This is what I'm talkin' about!

February is over, and that means one thing. Race season is almost here! I can't believe that it's almost time for racing to begin. It seems like yesterday that I was slaving away at Base miles in mid December. My race prep/specialization training is in full swing.

For my last ride of the month I did another sub threshold workout, and today's session went MUCH better than my last attempt at these particular intervals. Last week I had to bail on my second interval, as I could not get my avg power where I needed it to be. Today though was a different story. On my first 20 min interval I avg'd 344 watts, and my second 20 min interval avg'd 343 watts. To say that I'm pleased with today's workout is an understatement.

I'm keeping this post short, as I'm beat after my ride.

TTFN

Local boy does good

The Tour of California has just wrapped up, and California boy Levi Leipheimer secured overall victory. If you didn't catch it, you missed a lively, action packed race. Levi's Discovery teammate George Hincapie broke his arm during Saturday's stage, and still managed to finish the stage and subsequently help keep the gold jersey on Leipheimer's back...what a stud! I hope he recovers quick enough to be on form for his bid at the spring classics.

While I enjoyed the Tour of California, I sure wish '06 winner Floyd Landis would've been competing, but alas it wasn't to be. On a related note... from what I've been reading lately, it sure appears that things are swinging in Floyd's favor. I'm pulling for Floyd, because dammit, I believe him when he says he hasn't taken any PEDs. I'm just afraid that he's gonna get off on a technicality, and while it gives him the right to return to racing, getting off like that will still have many people doubting his innocence...which I'm sure is something he is all too aware of.

The court of public opinion is the harshest court on the planet.

Coconut, it does the body good

I've tried several different sports drinks, starting with Powerbar Endurance, Hammer HEED, and finally Cytomax. I've been using Cytomax for the longest. The taste isn't offensive to me and it seems to work. But I'm always on the look out for something better; better taste, better electrolyte profile, etc.

A couple of years ago I read about the benefits of coconut water from the folks at ZICO. I was quite intrigued, but since no one in my area even heard of coconut water, much less carried it, I just filed the whole thing away. Well, today I was in our new Fresh Market, and I was browsing their cooler section, and what do I find? ZICO coconut water. I bought two containers of it, and I'll be using it next week. I hope it doesn't taste like crap, because I am impressed with it's nutrients. It has 5 electrolytes, including 670 mg of potassium. That's more than what is found in a banana! It even has some protein (albeit a tiny bit-1mg). All that in an 11oz container.


If it is as good as I think it's gonna be, then I've found my new sports drink.

That's a wrap

Another training week has come and gone. I finished up my first Build week with 3hrs 14min and 67 miles on the weekly club ride. Coming off of that sub threshold workout and recovery day must've done wonders for my form, because I had some legs today. You just love having one of those days, the day where your energy reserves seem to be endless and lactic acid never becomes a factor. It was fortunate I was feeling good, because towards the latter part of the ride we encountered a vicious crosswind in the form of 15mph SE winds. That was the only part of the ride that sucked. Other than that it was a great day in the saddle.

I ended the week with just over 10 hrs, and 215 miles. 9hrs per week will be as big as my work weeks get right thru the start of my race season.

A different kind of performance enhancer

I was perusing powertapgeek and saw a link to the following write up in Joe Friel's blog...changing your cleat position from the tried but true "Ball of the foot" location to the center of your foot. Talk about a radical departure from the norm. But Friel claims he's seen a 9% increase in his own performance. That is huge!

I'll be interested to see how this develops, but I'm in no rush to drill holes in my shoes.

Cobwebs

I'm close to wrapping up my first week of Build 1, and it has been a rude awakening. I learned really fast that I was a little rusty when it came to sustained high intensity workouts. Doin' nothing but endurance pace over the last 2.5 months really made this opening Build week a kick in the balls.
I managed some good tempo work, and today I did some sub threshold intervals. The sub threshold workout called for the following:
Warm-up- 15 min @ <68% of FTP
Blowout effort- 5 min @ 100%
Easy pace- 5 min @ <68%
Ride- 2 x 20 min w/10-15min recovery(@<76%) between sets @ 96-105%

I completed the first interval with no problems, but by the time I started that second set I couldn't generate the power to get my watts to the prescribed level. I needed to do the interval at a minimum of 333 watts, but by 13 min in I still was only at 308. I shut it down at that point, because there was nothing to be gained by completing the interval at a lower power...that said, something inside me said I shouldn't quit and man up and complete the workout. For almost a minute I waffled back and forth on whether I should complete the 20 minutes, but in the end common sense won out and I throttled back.

