That's how I feel most times - not reading or learning enough, not joining a local tri club, just blundering along and hoping I am not too far off. Well, perhaps it is time I benefited from the collective wisdom of the blogsphere - or at least from my 5 or 6 regular readers. :)
- Bike shoes or Running shoes?
I will be doing only Sprint events this year and my first Olympic Tri next year. Last year, in both Sprint Tris I put on my cycling shoes in T1, but they were really awkward for running out and into the transition area, and I just about destroyed my cleats. So my question is: If the bike leg is only 20-40km, do proper bike shoes and cleats really make much of a difference, so should I just use running shoes and save some transition time? - Bike/Tri shoes - leave them on the pedals or put them on in T1?
For those of you who use tri or bike shoes, do you leave them on the pedal or put them on and run with them in the transition area? If you leave your tri/bike shoes on the pedals, is it easy to learn how to jump on the bike and put your feet into the shoes? How about the grit/sand that gets picked up on the run out of the transition - does that become uncomfortable during the bike leg? - When to do what?
OK, so I know I am supposed to build an aerobic base, and then move to strength and speed. Question is, how far before the event do I start working on strength and speed? Some people tell me that I have to do strength training even now to prevent injuries when I run, so should I be doing different types of strength training as the event draws nearer? Oh, while I am on the subject, when do I start doing bricks, and are bricks just bike/run or is it worthwhile to also do swim/bike bricks as well? Do you do the entire swim/bike/run as a extra long brick training before the event?!?! - How do I get faster?
This is a source of frustration for me. Despite best efforts, I can't seem to get any faster in the swim, bike nor run! Perhaps this is just a lack of training volume, but I have read that interval work helps with speed. Should I be doing that, or should I leave it till when the event draws nearer?
Oh, and I will probably sign up for the New Balance Real Run on 20 Aug - 10km cross terrain. Hopefully I will be able to get a few good friends to sign up as well. It should be fun!Train safe everyone, and God Bless!
9 comments:
OK, first - HI! Yes, I'm back... but as I'm still injured I'm back but probably not as frequently right now. And I get to post about other things -- such as my sunset cruise. Figured I'd share some nice pics...although not as cute as R1 & R2 :)
Second: I don't know about #3s & 4. I have heard that you can get faster on the run by doing hill work outs. On the bike, I know I got faster after I lost 15 pounds (it was pretty cool, uh, kewl). As for the swim -- if you have ANY idea hwo I can get faster, pleeeeze let me know!
As for #s 1 & 2: I don't know why the run out of T1 is hacking up your cleats??? It shouldn't be that far between out of T1 & onto your bike, no? Even though you're doing Sprints and on Oly, I would definitely keep the bike shoes -- the feeling you get powering up & down the course -- even if it is 12 - 15 miles is awesome when you're clipped in. Whether or not you are trying to place (which, by the way I am not). I would imagine you would loose that feeling riding in toe clips and running shoes.
That said, I don't think I'd worry about keeping your shoes on your pedals and doing a running start unless you are in fact trying to win or place for for hardware. Someone on my tri team posted that question to our Yahoo groups last week and the respose from a few good veterans was that it is really gard to learn and dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. They recommended if you're not trying to place, put on your shoes in T1 -- you'd only gain a few seconds by keeping them on your pedals. That said, opinion of a few. I guess the flip side is that once you learn it, it's no big deal, but I'll keep with putting on my shoes in T1. :)
PS: please tell me, what is modzilla? I went to www.modzilla.com and they look like a web hosting company. I had orginally thought it was like Firefox or something....you use instead of internet explorer....
Hey Robin, thanks for the good advice!
Sorry for the typo. I meant Firefox Mozilla. :D
Ah-ha! It was only coincidence I said Firefox! It's teh only other browser I know of!!!
BTW: I wonder if any of us are *really* triathletes by accident! ;)
Kewl, please keep in mind that I am an absolute novice triathlete. This is information gleaned from others, based on my limited experience, or something about which I do have some knowledge (running).
1. Based on the Ironman at the LBS, even short distances on the bike can be affected by shoes. He strongly recommends using bike shoes, and even steered me towards road shoes instead of tri-shoes. That said, have you looked into options with recessed cleats?
2. Out of the pedals. As Robin mentioned, this is something that apparently takes some learning. The difference in time getting into the shoes probably eats up anything you save. If it's a long run to the bike mount area, carry the shoes and put them on right there. The time you lose there is made up at the beginning of T1, where you don't put them on.
