Geelong Tri

essendon93 said:

Looking at doing a team triathlon down at Geelong in a couple of months, with myself doing the bike leg (40km), Con doing the Run(10km) and another workmate the swim (1500m).

I'm tipping I'll be on the bike up near the front, which means noone to chase down, and be a case of trying to limit the damage as people start picking me off...I ain't exactly a quick ITT'er

Having never TT 40km before, what sort of training would people recommend? Its on April 16.

What sort of av speed should I be doing? My fitness isn't that good at the minute.

Also has anyone got a rough idea of what sort of times teams do in these races for each leg?

Thanks
ess

I've done one or two tris and TTs... There are lots of different people that enter these races, so the speed really does vary a lot, most people will average between 30 and 45km/h - where do you fit in? Teams vary from the "dream teams", that will finish an Olympic distance race under 1h45m, through to once-in-a-lifetime competitors that could take 3hrs.

You probably won't be 'out front' because team entrants normally start after the individual age group wave starts. If the course is multi-lap, you'll have no idea where the leader is. This means you'll probably zoom past some riders, and some will zoom past you (disc wheels make a roaring sound as they go past).

April 16 is a way off, so you do have time for some specific training. Coaches can give you some specific advice, but some general advice is that you'll be riding for around an hour and a bit, give or take a little. You can't sprint for that length of time + the fastest solution is normally to give a constant or near constant power level. This means riding within yourself in the earlier stages and ramping up the effort level in the second half. Keep a good aero position (that is consistent with comfort!) and concentrate on drinking regularly.

No doubt, others will have some helpful tips. Good luck!

Ritch

PS. I might even enter this race...

essendon93 said:

What sort of av speed should I be doing? My fitness isn't that good at the minute.

My 2c, not that I have much of an idea for such things..

Put that Polar into overdrive and work out your LT... lots of books/google links on finding your LT.. once you have that.. just use that as your guide on the day.. or if you are feeling good on the day, smash it up...

"essendon93" <[email hidden]> wrote in
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Quoted message said:

Looking at doing a team triathlon down at Geelong in a couple of months,
with myself doing the bike leg (40km), Con doing the Run(10km) and
another workmate the swim (1500m).

I'm tipping I'll be on the bike up near the front, which means noone to
chase down, and be a case of trying to limit the damage as people start
picking me off...I ain't exactly a quick ITT'er

Having never TT 40km before, what sort of training would people
recommend? Its on April 16.

Wait for a windy day then push a big gear into the wind on a slight
uphill......don't worry about your knees, you can get nice light titanium
ones when you get older.

Also, I have a set of the TTT Spinaci type aero bars if you want to borrow
them......let me know.

Gags

[QUOTE]

ritcho said:

I've done one or two tris and TTs... There are lots of different people that enter these races, so the speed really does vary a lot, most people will average between 30 and 45km/h - where do you fit in? Teams vary from the "dream teams", that will finish an Olympic distance race under 1h45m, through to once-in-a-lifetime competitors that could take 3hrs.

Quoted post said:

You probably won't be 'out front' because team entrants normally start after the individual age group wave starts. If the course is multi-lap, you'll have no idea where the leader is. This means you'll probably zoom past some riders, and some will zoom past you (disc wheels make a roaring sound as they go past).

Ess have a look at the times from some of the Olympic Dist tri's and I
would reckon teams would be aiming for close to the top individuals.
Here's teh results from Geelong last month
http://www.triseries.com.au/day4/index.asp so would reckon you'd want to
aim for something around 37kmh. Actually that is weird because they
always feel like they are doing double my speed.

But what you really want, and I keep telling myself I should do more of
this, is some time on a velodrome doing constant speed work. From memory
the Geelong course is fairly flat so you need to be able to get up to a
speed and hold it. I enjoy the hill riding on the BR (no honestly I do),
but for ITT training on the flat it doesn't help me that much and i
really need to complement it with velo training on the flat.

