OK, it's been a month since my last blog post and I've not posted any of my "staying on track" reports. Oops. Besides, reports about riding the trainer are usually not all that exciting. Usually.
Still, I've been pretty disciplined with my training. I've been riding 7 to 9 hours a week, including some lunch time rides with the guys from work, so it's a nice mix of the trainer and outdoors. I find it a lot easier to be motivated on the trainer when I get to ride outdoors and remind myself of why I'm doing all this.
My only regret in my training is that I'm not getting a lot of long rides. It's hard to ride 2 or 3 hours when the temperature is in the mid 30's and it's sure as hell hard to ride the trainer that long.
Today was a test day for me. I've been focusing mostly on endurance and threshold work so I can improve my time trials next year. Today was a 20K (12.4 mile) time trial on the CompuTrainer. It does not account for aerodynamics or position, so time was not my biggest concern. It was power. My goal for the day was to match or beat my best 30:00 power from the last 3 months: 255 watts.
I treated it like a race. I warmed up well and paced myself so that I could go harder in the second half than the first. I am surprised at just how well it went.
Total time: 33:19 (22.4 mph) (kind of irrelevant, but useful for future comparison)
Avg Power: 260
1st Half Average: 252 watts (I almost wonder if I held back too much)
2nf Half Average: 268 watts
Mentally, I was focused on keeping my power where I wanted it while remembering to look up (practicing watching the power without staring at it), keeping my cadence where it should be (I kept it around 85 RPM), and watching how much distance I had left to go. Mental focus has been a problem for me, so this was a huge improvement for me.
I'd say my training season is off to a great start. I'm thrilled to see numbers this good.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Sunday, November 6, 2011
If Football Was Like Cycling...
Every once in a while, I hear some football fan say that cycling's not a real sport because there's no defense or because there's no score or some other lame reason that amounts to "I don't understand anything beyond people beating each other up for money".
It's got me wondering what football would be like if it were more like cycling:
It's got me wondering what football would be like if it were more like cycling:
- If you're the closest to the goal line, you "have the ball."
- You can call a time outs whenever you want, but the other team can keep playing without you
- The same guys play offense and defense.
- The defense does not get a head start in order to get between the offense and the goal.
- The game is played on concrete, asphalt, and/or dirt roads.
- The only pads you are allowed to have are a helmet and gloves.
- There are no mid-game substitutions. If someone gets hurt, you play without them.
- If you get hurt, the game continues without you. Someone will be along to help... eventually. And it might be a 4 hour drive to the hospital.
- The season lasts from January through October and runs on multiple continents.
- The games are a minimum of 5 hours of actual playing time.
- The game does not stop for commercials.
- The goal line is 110 miles from where you start. Good luck kicking a field goal.
- You play 3 to 4 games a week unless it's grand tour season, when you race every day for three weeks straight.
- If you win too much (i.e., enough that they have even heard of you), people just assume you are taking some kind of performance enhancing drug.
- The fans are close enough to trip you. Sometimes they do.
- The average professional player makes $70,000 a year (compared to $1.9 million for the NFL) and spends half his game fetching water and food from a moving car so that someone else try to win.
- You need to be one of the best in your home country just to get a job. Cycling's top level, the UCI Protour, only has 18 teams with 30 riders each (540 riders total, from any country in the world) compared to the 32 NFL teams with 53 players each (1696 players total, mostly from the US).
- The best defense truly is a good offense. The only way to win is to get to the finish line first.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Staying on Track
How many people do you know who, at some point in their lives, said they were going to lose weight? Ten? Twenty? Fifty? Out of them, how many succeeded in losing their goal amount? 5% 10%? Out of them how many managed to keep that weight off for a year or more?
My point here is that most people have a hard time losing weight at all, an even harder time losing as much as they want, and yet even more difficulty in staying at that lower weight.
Despite the difficulty, I intend to be one of them.
Like most successful projects, it's about having a decent plan followed by solid execution (and perhaps a few adjustments along the way). For me, accountability is also a big factor. I need to have someone who I tell about my successes and failures. Having to tell someone that I knew what I needed to do but didn't do it goes a long way.
This blog has helped at that. My friends on Traineo.com have been a huge help too. Now, I've come up with a way to track everything I'm doing and be able to report on it.
As I've written before, my major goal for next year is to get my 40K (24.8 mile) time trial time under an hour (59:59 is just fine). I also want to get my weight down about 15 pounds over the next 6 months (which is well under a pound a week).
In order to meet these goals, I came up with a list of daily and weekly tasks that I need to do. I broke those tasks into weight-loss related and fitness-related. Let's face it: it's totally possible that I could increase my threshold power by 10% but not lose a pound. Or I could lose all the weight but gain no power at all.
I then weighted them so that ones that are more important get a little more emphasis. While I want to spend at least 1 of my trainer days each week on the time trial bike, it's more important that I at least got on the trainer to begin with. I also added bonus and penalty items that might help (or hurt) on a given target. Taken together, they will give me a score for the week.
I'm not off to a great start this week, partially since I did not plan to start this seriously for another couple weeks. Still, my weight loss has been on target. I'm down to 185.0 now (from 187.0 two weeks ago).
This is the chart that I came up with and the first week's results (click on it to enlarge it enough to read):
It's not perfect, but I'm sure I'll improve it with time!
My point here is that most people have a hard time losing weight at all, an even harder time losing as much as they want, and yet even more difficulty in staying at that lower weight.
Despite the difficulty, I intend to be one of them.
Like most successful projects, it's about having a decent plan followed by solid execution (and perhaps a few adjustments along the way). For me, accountability is also a big factor. I need to have someone who I tell about my successes and failures. Having to tell someone that I knew what I needed to do but didn't do it goes a long way.
This blog has helped at that. My friends on Traineo.com have been a huge help too. Now, I've come up with a way to track everything I'm doing and be able to report on it.
As I've written before, my major goal for next year is to get my 40K (24.8 mile) time trial time under an hour (59:59 is just fine). I also want to get my weight down about 15 pounds over the next 6 months (which is well under a pound a week).
In order to meet these goals, I came up with a list of daily and weekly tasks that I need to do. I broke those tasks into weight-loss related and fitness-related. Let's face it: it's totally possible that I could increase my threshold power by 10% but not lose a pound. Or I could lose all the weight but gain no power at all.
I then weighted them so that ones that are more important get a little more emphasis. While I want to spend at least 1 of my trainer days each week on the time trial bike, it's more important that I at least got on the trainer to begin with. I also added bonus and penalty items that might help (or hurt) on a given target. Taken together, they will give me a score for the week.
I'm not off to a great start this week, partially since I did not plan to start this seriously for another couple weeks. Still, my weight loss has been on target. I'm down to 185.0 now (from 187.0 two weeks ago).
This is the chart that I came up with and the first week's results (click on it to enlarge it enough to read):
It's not perfect, but I'm sure I'll improve it with time!
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Stowe Away
We spent the last week in Stowe, VT. I've linked a lot of the places we went in case anyone else ever goes and wants to recommendations.
Monday was an 11 hour train ride from Philly to Waterbury, VT. It was a beautiful ride with the trees mostly starting to change colors. It went by pretty quickly, with both of us reading and taking photos out the window for most of the trip.
The train was about an hour late, so we didn't get to the hotel until 9:30 at night. By that time, most of Stowe ha shut down for the night. Luckily we managed to make last call at the hotel restaurant and get some appetizers.
We stayed at the Green Mountain Inn, which was absolutely great. The room was huge, with a king size bed, a hot tub, and a gas fireplace. The inn was right in the middle of historic Stowe, which is a cute little town which does not allow major chains. As a result, all the restaurants, chocolates, drug stores, and hotels are locally owned an operated. It was great to have so many options of so many great things.
Stowe Mercantile is their amazing everything store. It's got clothing, candy, syrup, books, and a little cafe. We got some of their butter cream fudge that was completely addictive (we ate over a pound of it in four days).
We toured the factory where they make Ben & Jerry's ice cream and ate lots of Cabot cheese at the Cabot Annex store.
The leaves were changing colors, with some leaves having red, yellow, and green all together. Their leaves turn a bright fiery orange or yellow, which made for some great photos.
We got to see a couple of great glass blowing studio, Little River Hotglass Studio. While we'd seen glass blowers at the Renaissance Faire before, this was dramatically better. The work was just gorgeous (and of course, we had to get a couple).
We saw lots of local artists with paintings and etchings that were way out of our price range, but at least we got a calendar with some of the art on it. We also bought some of the most beautiful sounding wind chimes that I've ever heard.
I'd be remiss if I did not mention Jack at Blazer Transportation. He got us around for the whole week and we would not have seen half the stuff that we did if he had not told us about it. Perhaps the highlight was the artist who made wood wild life sculptures... with a chainsaw.
Now we're back home, sifting through the 850 pictures from the wedding (we have to pick 36 for our album an 20 each for our parents...) and 450 pictures from the honeymoon.
On a fitness note...
I did not ride or lift at all for the last 10 days. I have completely spent that time focused on the wedding and reception and honeymoon. We slept about 9 to 10 hours a night and only went on relatively short walks (no more than an hour at a time). I'm pretty well rested now. I'm also well fed.
I've managed to gain 3 pounds in 10 days. I fully admit that I ate everything in sight, from the semi-bachelor party to the rehearsal dinner to the wedding reception to our private wedding dinner to lunch with our parents to all the places we ate in Vermont. I'm not surprised :-) My weight this morning was 187 pounds and 22.7% body fat. That's OK. It was totally worth it to have some great food and to hit the new 2012 training season (which starts tomorrow) well rested!
Monday was an 11 hour train ride from Philly to Waterbury, VT. It was a beautiful ride with the trees mostly starting to change colors. It went by pretty quickly, with both of us reading and taking photos out the window for most of the trip.
The train was about an hour late, so we didn't get to the hotel until 9:30 at night. By that time, most of Stowe ha shut down for the night. Luckily we managed to make last call at the hotel restaurant and get some appetizers.
We stayed at the Green Mountain Inn, which was absolutely great. The room was huge, with a king size bed, a hot tub, and a gas fireplace. The inn was right in the middle of historic Stowe, which is a cute little town which does not allow major chains. As a result, all the restaurants, chocolates, drug stores, and hotels are locally owned an operated. It was great to have so many options of so many great things.
Stowe Mercantile is their amazing everything store. It's got clothing, candy, syrup, books, and a little cafe. We got some of their butter cream fudge that was completely addictive (we ate over a pound of it in four days).
We toured the factory where they make Ben & Jerry's ice cream and ate lots of Cabot cheese at the Cabot Annex store.
The leaves were changing colors, with some leaves having red, yellow, and green all together. Their leaves turn a bright fiery orange or yellow, which made for some great photos.
We got to see a couple of great glass blowing studio, Little River Hotglass Studio. While we'd seen glass blowers at the Renaissance Faire before, this was dramatically better. The work was just gorgeous (and of course, we had to get a couple).
We saw lots of local artists with paintings and etchings that were way out of our price range, but at least we got a calendar with some of the art on it. We also bought some of the most beautiful sounding wind chimes that I've ever heard.
I'd be remiss if I did not mention Jack at Blazer Transportation. He got us around for the whole week and we would not have seen half the stuff that we did if he had not told us about it. Perhaps the highlight was the artist who made wood wild life sculptures... with a chainsaw.
Now we're back home, sifting through the 850 pictures from the wedding (we have to pick 36 for our album an 20 each for our parents...) and 450 pictures from the honeymoon.
On a fitness note...
I did not ride or lift at all for the last 10 days. I have completely spent that time focused on the wedding and reception and honeymoon. We slept about 9 to 10 hours a night and only went on relatively short walks (no more than an hour at a time). I'm pretty well rested now. I'm also well fed.
I've managed to gain 3 pounds in 10 days. I fully admit that I ate everything in sight, from the semi-bachelor party to the rehearsal dinner to the wedding reception to our private wedding dinner to lunch with our parents to all the places we ate in Vermont. I'm not surprised :-) My weight this morning was 187 pounds and 22.7% body fat. That's OK. It was totally worth it to have some great food and to hit the new 2012 training season (which starts tomorrow) well rested!
Friday, October 7, 2011
Shelli
Shelli is so lovable and adorable for so many reasons...
- She dances with me in the living room for no reason with no music.
- When she sees something she wants, she cries out "Mine Mine!"
- She bought me a set of Justice League drinking glasses. She gets upset when she doen't get to drink from the Batman one.
- She came to all 14 bike races that I was in this year and took pictures at every one. The pictures were great and I think my teammates are happier to see her than they are me.
- She just might be more into watching the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France than I am.
- She gets excited when I get new comics (mostly Batman and Justice League).
- She gets REALLY excited when she gets to read them before I do.
- She has the cutest frown I've ever seen. She actually looks like a frownie :-(
- She always smiles at me when I get home from work or a long ride.
- She encourages me to buy new cycling gear, especially when it looks cool.
- She plays peek-a-boo with me around the corner of the living room or around the kitchen wall.
