rudi-h

how does this change the number of hours that you need to spend in your running shoes... I try to optimize training and I typically only manage 6 hours a week in a manner that is sustainable. I've always believed that to get the most "fitness" out of the 6 hours that I exercise a week, I need to do intervals, speed sessions, hills etc. to make it count. I must say that I do agree with the "take it slower" approach to prevent injuries and overtaining, but how many training hours would one have to add to your week to maintain a similar level of fitness when you drop the intensity by so much.

my recent frustration with road bike wheel problems... 1) used to ride a raleigh RC3000. probably did 20000km on the bike with no issues... at some point the rear wheel went out of true and can't get it sorted. Had it to cycle lab 2 times and to another local shop. I had my own hand at truing it (got pretty good because had to redo it after every ride) but no matter what I do it won't stay trued. If i true it perfectly before a ride, it's out so far that it rubs against the brake pad at around 40km. At 100km its so far out the tyre touches the seat stay 2) new bike is a merida scultura 5000 disc. snapped two spokes in ~1700km of riding this year. Also had the wheel rebuilt by cycle lab, so i'm assuming they would have applied to correct spoke tension etc. not as irritating, because the discs makes that I don't have brake pads rubbing against a wobbly wheel, but still annoying to have to do work on a brand new bike this whole spoke issue is new to me, anyone have similar issues on road bikes?

i use arena open water goggles and i kinda like them. they don't sit inside your eye socket, so you don't look like someone has tried to vacuum your eyeballs when you take them off. also like the slight dark tint to the lenses for those early morning swims when the reflection can be quite harsh. so yes, to me the "open water" type goggles are more comfortable and worth it

ban this, ban that... stay off this, get of that... pedal assisted bikes are arguably the most efficient and sustainable form of transport invented to date and it turns out that it can be just as good (arguably even better) than a conventional bicycle for recreational purposes too. so why ban something that doesn't make noise, doesn't damage trails, enables friends, families (and even physically challenged/disabled/injured people) to ride together, is safer than conventional scooters/motorbikes, is environmentally superior to pretty much anything else and fun to ride? cars and motorbikes have had the same problems since inception with some being faster than others and we seemed to solve that problem just fine with some basic rules, traffic signs and mutual respect... So... basically what Defender said + maybe something like having "passing zones" in races where non-technical sections can be marked specifically to facilitate the possible increase in passing rates on races.

Washing machine was maybe was a poor analogy, but I do think in 30 years from now when ebikes will inevitably be as common or even more common on our trails and streets as any other bike, well say: "remember those crazy days when we weren't allowed to ride our ebikes on the trails..." and i get the point of being unfair to "athletes", hence the importance of splitting the "competing" crowd from the fun riders. How many of the 2000 people that cycled transbaviaans with me 6 weeks ago really call themselves "athletes"... Although there weren't many weekend warriors around, most of us were just there for the experience, enjoying the scenery, the great soup at bergplaas and throwing in a bit of suffering and friendship in the mix along with some terrible 1AM jokes about chafing body parts... I live in a small town, so by far the hardest part of an event like that (and sometimes a barrier to entry) is getting people of similar ability to train and ride with you... I was lucky to get an entry from a varsity friend that had a team member pulling out this year, but if that didn't happen I wouldn't have been able to ride the race, purely because I don't have riding buddies that are/were up for a race of that distance. Unfair maybe, but I won't mind the slightest...

i'm no ebike fan myself and may I never have a big enough brain fart to buy one personally... but protesting ebikes in races (cycling events really, we just seem to call them races in SA) is almost like protesting washing machines back in 1908 when they were first invented... like them or not, ebikes have undisputed merits and they appeal to some in a way that bicycles can never match. Most significant advantage is that family members and friends of different physical abilities and fitness can enjoy time together in nature while each person can dial the "toughness" of their individual workouts by setting the level of assistance. So why should someone and his/her boyfriend/girlfriend/wife/dad/mom/friend not be able to enter a ride together, have the weaker athlete (or both) ride on an ebike and then set the appropriate level of assistance so that both can have a good day out? You might say, then don't enter races and ride elsewhere, but lets be honest... Races are by far the most safe and fun riding that you can find out there. The roads are marked and marshalled, trails are maintained, land access has been arranged, water points are available and the route is safe, so to tell people they should go ride elsewhere with their ebikes is a bit shortsighted. Maybe a few more ebikes are exactly what we need to change marginal events into something that is more sustainable in the long run? Of course you need to maintain the concept of "human power only" for competition and prize purposes, but why can't you also enter sabi classic or sani2c with an ebike? Are the rest of us really going to be that much worse off?

seeing that its friday... i haven't met anybody that "doesn't mind paying back interest", neither have I found anyone in need of a loan not to be put in financial strain because of more debt... good sales pitch though, but the more sound advise is that high-interest finance for minor goods is not a (edit) viable smart option.

