Ed's Training Log

6 min LT's Edit Delete
14 Feb 00:22
Good workout...held 250/150ish for all 6 reps and felt pretty strong. Must have had good recovery since Tuesday.

No Dice on the long LT's - Sat/Sun swap effect Edit Delete
11 Feb 04:07
Clearly not recovered enough from Sunday's fast ride (on top of Saturday's 3.25 hr ride). HR was up 10bpm on first 10 min LT compared to last week's set...did a second just to be sure and it was just as bad so added 5 min to the recovery and did a 5 min LT to wind up the workout (1:20min). Should have expected it...one less day to recover since we swapped Sat and Sun this week. If we do that again will have to adjust the next week's workload/timing.

Sunday Team Session Edit Delete
10 Feb 04:09
Very productive couple hours and first taste of warmer weather fast rides...good downhill 'swoop' cornering drills in town leading to fast pacelining in the county. Excellent movement CW and CCW...good prep for Sunday's Tradezone training race.

Ridin' with the Gades Edit Delete
07 Feb 23:37
Excellent EM ride with the Renegades today...started at 30 degrees and finished 3:15 later at 60...nice! Lots of good paceline work (CW and CCW), good company, some sprints, and even a spin through the park at the end.

High End TT LT's Edit Delete
06 Feb 04:14
Well here's today's effort...rode off and on in the TT position...about 50/50 aero/not aero until the 3rd interval, where I went 5min down/5min up/5min down. Got pretty comfortable down in the aero position and felt pretty good overall. Enjoyed the change of being on the TT bike. PITA getting the wheel in but needed the practice working with it. The level of power output didn't feel much (if any) different than on the road bike. Not sure if that will be true at greater power outputs or not...we'll see.

2nd Week Build of LT's Edit Delete
05 Feb 03:05
Pretty much a carbon copy of last Tuesday's set, only added a fourth LT. All stats (power, HR, torque, speed, etc) were very similar, with the HR's even a little lower on average for the same power. Felt pretty good...looking forward to doing Thursday's high end LT's on the TT bike as I'm curious how the position will feel at the high end of power output. Will also be interesting to see the correlation of all this to a race soon.

Sunday Team Ride Edit Delete
05 Feb 03:01
Pretty stiff wind drove us to work a little harder at times...or maybe Saturday's LT work in the park left me a little sluggish. Any ride over 3 hours is a good one though, regardless of the details. We'll be glad in June/July.

Saturday Team Workout Edit Delete
01 Feb 00:21
Great ride and cornering work. Doing some interval work on the road in a pack is very helpful in teaching applied power zone awareness/management in a near-race context. Doing clean intervals on the trainer is one thing, managing power on the road is something else. This exercise (an hour and change of rolling paceline work in the park with the leader pulling at LT and everyone else following closely to recover...various pull lengths from 2.5 min to 30 secs). We could do this workout on the road in the county just as well. The cornering drills that followed were very helpful in providing confidence to follow into turns very closely and correctly at high speed. Repetition here is key and I'd say we should do some drills on this in the context of every ride we can. In a typical crit race in VA you MUST BE ABLE TO CORNER...or have your fitness negated by those who can. Overall it felt great to be able to go fast in a small crowd and push the power. Tough to get time together but might even be better to make this work the weekly ride if we can only do one at this point in the season (ie change it to sundays, or as Bill suggested, rotate them).

Climbing LT's - 1st Week of build Edit Delete
30 Jan 03:14
These LT intervals - 4x6min w/3min rest between intervals were the most comfortable of any intervals since PE1's for me...hit @ 133bpm/250w, 143/258, 148/260, 150/260 on the succesive intervals. Torque was consistenly increasing over the intervals...and finished at just under 11...cadence was consistent at 82rpm.

1st Week build of LT's Edit Delete
28 Jan 04:32
A 10 min warmup, 10 min Tempo (230w), 5 min rest, then 3x10min LT (250w) w/5 min rest, 10 min cooldown. Felt ok. On the LT's alternated between two close gears 53/23 and 53/19ish (88 and 80 rpms)....easier gear when I felt a little muscle fatigue and then back...every 3 min or so. Overall the HR's stayed pretty low (avg low, mid and high 140's for the 3 intervals). A fourth interval would have been ok (just thinking of next week)...overall felt encouraged by first LT workout of the build.