- She emails me every day at work to say "hi".
- She sends me emails full of smileys (which we have come to call "smiley storms")
- When she's having a bad day, she sends Frowney storms.
- She loves going to the firing range with me.
- Her favorites are the .45 1911, the .357 revolver, and the 9mm rifle they used on Battlestar Galactica.
- She claps when she's happy or excited.
- She gets excited over little things.
- She does a little dance when she's happy.
- She loves to go for walks along the river or in the park with me.
- She insists that the little noises our cat makes are an attempt to say "mama."
- She frowns whenever I get up to leave the room without kissing her.
- She has lunch waiting for me when I get home from a long training ride.
- When she contradicts me, I trust her enough that I assume that I'm the one who's wrong.
- She makes dinner almost every night and it's always healthy and wonderful.
- I'm sure there are dozens of things that I have not listed since it seems there are more every day
Monday, September 26, 2011
Transition
It's that time of year again: Transition phase, the change from racing season to "off-season."
In other words, for the next month or so (until after my honeymoon), I'll be training how I feel like it, when I feel like it, and if I feel like it. Sure, I'd like to lose another pound or so before the wedding and I'd like to get into the gym enough to get past the initial muscle soreness, but those are hardly major goals.
It's also a time for me to look at my goals for the next season in closer detail, pick my priority events, and start outlining my training. I start to geek out and reread all of my Coggan, Bompa, Friel, Carmichael, and whoever-else books so that I can remind myself of what needs to be done.
Above all, it's really nice to have a little time to just enjoy riding and working out because I enjoy it and not to prepare for a race that's looming.
In other words, for the next month or so (until after my honeymoon), I'll be training how I feel like it, when I feel like it, and if I feel like it. Sure, I'd like to lose another pound or so before the wedding and I'd like to get into the gym enough to get past the initial muscle soreness, but those are hardly major goals.
It's also a time for me to look at my goals for the next season in closer detail, pick my priority events, and start outlining my training. I start to geek out and reread all of my Coggan, Bompa, Friel, Carmichael, and whoever-else books so that I can remind myself of what needs to be done.
Above all, it's really nice to have a little time to just enjoy riding and working out because I enjoy it and not to prepare for a race that's looming.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
The Year Ahead
For the 2012 season, I have two focuses: lose weight and improve my time trialing. That's it. Just two.
To start, I'm really sick of trying to lose weight, so I want to get the weight off and be done with it. I'm aiming for 170, and the only thing stopping me from getting there is my love of snack foods at the office. Since my weight tends to vary by a pound or two naturally during a week, I'm really aiming for an "average" of 170, with my weight fluctuating between 169 and 171.
To help motivate me, I bought some new clothes that I really like that are just a little too tight right now. Once I reach the new weight, they will fit (and look) great.
While my power profile suggests that I'm a more natural sprinter, I'm just not into crits and road races that much. They are fun and all, but the risk-reward ratio is just not there (potential crippling injury, dismemberment, or death for little bragging rights and up to $100 in prize money). The biggest risks during a time trials would be getting hit by a car and having a heart attack from the exertion (both of which I risk every time I get on the bike anyway).
So, I'm focusing on time trials for the next year. My primary goal is to do a 40K in less than an hour. That's 24.84 miles in 60 minutes, so I need to average 24.85 mph in order to be under an hour. By comparison, that's the rough equivalent of doing the West River Time Trial three times in a row with a time of 20:09 all three times.
That kind of speed requires strong fitness (functional threshold and flexibility), good aerodynamics (both the frontal profile and the slipperiness of that profile), and good technical skills (like turning around quickly and riding the shortest course possible by watching the curves in the road).
In the coming weeks, I'll write more about what I'm looking to improve in each of those areas and how I plan to do it.
To start, I'm really sick of trying to lose weight, so I want to get the weight off and be done with it. I'm aiming for 170, and the only thing stopping me from getting there is my love of snack foods at the office. Since my weight tends to vary by a pound or two naturally during a week, I'm really aiming for an "average" of 170, with my weight fluctuating between 169 and 171.
To help motivate me, I bought some new clothes that I really like that are just a little too tight right now. Once I reach the new weight, they will fit (and look) great.
While my power profile suggests that I'm a more natural sprinter, I'm just not into crits and road races that much. They are fun and all, but the risk-reward ratio is just not there (potential crippling injury, dismemberment, or death for little bragging rights and up to $100 in prize money). The biggest risks during a time trials would be getting hit by a car and having a heart attack from the exertion (both of which I risk every time I get on the bike anyway).
So, I'm focusing on time trials for the next year. My primary goal is to do a 40K in less than an hour. That's 24.84 miles in 60 minutes, so I need to average 24.85 mph in order to be under an hour. By comparison, that's the rough equivalent of doing the West River Time Trial three times in a row with a time of 20:09 all three times.
That kind of speed requires strong fitness (functional threshold and flexibility), good aerodynamics (both the frontal profile and the slipperiness of that profile), and good technical skills (like turning around quickly and riding the shortest course possible by watching the curves in the road).
In the coming weeks, I'll write more about what I'm looking to improve in each of those areas and how I plan to do it.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
The Year Behind
2011 was a pretty wild season. I did a total of 14 races this year (4 crits, 2 road races, 1 hill climb, and 7 time trials), which is probably double the number I had done in any previous year. The downside is that I hit the end of the year without hitting any of my goals (more on that later).
In general, I'd say that I did pretty well on riding regularly throughout the year with a combination of riding the trainer in the morning before work, riding with the guys from work at lunch (even through the winter), and riding outdoors on the weekends.
I did not do so well at getting to the gym regularly. Over the winter, we only went about once a week at most. During the summer, we barely went at all.
I started this training season (Oct 2010) with my weight at 186. It climbed to 190 by New Year's. By the beginning of May, I was back down to 180 pounds. I more or less held it there until July, when a combination of new tattoo project and a wicked flu kept me off the bike for almost 4 weeks. My weight climbed up to 184 and I now have it back down to 182. At least I'm lighter than last year :-)
My racing was a little scattered. I started off the year doing a bunch of crits and road races, at one point doing 8 races in 6 weeks. I did pretty well in the practice crits, but ultimately my pack handling skills are not what they should be for the real ones. I tend to end up at the back of the pack as I struggle to maintain position in each high-speed corner.
After that, I decided to switch to time trials. I started fiddling with my bike fit and my position on it. I'm finding that I like time trialing for many of the same reasons that I enjoyed speedskating: The subtle technique, the focus on set distances, and the same (smaller) group of people who travel to all the races in the region.
My goals for this year were:
- Get my West River TT time under 20:00 (my best was 20:01)
- Get my max 5-second sprint over 1300 watts (my best was 1268)
- Improve my pack skills (after setting this goal, I did only two pack races, one of which I was dropped on the first lap)
- Get my weight down to 175 (stated when I was 190, as I write this, I'm 181)
These goals are a little bit opposite from one another. First off, it's really hard to lose weight at all when you're racing a lot. There's too much focus on performance to worry about calorie deficits. Everything is about recovering from the last workout and recovering for the next one.
Being a better time trialist and a better sprinter are pretty opposite training and technical goals. Improving time trialing requires a better threshold, better muscular endurance, and better flexibility to stay in a low tuck for an hour. It also requires a deep mental focus to keep you at just the right pace, not so hard that you burn out and not so easy that you hit the finish line with energy left. Sprinting requires you to be able to draft other riders from 2 inches away at 28 mph and then very rapidly accelerate around everyone at just the right instant to hit the finish line first.
Ultimately, I'd sum up this year by saying that I learned a lot.
- Focus on one type of race that I want to do well in.
- I can lose weight as long as I pay attention to it
- I lose weight more easily when I'm lifting weights
- Success in time trialing is more than just power output. I need to work on my flexibility and balance as well.
- Those 4-hour zone 2 endurance rides really do help build up your aerobic fitness
- I'm only willing to drive so far for a race (3 hours for a 30 minute race is a bit much; 5 hours is out of the question)
- Riding the CompuTrainer in Erg mode is probably the most efficient training method for me
- The only way to survive racing in the heat is to train in the heat
- Even though my natural strengths are as a sprinter, I enjoy time trialing a lot more.
- Riding at lunch with the guys from work is fun just to get out and do a few sprints and hills. It's also a good way to get outside during the winter
- I get better results when I plan things out AND THEN STICK TO IT
So, for the next month I'll be training a little randomly. I want to get into the gym a few times and get past the initial muscle soreness phase. I am starting to do a little yoga; just one DVD so far amusingly titled "Yoga for Inflexible People". And I'm getting out and riding without any real goals or intervals or plans just so I can enjoy being on the bike.
Coming soon: the post about my goals and plans for next year.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Drawing to a Close
Today was my last race of the 2011 season: the Ernie Simpson Memorial Time Trial, a 20K (12.4 mile) time trial held near Carlisle, PA.
The course is a little unusual: It's 8.5K to the turnaround, with the first part mostly downhill, then there is an 11.5K part to the finish, most of which is uphill. Don't let me kid you though, the part out had two pretty solid climbs as well. Still, there were some really steep and fast descents.
Above all, I'd say that I paced this time trial better than any other that I've done this year. I started off easily, held back on the first climb, and gradually pushed harder until the turnaround. After the turnaround, I was able to gradually increase power all the way to the finish. With about 2K (1.2 miles) to go, I gave it all that I had left. Of course, that last 2K was all uphill, so it was not all that fast.
I finished the race, rolled back down to the parking lot, got to the car... and it started POURING. I quickly got my bike into the car and got inside to get changed out of my racing uniform. I was lucky. All the folks still on the road got soaked.
A few numbers:
Total distance:20K (12.4 miles)
Total time: 34:06
Avg Speed: 21.9 mph
Max Speed: 40.7 mph
Avg Power: 243 watts (261 normalized)
Avg Heart Rate: 162 bpm
Max Heart Rate: 170 bom
Total climbing: 624 feet
Morning weight: 182.2 pounds
As I wrap up the year, I look forward to some time away from racing and training a little more randomly for a while. I want to get back into losing weight. Looking back, I managed to drop form 190 to 180 pretty quickly, but once racing started, I pretty much hovered from 180 to 183 all summer. If I can drop another 10 pounds, that will help a lot with next season.
My next few posts will take a look back at this year and what I'm thinking about for next year (and probably something about my honeymoon in there!)
The course is a little unusual: It's 8.5K to the turnaround, with the first part mostly downhill, then there is an 11.5K part to the finish, most of which is uphill. Don't let me kid you though, the part out had two pretty solid climbs as well. Still, there were some really steep and fast descents.
Above all, I'd say that I paced this time trial better than any other that I've done this year. I started off easily, held back on the first climb, and gradually pushed harder until the turnaround. After the turnaround, I was able to gradually increase power all the way to the finish. With about 2K (1.2 miles) to go, I gave it all that I had left. Of course, that last 2K was all uphill, so it was not all that fast.
I finished the race, rolled back down to the parking lot, got to the car... and it started POURING. I quickly got my bike into the car and got inside to get changed out of my racing uniform. I was lucky. All the folks still on the road got soaked.
A few numbers:
Total distance:20K (12.4 miles)
Total time: 34:06
Avg Speed: 21.9 mph
Max Speed: 40.7 mph
Avg Power: 243 watts (261 normalized)
Avg Heart Rate: 162 bpm
Max Heart Rate: 170 bom
Total climbing: 624 feet
Morning weight: 182.2 pounds
As I wrap up the year, I look forward to some time away from racing and training a little more randomly for a while. I want to get back into losing weight. Looking back, I managed to drop form 190 to 180 pretty quickly, but once racing started, I pretty much hovered from 180 to 183 all summer. If I can drop another 10 pounds, that will help a lot with next season.
My next few posts will take a look back at this year and what I'm thinking about for next year (and probably something about my honeymoon in there!)
Sunday, September 4, 2011
What a difference the course makes
Two weeks ago, I did 23.7 mph at 231 watts on a 40 kilometer (24.8 mile) course that was dead flat with just a little wind. This week, there was a sustained head wind on the way out and a decent 3/4 of a mile climb just before the turnaround on a 17.5K (10.9 mile) course. My numbers were 23.9 mph at 254 watts. A lot more wattage for just a bit more speed.
I was much better about my pacing this time. For the first 3 miles, I held back a bit, knowing that there was a lot of wind and a climb still ahead. I focused on keeping my head down and into a solid aero tuck.
I knew the guy who started 30 seconds behind me (Greg). Once he caught me, he got about 50 yards in front of me... and I held him there. I dug as deep as I could to keep myself from losing ground to him, but not so deep that I burned out.
The first (and only real) turn was a little nasty, with some bumpy pavement. I took it way to fast (22 mph) and almost went into the grass. Luckily it was a left-hand turn, so I had a slightly larger radius to take the turn. I didn't learn...
The rest of the course was just a straight grind to the turnaround. The wind was probably around 10 to 15 mph, but when it's straight into your face and you're already doing 23 mph, that's a stiff wind.
