Blogroll > Crowie’s bike on Ebay/Simon Bairu/Speed First!/Basic Limiters

If you are in the market, Crowie’s Las Vegas 70.3 World Championship Winning Bike is up for auction on Ebay, Now, we know that he is using a 167.5 crank and he has been training on it for 5 long weeks!

FD: Dura-Ace Di2

RD: Dura-Ace Di2

Shifters: Dura-Ace Di2

Brake Levers: Shimano Di2

Cranks: Dura-Ace 7900 53/39 167.5
Chain: Shimano Dura-Ace Yumeya Gold

Brake Calipers: Dura-Ace

Wheels: Shimano Dura-Ace C-50 Clincher

Saddle: Fizik Arione Tri

Bar: Shimano Pro Missile with custom internal wiring in stem and bar

Battery: Custom battery in seatpost

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Simon Bairu is running the Houston Marathon this sunday to qualify for the Olympics (standard of 2:12:29). He has the potential for sure.

On attend toujours le jugement de Specialized contre Volagi. Il semblerait que Specialized ne pourra finalement poursuivre les créateurs du Volagi que sur le fait d’avoir travaillé sur un projet de vélo en externe alors qu’ils étaient encore employés chez Spec (département accessoires – bouteilles!). Dans ces cas là, j’aimerai beaucoup que le grand chef de Specialized nous rend des comptes, lui qui disait s’être fait volé son concept de vélo (Roubaix) et qui a dépensé plus de 1.2 millions en frais d’avocat.

REMINDER

Speed First! Yes you must work on speed first and foremost. It must be part of every training cycle. I find it quite amusing when I hear a runner say that I have been working on base work, but I have not started speed work yet. The problem with that approach is that they are not training to run fast, they are training to run far, and they hope that the fast will come. The inevitable result is undue soreness and greater risk of injury because of the abrupt change in the training program when they do start to run fast. The key is to never get too far away from running fast. It should be part of the first training cycle of the year and be a part of each subsequent training cycle. Speed development work can be as simple as sprint drills, light acceleration drills, or simply finishing each run with 8 –10 x 100 meter fast strides.

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Another great article from Alan Couzen:

The biggest two issues with this quality for Ironman athlete are:

Too much long endurance stuff in the early season. Many overdo aerobic endurance (and neglect strength and mobility) early in the year.
Athletes who have tough winters to deal with will often kick off their year with an intensity block (FTP/VO2) before this aerobic base is established. This is a mistake and will ultimately compromise the load that they can handle both in the early season and during the specific preparation for their event.

Mobility/Stability/Muscle Balance
Maybe the most important and most neglected basic ability for the high volume endurance athlete is mobility. Nearly all of our sport specific training takes place in positions that:

Limit range of motion, such as sitting bent over on a bike for 6 or more hours, running so slowly that we never fully extend the hip or flex the knee.
Are in one plane of motion. Everything is a forward movement, we’re (hopefully) never moving sideways during the course of the event.
Involve resistance in one direction of motion. We do a lot of shoulder internal rotation against resistance in the swim but no external rotation . We do a lot of hip/knee extension against resistance in the bike and run but no hip flexion against resistance.