I actually ended Monday with a great 4.0 mile run on the dreadmill in the Pain Cave. I took the pace a little slower than what I should have (@ 8:35/mile), but I have to tell you I felt great. There is something to using flax seed as a natural sponge to soak up all the crap that I put into my system during the Super Bowl. I had a great run. My heart rate stayed down, my legs felt good, and I just ran. I don’t want to say it was effortless, but it was as close to feeling like you were just cruising as I have every gotten. In short, I had a great run.
I was planning on riding outside in the afternoon. I was doing year end accounting crap for my company and I told myself if I could get through August 2010 by 3:00 I would go. It snowed a little Sunday night, but by 2:30 Monday afternoon it was sunny and the roads were clear. I almost hit my deadline and thought I should go out anyways (who need K-1′s anyways), but reason got the better of me. The crazy thing is by 3:30 it was raining, which quickly turned to some nasty snow. I am glad I wasn’t out on the bike in that crap. I like to thing I am tough in the cold, but riding in the snow is a no-no for me.
Now onto this morning’s ride:
Distance: 20.2 miles
Time: 1:00:40
Average Watts: 175 watts
Normative Power: 185 watts
Average Heart Rate: 140 bpm
Total Work: 651 kJ
Average Speed: 20.1 mph
There isn’t too much crazy about this ride, but look at the average heart rate. 140 bpm is a little slow for this power output. I am inclined to think my heart rate monitor strap battery died or something. I am not in that good of shape yet. Give me the middle of the summer after a month of speed work and I may be, but I am not there yet. Give me time…
Which Pedals Do You Use?
So my friend Jen Small from the blog milesmusclesmommyhood (click here to check out her writing) dropped me a note on Twitter the other day. She must be in the market for new pedals for her triathlon bike because she asked me what I preferred for my bikes and why. I thought this was a fabulous question and one that I have actually put a ton of thought into.
For you with ADHD — and I assume that is why you are in triathlon — I prefer Speedplays. I absolutely love these pedals. I cannot imagine why anyone, and I mean anyone, would use anything else for their road or triathlon bikes. Now mountain bikes are a different story, and a completely different entry for me (I use egg beaters for pedals on my mountain bike).
Like any equipment I use on my bikes, I did my research before making a choice in pedals. I am not one of those “just throw them on and I am sure they will be fine” kind of consumer. I like to make educated decisions, and this especially applied to the main mechanism that would lock me onto my bike. For my triathlon bike and road bike. I use the Speedplay Zero Ti.
The main reason I decided to purchase Speedplays with my first bike was the double sided entry. If you are a beginner triathlete then this should especially appeal to you. This means that regardless of the orientation of the pedal, you can use both sides to clip into your pedals. This was and continues to be a big deal to me. I love the convenience of not having to look down or feel which direction my pedals are facing at a stoplight or stop sign.
The second reason I bought these pedals for my first bike was what we call “float”. Float is the degree of motion you have in your heel when you are clipped into your pedal. This is a big deal if you have knee issues. When I started riding I found that my knees liked the 15° of float the Speedplays give them. My heels can move back and forth slightly to accommodate the position that my knee wants to be in. That creates a comfortable ride. Some other pedals have float as well, but most I have researched (Look) only go up to 10°.
There are several reasons why I continue to put Speedplays onto my new bikes. Since I bought my very first triathlon bike — a Felt S22 — I have purchased a Cervelo R3SL road bike and a Cervelo P3 for my triathlon bike. I love these bikes and included Speedplays when I built both up. Speedplay pedals are very light, but when coupled with their cleats, they are not the lightest on the market. But they are very simple to maintain and their clearance when cornering is higher than most other pedals on the market. When you are cruising at 25+ mph and you corner hard, this can be important to you.
In my experience, I have loved the size of the pedal contact surface as well, but this may be a function of not having really ridden any other pedals for long periods of time. I buy really stiff carbon soled cycling shoes, so this may also compensate for the pedal size. You may have a different experience with this because you ride in different shoes. I haven’t ever gotten any hot spots in my feet from riding on Speedplays.
So if you don’t have clipless pedals on your road or triathlon bike yet, get them on there. There are few upgrades you can do to your bike that will make such a huge difference in your performance. Pedaling in a circle makes all the different in how you feel once you get off of your bike. Between clipless pedals and aerobars, you can turn any road bike into a speedster.
Overall, this is a product that works because of the simplicity of its design. I like to try out new things from time to time to make sure I am not missing something. But in this case, I haven’t ever found the need to test a new pedal because the one I use works so well.
I have been participating in running and triathlons for 10 years and love the feeling that training provides. You may not agree with me, but you know you just can't look away...
Surprisingly I use SPD, but I am thinking of switching to Look because the longer I go on the bike, the more hot spots I get on the bottom of the feet.
I have knee issues, that is why I dont use Speedplays
Great comment. I think it is interesting that you don’t use Speedplays for the exact same reason why I do use them. I know some people have issues with hot spots, but I just never have. Does that mean I don’t grind my pedals hard enough?
No, SPD as well as egg beaters, have such a small surface space to press down on, its a common issue with SPD pedals for longer distances, if your quads are burning, your grinding hard enough
How do you use you intake your flax seed? I’m convinced of the health benefits, but I want to do it right. (apologies if you have already posted on this topic in the past).