TSS does not include HR. rTSS or TRIMP scores are based on HR, but it will be clearly indicated when it is an HR based TSS value. The TSS calculation is based on the Normalized Power and not on Average power. TSS = Time x IF x 100. So in your case, you are correct, with an FTP of 310W will give you a TSS of 129 based on your 2 hr ride @ 200W Your NP cannot be lower than your average power, thus the calc is incorrect. I'm guessing that either your power data got corrupted or something went wrong with the file transfer between your IDT and whichever software system you use to calculate TSS.

i never used to use any technology... i trained for and completed an ironman one year without a watch at all, not even an old casio. Didn't even have a bike computer on my bike at the time, so I literally just did what "felt" right and did not measure any stats, no HR, no time splits, no intervals, didn't track weekly hours, distance, nada, nothing... did it work? I guess it wasn't terrible, but I must admit that I didn't nearly get to optimal levels of fitness, recovery, speed etc. strange thing, is I'm not even sure if it was more fun... I've since gone from zero measurements, to having it all... I bought a Garmin fenix, stages PM on my bike, running pod and running HR belt etc., so I can literally measure everything and I make an effort to ensure I have my HR monitor on, log my rides and runs etc. every time. I won't say I'm obsessed, but I do find great enjoyment in the measurable improvements that the statistics provide... I get motivated when I manage to increase my cadence, drop my HR, improve and map my FTP, check my training against the performance graphs that stravastix / trainingpeaks provides etc... so for me, I won't be losing the watch any time soon.

as dave said, it's just physics... The main reason for needing energy to run is to move your body vertically with each step. (when running on a flat surface at a constant speed.) Your leg that makes contact with the ground moves your entire body by a vertical distance. If you have a running HR strap, this is the "vertical oscillation" measurement that you see in your running stats. To roughly calculate the energy you expend, you need to multiply the following terms: weight X vertical oscillation X cadence X constant The constant will be a conversion factor to get the measurements above into the unit of calories and is the same for both you and your wife, so for comparison you can ignore it. For you it will be something like this: 90 kg X 11 cm X 160 spm = 1584 For your wife, maybe something like this: 60 kg x 10 cm x 180 spm = 1080 The fraction according to your garmin is 786/563 = 1.4 times more calories. The fraction according to the calc above is 1584/1080 = 1.46 times more calories. It does however seem that the Mrs is running a bit closer to her max compared to yourself (looking at the HR zones), thus her body is likely pumping a bit more blood and her body is generating a bit more heat, which would mean that she expends a bit more energy than you. The fact that the numbers don't line up perfectly is due to me making incorrect guesses of weight and vertical oscillation, the terrain may not be perfectly flat and that the HR thresholds on the watches are not perfectly calibrated. But I'd say the difference measured by the Garmin is about right.

Running or a tri HR belt gives you a lot more than a footpod in terms of run dynamics, but a foodpod is good for running indoors. The wrist sensor on my watch used to underestimate my speed on a treadmill with around 15%... aint nobody got no time for that!!

I'm not quite 1.9m, but not short either at 1.84m... The fast cadence does NOT come naturally to me at all, but if I stick it through for a few minutes, I tend to remember the rhythm for the remainder of the run. So what I did was to run the first km with headphones. Not really my first choice of music, but I found two songs that have a fast natural beat which i found easy to follow with my stride. One is "'till I collapse" from Eminem and the other is "keep the dogs at bay" from seether. (I'll need to find more songs soon, I'll go off my face if I need to listen to the same stuff starting every run...) You don't have to run quicker, just take smaller strides. Along with the shorter strides, your vertical oscillation will also drop to more acceptable levels. Let the music help you, I could also not do it by just looking at the cadence on my watch screen. good luck!!

