It would be an interesting analysis to compare benefit of steady effort versus reallocating effort on major hills. For example, if your target wattage is 250, it might make a lot more sense for overall time to up the effort to the high 200s on the climb and then rest during the coast, versus riding up a lot slower at 250W on the uphill and then adding a small amount of speed on the descent to maintain 250W. I bet the difference in increasing wattage on the climb saves minutes overall (especially if the climb is 20 - 30 minutes).

I agree. I think I phrased it in a confusing way.... the meat of my real point is that you should push up to your target wattage until you hit the speed that you tuck. It was a funny learning curve going from a road racing background to triathlon for me, because my tuck on my TT bike is a lot more specific and cumbersome than just getting a little lower in the drops on a road bike. I have to go down onto the bullhorns and scoot onto the very front of the saddle to get the same kind of speed. It took racing a challenging course like St. George for me to really hone that position and realize the benefit. Everybody is different, and we all have a comfort/survival vs. speed/results debate going on throughout a race. That's why we do it. I agree with the earlier post that I would go on a tour if I just wanted to sit up and chat on the descents.

So if I understand your comment, if you aren't going to hammer the bike, get out of the sport and do bike tours? What about all the people who are walking/shuffling the run (at least half the field)? Should they have just signed up group run instead?

Cam Wurf has spoken in interviews several times about simply learning to ride fast. Finding speed on a course comes down to a lot of these type strategies. Knowing how many matches you have, where to burn them, and how that is going to effect your run. This discussion seems to be split between a technical discussion of going fast vs. is it okay to race just to get the hardware. Two totally different discussions. I love the "I just want to finish crowd" and think they are a big part of the sport. Most of us are simply competing against ourselves, but even if you're just trying to PB a course learning to expend energy on the bike is key. Turning the pedals on descents is important even if you're just pushing 75 watts in my opinion, but as I mentioned earlier, I come from a road racing background and we don't ever stop pedaling unless we're tucked, even if it's just freewheeling forward on a descent pushing minimal watts.

I think this post above ^^^^^^^ falls in the use your watts where they really matter category.

Some of those places, and the ones triathletes are going to typically deal with is, use watts going up hills & into headwinds.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

I disagree with using your power in the headwind :) uphill? Yes, as you fight gravity.

In a headwind the speed of the air is windspeed + your speed = really high = you get less speed for the extra power as the drag goes up exponential when increasing speed. In a tailwind is the opposite - I’ve good results with +10 watt in a tailwind and -10 watt in a headwind compared to goal power.

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Long Distance PB: 8:25
Instagram: larsschmidttri