Fantastic result - good swim (for Sam), and an incredible 2:53 run after what I know was a very spiky ride for him. I remember when Sam used to swim 1:10+ so getting it down to 1:02 is a great improvement.
The only thing I can't believe is that he saw me on the side of the road with a flat tire, and he didn't even stop to give me his wheel.

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Are you ready to do an Ultraman? | How I calculate Ironman race fueling | Strength Training for Athletes |

To give you an idea, I copied my weekly volumes of last winter and the zone distribution for biking and running per week. I hope this provides some insight. I also copied my weekly bike tss which is easy to monitor since I only bike indoor.
Sam

I have thought about that Rob but that would have been a huge disappointment for all the people following me ;-p
Sam

My daily diet is quiet balanced but nothing special. I don't eat meat too often but I am addicted to cheese :-)
Race routine:
- carboloading with maltodextrine 3 days leading up to race
- day before the race easy to digest food and ensure - last meal around 3-4pm
- race morning 3:15am 1/2 energy cake (brand Overstims Gatosport - only available in Europe) + coffee + banana
- hours before the race: Overstims prerace drink (contains mainly fructose) + 1 ensure
- 1/2 hour before the race: 1 gel
- on the bike: about 18 endurance gels (Overstims Energix) diluted in maltodextrine solution and at least one bottle of sports drink every hour
- during the run: 2 gels early in the run from T2 and gatorade at every aidstation and 3 more gels later in the run. Redbul during last 5k.

Sam

This is a very personal issue. I prefer indoor riding and running over outdoor but that is because I live in a country where it is shitty weather almost all the time and where traffic is so crazy and roads are so crappy that is too dangerous to my liking to go out.
Also, I usually train in the evening after work and training outside in the darkness is a very bad idea here.
Sam

I have become a rockets fan since Rodman left the bulls ;-) I think they were a great team at the time in the Olajuwon era and the Houston love hasn't really changed. I guess it is sth inexplainable. Their current team is awesome (apart from last night)!
Sam

Congrats on a stellar race! Below is what stood out to me in the article. Were you expecting bad roads or something? I've pretty much raced all my IMs with Latex tubes and no problems for the past 10 years...including IMTX 2017. You are giving up a few watts there, but then again if I had your strength I wouldn't need those watts!

I rode my Dimond Marquise, Rotor 55/42 Qrings, Reynolds Aero 80 wheels with 11-23 cassette and Continental GP TT 25 tires with butyl tubes filled with Stan’s notubes and 7bar of air.

Zwift, trainerroad, other?

Sam- Do you ride aero on the train or on the bars?

That was the guy I was thinking of

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

Trainerroad + Netflix or NBA and loud music ;-)
Sam

WU + CD and zone 1 riding mostly on the bars. Quality blocks as much as possible aero. The pad stack on my indoor bike is about 1cm higher compared to my race setup.
I will try to integrate http://bioraceraero.com/#en/bioracer-aero at some point in training.
Sam

What’s your favorite VASA, trainer, and run workout? Do you have one of each that you feel like is a staple or “go to”? Also what was you power to weight ratio for the bike?

Congrats on a great race!

Normally I ride with latex but the anti-leakage fluid which was in the tubes since Kona had completely hardened out and I only found that out on Thursday before the race and I didn't have spare latex with me.
Sam

Sam, great race! Been following you since you took the welcome banquet stage in Kona 2013.

Do you take multi vitamins or any other supplements? Any salt tabs during racing and training? I’m assuming you trained with Overstims and maltodextrin just as you raced. I’m interested in how you determine how much, what kind, and when to add the malto.

Also, can you please leave the 45-49 age group?

Cheers,

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thechromedome
http://www.favoritefinishlines.blogspot.com
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My 20% off code for 2018 FS Series races: tricred18
"there are no drafters in heaven" - C Bonner

On the VASA I prefer to do main set of 4 * 10' at IM race intesity with a solid warmup and cooldown.
My preferred bike workouts are in the 3-4h length range and consist of a couple of long (8'-15') low cadence (55-65rpm) blocks at 85% ftp (I have my ftp at 320W).
My preferred run workouts are around 1h20'-30' and consist of a couple of 1k repeats at around 17-18kph.
I weigh about 76kg and measure 192cm.
I tried to upload my powerfile breakdown for IMTX but the forum is limited to 250kb so it is not working.
Sam

Ahh there it is. The GMan dig against swimmers. The more things change...

