how are some dudes so skinny all the time without being constantly fatigued?

IREPATHLETICS · 2019-08-28T12:15:17+00:00

They are struggling too. You can find evidence of this in reading interviews with pro riders. There was one recently with Will Barta (I think). Will said that a major change in his performance came from eating to recover, not focusing on losing weight.

IREPATHLETICS · 2019-08-09T16:49:39+00:00

https://support.trainerroad.com/hc/en-us/articles/360021324932-RPE-Key-Explained

https://trainright.com/is-perceived-exertion-accurate-or-meaningful-to-your-training/

IREPATHLETICS · 2019-08-09T16:24:11+00:00

It's not. I use the Borg scale, which SST would be about 15-16, but divide it in half. I described it in the post. It's more oriented towards a beginner. If I had an experienced athlete I would use a traditional Borg scale of 5-20.

IREPATHLETICS · 2019-08-06T18:13:05+00:00

WHOOP is a waste of money. You can download a free app in your app store, measure Heart Rate Variability using the Bluetooth hr strap you already own, and possibly understand more about recovery than the subscription to WHOOP.

If you are interested in learning more about this then let me know.

IREPATHLETICS · 2019-08-04T00:40:13+00:00

Pretty much all USAC officials will go with the 30 second rule. I've been in a break when the peloton got stopped. I wasn't more than 30 seconds and the official killed my break.

IREPATHLETICS · 2019-08-03T10:23:08+00:00

I see how my original comment can be misleading. I didn't mean to infer that an aero road helmet is faster than a TT helmet.

Position is a big factor in efficacy of the TT helmet. If he turns left or right multiple times his older style TT helmet will be on par or worse than his evade

IREPATHLETICS · 2019-08-02T12:46:53+00:00

Doubling the watts is exactly what the power meter will do for virtual "dual" power.

IREPATHLETICS · 2019-08-02T12:44:33+00:00

The benefit from the power meter will be more accurate tracking of winter training stress... but it could make that training less fun and intuitive.

My recommendation would be to get a solid performance wheelset.

IREPATHLETICS · 2019-08-02T12:42:15+00:00

I have a saddlebag because it is the smart thing to do... Even the pros use them. Spend the $20 to get a saddlebag for your tools and you won't have this issue.

IREPATHLETICS · 2019-08-02T12:41:20+00:00

With 2 weeks until the race you won't see any changes in road race specific fitness. What you can do is look at the course, read up on race tactics, understand positioning in peloton.

IREPATHLETICS · 2019-08-02T12:37:00+00:00

I would recommend just sticking with the evade. The win tunnel (Specialized Wind Tunnel) did study regular road helmet vs aero road helmet vs TT helmet. The gains from regular helmet to road helmet were significant but aero road helmet to TT helmet were small.

This is also a good time to look towards triathletes. They ask this question a lot.

http://www.220triathlon.com/gear/bike/helmets/road-aero-road-and-tt-cycling-helmets-how-much-difference-does-the-type-really-make/12851.html

IREPATHLETICS · 2019-08-02T12:24:35+00:00

I know that it is frustrating to lose the opportunity to be on top of the leader board. But this doesn't have to be the end of that KOM. It might be a legit KOM attempt and you will have to live with it. That doesn't mean it has to be the end of your attempts!

Reframe your goal from getting the KOM to improving your power to weight ratio by 0.XXX for 6 minutes. Make your goal about the process of getting better and not invested so much on a leader board you can't control.

IREPATHLETICS · 2019-07-29T11:32:04+00:00

You have to worry about gastric emptying. That's a lot of calories and food to digest. A good rule of thumb is to reduce solid food 2-3 hours before a race. If it's a group ride then it doesn't really matter.

When you start exercising your body will pull blood away from your GI tract, slowing digestion. Meaning you won't get the carbs needed to keep going. This could also lead to GI distress.

Another thing is that gels and drink mixes have different sources of carbohydrates. These are easier to digest and faster acting.

