride data into a spreadsheet and sorting it. In any case, here's the comparative data:

2012: 5:04, 195/205W AP/NP, 12 mins at 0W at average coasting speed of 52km/h
2013: 4:52, 191/205W AP/NP, 17.5 mins at 0W at average coasting speed of 48km/h (only 4 mins coasting below 40km/h)

As it turns out, when I was pedaling, my average W were approximately the same each year (~203-4W) and the only real difference between the 2 years was the coasting time. I know a low VI is always recommended but I'm pretty happy to coast at ~50km/h or greater. Curious now to see what others are doing, or other's thoughts on this. Is it smart to ride a higher VI on this sort of course and day, or would a lower VI have been better?

One drinks the Kool-Aid if they have a power meter and don't know what to do with it. In no way am I implying that it is the absolute only way to improve, but I can say with absolute certainty that any meaningful analysis of a race effort on the bike comes from data and metrics collected with a power meter. Looking at a HR graph alone says you kept your HR stable. You've been successful despite not having a power meter, but you could be better. Especially now that your are more time crunched than ever before. Don't make me dig up the numerous threads where you posted comments of your last year's analysis. Most of which were not based on your HR data alone, which should be a clear sign that you are gleaning data off of the very device you shun. When you get your Garmin pedals you'd better pick your favorite flavor of Kool-Aid!

Hmm, not sure why you conclude this. I had 66 minutes at 27 mph or higher, and if 15 minutes of it was with zero cadence then I conclude you wasted energy for 12 more minutes than I did (if you only had 3 mins of zero cadence) to achieve the same general bike split. My Opinion? You didn't coast enough! You didn't get anywhere faster for the effort!

11mins this year
9mins last year, I was also out on the course 32 minutes longer. Coming down Hawi took me 12:29 last year on 153W's, this year was 13:04 on 225W's.

Kona 12
5:13, 210/221W AP/NP
50W and Under 46.06kmph
Cad 30 and Under 46.3kmph

Kona 13
4:41, 234/245W AP/NP
50W and Under 41.8kmph
Cad 30 and Under 42.8kmph

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-Brad Williams
Website | Twitter: @BW_Tri |Instagram: @BW_Tri | Strava | Co-Founder & Coach at: KIS Coaching
Partnered with: Zoot Sports | Precision Fuel &Hydration | ISM

To be clear, I posted that HR data as a data point demonstrating last year descending from Hawi I had to keep pedaling in response to the theory you posited that you did a lot if free wheeling and thus saved energy. HR is an indicator of work and energy, it is a measure of effort needed to create power. We can't be so pedantic to think it has no value. You posted that comment Mark Allen made about Ironman being a closed energy system. I agree with him, and if you only have so much energy to expend during a race, you best have all indicators if energy costs available to you. But that's all, I don 't mean to derail the topic, and I like peach. :)

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-Of course it's 'effing hard, it's IRONMAN!
Team ZOOT
ZOOT, QR, Garmin, HED Wheels, Zealios, FormSwim, Precision Hydration, Rudy Project

To be clear, I posted that HR data as a data point demonstrating last year descending from Hawi I had to keep pedaling in response to the theory you posited that you did a lot if free wheeling and thus saved energy. HR is an indicator of work and energy, it is a measure of effort needed to create power. We can't be so pedantic to think it has no value. You posted that comment Mark Allen made about Ironman being a closed energy system. I agree with him, and if you only have so much energy to expend during a race, you best have all indicators if energy costs available to you. But that's all, I don 't mean to derail the topic, and I like peach. :)