Speed...how we us back of packers get it?

Triathlon Forum
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Hello Troopers,

After two years away from the sport (due to living in Sydney Australia which is as bike training friendly as Los Angeles!) I am now getting the tri-bug after moving back to Western Australia…far more bike riding friendly here and I am loving getting back into the sport!

I have been reasonably fit in the meantime away from Triathlons, with a good running base, rowing and weights – my rest heartrate has always hovered around 48-52bpm.

My wife and I have decided to enter the Yeppoon Half IM here in Australia on August 19.

We are 4 weeks into a formal 16-week training structure and ideally I would have liked more time to get a solid base down before the race, but this HIM is just about finishing relatively strong and hoping to up the ante next year in terms of performance.

In the few months of riding and running again with focus, we have managed to eke out a 4hour bike ride and have comfortably run 2hours+ with no problems.

We even last week biked for 45miles and brick ran 6miles quite comfortably…

My only issue is…speed.

In the past I have been a perennial 6hours+ finisher in the couple of HIM’s I have done. I typically average 17mph in races on the bike and I struggle to reach 6-7mph on the run…

My wife, who is not as fit as me struggles even more with speed and hill climbing. That said, Yepoon is dead flat bike course.

Am I just a genetics dud? :stuck_out_tongue: Or should I be more patient as I build endurance again…?

I have done a fair bit of research and we are at the moment concentrating on LSD stuff, really working aerobically at the moment to keep our HR’s down and staying aerobic, but we are struggling to reach my previous speeds and stay in the aero HR zones – so I know they key is speed/power work from here…but I want to be faster than my previous!

When should I do it and at what intensity is the issue for me in terms of intervals/tempo stuff. Should I look at one mid-week session for the bike and run to up the heartrate to get some speed in NOW? Do I stick religiously to Zone1-3 on LSD rides…NO going over that to Lactate Thresholds AT ALL or do I incorporate some legit AT and beyond efforts in our long rides?

We are training all three disciplines three times a week and my resting HR is down to 44 now so I am getting fitter.

Basically, how do I build hers and my speed on the bike, yet have the energy to comfortably run the HIM?

Any tips would be appreciated.

Dean…

2

At your fitness level I would expect that holding 20mph on a bike should be no problem. Are you very small and light?

What sort of bike, wheels, tires do you have? How aero is your position?

You could look into introduce some weightlifting in the form of squats, about twice a week to build some leg power perhaps.

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At your fitness level I would expect that holding 20mph on a bike should be no problem. Are you very small and light?

What sort of bike, wheels, tires do you have? How aero is your position?

You could look into introduce some weightlifting in the form of squats, about twice a week to build some leg power perhaps.

I can hold 20mph in bursts… not for 4hrs…yet! or havent really tried but I would be in a lactic acid zone for sure…

Weightlifting could be an option and I have already incorporated some big gear stuff on the windtrainer to build strength.

I am 6ft3, 200lbs (but quite lean)…my wife is smaller and shorter obviously

My bike is a Giant TCR…from 2001 - I have been fitted a few months ago properly and finally my aero position feels fairly good…

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With all due respect to Jackmott, none of the things he listed are going to make you significantly faster. If you can already ride
4 hours comfortably, you have all the endurance you need already. You should be doing more riding “uncomortably”, meaning inserting
intensity of some sort on all of your rides. You need to start hauling ass in practice to be able to do it during the race. I just
did a HIM using a cruciblefitness.com training program and the long rides topped out at 3 hours, but they were 3 hard hours.
An example would be: 20 minutes Z1 (warmup), 2X30’@HIM pace(5’ rest between), 10’ Z1, 3x(8’ FT(pace you could hold in a
1 hour cycling TT), 3’ z1, 4’ FT + 5% (pace you could hold for a 20’ TT), 4’Z1), remainder of ride at ~HIM pace. 20-30’ brick
run off the bike.

cruciblefitness.com has a bunch of programs for different fitness levels, and was great for fitting the training into a “normal”
busy schedule. If I were you, and the current schedule you are following doesn’t have much intensity in it, I would consider
getting one of these programs and upping the ante THIS year. You can still raise the bar yet again next year.

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Squats have made a lot of people significantly faster =)

But you are right, I suspect that a 6’3" 200lbs guy probably just needs to suck it up and suffer a bit to get over 17mph
.

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Three things that have helped me are:

Weekly spin classes. The class I go to is about 50 minutes of focused effort (5 min either side warm up/cool down). I ride the entire class in the 160 - 180+ range, I go an hour before and do a medium pace workout on the bike to come into the class heated up. This has been great for building my suffering tolerance and since I have had running issues, I don’t need to do a speed workout to keep my run times respectable.

Weekly climbing workouts. I have two rides that I switch between, one is about 40 miles with 9 different small climbs (1 mile 5 - 18% grades) I do these as hard as I can and rest between. The second is a 55 miler with 5k plus climbing that I try and do at tempo pace. This is another suffering builder and I find the power gained in climbing translates well into the flats.

Lastly is yoga. I am very stiff in the lowerback/hamstrings and this has opened up my hip-flexors and the run is now much less painful.

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shhhhhhh people should not be told that weights HELP they’ll get faster too.

To the OP, for running a safe way to get some speed is to add a set of strides on 2-3 of your weekly runs. NOT sprints strides where you can feel the speed comfortably for 30seconds but not breathing too hard, with 45seconds eze in between. Try a set of 4-6 in a 30-40min run, i love it.

tfun~

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Vis a vis the 6-7mph run:

http://www.slowtwitch.com/wiki/index.php/Run_Training_by_BarryP

If it’s not everything you need to know, it’s plenty to start with.