Bike set up for Lanzarote - Cervelo P2

Wow time has flown by! I now have 12 days until Ironman Lanzarote and am just starting to taper after a couple of days hard training over the bank holiday weekend. During the taper I will rest more than I train with the aim of 'freshening up' my body so it repairs itself fully for race day. In a post I will do next week I will discuss my taper in detail. In this post I am going to review my bike set up for Ironman Lanzarote and my training to date.

Bike set up

After spending 5 days training on the island of Lanzarote and riding the course a number of times I decided that I would need to make a few adjustments to my anticipated bike set up.

Anticipated set up trialled on Lanza course

The original set up I thought I would ride was a 404 rear wheel and a 404 front wheel. I planned to use a single rear mounted bottle and frame mounted bottle. However after spending some time riding the course I found the cross winds quite challenging with the 404's - whilst I could ride the course with a set of 404's I feel that if I use something with a shallower depth I will be able to get more stable and be more aggressive on descents. Plus shallower wheels potentially means less weight which on a course with lots of climbing can be advantageous. Weight has also made me decide to ditch the rear mounted bottle. After riding the course with an empty back bottle I felt I climbed better and as such want to go light in the race.

The modified set up for Lanza

I have now invested in some zipp 202 wheels which are an expensive buy however they will serve as event wheels for my Cervelo S2 following Lanzarote so they will get some good use. I have had a test ride on the 202's and they are very light, responsive and handle well. They definitely are better in crosswinds so should make a noticeable difference on climbs and descents. By dropping the rear mounted bottle and by changing the wheels I have dropped nearly 2kg of the total weight of the bike which is very noticeable. To drop the rear mounted water bottle I have also had to modify my nutrition strategy changing my usual race drink from Cytomax to Powerbar as I will now need to rely on the race aid stations which hand out Power bar drink, this is because I will not be able to carry enough Cytomax with just a frame mounted bottle. Having just one bottle of Cytomax would mean I need to mix energy drinks which I prefer not to do.

Aerobars with salt sticks & polar RS600x

On the handle bars I am using a Torhans aero bottle for water. This is one of the best hydration pieces of kit I have used. It mounts very sturdy, does not rattle and when full does not effect handling too much. For me having the straw allows me to drip in water at regular intervals whilst maintaining an aero position, this will be a big asset in Lanzarote.

Cable tied onto the aero pads are salts sticks dispensers (the red bits near the bike computer) which will enable me to efficiently carry salt tablets which I can drop in at regular intervals to replenish electrolytes.

SRAM red aero link brakes 

One other bike consideration I had in Lanzarote on the training weekend was braking, my last few races have been fast flat courses where the only time brakes have been needed are when coming into transition, as such I never really needed good braking performance. In Lanzarote some of the descents are pretty hairy with switch backs and as such good braking can save time. I realised out in Lanzarote that my brake pads were worn and not that effective! I have now replaced the brake pads to swiss top platinum pro which are awesome, this coupled with the new SRAM aerolink brake callipers have made the bike braking performance really good so I am much more confident coming into corners at higher speeds and leaving the braking until later.

11-28 cassette

For back cassette I am using an 11-28, a 12-25 is the recommended cassette however I prefer to cycle with a high cadence so will want to spin up hills more than I will push big gears. An 11-28 will help me do this and gives me a place to go if I get over excited early on!

To monitor speed and cadence I am using my trusty Polar RS600CX linked to sensors on the front fork and crank. Keeping distance, average speed and cadence in check will give me good performance indicators that allow me to guage my efforts and ride smart. I train using heart rate but prefer not to use heart rate when I race, I prefer to race by feel which I also practice in training.

Training to date

I have now completed 16 weeks of the 18 week training plan. The last few weeks that were planned as the peak have been really challenging, a tooth issue that has involved me having nerves taken out and root canal seemed to sap my energy levels, I couldn't seem to find that gear that allows me to push hard, it was like my body didn't want any more pain.  This really showed in my swimming, perhaps because it is the most skill based and requires the highest level of neuromuscular synergy. Either way it has been a touch frustrating to have got into really good shape only to have seen some of my times move backwards. I am pleased to say in the last week since having the root canal my energy levels have returned and I have posted some solid swim times.

Over the bank holiday weekend I had my last few days of 'big' training sessions. On the Saturday i entered a 3.8km open water swim race at Boxend lake in Bedfordshire, it was cold and windy making the water choppy. A few reports also suggest the course was long, this could have contributed to a slow time of 1hr 4mins (I normally go under the hour for this distance) along with the cold. I did come 4th though which I was pleased with.

On Sunday I rode a hard 180km in 5hrs 23mins, I tested the full set up including race kit and nutrition, I felt strong and controlled throughout and felt 5mins could have been shaved off for lots of slowing down I had to do due to bank holiday activity going on in villages I passed through. After the bike I had a lightning transition of less than 1min and run 5km slightly quicker than my target race pace of 12km/h. As expected legs were heavy for 3km then they started coming good and I felt I was in a rhythm, this was the goal for the run off the bike, run with good form, get through the heavy legs, find a rhythm then call it a day, leaving the legs in tack for the next days training!

Today (Sunday) After my usual mobilisers I turbo'd for 30mins warming up the legs, I then did 10mins in a heavy gear and ran 16x 1mile repeats each around 7mins with a 1min rest. I felt strong throughout (very good at mile 10). During this run I carried my race nutrition as I will on race day - 4x Cliff shot bloc packs in the back of the tri kit, I consumed these on the same timings that I will on race day. No problems in testing, fingers crossed for the race!

As I write this it is nice to know the hard work is done. I will cycle 100-120km next weekend with a small run off the bike but that should feel comfortable and mentally short compared to what I have been doing. For now it is rest and bed time! The extra rest should mean I have more time to write some blogs. I plan to write one on my taper and perhaps I will share my race plan ahead of the race! There will of course be a full race report!

As always train hard train smart @ironman_jw