Only supplement I use is bioglucosamin in he hope that it will save my joints for a few more extra races ;-)
I train with Overstims Hydrixir and its LD version. During training I have one gel every 45'. During racing I think I swallow about 1 every 15-20'. An Overstims gel contains 75kcal of energy.
Normally my stomach can digest quite some calories except when I get dehydrated so I try to avoid that during races but I sometimes fail...
During training I try to adapt to race circumstances so leading up to races I gradually increase the heat and humidity in the training room. I use Overstims electrolites when I sweat a lot. They are a bit bitter and I like that.
Also I drink lots of German non-alcoholic beer during workouts because it is so refreshing and not sweet.
I promise to stay in M40 for 2 more years!
Sam

Congrats on a great race!

Woah! So your ftp is 320 and you rode 260w (81%) and say that was conservative? Seems like much higher percentage than we normally hear around here for IM power. But you obviously know what you’re doing and it works. Think your ftp is actually higher than 320?

I'll just add my MOP n=1 comment here but the only TV I get to watch at home is either on my Vasa trainer, or on my Kickr.

I still work pretty hard when I'm on the Vasa as it's akin to swimming with large paddles to me (less cardio impact, bigger arm muscular endurance impact) and it's great for any long non-hammerfest swim workouts that I'm doing. I wouldn't call it pleasant while you're working that hard, but it's certainly at LOT easier to motivate to get in the swim volume when there's a great episode of Game of Thrones or whatever else you like to look forward to!

Mad props to SGY for yet another awesome performance. And also props for being brave enough to do so little in-water swimming despite his super high level of performance when there are literally no pros and as far as I've heard of, no other AGers doing so little in-water swimming prior to race day. I assumed guys like SGY were 'all-in' since they're the freaking AG world champion, and would therefore drive the hour if required to get in that in-pool or OWS training even if it's a big time commitment.

@ sgy - also saw on your graphs (great info, btw, thanks for sharing!) that you have run/ELLIPTICAL grouped together.

Care to share what your philosophy about elliptical use is as a run training substitute? I've never gone hardcore on an elliptical, but the few times I've tried it in the gym and tried to 'go hard' on it, I felt it was so different from running that I was probably better off just biking to improve my running!

260/320 = 0.81 is conservative? >.<

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Of course it hurts. The trick is not minding it hurts.

Huh? That wasn't a dig against swimmers. I've never been anti-swimmer. I just think some of you lifelong competitive swimmer types need an occasional reality check. Many swimmers' heads explode when someone does amazingly well not swimming 20K per week or not "swimming" in actual water. Kind of like those four brothers that all KQ'd a few years back and basically said swimming was 10% of the race and they were going to spend time working on the parts of the race that take up 90% of the time. Yes, one of them got popped for doping but it doesn't dismiss the narrative that there's much more bang for your training buck improving the bike and run.

As the aforementioned cheater stated in an interview...


In Sam's case he wasn't dismissive about swim-type training, as he certainly put in the hours on the VASA, but he was dismissive of the admin time required to get in the water and felt it was a better use of his time working on the bike and run.

I'm almost equally critical of cyclists who think the world is going to end because someone does all their training on a trainer.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

Hey Sam I recall you used to use Rotor QXL. If so why the change back to Rotor Q rings? Another amazing race bravo...

Great race Sam! As an aspiring FOP triathlete, I was quite impressed with your race. Thank you for taking time to answer questions as I am sure you are quite busy and tired after an amazing performance.

In regards to your bike nutrition, can you estimate what you consume in regards to total calories and ounces per hour? I see you had a bottle on your down tube and am curious how you consume all of your nutrition and still manage not have to pee, lol!

Is there a reason you do not ride with a disc or disc cover?

Jason