These results could have nothing to do with my powercranks

Triathlon Forum
23

Dev, let me tell you, I feel very very lucky I can still run at my age. I know lots of folks who have issues like you at your age. I guess this is one positive that I was not able to get this crazy with Tris until just a few years ago. I never had any free time from all the family sports in the past.

Best of luck trying to find a balance. Sounds like running should be the last thing you focus on!! Improving your bike times, can easily offset a slower run! I have not decided how far I want to push my knees, since I have had issues in the past. I keep thinking about trying the folsom 50 mile race in March to see if I can qualify for the western states 100 mile run which is in my backyard. This is a struggle for balance and not pushing to the point I get hurt.

Dave

24

I did say in the title that my results had nothing to do with powercranks. :o)

Dave

25

I’m just paying the price for 21 seasons of tri racing, but more importantly 15 of those with a marathon. I really believe that Ironmans are less stessful on your joints than a pure marathon.

26

Wow, you have been racing from your late teens. Yes, I can see why you may be having some body part issues. The reason I love Tris the best is one does not generally use a body part until it is really warmed up. But, for long distance run races, it is just go and run on those knees right out of the hole. This is also why these folks that run these crazy weekly run volumes usually have this catch up with them. IMO

My goals it so try and be one of those racers in their 80’s that is still able to swim, bike and run. This goal is more important to me than any medal or race award. Shall be interesting to see how many of the old pros will be able to race in their 50’s and 60’s.

Dave

27

Yes, I did my first tri at the age of 19, first marathon at 18. I’m just hoping to squeek out one season at a time out of this used car. If I can get to 60 and still do tris that would be incredible, but I would like to swim, bike and XC ski as long as I live (whatever that works out to…)

28

Never tried XC skiing. Fun? Also thought about trying snowshoeing. I am so close to the snow, but, I do not like it cold. :o)

Dave

29

Let’s put it this way. Pretty well everyone has a $1000 investment in race wheels.<<

Dev, this is not true. Some of us set a PR a couple of weeks ago on a 5 year old bike with the original training wheels that came with the bike.

clm

30

After many years MOP, several years ago I tried PC’s. Went to FOP. Gradually got away from PC’s, and fell off the podium this year. Then, in an effort to get better at running, I started getting more injuries this year, which turned into an outright bust. A couple of days ago, I cranked up the PC’s again. Not too bad, I made it 30 minutes at 17.7 mph. Today, I averaged 18.5 on the same trainer for 30 minutes. I plan on doing much more PC training this winter to get over these running injuries, and to see if I can get back on top in my bike time trials. Maybe I’m just getting old and worn out. But, if I resurrect myself and get back to my old results next year… Well, it will be interesting to see what happens.

31

Some of us one of these days will TSR some of you a set of racing wheels… it gets on my nerves!!! :wink:

32

Wondering why you stopped using PC’s?

Dave

33

Funny thing is that I bought my PC’s a few years back around the time Titan was posting stories about his improvements…

34

I am an engineer with HP.

My typical daily schedule is get up at 5:40. Leave home at 6:15. Get to work at 7. Leave at 3:00 and get home at 3:45.

I then try to train from 4 to 5 or so. Eat dinner at 5:30. Read and respond to Email from 6 pm. Do DDR with the wife at 7 pm. Wife and I hit the hot tub at 7:45. Hit the sack at 8:30, read for half an hour, and turn the light off at 9. Then starts the same the next morning. Sounds like ground hog day.

I do 100% resting 2 days before any event. And, doing 19 tris, and another 6 run races this year so far, you can see I do not do killer weekend workouts since I love to race for my workouts. I NEVER go as hard in practice as a race!.

Now, I have to fit in all the yard work, car repairs, family activities, my video projects, etc within the few hours I am at home. So, I do not see how any person who has a full life can get in much more training per week unless they can live on less sleep, which I can not.

Now, I am working on trying to get in a few extra minutes per day since I do believe I am seeing a relationship between training hours, and race results. But, both from time and health (Meaning, lack of injury), I do not see being able to go above 10 hours a week average. It would not be worth the things I would have to give up.

So, the one reason I post these things is I try to encourage others either with my age, or with limited hours that one can compete in races and do well, and still have a full life. It does not have to be either or. (I probably do have to thank my parents with som decent genes, just wish they were better, so I could train less. :o) )

Dave

do you log your ST time?

