Triathlon - Help Me! I Want To Average 22mph!

Hi all. Can anybody help me.Im 23 years old and have been running for about 2years. Ive recently decided that I would like to take up cycling ultimatley to do triathlon and so I purchased a road bike from my local bike shop. Its a Giant SCR 1.0 which I paid £850 for. I have been told that this is an ideal starter bike. Its totally standard - I have not done anything to it. I had a goal when I started to try to keep up around 22mph for 15 miles to start off with which I thought would be a decent goal. I have been training reasonably hard for around 4 months now and I am averaging around 21 mph! So any ideas. I consider myself to have a pretty high fitness level (I can run 2hrs 57 for my 1st marathon and can run 5k in 16mins and 10k in just under 35mins) Please tell me if you think im just being lazy and should train harder as I really would like to know what you think. Or can I upgrade my bike to get the speed I want! Cheers everyone! Ian

Quick answer - Do more interval work and/or do a few races.

Is you 21 mph on a flat level surface, trainer, rollers, or on the street with many different elevation changes. It really makes a difference as to MPH depending upon where and what you are riding?

As an example, I just did a 23.4 mph average hour last night on the rollers in my basement. I am 44 and overweight. I have no idea where I will be for mph on the road, until the ice and snow is gone. I know that I can do a lot more now than I could three months ago.

Hi Flip, the place where I do my training is to be honest pretty flat, its got a few slight inclines but nothing too bad, what makes me slow down so much is that I do a out and back ride, and always one direction you will be cycling into a headwind even if it feels calm when you are at a standstill. If there was no headwind I could perhaps go a little bit faster. Would you guys reckon threre would be any performace difference between my bike and for example a top of the range £5000 bike that the pros use? Not that im gonna get one! Just interesting to know thats all. Thanks people

Work on the engine. Kmoses hit the nail on the head...intervals.

If you work on interval training, you will increase your bodies understanding of what can be done and improve your overall fitness. Will it make you faster on a long ride, possibly. Each person is different and interval training is a good thing to do once a week no matter what for me and I do that with my running, biking and elliptical workouts.

What is your cadence when you are doing your riding? Are you riding at a lower cadence thinking you are working better as you are pushing harder on the pedals, or are you spinning at a decent cadence (85-105). The 85-105 is just an example. I feel best between 85-100, but some people feel better between 90-100. Remember each person is different and you may have someone that you will meet that spins at 100 all the time and that works great for them, but 90 might be the best for you.

how's your swimming?

At that speed the biggest resistance is against the air. Check your riding position and if you can, work on getting a deeper, tighter, aero tuck.

Try getting into your warmed-up aero position on a trainer and have a friend take a photo of you side-on. Post that and the experts here will let you know if your tuck sucks like mine does :)

Ride with a group of faster riders. Provided your bike handling skills are matched and they are willing to pull you.

If not your answer is above with interval training and trainers.

At that speed the biggest resistance is against the air. Check your riding position and if you can, work on getting a deeper, tighter, aero tuck.

Try getting into your warmed-up aero position on a trainer and have a friend take a photo of you side-on. Post that and the experts here will let you know if your tuck sucks like mine does :)

+1. Adding aerobar extensions will really improve your position, riding comfort, and speed.

Thanks everyone for the advice, I will try some interval training aswell as looking at my positioning on the bike. I agree that the air resistance is a problem so it could be down to aerodynamics to get a little bit quicker. Can somebody just answer me though is there a difference in performance between a entry level bike and a top level bike, i guess there is as why would all the pros buy the top bikes? But does anyone have any actuall knowledge about it?

Entry level road vs. top level road bike. Entry level has aluminum or steel frame with cheaper components. Top level road is carbon fibre with top of the line components. Would it make you faster? More than likely it would not make you any faster, or not enough to put $5000.00 more into a bike.

Entry level road vs. top level road bike. Entry level has aluminum or steel frame with cheaper components. Top level road is carbon fibre with top of the line components. Would it make you faster? More than likely it would not make you any faster, or not enough to put $5000.00 more into a bike.

Well.... A more aero or lighter bike will be faster, yes. But the OP should work on his legs for now.

Also, if he can comfortably do so without compromising power, he could look at lowering his bars. (the caveats being comfortably and without compromising power.

It is all about getting aero. Try this: Get into the drops and set a hard tempo that you think you could hold for 5 minutes. Then rest your elbows on the bars (hands in front) just as if you had aero bars. With the same tempo, you'll probably pick up 1 mph or so.

Start tweaking your position to maximize your aerodynamics with a minimum loss of power. (There will be a point were getting more aerodynamic just makes it impossible to breath properly and your power just tanks)

Aerobars, intervals. that pretty much sums it up.

I looked up your bike and it isn't holding you back, I guarantee you that.

what psi you have your tires at? pump em a little more and you'll likely go a tiny faster...

+1, a good track pump is a lifetime investment in free easy rolling.

Better yet, try to keep that speed up over longer distances.

keep riding!

+1 on everything everyone said above.

(I wish my ave was 21 within the first 4 months.) If tri is your goal then do longer intervals, 10 min, 15 min, 20 and 30 min efforts.

Thanks everyone for the advice!

Can somebody just answer me though is there a difference in performance between a entry level bike and a top level bike, i guess there is as why would all the pros buy the top bikes? But does anyone have any actuall knowledge about it?

LOL! The pros ride the high-dollar bikes because their sponsors (who give them their bikes - they don't buy them themselves) want people to see them riding that fancy bike fast and assume that the bike is the reason they are so fast. (Which apparently worked on you!)

When has lacking actual knowledge on a subject ever kept anyone from commenting on a message board thread?!?!

Steve

Just to let you know I have over the last 2 days done 2 15 mile timed runs. I have done 41 mins 28 secs and 40 mins 54 secs which I believe to be almost bang on 22mph so thanks for the advice everyone, now the next 2 years will be working on getting my marathon time down to the low 2hr 40s and my cycle time at 22mph upping the distance to 112 miles ultimatley.

Keep gettin that time down on the bike. It looks like you're in England so you're probably already on the trainer but if not then I'd recommend getting one of those to give you a bit of an edge. I find a mix of riding outside and on the trainer give me my best bike fitness. I think two of the best workouts are going steady on the trainer and going with a group that's a bit better than you. Good luck.