At the turnaround, Greg was only about 15 seconds ahead of me. I took the turnaround as fast as I could. Maybe I can catch him on the way back...
He was still about 50 yards ahead of me when we hit the descent. We were pushing 32 mph. I tried as hard as I dared but couldn't bring him back. By this time, we were starting to pass a few people who had started ahead of us. I think bringing them back was driving Greg as I was trying to bring him back.
As we can towards the turn, I felt like I was gaining a little on him. I roared through the turn, forgetting (a) that it was a right hard turn on a narrow road and (b) the pavement sucked. I hit the turn at 25 mph. I bounced enough to lose traction and started to skid into the other lane as I heard the course marshal say something, but I know I heard the word "...car....". I looked up to see an SUV coming toward just as I crossed the yellow line and missed a couple cones. I jammed on the brakes, suddenly realizing that I had not closed my rear brake. As a result, my front brake was far stronger than the rear and I felt my back wheel start to come off the ground.
By now, I had straightened out my line of travel. I let go of the brakes and leaned hard to the right, dodging the cones, and getting back to my side of the yellow line. I missed the SUV by about 5 feet. One thought crossed my mind: Where's Greg?
I looked up the road to see that he had gained probably another 20 yards on me while I was busy playing in traffic. So much for catching him... I settled into a rhythm, knowing that I only had 2 miles left.
When I saw the 1K to go sign, I poured all that I had left into the pedals. Looking at the download, I averaged 26 mph for the last minute of the race.
I saw that Shelli was a little past the finish line. I tried to keep my pedaling up for a few extra seconds so she could get a couple of extra pictures :-)
Given the hill and the wind, I was aiming for about 28:00. I got 27:24. I was quite happy.
The numbers:
Total Distance: 10.9 miles
Time: 27:24
Average Speed: 23.87 mph
Average Power: 249 watts (254 normalized)
Average Heart Rate: 163 BPM
One more time trial and then the season is over!
I was much better about my pacing this time. For the first 3 miles, I held back a bit, knowing that there was a lot of wind and a climb still ahead. I focused on keeping my head down and into a solid aero tuck.
I knew the guy who started 30 seconds behind me (Greg). Once he caught me, he got about 50 yards in front of me... and I held him there. I dug as deep as I could to keep myself from losing ground to him, but not so deep that I burned out.
The first (and only real) turn was a little nasty, with some bumpy pavement. I took it way to fast (22 mph) and almost went into the grass. Luckily it was a left-hand turn, so I had a slightly larger radius to take the turn. I didn't learn...
The rest of the course was just a straight grind to the turnaround. The wind was probably around 10 to 15 mph, but when it's straight into your face and you're already doing 23 mph, that's a stiff wind.
At the turnaround, Greg was only about 15 seconds ahead of me. I took the turnaround as fast as I could. Maybe I can catch him on the way back...
He was still about 50 yards ahead of me when we hit the descent. We were pushing 32 mph. I tried as hard as I dared but couldn't bring him back. By this time, we were starting to pass a few people who had started ahead of us. I think bringing them back was driving Greg as I was trying to bring him back.
As we can towards the turn, I felt like I was gaining a little on him. I roared through the turn, forgetting (a) that it was a right hard turn on a narrow road and (b) the pavement sucked. I hit the turn at 25 mph. I bounced enough to lose traction and started to skid into the other lane as I heard the course marshal say something, but I know I heard the word "...car....". I looked up to see an SUV coming toward just as I crossed the yellow line and missed a couple cones. I jammed on the brakes, suddenly realizing that I had not closed my rear brake. As a result, my front brake was far stronger than the rear and I felt my back wheel start to come off the ground.
By now, I had straightened out my line of travel. I let go of the brakes and leaned hard to the right, dodging the cones, and getting back to my side of the yellow line. I missed the SUV by about 5 feet. One thought crossed my mind: Where's Greg?
I looked up the road to see that he had gained probably another 20 yards on me while I was busy playing in traffic. So much for catching him... I settled into a rhythm, knowing that I only had 2 miles left.
When I saw the 1K to go sign, I poured all that I had left into the pedals. Looking at the download, I averaged 26 mph for the last minute of the race.
I saw that Shelli was a little past the finish line. I tried to keep my pedaling up for a few extra seconds so she could get a couple of extra pictures :-)
Given the hill and the wind, I was aiming for about 28:00. I got 27:24. I was quite happy.
The numbers:
Total Distance: 10.9 miles
Time: 27:24
Average Speed: 23.87 mph
Average Power: 249 watts (254 normalized)
Average Heart Rate: 163 BPM
One more time trial and then the season is over!
Sunday, August 21, 2011
The Race of Truth
I've done a lot of time trials in my life. Most of them are the 8.3 mile West River Time Trial in Philly, which I've done several times a year since 2004. I've done a few 20Ks (12.4 miles) and a couple random distances here and there. But there's nothing like a 40K (24.8 miles).
For most people, that's between 50 minutes (for the elite) and and 1 hour 10 minutes (for the normal people). In order to do well, you need to keep the pace high, but not so high that you burn out part way through. You also don't want to hold back too much and finish feeling like you could have gone harder. Done right, you should hit the finish line and almost collapse.
This course in Cambridge, MD is dead flat. It's kind of a deformed square with 3 turns and no turnaround to worry about. That region is known for its high winds, but the forecast was not calling for anything too bad.
Given my recent training numbers, I was aiming for a time of 1:04:00 and an average power of about 235 to 240 watts.
I'd been watching the weather all week. There was a 50% chance of rain, which would made the race even less fun. What I should have been watching out for was the temperature.
The adventure began the day before, when Shelli and I drove down. A really dark set of clouds rolled in just as we were leaving, giving us the last moment of dryness for the entire trip. It poured almost the whole time.
Making things worse, my GPS unit decided that the best way to go was to go about 30 miles out of our way to the east. I thought the estimated time was a lot higher than what Google Maps had said, but I thought maybe it was just a difference in the anticipated speed settings. Nope. What should have been about a 3 hour drive (without traffic) was more of a 4 hour drive. In the pouring rain.
Race morning was better. Sort of. It was sunny with light winds. It was also hot and humid. It was 80 when I got on the trainer to start warming up. Luckily, I'd planned ahead a little. I drank two bottles of Cytomax before I had even gotten there and had another one while I was on the trainer. I did not want to dehydrate out there. I knew it was going to be rough in the heat just watching my heart rate climb.
I set up my power meter to show me current power, average power, heart rate, and distance. I wanted to know where I was in the race and how my pacing was going. I didn't have time showing.
The race itself is a bit of a blur. I remember that the first 4 or 5 miles were brand new pavement with a touch of a tailwind. It was beautiful. I probably went a little too hard in this section since it was so nice. After turn 1, we had 3 or 4 miles of really bumpy pavement, which had my aero bars vibrating in my hands. After turn 2, the winds started kicking up, just as the heat started really getting to me. I think the winds kept me cooler, even though they made me work harder. After turn 3, I was really hurting. My heart rate was brushing into the 170's and all I could think was "keep pedaling." A few times I got out of the saddle and pushed it hard for a few strokes just to try to keep my legs moving.
Usually you'll give it whatever you've got for the last few miles of a time trial. I was already there. I tried accelerating, tried picking it up, it was all I had already. The last 500 meters, I think I was able to give it just a tiny bit more, but not a lot. I had given it absolutely all that I had. I hit the line, shifted to a lighter gear, coasted, let out a huge sigh, and dropped my head to relax my neck a bit... then I remembered to hit the button on the computer. When I looked down, I saw it say 1:03:05. Even missing several seconds, I was still a minute better than my goal.
My power numbers were not so great. I was aiming for 235 to 240 watts. My average was 231. It's still not a bad number, I just wanted to do better. I think the heat took a little bit of a toll on me.
After the race, I could barely move. It kept riding to cool down a little, but that was at about 5 mph. My legs were cooked and I was sweating like crazy. Luckily Shelli was right there to let me in the car so we could crank up the air conditioning and get me another bottle of Cytomax.
The numbers from the download:
Total Distance: 40K (24.8 miles)
Time: 1:02:49 (I was coasting longer than I thought before I hit the button!)
Average Speed: 23.7 mph
Average Power: 231 watts
Average Heart Rate: 168 BPM
On an equipment note, this was the first race with my Rudy Project Wingspan helmet and my new Oakley Jawbone sunglasses with polarized vented lenses.
The helmet was great. For a hot day like this, you can open up the vent in the front and open the underside of the rail, sacrificing a little aerodynamics in the name of better ventilation. It worked great.
The glasses performed great as well. Even though it was pretty humid, they didn't fog up once. When I was riding almost straight into the sun, I could still see perfectly.
I still have two more time trials to go, both of them 20K. They will be shorter, but that just means I can go faster :-)
My morning weight today was 181.4. I've only lost 1.4 pounds in the last three weeks, but at least I'm moving in the right direction!
For most people, that's between 50 minutes (for the elite) and and 1 hour 10 minutes (for the normal people). In order to do well, you need to keep the pace high, but not so high that you burn out part way through. You also don't want to hold back too much and finish feeling like you could have gone harder. Done right, you should hit the finish line and almost collapse.
This course in Cambridge, MD is dead flat. It's kind of a deformed square with 3 turns and no turnaround to worry about. That region is known for its high winds, but the forecast was not calling for anything too bad.
Given my recent training numbers, I was aiming for a time of 1:04:00 and an average power of about 235 to 240 watts.
I'd been watching the weather all week. There was a 50% chance of rain, which would made the race even less fun. What I should have been watching out for was the temperature.
The adventure began the day before, when Shelli and I drove down. A really dark set of clouds rolled in just as we were leaving, giving us the last moment of dryness for the entire trip. It poured almost the whole time.
Making things worse, my GPS unit decided that the best way to go was to go about 30 miles out of our way to the east. I thought the estimated time was a lot higher than what Google Maps had said, but I thought maybe it was just a difference in the anticipated speed settings. Nope. What should have been about a 3 hour drive (without traffic) was more of a 4 hour drive. In the pouring rain.
Race morning was better. Sort of. It was sunny with light winds. It was also hot and humid. It was 80 when I got on the trainer to start warming up. Luckily, I'd planned ahead a little. I drank two bottles of Cytomax before I had even gotten there and had another one while I was on the trainer. I did not want to dehydrate out there. I knew it was going to be rough in the heat just watching my heart rate climb.
I set up my power meter to show me current power, average power, heart rate, and distance. I wanted to know where I was in the race and how my pacing was going. I didn't have time showing.
The race itself is a bit of a blur. I remember that the first 4 or 5 miles were brand new pavement with a touch of a tailwind. It was beautiful. I probably went a little too hard in this section since it was so nice. After turn 1, we had 3 or 4 miles of really bumpy pavement, which had my aero bars vibrating in my hands. After turn 2, the winds started kicking up, just as the heat started really getting to me. I think the winds kept me cooler, even though they made me work harder. After turn 3, I was really hurting. My heart rate was brushing into the 170's and all I could think was "keep pedaling." A few times I got out of the saddle and pushed it hard for a few strokes just to try to keep my legs moving.
Usually you'll give it whatever you've got for the last few miles of a time trial. I was already there. I tried accelerating, tried picking it up, it was all I had already. The last 500 meters, I think I was able to give it just a tiny bit more, but not a lot. I had given it absolutely all that I had. I hit the line, shifted to a lighter gear, coasted, let out a huge sigh, and dropped my head to relax my neck a bit... then I remembered to hit the button on the computer. When I looked down, I saw it say 1:03:05. Even missing several seconds, I was still a minute better than my goal.
My power numbers were not so great. I was aiming for 235 to 240 watts. My average was 231. It's still not a bad number, I just wanted to do better. I think the heat took a little bit of a toll on me.
After the race, I could barely move. It kept riding to cool down a little, but that was at about 5 mph. My legs were cooked and I was sweating like crazy. Luckily Shelli was right there to let me in the car so we could crank up the air conditioning and get me another bottle of Cytomax.
The numbers from the download:
Total Distance: 40K (24.8 miles)
Time: 1:02:49 (I was coasting longer than I thought before I hit the button!)
Average Speed: 23.7 mph
Average Power: 231 watts
Average Heart Rate: 168 BPM
On an equipment note, this was the first race with my Rudy Project Wingspan helmet and my new Oakley Jawbone sunglasses with polarized vented lenses.
The helmet was great. For a hot day like this, you can open up the vent in the front and open the underside of the rail, sacrificing a little aerodynamics in the name of better ventilation. It worked great.
The glasses performed great as well. Even though it was pretty humid, they didn't fog up once. When I was riding almost straight into the sun, I could still see perfectly.
I still have two more time trials to go, both of them 20K. They will be shorter, but that just means I can go faster :-)
My morning weight today was 181.4. I've only lost 1.4 pounds in the last three weeks, but at least I'm moving in the right direction!
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Melting in the Sun
The last month has not been great for me. I caught a really bad flu that kept me out of work for a week and off the bike another week after that. I eased back into training, but it was another week before I could ride at full intensity again. In the process, my weight went up 4 pounds and my threshold power dropped about 10 watts.
When I showed up at the PA Masters State Time Trial yesterday, I had no dreams of glory. I just wanted to survive.
Looking over my training data for the last few months, my best 30 minute power was 260 watts. I expected this time trial to last about 32 minutes, so I figured 255 to 260 watts average was the absolute best I could hope for.
The heat made that goal even harder. It's been in the 90's for about a month now and I've done everything I could to stay out of that kind of heat. Mostly I've been riding the trainer instead of riding outside. I've never dealt with high heat and humidity very well and this year I'm completely not adapted to it since I've been avoiding it; so when the temperature at the start line was 82, I new that I was not in for a good day.
I got in a good start and quickly found a pace that felt about right. The course is almost constantly climbing or descending, with very little flat road, so it's critical that you pace yourself. Don't attack too hard on the climbs and don't relax on the downhills. It's really not a course that suits me well, but it is a really pretty course and the race is really well run.
About a mile in, I could feel the sweat just pouring out of my helmet any time I shifted my weight just a little. Not good. Not to mention, I'd be in the direct sun for about the first 7 miles of the 12.6 mile course. I'd be on the shady side of the road on the way back.
I hit the turnaround at 257 watts (normalized), so I was really happy. I felt awful, with my heart rate holding at 165 bpm and sweat just pouring down my face, arms, and chest.
I also made a rookie mistake in the turnaround: I was in WAY too big of a gear. As soon as I was out of the turn I stood up to try to accelerate and I was met with a ton of resistance. I'm sure that cost me 10 seconds right there.
The way back is much more downhill than the way out, but it has a couple solid climbs. As much as I could, I kept pushing on the descents (hitting 39 mph on a couple occasions) but on the climbs I just didn't have the power that I did on the way out. I was really struggling. I couldn't breathe very well and my legs just felt week. It wasn't the classic "I'm working too hard" feeling of pushing really hard. It was the "I'm overheating and my body isn't keeping up" feeling. My heart rate was climbing to 170 bpm.
I hit the finish line at a time of 33:30. It was over a minute faster than last year, so that was good. I was disappointed though since my fitness is better than last year in almost every measurable way. I'm 3 pounds lighter, my threshold is 10 watts higher than last year, and my time trial position is more efficient than last year. I think it all came down to the heat.
Some numbers:
Morning weight: 182.8 pounds (yes, I still have dreams of being 174 by the wedding)
Total
Distance: 12.6 miles
Time: 33:31
Avg Speed: 22.3 mph
Norm Power: 250 watts
Avg Heart Rate: 166 BPM
Total calories burned: 480
On the way out:
Distance: 6.8 miles
Time: 18:55
Avg Speed: 21. 7 mph
Norm Power: 257 watts
Avg Heart Rate: 165 BPM
On the way back:
Distance: 5.8 miles
Time: 14:35
Avg Speed: 23.2 mph
Norm Power: 240 watts
Avg Heart Rate: 170 BPM
When I showed up at the PA Masters State Time Trial yesterday, I had no dreams of glory. I just wanted to survive.
Looking over my training data for the last few months, my best 30 minute power was 260 watts. I expected this time trial to last about 32 minutes, so I figured 255 to 260 watts average was the absolute best I could hope for.
The heat made that goal even harder. It's been in the 90's for about a month now and I've done everything I could to stay out of that kind of heat. Mostly I've been riding the trainer instead of riding outside. I've never dealt with high heat and humidity very well and this year I'm completely not adapted to it since I've been avoiding it; so when the temperature at the start line was 82, I new that I was not in for a good day.
I got in a good start and quickly found a pace that felt about right. The course is almost constantly climbing or descending, with very little flat road, so it's critical that you pace yourself. Don't attack too hard on the climbs and don't relax on the downhills. It's really not a course that suits me well, but it is a really pretty course and the race is really well run.
About a mile in, I could feel the sweat just pouring out of my helmet any time I shifted my weight just a little. Not good. Not to mention, I'd be in the direct sun for about the first 7 miles of the 12.6 mile course. I'd be on the shady side of the road on the way back.
I hit the turnaround at 257 watts (normalized), so I was really happy. I felt awful, with my heart rate holding at 165 bpm and sweat just pouring down my face, arms, and chest.
I also made a rookie mistake in the turnaround: I was in WAY too big of a gear. As soon as I was out of the turn I stood up to try to accelerate and I was met with a ton of resistance. I'm sure that cost me 10 seconds right there.
The way back is much more downhill than the way out, but it has a couple solid climbs. As much as I could, I kept pushing on the descents (hitting 39 mph on a couple occasions) but on the climbs I just didn't have the power that I did on the way out. I was really struggling. I couldn't breathe very well and my legs just felt week. It wasn't the classic "I'm working too hard" feeling of pushing really hard. It was the "I'm overheating and my body isn't keeping up" feeling. My heart rate was climbing to 170 bpm.
I hit the finish line at a time of 33:30. It was over a minute faster than last year, so that was good. I was disappointed though since my fitness is better than last year in almost every measurable way. I'm 3 pounds lighter, my threshold is 10 watts higher than last year, and my time trial position is more efficient than last year. I think it all came down to the heat.
Some numbers:
Morning weight: 182.8 pounds (yes, I still have dreams of being 174 by the wedding)
Total
Distance: 12.6 miles
Time: 33:31
Avg Speed: 22.3 mph
Norm Power: 250 watts
Avg Heart Rate: 166 BPM
Total calories burned: 480
On the way out:
Distance: 6.8 miles
Time: 18:55
Avg Speed: 21. 7 mph
Norm Power: 257 watts
Avg Heart Rate: 165 BPM
On the way back:
Distance: 5.8 miles
Time: 14:35
Avg Speed: 23.2 mph
Norm Power: 240 watts
Avg Heart Rate: 170 BPM
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Just a Second
The West River Time Trial has been a regular event for me for years. It's an 8.35 mile, out-and-back time trial on flat roads (that are closed to car traffic) with a couple short rises that are little more than speed bumps.
For many people, 20:00 is a goal time. It's a nice round number that is just a hair faster than 25 mph, so it requires a fair bit if fitness but you don't need to be a professional cyclist to do it (those guys are going it in 17:00 or less (30 mph)).
The last time I was under 20:00 was 2006, when I did it in 19:42 (25.4 mph). I really want to get back to that kind of speed and maybe even better this year.
I've been training like a mad man focusing on time trial efforts specifically. I moved my handlebars a tiny bit lower, which made me much more comfortable and (apparently) more efficient as well.
After last week's longer time trial, I had a better idea of what numbers to aim for today. Time trial strategy is normally to hold back a little in the first half and then go harder the second half (and even harder yet in the last quarter).
It was kind of a gray, windy morning with the winds blowing strongly from behind for the first mile on the way out and then from various directions once the road starts to bend around. Unfortunately that also meant that for the last mile coming back, the wind would be completely against us.
Days like today are when the power meter really helps me to stay on target. With the tail wind, I was holding about 26 to 27 mph the first couple miles. Psychologically that feels way too fast when I'm aiming for an average of 25 mph. The number I was really aiming for was a power average of 245 to 250 on the way out. At that power and with that tail wind, I was just at the right speed.
The way back was the same. I knew that I wanted to average 260 to 270 on the way back. With the variable direction winds for the first three miles, that meant my speed was all over the place, but I knew I was holding the right power output.
The last mile was every bit as brutal as I expected. My speed was down to 22 mph and I was going as hard as I could. I knew it would going to be close.
I looked down at my power meter as I crossed the line: 20:01. So Close!!!
One lousy second over.
Where could I have made up a second? Almost anywhere. I could have gotten clipped in a little faster on the start. I could have cut the curves in the road a little tighter, taking a few feet off the course. I could have turned around just a hair faster. I could have watched my power a little closer and avoided the couple times when it dropped as I was coaxed into a false sense of achievement by the high speeds from the tail wind. I could have sprinted just an instant earlier for the finish line.
Sometimes I get so focused on pedaling as hard as I can that I forget about the little things that can cost me time.
The joys of time trialing....
A few numbers:
Total Distance: 8.35
Total Time: 20:01
Time to turnaround: 9:38
Time back: 10:23
Average Speed: 25.03 mph
Average Power: 260 watts
Morning weight: 179.8
Body fat percentage: 19.6%
For many people, 20:00 is a goal time. It's a nice round number that is just a hair faster than 25 mph, so it requires a fair bit if fitness but you don't need to be a professional cyclist to do it (those guys are going it in 17:00 or less (30 mph)).
The last time I was under 20:00 was 2006, when I did it in 19:42 (25.4 mph). I really want to get back to that kind of speed and maybe even better this year.
I've been training like a mad man focusing on time trial efforts specifically. I moved my handlebars a tiny bit lower, which made me much more comfortable and (apparently) more efficient as well.
After last week's longer time trial, I had a better idea of what numbers to aim for today. Time trial strategy is normally to hold back a little in the first half and then go harder the second half (and even harder yet in the last quarter).
It was kind of a gray, windy morning with the winds blowing strongly from behind for the first mile on the way out and then from various directions once the road starts to bend around. Unfortunately that also meant that for the last mile coming back, the wind would be completely against us.
Days like today are when the power meter really helps me to stay on target. With the tail wind, I was holding about 26 to 27 mph the first couple miles. Psychologically that feels way too fast when I'm aiming for an average of 25 mph. The number I was really aiming for was a power average of 245 to 250 on the way out. At that power and with that tail wind, I was just at the right speed.
The way back was the same. I knew that I wanted to average 260 to 270 on the way back. With the variable direction winds for the first three miles, that meant my speed was all over the place, but I knew I was holding the right power output.
The last mile was every bit as brutal as I expected. My speed was down to 22 mph and I was going as hard as I could. I knew it would going to be close.
I looked down at my power meter as I crossed the line: 20:01. So Close!!!
One lousy second over.
Where could I have made up a second? Almost anywhere. I could have gotten clipped in a little faster on the start. I could have cut the curves in the road a little tighter, taking a few feet off the course. I could have turned around just a hair faster. I could have watched my power a little closer and avoided the couple times when it dropped as I was coaxed into a false sense of achievement by the high speeds from the tail wind. I could have sprinted just an instant earlier for the finish line.
Sometimes I get so focused on pedaling as hard as I can that I forget about the little things that can cost me time.
The joys of time trialing....
A few numbers:
Total Distance: 8.35
Total Time: 20:01
Time to turnaround: 9:38
Time back: 10:23
Average Speed: 25.03 mph
Average Power: 260 watts
Morning weight: 179.8
Body fat percentage: 19.6%
Saturday, May 7, 2011
From the Belly of the Beast
I'd bet not too many people can say that they've ridden their bike inside a plane, let alone out the back of one.
Today was the C-130 time trial in Dover, DE. It starts in the cargo bay of a C-130 cargo plane. I roll down the ramp, through a few tight turns, then I'm off the airfield and onto a very flat, straight road. It was 11 miles out and 10 miles back with pretty strong (15 mph) winds against me the whole way out and with me the whole way back.
In other words, it was a blast!
The way out was definitely a challenge. I had to keep reminding myself not to go too hard. With a strong wind and only seeing about a 22 mph average, it was all I could do to restrain myself. Especially once someone passed me.
Part of the fun was playing cat and mouse with a guy who had passed me about 7 miles out. I caught him before the turnaround and pulled ahead. We went through the turn almost together, then he pulled ahead of me again right after.... for now...
The turnaround was among the coolest I've ever done. Instead of just a cone in the road that you have to slow down to a crawl to get around, the turnaround was at the split of a fork in the road. We went slightly past the split (maybe 50 yards) then turned left onto a very short road, then left again to go back the way we were coming.
Once out of the turnaround, I picked up the pace just a little. I still had 10 miles to go and didn't want to burn out. With the tail wind, the speed was much higher, seeing speeds consistently around 26 to 28 mph. I kept the guy who had passed me in my sights, about 15 seconds in front of me.
With six miles to go, I decided to go for it. I shifted up two gears, accelerated, and roared past the guy in front of me. I never saw him again. My cadence was a little slow, but I always loved mashing a big gear like that. With the tail wind's help, I held around 30 mph.
With just a mile to go, I was hurting. Almost 50 minutes in, my legs and lungs were just on fire. I pushed a little harder, trying to get just a little more speed as we came around a curve and the wind turned against me. It was in my face but I still kept on going.
I crossed the line, 52:09.
Some numbers:
Total time: 52:09
Total Distance: 21 miles
Avg Speed: 24.1 mph
Avg Power: 245 watts
Avg Speed out: 22.1 mph
Avg Power out: 240 watts
Avg Speed back: 27.1 mph
Avg Power back: 252 watts
Rather interestingly, my speed and power were identical to the West River Time Trial last weekend, where I also averaged 24.1 mph and 245 watts, but for only 8.35 miles. I need to pick up the pace a little there!
P.S.: I placed 12 out of 22. I'm not a great time trialist, so I'm happy with that result. The guy I was alternating got a time only 3 seconds better than mine in the end (remember, he started 30 seconds behind me, so I pulled ahead of him by 27 seconds in 6 miles). If only I'd gone just a bit harder!
Today was the C-130 time trial in Dover, DE. It starts in the cargo bay of a C-130 cargo plane. I roll down the ramp, through a few tight turns, then I'm off the airfield and onto a very flat, straight road. It was 11 miles out and 10 miles back with pretty strong (15 mph) winds against me the whole way out and with me the whole way back.
In other words, it was a blast!
The way out was definitely a challenge. I had to keep reminding myself not to go too hard. With a strong wind and only seeing about a 22 mph average, it was all I could do to restrain myself. Especially once someone passed me.
Part of the fun was playing cat and mouse with a guy who had passed me about 7 miles out. I caught him before the turnaround and pulled ahead. We went through the turn almost together, then he pulled ahead of me again right after.... for now...
The turnaround was among the coolest I've ever done. Instead of just a cone in the road that you have to slow down to a crawl to get around, the turnaround was at the split of a fork in the road. We went slightly past the split (maybe 50 yards) then turned left onto a very short road, then left again to go back the way we were coming.
Once out of the turnaround, I picked up the pace just a little. I still had 10 miles to go and didn't want to burn out. With the tail wind, the speed was much higher, seeing speeds consistently around 26 to 28 mph. I kept the guy who had passed me in my sights, about 15 seconds in front of me.
With six miles to go, I decided to go for it. I shifted up two gears, accelerated, and roared past the guy in front of me. I never saw him again. My cadence was a little slow, but I always loved mashing a big gear like that. With the tail wind's help, I held around 30 mph.
With just a mile to go, I was hurting. Almost 50 minutes in, my legs and lungs were just on fire. I pushed a little harder, trying to get just a little more speed as we came around a curve and the wind turned against me. It was in my face but I still kept on going.
I crossed the line, 52:09.
Some numbers:
Total time: 52:09
Total Distance: 21 miles
Avg Speed: 24.1 mph
Avg Power: 245 watts
Avg Speed out: 22.1 mph
Avg Power out: 240 watts
Avg Speed back: 27.1 mph
Avg Power back: 252 watts
Rather interestingly, my speed and power were identical to the West River Time Trial last weekend, where I also averaged 24.1 mph and 245 watts, but for only 8.35 miles. I need to pick up the pace a little there!
P.S.: I placed 12 out of 22. I'm not a great time trialist, so I'm happy with that result. The guy I was alternating got a time only 3 seconds better than mine in the end (remember, he started 30 seconds behind me, so I pulled ahead of him by 27 seconds in 6 miles). If only I'd gone just a bit harder!
Monday, April 25, 2011
Going long
After doing 8 races in 6 weekends, I had this weekend off. It was kind of nice, actually.
It rained like crazy on Saturday, so I spent about 2 hours on the trainer watching a bike race on DVD.
On Sunday, I went for a super-long 4 hour and 10 minute ride covering 73 miles. I kept the pace pretty easy. I was really happy to see a 17.5 mph average for the day. Since it was a pretty flat course, the speed was not hard to maintain.
My weight is at 180.2, so I'm just creeping up on 10 pounds lost for the year.
Next weekend, I don't have any races and my parents are in town. After that, I have a few cool races coming up. There's a time trial that starts inside a C-130 cargo plane and a race around an oval course with no turns! The weekend after that, there's a crit on an airport runway!
It rained like crazy on Saturday, so I spent about 2 hours on the trainer watching a bike race on DVD.
On Sunday, I went for a super-long 4 hour and 10 minute ride covering 73 miles. I kept the pace pretty easy. I was really happy to see a 17.5 mph average for the day. Since it was a pretty flat course, the speed was not hard to maintain.
My weight is at 180.2, so I'm just creeping up on 10 pounds lost for the year.
Next weekend, I don't have any races and my parents are in town. After that, I have a few cool races coming up. There's a time trial that starts inside a C-130 cargo plane and a race around an oval course with no turns! The weekend after that, there's a crit on an airport runway!
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Two for One
Yesterday I had planned on doing Soyoco, but the forecast for 40 degrees, pouring rain, and 25+ mph winds caused me to skip it.
Time trial:
Today I did two races near Carlisle, PA: a 20K time trial and a 7.4 mile hill climb.
The 20K was supposed to be a 40K, but the course was partially flooded from yesterday's very heavy rain, so I opted for the shorter distance (it was about 150 yards of 4" deep water with rapidly moving current. No thanks.).
Like yesterday, today was VERY windy. The Weather Channel said that the winds at the start time were 26 mph. Ouch.
Making matters worse, I got almost no warm-up. I misread the directions for the day, so we were at the wrong end of the course looking for the start. I got there with just enough time to get my number, pin it on, and get to the start.
The course was rolling hills, with some steeper than others. Without the wind, I think it would have been really fun. With the wind, though, I could barely use the aero bars on my bike. I spent most of the 10K out to the turnaround wrestling with my bike trying to keep it from blowing across the road. I really struggled to keep my speed up, but between the rolling terrain and the wind, I really had a hard time finding or holding a decent pace. A few times the wind whipped around me enough that I had a hard time breathing.
After the turnaround was like another world. Suddenly the wind was at my back and the course was more downhill than uphill. My speed was much higher than on the way out. I still fought with the bike a little, but it was much easier to control. My speed was so high on the descents that I had a hard time keeping my power high enough while still keeping my speed where I felt in control of the bike (did I mention that I've only ridden that bike for 40 miles since last July?).
Some numbers to put it in perspective:
Total Distance: 20K (12.4 miles)
Total time: 34:26
Average Speed: 21.6 mph
Average Power: 234 watts (248 normalized)
Time to turnaround: 20:32
Time back to start: 13:54
Average Speed to Turnaround: 18.0 mph
Average Speed back to start: 26.9 mph
Like I said, quite the difference.
Hill Climb:
Let me put this in no uncertain terms: I have a new favorite event: the South Mountain Hill Climb.
The hill climb was among the most fun things I've ever done, and I finished dead last! (by about 25 seconds).
It starts out with a very slight uphill for the first 2.5 miles. There were only 9 of us and we really pushed the pace for those first few miles. Then we hit the first real climb.
I was the second one to drop off the pack. After that, I just held as high of a pace as I thought I could sustain for the rest of the climb.
I had explored the course on MapMyRide.com to get an idea of where the steeper sections were and what landmarks I could tell them by. I also kept my bike computer in mileage mode so I could see just how far I had gone (and so I knew how far I had to go).
With about 2 miles to go, the guy who was behind me passed me pretty quickly. I was doing 11 mph, he was probably doing 12. At that speed, there's not much draft, but I couldn't hang onto his wheel anyway. Once he got about 50 yards in front of me, his pace dropped enough that I could keep him in sight but I couldn't bring him back.
With about 400 yards to go, there's a slight downhill, then a flat stretch, I sprinted like a lunatic, just trying to get the best time I could. I hit 27 mph.
Since I could get into a rhythm on the climb, my power numbers were much better than they were in the time trial.
Some numbers on the hill climb:
Total Distance: 7.4 miles
Total Time: 32:52
Average Speed: 13.5 mph
Average Power: 268 watts (275 normalized)
Total vertical climb: 1540 feet
I really loved the hill climb. It was a totally new challenge. I was by far the heaviest rider there. Everyone else was my height but probably 20 pounds lighter. I didn't care. It was my first time and I was there for the experience.
Now I have even more incentive to lose as much weight as I can.
Time trial:
Today I did two races near Carlisle, PA: a 20K time trial and a 7.4 mile hill climb.
The 20K was supposed to be a 40K, but the course was partially flooded from yesterday's very heavy rain, so I opted for the shorter distance (it was about 150 yards of 4" deep water with rapidly moving current. No thanks.).
Like yesterday, today was VERY windy. The Weather Channel said that the winds at the start time were 26 mph. Ouch.
Making matters worse, I got almost no warm-up. I misread the directions for the day, so we were at the wrong end of the course looking for the start. I got there with just enough time to get my number, pin it on, and get to the start.
The course was rolling hills, with some steeper than others. Without the wind, I think it would have been really fun. With the wind, though, I could barely use the aero bars on my bike. I spent most of the 10K out to the turnaround wrestling with my bike trying to keep it from blowing across the road. I really struggled to keep my speed up, but between the rolling terrain and the wind, I really had a hard time finding or holding a decent pace. A few times the wind whipped around me enough that I had a hard time breathing.
After the turnaround was like another world. Suddenly the wind was at my back and the course was more downhill than uphill. My speed was much higher than on the way out. I still fought with the bike a little, but it was much easier to control. My speed was so high on the descents that I had a hard time keeping my power high enough while still keeping my speed where I felt in control of the bike (did I mention that I've only ridden that bike for 40 miles since last July?).
Some numbers to put it in perspective:
Total Distance: 20K (12.4 miles)
Total time: 34:26
Average Speed: 21.6 mph
Average Power: 234 watts (248 normalized)
Time to turnaround: 20:32
Time back to start: 13:54
Average Speed to Turnaround: 18.0 mph
Average Speed back to start: 26.9 mph
Like I said, quite the difference.
Hill Climb:
Let me put this in no uncertain terms: I have a new favorite event: the South Mountain Hill Climb.
The hill climb was among the most fun things I've ever done, and I finished dead last! (by about 25 seconds).
It starts out with a very slight uphill for the first 2.5 miles. There were only 9 of us and we really pushed the pace for those first few miles. Then we hit the first real climb.
I was the second one to drop off the pack. After that, I just held as high of a pace as I thought I could sustain for the rest of the climb.
I had explored the course on MapMyRide.com to get an idea of where the steeper sections were and what landmarks I could tell them by. I also kept my bike computer in mileage mode so I could see just how far I had gone (and so I knew how far I had to go).
With about 2 miles to go, the guy who was behind me passed me pretty quickly. I was doing 11 mph, he was probably doing 12. At that speed, there's not much draft, but I couldn't hang onto his wheel anyway. Once he got about 50 yards in front of me, his pace dropped enough that I could keep him in sight but I couldn't bring him back.
With about 400 yards to go, there's a slight downhill, then a flat stretch, I sprinted like a lunatic, just trying to get the best time I could. I hit 27 mph.
Since I could get into a rhythm on the climb, my power numbers were much better than they were in the time trial.
Some numbers on the hill climb:
Total Distance: 7.4 miles
Total Time: 32:52
Average Speed: 13.5 mph
Average Power: 268 watts (275 normalized)
Total vertical climb: 1540 feet
I really loved the hill climb. It was a totally new challenge. I was by far the heaviest rider there. Everyone else was my height but probably 20 pounds lighter. I didn't care. It was my first time and I was there for the experience.
Now I have even more incentive to lose as much weight as I can.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
The Value of a Teammate
Today's race was 20 miles, made up of 15 laps of a 1.4 mile course that has 6 turns and a 180-degree hairpin turn at one end. The roads were a little on the narrow side but the turns were not too bad.
The pace was fast from the start with the traditional surges coming out of every turn. I'm still finding that my high speed turning is not what it should be. I just can't take a full turn at 22 mph yet. As a result, I lost a few places in each turn and I had to work a little harder coming out of each turn.
I held on for dear life for the first 10 miles, during which we averaged about 24 mph, reaching speeds near 30 mph on the one long straight segment.
Coming out of the one turn, I just lost contact with the pack. I can't say why, really. I was going as hard as I could and the pack just pulled away. I kept my pace up as well as I could, but I was losing ground.
About a half lap later, I caught up to me teammate, Pete, who had also lost contact with the group. Once I was on his wheel, Pete suddenly caught a second wind. He took off so hard that I could barely hang on. At first I thought he'd lost his mind. Then I realized that he was working to catch another group of 3 that was about 35 seconds ahead of us.
We worked together, keeping the pace high for a lap and a half. I got a look at how the race was unfolding: There was the lead pack, about a 30 second gap, and then the group that we were chasing. Coming out of the hairpin that lap, Pete had given all that he had. He had gotten me to within 12 seconds of the other group. Now it was up to me to close down the rest.
I charged into the next turn at full speed, just trying to bring them back. I saw them go past the stop sign in the next turn and started counting...1....2....3.... 10 seconds. I hit the turn and sprinted up the next segment like my life counted on it. I saw them go into the next turn and started counting 1...2...3... 8 seconds. I gritted my teeth and gunned it again. The next turn: 4 seconds. The next turn, 2 seconds.
On the long straight section, I caught them and breathed a huge sigh of relief. That chase group included two other teammates: Bradley and Jason. The four of us worked together smoothly until our last lap. The last time coming out of the hairpin, I attacked. It was too far from the finish, but I just felt like it. At this point, I had nothing to lose. I knew that I didn't have a real sprint in my legs.
I got away and had about a three bike length gap. I wasn't going to be able to stay away if that's all I could get. I took the corner at full speed and attacked again. I didn't really gain anything. Over the next segment, they brought me back. I sat on the back and we came through the finish line. Done!
