Traing,cadence,polar etc

[rowdie]

Hi

 

I come from a running background and started doing triathlons 18 months ago.My cycling is pretty average and am looking to improve it quite a bit-besides more time in the saddle increasing your cadence is apparently the way to go?

 

I have a polar RS 400 - can i buy a cadence sensor to fit to the bike that will work with this model or do I have to buy a specific model?If so what is the best model - multisport would be ideal as I still want to use the footpod

 

Is a cadence sensor the best way to go?Power meter is a bit expensive for me

 

Any other tips on improving my cycling?-to give you an idea of where I was and am - I did about 1500km between Dec and end Mar (and aboyut 500km in the 6 months before this) and speed came down from 2:17min/km to 2:08min/km.Did 180km in ironman in 6h05 but need to bring this down to 5h20-5h30

 

Appreciate the advice

[SwissVan]

 

I would not worry to much about a cadence function, rather concentrate on training at the correct intensities IAW your goals using HR or <?: prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Watts.<?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

 

I trained with a 53x12.com program which concentrates on cadence based training and while it was a good experience I don?t think that I benefited much from the cadence side of things. Training with Cadence and learning to pedal faster does have some benefits, but if you consider the amount of time you have available to train (assuming you work for a living) versus the amount of time you need to ?learn? to increase your cadence it?s not worth it. 

 

Rather get a proper training plan based on your requirements and personal capabilities from a recognized coach, or refer to a book like Joe Friel?s Triathlon training Bible.

 

As a one off tip I would say ride hill repeats (20 minutes minimum) at least once a week, or take up mtb which is pretty much like a TT type effort (ok maybe not as easy as a TT  ).

[rowdie]

cool-thanks for the advice

[intern]

Best advice to improve cycling: ride a lot. Get that base fitness up - and that means hours in the saddle. Cycling is not a natural action like running, so the more your body does it, the more 'used to it' it gets.

You will find, if you ride a lot, that you will get stronger and stronger and enjoy it more and more.

Cadence - easy. Keep it between 80-120rpm, you can guess where this is.

The tools do help, but more from an 'interest' point of view. And for that nothing beats a Garmin, easy to use, a wealth of data. And it has cadence.