New at Tri Training...Discouraged about bike :(

[teawoman]

Hi all. This seems like a wonderfully friendly forum. I'm kind of afraid to post on any of the other tri-related sites I've seen.

A couple of years ago, I tried a sprint tri. At the time, I was a good 60 lbs overweight. Long story short, the bike ***killed me***...but I loved the whole experience....except that my time was 2:38 and I was last. I felt so stupid for underestimating my fitness and cried and cried. I had been swimming and running for awhile, so those times were back of the pack, but not last to the extent that the bike was--so that was ok. Everyone was great, and I said I'd get the courage to do it again sometime.

I've registered for the same tri this year. I am about 20 pounds lighter (still riding a hybrid bike tho). I am training a bit smarter in that I go out for shorter hilly rides and repeat the hills and do 12 milers. I joined a bike club that (on their slow rides) avgs about 17 miles at about 12 or 13 miles per hour with one or two big hills (river valley here--ow!). I haven't been doing this for that long, tho, so it may just be experience. I am doing about 3 sessions on the bike a week.

I don't know why I can't pedal more than 13 miles an hour on the flats (never mind the hills!!). I have tried keeping my cadence at about 85, but it requires a very low gear and I bounce when I get up to 90.

My bet is that it is a muscular strength thing (and a weight thing) more than a cardio thing. My heart rate when I do this stuff with the hills is about 10 beats higher on avg than it is when I am running, but getting better.

So are there good weight routines for triathlete cyclists out there or any other tips? I'm hoping for about 1:15 this time on the bike and 2:15 total time....not great, but an improvement. This is really for the future...I know it's not possible to have much more improvement as things stand now--the tri is in three weeks.

Sorry this is a bit of a downer, but I am in a discouraged stage. I've got all the plans in the world for next year!--including a road bike!