maybe a little off-topic, but after 10+ years of social running i had a bit of a eureka moment last week... I recently bought a garmin fenix watch with a foot pod, tri HR belt etc. For the first time I had the ability to check the "running dynamics", i.e. cadence, ground contact time, vertical oscillation etc. Issue is that I scored poor on all of them despite recently running some of my best times in many years. So, giving in to the pressure of technology I started with the obvious metric which is to up the cadence. I used to run comfortably at around 160, however Garmin suggested I up the cadence to 180. I found myself a few songs where the beat matches this pace and just ran to the music.. At first my HR went through the roof and for a brief moment I thought this high cadence ideal was all bogus, but after the initial two minutes my HR started to stabilize and then dropped down to the normal levels that I was used to. At my normal training pace I typically fatigue at ~8km, yet this time I was still going strong after 10km and ended a 12km run, clocking 4min20 for the last km!! So bottom line, if you're running at low cadence or not measuring it, 175+ strides per minute will change your life!

That's a lot of training, it will take 3 to 6 months for your body to get used to that volume depending on what base you started from. I upped my training quite a bit earlier this year (April) and i've had the most successful training streak ever without any injuries, excessive fatigue or illness of late and my fitness is close to personal best levels with both running and cycling. I bought a garmin fenix watch and now train religiously with a HRM and also have a powermeter on my road bike. Because I have the HR and/or power data for every ride or run, I use Stravastix to track my fitness and form (Similar to what you get from Trainingpeaks - Stravastix is just free). I try to always stay in the "optimal zone" and I must say that helps a lot in terms of telling you how hard and long to train as well as when to rest, irrespective if it's running or cycling that you're doing.

I have the fenix 3 with the plastic / rubber strap. Terrible corrugated roads where I live and if set tight enough there's no issues wearing it even after many hours of very bumpy riding. I've been to Navworld (Strijdom Park) the other day to buy a footpod and they have an entire shelf with straps and accessories. Didn't check what it costs, but sure you'll find something there.

the whole point of going to discs is to improve braking, and as it has been proven with MTB's it doesn't seem possible to make cable disc brakes with comparable performance to hydraulics. so IMO, if you don't go hydraulic discs its best to stick to caliper brakes.

So this is quite long... excuse me I'm quite an analytic person and an engineer by profession, so my first priority in life is understanding stuff. My personality, interests and skill set also tends to make me sceptical of gimmicks or anything else that salespeople throw at me until such time that I can justify on a solid technical argument that there really is some tangible benefit. I'm also not into gadgets. Early in my sporting life (2005) I tried to understand a bit more about training. At the time I thought it essential to train with HR, so I bought and religiously trained with a HR monitor, did blood lactate and VO2 max tests and tried to understand the basics of nutrition, physiology and almost every other aspect of training. I got to a point where I thought I understood enough of all of that stuff that for the last ~5 years (after I lost my HR monitor while moving) I haven't bothered to even get as much as a speed sensor on my bike. I trained for and competed in almost all events imaginable from ironman races, 70.3's, xterra's, road races, MTB marathons, MTB & road stage races, enduro's and cycling the col's in the alps without even tracking my time or distance in any of these events, nevermind the nice-to-knows such as cadence, power, HR and all that other stuff. My reasoning was that after many years of learning my body and knowing my limits, I believed that I had learned the art of pacing myself in training and racing based on how I feel rather than what the numbers say. This belief that "I know it all" was further bolstered every time that I didn't do too bad in races compared to friends that often did way more training hours. and then... Two years ago I moved away from all my riding mates, so I bought a Wahoo Kickr; The reason wasn't primarily with power training in mind, but rather to "spice up" my indoor workouts, riding online against mates etc. I never got the connection to Zwift or Virtual Training working (my laptop doesn't support the correct type of bluetooth and I never bothered to buy an ANT+ or Bluetooth dongle), and Kinomap was quite a let-down, so I ended up just riding self-made intervals while listening to music on the odd occasion that I used the indoor trainer. End of last year, I really wondered how I was doing compared to past years as I prepped for 94.7. I built up quite a number of mini "tests" over the years to see how I go, i.e. ride a timed run of the Suikerbosrand loop a few weeks prior to the race which would give me an idea of my form etc., but now living somewhere distant I didn't have any reference anymore. That got me curious... What are my power numbers, what intervals do I need to push to simulate the hard efforts along the M1, Jan Smuts, Witkoppen or Cedar road? In my mind there was only one solution to this problem. Get a PM and ride / race for a while without looking at the numbers, just download the files and use it for reference later. I would then at least be able to measure my performance year-on-year so that I can compare the efforts I need to simulate during my Kickr workouts. However, I could not justify to myself spending the ~R20k on a power meter and a gamin without the need to do some homework, hence I bought the bought the book that many folks have suggested in this thread: "training and racing with a power meter", and for someone who claimed to know something about structured and scientific training, I was quite surprised about what you can learn when looking at your power numbers and how to make those numbers work for you. Essentially training has now become one big game of experiments and challenges rather than just the 4 - 8 mostly pleasurable hours that I routinely spent on my bike or in running shoes almost every week for the last 10 years. Solo training rides are no longer just boring hours in the saddle and I can hardly wait to get home to check the numbers. I'm no longer disappointed if I have a poor average speed on a windy day and the last 20km of my ride I'm already getting curious about my TSS scores, chronic training load and all those other nerdy stats that wait for me when I get home. On the practical side, I used to hate riding into the wind, however now the treacherous drag back home against a head-wind became a game against the numbers and I'm almost excited to hit this stretch of road fighting to keep the power higher than last time. Knowing my TSS scores for the week makes me feel good about going into a well-deserved rest day, where previously I used to feel guilty for slacking off... Anyway, decide for yourself whether it is worthwhile because a PM is a lot of money no matter how you look at it or which model you buy, but at least try and read the book (even if you don't intend to buy a PM). For someone that enjoys the nerdy side of life, the PM really makes a difference in my world and I have a revived excitement about the sport in general. I'll check in at the end of the year to give an idea of how much the PM has improved my cycling. My best pre-powermeter 94.7 was 2h47 from D, so let's see how 2017 goes!

