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Because I am a week "different"(not behind) everyone, today was my day to do 3x15 High tempo intervals. First, I was able to do them in the park, which has a better feel all around. The wind was not even a factor down in that bowl so I let 'em rip. Because I have spent a minimum of one day per week in the TT position, I really felt like I'm on top of that position. I was amazed at the speeds I was hitting today. I was able to hit all of my rally points I use when doing the LTs on the road bike, except that I was 40 watts lower on average. Now, I thought that perhaps I was just not able to generate the same watts in that position, but was at FT. The HR confirmed that I was truely at Tempo(155-158HR). I was doing the exact same speeds w/o burning the wick at both ends!
Rep 1. 237watts, 22.47mph, 155HR, 84rpm
2. 234watts, 22.43mph, 157HR, 85rpm
3. 244watts, 22.44, 158HR, 84rpm
Who said that the aero position aint worth it's weight in gold?!
Time to Trade the Zone Edit | Delete
ReplyDelete15 Feb 23:45
Well today capped of quite a significant day in my life for two reasons. The first is that I toed the line for the first time since my crash in June. I can't say that there weren't several sleepless nights pondering my return and it happened today without pain. I also have not been in those kinds of speed and tactical situations either and that was an evident fear.
The second reason I was excited today was that it was the first race outting for me as the coach and trainer for not less than a few riders. I desperately want my clients to succeed and today they get to curse/buy into my methodology. I will use their observations and take their concerns to bed with me again tonight. Overall, they all got a chance to hit-it-hard, and that tells a coach a lot.
When I downloaded my "evidence" I was not that surprised by that data. I also immediately came in and took my weight. I cramped quite severely in my right hamstring, which forced me to stop with 8 laps to go. While in the field, I felt quite strong(perhaps in the top 50% of the bulk of racers) throughout the race. The first 10 laps were difficult even for the strong teams and no major break was allowed to form. In that time I recorded 31 accelerations over 500watts. I never took the chance to drink during that time of influence. The 40-55 min segment of the race had 11 accelerations near 1000 watts. I was burning the wick at both ends and started to feel the cramping five laps before I succume.
Here is what I know caused the cramp. I was still down quite substantially some waterweight(slight dehydration). I did not have any depth in the repeats over 500watts and had no answer for the 1000+ repeats that dug into my PC system. It all ended me bitterly. However, it was a fantastic learning experience and the data shows me that Feb. aint my peak!
Tues. LTing Edit | Delete
ReplyDelete11 Feb 14:59
I met My big brother, Steve Norair, in the park to do the LTs outside. What a total difference it makes on the mind being outside! First, I got there late, due to issues that children just have in class! No tempo for me and I jumped right into the workout. I'm really begining to feel better and 4x10min was not completely easy. I focused on not going too hard on the ascents and pounding it over the top-down. This is really NOT how my body cares to work. It likes spikes and does well with peaks and valleys. I was not going to let my body win, so i choose to make it do the opposite. It is quite a challenge to do it this way! Here were the numbers.
1. avg 299watts, 22.3 mph, 162HR
2. 298watts, 22.44 mph, 167HR
3. 292watts, 22.44mph, 168 HR
4. 275watts, 21.3mph, 169HR
It was a good choice on my part to go back a week, due to the illness. My body was ready to be done on the last rep, as evident in the last rep(speed, wattage)! I did have cadences that were in the 95rpm zone, by not pounding the uphills(spinning).
Sunday Catch-up Edit | Delete
ReplyDelete11 Feb 14:47
Well, it was not that important to follow the order that we came up with for drafting. The idea would be to set that order where ever there was an option to do so.
Where might I be? Edit | Delete
08 Feb 11:59
After an awful illness that wiped out most of my class, I'm not real sure where things left me. It's been about an entire week with almost no riding. I think I played it safe and am ready to get back into the load. But where? The best part of designing the training system is that I know where we need to go months down the road. There's the confidence, which will keep the "gotta catch up" or "I need more time on the bike" stupid biker thoughts out of my head.
Today is a team session to solidify riding order. There needs to be some pace today as well. What do I do? Master the gate-keeping methods and teach! Excited about getting into a pack at 30mph next weekend! Little victories make the season!
No man's land Edit | Delete
06 Feb 13:58
I tried to get on the bike this AM to just spin. Once I broke a sweat, I got the "cold-pricklies" all over. The wattage was down so low that I just kept it at 30 watts(13mph) for a total of 20 minutes. That was not even able to trigger an endorphin rush.
I'm just not sure about the rides for this weekend. Perhaps I'll try Sat and see.
SICK Edit | Delete
05 Feb 19:45
What more do you want?
Team work Edit | Delete
ReplyDelete01 Feb 12:35
Good ride out there today. The drills are useful and it will be nice to move to a full 90 turn at speed. One thing about being a coach is needing the ability to take a concept that you podered over for days and shelve it because it does not work well. The coach must scrutinize his application for successes and failures in order to be better. Ego need not apply. Yesterday was no different.
The double-line was, in theory, a doable concept if two things were met. One, everyone was of similar fitness and if we had one more rider to even it out. I still think we can do this, but perhaps later in the season. There were times where riders in the draft were higher in their LT than the guys pulling. That will change soon!
I was working on being consistant over rolling terrain. To me, that means slower up and nailing it at the crest-down. Getting better, but could see some advantages in perfection.
I'm all for rotating the team training days from sat/sun in order to get Jinks and Dewey into the mix. They would really benefit from the motorpacing speeds that a sailing line can provide.
Was asked by Jeff if I ever sleep(schedules etc). My only reply is that If we are going to get a wild-card birth to the TOUR this year, I have to be on top of things! The serious answer-I KNOW WHAT "TEAM" REALLY MEANS-some sacrifice, some fun, some work, belief that what we do, 99% can't!
