21/03/2009 New Wheels

I have purchased a new set of wheels for my bike. They are “Mavic Aksium Race” wheelset. I bought them as brand new but unfortuantly they aren’t. However fortuantly for me my bikeshop owner was able to re-tru the weels after they previous owner had obviously ridden on them enough to feel that he needed to have a go at truing the wheels, and all he acheived in doing so was to buckle and egg the wheels. So after all that they obviously aren’t brand new as they were so to me as being (live and learn, moral of the story buyer beware on TradeMe).

All said and done they are an entry level race wheelset and they are a lot faster than my previous wheelset (sorry don’t know the brand). The Mavic’s have straight pull flat aero spokes and great free wheeling hubs (read fast here). I am a heavier set person (96kg) and they feel strong and fast so a definite edge over the last wheels that I had. I would have liked to get the Ksyrium wheelset but $$$ prevent at the moment but there is hope for the future. (The ksyrium is another level up on the aksium).

It would appear that for no extra effort I am getting 3-5km/h out of them on the flat so it is a real boost for me, it should equal around a 5-7min saving for a 20k  bike leg in a sprint tri. I guess I will find out in my next tri.

22/03/2009

Race Day 

The day dawned fine and calm, (right now I’ve waxed lyrical) a nice day to do a Tri today with fine weather and next to no wind it looked to be a cracker.

I did the Lifecare Bayfair Tri in 1hr 22mins 01secs and I am very pleased with my time, it was a very fast course and my time reflects it. I started feeling confident that I could better 1hr 30mins and hoping to hit the 1hr 20min mark, this time is an improvement over the Kinloch Tri of 16mins 46secs.

Swim + T1: 18mins 16secs (placing 145=)

Bike: 34mins 29secs (placing 119)

T2 + Run: 29mins 15secs (placing 177)

Overall Placing: 150 (I assume that this has changed due to teams being taken out of the rankings)

Age Group Placing: 47

I achieved an average speed on the bike of 33.6km/h which I consider to be a great ride for me. This was a non-drafting race so it was all my effort. The new wheels definilty helped in uping my average.

All in all I had a great race and I am very happy with my result and the improvement in my time.

21/03/2009

After a week of not much in the way of training, (had wanted to do a taper week but ended up doing next to nothing) I hit the road for a quick test ride with my new wheels. As the Bayfair tri is tomorrow I just wanted a shake down ride so I rode 9km at a comfortable pace, the new wheels roll faster and are a lot more comfortable to ride on (i.e less vibration transmitted through the bike to the body). I was able to ride 3-5km/h faster on the flat for no extra work so I am very pleased with them.

9.14km, 19mins 53secs, Avg 27.6km/h, Max 57km/h

17/03/2009

Went for another training run in the Redwoods tonight, ran for 40mins on a bitza course. Did some hillwork and some undulating running. Feeling much better with my running these days, feeling stonger and able to run without stopping all the time to catch my breath. Would still like a bit more speed but I guess that you can’t have everything at once.

Run 40mins

Heartrate Avg BPM 149, Kcal 702, 2%in HZ, 42% in FZ, 54% in PZ

15/03/2009 Pt2

Rode home after work, a nice quick jaunt home. Got a new max speed out of the Waikite Hill, it may be a steep sod of a thing to ride up but it is exceptionally fast on the way down!!!

21.98km, 44mins 32secs, Avg 29.6km/h, Max 80.5km/h 

Heart rate Avg BPM 158, 2% in HZ, 4% in FZ, 94% in PZ, Kcal 791

15/03/2009

Rode to work again this morning, a lot warmer this morning but then we didn’t have a howling SWester blowing last night. After a bit of a sleep in (my phone also my alarm clock decided that it was time to fiinsh with daylight saving and changed automatically so I got another hours sleep, woops) I headed of an hour later than I had intended, (just as well no-one was waiting for me to turn up at a particular time).

21.96km, 57mins 34secs, Avg 22.9km/h, Max 64km/h 

Heart rate; Avg BPM 156, 5% in HZ, 13% in FZ, 82% in PZ, Kcal 1027

14/03/2009

After a rest day yesterday I went for a ride this afternoon. I went out this afternoon to top the 200km mark for the week and achieved it, it was a milestone for me as I can honestly say I haven’t done that many km’s in a week in my life.

Felt strong and healthy after a hard ride that averaged 30km/h on a hilly course, a great way to top of the week!!!

25.53km, 51mins, Avg 30.0km/h, Max 62.5km/h

Heart rate Avg BPM 162, 1% in HZ, 6% in FZ, 93% in PZ, Kcal 974

12/03/2009 Pt2

Got the boss on his bike this afternoon for a jaunt up the road. As Mark is also doing the 100kFlyer and has done much (if any) training so its a good place to start. Good to ride a different route that I wouldn’t have ridden otherwise.

24.93km, 57mins and 24secs, Avg 26km/h, Max 59.5km/h 

Heart Rate Avg BPM 153, 11% in HZ, 15% in FZ, 74% in PZ, Kcal 1006

12/03/2009

Rode to work this morning and boy was it cold. No make that Freezing. The toes and the fingers were frozen and I thought they were going to snap off (nah just kidding but it wasn’t a great feeling). At least there wasn’t any wind this morning, that would have made windchill a major problem.

21.98km, 55mins and 44secs, Avg 23.6km/h, Max 63.0km/h

Heartrate; Avg BPM 153, 3% in HZ, 10% in FZ, 83% in PZ, Kcal 914

As can be seen by the %’s in the heartrate I’m not quite getting and maintaining the right zones but I guess there is room for improvement.

11/03/2009

Rode home from work (Waiotapu) today. One of the harder rides I have done due to the vicious headwind. I arrived home feeling knackered and went to bed feeling tired and sore, I suppose you could have called it resistance training (ha ha).

23.11km, 59mins 03secs, Avg23.4km/h, Max 75.0km/h

Heart Rate; Avg Beats/min 150, KCAL 969, 3% in Health Zone, 40% in Fitness Zone, 57% in Power Zone