this is like fighting against 29'ers in 2008... like it or not, in 10 years from now there will be e-bikes all over our trails, in the CTCT, marathon races, enduro races and everywhere else you look. I won't ever own one, but it will still be all around us me thinks.. Is it bad? I don't know, more riders on our trails means safer trails and more riders also bring more trails. Just maybe, because e-MTB's are typically plus sized 160mm trail machines, we might even see an increase and gnarly stuff cause the e-bike brigade might be more inclined than the hard core marathoners to ride jumps etc. as they won't be as fixated with Strava KOM's. Let them come. If it's shyte, the e-bike boom will slow down, but who knows it might just get better

let people be... i don't always wear a helmet, cause sometimes on a sunday afternoon cruise i feel like the wind in my hair. Then i don't take risks, ride quiet roads and i leave my enduro pants home. if i ride to train, race or practice tricks then i'd go all the way up to full face depending on what's on the menu. may common sense and freedom of choice prevail (ps common sense seems to be that thing that isn't quite as common as we think)

and my backyard on the limpopo bank... (still motorolla g3) edits and filters with google photo

some panoramic shots from the col's in France (motorolla g3) alpe d'Huez col d'Izoard col d'Izoard col d'Izoard mont ventoux col de la bonette col de la criox de fer

its perfectly safe from a crime point of view on any weekend day, any time of year. from a traffic point of view, I try to avoid the stretch on Beyers Naude as much as possible. Something country, lion park, caves, malibongwe and if you want back up sattelite hill... you can easily stitch anything from 30km to 100km together by staying on those roads.

from my point of view D and E are the best bunches in the entire field for a sub 3. I haven't pulled the stats recently, but these two bunches are massive, normally around 480 riders strong (compared to A, B and C that are <150) and roughly half of the bunch will break 3 hours. This means that the front half of the group will carry you to a sub3. The first hill will be hard, but hang in there its only 5 minutes of effort. Then its smooth sailing until heartbreak hill. hang in there. Kyalami is new, but I suspect it will be hard up the mineshaft. That's only a 2 min effort, so hang in there. At woodmead you'll know whether your bunch is too fast or too slow to last for the next 2h30. Fall back if you need to and re-coup your energy on the M1 up until corlett dr. The hill on the M1 starting at 11th avenue passing the s-bend and the zoo will be hard but hang in there. After that you'll be awarded with a good rest until the bottom of Conrad drive. From witkoppen on things start to get a bit more scattered. Find the wheels that you can match and make sure not to lose contact. You don't want to be isolated on Malibongwe or the stretch going from the lion park down to the bottom of Cedar rd. From cedar rd there's no more structure so stick to your own and just give it horns for those last 3 lil hills.

from E batch a sub 3 is easy, the top guys in the bunch will do 2h40. You'll be better off just riding in the bunch than trying to work at it with a handful of guys that you might meet on the hub. Start at the front 15% of the bunch and stay there.

whaaat???