Last year at this time I had decided to get back into biking. Bought a road bike, took it on 2-3 rides and did a spring TT that I had done regurlarly 17 years ago. Struggled to a 20.8 mph avg for 12.5 miles. Thought I was gonna die, got passed by tons of people! Got into tri's last summer after a long layoff from swimming and biking and tried to learn to run. Came back to the fall version of the same TT on a new tri bike (hadn't been fit yet) and held a somewhat respectable 23.8mph avg. Probably only rode 1,000 miles total last summer, no structure or plan and wasn't training with HR monitor.
So I got serious, got a coach a few months ago for IMWI 2007, got my bike fit, upgrades, race wheels and picked up an LG Rocket helmet last night....oh yeah and did about 1,500 miles on the trainer over the winter actually following a plan. Went up to the spring TT this morning to see where I was after months of base training and following a coached plan. Didn't do any taper or rest for this TT and did a 2-1/2 ride with lots of hills and a 10 minute transition run late Saturday afternoon. Afterall, this race was just a chance to see where I was and I'm still looking at the big picture which is to train for IMoo.
First 5 miles felt ok, but the legs were feeling it from the previous days workout. Miles 6-9 I started to suffer as my legs were really tiring and was absolutely dying miles 9-12.5. Who would know that such a short ride would be so hard when one is training for IM. LSD vs sprinting are two different animals. The heart/lungs felt great, just tired legs.
Anyway, struggled home in 29:51 for a 25.1 mph average. Came in 24th out of 174 in a field composed mostly of roadies. (Got spanked in my AG 35-39, came in 5th out of 22...had it been last year I would have been in the top 3 of 30-34.)
Even though I was fatigued from the previous day it was still a positive experience and shows that the training is working!
Solid time, man. Sounds like you paced it pretty well (TTs are the most painful thing ever). Just think...if you keep that pace for another 100 miles, you'll be right up there with Stadler!
[QUOTE=UFTriGator;67258]Solid time, man. Sounds like you paced it pretty well (TTs are the most painful thing ever). Just think...if you keep that pace for another 100 miles, you'll be right up there with Stadler![/QUOTE]
Another 100 miles, no problem...yeah right! It's amazing what the difference say between 23 mph and 25 mph is in effort. I was pretty happy considering many people taper for this event and there were a lot of hard core roadies with shoe covers, discs etc...out for blood. Had I not rode the day before I feel I could have knocked another 30-40 seconds off my time with fresh legs.
25 mph is pretty legit for an AG triathlete. I'm guessing you can probably crank out a 1:02-1:04 40k on fresher legs. With that kind of speed, maybe you need to switch over to Olys! Go back to IM later when your legs don't go so fast.
[QUOTE=UFTriGator;67266]25 mph is pretty legit for an AG triathlete. I'm guessing you can probably crank out a 1:02-1:04 40k on fresher legs. With that kind of speed, maybe you need to switch over to Olys! Go back to IM later when your legs don't go so fast.[/QUOTE]
This will be my first crack at IM and I've never done an olympic. Definitely feel I could have gone low 29's on fresh legs.