As I start preparing to ride outside, I was looking back to find the last time I rode outside at all... rather shockingly, it was September 2017. I haven't ridden outside in over 2 1/2 years!
The bigger shock was that I only rode outside 8 times in 2017.
The last time I was riding seriously and consistently outside was in 2016... which came to an end when I had my first collapsed lung.
It's amazing to me that basically the first time I had it, it broke me as an outdoor cyclist. None of my training numbers since then have been anything to note.
Now, after the second one, I am back at training seriously and making decent progress in my fitness, but it's all been on the trainer. I am geared up and ready to go for riding outside, I'm just waiting for the weather to cooperate.
Of course, only time will tell if I continue to make progress and stay focused on it, but I lovethe symmetry of the situation!
Saturday, May 30, 2020
Saturday, May 23, 2020
Changing bike tech
In the few years I was away, pretty much everything about cycling technology changed. The last time I rode seriously was 2014, and it's stunning how much has changed in just a few years.
Power meters cost half what they did, and you can choose between cranks, pedals, and chainrings. Almost no one is using hub-based systems anymore.
Brakes are all disc now. Caliper brakes are almost unheard of anymore. They are supposed to stop way better, but none of my old wheel collection will work with them.
The wheels are carbon all the way through now. Before, they were an aluminum rim with carbon farings on them.
Drive trains are all 11-speed now. I can't even find new bikes with a 10 anymore. On the plus side, more gears but on the bad side, they seem more spread out.
There is radar for bikes now, so you get a little warning when cars are approaching from behind and you get more of a warning if it's coming fast... I guess so if you are about to get hit, you know.
Sunglasses just all got hideous. They look more like facemasks than sunglasses, and that was before the pandemic started. They are just not my style.
Helmets have crash sensors and can text your location to your loved ones if you are in an accident.
Heart rate training is now being supplemented with heart rate variability training.
The one tech change I am totally loving is the improvement in power data analysis. WKO3 was nice, but WKO5 is a whole other world. To start, it recommends power and duration for interval training, helping you be more efficient in your training. Then it gets crazy with analysis, telling you things like "how much does my 20-minute power drop on a long ride, after the first hour and after the second hour" to help you find strengths and weaknesses for the events that you're training for. It's completely insane.
I know, I sound like a grumpy old man yelling for the damned kids to get off my lawn.
It will mean a little bit of a learning curve as I come back, and I'm excited for all the new options to help me get fitter and faster again.
Power meters cost half what they did, and you can choose between cranks, pedals, and chainrings. Almost no one is using hub-based systems anymore.
Brakes are all disc now. Caliper brakes are almost unheard of anymore. They are supposed to stop way better, but none of my old wheel collection will work with them.
The wheels are carbon all the way through now. Before, they were an aluminum rim with carbon farings on them.
Drive trains are all 11-speed now. I can't even find new bikes with a 10 anymore. On the plus side, more gears but on the bad side, they seem more spread out.
There is radar for bikes now, so you get a little warning when cars are approaching from behind and you get more of a warning if it's coming fast... I guess so if you are about to get hit, you know.
Sunglasses just all got hideous. They look more like facemasks than sunglasses, and that was before the pandemic started. They are just not my style.
Helmets have crash sensors and can text your location to your loved ones if you are in an accident.
Heart rate training is now being supplemented with heart rate variability training.
The one tech change I am totally loving is the improvement in power data analysis. WKO3 was nice, but WKO5 is a whole other world. To start, it recommends power and duration for interval training, helping you be more efficient in your training. Then it gets crazy with analysis, telling you things like "how much does my 20-minute power drop on a long ride, after the first hour and after the second hour" to help you find strengths and weaknesses for the events that you're training for. It's completely insane.
I know, I sound like a grumpy old man yelling for the damned kids to get off my lawn.
It will mean a little bit of a learning curve as I come back, and I'm excited for all the new options to help me get fitter and faster again.
Sunday, May 17, 2020
Prep Work
This week was focused on getting ready.
I am still not quite healed enough to ride outside much, so I drove the roads I want to start training on. I wanted to see how much traffic was on them, what condition they were in, and get a rough idea of where I was going.
