Smoothing the Motor

Lots has been made of Armstrong's 100 RPM cadence on the bike during his races.  People find it so fascinating, theres even "spotters on the course" to verify the rumors.  For the most part, it looks to be true.

When you bike at a low cadence, say, 75 RPM, you are essentially grunting your way through the pedal stroke.  This is much like trying to run 100 yards in giant leaps.  Yes, you made it across the field in fewer steps, but now your legs are fried.  Do that for the 5+ hour Ironman bike ride, and now you know why so many people have to walk the marathon.

100 RPM is not unattainable.  The first few times you try it, you will be exhausted.  This is because your motor isn't smooth.  Little sideways motions and timing issues get amplified as you spin faster and faster, eventually shooting your heart rate through the roof.  But, the more you do it, the better you get at it.  Much like playing the same song on a guitar or piano, the more frequently you do it, the faster and faster you can get it done with no mistakes.

For a good example, the real difference between a cheap blender and an expensive one is in the motor.  The manufacturer spends more money on making sure the tolerances on the mechanical parts are tighter, bearings run smoother, and materials are of higher quality.  In the end, you can buy a $500 Vitamix that spins at 5600 RPM easily.  Try to spin a $30 blender at 5600 RPM and it will explode into pieces all over your kitchen.

The first day you try to spin your own "motor" at 100 RPM for an hour on a trainer, you might not be able to do it at all.  The second day, you'll be able to do it, but it will exhaust you with the resistance set to zero.  The third day, you'll be able to spin at 100 RPM no problem, possibly 110+.  Once you get over 100, stay there and just up the resistance a little bit workout after workout.  Soon, you'll be putting out more power than before you started and your legs will be fresher for the run.

Enjoy!

Swimming Faster by Moving Less

If you're a typical swimmer and want to improve your speed, you should take a good look at your kick.  Most MOP and BOP triathletes bend their knees too much and let their legs spread too far apart to be decently fast.

Objects that move well through a fluid have a tapered tail.  When you're bending your knees and spreading your legs like you're running, you create a low pressure pocket of drag behind you that is actually trying to pull you backwards.  You want your tail-end to be more like a barracuda, not like a jellyfish.

A great way to fix this is to keep your legs straight at the hips and knees, together, and kick from the toes instead of the knees.  In fact, the ultimate indicator that you are doing it right is that your legs are straight and the joints of your big toes keep barely tapping each other as you kick.  If you can do that, your legs are tapered off and now you are streamlined.

When you fix the kick, what you will notice next is that you start wiggling all over the lane, hips going side-to-side with every stroke.  What this proves is that you were previously spreading your legs to balance out your learned out-of-balance technique.  You were basically swimming spread-eagle to swim straight.  When you brought everything in line, your twisty form revealed itself.  Not good, right?  

When you can to the legs-together-with-big-toe-joint-tapping freestyle without wiggling down the lane like a water snake, then you've officially got it.

Enjoy!

Keeping the Rubber Side Down

The most likely way to ruin your training is to get injured.  The fastest way to get injured is to wreck on your bike.  

There is one simple tip that can make or break (literally) years of training and racing - Put your weight on the outside pedal when taking a turn.

If you rest your weight on your butt, evenly on the pedals, or on the inside pedal at all, you greatly increase the risk of the bike shooting out from under you if the tires start to slip.  

On the other hand, if your weight is on the outside pedal, you have mechanically leveraged the outside of the bike so that it tends to right itself, not falling flat under you like a piece of plywood.  Tires slipping simply send the bike out a little wider instead of suddenly surfing your Cervelo into the nearest hedgerow. 

You can practice this often.  Take a turn, put all your weight on the outside pedal, and let your butt hover over the saddle.  You'll quickly realize that you can take corners much faster and safer, especially ones with a little gravel and wet pavement.

Enjoy!

Eliminating Arm Drag while Swimming

I was working with some local future Ironmen last night at the pool and thought I'd share a tip that I gave one of them.  Here goes: 

This swimmer was letting his arm dip low in the water before engaging in the pull - Pretty typical stuff that lots of us do (especially me) when not paying attention to form.  I told him about how doing so creates a lot of drag as the top of the arm pushes against the water.  I told the story about how I distinctly remember watching the Texas A&M swim team practice and how their arms were extended practically parallel to the water's surface after entry.  (Honestly, I was in the water three to five hours at a time training to swim across Lake Tahoe, so I didn't have much else to do.)  They swam so "flat", it really stood out as something fast swimmers do and we should try to emulate.

To illustrate the point, I hopped in the water and pointed my arm down at about a 30 degree angle, asked him to do the same, and then we both started walking forward.  The drag against the top of the arm was so tremendous, it even surprised myself!  

To eliminate this drag and swim faster, make sure that your arms and hands are flat and parallel to the surface of the water during the arm entry, glide, and pre-pull part of your stroke.  Enjoy!

Bringing Back the Compact

I put my spare compact crankset back on my tri bike this weekend and thought I'd share the results.  A compact crankset is a relatively new creation (2003) where the cranks have a set of 50/34 chainrings instead of the normal 53/39.  

How does this behave in the real world?  Having a smaller chainring in the front means that you can climb hills without struggling, almost as if you have a triple chainring.  Also, both front chainrings being smaller means that there is a smaller effective gap in the rear cogs, making for finding that perfect gear a little easier.  

For triathlon, the upside is huge.  You can maintain an ideal cadence much more of the time instead of blasting your legs being in too big of a gear, which happens often.  You also can spin up hills more easily with the newfound low gears in the back.  I was able to climb the local steep grade at 95 rpm instead of the low 80s, which was really helpful.  When you leave the bike and start to run, you will be able to run much better not having ground your legs to a pulp in a low gear.

What you lose is top-end speed.  A 50-12 top gear is a few mph slower than a 53-12.  With the 50-12, I found that my top speed was around 33 mph at 96 rpm.  But in triathlon, you aren't trying to "break away" from the pack for a sprint finish or jump a gap like you are in classic road bike races, so you don't need massive gears for those huge jumps in speed.  Triathlon cycling is a consistent and even effort, so how often would you be going 33 mph anyway?  There is the case of downhills, but wind resistance becomes so strong and the percent of gain for effort spent is actually pretty small.  You might find your time spent going downhill over 33 mph is best used coasting to give the legs a break.  In any case, you can change your cassette out for an 11-to-whatever-you-need-anyway.

Mechanically, there's also another advantage - You gain most of the benefit of a triple-chainring crank without the weight and also without the added complication and cost of the triple front shifting setup.  In fact, a compact crankset actually weighs less than a double.  Nice!

If you are riding a road bike for triathlons, you should take a look at the front chainrings and see what the numbers say.  If it's not a compact, your biggest gains on the bike might come quickly by swapping it out for one.