The Other Woman

New Other Woman?

2011-01-19T19:21:00.000-08:00

Yes. I have been in hibernation over the last 4 months, but I have not been sitting on the couch. Instead, I have been running... a lot. My original passion when I got into endurance sports was running. I always swore that when I lost interest in racing my bike I would return to my original passion. I knew that I had learned a lot in my time gone, but never thought that my return to endurance running would go as well as it is now.

I have returned to the blog but my new topic will be my quest to run long distances in a relatively short amount of time and training. I will be getting this thing up to speed over coming weeks and there are a lot of exciting races to come for me in the next two months...

Glad to be back...

Signing Off...

2010-09-22T16:45:00.000-07:00

This blog started with my obsession with cycling and my obsession with power meters. It was really a place to write about my thoughts and training so that I could one day return and benefit from learning year to year and having some of that documented.

I am now retired from racing for a few years... family, work, home projects, other hobbies, and a lot of other things started getting in the way which is an easy way to say that I lost interest in cycling at that level. I am not genetically gifted enough to ride very well without a lot of training or at least I need 10-12 hours of good training per week to keep the edge and a lot of that needs to be with intensity during the race season... I just couldnt keep it up and found that I didnt really want to.

I sold my power meter.

That pretty well does it. The draw of the other woman has been tempered by life I guess. I still love cycling and will still ride and maybe even race, but the structured training is over... no intervals... no power sessions... no L4 discussion...

I am returning to the roots... I am unplugged. I am back to measuring success as whether or not I covered the time for the ride or whether or not I got dropped (which I am doing a lot). It is OK... it seems that when you have no expectations, getting dropped doesnt feel nearly as bad.

So it is over. I will keep open the blog for future reference and hope that I will return one day. I will likely start a new blog on a new topic in the next months and will post the name and topic on here. Thanks for reading...

Questions of the past year...

2010-07-06T17:25:00.000-07:00

Is the sport overindulgent? Is this lifestyle overindulgent?

How long will it take for a guy coming on hard luck and driving a big truck to decide that my silly arse on a $3000 bike needs to be run over? Or maybe he is just texting...

How many kids can you have and how old can they get before I realize that it isn't all about me or "me and my wife" anymore?

How many times can I tell the wife that we should all head out on a weekend to some weird town to watch me race... or that if she doesn't want to go that I will "tough it" alone?

How many times will my daughter beg me to stay and play with her on Saturday morning instead of ride the bike since I have been gone sooooooo much to work that week?

How much will these questions take from my quads and add to my midsection?

How easy is it to make excuses when you are out of the zone and out of the game?

It has been a while since I posted and as long since I have ridden well. You are looking at the captain who knows his ship is sinking yet is wondering whether he should go down with it and what will happen if he does.

February Update

2010-02-09T16:36:00.001-08:00

Just got back from our yearly training camp. Horrible weather but a good time to catch up with the guys on the team. And guess what? I still suck in the mountains. I suck so much that I actually look forward to going so that I can enjoy riding around here so much more. I never felt comfortable on a climb and we didn't do many. All rides were cut short or didn't happen due to icy roads. I did ride my bike in the snow for the first time...

I have ventured into L3/L4 training this month and a little in January. I am doing all tests and all notable workouts in the drops or on the TT machine. I have noticed a big increase in power when in an aero position. I am more convinced than ever that this will be a notable improvement come race time. My FTP seems to be moving sharply upward over the last few weeks and I expect this to continue through the month and taper off pretty quick.

I am more fresh than ever at this time of year. There is no question about that. Even though I have been riding the same number of hours and my FTP seems to be nearly what it was last year at this time, I did very little L4 this off season and really didn't nail the L3 until lately. I did a 40 minute L4 workout every week of the off season last year... no matter what. I really never understood how much mental and physical energy I was putting into these workouts. I did everyone like it was a do or die effort for every single watt... rather than just aiming for 90-100% of my FTP the week before, I would treat each one like a TT... a 40 minute TT. I would do them on Tuesdays and I would start thinking about the next one on Thursday or so. I didn't realize it until now, but I was racing every single week. Sure, it was just racing myself, but I was really racing the power meter... if I was under where I was the week before I would be upset... elation for the opposite. All of this drama dealt up a nice burnout for me in April last year... yes, I said April...

It looks like I will be racing the first three weekends of March. I cant hardly wait...

Ramblings...

2010-01-19T18:06:00.001-08:00

A few things that have happened or that I have been thinking about over the many, many, long, freezing cold, solo rides that I have been on over the last month...

This sounds like the start of a country song... I was riding my bike to church a few weeks ago to meet my wife and kids for Mass. I stupidly picked a bad, high traffic route and decided to ride on the sidewalk. This particular sidewalk apparently has water constantly running over it from the hill above. Of course it was around 32 degrees when I left the house. Before I knew it... riding down a hill at around 25 mph... I find myself shooting across a 3" thick sheet of ice. I, of course, go down like a sack of potatoes. Didn't get hurt... thank you Lord...
Today, man and machine become one... not in the biblical sense, but suffice to say that I felt sorry for every man, woman, or child that does not take the time to become truly comfortable and efficient on a bicycle... it is magical and there is nothing else like it...
I completely rehabbed my basement while managing 12 hours per week on the bike, work 45 hours per week, and raise two kids. Everyone is still happy I think (would I know if they weren't?). Anyone who tells you that they dont have time to workout needs a perspective change.
Speaking of perspective change, I had to chuckle when I found some old emails where I was saying that it would be 36 degrees so I would not ride until it warmed up. Until this week, I have not ridden in weather over 36 degrees in three weeks with the same gear I had last year.
I have leaned down quite a bit since New Years. Oddly, I am at 185 lbs (7 lbs over last year at this time) but I am in my smallest waisted pants that I own... pants I havent worn in 12-13 years... the weight room has worked but I hope it is not upper body muscle...
My 30 min all out on the hoods is around 295W... My 30 min all out on the drops must be around 275W... My TT 30 min max is 269W. They are all growing rapidly but these are low numbers for this time of year for me... I am ready to let it loose a little...

December '08 versus December '09

2010-01-02T18:20:00.000-08:00

Last year stats...

34.08 hours on the bike

Average Intensity factor for the month- 0.802

No time lifting weights

This year stats...

40.75 hours on the bike

Average Intensity factor for the month- 0.733

6 hours lifting weights (squats,step ups, plyometric jumps, lunges)

L4 is just starting to pick up now and IF will go up accordingly... it will be interesting to see how more hours, time in the weight room, and less intense work will translate into form this next season. Hope it works out...

Either way, I am as fresh as I have been in three years going into the new year and my threshold is as low as it has been in three years.

Winter Focus

2009-12-27T16:38:00.001-08:00

The following points sum up my focus for the last two months...