I've started gearing back up. Little things like my saddle bag that was wearing thin, replacing spare tubes that had dry rotted a bit, and upgrading firmware in my electronics. I got a new helmet with crash detection so my wife knows if anything happens (and where to find me) and a new rear radar unit to help me know when cars are coming up behind me.
I've been watching WKO tutorial videos to make sure I'm getting the most out of my training data so I can plan workouts as effectively as possible.
My major pride and joy this week was the "Training Goal Graphic Equalizer". I realized that when people asked me how training was going or how recovery was going, it really wasn't a simple answer and there's far more to it than how long I'm riding each day.
I listed out all of the goals that I believe I will need to reach in order to hit the performance I will need by September 2021.
The timed sections and times I'm aiming for are:
For reference, I listed my previous best values, both to give me a comparison and to remind me that this is possible.
I am still not quite healed enough to ride outside much, so I drove the roads I want to start training on. I wanted to see how much traffic was on them, what condition they were in, and get a rough idea of where I was going.
I've started gearing back up. Little things like my saddle bag that was wearing thin, replacing spare tubes that had dry rotted a bit, and upgrading firmware in my electronics. I got a new helmet with crash detection so my wife knows if anything happens (and where to find me) and a new rear radar unit to help me know when cars are coming up behind me.
I've been watching WKO tutorial videos to make sure I'm getting the most out of my training data so I can plan workouts as effectively as possible.
My major pride and joy this week was the "Training Goal Graphic Equalizer". I realized that when people asked me how training was going or how recovery was going, it really wasn't a simple answer and there's far more to it than how long I'm riding each day.
I listed out all of the goals that I believe I will need to reach in order to hit the performance I will need by September 2021.
The timed sections and times I'm aiming for are:
- 5.7 mile climb with 1278' of climbing, starting 3.4 miles into the event in about 22:00
- 11.4 miles over rolling terrain with 1200' of climbing and 650' of descent, starting 35 miles into the event in about 36:00.
For reference, I listed my previous best values, both to give me a comparison and to remind me that this is possible.
Hopefully this helps keep me on track and focused on the right things.
Sunday, May 10, 2020
Starting point
Test Day
Let's be honest... any fitness I have at all is a miracle or purely genetic.After so long off training and a major surgery, I really should expect much. I put in 6 1/2 hours of trainer time last week, which is way more than I thought I could handle. Since I was doing so well, I decided to be daring and try a 20-minute FTP test to get a better idea of where my fitness really is.
I averaged 175 watts for the test, and I'm absolutely sure I can do better because my pacing was AWFUL. I shouldn't beat myself up for that... I really had no idea where I was starting from, so I was guessing the whole time.
I started out at what I thought was a safe bet, at 165 watts. I suspected my threshold was at least 150, so I should be able to hold 165 pretty safely. Ten minutes in, I my legs were on fire, but my heart rate was only at 145 bpm. I was breathing deeply, but not struggling.
I gradually increased the power output, 175, then 185, then 195. My heart rate climbed a gradually with the increase, but no major spike. Once again it was my legs that really hurt.
For the last minute I floored it, giving it all I had, holding about 240 watts to the finish.
For a test where the goal is to hold a steady or very gradually increasing power throughout, that was awful, but it also gave me some idea of where I'm at.... which really isn't awful (for comparison, my best 20-minute test when I was racing was 309 watts, so I have some way to go!!).
Goals:
I know we're still in a pandemic and any events this year are questionable, but I'm looking at two right now: The Farm to Fork Dutch Fondo 30-mile and Maryland Gran Fondo 30-mile, which are 15 and 19 weeks away.My only goal is to finish both rides, but that requires abilities I used to take for granted:
- ride outside for 2 to 2 1/2 hours
- tolerate road vibration without pain (well, in the surgical areas anyway!)
- tolerate steep climbs without pain
My reason to do those events is to scout them out so I can come back next year and be competitive in the longer versions (probably the 70-mile option).
They are nothing like the events I've done before, so I'll be learning the whole time.
Wednesday, May 6, 2020
Picking up where I left off
It's fitting, really.
My last post from 2016 was about being in the hospital after a spontaneously collapsed lung. In March, the same thing happened again and I had a pleurodesis surgery to correct it. I am now recovered enough from that surgery to start something resembling exercise... but I'm not in great shape right now.