24 Jan 09 Monthly TT test Edit Delete
24 Jan 20:50
Started a little more aggressively - downright hard - and rode as even a cadence as possible on the rolling 20 min Park course. Today was windier than on other test days. There is no settling in on this course...rollers, 180 turn, rollers, 180 turn, rollers, 180 turn, rollers, finish, severe 40 degree inspired chest burn, recover, move on. All of these tests have felt the same for me...looking at the data around them I can see why...they are the same in most categories to a remarkable degree. Today's numbers were actually slightly better than last month's, but statstically insignificant and not quite as good as late November's.
This is somewhat frustrating from a linear build expectation perspective but I realize that it may also mask the improvement that's happening in the background but not demonstrated in a short rolling TT. I'm trusting that when the full-on 60 min TT comes around I'll see some improvement...definitely working my ass off in the intervening build weeks. For some reason my HR was not captured on today's TT interval. It was there during warmup...I suspect the full stop and jiggering with the power meter monitor just prior to starting the interval somehow lost the connection on HR. Too bad, would liked to have compared to previous tests.

Light LT's Edit Delete
23 Jan 03:28
The 10 min tempo followed by 2x8 min LT's felt pretty good after a couple days spinning (one on the TT bike w5min on / 5 min off position)...one more rest day before the test on Sat. Will be interesting to see what the last month has set in motion and whether or not it will show up yet. First races in about a month...can't wait.

Good pro paceline video Edit Delete
20 Jan 01:47
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5CfRsmtQ44&feature=related

Cool Herring Gas video Edit Delete
20 Jan 01:45
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Wv0-4kJbr8&feature=related

Final PE3's Edit Delete
18 Jan 04:11
This last set of 6xPE3's (each PE3 is 3min 45rpm/210w, 3min 85rpm/230w, 3min 100rpm/250w, 3min 85rpm/230w, 3min spin) were best. Was able to settle in on last 3 min @ 80-85 rpm/230w after high LT 3 (@100rpm / 250w) min on all sets. This translates to getting into and sticking in a break. Overall average power for the 12 min intervals were same as earlier in the week but HR was 5-6 beats lower. May attribute this to somewhat better rest last few days but also may have been some adaptation (worked as hard with less effort/stress on system). Maybe test next Sat will clarify. This month's build was very challenging...got to believe that with proper rest next week it will pay dividends. Regardless, psychologically its helpful to know we can do this level of workload...will try to remember this in context of races even as we try to ride smart and conserve energy wherever possible.

LT's Edit Delete
16 Jan 04:42
Better than last week but no picnic...pretty tough muscle strain on last two (10 min) intervals. Was able to maintain the 220w/260w/260w targets more or less for the 15min/10min/10min intervals. Not sure how well one day's rest will allow for recovery in time for Sat's PE3 finale but guess we'll see. Definitely won't be surprised next week if load has been too much this month to allow for improved testing on the 24th...might take more rest than just next week. Do feel like some muscle wt has been added in last 45 days, mostly in quads. Left some damn sweat pools on the wood floor of my Tennessee room too...just adding a little history and character to this old house!

PE3's x 6; third week of four week build Edit Delete
14 Jan 04:24
Just got done with PE3's a little while ago. Hard but felt pretty strong and consistent. Got thru all 6 sets of 15 min without any mods...slightly increasing avg power outputs as I went but all on/around target ranges (45-50rpm/210w, 85rpm/230w, 100rpm/250w, 85rpm/230w), with accompanying slightly escalating avg HR (144-157) over the 12 min interval sets. Did first 5 sets on the col de paint and 6th down at sea level. All things considered probably best set yet of PE3's...total of 105 min TOB including 10 min warmup, 5 min cool down and 90 min interval time. That last number is just frightening to consider on an indoor trainer. If I don't do a race this year at all I'll consider the training a success just by finishing this workout.