1. Get aero and get used to it...

I have decided to spend a lot more time in the drops than ever before. I realized when reflecting on past seasons that anytime I am attempting an attack, to bridge an attack, sprint for the finish, advance in a crit, hold position in a crit when I am outmatched, or ride a TT/prologue, I am in my drops. Yet I have spent nearly no time training in my drops. My road bike position is relatively aggressive on the hoods and very aggressive on the drops (these are mostly relative to my own comfort level but also in comparison with other cyclists)... this makes me less apt to ride in the drops than on the hoods. I have focused on spending time in my drops this off season and have tested there on occasion. I have more than a 20 watt drop in FTP when moving from my hoods to my drops... this is unacceptable and explains some of my hardship in certain races over the past few years. I will often jump into the drops on an attack or bridge attempt only to find myself quickly out of breath. Now I expect that is due to many factors, but giving up 20 watts cant be helpful in any case. Spending more time in that position will help flexibility, muscle firing, and strength in TT/drop specific positioning that should help in races. I need to be closer to 98% FTP in those positions rather than 90%... time will tell...

2. Lift Weights...

We will see... I hope that it adds to my sprint but who knows. What I do know is that it has made me full strong throughout and that should add to my durability and confidence during the next races season... cant be bad...

3. Save the L4 for January...

Last year I completed a 40 minute L4 time trial every week from November until nearly February. As L5 and L6 work started in Jan/Feb, the L4 work tapered off but still continued every other week for maintenance. This offseason, I have had a steady diet of L2 and now L3 and will build L4 similar to the way I have built L5/L6 in the past... do it over a month and dont look back. I dont know what this will do, but I feel much more mentally and physically fresh right now compared to other years and I burnt out last spring very quickly so maybe this is the right move. I am training between 8 and 13 hours a week... feels good and my legs seem OK so time will tell..

The Illusive Limiter...

2009-10-17T03:12:00.000-07:00

There were certain races this past season where I was satisfied with a midpack result (I say "satisfied" because it was all I felt I had that day). I went into the event well trained (or so I thought) and yet was unable to perform for a result. When I reviewed my power file after the race, I noticed that the power output was not out of the ordinary... well within my threshold. I would then study the hard efforts during the race... searching for a match and trying to decide whether I had burned too many too quickly (as most everyone knows, the "match" is loosely described as an extreme effort... you only have so many of those in your box... once you burn them all, you get dropped.) On these particular events in question, I had a hard time defining what efforts left me tired at the end... too tired to make a winning move. The "intervals within the race" should have been well within what I was trained to do. I was left to decide that I just didnt have it that day... it wasnt in the cards... I just had bad legs... whatever...

As a guy that likes data and likes analysis and likes to think that I have some control over outcomes on the bike and likes to think that training specifically for events can provide success in those events... I didnt really like the "well I had bad legs" excuse.

So I was reading some stuff the other day... Friel to be exact. He was asking questions to help you decide what your weaknesses and what you need to train hard to overcome. One particular question caught my eye and got me thinking. Where do you find yourself in the pack on a climb (defined as longer than 5 minutes)? His shortened answer was that if you cant climb then force might be your limiter. Now the easy answer for me is off the back... of course this depends on what pack we are talking about, but still. The more specific answer is that if I can find a gear where my cadence is comfortable (95 rpm) then I climb OK... if I am lower than that... not so much. But could force be my limiter?

I started to think about my training. I am a spinner and I know it. I have power, but I harness and distribute that power quickly over the cranks. In a TT, my average cadence is between 95 and 100 rpm... always. If I am struggling during a TT, I can check my cadence and I will always realized that I have dropped into the 80s... speed up my legs and immediatley my power and speed increase. I have always rationalized that as long as I had gearing to find that ideal cadence that my body yearned for when putting out powerful efforts, I really never needed to worry out forceful, low cadence efforts. Lets face it... high force, high cadence is sprinting... I am not doing standing starts or anything else that would require high force, low cadence.

All this brought me back around to racing... is there a possiblity that racing requires those high force, low cadence efforts and I have never noticed it? If it did, could I look at my data and figure out where those efforts were or how many there were?

Enter Quadrant Analysis. A spreadsheet tool designed by Andy Coggan (to whom I give credit for the chart below... well, credit for design... I will unfortunately take credit for the power data... or does God take credit for that (for giving me the questionable genetics in the first place... I digress...). This "software" was developed to breakdown rides into quadrants of effort. Quad 1 (upper right) shows high force, high cadence efforts... Quad 2 shows high force, low cadence efforts... Quad 3 shows low force, low cadence efforts... Quad 4 shows low force, high cadence. So for me in a race (this statement is obviously oversimplified but is probably true at the extremities), 1 is sprinting... 2 is mashing/grinding (think Stoney here)... 3 is chilling... 4 is spinning.

The blue dots show every individual effort from the race. The red line represents my threshold wattage... if a point is higher on the graph than the red line... it was over 280 Watts... below it would be less. So, all blue dots above the red line in Quad 2 (upper left) would represent efforts that are above 280 Watts and below my ideal cadence of 95 rpms. The further from the y axis (pretty much) the slower my legs were moving. This explains some... see next post for more information...

Cold Weather Returns...

2009-10-17T02:54:00.000-07:00

Finally we have a touch of cool weather today. The forecast calls for 47 degrees at ride time and only warming up 2 degrees during the ride. I love it... cant wait to break out some fall weather gear and smell embrocation will certainly spark nostalgia of offseasons past...

Winter Training... Where to go...

2009-10-12T17:50:00.000-07:00

This time of year is always spent working on this offseason's plan. There is a lot of info out there on how to train and what works best. My interest is to find the best plan to max out my potential while minimizing time away from the family.

Last offseason, my two main objectives were as follows:

1) Minimize trash miles... otherwise known as recovery miles. My plan was to never do any workouts (nor intervals) over threshold (no lactic acid)... and never do easy workouts... L1... recovery workouts. I would always push L3 for every minute I was on the road. This is the area where the most bang for the buck is realized on the bike. L4 and harder workouts usually require recovery and therefore the physiological adaptions realized from such workouts come at a greater price. The graph below explains it best. I am talking about sweet spot training. Strain is minimized while training effect is maximized.

So, my thought was... if I only have 10 hours per week to train... it is winter which means that a steady diet of hard L3 work could be tolerated... couldn't I train there all the time and sit up when I get too tired to keep it up?

2) Grow CTL (Chronic Training Load) to highest point I could without overtraining. I wanted to hit 110 which seemed like as good a number as any. The truth is... this can only get so high on 10-12 hours per week, but I gave it a try.

So... what happened last winter and how did it workout this past season?

I really achieved both of my goals stated above. I rode L3 all the time and really cut down on trash miles. I did one L4 workout each week and took off one day each week. I got sick three times (always during intense training periods) and learned a few things about that. I increased CTL around 4 points a week and tried not to step back weeks (but would get sick just in time for a needed step back). I think I hit around 105 CTL... cant really trust all of that data, but I was riding a good bit and mostly around L3.

