Eireman 2009 HIM Bike Leg Performance

mcdonrob

This was my first HIM distance race. Must say, I thought the bike course was brilliant. The aid stations and more importantly those manning them were great, spectators and those cheering people on were great. The "Go Paddy Go" gang on the motorway were cool. Paddy is a lucky man with friends/family like that.

My Query
I had expected to average 35kph, however, my average was more like 31kph, a 4kph loss. My bike time 03:06 was a good 15-20 min slower than what I would have expected the distance to take me.

My question to those that did the HIM bike leg...
Given that the surface conditions were truly excellent and the wind extremely assisting/punishing did others complete the bike leg more quickly or more slowly than anticipated?

I'd be interested to know how others performed (expected versus actual).

• If it was just me who was significantly slower than expected. Then I'll attribute the slowness to my fitness/technique/bike/gear in that order

• If quite a few others took longer than expected. Then I'll take some comfort in attributing the slowness to the windy conditions.

• If everyone else was faster than expected. Then I'll cry and crawl back under my rock.

PS: Please keep this thread OT

Highway_To_Hell

My Bike time was a lot slower then expected, I think the following reasons are contributing factors:

- Course was 97Km
- The headwind going south bound sapped a lot more energy out of me then I would have expected.
- Delayed start messed with my nutritian plans and I think I weakened towards the end even though I had energy gels with me I had to use the aid station and take a few bananas on board to get rid of the empty feeling in my stomach.
- The blantent drafting infrigments wrecked my head and with the amount of people working as teams into the headwind I would take peoples bike splits with a pinch of salt. The road was perfect for moving out of draft zones.
- Didn't get enough long spins in in training.

Have to say the aid stations were great on the course as were the people manning them.

tunney

mcdonrob wrote: »

This was my first HIM distance race. Must say, I thought the bike course was brilliant. The aid stations and more importantly those manning them were great, spectators and those cheering people on were great. The "Go Paddy Go" gang on the motorway were cool. Paddy is a lucky man with friends/family like that.

My Query
I had expected to average 35kph, however, my average was more like 31kph, a 4kph loss. My bike time 03:06 was a good 15-20 min slower than what I would have expected the distance to take me.

My question to those that did the HIM bike leg...
Given that the surface conditions were truly excellent and the wind extremely assisting/punishing did others complete the bike leg more quickly or more slowly than anticipated?

I'd be interested to know how others performed (expected versus actual).

• If it was just me who was significantly slower than expected. Then I'll attribute the slowness to my fitness/technique/bike/gear in that order

• If quite a few others took longer than expected. Then I'll take some comfort in attributing the slowness to the windy conditions.

• If everyone else was faster than expected. Then I'll cry and crawl back under my rock.

PS: Please keep this thread OT

Firstly why did you think you would average 35kph? What made you think that this was your 90km TT pace? What evidence do you have to support this belief?

delboyfagan

Why do u think you would average thi speed in first place?

delboyfagan

Apologies - did not see previous post from Tunney when posting my original comment

MCOS

tunney wrote: »

Firstly why did you think you would average 35kph? What made you think that this was your 90km TT pace? What evidence do you have to support this belief?

+1. Before Eireman you wouldn't have known the course was long so expecting 35km/h average was expecting a 2'34' bike split for 90k which is pretty quick if you ask me

But hey.. if you are close to or under the hour for a 40kTT in training then I'll get my coat

Did you adjust your target when you a) saw the conditions and b)found out it would be longer than 90k?

Poncherello

I have a question or 3 for you guys who did your first HIM ;

I am used to cycling very hard in my Olympic races, I am a competitive motherf*cker as many on here are, and am wondering how/if I should hold back on the bike in Kenmare. Should I focus on my heart rate or just cycle the first 20-30K 'easy'. I am not put off by the distances at all in fact I would view the cycle as really only a 60ker. My last long brick was 3.5 weeks ago due to holidays and Gaelforce. Previous long bricks were done easy focusing on getting the time on the bike/in the legs. Going to go long and hard this weekend on a route that I think replicates kenmare a bit, and run off bike so I should learn more then.

Just wondering how u guys approached it and perhaps might have done things differently during training in lead up to race and during the race.

Cheers

tunney

Poncherello wrote: »

I have a question or 3 for you guys who did your first HIM ;

I am used to cycling very hard in my Olympic races, I am a competitive motherf*cker as many on here are, and am wondering how/if I should hold back on the bike in Kenmare. Should I focus on my heart rate or just cycle the first 20-30K 'easy'. I am not put off by the distances at all in fact I would view the cycle as really only a 60ker. My last long brick was 3.5 weeks ago due to holidays and Gaelforce. Previous long bricks were done easy focusing on getting the time on the bike/in the legs. Going to go long and hard this weekend on a route that I think replicates kenmare a bit, and run off bike so I should learn more then.

Just wondering how u guys approached it and perhaps might have done things differently during training in lead up to race and during the race.

Cheers

Bet your run splits sucked in those olympics relative to your bike splits?

