What do you define as success in "biking" (cycling) and why do you hate the culture?

For context, I am a cat 2 on the road and did not choose my sport for the culture.

-Physiojoe

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-Physiojoe
Instagram: @thephysiojoe
Cycling coach, Elite racer on Wooster Bikewerks p/b Wootown Bagels

Clearly training should be a priority over buying equipment, but the two are never mutually exclusive. I've never heard someone suggest buying speed but not putting in the work.

People should spend however much money they want to on their hobbies and whatever amount that is, it's the right amount for that individual. Buying race wheels before doing your first triathlon seems a bit silly to me, but if he's got the money and wants to spend it, then I have no problem with it.

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-Andrew

If you want fluffy puppies and pats on the head, BT is available. If you want the truth and honest assessments (Yes, with the occasional snark), then you're in the right place.

And honestly, "bike culture", "tri culture", it's all the same. You have elitists in every arena.

John

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Top notch coaching: Francois and Accelerate3 | Follow on Twitter: LifetimeAthlete |

850m is not a long swim. It's a warm up (and I'm saying this as a middle of the pack swimmer on my best days). [Edit: To clarify, I did these same kind of 'long' sessions for the first few months when I was getting into Triathlon, I puddled around with 3 or 4 of them a week for about 3 months, making almost no progress. Went to a swimming coach, first session was about 1800ms, some with fins / pull buoy / kick, I never pushed myself that hard, and I damn well needed to. I also wouldn't have known what to do.)

If you're serious about triathlon, hire a swim coach and spend 3 or 4 serious days a week in the pool. It'll 'buy' you far more speed than a set of aero wheels.

Also "pretty sure" is not the same as "have done in in a race", go find out. Until you actually know from race day experience where things are holding you back, any purchases at this point are pure speculation. Do you need lighter wheels that give you more of a climbing advantage, do you want stiff wheels that give you more speed but might impact your run, do you want heavier wheels that roll well and support good cornering? And no wheelset is going to give you more than 2 or 3 minutes in a sprint (with the possible outlier exceptions of jumping from bottom of the barrel road wheels to Lightweights)

All these questions are ones that you won't really find out until racing. Spend the cash on swimming, it's a better investment.

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Proud member of the GUCrew
Twitter: @tripigeon Blog: Ironpigeon.com
Thoughts on AG sponsorships / community involvement: http://bit.ly/1dQlVDy

That's pretty fucking fast.

Thsoe are fairly solid biek and run times, but you need ot start racing. Start with sprints, where swimming is short and won't penalize you so much. Spend most of your tiem swimming, now and just enough cycling and running to maintain where your at. Once you have a good swim technique, it the sport your need to spend the least time on. Personally, I use swimming for recovery workouts after hard bike ro run days as much has anything, for bad weather days, winter training and to keep up training volume. I also happen to enjoy swimming... to a point. Relaxing and satisfying.

Wait on gear. If your a poor swimmer you may do well don't you aren't fast enough to be winning races.


+1.. on long swims. My warm-up is usually anywhere from an easy to moderate 500-1000 yards, or I roll right into a longer 1500-2200yard swim occassionally. Everything else is always intervals. You gain little just doing long strgith swims. You gain little doing any of the 3 disciplines, as long constant pace workouts unless specifically structured as such.

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TrainingBible Coaching
http://www.trainingbible.com

 Also, why do you think you can bike 25 mph after swimming and then 5:30 miles after swimming and biking?[/quote]
That's the trick right? Come out of the water late and heart rate out of control, fly through T1 and it's tricky to not over cook yourself on trying to average 25mph in a sprint, then keep on pace for a sub 20 minute 5k is tough...IMO...I don't see too many people doing 25mph ave on sprint bike legs...definitely do swim lessons ASAP...

My post wasn't about questioning your abilities, but rather to learn more about your training routine (that's why I bolded your injury comment) . Why are you getting hurt? (is it from going all out in practice???)

I don't know this for sure from your 2 posts, but you might need some guidance on building a repeatable training routine that doesn't result in injury. And yes, swim, swim, swim.

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What I do: http://app.strava.com/athletes/345699

Yep, everyone will bust your balls here. But everyone is generally helpful and wants you to do well.

^Hammering too much is definitely an issue. More biking might actually help my running in that regard.

I can get within seconds of race times on training runs/rides. It is a skill and a curse imo.

Your goal should not to "win" practice sessions, but excel during competitions. You will need to learn how to structure your training week so that can actually make it to race day. Oh yeah, swim, swim, swim.

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What I do: http://app.strava.com/athletes/345699

I always win in practice. 1st/1.


Going easy on recovery days is always on my mind.

Point of ref..I've been in the sport since the early 90's and have seen many an athlete with a good pedigree in running and or biking and a shaky swim come into the sport...

The ones who have stayed around long enough to take advantage of those abilities are the ones who were patient/smart enough to spend the time in the pool...for years...not weeks or months.

Take the advice of the folks here who recommended Masters programs or swim coaches...heck, as of today, there are two really smart guys on this forum running online swim programs for beginners..you should check out the finding freestyle and guppies threads..that's where you're going to get the most bang..for zero bucks.