I can't believe that I'm wishing for some 50 degree days, but I am.
Short work at LT Edit | Delete
ReplyDelete30 Jan 00:59
Today, I was really excited to do the work(good sign). I had a typical, good pre-ride meal of a cup of Oatmeal Squares cereal and skin milk 40 minutes before and Accelerade on the bike. Jenn came down to capture a few moments in the dungeon(posted soon above).
I stuck to one cadence for the entire 6 min rep and kept all cadences 80 or below. What I found actually during(but confirmed on the computer) was that I went the fastest, was most comfortable, and had the lowest HR when I was at 80 rpm(vs 75, 64, 70). During the Wintergreen I average a 65rpm, which I just cant hold the power all the way up. I need a gear that can give me 75-80rpm to be my best. Good lesson!
I was certainly amazed at how easy 6 min is, even with only a 3 min recovery. I was ready to go after each 3 min. I really feel that this suits my style better, so it's good that I have to do the long ones too take comfort out of this equation. If I had to do 60 minutes at LT, I'd rather do 10x6min than 6x10min anyday!
My speeds were pretty good from 21.3-22.2 mph averages.
Looking forward to more rest tomorrow.
LT is the place to be! Edit | Delete
28 Jan 17:51
Well I used the snow day to do the first set of 3 x 10min LTs. I updated my zones and set off to the dungeon with great vigor. The Tempo warm-up did not impress me much. I know I had great recovery and was a little worried that I would need to extend the recovery periods between or cut down on the reps. Once I got into it, no problem. How much moral battery must we self-inflict? Pack-fill riders are calling it quits at every turn this winter. Where do you want to be? Again, these are best outside if at all possible!
Power boys, I set my CPU to read "speed" in the middle screen so I had a focal point(rather than just power). Cadence varied, HR and speed too. The biggest thing I saw afterwards was torque was steadily dropping each rep.
LT1=22.17mph avg, 80 rpms, 155HR, 277watts, torque 9.3
LT2=22.52mph avg, 87 rpms, 159HR, 271 watts, torque 8.97
LT3=22.44mph, 87rpms, 164HR, 266 watts, torque 8.84
All averages, of course. Look at the HR by that last one!
Tuesday in the Power(Starts)
ReplyDeleteToday I did the PS indoors. The real problem with doing them inside is that you can't activate the bike well using the upper-body. This is an important portion of the workout and therefore, the wattage is much lower. Outside, I can put down about 1500watts, but during Nov, doing them indoors, I was about 300watts less consistantly.
This brings me to yesterday...I was able to get up to 1350watts inside.?? Does that mean I've gained wattage for that effort? I would have to do them outside to see if the indoor and outdoor improvements match. Bottom line is that all 6 reps were well over 1300watts. I like that for the indoor workout! The fact that I am 8 lbs lighter than in Nov is a secondary bonus.
I finally finished up my workload for the month today. I did my long LTs in the rollers @the park. I was pressed for daylight and Steve was doing his 20 min. test, so I combined 2 of my 10 min reps together. The result of that was telling.
ReplyDeleteI was able to keep 291watts for that entire duration(20), which was a surprise indeed. In looking at my files I did not see any real drop in that time. If anything, the last 5 min segment was the exact same in numbers as the 1st quarter-295(HR was a bit higher as expected).
The first rep was 10 min and that was 299watts comfortably-shocking considering how frakin windy and cold it was. My final rep was another 10 min and that one was completed with a 297watt average.
Overall, I felt great for the 1st time in weeks. I spent more time in the drops to get the body familiar with the race position. It was so great having a mate out there doing the suffering as well. Thanks Steve!
I was really looking forward to today's ride. I think that riding in a paceline at speeds over 22mph is absolutely necessary for neromuscle connectivity. Bottom line. We race at high speeds, so our body needs to be able to fire as such with the gears as such.
ReplyDeleteI was still a bit tired form my ride on Thurs, but was motivated. It was a rest week for the other guys and it's interesting how everyone's body adapts to hitting-it after a break. One thing is for certain, we were NOT at the same mark and it showed.
I'm looking forward to the long E ride today w/ the 'Gades. Good ole fat-burning in 4 hours!
Talk about a "down" week...This was it or so I thought. I spent about 9 hours each day walking and standing at Disney for the past 5 days. Although not much cycling occurred, I was into my compression tights often.
ReplyDeleteHere is my "What did I learn" segment. I am no bovine, although I was herded the moment I got to Orlando. Disney's "meal plan" will undo a solid month of weight loss-"ohh sir you get two desserts and 2 cokes with that!" Don't hold your 8 yr old on your shoulders for 2 hours just so she can see the Spectromagic Parade on Mardi Gras-Sore legs and did I mention that my shoulder is still in several pieces? Finally, as a adult, you can still be in awe of magic and you are only as old as you want to be! Grab a bike!
Dusting off the TT bike today for an easy spin.
Tasting 1,2,3! Well today I did my 20 min test in the park. The weather was similar to the last two times, but much gustier. I think I paced it much better, but could really feel that I had been off the bike for several days-discomfort where there should be none(sack). Here are my numbers. I'm not changing any of my zones this month.
ReplyDeleteWeight-171 lbs=77.7kg
Average speed-21.23(rolling)
Average watts-313(down 2-not worried!)
Watts-5%=297wattsFT
Average HR 170bpm(down from 173 at same load!)
Cadence- 89rpm(up 4)
SWR=Who wants to do my math???
I did about the exact same in all aspects(speed/watts), but a lower HR, which is the silver lining. Same with less effort-progress!
Yes I know the math. It just ticks me off that I can't get to that elusive 4.00 watts/kg
ReplyDelete3.82 watts/kg!!!!same as Young Gun!