How did it workout for the season? Well... different story. I decided to crash diet coming in so that I could get really light before the races. I dropped weight quickly when I stopped eating... down to 174 from where I had been for a while (182). I am pretty sure now, based on what I have been reading, that the calorie deficit and the increased training intensity and load in February and March led to overtraining. How else can I explain the huge disinterest in cycling that happened in April and May. I starting running again... I think that says enough. I trained my tail off for 5 months looking forward to nothing but racing, through rain and cold, and 3 weeks into the season with beautiful weather I decide that I want to get off the bike and rest for a while. It makes no sense. I lost all of my form with 4 weeks of foolishness and never got back to where I was as far as form.

I will spend the next week studying my data from last winter and determining where to go with this information. I will not be crash dieting... that I am sure of...

September Summary...

2009-10-02T17:30:00.000-07:00

I finally got my new computer up and transferred all my .wko files and looked over what I have been doing the last month.

Pretty disappointing really. 4.5 hours of riding for 3 weeks straight (at least riding with the powertap) until this week (probably around 8 hours this week). That is really weak. My legs have been horrible until today. I felt my old power creep back on today's ride and put down the first solid L3 effort without major discomfort for the last 3 weeks. Looks like my legs will come around after all... I was beginning to wonder.

Winter Training Month Summary

2009-09-28T17:19:00.001-07:00

September- Stupid Easy

This is a month to lose the bike and find it... all in one month. First two weeks... you forget what your legs used to feel like when you suffer. Second two weeks... jump back on the bike. I am in the middle of this now and my plan is to quickly up my weekly time on the bike to 10 hours per week with no attention paid to effort level. I basically go out and ride for time... tempo if I feel like it... L1/L2 if I feel like... no worries... wont last long... enjoy it...

October- L2

L2 is really just the assignment for the month... not an absolute and this 4 weeks will see me grow CTL considerably while limiting effort for later months. L2 will make up a fair amount of time during this month, though.

Week 1- L2 all week with 1 sprint day (6x12-15 second... all out) and 1 Sweet Spot Interval (SSI) Day

Week 2- L2 all week with 1 sprint day and 2 SSI days

Week 3- repeat Week 2 with a few short L4 intervals (more later)

Week 4- repeat Week 2 with 2x20 FTP intervals one day (use HR to figure out wattage today)

Would like to work up to riding around 12 hours per week this month.

November- L3

Main focus is L3 this month with recovery days at L2 as needed. My general goal here is to continue to grow FTP/aerobic engine.

Do a FTP test in Week 1 to figure out where we are. One 20 minute L4 interval during W2 growing to 2-12 min intervals during W3 and 2-15 minute L4 intervals during W4. I will plan to do one SSI interval day, one sprint day, and one steady 1.5 hour tempo ride per week. I will fill in with more L3 as legs will allow and supplement with L2 as needed to rest some.

Would like to work up to riding around 14 hours per week this month.

December- L4

Obvious focus this month.

Week 1- FTP test on Tuesday and 2-12 minute FTP (95%) on Thursday. Continue with sprint day. Fill in with L3 and L2 as needed to continue growing CTL and rest when needed.

Week 2- Two FTP interval days. Tuesday- 2-20 minute FTP intervals at 103%. Thursday 2-20 minute FTP intervals at 103%-105%. Sprint and fill in...

Week 3- Three FTP interval days. Tuesday- Test for 45 minutes. Thursday- 2x20 at 95% FTP and repeat on Friday.

Week 4- repeat week 2... reduce to one FTP day if rest is needed...

Would like to work up to riding around 16 hours per week this month.

This is certainly just a rough cut of my plan. Generally, the difference from last year will be the delay of L4 work until a little later in the winter and variation in L3 and L4 approach from last year. Instead of doing the same thing every week, I will use varying lengths and intensities to stress the systems and hopefully produce a more energized workout.

Winter Training

2009-09-28T17:06:00.000-07:00

Racing is over for the season. Nothing noteworthy really sent me into winter other than the end of the racing season and a trip to the beach following right behind my last race. Coming off a long run of bad luck- two of my last three races ended in mechanicals- I took off a week and sat around drinking beer at the beach. I ate like a pig and was lazy as I have been for a long time.

After that, me and two teammates (Bob and Drew) went through the certification course for the local velodrome (1 hour from Macon). Nothing really noteworthy happened there either other than it was a blast and something I will use to bring on the race legs in late February/early March next year for sure.

For the past month, I have been mixing off days with maybe 1 medium hard day and some easy days between each week with no real focus. I played tennis a few times... I worked on projects around the house... caught up on family time.

But now winter has officially started... winter training that is. I am changing computers, so I have still got to figure out what my CTL is (got to be really bad) and set the stage for that, but I have already decided how I will address training this winter. I will start with generalities and be more specific in coming posts...

September- Stupid easy

October- L2/L3

November- L3

December- L4

January- L5

February- L6

March- Race

Weird and sad...

2009-09-28T17:00:00.000-07:00

I set up that feedjit thing on my blog a while ago. It is interesting to see how people find my blog. Most come through Jordan's website, but occasionally someone will find it by searching at google or some other search engine.

I was looking a minute ago to see what has been going on (not much... just like my blogging) and I see that someone from Southington, Conneticut found my blog by searching "woman cycling sprint."

Someone from Melitta (not sure where that is) found my blog by searching "woman no legs and screw"...

Wow... might be one of my more disappointed readers...

No legs... bad day to race I guess...

2009-07-22T19:08:00.000-07:00

Had to work through all sorts of drama at work to go race on a
Wednesday at 3:00. I had considered that a race car course where TdG had raced the TTT years ago would be relatively flat and favor me. Wow... what a screw up. Tough climbs and concrete legs...

My legs were dead. I didn't know it at the time... I was not in difficulty on any of the climbs (and there were at least 3 punchy climbs (did it clockwise)... seemed like more by the end). It was just getting harder and harder as the race went on and I really never found a good rhythm. Coming into the finishing straight, I got on the wrong guys wheel who bumped against another rider... I tapped my brakes and lost 10 spots... I was glad... I was gassed and didn't feel like I could really contest the sprint...

The finale was a 48 mph drop into the finish line. I thought that would be a good thing for me and it probably would have been if I would have held my position. The sprint was fast but we were going fast anyway. I sat in and didn't pedal on the sprint... no one came past... I just tucked in as tight as I could and held my position... mid-pack.

Thought that I would have set big records when I got home, but there was not a serious effort on the whole ride and the overall effort was weak... even for a heavy guy, I didn't have a big normalized power average over the hour... I was shocked.

This is really when the power meter in a race earns its keep. I would be apt to say that the pace was high and I am not able to handle climbing with the guys in my group, but the truth is, my legs were just not up to it... maybe it is that I am not used to racing on Wed. when I raced twice on Saturday... maybe I took it too easy the last three days (I think this might be it- lost a little snap)... maybe I am thinking about vacation (starts Saturday)... maybe I knew I should have been working rather than racing...

Lessons learned...