Poncherello

relative to the field yes I am a slower runner than I am on the bike but not by much.
When I say hard I dont mean overdoing it, I'm not stoopid I know I have a 10K to run after it. I mean that I race it and leave nothing out there on the course.

griffin100

In my lasy Olympic I averaged 34kph on the bike. For my first HIM in Eireman I didn't think I'd be able to hold that speed for 90+ km. I would have been happy with an average of 30kph+ . In the end I did a 3.18 bike split. I'm not sure of the distance of Eireman as I dont use a bike computer and most persons here put it between 96-99kms. If it was 99kms then my average speed was exactly 30kph; if it was 96km then my average speed was 29kph. Either way I'm happy enough. At the start of the season my aim was to hold 30kph in an Olympic race so to do do in a HIM is good progress for me. The wind was sapping on the day but tbh I dont think that it took a huge amount out of me overall as there was plenty of time to recover / eat on the wind assisted legs.

Towel

Headwind will always slow you down more than tailwind speeds you up. Therefore if its windy on a circuit or out and back course, its always slower because you spend more time on the windy bits.

Same with hills

jollybean

On a very windy course like that remember that the advantage you gain with a tail wind is almost always outweighed by the negative affect of the head wind. Why? because you spend a lot longer going against the head wind and hence the greater reduction in average speed. If there was no wind whatsoever the times would be faster.

That's what i understand about cycling/running on a windy out and back course.

i.e. its ok to be a bit slower for eireman (if you discount the extra 7 k)

mcdonrob

Thanks all for taking time to reply.

tunney wrote: »

Firstly why did you think you would average 35kph? What made you think that this was your 90km TT pace? What evidence do you have to support this belief?

delboyfagan wrote: »

Why do u think you would average thi speed in first place?

Sounds like 35kph is a holey grail. Ok I'll defer to experience.

MCOS wrote: »

Did you adjust your target when you a) saw the conditions and b)found out it would be longer than 90k?

a) no
b) no - we were told the leg would be 93km


I felt I was slow in this leg of the race. That's why I was asking others who did the same leg did they feel like they were slow too?

I suppose my question comes down to, where the wind is with you and then against you (to equal degrees) is there an expected loss in performance.

Rubycube

mcdonrob wrote: »

This was my first HIM distance race. Must say, I thought the bike course was brilliant. The aid stations and more importantly those manning them were great, spectators and those cheering people on were great. The "Go Paddy Go" gang on the motorway were cool. Paddy is a lucky man with friends/family like that.

My Query
I had expected to average 35kph, however, my average was more like 31kph, a 4kph loss. My bike time 03:06 was a good 15-20 min slower than what I would have expected the distance to take me.

My question to those that did the HIM bike leg...
Given that the surface conditions were truly excellent and the wind extremely assisting/punishing did others complete the bike leg more quickly or more slowly than anticipated?


I'd be interested to know how others performed (expected versus actual).

• If it was just me who was significantly slower than expected. Then I'll attribute the slowness to my fitness/technique/bike/gear in that order

• If quite a few others took longer than expected. Then I'll take some comfort in attributing the slowness to the windy conditions.

• If everyone else was faster than expected. Then I'll cry and crawl back under my rock.

PS: Please keep this thread OT

Im with the others.

I have averaged 31km - 35km in races over different distances and different routes.

My target was 31kmph and I did 31.2kmph for the 97km. I believe I set a realistic target when I saw the weather !

when I started reading your thread, I though you were Lance himself.... 34kmph for the 97km would be in tunneys league... (or maybe thats slow for tunney).

I was delighted with 31.2 for the circuit. My usual 40km split is close to 1.10 for 40km.... but closer to 1.15 !!!! (need to cycle more).

My mate is a great cyclist (normally putting 5 mins into me over 40km) and I think he averaged 33kmph......

tunney

mcdonrob wrote: »

Sounds like 35kph is a holey grail.

Not at all. its just you said you expected to hold 35kph but never said why 35kph.

tunney

Rubycube wrote: »

when I started reading your thread, I though you were Lance himself.... 34kmph for the 97km would be in tunneys league... (or maybe thats slow for tunney).

LOL - i don't know what makes you think I can ride a bike properly . Far from it!!

mcdonrob

Towel wrote: »

Headwind will always slow you down more than tailwind speeds you up. Therefore if its windy on a circuit or out and back course, its always slower because you spend more time on the windy bits.

Same with hills

jollybean wrote: »

On a very windy course like that remember that the advantage you gain with a tail wind is almost always outweighed by the negative affect of the head wind. Why? because you spend a lot longer going against the head wind and hence the greater reduction in average speed. If there was no wind whatsoever the times would be faster.

That's what i understand about cycling/running on a windy out and back course.

i.e. its ok to be a bit slower for eireman (if you discount the extra 7 k)

That's exactly what I wanted to know.
btw I clocked just over 60kph at one point on Saturday... and as low as 17/19kph the other way.

Are there any rough metrics for the overall negative impact a head/tail wind will have?

snack_ie

This thread might be of interest to some of you...
... i used to keep an eye on it, when I was away, cause it produced some nuggets of gold from alot talented people/coaches...
may or may not be of interest to some of you... no harm in looking...

http://forums.transitions.org.au/index.php?showtopic=38856&st=0&start=0

Sungodbr

mcdonrob wrote: »

That's exactly what I wanted to know.
btw I clocked just over 60kph at one point on Saturday... and as low as 17/19kph the other way.

Are there any rough metrics for the overall negative impact a head/tail wind will have?

Yeah I got similar readings from my computer on the olympic, 56kmph with the wind and 19/20 when going uphill with hurricane bill in my face....