PE3's Edit Delete
13 Jan 03:28
Was expecting to get murdered in Sat's PE3's. But after a good night's rest (finally the bowl games are done) they were manageable. Didn't have to mod the workout and wound up slightly better than previous sets last week. HR was a little lower on avg for better wattage. Next week's six sets should be interesting.

LT's Edit Delete
09 Jan 04:15
LT's were hard tonight...could tell the muscles were fatigued since it was pedaling was just harder...last week's LT's almost weren't even 'hard' at all. If you compare these two files its very clear...took @ 10 more heart beats of effort to get even a slightly lower power output in all three intervals. Cadence was lower too. But at this stage of the monthly build maybe this is expected. Question I have is around whether the degree of fatigue is appropriate to the plan?

Anyhow, I took your advice from Tuesdays aftermath and deferred the cyclocore til tonight (after the workout). So I can get full rest tomorrow in prep for Sat's workout. This is going to be a hard next week...will be a challenge to work smart so I need your help to make sure I don't overdo it.

How were your LT's?

Hurtin workout Edit Delete
08 Jan 05:02
So the latest (yesterday's) PE3's were rough. Sore legs and higher heartrates...must be less rest and maybe has to do with cyclocore workout on Monday (missed doing them on Sunday). Aimed for 45rpm/210w, 85rpm/230w, 110rpm/250w, 85rpm/230w , spin in 3min/3min/3min/3min/3min increments (15 min set total...times 5 in a row, with first four 'on the paint can -- that is, uphill on the trainer). Simulates a race with surge to get in a break and then re-settling in. Hard part is settling back in at the 85 rpm after the 110.

Power Numers BWR Edit Delete
28 Dec 22:19
endur: below 200tempo: 200 - 240LT: 240 - 280VO2: 281 - up
Jan test (24JAN09)Duration - 20:02 min/sec TT parkBike/wheels - 7 w/pwrtap-trng whlsDistance - 7.28 milesTemp - (41 and windy)Average speed-21.81mphAverage HR- did not registerAverage cadence - 83rpmAverage power-281watts95% Power- 267wattsAverage torque - 10.02Wt - 146 lbs - 66.36 kgPower to weight ratio (95%) - 4.02 w/kg
Dec test (28 DEC08)Duration - 20:23 min/sec TT parkBike/wheels - 7 w/pwrtap-trng whlsDistance - 7.43 milesTemp - (65ish)Average speed-21.87mphAverage HR-167bpmAverage cadence - 79rpmAverage power-280watts95% Power- 266wattsAverage torque - 9.99Wt - 146 lbs - 66.36 kgPower to weight ratio (95%) - 4.01 w/kg
Nov test (29 NOV08)Duration - 19:58 min/sec TT parkBike/wheels - 7 w/pwrtap-trng whlsDistance - 7.23 milesTemp - (40ish)Average speed-21.72mphAverage HR-166bpmAverage cadence - 85rpmAverage power-284watts95% Power- 269.8wattsAverage torque - 10.1Wt - 146 lbs - 66.36 kgPower to weight ratio (95%) - 4.07 w/kg
Oct test (1 NOV08)Duration - 20:02 min/sec TT parkBike/wheels - 7 w/pwrtap-trng whlsDistance - 7.44 milesTemp - overdressed (45-50)Average speed-22.25mphAverage HR-162bpm
Average cadence - 82rpmAverage power-278watts95% Power- 264.1wattsAverage torque - 9.7Wt - 145 lbs - 65.9 kgPower to weight ratio (95%) - 4.01 w/kg

updates Edit Delete
28 Dec 03:06

- if you reject a teammate request, there is no second try...in either direction
- inbox lists and send message popups don't scroll so you can't see them after 6 or 7 messages or many addressees
- need to be able to reply to inbox emails (lower priority)
- keep track of and display # of invitees members have
- keep track of and display 'plankholder' members (first 100?)
- make 'team & indiv records' a multiple text upload on teampages so users can add info themselves
- sort teams and sports in alphabetical order in dropdowns for ease of use
- make 'roster' entries on teampage editable (now its deleteable only)
- change the order of dropdown years in teampages from earliest-to-latest to latest-to-earliest (so 2008 shows up before 2007 in the dropdown).
- make teammate icons targets just like the links