Lisa, ask anything you want. I actually take about a 1/3 of a cup — that is a lot — and I put it into my smoothies that I have for breakfast after a workout. I use cold milled flax, which you can find in about any health food store. I think my lady friend got a couple of bulk bags at Costco and I have been slowly working through them for a while now.
Another dumb follow up question – do you have to grind them or do anything other than scoop them out of the bag? I ask because I was thinking Dr. Oz was talking about they don’t work unless something is done to them. I’m sorry. I really appreciated you answering my question above. I’m definitely going to be getting some soon. Thanks!
I don’t watch too much Dr. Oz but it sounds like I should. I just put the cold milled flax into the blender along with everything else and drink it up that way. I thought until your comment that I was consuming it correctly. Now I will have to find out.
Try this write-up about it: http://www.ellies-whole-grains.com/flax-cold-milled.html
Sounds like Dr. Oz may have said it had to be cold-milled. If it isn’t it breaks down the Omega-3′s in it.
This is almost written in Greek. I haven’t biked in years! I can’t say that I miss the world whizzing by that fast. I look being able to look around. But I enjoyed it when I did do it, now it’s only for fun with the kiddos.
Shelly, understood. Riding with my son is awesome. He and I rode almost 20 miles together last Labor Day and that is still one of my favorite memories with him. I rode my mountain bike and we took lots of breaks, and even stopped for lunch. It was an epic day.
Fascinating. I use nashbar Look-knock-offs. Works for me. I wanna win a scale.
Whatever gets the job done Zach. I bet they were more economical than the Speedplays, which is always a bonus too!
First, thank you SO much for an entire blog post about your pedals. The one pair of Speedplay I checked out is actually the image you used
orange with titanium. Why? the orange matches my bike, of course!
However, when I spoke to my PT who is treating my current knee issue he did not suggest Speedplay because of the amt of float. He said would really like to see me get Look pedals.
This is now down to the wire on my purchase since my post rehab (knee) bike fitting is a couple weeks away now and MUST.HAVE.CLIPLESS.PEDALS.
Thank you again for great info!! Now I would love to hear what you have to say about AEROBARS!!
Of course — it was a great suggestion for a topic.
The reason your PT gives you as a warning against Speedplays is the same reason I use them. I would always defer to your PT though — they know more than I do for sure.
Go for the Looks for sure. I have a friend who rides Look Keo Ti and loves them.
I really love my treadmil, I can’t figure out how I will get my runs in during the week since I workout between 4:30 – 5am, I never seem to be able to get it done afer work, so first thing in the morning before my brain figures it out works for me and there is no way am running outside at that time.
Great treadmill workout programs, make the time fly by.
http://www.itrain.com/category/cardio/
http://www.spinervals.com/products/department10.cfm
http://motiontraxx.com/
http://www.cardiocoach.com/cardiocoach_workouts.php
Great resources Elizabeth. I haven’t ever used the Spinerval resources for the treadmill, but I do own a couple of their biking DVD’s and love them. I bet Coach Troy does an excellent job with the treadmill workouts.
I used to use SPD’s. Recently switched over to Looks over speedplays. I tried the speedplays but the float was actually weird feeling to me when compared to the Looks and especially the SPDs. However I have a bunch of friends who are downright passionate about the Speedplays and took it asa personal offense when I showed up with Looks on my bike. To me pedal selection really is a very personal decision and everyone is different. I am just glad that we have a few good decisions available to us.
LOL — you had friends who were mad at you about switching to Looks? What was next? Were they going to be pissed when you switched to Campy components too? That is just silly man.
How is IMTX training going? You ready to rock?
ah, yes, clipless, once you’ve used them you’ll never go back. Cleat position and float are tricky issues–IMHO the best thing to do is to go with what your body tells you. Personally I like a little less float, but my knees aren’t particularly troublesome. Also I think it’s beneficial to get properly fitted on the bike–I’m overdue for a fitting myself having switched steeds mid-season last year–there’s nothing quite like the feeling you get on a bike when you’re dialed right in.
I’m considering new pedals for this season too. I started with SPD pedals simply because I already had SPD clip shoes from spin class. I’m embarrassed to admit that I’m still riding in those same soft-soled indoor spin shoes 2 years later. I was interested in the Speedplays because of the two-sided feature…not sure if I understand what the float is though. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Float is just the amount of rotation your heel has. A ski binding has no float — your boot will come out the binding if you move your foot left or right — so that you don’t break your leg as often. A bike pedal with float just let’s your heel move back and forth a little.
I use a look compatible pedal. I have never used the speedplays. I do not like the marketing of them being the lightest pedal possible. I appreciate the fact that you pointed out the weight with the cleat. I also don’t like that the cleats cost nearly $40 and the pedals need to be lubed.
Like using clipless pedals themselves, the double sided entry is not a selling point once you have been riding for a while. In addition, the cleats easily pick up dirt and clog when walking.
I’ll stick with my look compatible and $15 replacement cleats for now.
I don’t think you can go wrong with any of the quality clipless pedal systems out there.