The past few weeks I've been having some foot pain on longer rides and when I get my weekly mileage up. When I picked out my Cannondale Slice back in November, I decided to go with Speedplay pedals (basically because of some good marketing strategies). I thought I would like the extra float and the light weight. What I've found is that the smaller pedal surface and lack of stability is just not for me. I held on for a few weeks thinking that my foot would just get used to it, but finally I decided that I would go back to the Shimano pedals. I even treated myself a little bit and went with the carbon Shimano Ultegra pedals to try and keep the new ride super lightweight. Then I got a little carried away and decided to upgrade the brakes on the slice to Ultegra too. I should hopefully break even with the upgrades because I'll sell the Speedplay pedals and the Tekro brakes that are coming off the Slice.
It will be interesting to see if I really notice a difference... Sure the Slice will look a little sexier and come in a few grams lighter, but I'm always curious as to how this will affect my actual performance. I couldn't pull the trigger on them just yet, but some race wheels are rolling through my mind... I'm hoping for Christmas/birthday this year I will end up with some.
Despite the footpain I had a decent week on the bike last week, which was capped off by a nice 3 hour ride on Friday. I managed to get in the pool 4 times, which was 1 less than I was hoping for. I'm going to set some similar goals for this week. 5 swims, 8 hrs on the bike, and a couple runs.
This coming week is a half marathon for me, so I'll have an idea of just how in/out of shape I am. There aren't any real expectations because I'll be riding long on Saturday and just trying to gut through the 13.1 on Sunday.
gotta have race wheels for your IM next year
ReplyDeleteworst case scenario you can race day rent
and
YES!!! NICE SWIMMING!
its the right thing to do for sure starting now...keep doing that for the remaining 3-4 months of this year and by the time your 6month training plan starts you will be able to incorporate two of those crushing Gerry Rodrigues long sets per week during IM plan = strong swimming and better overall fitness. Ive nailed 4 swims a week for the last three months since IM and have retained swim fitness but can def tell the difference without the two bigger sets each week mine have been 2500 to 3500 sets. time to change that!
nice work
D