5 Minute Max Power...

2009-07-19T17:52:00.000-07:00

As described below, I attacked as hard as I ever have in a race in the last 5 miles of this past weekend's race. I set a new 5 minute record (and didn't get dropped because of it... actually managed 15 seconds at 800 watts in the final sprint at the tail end), which makes me laugh because of all systems that I have been training, that is the one that I have not touched. I think that this is probably the system (level) most trained in the Tuesday night group ride, which I have not ridden very much lately. I have not been racing much and only have been doing long tempo rides and hard short intervals sessions over the last couple of months. Surprisingly, this metric now tops out ahead of all others on my "power profile" chart... odd... but nice...

Gainesville Circuit and Crit...

2009-07-19T17:30:00.000-07:00

The day started with a 30 mile circuit race... rolling course with two tough, quick climbs that dwindled down the field pretty quick. We had around 20 in our race. Tried to get a break going in a big way on the second lap, but the group kept nailing us back... I raced very aggressive the whole time. I have been sprinting well lately, so I didn't want to work too much on the last lap and instead save up for the end. There was a right turn at the top of the second climb and then around 3 k to the finish... all slightly uphill (2%) and an uphill finish (2-3%)...

This is not ideal for me for a sprint, and the group seemed to hit the first climb hard and sit on the second, so I decided that I would attack on the second half of the second hill and try to hold out the next 3 K for the finish. I nailed it on the hill at the perfect time... killed the corner and buried it for 1K before I looked back. Had a 10 second split with two guys bridging. Bad news... head wind. I knew it before, but still liked the plan. The guys bridged, but refused to come around. The group caught us at .750 K and would not come around me. I dropped my power to below threshold, but feared letting up too much, because if an attack came from behind, I wouldnt be able to follow. I kept slowing and no one would come around... I probably should have gone again there, but I was gassed. They were content to stay on my wheel to 200 meters where the sprint started and I jumped also... first three came by quick, but I got up to speed OK and got nipped at the line for fourth... I got 5th.

It was a good result, but I was a little disappointed. I had great legs and I really think I could have podiumed if I would have sat in and sprinted at the end, but that is bike racing. I set some 3-6 minute power records on the run into the finish, so I am not surprised that my sprint wasnt at its best.

Legs were a little busted on the crit... tough effort and stayed in the front too much. There was a strong wind and I was sitting 2nd wheel through the first half of the race... not far enough back to stay completely out of the wind, but I didnt realize how much work I was doing until it was too late. Stayed in the mix, but lacked power on the last lap to stay in up front for the sprint... it was a very sketchy lead in so maybe I lost my guts some too, but live to race another day. Looking back at the files, it looks like I put in a good effort, so I am pleased. I think I got 15th or so with a pack finish...

Looks like I am going to race on Wednesday at Road Atlanta... 20 mile crit course... cannot wait...

Thoughts on Lance...

2009-07-19T16:05:00.000-07:00

Kind of sad for me today. I was really hoping that LA was going to kill 'em. The worst part is that I think both of us were hoping that (me and Lance). He just didn't have it... a lot more than most might think. I wasn't surprised that he didn't go with Contador... that guy obviously had a kick that no one had... it was sick. I was surprised when Andy Schleck attacked and LA didn't sit on him. You could rationalize that he was riding defensively and was at the time marking other riders that were closer to him. But when Frank Schleck and the others attacked, the only move for LA was to follow. From a team tactic standpoint, it would be imperative... he should sit on Frank's wheel in case he bridged to his brother and in case they both bridged to his teammate. I mean, Frank can climb, but come on. Even Kloden was able to release from LA in the end to pick up a few seconds. Thank God that Levi was not there. To watch him out accelerate LA on a climb of the TdF would be more than I could handle.

They always say to go out on top and I have never agreed with that until now. Seinfeld did it. I disagreed when they did. But now I see what they mean... it is really tough because I could see the disappointment on LA's face in the closing interview. He really believed that he might surprise even himself on that day... that the TdF, and the high mountains, and the passion, and the love, and the Giro, and the training, and the 7 time winner, and all the fans on the road,and all that would come together and he would attack and it would be like the days of old and he would rip the legs off the best in the world. Instead I am left thinking of the creased face and aged eyes of the guy conceding leadership to another...

I am going to watch some Seinfeld reruns tonight and celebrate their decision... maybe they were right, because their last stuff was the best...

Not going to unplug just yet...

2009-07-13T16:42:00.000-07:00

I was thinking about power... thinking about how convenient it is to look at every effort and understand how different aspects of my cycling have grown through the time that I have had it. Certainly there have been changes in the last two years, but what is the easiest way to think about growth as a cyclist from before I had a power meter compared to now? My old friend- average speed.

I remember, probably 7 years ago... I had never raced nor did I know that there was a such thing as racing. I was fat, dumb, and happy... and I really thought I was tough and fast. I would go out to a stretch of Highway 41 (ironically the same stretch that I still use for my FTP efforts) and go as hard as I could for 10 miles, turn about and come back 10 miles. My goal for these workouts was to break 20 mph average speed. I never did it... not once. I watched the average speed ticker slowly die down below (after starting too hard of course) and would drag home.

I was looking at my data the other night to see how far I have come and relate it roughly to wattage. Now these are general relationships from looking over around the last month of data, but interesting to me non-the-less...

Average Speed........ Description
17.5 - 18 mph............1 hour easy ride (L1-L2) with 10 minute at L3
19.7 - 20.1 mph.........2 hour tempo ride (usually mid to high L3 for 1.5 hrs)
22.5 - 23.2 mph........40 minute FTP (all out effort on road bike)
25+ mph...................TT bike... away from hills preferably
30 mph.....................Team Time Trial

I guess it is amazing to me that I now can ride solo for 2 hours at a strong Tempo/L3 effort and average 20 mph when I dreamed of holding that for 20 miles in an all out effort several years ago. For all but the most gifted, cycling truly is a sport of patience...

New Stuff...

2009-07-01T17:20:00.001-07:00

Raced in two great races this past weekend... A 21 mile Team Time Trial and a Road Race in a City called Dacula near Atlanta.

The TTT was on a rolling course on country roads with three open turns. The race was based solely on age and only 4-man teams were allowed. We raced in the 140-180 cumulative years division. We only practiced once and had a lot of variability in riding styles across our team, but we really felt good that we could race this thing well. We ended up winning our division and averaging 29.77 mph over the course with four guys. I have felt better on the bike, but considering that I have not touched the TT bike for 6 months I was very pleased...

The RR was a ball buster. Extremely hilly and unbelievably hot. My legs were a little fried from the TTT effort earlier that day and I decided to stay in the pack and feel it out. We were doing 6 laps for a total of 39 miles I think. I drove the course beforehand and immediately regretted riding the TTT that morning. It was not a course that favors me to say the least. The race started and I actually felt really good. I stayed near the front and the climbs were no sweat. The attacks started on the second lap. I saw a couple of riders that I know are strong attack and I couldn't help but to bridge and give it a run. After 1.5 laps in a break we had around 45 seconds on the field. After going around a turn, I stood to jump back on the back of the guy in front of me and my calf seized up a little. That turned a lot worse over the next two hills to the point that I could no longer stand without it cramping full. Finally, I had to slow down to work out the cramp... I lost the break and then lost the chase... shortly after, I had to retire as I couldn't put out over 150 watts without the cramp coming hard. Pissed... I think that this break would have made it... it was too hot for anyone to want to chase, but I could not hang on...