Friday will be a recovery ride, and then on Saturday I'll wrap up the week with a 3hr ride with the club.

As my form comes back I'll be looking forward to these workouts getting better and better. Easier would be nice too, but if your training is getting easy then you must be doing something wrong, or not enough of it.

Intensity

Base is over, and my first Build period started yesterday. Now I will start focusing on increasing my power, anaerobic capacity, and race specific skills. You know...the workouts that hurt like a mofo.

I tried to cap off last week's training with an FTP test, but coming off an illness...well, that was a good idea gone horribly wrong. I tried it again yesterday, and while it went better than Sunday's attempt, it was still not great. I fought wind both days, but I think that after almost 3 months of LSD riding, I'm a little stale in the hard effort department. So, for the time being I'm not gonna worry about the testing. After getting some more hard efforts in I might try the test later in the week. If I don't, no big deal.

A twist in the narrative

It's Sunday morning and I still only have 2hrs training time for the week. I know it was a recovery week, but this is ridiculous. I rode Wednesday, and then on Thursday it was nasty out, I'm talkin' frigid. It made the weather conditions for that infamous Saturday ride look like a summertime jaunt. So no ride on Thursday. Friday rolls around and it is only marginally better, but I'm not feeling well. Scratch Friday. Saturday is upon me and it is decidedly warmer (still windy), but now I'm full blown sick. Dammit.

Here I am on Sunday, 3hrs short of my schedule. I'll have to end up being short on my hours, as I'm not going to try and recoup those hours in one ride. I'll get a couple of hours in and then call it a week. I might even leave it at one hour so I don't tire myself out with a Build week starting tomorrow. I'll just play it by ear.

Check out my TSB(Training Stress Balance). It won't be that high again for a while.

If there's nothing to write, is it still a blog?

I've been kinda quiet the last couple of days, as there wasn't a lot to talk about. Being a recovery week I've only done 2hrs since Monday, and 1 of those hrs I did today. So, as I said, not much worth talking about training wise.

So, if I don't really have anything to say, why am blogging about it? I think it takes true talent to have nothing to say, but still be able to write about it anyway. Don't believe me? Just read the paper or listen to a politician talk.

In the interest of actually having something worthwhile to discuss...
I've been thinking about USA Cycling's '07 MTB National Racing Calendar. They say that the calendar is to give much deserved recognition to the organizers/promoters that put on some great events. Recognition is good, but are they really gonna get more participation now than they did in the past? I don't think the Bump n Grind needs to be part of the NRC to garner attention, they're doing great anyway. I would think that many events are in the same boat. The only thing I think they're hoping for is that this will now attract more pros since there are UCI points and series points available.
But is this new format really gonna attract the top athletes? Unless a pro lives near one of these races, he/she is gonna be hard pressed to take the time/energy to race there.

They're gonna be doing the NMBS races (the events formerly known as NORBA's) and the UCI World Cups, so why risk your fitness or valuable time to gain a few points? Not to mention, there won't be lots of competition for the pros at these smaller events. Even with the Semi pros or neo pros, it'd be like a top expert competing in the sport class.

I just don't see many top level pros entering these smaller races. They have too much to lose(no support, very few points, limited competition). Maybe I'm wrong..I kinda hope I am wrong. I'd love to see US mtn biking get a real shot in the arm. If it helps us compete on the international level then it's for the best.

What do you know, I really did have something to write about. Will miracles never cease.

At the start of last week, as I was looking at the number of training hours I had ahead of me, I was wondering if I'd get all 10.5 hrs in...and this was after completing a ride. Well, today is Sunday and I'm happy to report that I got my hours in. I even went over my time by an hour.

It was a long week. I rode everyday from Monday thru Saturday. The only respite I got was a recovery ride on Friday, and let me tell you, I needed that easier ride. After Thursday I was really feeling worn out. Thankfully Friday's easy ride recharged my batteries for the big day on Saturday, and a big day it was.
I left the house just before 8am and didn't get back until after 1:30pm. It was a gorgeous day, if a little cool, so it made for a good ride. The Saturday club rides make are a good way to get those longer rides done. It sure beats riding alone for 3hrs.

