Florida Cycling Hall of Fame: Nominations Needed For the Cycling Hall of Fame
I would like to recognize and /or nominate post mortum my son(Sean Livesay) as a Hall of Fame recipient for his love and passion of the sport of mountain biking.Sean was so focused on the sport that he lost 140lbs to pursue his dreams.
A quick look into his short history and conversations with his peers,will support this nomination.(google: Sean Livesay for more info)
I can supply more info upon request.Thank you for your consideration.
Successfully Yours,
Stan Livesay...email stanlivesay@earthlink.net
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Saturday, September 01, 2007
T-Max...Torture to the Max
This has been one of the best training weeks I've had in a long time. Why is that, you ask? Well, for starters I got in my all my hours. Second, I got in some good intensity work with 3 successfully completed interval sessions. One of those interval sessions was something new called T-Max intervals. What are T-Max intervals, and what is so special about them?
What makes these intervals different is that they are tailored to your ability...from the wattage number you do the interval at, to the length of the interval.
Here's the lowdown...
First, you've got to find out what your peak power output, or T-Max, is. To do this you do a graded type of test. You start out at 100 watts and then add 30 watts every minute until you collapse. Whatever your wattage was at the moment you stopped is your PPO (peak power output). After a day or two, go out and ride as long as you can at your PPO. For those of us who are mortal that will be between 4-6 minutes. We're almost done here. The last step in setting up your new interval is to multiply the amount of time you could ride at your PPO by 60% (0.6). That figure is your T-Max work interval. For example, if you rode for 5 minutes, your work interval would be 3 minutes. Double your work interval, and that number is your recovery interval. Using the above example... 3 minutes on, 6 minutes off.
Now all you have to do is go out and put yourself in the pain cave and do the work. The ultimate goal is to do 8 efforts, but don't feel bad if you can only do 3-4 for a while. From what I've read these are some of the most painful and hardest training sessions you'll ever do.
Now why should you bother with these particular intervals? They'll make you fast and fit...and in a hurry. Significant changes in fitness were observed within 4-6 weeks. I only just started doing them so I can't tell you much from personal experience. I will tell you this though, they hurt like a mofo. I completed 3 efforts and went for a fourth, and about a minute and a half into the fourth effort I collapsed... spectacularly.
Between the T-Max intervals, and 2 lactate clearance sessions, I was in the hurt locker this week. It's all good though. That's the thing about doing intervals/high intensity efforts. They hurt like hell while you're doing them, but afterwards you almost feel good about having pushed yourself beyond your comfort zone.
I leave for Las Vegas on Wed, and even though I'm gonna take my road bike out there, I'm gonna try and get as much riding in here as possible. I'd like to think I could get in 4hrs by Tuesday. That will give me almost half my hours in before I leave. I'm gonna ride with a buddy while I'm there, and I don't doubt that there are plenty of places to ride and accumulate some hours, but I'm not gonna take any chances. When I come back I'll only have a few days before my race in Tallahassee.
What makes these intervals different is that they are tailored to your ability...from the wattage number you do the interval at, to the length of the interval.
Here's the lowdown...
First, you've got to find out what your peak power output, or T-Max, is. To do this you do a graded type of test. You start out at 100 watts and then add 30 watts every minute until you collapse. Whatever your wattage was at the moment you stopped is your PPO (peak power output). After a day or two, go out and ride as long as you can at your PPO. For those of us who are mortal that will be between 4-6 minutes. We're almost done here. The last step in setting up your new interval is to multiply the amount of time you could ride at your PPO by 60% (0.6). That figure is your T-Max work interval. For example, if you rode for 5 minutes, your work interval would be 3 minutes. Double your work interval, and that number is your recovery interval. Using the above example... 3 minutes on, 6 minutes off.
Now all you have to do is go out and put yourself in the pain cave and do the work. The ultimate goal is to do 8 efforts, but don't feel bad if you can only do 3-4 for a while. From what I've read these are some of the most painful and hardest training sessions you'll ever do.
Now why should you bother with these particular intervals? They'll make you fast and fit...and in a hurry. Significant changes in fitness were observed within 4-6 weeks. I only just started doing them so I can't tell you much from personal experience. I will tell you this though, they hurt like a mofo. I completed 3 efforts and went for a fourth, and about a minute and a half into the fourth effort I collapsed... spectacularly.
