My bike leg power from triathlons is always lower than I think I should be able to sustain

Racing
63

HI all - did another sprint tri yesterday (RLGL gave me a red day today :wink: ) so thought I’d update this thread with some more data.

  • Weather was cool but a fairly solid crosswind
  • I deliberately went easier on the swim
  • I added aerobars to my road bike so the bike position was slightly different
  • I didn’t have a power target, just rode to feel
  • I didn’t monitor power that much, I checked my speed now and again

With all that, the power came in just slightly higher than last time (I’ve updated the table in the OP). I did try to push and my legs were feeling the burn at times and I had to ease off. I was concerned I might overcook it and have nothing left for the run (although the run went OK actually).

My placing in the AG was better so I think the aerobars made a difference.

I don’t feel like going easier on the swim made much difference at all.

Since some people have said they can maintain close to FTP for the sprint distance, it looks like I just need to do more training, especially the threshold workouts.

64

You should do that at some point….it helps you test your limits. You’ll be surprised at how much harder you can actually push yourself sometimes. If you blow up on the run, fine. But you’ll have learned something.

Almost certainly….aero matters a significant amount in tri’s.

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65

The problem is likely your swim. The swim fitness or pacing or how hard youre running into T1 that is causing too much lactate that once you start riding, you cannot produce the power. I had an athlete do some lactate testing in training where they swam, did a T1 run and their blood lactate levels were well into the 6mmol when their bike LT2 is around 4…

again, this is just general thoughts on what i see but dont have enough context but this is something to look into

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66

I like that idea, thanks. I think I need to become more familiar (and comfortable) with discomfort. Back in November I did a 21 min 5k ROTB after a pretty demanding over/unders session on the bike. I’ve never been able to match that pace in a tri though.

67

Thanks - it’s true I never ride after a swim in training. First thing to test is just the riding though. I’m expecting to hold 90-95% FTP (so around 250-260W) through the 20km bike leg but my best ever 30 min power in training is only 242W, and that was a few years ago…

68

See KM FTP test… basically if your best 30mins is 240…then at best, your FTP is 240 (I’d say 30 mins is about minimum for FTP)…so saying 95% is 250-260 is very likely a significant overestimate.

Just go and do a proper (i.e. min 30 mins, ideally nearer 40) FTP test…then I imagine your performances won’t seem ‘low’ but about right.

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69

All out is in proportion to the duration. All out for 10 seconds isn’t the same as all out for 1 hour etc.

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70

Yes good point, although my point about the 240 may have been misleading - that wasn’t from a test, it was just what had come up as my best 30 mins over the last few years. I did “Rendezvous” today and the new 30-min record is now 245W. The 20-min best is 282W so don’t think an FTP around 260-270 is too far off.

I think I need to do way more threshold work. Rendezvous was the first sustained session that TR has served up, I think I need to do a lot more.