Find a used PM online in your area?

---

***

Borrow a friends pedals.

Buy faveros and sell them after race and take 150 loss or so. So like renting almost.

It sounds like you have to make 1 of 2 decisions to (even though you listed more options).
Option 1 is your cheapest and best bet of getting a PM before race day. *However, you may have different readings and it may throw your race off...hopefully they will be similar readings.

Option 2 is upgrade shipping from Garmin to guarantee it will be there. Is that possible?

Maybe a friend or buddy has a set you can borrow? I'd lend you mind-out with injury (broken collarbone and concussion), but I don't use garmin pedal system.

Good luck!!

Take my advise with a grain of salt, I'm just a MOP triathlete.

As others have suggested, find something local like from a friend/local tri group and borrow or buy and resell if you only want for race. You need to be aware that numbers can be different that your current PM, especially if not the exact same ones. Not sure if 2 weeks is enough to figure it out especially if you are tapering.

During races, I use my power data as just one data point in combination to RPE and HR though power has more weight. I also know power can be off, I've had my vector 2 (two sided) completely off due to one side's battery needing replacement.

I've found training with power more important than racing with power. Tech is a great aid but shouldn't be a crutch.

Go option 2, I’ve had great experience with Garmin customer service (swapping Garmin Vector 3) and their turn around time and shipping was fast. You can get it expedited too.

Good luck on the race!

---

https://www.strava.com/athletes/pmadjarov

There is a reason Garmin Customer service is so good - they have a lot of experience in exchanging their non-working PM pedals :)

Jokes aside, I would (in all honesty) rather go for Option 1 than Option 2.

4 for the win. Check your training log to see what your approx Ironman wattage heart rate was and stick to that the first couple of hours. After that your pacing will start to become obvious.

Prepare to ride on HR.
Redo a ride you have done before with a working PM at the same average speed and use that to cross-calibrate to an HR for that power.
Bear in mind thermo-drift for HR during the ride so start lower and allow HR to drift higher. RPE is also your friend to moderate that.

Where are you located?

I’d be a bit wary of changing pedals as it may affect your fit. I know my P1s are a bit thicker than say speedplays

I'd say if you're going to be buying a new PM buy a dual sided one.
I also like option 4.

Now I know a lot of people are going to gasp in horror at me saying go without power yet one of the top things you should be learning in all your training is how to properly pace things. Power is great for keeping you in check minute by minute but it's mostly a post hoc tool and PRE should be the primary metric when you're training, or at least learning how a 80 min threshold effort feels or how 5x5 vo2 max feels.

One thing I've noticed is more often than not people who stated the sport prior to garmin watches and pm's have a better sense of pacing and less issues in situation's where their PM died compared to people who grew up in the PM and your watch telling you your pace all the time era.


Mulen said this ""There is a reason Garmin Customer service is so good - they have a lot of experience in exchanging their non-working PM pedals :)"""

Mulen is not wrong you know. I'd be willing to bet that I've had < 5 athletes over the years that Garmin has had power pedals that didn't have to send them back within the first 2 years and some athletes have sent back multiple pairs before moving on.

Good luck, hope everything works out

---

Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

Thanks everyone for the replies. I decided to do a little test. I had a two hour ride on the schedule so I picked a hilly route in Zwift and rode my Kickr in Erg mode, but once I got the Kickr calibrated I turned off the screen so I couldn't see my numbers and just rode by feel. I was able to ride conservatively and pace by HR (shown on my watch w/ strap) so I think i'm just gonna go by HR and not stress about learning a new PM and questioning the data the whole ride.

I've got to trust my training and my ability to adapt on race day.

I'll let y'all know how it goes in two weeks!

Race without it and go by feel

---

Andrew Garwood
http://www.2xu.com
http://www.newtonrunning.com
http://www.ascendsport.com.au

Take it out of erg mode and see what happens. Non erg mode is more closer to real life than erg mode.

---

Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

Both HR and PM data are most useful for post hoc analysis. Going forward, collect all of the data that you can and carefully review it to see what sort of actionable or informative patterns emerge. As you train, note the data that you see on your computer and us it to calibrate your sense of RPE over time. Neither HR or PM data is offer a foolproof method of pacing. Understand your breathing patterns at different levels of intensity; note how hard or easy an effort feels; over time, you'll find that RPE will be your most reliable tool for pacing. Keep in mind that your specific values for a particular day may be above or below the values that you saw testing.

I seldom will display power or HR data during an event, as there is little that I can do to hit the numbers if I am falling short, or (even worse) I worry that I might be having a rare float day and that I could limit my performance artificially by not broaching a specific number. On my computer, I'll display time and sometimes distance. All of the other numbers mostly are going to be distractions.

Remember, all of this data is useful for identifying trends. The short version is that if you feel that you're going hard, then you likely are, regardless of your numbers.

Hi all,

Wanted to give an update of how the race went.

I ended up finding a buddy who lent me a set of favero Assioma pedals. I tested them out against my Kickr and found them to be within a watt or two, so I stuck with my target power zones.

During the race I was glad I had them as I started up the big hills and saw some pretty high watts (much higher than I expected). I backed off a bit and was able to stay between 200-210W on the hills. On the flats I didn't really pay attention to the powermeter as I was just focused on eating and drinking and keeping HR pretty steady (under 138 bpm).

Overall I finished the bike ride comfortably in 6:08. I"m glad I had power numbers because I was able to raise my effort the second loop whereas my training buddies fell off their pace goals later in the race.

Thanks again for all the comments and suggestions. I'm still waiting on the PowerPod to arrive from China and hopefully I can fix my Vector 2's. If not, the Favero pedals are pretty sweet!

I'd keep my wife happy after buying a new bike. Race on feel and experience and try not to stress about pacing. If you can figure out the last part of that, let me know. I know there's a lot of training behind getting ready for a IM, but it's not your job, so enjoy it and surprise yourself. Good luck! reply back with how it went.

---

Great things never come from comfort zones.