I really owe it to Pete. If not for him, I'd have probably sat up and just cruised around the course until the finish. He didn't just pull me to within striking distance. He inspired me to work harder.
I later found out that the officials had called us in early. They wanted to open up the course for them to take out the one segment with two-way traffic, so we would not have made it around again before they reached that segment. No biggie. I still finished 14th.
It was a great day for the team. We had two guys in the top 4 in the Cat 5, 4 guys in the top 10 in the Cat 4, and positions 2, 4, and 6 in the Women's cat 4. I expect that we did even more in other races after I left.
Total distance: 20.4 miles
Time: 52: 15
Avg Speed: 22.9 mph
Avg Power: 233 watts (261 normalized)
The pace was fast from the start with the traditional surges coming out of every turn. I'm still finding that my high speed turning is not what it should be. I just can't take a full turn at 22 mph yet. As a result, I lost a few places in each turn and I had to work a little harder coming out of each turn.
I held on for dear life for the first 10 miles, during which we averaged about 24 mph, reaching speeds near 30 mph on the one long straight segment.
Coming out of the one turn, I just lost contact with the pack. I can't say why, really. I was going as hard as I could and the pack just pulled away. I kept my pace up as well as I could, but I was losing ground.
About a half lap later, I caught up to me teammate, Pete, who had also lost contact with the group. Once I was on his wheel, Pete suddenly caught a second wind. He took off so hard that I could barely hang on. At first I thought he'd lost his mind. Then I realized that he was working to catch another group of 3 that was about 35 seconds ahead of us.
We worked together, keeping the pace high for a lap and a half. I got a look at how the race was unfolding: There was the lead pack, about a 30 second gap, and then the group that we were chasing. Coming out of the hairpin that lap, Pete had given all that he had. He had gotten me to within 12 seconds of the other group. Now it was up to me to close down the rest.
I charged into the next turn at full speed, just trying to bring them back. I saw them go past the stop sign in the next turn and started counting...1....2....3.... 10 seconds. I hit the turn and sprinted up the next segment like my life counted on it. I saw them go into the next turn and started counting 1...2...3... 8 seconds. I gritted my teeth and gunned it again. The next turn: 4 seconds. The next turn, 2 seconds.
On the long straight section, I caught them and breathed a huge sigh of relief. That chase group included two other teammates: Bradley and Jason. The four of us worked together smoothly until our last lap. The last time coming out of the hairpin, I attacked. It was too far from the finish, but I just felt like it. At this point, I had nothing to lose. I knew that I didn't have a real sprint in my legs.
I got away and had about a three bike length gap. I wasn't going to be able to stay away if that's all I could get. I took the corner at full speed and attacked again. I didn't really gain anything. Over the next segment, they brought me back. I sat on the back and we came through the finish line. Done!
I really owe it to Pete. If not for him, I'd have probably sat up and just cruised around the course until the finish. He didn't just pull me to within striking distance. He inspired me to work harder.
I later found out that the officials had called us in early. They wanted to open up the course for them to take out the one segment with two-way traffic, so we would not have made it around again before they reached that segment. No biggie. I still finished 14th.
It was a great day for the team. We had two guys in the top 4 in the Cat 5, 4 guys in the top 10 in the Cat 4, and positions 2, 4, and 6 in the Women's cat 4. I expect that we did even more in other races after I left.
Total distance: 20.4 miles
Time: 52: 15
Avg Speed: 22.9 mph
Avg Power: 233 watts (261 normalized)
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Bizarro Race to go the Slowest
Ronde Van Mullica, Cat 4
Today was a rather odd race.
I led the neutral start, which lasted a lot longer than I expected. I led the pack at 16 mph for the first 2 miles.
Then the pace picked up to about 26 mph for a couple miles, then slowed back down. We cruised around until about 1/4 mile before the start and then we picked it up again so we'd look good for the pictures. Then as soon as we were out of sight, we slowed down again.
There was a HUGE surge coming out of every turn (especially the sharp, gravel filled one). I took it a little wide on the second lap and lost about 20 placed. Dammit!
One thing that I really hated about this course was the yellow line rule. 70 cyclists on a narrow road and only allowed to use one lane means that it's almost impossible to move up. It felt like I was in the exact same position for the last 20 miles of the race (until the final few miles when we wound up for the sprint).
There were a lot of random slowings in the pack. We'd be cruising along at 28 mph then slow to 18. On dead flat roads with just a little wind and no turns in sight. The guys up front just decided to ease up. You could smell burning break pads a lot today.
The final straight was almost 3 miles long. Everyone was getting really impatient. The leaders were still going really slow and we could not use the other lane until about a mile and a half to go.
As soon as the road opened up, we spread out across the road. Almost immediately, out of the corner of my eye, I see a rear wheel flip into view and I hear the horrible sounds of bodies and bikes hitting the pavement. I hoped that it wasn't bad (it was) and that no one I knew was in it (they were not).
Seeing the pack start to speed up, I gave it all I had. I weaved between riders who were being dropped off the increasing pace. I thought we were a lot closer to the finishing line than we were, and I gave it all that I had left. I shot around the right side of the pack and started looking for someone's wheel. The pack had started to slow down just a bit one more time. We were still a quarter mile from the finishing line and I rolled right past everyone and found myself in the lead. I slowed down a little, hoping to find someone's wheel to draft a little to catch my breath. As soon as I slowed, the pack swarmed around me. I went to sprint again but found that my legs just had nothing left. Maybe it was from the effort I'd just put in; maybe it was from the race yesterday, but my legs were done.
Looking at the download, I was going as hard as I could but my power was dropping all the way to the finish line. I was only about 15 seconds or so behind, so I can't complain too much.
Some numbers:
Total Distance: 40.4 miles
Total time: 1:44:48
Avg Power: 185 watts (230 watts normalized)
Avg Heart Rate: 149 bpm
Total time not pedaling: 29:45
Avg Speed: 23 mph
Max speed: 33.8 mph
Total time over 28 mph: 10:12
Total time under 16 mph: 12:59 (told you it was weird!!)
Avg Cadence: 96 rpm (much better than yesterday!)
Today was a rather odd race.
I led the neutral start, which lasted a lot longer than I expected. I led the pack at 16 mph for the first 2 miles.
Then the pace picked up to about 26 mph for a couple miles, then slowed back down. We cruised around until about 1/4 mile before the start and then we picked it up again so we'd look good for the pictures. Then as soon as we were out of sight, we slowed down again.
There was a HUGE surge coming out of every turn (especially the sharp, gravel filled one). I took it a little wide on the second lap and lost about 20 placed. Dammit!
One thing that I really hated about this course was the yellow line rule. 70 cyclists on a narrow road and only allowed to use one lane means that it's almost impossible to move up. It felt like I was in the exact same position for the last 20 miles of the race (until the final few miles when we wound up for the sprint).
There were a lot of random slowings in the pack. We'd be cruising along at 28 mph then slow to 18. On dead flat roads with just a little wind and no turns in sight. The guys up front just decided to ease up. You could smell burning break pads a lot today.
The final straight was almost 3 miles long. Everyone was getting really impatient. The leaders were still going really slow and we could not use the other lane until about a mile and a half to go.
As soon as the road opened up, we spread out across the road. Almost immediately, out of the corner of my eye, I see a rear wheel flip into view and I hear the horrible sounds of bodies and bikes hitting the pavement. I hoped that it wasn't bad (it was) and that no one I knew was in it (they were not).
Seeing the pack start to speed up, I gave it all I had. I weaved between riders who were being dropped off the increasing pace. I thought we were a lot closer to the finishing line than we were, and I gave it all that I had left. I shot around the right side of the pack and started looking for someone's wheel. The pack had started to slow down just a bit one more time. We were still a quarter mile from the finishing line and I rolled right past everyone and found myself in the lead. I slowed down a little, hoping to find someone's wheel to draft a little to catch my breath. As soon as I slowed, the pack swarmed around me. I went to sprint again but found that my legs just had nothing left. Maybe it was from the effort I'd just put in; maybe it was from the race yesterday, but my legs were done.
Looking at the download, I was going as hard as I could but my power was dropping all the way to the finish line. I was only about 15 seconds or so behind, so I can't complain too much.
Some numbers:
Total Distance: 40.4 miles
Total time: 1:44:48
Avg Power: 185 watts (230 watts normalized)
Avg Heart Rate: 149 bpm
Total time not pedaling: 29:45
Avg Speed: 23 mph
Max speed: 33.8 mph
Total time over 28 mph: 10:12
Total time under 16 mph: 12:59 (told you it was weird!!)
Avg Cadence: 96 rpm (much better than yesterday!)
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Tales from the Back of the Pack
Salisbury, Cat 3/4
The first thing I tell everyone who asks me for advice about a race is to stay in the front of the pack. So when I pulled out of the start line in 65th position out of 69, I was not in for a fun day.
To make matters even more fun, it was a Category 3 and 4 race, so I was racing people who were a good bit faster than me and this race was on very narrow roads with a "no crossing the yellow line" rule, so it was going to be really hard to move up.
It was a 32 mile race, doing 5 laps of 6.3 miles over a very hilly course and with about 16 mph winds blowing across the fields of Lancaster County.
I was constantly reminded of why the back of the pack sucks. I had to jam on my brakes HARD several times just to avoid running over the people in front of me, who had suddenly slowed from 22 to 15 mph. As soon as I slowed, the pace jumped back to 24 mph. Repeat about 20 times in the first lap (about 22 minutes) and you get an idea of how my day was going.
The reason is that the front of the pack hits a hill or a stiff headwind and they slow down. There is a slight delay for each person, and suddenly those in the back have to jam on their brakes. Highway traffic can be like that too.
One of the later ones came at the base of a steep climb and several of us had to veer onto the grass to avoid hitting those in front of us. I sprinted as hard as I could, just to hit the bottom of the next hill and get left behind in time to complete the first lap. Great....
So, for the next five laps I tried to get another pack together. Several other people had fallen off the back and I tried to organize them. Unfortunately, they kept quitting. I'd just get onto someone's wheel and open my mouth to say that we could work together, and they'd pull into the parking lot at the start/finish line. I got to watch 8 people quit that way. So, I just rolled along alone.
Since I'm racing again tomorrow, I didn't go TOO hard. I just held it at a hard tempo pace (about 85% of threshold power). With the headwinds and hills, sometimes that meant about 9 mph.
Other than starting in the back, another major mistake that I made was pedaling too slowly. When the pack accelerated, I had a much harder time responding because I was in a gear that was too hard to pedal.
The real kicker is that I spent my last three races at the front while pedaling an easy gear, so I knew better.
Now it's time to rest, recovery, and refuel for tomorrow's 40-mile perfectly flat race!
A few numbers:
Morning weight: 181.6 lbs
Total Race Time: 1:38:06
Avg Speed: 19.4 mph
Avg Power: 206 watts (260 normalized)
Avg speed with the pack: 22.7 mph
Avg speed alone: 18.7 mph
Avg Heart Rate: 158 bpm (174 max)
Total climbing: 1587 feet
Total calories burned: 1204
The first thing I tell everyone who asks me for advice about a race is to stay in the front of the pack. So when I pulled out of the start line in 65th position out of 69, I was not in for a fun day.
To make matters even more fun, it was a Category 3 and 4 race, so I was racing people who were a good bit faster than me and this race was on very narrow roads with a "no crossing the yellow line" rule, so it was going to be really hard to move up.
It was a 32 mile race, doing 5 laps of 6.3 miles over a very hilly course and with about 16 mph winds blowing across the fields of Lancaster County.
I was constantly reminded of why the back of the pack sucks. I had to jam on my brakes HARD several times just to avoid running over the people in front of me, who had suddenly slowed from 22 to 15 mph. As soon as I slowed, the pace jumped back to 24 mph. Repeat about 20 times in the first lap (about 22 minutes) and you get an idea of how my day was going.
The reason is that the front of the pack hits a hill or a stiff headwind and they slow down. There is a slight delay for each person, and suddenly those in the back have to jam on their brakes. Highway traffic can be like that too.
One of the later ones came at the base of a steep climb and several of us had to veer onto the grass to avoid hitting those in front of us. I sprinted as hard as I could, just to hit the bottom of the next hill and get left behind in time to complete the first lap. Great....
So, for the next five laps I tried to get another pack together. Several other people had fallen off the back and I tried to organize them. Unfortunately, they kept quitting. I'd just get onto someone's wheel and open my mouth to say that we could work together, and they'd pull into the parking lot at the start/finish line. I got to watch 8 people quit that way. So, I just rolled along alone.
Since I'm racing again tomorrow, I didn't go TOO hard. I just held it at a hard tempo pace (about 85% of threshold power). With the headwinds and hills, sometimes that meant about 9 mph.
Other than starting in the back, another major mistake that I made was pedaling too slowly. When the pack accelerated, I had a much harder time responding because I was in a gear that was too hard to pedal.