For all you Northerners, you'll have fun with this. By looking at the riders in this pic you would think it is REALLY cold. Well, when I snapped it was probably around 45 degrees or so. Can you imagine what they'd dress like when it is honest to God cold?

One of the great things about riding with a group. Wind protection while in a paceline!

So, exactly how many cyclists does it take to change a tire?

Except for a recovery week starting tomorrow, I am finished with Base riding. Next up volume will decrease while intensity skyrockets.

Could it be?

When I've raced, and even Time Trialed, my threshold HR was in the 170s. I could always tell when I had reached that range, but current indications are that I must be getting more aerobically fit, as I've hit the 170s, but didn't realize it until I got home and analyzed my ride files. Seeing a max of 176bpm came as a surprise, and I had to review the actual ride graphs to find out when/where I hit that number.


I'll be doing some formal testing next week, so it'll be interesting to see if a 20 minute TT bears out what I've been seeing this week.

This is more like it!

Temperatures have crept up in the last couple of days, and it is most welcomed. Yesterday I had a good ride, due in no small part to the weather. I logged a total of 2hrs, but I did an hour of Tempo...averaging 300 watts for that hour, which makes me feel good that after all the lower intensity work that I still have something that resembles power.

New soles

After almost 3000 miles on my current tires, it was time to get new shoes for the roadie. What necessitated it was the fact that I noticed this morning that my front tire was soft (that's the same tire that gave me so much trouble on Saturday). I found some a piece of glass embedded in the tire, and I think that was the culprit or at least part of the problem. It wasn't deep enough to out and out poke thru the tire, because when I initially got that flat I ran my fingers around the inside of the tire and I didn't feel anything. I think it wouldn't poke thru until there was some weight/pressure on the tire.

Whatever the cause, I took it as a sign to slap some new rubber on there. The previous tires were Maxxis Detonators, and they were super durable. Saturday was the first flat I had encountered since I put those tires on. My local bike shop didn't have a lot of selection when it came to reasonably priced tires, and it just so happens that they had Detonators in stock, I figured why change something that works?

Sold by volume

Today starts my biggest week I will see all year long. The highest volume I will hit any week this year is 10.5 hrs, and even then I won't hit that many hours again until late summer when I rebuild after my July races. After that many hours I will be looking forward to the R&R week next week.

I called that one wrong

I spoke too soon yesterday. This morning, the club was doing a ride known as "the Red Bay Loop". The day was full of drama. It started off with a flat tire, and then the replacement tube went kaboom in the living room...which at 7:30 in the morning is sure to get the blood pumping. Did I mention that was my only spare? I had to mooch one off the other riders, which I would pay for later on.
It was 34 degrees when I headed out, and it didn't warm up a whole lot for the rest of the day. We had a steady 15-20 mph wind. A wind which we never got a reprieve from. We either got a headwind or a crosswind, but never a tailwind.

About an hour and a half into the ride, that second spare tube gave out. It turns out it was patched. Thanks a lot for that one, I appreciate it. After getting yet another tube I was back on my way. My hands got a little cold, but my feet suffered the most, and I mean suffered. They hurt they were so cold. There were 4 of us in our new group and thank God one of them had parked his van at a secondary spot and he drove us back to our cars/town. I didn't get the total mileage I set out to get, but I didn't care.

The revised trip totaled 73 miles, but it felt like 173 miles. This ride definitely is the toughest/most grueling I've ever done, or hope to do.

At least I got my hours in, and I can take it easy tomorrow.

It doesn't take much

I'm closing in on the end of the week, and as of this morning I still had 5hrs to get in. Yesterday it rained all damn day, and today the temperature was about 17 degrees colder...ohh, and it was cloudy with high humidity. Despite the less than stellar weather I had to get at least 2hrs of saddle time in. Attired in my usual array of every stick of winter clothing I own, I struck out on what would be a grueling 2hr ride. See, there was a piece of the puzzle I wasn't aware of until I got into my ride...a nasty headwind.
Overall I stayed fairly warm except for my feet. I did feel some wind blowing thru my fleece jacket, but I wasn't in any real distress. The wind though, combined with the cold feet and slight chill combined to make a miserable time. Maybe 15-20 minutes in I was thinking how I could make up the time in the next couple of days if I cut the ride short. It was that bad.

In the end I man'd up and suffered thru it, but that had to be the toughest ride I've had since last season. I'll be happy if I don't have any more of days like this for the rest of the '07 season.