hello again

So if you don't mind where do you ramp out at you last 4min power and how much change in vo2max watts is there from ealry season to late? Thank you for responding
cheers

I did the last test the second week in May and maxed out 1 min in the 400W ramp, i�m 173cm and 65kg (5.7 ft and 143 lb). I don�t have the test results on my laptop but if i remember right the VO2Max watts doesn�t chance much from early to late season. My FTP is 290W...

sorry for all the Qs I have one more if you don't mind what is your vo2max?
once again cheers

here's the thing: the 4:30 bike split guys are doing the same thing the 5:15 guys are.... just better. that's why it's important to know what his run splits are... if he's running a 4 hour marathon, like Matthew Illingworth (sorry Matt, we've never met), then maybe he should invest his time elsewhere, do the BARE MINIMUM to maintain his 4:45 bike, and get faster that way.

When his swim and run are on par w/ his bike, then he can begin to rebuild his bike. This is called SMART training, and that is what it takes.

I biked my ass off last year, got my FTP up into the areas above that people are recommending, and then I cut an hour off my IM time. Where did the bulk of the time come from? Yes, you're right, it was the bike.... NO WAIT! Actually, it was the RUN.

And that my friend, is why it matters.

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

If it is really all about pulling off a 4:30 IM distance bike split and that�s all that matters, think about finding a course that compliments your strengths. Not sure where you rode your 4:42, but that�s a great time. Congratulations.

If your ideal course is perfectly flat, on nice pavement with very little wind and comfy air temps in the mid 60�s (degrees) there are enough IM distance races on the calendar that you should be able to find at least one event that that suits you. Granted, no course is perfect and the time of year in which the event occurs might not fit your schedule. However, select an event that comes as close to complimenting your strengths (and your schedule) as possible.

It looks like your bike training is in order and you are obviously very highly motivated. All you need to do is find the right venue and execute your plan.

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**All of these words finding themselves together were greatly astonished and delighted for assuredly, they had never met before**

Jocke, So you put in on average about 11.5 hours of training total per week? and get a 4:30 bike split? or you get 11.5 for biking alone per week.

Seems incredible but he confirmed a few times already that he trains 11.5 hours for s/b/r combined. Clearly, he is the poster boy for the Intensity beats Volume. ;)

Alex

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First with the head, then with the heart. -- HG

Yes, everyone here with common sense realizes that's what you are saying but most of those replying are the anal types who sat in the front row in 3rd grade and salivated over opportunities to correct the teacher for not giving the most precise answer possible to every question asked.

At least you didn't misspell anything.

Anyway, it's always fun to look at how people faster than you are training.

Yeah, and he also weighs 143 lbs when his tank is full.

Re Matt Illingworth ... if my memory serves me correctly he was formerly on the UK olympic cycling squad and hasn't been doing IMs that long. It's not beyond the realms of possibility to pace the bike pretty well and end up running around 4 hours. Nutrition could have played a part. I rode 4:47 at intensity that was meant to be well within my zones and then got off and ran well for 32km, stopped for what was MEANT to be a 1-2 min 'well-earnt' walk break then tried to start up again and discovered my quads had been smashed to pieces. I ended up walking for 8km without much of a care in the world (there were 3 slots and still 5 in front) and finished run leg in 3:54. I certainly don't think I went too hard on the bike.

I don't think Matt really cared too much about a slow run leg either :)

HAHAHA

well said

first, let me just retract a little on that statement... he is an amazing athlete, had nearly the best bike split at IM Japan this year (would have had it, a course record, and faster than uber-biker Mitch Anderson except for a flat), and crushed me by 20 minutes.

I just brought up his times as an example... if one of your splits is top 1% and another is much slower, you would get more return on your investment FOCUSING on the weakness and MAINTAINING the strength.... and because I knew he was a professional cyclist, that's all.

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

My VO2Max is 4800ml on the bike and 4900ml when running. I have raised my VO2Max 300ml in two years after i started to do VO2Max intervals regularly.

Since the common way to train for IM is hours after hours i can see why people ask if i only train 11.5hrs/w in average or bike 11.5hrs/ in average. I�ve trained 350hrs this year in total and that is 11.5hrs of training in all sports, s/b/r. This doesn�t mean i don�t put in some big volume from time to time...I do big volume weeks close to my IM race b/c i believe this is when you need it the most.
I also do long sessions real hard. Before last week IM race i did a couple of bike sessions that was 2hrs steady, 2hrs hard (10-15 beats above IM puls) and last 2hrs steady. I ran a few session that was 1.5hrs steady, 0.5hrs 15-20 beats from LT (fat max) and last 0.5hrs steady. When i do training sessions like this my legs hurts like hell in the end and i need to rest a few days before running or biking again, then you don�t get a 20h/week average.

I'm sorry to bring this up again, but why do you want do a 4:30 bike split?
If you are a triathlete I assume that you are foremost interrseted in getting to the finish line as fast as possible (you said it yourself), and judging by your run split, working more on the bike wont get you there.

We had the best conditions possible last saturday and cutting 12 minutes off from that time will be very hard and require more work than is reasonable, since you are already biking a LOT. Why not aim for a 4:45-50 next year instead and work on your run and swim over the winter. When you can get those times closer to your biking ability, then you can start thinking about improving your bike again. Of course, all this assuming that you want to improve as a triathlete. You will improve hours on your IM-time!

I'm not trying to critisize here, I just don't understand how you prioritize.

We also need to acknowledge that you are a talented individual and that your body is much closer to optimal than what most of us AGers are. So you may get much better results from your training plan than others.

Based on an excellent CdA of 0.2 and Crr of 0.005 (average road) without wind that requires only about 210W at the rear wheel to ride 24.9mph. That's not actually this much power, really. It's about 220W at the crank, which is about 76% of his FTP. This is all right inline with a reasonable but not all-out effort.

The key is that in order to ride that fast you have to have an extremely low CdA and Crr and not have a windy day. I rode two HIM races, put out 15W more on one of them and rode 1mph slower...all due to the wind. But my CdA is around 0.22-0.23 and it would take me 243W at the crank to go 24.9mph...77% of my ~315W FTP. My target last year for the GFT was about 215-220W average but I didn't reach it due to nutritional issues (eating chain oil = sick stomach). That kind of power would have only netted me about 20.5mph though due to the hills and wind.

WRT the OP, I did interval workouts and a weekly sorta-FTP test as part of my workout. 6x4min with 5 mins rest one day, 2x20min with 5 mins rest another day, then saturday either long (100+ miles at or above race pace) or medium (50-60ish above HIM race pace) to get ready. My FTP went from 240ish to 315ish in 2 months...I posted top 20 bike splits at the GFT and MiamiMan last fall. I am following some of the above advice and attempting to maintain my bike fitness while struggling to improve my running.

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