Racing in Macon...

2009-06-14T13:49:00.000-07:00

Pinned back on a number this weekend and it felt great. We sponsored our first three stage weekend of bike racing in Macon, Georgia this weekend. There was a downtown prologue... a downtown crit (state championship no less), and a tough RR course in East Macon. A lot of hard work went into it and it came off really well. All the racers seem to have really enjoyed the races. I worked a corner during the prologue since we were a little short volunteers and ended up racing the crit and prologue.

My confidence was a little off going in... my legs have not been great, but I have been working hard lately. The crit was a blast. It was wide open and my legs were good. I worked in the top 5-7 guys all day and brought back a number of breaks so that Drew could have a chance at the State Championship. I knew he was catting up after this race, so I wanted to help him out if I could... especially with my shaky confidence. I didn't contest the sprint and finished midpack.

The RR was a sufferfest. Tough climbs and nonstop rollers and big heat. I figured that attrition alone would dwindle down the field and had serious doubts if I could hang with the front group. Turns out that I had great legs... the group fractured in half in the first 15 miles and dwindled down from there. I felt like I might throw up for the second half of the race, but hung in there. Drew broke away with three others after a fair setup effort by me. I then proceeded to gum up any chase efforts while Drew and the other two guys dropped the fourth. He won the race and I finished 11th out of a chase group (selection) of 12 or so. I was very pleased. You cannot race to win when you have no confidence and so I am glad to truly believe that I have the legs to win for the rest of this year.

I plan to step up the racing for the rest of the year and try to Cat up to 3 in the offseason...

Things I cant explain...

2009-05-26T17:43:00.000-07:00

Much has happened since my last blog and most of it is not great from a cycling standpoint. I turned a 4 day vacation (anniversary trip around the first of April) into a week layoff the bike into a decision that I needed to start back running into a decision that I needed to start back swimming into a decision that I needed to start back doing triathlons into a realization that time off the bike along with running was making my cycling suck. That may not matter if I was really sold that I wanted to get back into triathlon, and my legs would certainly come around once they got used to running again, but I really didn't like sucking on the bike.

After having a very strange April and early May and getting my tail kicked on a few Tuesday night rides here in Macon, I have reconnected with the bike with a passion. Whatever reason I decided all the things I did, I am moving forward and while some has been lost, I have salvaged the season. I am training hard right now and am trying to get back into some kind of shape for the Macon race coming up middle of June.

I dumped the ergomo and got a powertap... that has been liberating. Come to find out, it was reading around 40 watts high on average and had other weird things going on that are not worth reviewing right now. They just cease to matter for the first time in a year and that feels good. Bad news... I trained with bogus numbers for a long time and it appears that they were not even relatively right... for instance I could easily maintain power going down a hill with the ergomo and I find that maintaining power downhill with the powertap is impossible. I remember it being like that with the ergomo before I moved it to my new bike and broke my hip. Anyway... enough...

I retested my FTP for a new starting point... wow... low...

30 minute power- 284 Watts

I think that I lost around 20-25 Watts with my hiatus in April (how stupid is that), but I think that can be rebuilt pretty quick. Most of my other measurables are close to where last year before the accident, so all is not lost.

Cycling Blog Turns Political Blog... only one... promise...

2009-03-20T12:53:00.000-07:00

Yes this is a cycling blog, but it also seems to be my only avenue to vent publicly (however small the readership might be) on this issue...

It is hard for me not to react to Obama's comment last night on Jay Leno about the Special Olympics... my son has Down Syndrome and I am also an athlete and look forward to my son following in my footsteps. If it is not bad enough that I don't agree with most of what Obama is doing right now nor do I respect his abandonment of all pro-life programs and his celebration of all pro-choice campaigns, now he is actually making fun of the Special Olympics on national television. This is a third grade, school yard comment... it is really hard to believe that our commander in chief could say this at all... but especially in public... and on public television for all to see...

To cross-reference our brilliant president, here is an article written about a true athlete...

The top bowler for the Special Olympics looks forward to meeting President Barack Obama in an alley.

"He bowled a 129. I bowl a 300. I could beat that score easily," Michigan's Kolan McConiughey told The Associated Press in an interview Friday.

The athletic-minded president made an offhand remark Thursday on "The Tonight Show" comparing his weak bowling to "the Special Olympics or something." He quickly apologized and told the Special Olympics chairman he wants to have some of its athletes visit the White House to bowl or play basketball.

McConiughey, who is mentally disabled, is just the bowler for the job. He's bowled five perfect games since 2005.

The 35-year-old McConiughey has been bowling since he was 8 or 9. His advice for Obama? Practice every day.

Thanks, Obama... thanks for invitation to come bowl with you at the White House... that makes it all better...

Albany Recap...

2009-03-16T16:37:00.000-07:00

Great weekend in Albany... some weirdness, but generally a great weekend.

We were warming up in the cold and fog the morning of the prologue... the race route was not well barricaded and people were riding both ways in both lanes of the course. At some point, the racing started... Robert and some others were still on the course when a girl came barreling around the corner and hit him head-on... aerobars to aerobars... both ended up in the hospital and both ended up OK... but it was crazy to say the least...

Obviously, Robert’s wreck threw us all off, but I went ahead with my start time. I barely made it to the house in time and started the run. I paced it well and almost died at the line just in time for the final sprint. It took me an hour to get my wind back and feel normal. My time was slower than last year but with very difficult conditions (fog, moisture), but enough for 2nd place in our category. This is my first Cat 4 podium... I catted up a year ago after racing a few races the year before as a Cat 5... last season, I only had a few races before the broken hip incident. I was pretty stoked and what made it better, my mom, mom's friends (Chesh and DeHart), my wife and kids, and the Speils were all there to see me on the podium... talk about timing...

Crit

I had planned to stay in the pack and think about the sprint finish. I was convinced that I could win this race if I didn’t hurt myself too much before the end. The strategy was perfect and I knew it. BUT!!!!! I got in my head that I couldn’t let the 3rd place guy go anywhere… I knew he would be trying to take away my 2nd place overall, and I knew I would finish there overall because there was no way I would get dropped from the crit or the RR. Wrong! He attacked almost immediately and I jumped on his wheel. The guy was heavy, but had some major power and could corner really tight… I have no idea how he didn’t beat me in the TT to be honest… he was a beast from my perspective. He started yelling that we had a split and that we had to work together and I started pulling… I looked at my ergomo and quickly looked away… I was embarrassed to be pulling with that much power in a breakaway that I knew would fail that early in the race… but there I was. I don’t know what happened next… we got reeled back pretty quick, and I was in the red zone. I retreated back in the group to get myself together which worked well until they announced a prem and I went for it. I went pretty early and stayed out around a few corners and sprinted easily to take it. But… I blew completely to pieces. I remember Drew coming by me at least 5 mph faster than I was going and screaming at me to speed up. I sprinted onto the back and hung out there for a lot of laps. The guy in front of me let a gap form as he was getting dropped and I kept hoping he would bridge back up… the gap got wider… I tried to make it on the back and just didn’t have the legs… so I got dropped from the group and lost a half minute…

