Tom A. wrote:
Rappstar wrote:
mrwoodhouse wrote:
Jordan, from a holistic perspective, you get my vote for best triathlete ever. I'm really enjoying all the info. My question is on your cadence. You say you had an expected cadence of 82-83. How did you find this was optimal for you? Just feels right or through testing? If the latter, can you tell me how you would do that? Finally, would your targeted cadence change for a different IM course? Thanks
It "feels" right. And I think it's also within the range of "normal." Like, for example, let's say 65 "felt right." I'd be concerned because 65 is quite atypical. But MOST of the top Ironman pros ride about 85+/-5 beats. And they also tend to slow their cadence as they get tired. So it feels good AND it's not an outlier. That combination is what gives me confidence. I'm not "weird" with regards to cadence. I'm very normal.
As an aside, what's your typical average cadence for something like a 20K TT? :-)
Depends on how tired I am usually. The last one I did, during my IM build, I was quite tired. And it was 79. Still a solid ride though. But if I'm less tired, it's usually high 80s. I don't think I ever ride more than 90. I also never really train to. No idea if that's "limiting" me or not. I suppose if I intended to race at a higher cadence, I might. But I don't know that the "benefits" of a higher cadence are there for triathlon. It's clear that they are for crit racing (ability to respond more quickly), but for any steady state effort, I'm not sure. I guess for cyclists, even when TTing, it's advantageous to be able to respond more quickly to terrain (like small hills), and that may be why TTers ride a faster cadence. But since, when I race, I do not need to respond quickly to either attacks or terrain, I don't care to be able to pedal a faster cadence, so I don't train to do so.
Yes, I realize that this flies in the face on what I used to recommend, which is that cadence and effort should scale together. I no longer believe this to be true. Now, my advice generally is to ride what "feels" natural, as long as it doesn't appear strained. I'd say that's true whether it's fast or slow. If you pedal at a cadence where it doesn't seem to be smooth, that's probably not the right cadence, whether it's too high or too low.
Roughly speaking, I don't think the cadence you CHOOSE matters as long as you CHOOSE it. In other words, if you are riding at 65rpm because that feels good, then fine. But if you are riding at 65rpm because you don't have any more gears, that's not fine.
I also think fatigue does affect cadence, so as long as your cadence also remains generally steady, that's also good. If you start at 85rpm for an Ironman and finish at 65rpm, I'd say that's a bad thing, though I'd say it's a bad thing because you probably paced badly...
"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp