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Yesterday I linked up with Ed for some real "classics" suffering in the elements. It was 33 and drizzling. We just road slow muscle tension in the grass(cross bike), which I could feel last evening. I came home, ate, and hopped on the trainer for 1:45min of E. JayJay the Jet Plane(aka Jeff) loaned me a DVD called Chasing Lance. It was an original series on Discovery. I think it is necessary viewing for any cyclist at this time of year. The motivation he's showing is quite infectious, plus you see him planning every detail, which was our missing link(and frankly the thing no other teams place much focus on). The final bit I pulled from the time at E was that a team is not Lance(he'll be the 1st to say that) but it's everyone constantly searching for a way to make the team better. Here's the shout-If we're not doing this, we aren't anywhere near our true potential as a program. Reflect on how you can make us better and act! It's called contribution-(get it oked from the boys)
And you thought this was about sweat!
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Well, I had an unexpected break from school and assigned faculty meeting tomorrow after school, so I exchanged the workouts. Today I did 5x10min LTs. It was absolutely atrocious! First off, I hate doing them indoors, but I was a bit motivated by the AToC. Each rep got progressively more difficult, as expected, but much more drastic struggle. Each rep speed stayed about the same, but the power was dropping and HR was going up. I was on the sinking ship Galactica. When I'm loosing power like that, I start to look at speed(24.6mph avg.) and HR, which are more stable as markers. I completed the task and feel good about that, but no doubt 91rpm is my cadence for this indoor workout!
ReplyDeleteDewey came over today for a few hours. It was good talking about important issues, getting him refitted upon his bike, and a refined training program. I feel this time was well spent. Hopefully he won't steal my PowerTap. He really liked it too much!
Today I enjoyed working on the team camp agenda and I think all of the details are done. I'm working with the graphic artist on the water bottles-excited about that little project.
ReplyDeleteAnyone just wanting to ride bikes? NO This place is about T E A M!
I'm taking today as a recovery since I switched the LTs yesterday. In a way it brings me great pleasure knowing that my teammates with be inflicting the same pain to their bodies as I did. Mutual suffering is less sharp-not painless.
Good ol' indoor LTs. I did the 5x10mins after not only coming off of 2 rest weeks but also 5 days off the bike due to my Arizona trip. That was a hell of a workout to jump right back into. Things are a little tight. We'll see how Thursday's workout goes, hopefull well but that is a long time on the TT bike indoors.
ReplyDeleteI spent 25minutes recounting a great workout with Steve today and after authenticating it dumped my post. This happened twice so far. Not rewriting!
ReplyDeleteI had a good time getting the TT bikes all dressed up for next week party at DD TT. Sorry we skirted past Jinksy, unseen. It looks like people are actually quite comfortable in TT positions, even Dew on the Clip-ons.
ReplyDeleteI thought the meeting went quite fine. It's nice to get everyone together socially and the wine was fine. I hope others came home motivated about the year and the TEAM, knowing the races we want to hit, and the expectations and accountability we have to said. What a great group of guys/friends. Today the weather is even nicer and I can't wait to have more time with the fire-team errr racing-team.
Bill, check out Quadzilla posts. The Tet is TT ready, hit it hard with jumping jack flash.
ReplyDeletepoated ??? about next week training sched.
Training camp and I get to sleep in my own bed...sweet niblets!
ReplyDeleteThe team ride portion of the day was a serious check on race-like fitness, tactical awareness, and communication/debriefing. We set up 2 teams of three riders to make a game plan and execute. The targets were the tops of every hill in the back side of the park(KOM). We did lead outs, breaks, counters, TTTs, sagging, drifting, and blocking in order to get the KOMs. What a fantastic learning experience and hard effort. On one sprint I recorded 1587watts(personal highest). There was so much to learn and discuss!
The afternoon video presentation was nice and all were jovial and contributory.
The "inner workings" of the shop in the Bike Works tour was really insightful. Dre is a real advocate for racing and is an immense support for this cause.
Finally, the BEER!!! I guess the food was good, although I believe Ed could lick a deer carcass clean. Whatever that last beer I did its job. The long walk home was just what I needed. Ed and I hung out at the corner on a beautiful night talking about creating a maintenance guide for the team. I'm looking forward to ride today. I am extremely thankful for everyone's commitment to our cause in changing cycling in VA for the better, as a real focused team. Check out the youtube video my brothermade from Friday!