I haven't seriously trained or raced in quite a while. I dabbled in short track speedskating in 2018, but it really just wasn't for me.
In January, I developed a bulging disc in my neck. That had me off training for a while.
In February, I had a bad flu with a high fever that had me laid up for a few weeks.(it turns out it was COVID!)
In March, I had my next lung collapse and surgery. My surgeon told me to only do my rehab until the 6 week mark, then I could start light exercises, with no weight lifting that required the valsalva maneuver (holding your beath when you lift heavier weights).
So, here I am starting out again.
I'm looking for new performance goals to help motivate me. Probably a Gran Fondo here and there, with a metric century or two thrown in for preparation. I won't be the same rider I was before, I know that.
I'm starting out rough:
Body Weight: 196 pounds
Body Fat: 23%
Estimated Threshold Power: 150 watts
It's a far cry from the 164 pounds and 280 watts I was doing at my peak.
Here we go!
My last post from 2016 was about being in the hospital after a spontaneously collapsed lung. In March, the same thing happened again and I had a pleurodesis surgery to correct it. I am now recovered enough from that surgery to start something resembling exercise... but I'm not in great shape right now.
I haven't seriously trained or raced in quite a while. I dabbled in short track speedskating in 2018, but it really just wasn't for me.
In January, I developed a bulging disc in my neck. That had me off training for a while.
In February, I had a bad flu with a high fever that had me laid up for a few weeks.(it turns out it was COVID!)
In March, I had my next lung collapse and surgery. My surgeon told me to only do my rehab until the 6 week mark, then I could start light exercises, with no weight lifting that required the valsalva maneuver (holding your beath when you lift heavier weights).
So, here I am starting out again.
I'm looking for new performance goals to help motivate me. Probably a Gran Fondo here and there, with a metric century or two thrown in for preparation. I won't be the same rider I was before, I know that.
I'm starting out rough:
Body Weight: 196 pounds
Body Fat: 23%
Estimated Threshold Power: 150 watts
It's a far cry from the 164 pounds and 280 watts I was doing at my peak.
Here we go!
Monday, October 31, 2016
The Hospital Stay
The next few days were pretty boring, so I won't go into as much detail :-)
Thursday
Chest x-ray
back to 95%
Friday
Finally let me sleep
Still bubbling, not going home today
Still bubbling a lot
First attempt at a shower
Saturday
Low heart rate alarm. I forget to tell them I'm an athlete.
Clamped the line to see if my lungs were pressurized.
CT showed no other issues in my lungs.
Chest X-Ray showed 20% deflation
Trying again tomorrow
Changing the dressing hurt like hell.
Sunday
Water seal
Chest X-Ray showed I was good
Valve installed.
Going Home!!
Thursday
Chest x-ray
back to 95%
Friday
Finally let me sleep
Still bubbling, not going home today
Still bubbling a lot
First attempt at a shower
Saturday
Low heart rate alarm. I forget to tell them I'm an athlete.
Clamped the line to see if my lungs were pressurized.
CT showed no other issues in my lungs.
Chest X-Ray showed 20% deflation
Trying again tomorrow
Changing the dressing hurt like hell.
Sunday
Water seal
Chest X-Ray showed I was good
Valve installed.
Going Home!!
Monday, October 24, 2016
Chest Pain Surprise, Day 1
I woke up at 5AM like any other Wednesday, planning to eat breakfast and ride for an hour or so before work.
When I went to the bathroom, I noticed a major pain in my chest on the right side in the pectoral area. I thought I'd pulled a muscle or slept on it funny. It ached each time I took a step going downstairs and it hurt to breathe deeply to the point that I couldn't actually breathe in all the way.
All through eating I wondered if I should go back to bed, but I decided to do an easy ride. I did about 15 minutes at a light 120 to 130 watts.... and the aching just got worse. I got off the bike, went upstairs, and took a shower... it still hurt, so I laid back down in bed. Lying on my back, it was still pretty uncomfortable. Lying on my left side, it was much better. Lying on my right side was EXCRUCIATING.
I went in to work planning on calling my doctor the minute they opened... so at 9:01 I called and got an appointment for 11:00. All morning I noticed I was able to breathe less deeply before it started to hurt and I got to the appointment 15 minutes early to try to get in early.