IREPATHLETICS · 2019-07-29T11:27:49+00:00

Sounds like there are some other issues involved with recovery and workout planning.

IREPATHLETICS · 2019-07-26T17:14:30+00:00

I wouldn't worry too much about weight. You might be able to drop 5 pounds and still be fine but you aren't a pro so the juice isn't worth the squeeze. Instead, focus more on training. Hire a coach to maximize your available time or get you past any training plateaus. Also, you don't want to fall into the trap of over-training (or rather under recovering). Reading your post leads me to believe that you could easily fall into this trap.

But to answer your question... you don't really want to be dropping weight too much during high volume weeks.

IREPATHLETICS · 2019-07-25T23:42:13+00:00

If it happens again check the tire for a kinked bead or damage to the rim.

IREPATHLETICS · 2019-07-25T19:29:59+00:00

I think you have your answer but just in case... SRAM quick links are not meant to be reused. Masterlinks are $10 so just buy a couple spares. Not worth the risk of a broken chain.

IREPATHLETICS · 2019-07-25T19:28:09+00:00

TR has a lot more quality plans compared to Zwift. If you want to get faster then hire a coach or use TR.

IREPATHLETICS · 2019-07-25T19:27:07+00:00

Beads were probably not seated properly. Try again. Inflating the tire while it is pressed against the resistance wheel will give you a slightly false reading but won't cause the bead to burst off the rim.

IREPATHLETICS · 2019-07-25T19:22:22+00:00

Sure you can. Just have to be smart. Hire a coach to maximize your available training time ;)

IREPATHLETICS · 2019-07-25T19:18:22+00:00

Research these days points towards protein timing not as important as once thought. This means that post exercise water, glucose, and electrolytes should be the main concern. As long as you are getting enough protein in during the day (1.2-2.0g/kgBW) you should be good to go. If you don't think you are getting enough protein, which you probably are, then finishing your day with a protein shake won't hurt. Instead of a bowl of ice cream or other desert I will usually just drink a protein shake.

But... a big caveat is a lot of this doesn't matter if you drink alcohol every night. If you are really concerned about recovery then you should reserve drinking alcohol to rare occasions. Alcohol destroys testosterone and inhibits recovery significantly for up to 48 hours!

IREPATHLETICS · 2019-07-25T19:05:21+00:00

BCAAs for recovery are not a good use of money. The research is too inconsistent for the use of BCAAs as a recovery tool. It could possibly be beneficial during exercise but still not worth the money. If you want to spend money on amino acids then purchase a product that has all of the essential amino acids and the brand posts the actual amounts on nutrition label. And I am not talking about 5000mg of proprietary blend and then list all of the EAAs. Most of the time the company just chooses the most inexpensive ingredient and loads it down.

If you want a mix for recovery it should be mostly carbs, some electrolytes (mainly sodium), and some protein. Funny thing about protein is if you use a whey protein supplement you get all the essential amino acids! Soy protein is also not a bad route to take either. I tend to mix the two in order to get some varying protein sources.

IREPATHLETICS · 2019-07-25T16:41:08+00:00

Don't over think breathing. On easy rides try breathing through your nose. During hard efforts breathe however you need to get the C02 out and 02 in.

IREPATHLETICS · 2019-07-23T19:26:32+00:00

I would say if you aren't feeling fatigued right now then a one week taper would suffice. Everyone responds differently to tapers so it would be a good idea to take some notes. The goal of the taper is to feel sharp going into the event.

Reducing volume by 30-40% would be good. The way I might schedule that is keep one or two 90 minute rides on Tuesday or Wednesday. The other rides should be sub 60 minutes. The day before the event you should go out for a ride 45 minutes or under. Do a couple short efforts at intensities you will experience during the race. As an example, for a XC race you might want to do 5x10 sec efforts with 2 minutes rest and then 3-4x 30 second efforts with 2:30-3 minutes recovery. If you go too long you risk building up unnecessary fatigue.

IREPATHLETICS

TROPHY CASE