The real kicker is that I spent my last three races at the front while pedaling an easy gear, so I knew better.
Now it's time to rest, recovery, and refuel for tomorrow's 40-mile perfectly flat race!
A few numbers:
Morning weight: 181.6 lbs
Total Race Time: 1:38:06
Avg Speed: 19.4 mph
Avg Power: 206 watts (260 normalized)
Avg speed with the pack: 22.7 mph
Avg speed alone: 18.7 mph
Avg Heart Rate: 158 bpm (174 max)
Total climbing: 1587 feet
Total calories burned: 1204
Sunday, March 27, 2011
On a cold, dark road in the middle of nowhere...
South Jersey Training Crit #4, 4/5 raceI finally made it to a South Jersey crit.
To make the 7:15 start, I left my place about 5:15. That makes for an early morning, and it's not any better when the expected temperature at the start was 30 degrees. It was not even light out when I first got there.
I barely got a warm up. Basically, I didn't want to get out of the car it was so cold! So, I sat in the car with the heat on, rolled around for 5 minutes, then the race started.
It was a pretty flat, 3-mile course. It's not really rectangular, with two long legs, one very short one (barely 1/4 mile), and one downhill leg. We were doing 6 laps.
I spent way too much energy in the beginning. Any time three or four guys got off the front, I tried to bring them back. I quickly realized that with about 40 people in the pack and a stiff headwind on the back leg, it was unlikely that a group would get away. Instead, I focused on riding well in the pack.
I made sure I was on the downwind side of the road so I was protected from the wind from both the front and the side. I tried to stay as close to the guy in front of me and beside me as I could. I stayed close to the front, but didn't pull. Any time a group started to get away, I sat in the pack and waited for someone else to bring it back.
On that back stretch, sometimes the group just cruised along, slowing to 18 or 19 mph. I just sat in the group protected from the wind and watched everyone else attack and get brought back.
I found that I need to work on my high speed turns. Coming into a turn at 30 mph, I constantly found myself braking a bit and taking the turn wide.
On the last lap, I made the mistake of not responding when guys started surging to the front. I should have moved up with them. Coming out of the last turn, probably 18 guys were still in front of me. I fought for a better position all the way to the line.
My other mistake was trying to sprint in too big a gear. I came out of the downhill and tried to sprint in the same gear I was just descending in. Instead of shifting, I tried to just muscle my way to go faster.
Despite those mistakes, I passed 4 or 5 guys in the final straight and fought one guy all the way to the line. I think he got me.
I thought about doing the 3/4 race afterward, but my hands and feet were so numb that I was not really interested.
Not bad for my third race in three weeks. I'm feeling much more comfortable in the pack and I'm able to hang on, even when there are pretty hard accelerations. Next weekend, I'm planning on two races: a 36-mile race on Saturday and a 40-mile race on Sunday.
A few numbers:
Distance: 17.6 miles
Finishing Time:45:17
Avg Speed: 23.1 mph
Max Speed: 32 mph
Avg Power: 218 watts (260 normalized)
Max Power: 1060 watts
Time not pedaling: 8:14
Yesterday morning, I was 181.4 pounds (I didn't get a weigh in this morning).
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Attack!!!
Wilmington Training Series #2, B race
Today's race was a little different from last week's. The pack was smaller, with around 20 people instead of 30. We didn't get a neutral lap at the beginning. The one road only had two lanes closed instead of all three, so the one turn was a bit tighter. Oh, and the winds were gusting at 30 mph, up from 20 mph.
I would not say this week was much faster (as the numbers showed), but the group surged out of the turns making it a lot harder.
The pace was slightly more aggressive from the beginning. A few people up front were driving the pace hard, surging out of every turn, making it pretty hard to hang on. Every time a few people started to drop back, I'd move into their spot. I gradually moved up: tenth, then ninth, then eighth place.
I noticed that along the back straight away, where the winds were the worst, the pack always slowed down. It got me thinking: I know I'm not a great sprinter, so if I go to the line with the other guys, I could finish as far down as 12th. If I could shake a few guys loose, maybe I could tilt the odds a little more in my favor.
With a lap and a half to go (about 1 mile left), the pack was splitting apart in the wind. I saw one guy getting away and I went after him. I slowly picked through the riders behind him, finding shelter where I could. When I moved from the next-to-last riders, I gunned it with all I had. I led the field for the last lap, trying to shake off as many as I could.
With about 300 yards left, two riders attacked simultaneously, one on each side. I hesitated for a second as I considered whose wheel to get on. In that instant, they were past me and riding away, with the other riders in tow. I got out of the saddle and tried to bring them back, but it was too late. They were probably 30 feet in front of me, I held that distance all the way to the finish.
There is some debate whether I finished 7th or 8th. It seems that one rider who we lapped decided to sprint into the finish with us, so he still had one lap to go. It's just a training crit and I really don't care. I learned my lesson: when someone goes by, just get on their wheel! Don't sit and deliberate about it!
How were the stats?
Distance: 7.5 miles
Finish Time (Average Speed):
This week: 19:39 (22.7 mph)
Last week: 20:04 (22.4 mph)
Maximum Speed:
This week: 29.7 mph
Last week: 27.9 mph
Normalized Power:
This week: 267 watts
Last week: 257 watts
Max Power
This week: 1099 watts
Last week: 1080 watts
A couple other neat statistics: out of 19:39 in the race, I spent 5:14 putting out less than 40 watts (basically not pedaling at all). Unlike last week, my "most common power" was 160 - 170 watts (up from 120 - 130), which definitely tells you I was working a little harder in general!
This was a recovery week, so I took it pretty easy. I still managed to drop my weight 0.4 pounds to 183 and my body fat to 20.3%.
It's not really "taking it easy", but I tried out the Great Valley training crit on Thursday. It was a great time and I'll definitely be back to work on my pack skills a little more!
Today's race was a little different from last week's. The pack was smaller, with around 20 people instead of 30. We didn't get a neutral lap at the beginning. The one road only had two lanes closed instead of all three, so the one turn was a bit tighter. Oh, and the winds were gusting at 30 mph, up from 20 mph.
I would not say this week was much faster (as the numbers showed), but the group surged out of the turns making it a lot harder.
The pace was slightly more aggressive from the beginning. A few people up front were driving the pace hard, surging out of every turn, making it pretty hard to hang on. Every time a few people started to drop back, I'd move into their spot. I gradually moved up: tenth, then ninth, then eighth place.
I noticed that along the back straight away, where the winds were the worst, the pack always slowed down. It got me thinking: I know I'm not a great sprinter, so if I go to the line with the other guys, I could finish as far down as 12th. If I could shake a few guys loose, maybe I could tilt the odds a little more in my favor.
With a lap and a half to go (about 1 mile left), the pack was splitting apart in the wind. I saw one guy getting away and I went after him. I slowly picked through the riders behind him, finding shelter where I could. When I moved from the next-to-last riders, I gunned it with all I had. I led the field for the last lap, trying to shake off as many as I could.
With about 300 yards left, two riders attacked simultaneously, one on each side. I hesitated for a second as I considered whose wheel to get on. In that instant, they were past me and riding away, with the other riders in tow. I got out of the saddle and tried to bring them back, but it was too late. They were probably 30 feet in front of me, I held that distance all the way to the finish.
There is some debate whether I finished 7th or 8th. It seems that one rider who we lapped decided to sprint into the finish with us, so he still had one lap to go. It's just a training crit and I really don't care. I learned my lesson: when someone goes by, just get on their wheel! Don't sit and deliberate about it!
How were the stats?
Distance: 7.5 miles
Finish Time (Average Speed):
This week: 19:39 (22.7 mph)
Last week: 20:04 (22.4 mph)
Maximum Speed:
This week: 29.7 mph
Last week: 27.9 mph
Normalized Power:
This week: 267 watts
Last week: 257 watts
Max Power
This week: 1099 watts
Last week: 1080 watts
A couple other neat statistics: out of 19:39 in the race, I spent 5:14 putting out less than 40 watts (basically not pedaling at all). Unlike last week, my "most common power" was 160 - 170 watts (up from 120 - 130), which definitely tells you I was working a little harder in general!
This was a recovery week, so I took it pretty easy. I still managed to drop my weight 0.4 pounds to 183 and my body fat to 20.3%.
It's not really "taking it easy", but I tried out the Great Valley training crit on Thursday. It was a great time and I'll definitely be back to work on my pack skills a little more!
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Never give up. Never surrender!
Racing season 2011 has begun. Today I did a training crit in Wilmington, DE. It was a very short course, probably only about 1K. We did ten laps (plus a neutral one), so it was really really short. That does not mean it was not difficult. It was very twisty, with half the course either setting up for a turn or coming out of one. About 25 or 30 people started.
The weather helped only a little. It was in the lower 40's with a stiff wind coming down the finishing straight.
I lined up with two other teammates, Pete and Mike. It's always great to have allies in a race.
The race started with a neutral lap so we all just cruised around the course at about 16 mph. As soon as we can through the start/finish, the pace picked up to 21 mph. I settled in around the fifth spot and hung on. Sometimes someone would move past me, so I'd move back up to stay in the first few spots.
On lap 5, it REALLY picked up. About 14 people went off the front of the pack and left everyone behind. After a hard week of training, I had a really hard time going with them and was dropped quickly.
I started to look around and see if I could salvage anything. I found Mike and drafted him for a few seconds to catch my breath. I saw another rider about 50 yards ahead and thought I could bring him back. So, I pulled around Mike and moved up. Once I caught that rider, I saw another rider ahead of him, who I then worked my way up to. There was one final gap to get me back to the breakaway group, so I set about closing that one too.
It took me almost two laps, but I managed to catch back onto the break. Unfortunately it took almost everything I had to bring them back. I held onto the pack for the next few laps.
With a half-lap to go, the rest of the pack surged to sprint for the finish. I started to go with them but my legs promptly refused. No one was behind me, so I just time trialed to the finish and finished maybe 8 or 10 seconds behind the pack.
How were the numbers? Pretty good.
My most common power output was 120 to 130 watts. In other words, I spent a lot of time soft-pedaling in the pack, letting others do the work.
My average power was 237 watts, which says that when I did pedal hard, I pedaled REALLY hard. According to my power meter download, on 27 different occasions I put out more than 500 watts for several seconds in a row (the longest was 15 seconds), then quickly returned to soft pedaling. I always tell people that crits are all about surging and then relaxing. The numbers sure proved it!
Even when I was chasing the pack, I still measured my efforts by jumping from one rider to the next.
The crit was barely 8 miles long, but we averaged 22.4 mph.
I counted: with 6 turns per lap and 10 laps, I turned 60 times. I only touched my brakes in 4 of them (usually when someone cut me off or when Pete tried to run me into the curb).
Not bad for my first crit since last April (and only my third since Sept 2006!)
Oh, and my weight this morning was 183.4 and 20.4% body fat.
The weather helped only a little. It was in the lower 40's with a stiff wind coming down the finishing straight.
I lined up with two other teammates, Pete and Mike. It's always great to have allies in a race.
The race started with a neutral lap so we all just cruised around the course at about 16 mph. As soon as we can through the start/finish, the pace picked up to 21 mph. I settled in around the fifth spot and hung on. Sometimes someone would move past me, so I'd move back up to stay in the first few spots.
On lap 5, it REALLY picked up. About 14 people went off the front of the pack and left everyone behind. After a hard week of training, I had a really hard time going with them and was dropped quickly.
I started to look around and see if I could salvage anything. I found Mike and drafted him for a few seconds to catch my breath. I saw another rider about 50 yards ahead and thought I could bring him back. So, I pulled around Mike and moved up. Once I caught that rider, I saw another rider ahead of him, who I then worked my way up to. There was one final gap to get me back to the breakaway group, so I set about closing that one too.
It took me almost two laps, but I managed to catch back onto the break. Unfortunately it took almost everything I had to bring them back. I held onto the pack for the next few laps.
With a half-lap to go, the rest of the pack surged to sprint for the finish. I started to go with them but my legs promptly refused. No one was behind me, so I just time trialed to the finish and finished maybe 8 or 10 seconds behind the pack.
How were the numbers? Pretty good.
My most common power output was 120 to 130 watts. In other words, I spent a lot of time soft-pedaling in the pack, letting others do the work.
My average power was 237 watts, which says that when I did pedal hard, I pedaled REALLY hard. According to my power meter download, on 27 different occasions I put out more than 500 watts for several seconds in a row (the longest was 15 seconds), then quickly returned to soft pedaling. I always tell people that crits are all about surging and then relaxing. The numbers sure proved it!
Even when I was chasing the pack, I still measured my efforts by jumping from one rider to the next.
The crit was barely 8 miles long, but we averaged 22.4 mph.
I counted: with 6 turns per lap and 10 laps, I turned 60 times. I only touched my brakes in 4 of them (usually when someone cut me off or when Pete tried to run me into the curb).
Not bad for my first crit since last April (and only my third since Sept 2006!)
Oh, and my weight this morning was 183.4 and 20.4% body fat.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Outside!!!