I also noticed that when I was talking, I had to pause to breathe a lot more than usual. It's odd for me to not be able to talk a lot :-)
I told the doctor the story and they thought pulled a muscle as well but my pain level and difficulty breathing didn't add up, so they ordered a chest X-ray. Luckily they have a radiology lab on site. I was able to see the image through the window... I didn't see any spots or anything but I thought my lungs looked really asymmetrical... that didn't make any sense.
When I got back in the exam room, the doctor was acting weird. She had a second doctor looking at it and they were talking back and forth about stuff I didn't quite catch. Then they told me that I had a collapsed lung. Their instructions: go to the hospital NOW.
I kind of went against medical advice... I went home, picked up a few things, and waited for my wife to get home from work.
Two hours later, she drove me to the ER. With chest pains, I went to the head of the line and was talking to a doctor within 15 minutes. They repeated the chest x-ray and confirmed a collapsed lung that had decreased in volume by 60%.
One of my lungs had a hole in it, allowing it to leak air into the space around the lung. That air built up enough that it was decreasing the amount of volume in my chest for my lung, causing it to get smaller and smaller with each breath I took. At its current rate, it could have killed me before the end of the day. Yes, I asked :-)
What I had was called a spontaneous pneumothorax. That means it was a collapsed lung that was not the result of any other illnesses, injuries, or any other known or visible cause. It was not a result of hard cycling training, wood working, breathing in wood stains, seasonal allergies, or any other activity. In fact, the two leading causes are lung cancer (the tumors eat a hole in your lung) or being extremely tall and thin (like 6'4" and 150 pounds... I am neither)
Within another hour, they put in a chest tube to drain out the extra air and maintain the proper pressure around my lungs. Putting it in HURT. It turns out the space around your lungs is really sensitive, which is why it hurt to breath and why it hurt to push a 1/8" tube about 12" into it, starting near my shoulder and reaching almost to my stomach.
I could breathe again almost immediately and without pain... except some major discomfort from the tube that was now poked into my chest. When I inhaled all the way, I could feel it in there... and it was kind of a creepy feeling. They also had to cut a decent hole through my right pectoral muscle to out in the tube, making it pretty painful to move my right arm.
Before long they had me hooked up to a suction box with constant vacuum pressure to make sure that any air that got out of my lung was immediately pulled out. The box bubbled every time I inhaled, telling us the hole was still there. I was going to be staying in the hospital until the bubbling stopped, indicating the hole had healed. For most people that takes 2 to 5 days. Being relatively young and healthy, I thought I'd be on the low side. I didn't realize just how large the hole was yet.
Here's the crazy part: I didn't have a single risk factor. I don't smoke, don't drink, don't do drugs, and I exercise regularly. I spent most of the day repeating the same story: I woke up with chest pain. I have no idea what happened.
They officially admitted me to the hospital and I got my own room. It wasn't much, but at least it was private.
They hooked me up to the suction in the room, ran the tubing around the bed, and got my vacuum box all set up, then handed me the TV remove/call button. Note to designers: it's easy to mix up "turn TV on" and "call nurse". They also hooked me up a half dozen leads for a portable EKG machine they kept me hooked up to the entire time I was there.
I didn't get out of the bed for quite a while. I had so many wires from the EKG on me and the tube was taped down so much, I was almost afraid to move so I didn't pull anything out... and the tube hurt so much going in I was afraid of putting any tension on it at all.
Various doctors and nurses who would be involved in my care came in and introduced themselves. They all seemed really nice and were all shocked that an otherwise-healthy, 42-year old person would have such a severe issue. I started to wonder if they didn't believe me.
The pulmonary specialist said the soonest I should expect to go home would be Friday. Ugh.
Shelli stayed with me until about 10. She really wanted to stay with me, but there wasn't any decent furniture for her to sleep on and we figured at least one of us should get to sleep at home, especially since the hospital was less than a 10-minute drive from home.
After she left, I decided to try the indignity of going to the bathroom. I paged the nurse and together we figured out how much I was able to move... which turned out was pretty normal except for the limits in my right arm range of motion and strength. She helped me figure out where all the suction tubes ran and how to get them up over the bed so I could get to the bathroom. I was able to go on my own, I just had to get there and back. I watched where every tube went so I could do it again myself and not have to call for help every time I had to pee.
