It's all about performance

     Got my seat raised to just the right height
     So I can pedal with efficiency
     Don't mess with my cadence
     I pedal to the beat
     How you think I made this?

     It's all about performance.
     That's the name of the game.
     I pump up my tires and I oil my chain.
     Performance
         (Lyrics excerpt from Performance)

Ok, so I'm quickly learning that cycling does involve some actual technique and it's evident that I need to make some adjustments if I'm to get through the hilly IMC course in a reasonable amount of time without thrashing my legs. I've done a few longish rides (60-75k) followed by brick runs and it's clear than I can run pretty quick off the bike. However, I believe that even my extensive ultramarathon experience won't be sufficient to run a fast marathon if I don't learn to ride properly.

An IM friend with a fair bit of cycling experience once told me that the bike training portion of Ironman is blue collar work - just time in the saddle. While I recognize that I'll need to spend many hours riding between now and race day, I only partially agree that it's as simple as getting the time in.


Some of the buzz words I've been hearing directed at me lately are:

"You need to up your cadence".
"Stop mashing your pedals".
"Use your core".
"Spin smoothly".

Any poor sod can jump on a bike and ride around town. These days you're not even suppose to have gears if you wear skinny jeans. However, as in all endurance events, one of the key components to Ironman is learning to race efficiently. Turns out I'm a bit of a pedal masher: I naturally cycle with a low cadence and only exert force on the down stroke. I rode BMX as a kid, but haven't really ridden much of my adult life, save a bit of mountain biking and riding around town; none of which has included any clipless pedals.

So how does all of this relate to the Poor Man's Ironman? I'm getting there. My first step in starting to get serious about my biking was to get a bike fit. So I headed over to a bike shop recommended by new Tri-friend Darryl. They adjusted my pedals, seat height, angle and position and my aerobar location/height. I was expecting to pay $200, but the fit and new brake pads only came out to $100. Yeah!  The bad news: my cable ends are fraying and I'll need to replace them soon. I was informed that I might even have to replace the cable housing. 

Since I'm trying to do the bike thing on a budget, I decided to head over to Our Community Bikes, where they gave me 4 cable ends absolutely free (super easy to install). While I was there I also scored a used pair of Shimano SPD pedals for $5.00. I figure the only way I'm going to stop being a pedal masher is if I start clipping in on my my junk bike, which I've been using to commute to the pool. And $5???? Shut the front door..... you'll never get a deal like that at MEC. Why is it called a Co-op anyway? Because they collectively rip everyone off equally?

Back to performance. I seem to get bounced around a lot by the bike when I'm riding on the track. No surprise, when I focus on pedalling smoothly the bouncing stops. I've also noticed riding on my rollers makes it obvious when I'm not spinning smoothly. I plan on using both of these over the winter to improve my pedal stroke.

Earlier this year I dated this cyclist that was adamant that I should buy a power meter. Clearly she didn't last long, 'cause I ain't droppin' no coin on no power meter. Cadence meter? That's a whole other story. My friends keep telling me to up my cadence. Everything I read indicates I should be riding at at least 80 rpm, but I really have no concept of what that feels like. So yesterday I finally broke down and bought a Cadence Sensor for my Garmin Forerunner 305. Of course I didn't want to buy it new and a quick search on Craigslist revealed a brand new one for $70. I haggled the guy down to $60 and I now have cadence an speed (non-gps) displayed on my Garmin. 

I'm pretty excited about learning to ride more efficiently. Last week I did a 75k ride with Kyndra and at times it felt like I was working too hard. It was a great ride, but certainly couldn't have kept that pace up for another 100km. I certainly am grateful for having a bunch of experienced IMC'ers around me giving me cycling tips.

Sorry for the long post. I'll try to write less lengthy posts, but more often from now on. Stay tuned for my budget update - there have been a few other minor cycling purchases that I didn't mention in the post (including having to pry myself away from a Cervelo P1 yesterday). 

