Beer Mile Results
Despite cold temps, there was a decent turnout to the beer mile on Saturday. Thanks to everyone who was there, it was a lot of fun. Here are the results:
Kevin - 8:32
Greg - 9:04
Sandra - 9:30
Steve - 14:11
Frank - 14:12
Jocelyn - 14:58
Lyndsey - 17:38
Jen - 18:02
Heather - dnf
Kevin snuck by me on the last beer... I thought I had the win in the bag. Doh! I was more worried about Sandra running me down.....
PICS ARE POSTED HEREFarewell everyone... see you in 6 months. I'll keep as many Aussie updates here as I find time. Be sure that every day that it hits -30 in Canada I will post a pic of me on the beach somewhere. :-)
Okanagan Autumn
In Vernon (and area) for the week.... trying to get in a decent cycling week before heading to Australia. They don't quite get the scenic changing of colors out here.. most of the trees are evergreen. Been planning some good riding routes.... Vernon has some stellar rides! Heading out to Trinity Valley today as soon as it warms up.
I raced the Kelowna half on Sunday.... sort of. Since Heather was unable to race due to injury, I put on her bib and left the timing chip off, so as not to mess up any race results. I was sick all of last week, and still wasn't feeling well on Sunday morning, but thought I would give it a shot. Well, the first couple k felt fine, I was running with the leaders, and it looked like I had a decent shot at 3rd or 4th place. But.. at about 5k, my energy levels started to drop quickly, and by about 8k I was on an easy-steady pace. I jogged to the 14k point, which goes past the finish line, and dropped out. I'm finally feeling better today, and have resumed some easy training.
Beer Mile update: This race is turning into the Calgary women's championship! I've had more emails from women than the guys... but it's a way off yet. And one more thing.. I know that beermile.com states you can use bottles, but due to risk of broken glass, I want everyone to bring canned beer only. Thanks.
Beer Mile
Time for a bit of fun. Since I'm heading off to Australia on Oct. 31, I figure it would be great to have a beer mile the weekend before I leave. Afterwards will be BBQ, and more beer if you want, at my house in Knob Hill.
So... Saturday, October 28. I'm not going to announce the time and place on my blog.. as these things are somewhat unofficial. ;-) But if you've been to a previous beer mile... same bat time, same bat place. Send me an email if your interested.
Once again, we will be using the official rules at
http://www.beermile.com.
I already have interest from three women.. the ladies competition will be fierce!
EDIT: Looks like this will be a big beer mile! Getting plenty of interest. Don't worry, there will be plenty of non-drinking drivers around. I guess I can accept an Ironman in Florida as an excuse not to participate... I dunoo.... but only for tier III pro's. ;-)
AND... Costumes encouraged!!! Only 3 days before Halloween and all.
Cycling cadence.. what is most efficient?
I've had many discussion (arguments?) over the years about which is the best cadence.
There is the "spin like Lance" and the "grind it like Bjorn" crowd, and those in between. It turns out we're all right.... sort of.
Ric Stern who writes training articles for
cyclingnews.com wrote this as part of a response to a question about one of his articles:
At a given workload, different cadences will produce different efficiencies, such that efficiency increases at lower than optimal cadences. as the workload increases the most efficient cadence rises
It reminded me of another article written on the subject, and I was able to find it.... Dr. Stephen Cheung, Ph. D,
writes:
optimal cadence increases with increasing power outputs.
there seems to be a continuing upward trend of optimal cadence with increasing power outputs, and thus Lance’s incredibly high power outputs may also explain his higher cadence
So, what is the point?
- Cadence is a function of power. Not vice-versa.
- for long endurance races such as Ironman, optimal cadence is likely much lower than the optimal cadence, FOR THE SAME ATHLETE racing an Olympic distance, because the % of power output is different.
My n=1 observations over my short racing career seem to reinforce these points. I race Ironman distance in the low 80's, half-IM in the high-80's/low 90'
s, and Olympic distance in the mid-90's. I didn't force these cadences either, I race without a bike computer. But, I have counted my cadence during a few races out of curiosity.
I don't have a reference, but it has been concluded through scientific studies that our most efficient cadence is self-selected. (find me the article(s) and I'll post it here). Therefore, trying to hold a certain cadence in a race by watching your cadence monitor computer is detrimental to performance. BTW... this also applies to running cadence, so telling someone to "pick up thier cadence" is really doing them no good.