Between the T-Max intervals, and 2 lactate clearance sessions, I was in the hurt locker this week. It's all good though. That's the thing about doing intervals/high intensity efforts. They hurt like hell while you're doing them, but afterwards you almost feel good about having pushed yourself beyond your comfort zone.
I leave for Las Vegas on Wed, and even though I'm gonna take my road bike out there, I'm gonna try and get as much riding in here as possible. I'd like to think I could get in 4hrs by Tuesday. That will give me almost half my hours in before I leave. I'm gonna ride with a buddy while I'm there, and I don't doubt that there are plenty of places to ride and accumulate some hours, but I'm not gonna take any chances. When I come back I'll only have a few days before my race in Tallahassee.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Suffering 101
The motivation for getting out on long rides has really taken a hit with all this hot weather we've been having. I came up short on hours again last week, although I did have some good rides. This week I think I'll fare better as I'm already up over 3hrs for the week and it's just Tuesday.
I've learned of a new interval that I'm really anxious to try. It takes some testing to figure out the exact wattage and interval time though. As I understand it, these intervals will make you fast and send your v02max into the stratosphere...if you survive. They are supposed to be quite painful. From what I've experienced so far, they're right. We'll see though. I'll be trying them for the first time tomorrow or Thursday.
I've learned of a new interval that I'm really anxious to try. It takes some testing to figure out the exact wattage and interval time though. As I understand it, these intervals will make you fast and send your v02max into the stratosphere...if you survive. They are supposed to be quite painful. From what I've experienced so far, they're right. We'll see though. I'll be trying them for the first time tomorrow or Thursday.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Mmm, lactate
Tried those lactate clearance reps again. I tried a different line of attack this time, and conducted them on the trainer. I thought that maybe I might fare better under more controlled circumstances...ie, no hills, headwind/tailwind to contend with. While I didn't get my wattage where I really wanted it, I think I have to call the workout a success. My numbers were all within 10% of my range, so it was a good effort. They hurt, but they were good.
I think one of the problems I incurred on my first attempt was that I went out way too hard. I was hitting initial peaks of 600+ watts, and for such a short violent effort, it was too much with too little recovery. If I'm to do these outdoors I need to not throttle it in the opening seconds.
On a different note, as of yesterday I have logged 5000 miles for the year. What a step up from last year. I logged just over 4200 miles all last year. The difference in mileage is quite evident in my fitness and overall ability.
I think one of the problems I incurred on my first attempt was that I went out way too hard. I was hitting initial peaks of 600+ watts, and for such a short violent effort, it was too much with too little recovery. If I'm to do these outdoors I need to not throttle it in the opening seconds.
On a different note, as of yesterday I have logged 5000 miles for the year. What a step up from last year. I logged just over 4200 miles all last year. The difference in mileage is quite evident in my fitness and overall ability.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Stupid is, as stupid does
After bagging on Monday's planned ride due to feeling kinda wiped, today was to be my first ride of the new week...the first interval session to boot.
Have you ever had one of those moments where, in retrospect, you should have listened to what your body was saying? When the alarm went off I stirred ('woke up' is too strong for what I did this morning), and began getting my helmet, gloves, glasses, etc. I'd at least like to say that the spirit was willing, but that would be a lie. When it came time to grab the bike off the rack so I could air up the tires I just stood there staring at the bike, having a conversation with myself. It went something like this...
Sean 1: Ya know, I'm kinda tired. Why not go back to sleep and do the ride later this afternoon?
Sean 2: That's not gonna work. A) there's the usual work issues on Tuesday night, and B) you know that afternoon interval sessions don't go as well as morning ones do.
Sean 1: Ok, then what about doing them tomorrow morning, and just get a ride in before the meeting tonight?
Sean 2: I hate to break it to you genius, but that won't work either. We're scheduled to do a long ride tomorrow afternoon with Joe and if we do intervals in the morning we'll be smoked come tomorrow afternoon. And we can't do them on Thursday morning either, because after 3-3 1/2 hrs Wed afternoon I can guarantee that it would not be pretty. Suck it up and lets go!
Sean 1: Fine. Whatever. [grumbles incoherently]
I manage to get myself to my riding location, and once I start riding I wake up and feel pretty decent. I take an extra few minutes for my warm-up, pushing it to 20 minutes. I even throw in a few fast accelerations since today's workout is going to be...violent, for lack of a better term. What kind of workout could be that bad? Lactate tolerance reps.