Nutrition and Budget

Made my first big purchase. Yup, I broke down went to Caps to spend $24.95+tax on a tri-bar mounted speed fill bottle. I might have the terminology wrong, so here's the link. I recently did a 70km ride, my longest to date, and realized it's going to take me a few more long rides to get my nutrition sorted out. From ultra running I have a good sense of knowing when I should be eating more and drinking more, but the same cues don't exist or are different in cycling. For instance, doing the 4000ft climb in an ultra you can't help but notice how much you're sweating and it reminds you to drink and take salt tabs. By contrast, all the sweat evaporates much more rapidly while on the bike, so it isn't quite as intuitive to know how much to drink, at least for a newbie like me. The aerobar bottle will make it much easier to sip frequently and having it right in front of me will be a constant reminder. Not sure if the tube in my face is going to annoy me or not though. I'll report back after a few test rides.

Total IMC Spending (as at 9/13/2011)
------------------------------------
Entry Fee:  702.00
Speed Fill:  27.94
            -------
           $729.94

While I'm on the topic of hydration, I think I'll mention one of my theories regarding Ironman insofar as nutrition goes. I've volunteered at IMC several times, always as a finish line catcher. I've found it quite astonishing how many people cross the finish line in a severely dehydrated state. I'm sure my triathlon friends will say, "Uh, hello?? They've been cycling and running in the heat for the last 12+hrs. What do you expect?" But the truth is, ultrarunners don't seem to be so messed up when they cross the finish line. With the exception of races like Badwater and maybe some of the really really tough ultras, you never see a medic tent at the end. You also never see an aid station every mile for the duration of the run.

So here's my theory, I think many beginner IM athletes don't fuel properly on the bike. I think dehydration is harder to monitor on the bike and many people come off the bike already low on electrolytes. Because they're low on salts they start having real stomach issues during the run, they can't get their carbs in and things spiral down from there and they end up walking when they really were trained to run the marathon.

Now I believe there's three key factors working against new Ironman entrants: First, as I mentioned, it's harder to monitor hydration on the bike. Most triathletes take their carbs in liquid form primarily, where as ultrarunners tend to have a little more solid food. Personally I know I'm starting to get dehydrated when I start having trouble getting down Chomps due to lower saliva level. This is my cue that I need to ramp up my drinking and/or salt intake.

Second, Ultramarathons are a much more relaxed environment. Now I'm not comparing the elites here, I'm talking about us middle-of-the-packers. Triathletes are hyperfocused on splits and transition times and shaving grams off their bike weight and they aren't allowed any crew. In ultras we [mortals] always take a brief stop at the aid stations to refuel, chat a little with the vollies and our crew, and our crew is usually reminding us of stuff we should be doing/consuming.

Finally, I believe beginner IM training programs don't focus on the run enough. Now I'll admit my impartiality on this subject, but bear with me. Most programs that I've seen involve fairly short brick runs after long rides and the long runs don't seem to extend much past 20k. Many first timers I've spoken with hadn't done more than a half marathon before IM. Now I won't argue about the effectiveness of this training style in terms of having legs for the run portion. In ultras we have this expression: don't outrun your stomach. I believe the biggest shortcoming of beginner IM programs is that athletes only train to survive the run, where as some minor adjustments in training would teach them how to start the run properly fuelled. They probably get enough miles in during training, but they don't get any miles in that involve having to deal with stomach issues. In ultras, even training for a short 50k race involves a couple 6hr runs. You can run 2hrs without any fuel at all, but you absolutely can't run 6hrs without having your nutrition dialed.

Of course this is all conjecture on my part, since my theory is based on my ultra experience and my catching experience, and not on actually having done an IM. It will be interesting to see how my view changes over time.

I do believe that IM is mostly about the bike, but I want to come off the bike ready to run, not just ready to survive. I guess we'll see what happens on race day. Luckily I've got 347 days to get it sorted out.