RR

Drew went in a breakaway from word go. I blocked for Drew for the first half. It was a thing of beauty… me and Davies screwing up any form of a chase for as long as we could. I fought like heck for perfect position in the sprint. I was second wheel coming up to 200 meters but the group was spread across the road a little. Everyone broke at the same time except for the guy in front of me. He decided to sit on the sprint. By the time I realized it, we were going 3 mph slower than anyone and people were zipping by us on both sides. Drew told me later that the guy was racing for third in the overall and just wanted to hold his position. I didn’t know that, but who knows if it could have made a difference. I was very disappointed afterwards, because I really thought I could win it and really had great position and it was really hard to get and hold at the end and I was able to do it… I took a lot of risks with absolutely no payout and that is what angered me. Anyway… I learned a lot and am still not sure how to do it better. I think we have got to get more than one guy on our team in the top 5-7 coming into any sprint… sure we don’t have a sprinter, but most of the guys racing with us are not sprinters either…

Race Week!

2009-03-02T17:23:00.001-08:00

It has been a while since I have blogged (AGAIN!). So much has happened since my last note, that it is hard to figure out where to start... I think I will just ramble over the happenings of the last two months and then get to present and think about the race this weekend...

Made it through the 5 minute interval stage of training... VO2 max intervals... without any major happening. They hurt... a lot... and that was good...
Completed a few epic rides over the last 5-6 weeks... the Pine Mountain Challenge (130 mile ride to Pine Mountain and back). Got dropped on the way home, but salvaged the day with some hard efforts on the way in. I felt surprisingly good after 130 miles in the saddle and really felt like I could have gone a while longer. We also had our team camp in Dahlonega... no single ride was epic by itself, but three days in the mountains were epic when grouped together. I broke my shifter cable and was stuck with two gears to get through the long day in the mountains. It turned out to be a cadence workout that I would rather not talk about... we did the backside of hogpen... again, I would rather not talk about it. Suffice to say that I considered quiting cycling at the top... a 25 tooth easy gear on that side of hogpen is not a good idea...
Thanks to these efforts and a steady diet of lunch rides, two-a-days when possible, and long, hard rides on Saturday and Sunday, I have built my CTL over 100 for the first time. It has pulled back a little since I started anaerobic intervals, but I was glad to hit that milestone that I had set for myself last year. Does CTL translate to winning races? Probably not, but watching that number keeps me riding my bike when others are sitting by the fire...
I have been doing anaerobic intervals for a few weeks. I am on top of my training for the first time since winter started and I feel really great.
I raced in Greenville, SC weekend before last. I did the Masters 35+ race and the Cat 4 race, back to back. This is a training series, but everyone shows up to test their legs. We were riding the 35+ race with a lot of higher category riders, but I think most of those guys were saving their legs for later in the day. I rode hard in the first race and dropped out half way though the second... legs were absolutely fried, but it was a great day and helped to build my race form.
Albany is this weekend... I am very interested in placing well in this race, but it is still very difficult to know what my form is this year. Besides the injury from last year, my power meter cannot be trusted when comparing the numbers to last year. Maybe it is better not to know. Either way, I will know this weekend for sure and it will be great to be back.
I finished out my set of Zipp 404s... they are really sweet and feel very fast on the road. I am trying to decide whether I will race them in crits...
I have gotten my weight down to 176 lbs (low weigh in for last week) and am steady around 177 lbs throughout. This is 11 lbs down from year before last and 4-5 lbs down from my low last year. Every little bit counts...

More Ride Comparisons...

2009-01-11T17:48:00.000-08:00

This off-season, more than last one, has had me concerned that I am not training properly. I have really been going it alone this time. Last year, I made it to a lot more of the Peach Peloton rides... rode the attack zones... long hours in the saddle. The hours have been the same this year, but the attack zones have not. I think things will work out, but it does not stop me from constantly comparing rides from last year versus this year during the same time period.

I was searching for a good comparison with the ride from yesterday. I knew that I had felt tired after this ride and therefore wondered if I had a similar effort last year at this time. I came across this ride (see table) from the middle of February last off season. It really didn't have anything to do with what I was looking for, but I couldn't help but to smile... what a difference a month makes. Less junk miles (I said this for you, Robert) this season... I have been focused on that this year... I only want to be in Active Recovery (AR) on Mondays (my off day). Endurance zone minutes are almost identical. Almost double the time in the Tempo zone and am higher in the Threshold zone also. That is where things go the other way... big time. A whopping 22 minutes anaerobic... and 19 minutes in the VO2 Max Zone.

Over the next month, my program will shift with a much heavier concentration on VO2 max and Anaerobic Zones. Months of holding back will finally be released and my NP will start to swing upward in a big way. I just hope it is not too late...

Saturday Tempofest...

2009-01-11T17:31:00.000-08:00

I was not able to schedule a block of 5 hours to ride on Saturday this week, so I decided to split a total ride goal of 7 hours over the weekend into two equally times rides (3.5 hours each).

I had very, very good legs at the start of Saturday. My general goal thus far during the winter is to get in my key workouts each week (FTP, 5 min intervals, sprints, etc) and get in a long ride each week. The long ride distance is determined by how much work I have done during the week and is set at a distance (actually distance and intensity) that will slightly raise CTL (3-4 points) each week. If I am tired... I go a little shorter or take a day off during the week to rest and stay energized for the next workout. All other rides between the aforementioned are done at tempo pace... or as close as my legs will let me get to that pace. Most people agree that the most aerobic bang for the buck for the recovery cost is achieved at high L3... the sweet spot I mentioned earlier. On good days, I have done intervals where I ride at this power output for 10 minutes or so with a short break between... on really good days, I just ride at the sweet spot for as long as I can.

On Saturday, I had good legs and decided that I would ride sweet spot for my entire 3 hour ride. Did I think I could pull it off? No, but it sounded fun to try. After an hour and a half, I was dead where I wanted to be... NP was at sweet spot and AP was only off by 4 watts (lower, of course). I continued to do this and my legs continued to die a slow, long death. At two hours in, I could not really keep the wattage up without rest and by the end of the ride, I felt like I had been whipped. I was very tired after this ride and was shocked to see that my IF was only 0.83. That is not a shabby effort, but the way I felt, I was surprised to see it that low. Then I checked the AP... it was only 17 watts lower than my normalized. For that type of a ride, I could not find another ride on record with that high of an average power... so, I guess it was pretty good. Today, the legs were fried until I put out a 4 min all out effort and then they opened up and I was able to muster a 0.75 IF ride... pretty please with that I guess.

CTL is at 94.5... highest ever on record...

Good week... Build Phase Continues...