You guys got some great work in. I think you have the best organization in local bike racing that I have seen.
ReplyDeleteI got some quality time in the saddle this weekend. I'd like to take you up on the TT fit check. Also, I have a coach deposit to make.
Sunday Training Camp.
ReplyDeleteWe'll that "Dead Guy" ale that Ken picked out was good and 600(500 actual) was quite early for me, but the kids are early risers.
Everyone, save Ken, was at the team Endurance ride. What a beautiful ride. Having the time at the 09 training camp over was bitter sweet. Glad I don't have to think about that stuff anymore, but really relished the time together. Yea, the end wasn't great, but these are the guys I choose to spend all of my time with and that is, for many reasons, what rang true.
Now sleep!!!
Did the 2x20 LT in the park last evening. I got this idea that I would set-up my cpu to read avg. power and try to keep the average from 275-285. It began well, but it was quite obvious that I was jacking the hills(harder gears too) and who knows how the backside of the hills went. Power dropped until I ended at 284 watts-I was unnecessarily spent. The second rep I went back to current power and watched carefully. The end result was that I only did 273 watts(12 watt drop)! I was pissed because that is not a good sign. It was when I looked at the speed function did I see what happened.
ReplyDeleterep1-284watts, 171Avg HR, 23.3mph
rep2-273watts, 171Avg HR, 23.1mph
In a 12 watt drop I only lost 2/10 of 1mph. Basically similar speed with way less effort. What am i going to do in the TT when i can't see anything????
DD TT-One more race to remember. The race was a 43k TT and was flatish. It was 45 degrees and raining. The winds were not too stiff, but impacting. I noticed quite soon in the ride that the wind direction was fluctuating and the roads were soaked with pooling water. I went out with speeds between 27-29 to the first turn. The first of three riders to pass me occurred here-and it was soon! Was I not going well? I opted for the cadence choices that I usually resort to-75-95rpms, depending on what I might need. See, I can't hold a cadence for an extended period of time and need to modulate the gearing for best effort. The third leg absolutely demolished the hip-flexors and quads. The cold and wet told the muscles to stop, but my head said "go wimp!"
ReplyDeleteI began to really dig deep on the 4th and final leg. Not that it salvaged a wonderful ride, but I did end up with some energy reserves that allowed me to come home nicely.
My feet were frozen, as were my hands. Overall, I was drenched, but not shivering(thanks to much Dead Guy Ale in the training camp).
I finished today about 40 seconds slower than last year, but with much worse weather. I know that I did not finish anywhere near the top of the field. That gap to them will shrink over the next few months and that is the truth in all of this.
Bill,
ReplyDeleteWhat a ride! Take a look at my blogsite for comments, questions and lessons learned. One additional lesson learned; I gotta ask the BWR guys for a dead guys IPA, they are not forthcoming with said offerings.
I know I didn't go hard enough, my legs feel good today.
2x20 LTs: Wow! is the only thing that comes to mind! It was a beautiful day in the park and I saw 5 other BWR riders cruzin' in the park. Way to represent, boys. The workout went quite well; similar outcome as Greg's. I could not believe how good I felt during each rep. Usually my wattage drops on the backs and troughs of the hills, but today I was able to keep the power going throughout.
ReplyDeleteAfter I rode the 1st rep at 105%, I thought that the 2nd would suffer severely. I just easily put down the exact same wattage that I did on the last "full-on" effort! The second rep went equally well. Here are the facts:
1st rep averages: 314watts, 171HR, 88rpm, 22.6(rolling)mph.
2nd rep averages: 313watts, 171HR, 86rpm, 22.4 mph
I'm pleased to do this effort on the final build week. Mark my words, "I just turned the corner on my year!" Recovery is acommin'
The coach gets taught a lesson from...himself! Today was to be 6x6 min LT climbing(or into the wind). I know that there are no hills of that duration, so I wanted to search out some spots where guys can do this kind of workout-but where? Ah Ha! I went to the extra-credit hill by Steve's old house. Now I had the guys doing a 2:1 ratio of work to recovery, so 6x6=36 minutes of work to 18 min of recovery.Great!
ReplyDeleteI went to try the effort and boy was I way wrong. 2.5min of 105-110% LT spinning as easy as possible with 1min coast down to repeat. 30 min in I was ready to pull the plug. I went back to the park and barely completed 2x6min to finish up. Lessons learned??? You becha.
