Help, my bike is tanking?

[karming]

I have noticed a peculiar (but not good) pattern to my performance this year. My run has progressively improved over the past 1-2 years but my bike has plummeted over the same period of time. To give you an idea, I have been able to decrease my pace on the run by approximately 20 seconds/mile in a 5k. Not wanting to feel left out, my bike pace has dropped byapproximately 1.5-2 mph. Not only that, I am now dreading the ride cuz it hurts the entire time. Am actually looking forward to running cuz it doesn't nearly as much (and dare I say, is enjoyable). I thought that with such an improvement in run time, that the bike time would naturally stay steady or even improve. Granted, my runs have been more in the LT range and my rides are in the VO2 range.
Has anyone else experienced this? i suspect that it's related to lack of time in the LT zone.

KL

[Steve Yutzy]

My first thought is that your suspicion is correct: it's an intensity thing

I've struggled with this myself over the past several years. In 2004 I did a lot of intervals and hills with Pete's group down in the valley, and went from averaging ~19mph in a sprint race to 21-22 in an olympic. Since then I've upgraded from the old steel behemoth I was riding back then and increased mileage, but I couldn't get the average speed up, and I think the reason was intensity. You need those workouts on the bike just like you do on the run (and the pool).