Swancott time trial

[RoadRaven]

Hey there bt, glad you have had another go at the course.

Staying in the bigger gear is a good thing to do... ideally you should be aiming to get "on top" of a gear (do you use cadence at all as a measure? or your heart rate? either of these are useful measures of what you are or can achieve in a TT situation).
Once you are on top of the gear, move up another until you are on top of that, and keep going until you are in the biggest gear you can be in without dropping your cadence too much.

In a TT situation, many people drop their cadence a little - example, in a race situation (on the flat) my cadence is about 85-92rpm... but in a TT it is about 75-80.

If you have a heart rate monitor and you want to measure improvements in both strength, endurance and lactate threshold there are a couple of ways to do this.

ONE:
Ride a TT course as you did on your second go over the course... ride when the conditions are similar (wind, temperature etc etc). However, the time you do training on a TT course will almost inevitably be slower than when you are racing over the same course. So don't be disappointed if your improvements, when on your own, aren't as big as you hoped for...
During a TT (race or training) you should aim to ride at or above your lactate threshold (measured by HR if using a monitor or by perceived effort if not).

TWO:
Ride an Aerobic Time Trial (ATT). You do need a heart rate monitor for this one, and you should know what your lactate threshold is. Choose a 10/15/20km flat course (I use a 15km 'out and back' course). Ride the ATT course at 5-8 heart beats below your lactate threshold and time yourself. Do this every 4-6 weeks and if you are improving you will be able to ride the distance in shorter and shorted times without going over your LT.


How this works for me:

Resting HR 39
Lactate Threshold 159
Max HR 183

I ride a TT between 160 and 170 beats per minute - in a race situation I can do this for up to an hour before my legs are incapable of very much at all - my race TTs take no more than 40 minutes (and slowly I am shaving the time off this)

I ride an ATT at 151-154 beats per minute.


Good luck and I trust you keep enjoying, once you realise you enjoy doing time trials, there is no turning back >

[btchance]

Thanks for the tips and encouragement. I appreciate it.

RoadRaven - for now I am HR monitor-less; I go mainly by cadence (90-100), but I can tell that my HR rarely gets very high, whereas it sky-rockets when running. (I have figured my LT out when running, and it's around 175-180). My legs just give out strength wise before the rest of my body does. I'm going to keep working on using the bigger gears, and not worry if my cadence drops a little. I've had knee problems in the past so I have a tendency to over protect them sometimes. I'm also going to start doing some more work where I can figure out how hard I can push myself on an out and back course, and still get back to where I need to be . Guess that relates to LT also (hmm, maybe that HR monitor will be my Christmas gift to myself).

And the aerobars are becoming more comfortable, just not comfortable in any type of wind, though.

KSH - don't worry about being real fast for TT; this TT series I'm doing is put on by my club as a way to monitor fitness levels. It's great practice for tris, and hey, I'm not even the slowest one out there, and I'm pretty slow!

[RoadRaven]

Hey there bt... I understand you wanting to keep your knees safe and spinning... perhaps you try and spin a bit faster?

I use the "step up" routine outlined in the book "The Female Cyclist" to improve my cadence and that lifts my HR slightly...

You say your HR sky-rockets whilst running... I know that sometimes mine feels like it is but when I check my monitor it is 20 or so beats below where I think it is. Having a heart rate monitor is one useful tool in your training repertoirre, so def put one on your wish-list... but it is just one tool of many.

If you know where your estimated LT is, then work with that and aim to exert yourself to an extent where you place yourself near this zone that you recognise from your running.

If you do find you love TTs, then gradually keep working at increasing the gears but keep spinning them... sometimes you go faster by changing down the gear and spinning, than by changing up and grinding.

Glad the aero-bars are feeling more comfortable