DaveB

essendon93 said:

Looking at doing a team triathlon down at Geelong in a couple of months, with myself doing the bike leg (40km), Con doing the Run(10km) and another workmate the swim (1500m).

I'll be there doing the Brooks race so I'll try and spot you to cheer. 🙂 The advice I had from my trainer on the last triathlon was to get in 53/17 and work hard. I found that to be good advice for me but I was only doing 10km that day and I was doing all three legs. Basically what Caren was getting me to do was get in a gear to race in rather than train in. I was only passed by a couple of girls and pased heapsa people so felt the ride was successful.

Someone else might have a better idea of a good ratio for you but obviously it's going to be a harder gear than you would normally ride in because you wanna whip the trihardletes arses. 😄

essendon93 said:

Looking at doing a team triathlon down at Geelong in a couple of months, with myself doing the bike leg (40km), Con doing the Run(10km) and another workmate the swim (1500m).

oh, I should have added... let me know where/when and I'll be there to lead you out for the sprint... 😉

cheers,
GPL

I have some lyrca booties you can borrow for that elite/pro TT look.

Ash - big helper

Gags said:

Wait for a windy day then push a big gear into the wind on a slight
uphill......don't worry about your knees, you can get nice light titanium
ones when you get older.

Also, I have a set of the TTT Spinaci type aero bars if you want to borrow
them......let me know.

Gags

hmmm, maybe Geelong Rd on a windy day...I reckon that would be enough resistance 😄 I might take you up on the aero bars...I'll let you know a bit closer to the date.

gplama said:

oh, I should have added... let me know where/when and I'll be there to lead you out for the sprint... 😉

cheers,
GPL

hmmm which brings up the wheelsuckin issues...how strict are they? I mean if I'm coming up to someone, can I ride up to their wheel, catch my breath for 5 secs, then move around them. Or do I have to keep a distance?

essendon93 said:

hmmm which brings up the wheelsuckin issues...how strict are they? I mean if I'm coming up to someone, can I ride up to their wheel, catch my breath for 5 secs, then move around them. Or do I have to keep a distance?

I would say very strict for this race especially because it also the Australian Triathlon Championship race. Pass other cyclists wide on the right so that you don't get sin binned (5 minutes will add a lot to your time!). It's worth reading the rules and regulations as there is plenty to be aware of, especially for the the Gatorade races. They let us Brooks competitors off most transgressions but they did stop some people from riding off with a bare torso in the first race - yep, you have to go to the swim to catch men without tops on. 😄

Here are the Rules and Regulations -
supersprint.com.auDefault.aspxOpen ↗

and check page 37-47 of this document for more details -
trivic.org.auTriathlon%20RCR%20 %20Oct%202004.pdfOpen ↗

essendon93 said:

hmmm which brings up the wheelsuckin issues...how strict are they? I mean if I'm coming up to someone, can I ride up to their wheel, catch my breath for 5 secs, then move around them. Or do I have to keep a distance?

Go on do the whole thing! you can do it!

Darfting by the legal mumble jumble means, when you ride up to someone you have approximately 30 seconds to ride around them and pass them, legally as soon as you pass the person they should drop back, but they wont, you will have to work hard to get past them and continue on. Just depends on the person you are passing, if you are unlucky you will get a warning, you wont get busted, just keep to yourself.

Riding off to the side of people is no good either, that is blocking, if someone is up behind you and cant get around, the idea is to ride your line, pass, when appropriate and drop back when appropriate.

Training;
a staple of Tri specific work is to ride 3/2 and build up to 6/2 which is 3 minutes on and 2 minutes off building up to 6 minutes and 2 minutes off. If you wanted to, you can speed things up and just concentrate on this work and put in 3 of these sessions / week becaue you are only doing the bike, say Mon/Wed/Fri with an easier ride over the weekend.

4 week period, week 1 = 3/2, week 2 = 4/2, week 3 = 5/2 and week 4 = 6/2
try and aim to do 6 in each session with a warm up and warm down and if you have to build up each one, so maybe the first 3/2 you do, just spend 30 seconds in the LT zone and then the last one you are spending in the entire time in the LT zone.