Good luck

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"Good genes are not a requirement, just the obsession to beat ones brains out daily"...the Griz

Dude... Much respect for your abilities and pace, but just go race, post a bit about how it went, then come back and ask.

You really need to race a tri before you start posting stuff. ST users can be harsh and unforgiving. None the less, best of luck man.

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New Training/Racing Log - http://www.earthdaykid.com/blog --- Old Training/Racing Log - http://colinlaughery.blogspot.com

Its valuable to think about the fact that training sessions aren't always about leaving 100% on the road or in the water every day. A well thought-out, well executed triathlon program will leave you very tired but not blasted, most days. This will allow you to go out and get very tired again the next day. The occasional huge day or big weekend that leaves you wasted for a couple of days will be useful once you have the fitness to recover and keep going.

I'm sure you know all this as you are a high mileage/fast runner so you must understand a thing or three about training. Just thought I'd mention it.

Just as an aside, something doesn't add up about your racing. You say you can hit 60 miles per week running and you also seem to be a decent cyclist without much training, but your 5km PR is 15:30ish? Given that you say you can get within seconds of that while training, I suggest that you are not actually racing when you "race".

If you want to do tris then you should focus on your swimming, but in the mean time, you might consider improving your run times. With some sharpening work and a taper I would hope you could race significantly faster than what you do in training and your fitness and milage indicate that you should be able to go faster than 15:30. This won't significantly improve your tris, but you might enjoy it since you have obviously spent some time running.

By leading with "Newb...bit I think I have some potential" what did you expect?

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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

Thanks for the solid swimming advice; I didn't realize there was such a thing as master's swim lessons.

Four things to answer most of your questions/criticisms:

-I know I go too hard in tempos/intervals. Sometimes I want ot test myself when a race isn't available. Sharpening is something I've never done; periodization is something Ineed to work on. I do know a lot about running, but am to the point where I need help to get faster.
-I've done three duathlons with some success, but I'm in better shape on both the bike and running currently. During those events (at altitude), I ran just under 6 minute pace for both 4ks and averaged 24 mph for a 30k bike on an aluminum road bike with mavic aksium wheels and no aero equipment.
-Between Hill climbs, crits, and fondos i'm confident in my biking (by comparison to cat 1-2-3s in hill climbs/fondos and unsanctioned crits), even though I'm only a cat 4. With two kids and one income I have to make sacrifices and traveling to bike races solely to upgrade isn't smart.

-What I really wanted out of this thread are A) figure out if used/cheap aero wheels are good enough B) Info on swimming and C) get enough posts to gain access to PMs and classifieds. The anonymity of the internet got me a third outcome as well, but I'll keep that to myself.

Sincere thanks to those with helpful advice.

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A) figure out if used/cheap aero wheels are good enough

Yes. I raced on a front 1080 and wheelcovered box section rear for most of my events, and it was as fast as anything for way less than the price of some Firecrests. Now, I'd love to have 808 FCs on my bikes, but really FLOs and the other less expensive options are just fine.


I totally understand your interest in aero kit; if I waited until I was fast enough to justify fast gear, I'd still be riding a Schwinn with a basket on the front and tassels on the handlebars. Sometimes it just feels good to be riding a fast bike.

Quote:

B) Info on swimming

Swimming usually happens in the water (unless you're a German doing fly in snow drifts) and I hear that's kinda wet. That's all I've got. I hate swimming and it hates me too.

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C) get enough posts to gain access to PMs and classifieds.

Careful. I thought the same way and before I knew it, I had more bike parts in my living room than I had room for.

Read through the "China Direct/Ebay" wheels thread and consider those. I definitely am! 400-500 bucks for a pair of 50-60mm carbon wheels? Sounds awesome.

Don't fret. They're mythical paradigms, right up there with fasting during an ultramarathon, hotman637, and Raw Speed, but they're part of the lore of ST.

Next time, use pink font for points of particular emphasis.

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What are you people, on dope?

—Mr. Hand

looks good.

Learn to swim and I think you will nail it.

I would say get best wheels you can afford. I have a planet x on the front and a flo on the back. I seem able to ride better than most but not as good as some. Its mostly about not overdoing it.

This is cliche but true...it is not three sports it is one. pacing and fitness is key. Lack of swimming speed wont do you in completely in a short race as you can make up time on bike and run. Lack of swim fitness is killer though. If you come out tanked then you wont perform your best on bike or run. And if you try to make up the time defecit on the bike you will flounder on the run.

Whoa whoa whoa...hold the phone...really??

I took this quote from another thread. It made me think of you...

#8. If you’ve raced the distance, it counts. If you’ve trained the distance, it doesn’t. Nailing a training day is one thing, nailing a racing day is quite another. Please don’t confuse the two. Ironman/marathon/etc. only counts if you are in there mixing it up. I’m the heavyweight champion of the world if we don’t have to actually compete.

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What I do: http://app.strava.com/athletes/345699

The statement was 99% tongue in cheek. It meant running 730 miles alone....

HOWEVER for the purposes of track racing, TTs still count. But I'm a loner, which makes ST great, I don't have to meet you.