Once I was back in bed, I used a combination of the adjustable bed and the assortment of pillows they gave me to build a position I could sleep in without pulling on the tube. Surprisingly, I got to sleep pretty quickly. Of course, they woke me up every couple hours to take vitals and blood. Thanks, guys, nothing helps you heal like a broken night's sleep!
(The rest of the hospital time will be in a later post...)
When I went to the bathroom, I noticed a major pain in my chest on the right side in the pectoral area. I thought I'd pulled a muscle or slept on it funny. It ached each time I took a step going downstairs and it hurt to breathe deeply to the point that I couldn't actually breathe in all the way.
All through eating I wondered if I should go back to bed, but I decided to do an easy ride. I did about 15 minutes at a light 120 to 130 watts.... and the aching just got worse. I got off the bike, went upstairs, and took a shower... it still hurt, so I laid back down in bed. Lying on my back, it was still pretty uncomfortable. Lying on my left side, it was much better. Lying on my right side was EXCRUCIATING.
I went in to work planning on calling my doctor the minute they opened... so at 9:01 I called and got an appointment for 11:00. All morning I noticed I was able to breathe less deeply before it started to hurt and I got to the appointment 15 minutes early to try to get in early.
I also noticed that when I was talking, I had to pause to breathe a lot more than usual. It's odd for me to not be able to talk a lot :-)
I told the doctor the story and they thought pulled a muscle as well but my pain level and difficulty breathing didn't add up, so they ordered a chest X-ray. Luckily they have a radiology lab on site. I was able to see the image through the window... I didn't see any spots or anything but I thought my lungs looked really asymmetrical... that didn't make any sense.
When I got back in the exam room, the doctor was acting weird. She had a second doctor looking at it and they were talking back and forth about stuff I didn't quite catch. Then they told me that I had a collapsed lung. Their instructions: go to the hospital NOW.
I kind of went against medical advice... I went home, picked up a few things, and waited for my wife to get home from work.
Two hours later, she drove me to the ER. With chest pains, I went to the head of the line and was talking to a doctor within 15 minutes. They repeated the chest x-ray and confirmed a collapsed lung that had decreased in volume by 60%.
One of my lungs had a hole in it, allowing it to leak air into the space around the lung. That air built up enough that it was decreasing the amount of volume in my chest for my lung, causing it to get smaller and smaller with each breath I took. At its current rate, it could have killed me before the end of the day. Yes, I asked :-)
What I had was called a spontaneous pneumothorax. That means it was a collapsed lung that was not the result of any other illnesses, injuries, or any other known or visible cause. It was not a result of hard cycling training, wood working, breathing in wood stains, seasonal allergies, or any other activity. In fact, the two leading causes are lung cancer (the tumors eat a hole in your lung) or being extremely tall and thin (like 6'4" and 150 pounds... I am neither)
Within another hour, they put in a chest tube to drain out the extra air and maintain the proper pressure around my lungs. Putting it in HURT. It turns out the space around your lungs is really sensitive, which is why it hurt to breath and why it hurt to push a 1/8" tube about 12" into it, starting near my shoulder and reaching almost to my stomach.
I could breathe again almost immediately and without pain... except some major discomfort from the tube that was now poked into my chest. When I inhaled all the way, I could feel it in there... and it was kind of a creepy feeling. They also had to cut a decent hole through my right pectoral muscle to out in the tube, making it pretty painful to move my right arm.
Before long they had me hooked up to a suction box with constant vacuum pressure to make sure that any air that got out of my lung was immediately pulled out. The box bubbled every time I inhaled, telling us the hole was still there. I was going to be staying in the hospital until the bubbling stopped, indicating the hole had healed. For most people that takes 2 to 5 days. Being relatively young and healthy, I thought I'd be on the low side. I didn't realize just how large the hole was yet.
Here's the crazy part: I didn't have a single risk factor. I don't smoke, don't drink, don't do drugs, and I exercise regularly. I spent most of the day repeating the same story: I woke up with chest pain. I have no idea what happened.
They officially admitted me to the hospital and I got my own room. It wasn't much, but at least it was private.
