Aerobars or just drops

[jenniferh]

I'm doing my first sprint tri in Oct and tested my 10mi bike time tonight and I'm fairly dissappointed. I avg'd 15mph and topped out at 20mph, but it took me 38min. I've been browsing the results of other sprint tri's in my area and it seems like most of the finishers avg about 17mph.

I know I just need to get out and push myself to pick up the pace, but I'm also wondering if aero bars will make much of a difference. At the tri I watched this past weekend, it seemed like everyone on a road/tri bike had aero bars.

Your thoughts?

[KnottedYet]

During my sprint tri, I was averaging that speed on an upright hybrid commuter bike with fenders and a rack and a saddle with springs. In a skirt.

Trust me, you will go MUCH faster than your 15 mph on race day! The excitement and the thrill will have you zooming!

Use your drops, ride ride ride to get your legs strong, but don't stress about your average. It will be utterly different on the day of your race.

[jenniferh]

Really? I have 2 friends who ride mtb bikes recently at a tri and both avg'd much faster than I did today. I was shocked since I'm a much faster cycling than they are normally.

Is it just the adrenaline of race day that will push me along?

Is my current speed decent for training? I plan to keep pushing as much as I can.

[HillSlugger]

Don't worry about your time compared to others. Just get out there and enjoy your first triathlon!

[colby]

Really? I have 2 friends who ride mtb bikes recently at a tri and both avg'd much faster than I did today. I was shocked since I'm a much faster cycling than they are normally.

Is it just the adrenaline of race day that will push me along?

Is my current speed decent for training? I plan to keep pushing as much as I can.

If you are normally faster than they are, you will most likely race faster than they race. The adrenaline, the fact you are racing, the course, everything all adds up. Get used to riding in your drops, yes, but I don't think you necessarily need aero bars to go from a 15mph regular ride to a 17mph race.

So, for training, you don't want to push that hard all the time - you will get tired and your body will adapt so you'll stop changing (getting faster). If you want to build speed, what you probably want to do are things like hill repeats and intervals that get you to push REALLY REALLY HARD for 30-60 seconds 6-10 times with 2-5 minutes of easy spinning between intervals; or something like pushing PRETTY HARD for 2-5 minutes then going back to a spin for 2-5 minutes, repeat 3-4 times. Do that something like twice a week (be sure to mix it up) and your speed should improve. If you do 3 rides a week, I would do 2 rides with some intervals and 1 ride that was longer - like at least 15 miles at a comfortable (not race) pace if your target race is 10. If you do 2 rides a week or want to do 1 ride a week that you do whatever you want, do 1 ride with intervals, 1 longer ride, and either skip the third or do whatever you want.

Just don't do the hard stuff the week before your race. ;)

[JennK13]

Really!! You'll be faster. I usually averge 15-16 on my rides, but at my tri, I had a 10 mile ride and I pushed my average to 18mph, no problem (and I threw my chain) - I was on my fuji pictured below, no aero bars.

[jenniferh]

Whew. I feel better. I was out riding and watching the clock and kept asking myself how it was possible their race times were SO much faster than I was going.

I'll definetly be doing interval training. Thanks for the advice. I'd like to ride faster for my Sat. group rides and training for this tri will be my ticket.

I do like my drops when I have the wind on my back and I'm flying home. My normal route has a headwind the first half so I try to really push there to strength my legs.

I'm not worried about my time overall. I'll be just be glad to actually finish, but I'm an awful runner so I know I need a decent swim/bike time so when I crawl in on the run I will have a little padding on my time.