3&4. I work on my aerobic base year round. I do use some core body strength exercises. Until I get to longer races, I'm holding off on the major strength training. Each week, I do one session of speed running (Wednesday's shorter run). Limit it to 30 minutes per week. Again, I do this all year. Two good options are hills or intervals. I use intervals, since there aren't a lot of good hills around here. I'm just getting used to being on the bike for hours at a time, and will begin to add speedwork (again, once a week) when my mileage is up.
I also tend to do bricks once each week (twice on long weekends like we just had). I have been alternating how I do them. If I have an exceptionally long run for Sunday, I do a swim/bike brick on Saturday. If I have a lot of swim mileage in and a shorter run on Sunday, I do bike/run bricks on Sunday. The swim/bike sessions are a bit challenging, as I have to swim, then get home to the bike.
You can also do "mini" bricks by doing a short run after any bike ride. The key is to get your legs used to that transition. What I've read is that the first 10 minutes or so is key. So, after a good bike, take a quick 10-15 minute run.
Kewl,
As for your first two questions, i didn't bother learning to put my shoes on my pedals this year. My reason is that I am doing long distance (1/2 IM). Saving a minute or two does not make a difference.
But if u are going for sprint, it will save a lot of time. Save time = free speed.
Note: I do intend to do that later b/c shoes on pedals make transition a lot smoother (and u don't have to run with bike shoes and kill the cleats).
As for training, it really depend on your fitness level. For me, right now, training so much (15-20 hr/week), i know if I go all out on sprint, I have enough energy for the whole thing.
If you are confident with your base, then you can train the long bricks as you say.
As for getting faster...sorry i am still working on that. But i do know, you have to do a lot of volume (especially swimming to learn the right technique). And it takes time to be faster (or further or both). I mean like years :).
Also for working on going faster, u have to train in that pace. Say your running training speed is 5 min/km. In race time, your body will run 5 min/km. It takes time to teach the body to run faster.
There are lots of ways to run faster: intervals, fartleks, hill running. Won't recommend doing all of them but adding one or two session per week won't hurt.
About bike shoes clipped to the bike - I've seen MANY people crash that way, trying to get their feet in the shoes, or losing a shoe while leaving transition and having to run back against traffic to retrieve it. It only takes one crash to add a LOT of time to your finishing total. :-) Just a thought....
For me, shaving off 20 seconds there isn't worth it.
K-trox,
here's my 3 cents on your questions...you already recv'd a ton of great advice above so hope you can take something away from this....
1. cycling shoes definitely..the power transfer is MUCH greater and worth it even across the shorter distances
2. I agree with the consensus here ..put them on...not worth going down as you fiddle with those on the bike
3. I hate to dispense advice on strength training because I never seem to find time for it myself but definitely an important component as we get older *sigh*.
Re: bricks, swim / bike bricks are useful to help you prepare for the semi-fatigued cycling state encountered in the race but if you are focusing on sprint / oly races..i would focus on the bike/run bricks....don't sweat the run either...just run 15 minutes off the bike several times a week...the goal is to get used to the transition from bike to run...just running to the point where it starts to feel comfortable..no reason to kill yourself in training
4. How to get faster..isn't that the eternal question!?...so many methods out there....you hit the nail on the head though...training volume is key and intervals as well but not until you have a solid aerobic foundation...most people hit the speedwork waaaay to early...there are so many gains possible in speed aerobically before any speedwork is needed...just need to be very patient...seriously..it works!
Keep it rolling!
Just a few of my thoughts.
Definitely use a bike shoe you can clip in.
Try getting in and out of your shoes. If you like it practice it more. If you don't I wouldn't worry too much about it. It doesn't give me too much benefit out of T1. I don't have to hunt for my shoes but I do slow down on the course to slip them on. I think they really payoff going into T2 though.
I think strength training can (or even should) be done year round. (ie weights and hills are two great ways to increase your strength.) Actually as the event draws near you should back off the pure strength workouts and think more of strength maintenance instead of strenght building. As the race draws closer you will also want to focus more on aerobic and anaerobic work. As for speed, yes intervals will help you there. And you should try to do those at a fast pace.
I think you can get away with not doing bricks for Sprints and Olympics, but they really help a lot. I think the main benefit of bricks is to let your body adapted to doing a discipline when it is already fatigued. That is why the bike/run is the most popular, but I have done all sorts of combinations. (ie today I did a bike then swim combo.)
Ahh yes we all want to get faster. I think the best way is to consistently do quality workouts.
By the way, not sure how much you get out of your flip turns in the pool, but yes you should be slower in the 50 meter pool.
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