They hooked me up to the suction in the room, ran the tubing around the bed, and got my vacuum box all set up, then handed me the TV remove/call button. Note to designers: it's easy to mix up "turn TV on" and "call nurse". They also hooked me up a half dozen leads for a portable EKG machine they kept me hooked up to the entire time I was there.
I didn't get out of the bed for quite a while. I had so many wires from the EKG on me and the tube was taped down so much, I was almost afraid to move so I didn't pull anything out... and the tube hurt so much going in I was afraid of putting any tension on it at all.
Various doctors and nurses who would be involved in my care came in and introduced themselves. They all seemed really nice and were all shocked that an otherwise-healthy, 42-year old person would have such a severe issue. I started to wonder if they didn't believe me.
The pulmonary specialist said the soonest I should expect to go home would be Friday. Ugh.
Shelli stayed with me until about 10. She really wanted to stay with me, but there wasn't any decent furniture for her to sleep on and we figured at least one of us should get to sleep at home, especially since the hospital was less than a 10-minute drive from home.
After she left, I decided to try the indignity of going to the bathroom. I paged the nurse and together we figured out how much I was able to move... which turned out was pretty normal except for the limits in my right arm range of motion and strength. She helped me figure out where all the suction tubes ran and how to get them up over the bed so I could get to the bathroom. I was able to go on my own, I just had to get there and back. I watched where every tube went so I could do it again myself and not have to call for help every time I had to pee.
Once I was back in bed, I used a combination of the adjustable bed and the assortment of pillows they gave me to build a position I could sleep in without pulling on the tube. Surprisingly, I got to sleep pretty quickly. Of course, they woke me up every couple hours to take vitals and blood. Thanks, guys, nothing helps you heal like a broken night's sleep!
(The rest of the hospital time will be in a later post...)
Saturday, October 15, 2016
Starting Over
After months of riding without an focus, a few weeks riding easy to let my knee heal, and another week off for vacation, I'm doing something I haven't done in years: a true foundation period.
The simple fact is that I've lost so much fitness my body can't handle high volume, high intensity kind of training right now and I need to rebuild that. I had a good chat with Hunter the other night to help me come to terms with that and how to do it... it's been so long that I wasn't sure what I should actually be doing!
So, for the rest of 2016, I'll be gradually increasing the lengths of my rides, gradually adding in tempo and sweetspot work, and lightly sprinkling in a couple of bursts here and there.
I've also got a new tool to help me out. After years of love/hate with my CompuTrainer, I decided it was time to get something more modern and more flexible: the Tacx Neo trainer. A couple days in, I'm already loving the ability to use a wider array of training software and the fact that the trainer itself has a little give to it, making it feel more like a bike on the road and being bolted into a steeel cage. Their software offers some nice options I didn't have before and will help keep me entertained on some of the longer rides. Oh, and I've started riding on Zwift too.
The downside is that from all that time off (and LOTS of eating while we were gone), my weight is up. Hopefully it will consistently drop from here until Christmas.
Weekly Stats:
Avg Weight: 188.6 lbs
Avg Body fat: 22.5%
Training Volume: 7.1 hours
ATL: 48.3
mFTP: 203w
The simple fact is that I've lost so much fitness my body can't handle high volume, high intensity kind of training right now and I need to rebuild that. I had a good chat with Hunter the other night to help me come to terms with that and how to do it... it's been so long that I wasn't sure what I should actually be doing!
So, for the rest of 2016, I'll be gradually increasing the lengths of my rides, gradually adding in tempo and sweetspot work, and lightly sprinkling in a couple of bursts here and there.
I've also got a new tool to help me out. After years of love/hate with my CompuTrainer, I decided it was time to get something more modern and more flexible: the Tacx Neo trainer. A couple days in, I'm already loving the ability to use a wider array of training software and the fact that the trainer itself has a little give to it, making it feel more like a bike on the road and being bolted into a steeel cage. Their software offers some nice options I didn't have before and will help keep me entertained on some of the longer rides. Oh, and I've started riding on Zwift too.
The downside is that from all that time off (and LOTS of eating while we were gone), my weight is up. Hopefully it will consistently drop from here until Christmas.