2009-01-08T17:38:00.000-08:00

Workouts have been great this week. I am trying to push my CTL above 100 for the first time ever and I really only need 3-4 solid weeks to do it. Ironically, this 3-4 week session will culminate in our team's training camp in North Georgia.

Sunday- recovered from several hard rides over the new year and rode the TT bike for an hour... took it easy and played with my position when I got back. More on that later...

Monday- Off... thanks to work...

Tuesday- I did 5x5s again and really slugged out 5 tough ones... felt weak, but survived with my goal wattage of 110% FTP. I doubled up workouts today and went out to the Tuesday edition of the Bass Pro Shops ride. Some guys from the team and a few others do a 5 minute loop with one hill and go round and round for an hour or so. I have found these workouts to be a little too aggressive on the hill for my program this time of year, but perfect for a quick TSS boost- maybe I will do one every other week for the next 4 and then open it up out there when my anaerobic phase kicks into gear. If I have ever ridden a NP buster, this ride is it... I rode with them for 45 minutes and realized that my NP was 15 Watts above threshold but I still felt fine. That told me that it must be a NP buster for sure...

Wednesday- Sweet Spot workout... I did that same workout I have done before. It is not a recovery workout, but it is also not overly tough... you are glad the intervals are over, but sad that the ride is over. I don't know how else to explain the ride better than that. 14 minutes warmup- 6 min at 90% FTP (or SS or Sweet Spot)- 3 minutes L2- 7 minutes SS- 2 minutes L2- 8 minutes SS- 1 minute L2- 9 minutes SS- L2 till you finish your hour... nice ride and a good way to get a little TSS when you are not motivated...

Thursday- Bass Pro ride... I needed to do sprints, so I would ride the hill easy and let the group get away, and then try to sprint back into the group. Sometimes I judged it right... sometimes I didn't. I tried to make a good 15 second sprint and catch them right at the top of the hill. If I missed them, I would not chase but rather sit up and wait at the next break in the median for them to come by... then I would sprint to catch on the back as they went by (at 30 mph with a 15 mph tailwind). I liked this workout better than my other sprint workout... it is better to have people to sprint after...

That gets me up to speed... I would like to have a 120 TSS workout tomorrow and log around 7 hours in the saddle between Saturday and Sunday. If I can muster 70 TSS per hour (could be tough), I will hit 95 CTL by Sunday...

This Weeks Rundown...

2009-01-03T16:41:00.001-08:00

Started the week still feeling the lingering effects of the virus I had late last week. I wanted to be cautious this week, but knew that I needed to push the training as much as possible. With a holiday week, I knew I would have the time to do it if I could find the energy.

Hit a good hour and a quarter ride on Monday to start things off. I had a decent training weekend last week considering the state of things, but not enough that I really needed an off day on Monday. I have realized that I need to train when I have the chance, because life and weather seem to make things difficult much of the winter and the last thing I need is more off days. I took Tuesday off... still trying to be cautious and thinking that it would allow me to open up for the next couple of workouts.

Wednesday was my first day of 5x5s... five minute intervals and I do five of them... each one is done on a hill that takes five minutes to climb exactly and I do them at 110% FTP. My legs felt a little rough during warmup and I had a very hard time working through these intervals. I only did 4 and then decided to head for home... there was a terrible wind and it was getting late on New Years Eve and I thought I would not push my luck riding in traffic on that night. The intervals were really miserable and I remember thinking that 110% was not enough last year to make things really hurt. For some reason, they are hurting this year for sure. Maybe it will take a couple of weeks to get on top of them...

Thursday I did a 40 minute FTP. This is my first one in a while... missed last week due to sickness and the week before, I did a TT position FTP in the Cave of Pain. I got up to 325 in the first 5 minutes and opened it up from there. The legs felt great and it was obvious that my stomach was better and my energy was back. I was thinking as I hit 330 average around 12 minutes in that this would easily be a record setting day. I was right and wrong. I was right in that I ended up at 331 Watts. I was wrong because I had to work as hard as I can imagine to hold on to that until the bloody end. It was a true sufferfest that you block out shortly after it is over. I added an hour ride on the back end of it to top off the day...

Friday- I went out with Tom and Dave on a very energetic ride. We did 50 and my legs were really great... did some very hard efforts and had fun on the bike until the rain hit. Rode the last 45 minutes in the rain and was not dressed warmly enough. It was really miserable for one reason or another... it was the end of a long ride... I was tired... I don't know... it just hurt... 200 TSS ride... really nice overall...

Saturday- went out for a 5 hour ride at 7:00... it was way to foggy so we waited until 8:00 to start. It was wet and a little cold and a little rainy. Legs were tired, but we kept the pace at a good medium/low L3 and worked for a few hours. The rain started again and again I was underdressed. We called it quits at around 3.5 hours and 170 TSS. It was plenty for the day... my legs were tired and I felt like I should be careful not to do too much in the cold rain for fear of getting sick...

A few things...

I pissed myself for the first time while riding today (Saturday). I was terribly cold and tired... and it was pouring rain. Four thoughts entered my head...

My bladder is about to explode...
If I stop, my legs will not want to get back moving...
I am on a major highway and it will be difficult to find a good spot...
Pee is warm and will drizzle down my legs and hopefully warm me up...

Item 4 really sealed it and let me tell you, it did not disappoint. I let 'er rip without even slowing down... it was a little weird... there were cars all around and I kept thinking that they could see what I was doing. Anyway, I don't plan to make it a habit, but, in the future, if you are behind me and it is cold and raining, I would recommend you attack...

Overall... a really great week... I will probably do an hour on my TT bike tomorrow to seal the week... CTL is up over 90... I hope to hit 100 by the time I get out of the build phase of my program...

Right when I start to get disappointed...

2008-12-30T03:34:00.000-08:00

I looked back over some other data from this season versus last season. For those that dont know, I have no faith that my power meter is measuring wattage precisely, but I am certain that it does measure accurately... I think that is right... I mean that it measures correctly high around 15 Watts everytime... it is repeatably high the same amount. Therefore, all of my graphs show data as a percentage of FTP (threshold power), thereby canceling out this problem and allowing me to view this offseason and last offseason in the same light...

Last Season

This Season

Here is a table with the exact numbers. I plotted my time in each of the training zones from October to the end of the year for 2007 and 2008. I thought the numbers were very promising. I know that my threshold has increased this offseason... and I have spent a lot more time training overall (16 hours) and have spent much more time in the areas that I wanted to... I nearly doubled my time in TE/L3, TH/L4, and VM/L5 (a little surprised at this... may be due to the change in threshold from week to week) while holding anaerobic work constant and going down on active recovery time. Surprisingly, I actually added a true recovery ride into my training this season each week instead of taking it completely off. Still, with my focus on constantly working when training, it has resulted it decreasing this number overall.

Even with my setbacks as of late, I should expect to be in better overall condition this season than last... no reason to be overly dramatic just yet... sometimes I have got to remind myself...