You will know your LT zone, its pretty easy to work out 🙂 When you are riding, it starts to hurt, because you are building up lactate, which is way the warm down is VERY important, to work it out of your legs, easy 60 rpm spinning with a HR down around the low 100-110s, try and force yourself to do at least 10 minutes for a warm down.

I usually do this sort of thing at a Velodrome, very safe.

phew! im tired just thinking about it...... done a work out or the day! oh Have a blast as well.... and kick some Triathlete ass!

Wow, huge feedback for a bunch of anti-tri types!

A few extra points...

1. I found indoor trainers great for tri preparation for flat courses,
because I had nowhere without lots of traffic lights or 4WDs and/or
bogans.

2. While everyone's bagging out on triathletes (and how fun it is to
beat them on the bike), at least they're racing their sport, racing
other people who do the same three legs ;-) Beating triathletes in the
cycle leg doesn't bring much street cred :-P

Tam (who used to love finding she had the fastest female run time... but
then decided it didn't really count)

Tamyka Bell said:

Tam (who used to love finding she had the fastest female run time... but
then decided it didn't really count)

I was really annoyed when I discovered that the timings for my last triathlon didn't show the first transistion time so I ended up with a really long bike time. I've been working a lot on the cycling so I was really keen to find out how I did and compare my time to the other females as I know very few passed me. I didn't have my bike computer at the time so I couldn't even guesstimate. I'm looking forward to seeing how I go on Sunday. Don't anyone get exctied, it's just a baby triathlon, I only have to swim 300m, ride 10km and run 3km. 🙂

Tamyka Bell said:

Wow, huge feedback for a bunch of anti-tri types!

Hah, and that from Ms "ex-triathlete". Don't believe anything Tam says
about being an ex anyway, she still has lots to say on
rec.sport.triathlon :P

DaveB

DaveB said:

Tamyka Bell said:

Wow, huge feedback for a bunch of anti-tri types!

Hah, and that from Ms "ex-triathlete". Don't believe anything Tam says
about being an ex anyway, she still has lots to say on
rec.sport.triathlon :P

DaveB

Hehehe...

-some of us get dumber as we get older, and convert from cycling to
triathlon.

-some of us get smarter and convert from triathlon to cycling.

-ignore me, I'm an ultra runner :P

Tam

DaveB said:

Tamyka Bell said:

Wow, huge feedback for a bunch of anti-tri types!

Hah, and that from Ms "ex-triathlete". Don't believe anything Tam says
about being an ex anyway, she still has lots to say on
rec.sport.triathlon :P

What's a cyclist doing in rec.sport.triathlon, Dave? Hm? You have a good
excuse for knowing this?

--
My Usenet From: address now expires after two weeks. If you email me, and
the mail bounces, try changing the bit before the "@ to usenet".

I don't know how successful you've been with this TT training Mikey,
but apart from a simplistic way of defining your LT, this method will
probably, IMO, only train you to race intervals at LT. ie. you will be
very good at building upto LT (remember it takes a while for your HR to
get upto LT) staying there for maybe 5 minutes, then resting at a low
HR (and power) before going again.

I think a better way to train for this TT would be to build upto doing
around 40min-1hr @ LT HR.
So you start off with maybe 2 intervals of 15min on @ LT one week, then
the next week 2 x 20min, or just 1 x 30 min. Anyway the idea is to
train for what you will experience in the race.
This is a simple summary of the method found at cyclingnews.com/fitness
(do a search on 'TT"😉.

BTW, LT is a singular HR, not a HR zone : so I think there is no real
"LT zone", just below LT and above LT.

Anyone else care to throw their 2c into the pot?

-Andres.

Stuart Lamble said:

What's a cyclist doing in rec.sport.triathlon, Dave? Hm? You have a good
excuse for knowing this?

Hah I'm definitely not a cyclist as anyone who rides with me on Sundays
will testify. The beauty of triathlons is that you have an excuse for
not being any good in three different sports. 🙂

DaveB