Weekly Stats:
Avg Weight: 188.6 lbs
Avg Body fat: 22.5%
Training Volume: 7.1 hours
ATL: 48.3
mFTP: 203w
Saturday, October 1, 2016
Injured Reserve
It's been a really long time since I've had an overuse injury. The last one I can remember was way back in 1999.... but I just broke the streak.
In diving back into training, I got a little too eager. I added in higher intensity (muscle tension, anaerobic capacity, and VO2 intervals) too soon and gave myself tendonitis.
So, my plan of beating myself up going into vacation so I could spend the week recovering did technically work, just not in the way I had planned.
After a few days off the bike completely, I did an easy ride with almost no force on the pedals at all and my knee felt OK afterwards. I'll be doing that the next few days just to keep moving... and then pick back up when I get back.
Since I don't plan on racing next year, I'm starting to pick some round-number targets that I'd like to see, namely 400 watts for 5:00, 500 watts for 2:00, and 660 watts for 1:00. No real reason, I just want some targets to aim for this winter.
I don't have weight numbers this week... not riding for several days and eating a little more out of frustration, I don't really want to know.
In diving back into training, I got a little too eager. I added in higher intensity (muscle tension, anaerobic capacity, and VO2 intervals) too soon and gave myself tendonitis.
So, my plan of beating myself up going into vacation so I could spend the week recovering did technically work, just not in the way I had planned.
After a few days off the bike completely, I did an easy ride with almost no force on the pedals at all and my knee felt OK afterwards. I'll be doing that the next few days just to keep moving... and then pick back up when I get back.
Since I don't plan on racing next year, I'm starting to pick some round-number targets that I'd like to see, namely 400 watts for 5:00, 500 watts for 2:00, and 660 watts for 1:00. No real reason, I just want some targets to aim for this winter.
I don't have weight numbers this week... not riding for several days and eating a little more out of frustration, I don't really want to know.
Saturday, September 24, 2016
Rebuilding
The worst part about letting yourself get out of shape is the process of rebuilding it all.
Training on a regular basis has all kinds of aches and pains and discomforts associated with it, but rebuilding from a lower level has the added aggravation of constantly feeling "I can do better."
The rides I'm doing are shorter, the power numbers are lower, and I feel like I did something twice and long and twice as hard afterwards. But I'm working on it.
I've gradually rebuilt my training volume so this week I'm back over 7 hours. I'm really trying to be patient and not add much intensity to the mix yet. I know my body can't handle it just yet... I tried a couple of really high-power 2-minute intervals on Tuesday and my knee just screamed at me for two days afterwards.
I've got one more week to build up before we go on vacation. I'm planning to really wear myself out before we go so my body can spend the time we're gone repairing and compensating.
When we get back, I plan to build back into the 8 to 10 hour range and then gradually start adding back in the intensity.
My training numbers overall are not great. My CTL is at 48 and ATL is at 72, so I'll be ready for an easier day tomorrow.
I still don't have any racing goals or anything... with all we've got going on, there's no way we could travel to races. I might do something different and just aim for some performance goals in a range I've never really focused on before.... we'll see!
This week's numbers:
Weight: 186.2 (187 last week)
Training volume: 7.4 hours (6.9 last week)
Training on a regular basis has all kinds of aches and pains and discomforts associated with it, but rebuilding from a lower level has the added aggravation of constantly feeling "I can do better."
The rides I'm doing are shorter, the power numbers are lower, and I feel like I did something twice and long and twice as hard afterwards. But I'm working on it.
I've gradually rebuilt my training volume so this week I'm back over 7 hours. I'm really trying to be patient and not add much intensity to the mix yet. I know my body can't handle it just yet... I tried a couple of really high-power 2-minute intervals on Tuesday and my knee just screamed at me for two days afterwards.
I've got one more week to build up before we go on vacation. I'm planning to really wear myself out before we go so my body can spend the time we're gone repairing and compensating.
When we get back, I plan to build back into the 8 to 10 hour range and then gradually start adding back in the intensity.
My training numbers overall are not great. My CTL is at 48 and ATL is at 72, so I'll be ready for an easier day tomorrow.
I still don't have any racing goals or anything... with all we've got going on, there's no way we could travel to races. I might do something different and just aim for some performance goals in a range I've never really focused on before.... we'll see!
This week's numbers:
Weight: 186.2 (187 last week)
Training volume: 7.4 hours (6.9 last week)
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