So I am a 43 year old refugee runner (6'4", 165) who has run 70-100 miles a week for 20 years with PRs of 14:56 (5k), 31:13 (10k) and 1:08 (Half Marathon) who started cross training on a bike the past year after a surgery on my toes to remove bone spurs - sort of duplicating easy runs on the bike (mostly on a Kurt Trainer or outdoor rides on traffic free and stop free laps so I don't waste time coasting and such which irritates runners) and then doing intervals and tempo running amounting to 3 runs and 4 rides per week. After my Thanksgiving race (a 4 miler at 5200' at 5:30 pace) I realized my toes just aren't going to let me run the way I want to and decided to quit running and work on my bike power 4 days a week (since I have 2 decades of basic aerobic fitness to mooch off of) and lift the other 3 days until I decide if biking is for me
I train on a Kurt Kinetic mostly with the roller set at 4 turns after it touches the tire and have timed the 20mph rollout test to 13.4 seconds as Kurt suggests for accuracy of the speed to power formula.
So my easy days of 80 min of riding that are equivalent to an 11 mile run at 7:00 pace my wattage is in the 270s (depending on the gear cadence combination I choose), yet I read on message boards experienced cyclists who don't seem to hit these wattages but I have no idea what I am reading or anything since gear and weight and all that stuff matters in cycling more than running and I don't know much about the culture. Like today I did a workout of a 15 min. warmup, then an hour (11 sets) of 1.5 hard in around 314 watts, .5 easy around 264 watts) and my average wattage for the hour was 301 watts. But my average HR wasn't remotely what I could hold for an hour of running (about 10bpm lower).
I have a few questions.
1)Can I justify buying a TT bike to race - is 300 watts for an hour decent for my weight and age? Is there sort of a point where you are not worthy of a pricey TT bike? I am only interested in racing time trials and have like zero interest in road racing or doing like long rides - I just want my sessions to mimic running in time/effort/consistency of effort. My road bike is a Cannondale Synapse Carbon Rival 4.
2)Since I am a former runner with literally 20 years of 9+ hours of cardio a week under my belt, is it a sound plan to ride fewer days, but get in more quality to work on my power until I get my HRs up to what I could see running - right now aerobic fitness isn't remotely the limiting factor to my riding ability.
Lately I have been riding 4 days a week with 2 workouts (each an hour long, but one of shorter intervals (like .5 hard, .5 easy) and one of longer intervals trying to gradually make the interval longer and longer until I can do an hour straight at that pace) and 2 easier steady rides of 80 min, 1 with a cadence in the upper 90s and one a bit faster, but a lower cadence and higher gear.
I know nothing about the sport so any help would be appreciated.
I train on a Kurt Kinetic mostly with the roller set at 4 turns after it touches the tire and have timed the 20mph rollout test to 13.4 seconds as Kurt suggests for accuracy of the speed to power formula.
So my easy days of 80 min of riding that are equivalent to an 11 mile run at 7:00 pace my wattage is in the 270s (depending on the gear cadence combination I choose), yet I read on message boards experienced cyclists who don't seem to hit these wattages but I have no idea what I am reading or anything since gear and weight and all that stuff matters in cycling more than running and I don't know much about the culture. Like today I did a workout of a 15 min. warmup, then an hour (11 sets) of 1.5 hard in around 314 watts, .5 easy around 264 watts) and my average wattage for the hour was 301 watts. But my average HR wasn't remotely what I could hold for an hour of running (about 10bpm lower).
I have a few questions.
1)Can I justify buying a TT bike to race - is 300 watts for an hour decent for my weight and age? Is there sort of a point where you are not worthy of a pricey TT bike? I am only interested in racing time trials and have like zero interest in road racing or doing like long rides - I just want my sessions to mimic running in time/effort/consistency of effort. My road bike is a Cannondale Synapse Carbon Rival 4.
2)Since I am a former runner with literally 20 years of 9+ hours of cardio a week under my belt, is it a sound plan to ride fewer days, but get in more quality to work on my power until I get my HRs up to what I could see running - right now aerobic fitness isn't remotely the limiting factor to my riding ability.
Lately I have been riding 4 days a week with 2 workouts (each an hour long, but one of shorter intervals (like .5 hard, .5 easy) and one of longer intervals trying to gradually make the interval longer and longer until I can do an hour straight at that pace) and 2 easier steady rides of 80 min, 1 with a cadence in the upper 90s and one a bit faster, but a lower cadence and higher gear.
I know nothing about the sport so any help would be appreciated.