The last time I rode outside was December 4, so it was GREAT to get back outside for a real ride yesterday. It was the third time this week I rode outside; we rode two days at work this week as well.
The biggest shock for me was the increase in speed and power that I've seen over the winter. For the first time in my life, I broke 1200 watts. In two separate sprints on Wednesday, I hit 1222 and 1220 watts. My previous best was an irritatingly close 1199 watts. I was routinely powering up hills 50 watts higher than I was in the fall. I guess all that work on the CompuTrainer paid off :-)
Yesterday was kind of rough. It was not too cold at 44 degrees, but the wind was pretty nasty. Some of the gusts almost blew me off the trail. There was a constant wind of some kind, which sometimes slowed me to a standstill and other time had me rocketing along. It's days like this that the power meter really helps to maintain a consistent effort. Otherwise I'd probably be fighting way too hard into the wind and taking it easy when the wind was pushing me along.
Just for fun, I sprinted for any trail-side signs that I saw and I sprinted for each of the huge power line towers along one segment of the trail. I'm really focusing on my criterium skills this year and being able to surge repeatedly is a big one!
I did a total of 38 miles in just a hair over two hours, not bad for a gray windy day!
My weight is down to 183 (from 190) and my body fat down to 20.7% (down from 23% I think). I'm aiming to be in the upper 160's by the end of the summer.
The biggest shock for me was the increase in speed and power that I've seen over the winter. For the first time in my life, I broke 1200 watts. In two separate sprints on Wednesday, I hit 1222 and 1220 watts. My previous best was an irritatingly close 1199 watts. I was routinely powering up hills 50 watts higher than I was in the fall. I guess all that work on the CompuTrainer paid off :-)
Yesterday was kind of rough. It was not too cold at 44 degrees, but the wind was pretty nasty. Some of the gusts almost blew me off the trail. There was a constant wind of some kind, which sometimes slowed me to a standstill and other time had me rocketing along. It's days like this that the power meter really helps to maintain a consistent effort. Otherwise I'd probably be fighting way too hard into the wind and taking it easy when the wind was pushing me along.
Just for fun, I sprinted for any trail-side signs that I saw and I sprinted for each of the huge power line towers along one segment of the trail. I'm really focusing on my criterium skills this year and being able to surge repeatedly is a big one!
I did a total of 38 miles in just a hair over two hours, not bad for a gray windy day!
My weight is down to 183 (from 190) and my body fat down to 20.7% (down from 23% I think). I'm aiming to be in the upper 160's by the end of the summer.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Saturday, February 19, 2011
2011 TdB Stage 2: Rolling Hill (Time Trial!)
Today was going to be a rough day. There were several elite riders in my bank and I knew I was going to have to work to stay with them.
Except that I didn't. I missed a surge in the first couple miles and instantly found myself 20 yards behind them. At the speeds we were moving, I was not going to bring them back. So, I found myself going a 36-mile time trial over rolling hills.
I'm pretty happy with how I did, really. I finished in about 1:47:00, which gave me an average speed of about 21.4 mph. Not bad for the rolling hills that we had to contend with. That was an average power of about 240 watts, which is really good for that duration and my heart rate stayed about 160 bpm for most of the day.
My legs are killing me after that. I'm looking forward to the final stage on Sunday just because it will mean that I'm done!
On the plus side, I got a new kitty tonight!
Except that I didn't. I missed a surge in the first couple miles and instantly found myself 20 yards behind them. At the speeds we were moving, I was not going to bring them back. So, I found myself going a 36-mile time trial over rolling hills.
I'm pretty happy with how I did, really. I finished in about 1:47:00, which gave me an average speed of about 21.4 mph. Not bad for the rolling hills that we had to contend with. That was an average power of about 240 watts, which is really good for that duration and my heart rate stayed about 160 bpm for most of the day.
My legs are killing me after that. I'm looking forward to the final stage on Sunday just because it will mean that I'm done!
On the plus side, I got a new kitty tonight!
2011 Tour de Breakaway Stage 1
It's that time of year again: time to punish myself to help raise money for our JMI group.
The Tour de Breakaway is a 3-day event held on CompuTrainers at Breakaway Bikes. The first day is a 10K time trial, the second day a 60K rolling hills day and the third day a major climbing day. I also wrote about it last year:
Stage 1: TT
Stage 2: That's More Like It
Stage 3: Hanging on for Dear Life
I really had no idea what to expect tonight. I have been training, but more focused on the type of surges and sprints that happen in a crit, not on the type of long endurance for a time trial. Luckily, this was a pretty short time trial. Based on the numbers I've been seeing in training, I expected to hold about 270 watts. My weight was up a little (largely from eating salty snacks all week in strategy meetings), so I that was going to hurt me a little on the climbing portions of the time trial.
The one thing that should have sounded an alarm for me was how warm it was in the room when we got there. I never deal well with warm temperatures when I'm riding.
The first 4 miles or so, I was doing really well. I felt like I was pacing well, my power was holding sky high (about 300 watts average) and it felt like I was barely pedaling.
Then at about 4.5 miles, I started to not be able to breathe so well. It felt like every lung-full of air was super hot. I was sweating like crazy but not getting any cooler. When the oscillating fan blew on me, it felt like the heat was on. My power started to drop.
So, I collected myself and didn't panic. I dropped my power to about 230 watts (not really intentionally, but that's what I could hold onto) for about a mile. Once I reached the final climb, I jumped out of the saddle and gunned it as hard as I could.
I finished with a time of 16:40 and averaged 282 watts. My average heart rate was a whopping 173 beats per minute.
That was enough for 12th place (against a crowd of largely Cat 1,2, and 3 riders). I felt miserable but I was really happy with the results.
Next up, the long road day!
The Tour de Breakaway is a 3-day event held on CompuTrainers at Breakaway Bikes. The first day is a 10K time trial, the second day a 60K rolling hills day and the third day a major climbing day. I also wrote about it last year:
Stage 1: TT
Stage 2: That's More Like It
Stage 3: Hanging on for Dear Life
I really had no idea what to expect tonight. I have been training, but more focused on the type of surges and sprints that happen in a crit, not on the type of long endurance for a time trial. Luckily, this was a pretty short time trial. Based on the numbers I've been seeing in training, I expected to hold about 270 watts. My weight was up a little (largely from eating salty snacks all week in strategy meetings), so I that was going to hurt me a little on the climbing portions of the time trial.
The one thing that should have sounded an alarm for me was how warm it was in the room when we got there. I never deal well with warm temperatures when I'm riding.
The first 4 miles or so, I was doing really well. I felt like I was pacing well, my power was holding sky high (about 300 watts average) and it felt like I was barely pedaling.
Then at about 4.5 miles, I started to not be able to breathe so well. It felt like every lung-full of air was super hot. I was sweating like crazy but not getting any cooler. When the oscillating fan blew on me, it felt like the heat was on. My power started to drop.
So, I collected myself and didn't panic. I dropped my power to about 230 watts (not really intentionally, but that's what I could hold onto) for about a mile. Once I reached the final climb, I jumped out of the saddle and gunned it as hard as I could.
I finished with a time of 16:40 and averaged 282 watts. My average heart rate was a whopping 173 beats per minute.
That was enough for 12th place (against a crowd of largely Cat 1,2, and 3 riders). I felt miserable but I was really happy with the results.
Next up, the long road day!
Sunday, February 13, 2011
You know you're training hard enough when...
Athletes often wonder whether they are training hard enough. I think and easy way to tell is by measuring how much you look forward to recovery days and recovery weeks in your training plan.
Today is the last day of Week 3 of my training cycle, and let me tell you, I'm REALLY looking forward to the recovery week that starts tomorrow.
For the last three weeks, I've been increasing both the intensity of my workouts and the amount of time that I spend on the bike. I've been doing a lot of high speed, high intensity work and my body is really not happy about it.
So, for the next few days I get to take it really easy. No long rides, no sprints, no tempo work, not threshold work, no heavy weight lifting. Just some short, very easy rides on the trainer.
Next weekend is the Tour de Breakaway, our annual fundraiser for our juniors team. It's three days of racing on the CompuTrainers at Breakaway Bikes. I did it last year and really enjoyed it. Hopefully this year will be as fun!
As of this morning, I'm down to 183.6 (from 190) and my body fat is holding around 21% (from 22.5%. I think last week's 20.4% number was a fluke since I only saw it for one day).
Today is the last day of Week 3 of my training cycle, and let me tell you, I'm REALLY looking forward to the recovery week that starts tomorrow.
For the last three weeks, I've been increasing both the intensity of my workouts and the amount of time that I spend on the bike. I've been doing a lot of high speed, high intensity work and my body is really not happy about it.
So, for the next few days I get to take it really easy. No long rides, no sprints, no tempo work, not threshold work, no heavy weight lifting. Just some short, very easy rides on the trainer.
Next weekend is the Tour de Breakaway, our annual fundraiser for our juniors team. It's three days of racing on the CompuTrainers at Breakaway Bikes. I did it last year and really enjoyed it. Hopefully this year will be as fun!
As of this morning, I'm down to 183.6 (from 190) and my body fat is holding around 21% (from 22.5%. I think last week's 20.4% number was a fluke since I only saw it for one day).
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Lego
In case you think I do nothing but ride my bike, this was a fun project Shelli and I did a few weekends ago.
It was my first attempt at this kind of thing (making a movie from a series of photos) but I think it turned out pretty well. If it's too small, you can watch it full screen by clicking the button in the lower right of the movie player.
It was my first attempt at this kind of thing (making a movie from a series of photos) but I think it turned out pretty well. If it's too small, you can watch it full screen by clicking the button in the lower right of the movie player.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
A Little More Intense
This week, I added a little more intensity to the training diet, ranging from 1 kilometer sprints (only about a minute and twenty seconds, but HARD) to 30-second bursts at 400 watts to 15 second bursts at 620 watts to long 45 minute climbs at or above threshold.
Yes, my legs are a bit tired from it!
I have to say that it feels great. I'm really happy at how well my body tolerated the extra abuse. Within each session, I actually found myself able to go a little harder after the first couple, telling me that I was pacing myself too low early on. Of course, now I'm making the other mistake and starting out too hard and then struggling to maintain. I'll get it right eventually!
I'm still doing light plyometrics, trying to work up my explosive power. I'm not getting much additional power, but I am consistently hitting 5-second power in the 1040 to 1050 watt range. That used to be a personal best, now I do it three or four times a week.
One more week of really hard training and then a week of recovery before the 2011 Tour de Breakaway
In other training news, my weight bench and adjustable dumbbells should be here on Friday. I've already received by stability ball and elastic cords. Next weekend, Shelli and I should be able to start doing solid strength and balance workouts at home. (I'm sure FedEx will enjoy delivering the 108 pound package!)
And finally, my weight is down to 184.4 (from 190) and my body fat is down to 20.4% (from 22.5%).
Yes, my legs are a bit tired from it!
I have to say that it feels great. I'm really happy at how well my body tolerated the extra abuse. Within each session, I actually found myself able to go a little harder after the first couple, telling me that I was pacing myself too low early on. Of course, now I'm making the other mistake and starting out too hard and then struggling to maintain. I'll get it right eventually!
I'm still doing light plyometrics, trying to work up my explosive power. I'm not getting much additional power, but I am consistently hitting 5-second power in the 1040 to 1050 watt range. That used to be a personal best, now I do it three or four times a week.
One more week of really hard training and then a week of recovery before the 2011 Tour de Breakaway
In other training news, my weight bench and adjustable dumbbells should be here on Friday. I've already received by stability ball and elastic cords. Next weekend, Shelli and I should be able to start doing solid strength and balance workouts at home. (I'm sure FedEx will enjoy delivering the 108 pound package!)
And finally, my weight is down to 184.4 (from 190) and my body fat is down to 20.4% (from 22.5%).
Sunday, January 30, 2011
37
I turned 37 this week. Most people my age (maybe the more mature ones) start to think they are getting older. I thought "let's see what I can do".
I started off the day with a one hour tempo workout on the trainer. It's a long, uncomfortable workout that usually ends with my legs pretty beat up. This particular time, I felt great at the end, so I did a couple sprints. What can I say, I'm just not a sprinter. I could only hit 1050 watts. (a good sprinter in my category would beat that by 50% or so)
That night, I went to the gym and got on my favorite machine: the incline leg press. Once I got a decent warm up in, I did:
I started off the day with a one hour tempo workout on the trainer. It's a long, uncomfortable workout that usually ends with my legs pretty beat up. This particular time, I felt great at the end, so I did a couple sprints. What can I say, I'm just not a sprinter. I could only hit 1050 watts. (a good sprinter in my category would beat that by 50% or so)
That night, I went to the gym and got on my favorite machine: the incline leg press. Once I got a decent warm up in, I did:
- 3 sets of 5 reps at 850 pounds
- 3 sets of 4 reps at 1030 pounds
- 3 sets of 10 reps at 580 pounds (at maximum speed on the way out so the weights actually left my feet for a split second)
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