OK, almost every triathlete who has gotten on PowerCranks has commented on how we make runners better. But almost everyone of them is a pretty mediocre runner. The question to me has always been what is the potential in a really good runner. I think we have a chance to get an idea here. This week got a national class marathoner on them. Name Chris Zieman. Personal best for marathon about 2:20 and change, I believe. Has qualified for the Olympic trials and is getting on the cranks for a couple of reasons, one of which he has a knee tendonitis and wants to cut back on his mileage (about 120 mpw) to let it heal. He told us he would keep a blog of his experience on our web site if any of you are interested. First one has not been posted yet. He did make a unique modification to the bike and sent me a picture. Can anyone spot what he did?
Seems to me this will be a good test of the potential in already elite or very good runners even though the n=1, as long as he is not injured or has one of those “off” days athletes occasionally have. Anyone disagree?
Olympic trials are first week in November so he has about 10 weeks with the PC’s. Any predictions as to what kind of improvement he might see? I am predicting a 5 minute improvement is possible in this time for someone like him. Anyone else care to hazard a guess as to what might happen. Won’t get him to the Olympics but it will get make both him and me happy. If he saw 10 minutes my grin will spread all the way from Walnut Creek to Beijing and won’t wipe off for about a year.
Modifications to the bike: He put weird gold cranks on it.
Prediction: 5 minutes. Seriously. You can’t be serious about this.
So, how much is he going to run? Is he running 100mpw, 80mpw, what?
It also looks like he bent the post.
I am not sure what he is going to do and I don’t think he does either. I recommended he drop back to about 60-70 mpw and put the rest of the time on the cranks. I think he was expecting to drop back to about 90 and I don’t know if my “advice” will have any influence on him. Whatever he does I recommended that he try to get to a minimum of 90 minutes at 90 rpm before trials. I told him I thought he should be able to get there in 4-6 weeks. I think he will see how the adaption goes and how his knee is doing and play it by ear. This will be a learning experience for all of us.
“Yes, he turned the seatpost around backwards. Look at the angles.”
I did this at my company’s facility once so that I could duplicate my tri position (got REALLY close on the front end – just needed another 1/4 inch lower). Unfortunately the maintenance guy switched it back that night. Damn it.
Modifications to the bike: He put weird gold cranks on it.
Prediction: 5 minutes. Seriously. You can’t be serious about this. I’m going to try and pretend that I didn’t read about the whole 2:20 to 2:10 thing.
So, how much is he going to run? Is he running 100mpw, 80mpw, what?
It also looks like he bent the post.
No, we put the cranks on for him.
And, why wouldn’t I be serious? Most of our 3+ triathlete marathoners are seeing 15-20 minute improvements in 3 months. I expect there to be some noticeable change and 10seconds isn’t enough to notice so it will have to be a minute or more for anyone to think we did anything. I actually came to this number by thinking this would probably be the equivalent improvement we saw in 38 yo sprinter Aaron Thigpen in 4 months helping him improve from about 10.6 to 10.34 sec in the 100m dash while he was trying to recover from a similar knee problem.
Frank… I don’t understand what he’s doing, but I wish him well and hope it works for him.
I’m still waiting for the results of the dude who was supposed to repeat his hill climb last month … when do we get to see that??
Dave
Frank… I don’t understand what he’s doing, but I wish him well and hope it works for him.
I’m still waiting for the results of the dude who was supposed to repeat his hill climb last month … when do we get to see that??
Dave
What he is doing is training for the marathon Olympic trials. What don’t you understand?
I don’t think Joaquin intends to “repeat his hill climb” just for you folks. I am sure he will do it again but as it fits in his schedule, not yours. He does have a long race coming up I am told that has 4 substantial climbs on it and he has told me he would forward me the files after the race. When i see it you will see it, if he doesn’t post it first.