If you use a power meter, the effort is done in what is known as the CP1 zone...which is your 1 minute critical power (the fastest 1 minute you can do) +/- 5%. For me that zone is 503-557 watts. You're supposed to do 3-5 sets of 4 reps of 30-40sec, with your recovery interval being half of your work interval. That means 15-20 sec of recovery in between reps. That is followed up by 5 minutes recovery between sets.
On paper it doesn't sound too bad, but let me assure you that they are evil.
I am shooting for the 40/20. I do the first one, don't feel too bad, spin easily for the 20 sec, start the 2nd rep and it is immediate and total meltdown. Let's try 30/15 instead. I got 2 reps completed before the check engine light came on. That was it, time to abandon. I was already out there, so I figured I might as well salvage something out of this ride, and decided to get 1.5hrs in total. Let me tell ya, that last 45 min was tough. I was tempted several times to just lay down in the road and let a truck run me over and put me out of my misery.
Next time that I don't sleep well and my body is trying to send a message, I'm gonna pay a bit more attention.
Have you ever had one of those moments where, in retrospect, you should have listened to what your body was saying? When the alarm went off I stirred ('woke up' is too strong for what I did this morning), and began getting my helmet, gloves, glasses, etc. I'd at least like to say that the spirit was willing, but that would be a lie. When it came time to grab the bike off the rack so I could air up the tires I just stood there staring at the bike, having a conversation with myself. It went something like this...
Sean 1: Ya know, I'm kinda tired. Why not go back to sleep and do the ride later this afternoon?
Sean 2: That's not gonna work. A) there's the usual work issues on Tuesday night, and B) you know that afternoon interval sessions don't go as well as morning ones do.
Sean 1: Ok, then what about doing them tomorrow morning, and just get a ride in before the meeting tonight?
Sean 2: I hate to break it to you genius, but that won't work either. We're scheduled to do a long ride tomorrow afternoon with Joe and if we do intervals in the morning we'll be smoked come tomorrow afternoon. And we can't do them on Thursday morning either, because after 3-3 1/2 hrs Wed afternoon I can guarantee that it would not be pretty. Suck it up and lets go!
Sean 1: Fine. Whatever. [grumbles incoherently]
I manage to get myself to my riding location, and once I start riding I wake up and feel pretty decent. I take an extra few minutes for my warm-up, pushing it to 20 minutes. I even throw in a few fast accelerations since today's workout is going to be...violent, for lack of a better term. What kind of workout could be that bad? Lactate tolerance reps.
If you use a power meter, the effort is done in what is known as the CP1 zone...which is your 1 minute critical power (the fastest 1 minute you can do) +/- 5%. For me that zone is 503-557 watts. You're supposed to do 3-5 sets of 4 reps of 30-40sec, with your recovery interval being half of your work interval. That means 15-20 sec of recovery in between reps. That is followed up by 5 minutes recovery between sets.
On paper it doesn't sound too bad, but let me assure you that they are evil.
I am shooting for the 40/20. I do the first one, don't feel too bad, spin easily for the 20 sec, start the 2nd rep and it is immediate and total meltdown. Let's try 30/15 instead. I got 2 reps completed before the check engine light came on. That was it, time to abandon. I was already out there, so I figured I might as well salvage something out of this ride, and decided to get 1.5hrs in total. Let me tell ya, that last 45 min was tough. I was tempted several times to just lay down in the road and let a truck run me over and put me out of my misery.
Next time that I don't sleep well and my body is trying to send a message, I'm gonna pay a bit more attention.
Monday, August 20, 2007
8 days a week
Last week had to be one of the hardest weeks I've had, with regards to getting my hours in. Since it's been so blasted hot I've been less than inspired to go out for any really long rides. As a result, I had to push it right thru to Sunday. I got my hours in, but just barely.
My plan, as I originally mapped it had me doing another 2 weeks of Base, but I've decided to cut that short by 2 weeks and move back into race specific intervals.
So...back to the pain.
My plan, as I originally mapped it had me doing another 2 weeks of Base, but I've decided to cut that short by 2 weeks and move back into race specific intervals.
So...back to the pain.
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Par-tay
Nobody can say that us normally uptight XC race geeks can't let our hair down and get crazy once in a while. The conclusion of the Snowmass finals brought about a 80s themed, post NMBS soiree. For some of the pros it'll be back to business for the World Championships in Slovenia and a pre Olympic test event in Beijing.
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