Nice race today - congrats

35

I don’t really have a good answer to that one. I overreached my highest goals in triathlon my first year of PowerCranking (OK, so, they weren’t THAT high…I just wanted to run a sub 23 5K in a triathlon, go faster than 25 mph in a ten mile Time Trial, get on the podium in a triathlon…at the time, as a MOP’er, it SEEMED like pretty high goals). After doing so, I just didn’t think I had to work so hard any more…and PC’s are hard work for me. I never rode them more than 65 miles at once, best of my recollection, and only had a handfull of rides above 40 miles. That first year of PC training resulted in big improvements with no more total training time, and the second year, I just gradually started to ride the Time Trial bike more, thinking I didn’t need to PC so much…after all, if you’re doing the PC pedal stroke, you are doing it…no matter what crankset you are using. Then, my run slowly began to suffer, so, I started trying to run more. Didn’t help my run results, but, I’m a little stubborn and kept trying to run more. Ended up continuing to get slower and then began to get injured. Maybe I just can’t run much and stay healthy. Maybe PC’s allow me to get some good neuromuscularly-beneficial-to-the-run work in that I can’t get by actually running because of the injury problems. Then again, maybe I’m just getting old. I’m hitting the PC’s again to see if I get a big boost in my performance again. I won’t know until next season. At the very worst, I certainly doubt they’ll hurt my performance!

36

And a friend of mine ran this race faster this year than she has in the past and she doesn’t power crank. She did do a fairly hard bike rde the day before though and had to start in the second wave so she was weaving her way through the crowds.

clm

37

I should, it takes away from other things in life I should be doing.

Thanks, now if I could just walk a little faster up and down the stairs.

Dave

38

It shall be interesting to see the times. Maybe they messed up the course and everyone was faster? It seems like it was the same as last year. I went off with the second last year and had to weave around lots of folks. This year I went off with the first wave and was much better. One goes out way way to fast on this course since the beginning has lots of downhills. Weather was a little warmer at the start. Wonder if this helps folks go faster?

Dave

39

So far I have not heard, or felt any negatives from using the PC’s yet. And I agree, until I get through next season hopefully injury free, not sure what will happen. All I know is for the next 6 months riding my trainer, it will be 100% PC’s. Best of luck getting your running back to where you want it to be.

I can understand that after working hard and getting some of your goals met, it is easy to slow it down. Will see if I can keep another year to the same training ethics I had this year. I am motivated to keep working harder as long as I see the results getting better. I really am shooting for my A year in 2 years when I will be 50.

Dave

40

I don’t really have a good answer to that one. I overreached my highest goals in triathlon my first year of PowerCranking (OK, so, they weren’t THAT high…I just wanted to run a sub 23 5K in a triathlon, go faster than 25 mph in a ten mile Time Trial, get on the podium in a triathlon…at the time, as a MOP’er, it SEEMED like pretty high goals). After doing so, I just didn’t think I had to work so hard any more…and PC’s are hard work for me. I never rode them more than 65 miles at once, best of my recollection, and only had a handfull of rides above 40 miles. That first year of PC training resulted in big improvements with no more total training time, and the second year, I just gradually started to ride the Time Trial bike more, thinking I didn’t need to PC so much…after all, if you’re doing the PC pedal stroke, you are doing it…no matter what crankset you are using. Then, my run slowly began to suffer, so, I started trying to run more. Didn’t help my run results, but, I’m a little stubborn and kept trying to run more. Ended up continuing to get slower and then began to get injured. Maybe I just can’t run much and stay healthy. Maybe PC’s allow me to get some good neuromuscularly-beneficial-to-the-run work in that I can’t get by actually running because of the injury problems. Then again, maybe I’m just getting old. I’m hitting the PC’s again to see if I get a big boost in my performance again. I won’t know until next season. At the very worst, I certainly doubt they’ll hurt my performance!

Shame on you for ignoring my recommendations! :slight_smile: Several years ago you were one of the first PC converts who was accused of being a shill. Now it looks like you will get to tell another PC story and sell a bunch of them for me, at least i hope so.

Anyhow, you are evidence to suggest that as long as one is competitive there is no advantage to training on regular cranks. While in theory, once you are PC trained it should not make any difference what you ride but in fact, the only thing that might happen is you can lose the PC benefits training on regular cranks.

Anyhow, my recommendation for your next PC test (in view of your past history) would be that you run no more than 15 miles in any one week for the next several months. And, I wouldn’t run any until your current injuries are healed. Ride more, run less, get faster and avoid injury.

Frank

41

Dr. Day wrote: Ride more, run less, get faster and avoid injury.

That’s my mantra for this winter. PC-ing myself back to health and, hopefully, better performance. Time will tell! I am certainly glad I have this option, and option that got me through achilles tendonitis many years ago…and I came out of that problem with a PR the first 1/2 marathon I ran. Followed it with my best year of triathlon and duathlon performance. It works for me, that’s all I really care about.

42

I am bummed. My daughter just reminded me that last year I crashed on my bike in Late June, and was out of action for 2 months with the broken collar bone. So, she told me that this year I have been exercising all season long without getting hurt. So, seems fair that some large percentage of my time improvement may be from just being in better shape. Oh well, is not going to change my commitment on the PC’s to do may a/b compare for next season.

Dave :o(
It’s refreshing to see that you acknowledge that there are other factors at play that are far more likely to account for your improvement (like 19 races this year!) than are the brief use of PCs. That’s the problem with studies of size 1…