The hill was too steep to stay in the zone. The recovery was not complete before begining again. This workout is better suited for two months from now, because our quick recovery is untrained yet. The muscle tension from doing a 55-60rpm climb was more fatiguing than the LT. The workouts just can't always be made better, which is why I did it to begin with. It's the science and my ability to learn from my "theories" that keeps me trying.
It was a threesome to vie for Team of the Universe honors. Greg, Ed, and I went out to the rough roads of lower Caroline. Yesterday I did the lT work so I was not sure how it would go. We need to add some back to back days into our regimen to get us ready for multi-day events like Tour of Ephrata.
ReplyDeleteWe started our run leading up the Col du F-SE-ES(FCS hill, duhh). The pace was hot and we decided that based on group size and wind that we would do 10 sec. pulls.
There we a few times where we each had our issues. I knew once we turned into the wind that I was going to have issues, what with trying to draft off of the two smallest guys on the team. It was actually better than I thought but I really concentrated on hiding.
I choose an 80rpm on my pulls to keep momentum and stability on the bike. I stood frequently coming back in and rode a 85rpm in the draft. It's just how I roll.
I did the 49 min at 261 average watts, and averaged 23.3mph(with rolling hills and wind out of the west at 10mph). HR was 167 avg.
Technique was the key here and the three of us had a fairly smooth system going. Good fun!
Good luck with the race this weekend !
ReplyDeleteFacin' the Racin'-Ed and I traveled up to misty PA for the Millport RR(actually a 2.8 mile circuit). The course had a hill that was about the size of the shallow side of the park hill, some rolling sections, false flats, and wind. Without even knowing what the field looked like we can see the defining points on the map. I am going to break this down into three posts. Course, Contenders, and The Race.
ReplyDeleteTheir were five turns and three dog legs, so corning skills were definitely needed. The portion of the course that was the most difficult for me was actually the false-flat into a 2:00 rip-wind. There was a SERIOUSLY enforced yellow line rule and the wind had everyone riding the yellow line without ANY blockage. We're talking 800watts for 1/2 mile and those who could, did(bla bla). Then it turned into a direct head wind and finally into the climb. It was absolutely necessary to big ring it. If you could not put out 1300watts on the climb in your 53x15, it went away. Evidence-1st lap we were climbing up at 18.5mph and then i heard the dreaded clicking of gears and an accel(uphill) to 26! The rest of the course was a mixture of winds and some rolling away. Great course for a super powerful rider who can put down high numbers for 2 hours in crit-like tactics.
Part 2. The contenders: There was not one ounce of extra body fat and lot of tanned legs, which means one thing. PAIN! The guys from Quebec were quite impressive and , to mirror Ed's post, were kind. Everyone knows that this is their living! This was a PRO race.
ReplyDeletePart 3. The Race: It began with a Kelly Benefits guy going clear and a bunch of looking around for authority. I've felt this several times before in big races and that's when a pro race revs up, you feel real power. Truly amazing. After a few laps, a group of 4 went up the road, but not far. I was about 10 back in the constant single line and saw a few guys jump. I went too and we traded pulls(4 for me) and when we were getting close(I was red lined already) three of the five of us jumped clear to bridge alone and I just could not get there. That was, by the way, the winning break. I was back in the pack a few later and got into moves 9 times, some short lived/some I thought would stay away. With only three to go what was left of the field was destroyed into the cross wind section and I was in the wrong part of the rip! Nothing I could do but ride the last at TT pace. Lots of lessons learned... Like those guys that can't win drop out to not show up dead last in results. We didn't care about that!
"Oh no you di'nt?!" So I had this perfect plans to take H-Bomb to her soccer game, come home, and hit the 7x5min LTs. Her soccer coach still has no game schedule and we get there at 5:45, game is going to be at 6:30 and lasts until 7:45. I came to one of "those" moments in training where all signs say frak it, you can't begin until 8:20. It would screw up the entire training week and BOY did I try ALL of my options in rearrangement.
ReplyDeleteI did it and feel quite good about it as well. The reps read low as I was on the Col Du Painte Canne cranking out 78rpms like nobody's business. I did get an ache in the knees, but only for a short bit and it lubed itself right up. That workout did what it was intended to do. Strength work at LT, which is very different from speed work at LT. We are becoming more "total" workhorses. Glad I really went down to the Dungeon after all. Now tomorrow will be test two for the week. I'm doing my bridging intervals rain or rain. Ahhh thank goodness for plastics!