THE Woman! (As opposed to "The Other Woman")

2008-12-28T16:08:00.000-08:00

So, in my last post, I detailed the demise of my Christmas Cycling Dream... huge fitness gains over the holidays is a must for a hard working, father of two... I had 5 days off in a row... big cycling holiday... big cycling disappointment. What salvaged if from complete disaster? My incredible wife....

No serious cyclist who lacks a wife and kids can ever understand the commitment that the "race team" must make to get daddy to the start line in the spring. I saw a pro quoted one time who said it is analogous to having another child for the wife of a cyclist... he (the cyclist) is constantly needing to eat and always needing to sleep... doesn't want to walk anywhere... is crabby if he gets hungry or sleepy... whines all the time... is incredibly scheduled...in general, is a complete pain in the ass.

We have been doing this for a while... my wife understands the commitment I am making and has adjusted to think it is actually normal. I had a colleague say to me the other day, "dude, are so engrossed in cycling culture that you don't realize how gay your outfit looks?" He has no idea... I actually thought he was joking... I think I am so engrossed that I think he is the fool to think I look gay... I actually think he should consider wearing Lycra to work. That is how my wife is now... she cannot conceive of anything else...

Here is the story...

I am in bed the third day... trust me, I am not feeling sorry for myself... I am hurting and she knows it- not throwing-up still, but not feeling right by a long shot... BUT... instead of bothering me with motherly BS and telling me that there is no way I need to think about riding today (she knows that I have now been off the bike for two days), she comes in and asks me what time I am riding. I loved her more in that moment then I did the day we got married. It said so much... she understands...

Then the very next day, she is sick... I mean really sick. Mine was mostly coming from the backend... she threw up all night and morning. I had been up with the kids since 5:30 AM and had been up a lot of the night listening to her retch. I was not moping around, either... I had realized that my chances of riding this day were long gone and had excepted it. I walk in the bedroom to see if I could bring her anything and she is on the phone...

She had called her mom and asked her to babysit the kids so that I could get in my ride. I am tearing up as I write this... I don't know what else to say really. She understands... and supports... and loves... and is the absolute best wife and mother I could have ever dreamed of...

BONK?????

2008-12-28T15:28:00.000-08:00

I had planned a major cycling holiday, but the fitness gods did not cooperate with me. There is precious little that will keep me from achieving my goal rides... a tornado watch, major lightning, any natural disaster, I guess... to name the first ones that come to mind. Sickness? Usually not.

I have ridden through many a cold without so much as a thought and looking back at last winters ride notes, I only had one cold last season and I didn't miss a watt of one workout... I cannot say the same for this off season. Already I have had a horrible cold/upper respiratory thing that lasted a month. I trained through it until I had to take a break... I slept for two solid days and woke up the second day as if I had never been sick.

This time was a little different. I entered this very important week of training with a CTL of 80.3 and had planned to make a major jump this week... maybe as much as 7 points based on the way the week was working out. I went out relatively easy on Tuesday... still got over 100 TSS points since I went for almost two hours... I had rides planned for Wednesday through Sunday. Instead a got the stomach flu and only got out of bed on Wednesday to run to the toilet and felt bad all day Thursday with horrible stomach cramps. I finally crawled out of my hole on Friday and cranked out an eye-popping 60 TSS ride. This was all I could muster...

Saturday and Sunday is where it gets interesting. Leslie ends up getting the virus on Friday night... even though I am finally feeling better, I see any chance of riding go out the window... I will be babysitting. I end up working out a time slot to ride (through a miracle- see later blog)... a 3-4 hour time slot if need be. I decide to do my typical TSS fest... I try to go at 90% FTP all day long... I end up see-sawing quite a bit but can always get 70-75 TSS points per hour doing this type of workout. Leslie gets better and I get a 3-4 hour time slot on Sunday, too... here is how the rides workout...

I cramped on both rides and after throughout the night (have not done that ever)... I bonked on both rides (have not done that in 3-4 years)... I could not put out FTP wattage on either ride for more than a minute or so... I ended both rides (and Fridays for that matter) at 0.75 intensity factor which basically means that I sucked. I have been working for 4-5 hours on long rides for the past two months and have been at an average intensity factor of 0.82 without bonking or getting dehydrated at all. I brought more food and more water with me on these past two rides than I ever have on those others. Obviously, my system has taken a hit from the virus, but when will I recover? What is actually going on from a biophysical standpoint?

Guess what else? I also skipped my FTP and sprint work last week... could it get worse? Yes, because of my 158 TSS effort on Saturday and 202 TSS effort Sunday, I salvaged a CTL of 80.3... I stayed right where I was coming in... and the Build Phase of my training plan kick in this coming week...

I will push ahead and try to hit 100 CTL by the end of the build phase (5 weeks)... that will require a steady diet of 4 CTL points per week from here on. I don't think I can do it without blowing up or getting a divorce, but we will see...

Comparing the Peach Peloton...

2008-12-21T07:34:00.000-08:00

I really have got to make the time to blog. I have a lot that I am thinking about right now from a cycling standpoint and I would like to be able to read this stuff later since it will directly effect the outcome of this coming season and how I decide to train next year.

Here are some thoughts:

The race season for me next year sets up perfect for my general plan... 5-6 weeks of racing followed by 5-6 weeks off racing followed by 5-6 weeks of racing. This allows a two peak season with a rest and rebuild section between.

The way the schedule breaks down is that racing will start in early March and end for the season in mid June. That is a short season compared to other years...

The main thought going through my head... how should I be training now based on that race schedule...

Most people agree that going too hard right now will lead to burn out during next season. But most of what I read threatens that you will burn out in mid-July... if that is true, then what am I worried about? I don't need to stay sharp until August this coming season...

The main reason this question comes up right now is the Peach Peloton (PP) rides. This is an organized system of rides put on by a local 1/2 guy... the rides have been relatively low impact in the past with a few scheduled attack zones. This year, the rides seem to be a little more aggressive throughout the ride and the attack zones are very fast indeed. I was reviewing data from rides over the last two weekends... one of them was the PP and one was by myself. The terrain on both rides was similar... the main difference is that the one I did by myself was 85 miles and the PP was 75 miles...

Here is the Peach Peloton...

Here is the solo effort...

The graphs show an obvious difference in the way the "flow of the ride" turns out. What is not obvious (the type seems to small) is the numbers... below will clear that up...

The first column is AR or Active Recovery... you can pretty well call these trash miles. This zone is what you might ride if you are riding on a day you should be taking off... just moving the legs a little and this could be replaced with a walk in the park.

The next column is E or Endurance... these are good for building... you guessed it... endurance.

The next column is TE for Tempo... this is known as L3 and where I would like to spend all my time this winter when I am not doing threshold rides (FTP). This zone maximizes aerobic system building while minimizing recovery time needed for the work done.

Next column is TH for Threshold... this is the highest aerobic effort possible with crossing the line... you are close, right at, or slightly over your lactic threshold in this zone.

Last is AC for anaerobic... I also consider these trash miles for winter. The anaerobic system only takes around 3-4 weeks to build to capacity... the aerobic system takes years. The higher the aerobic system is operating, the more power can be put out in the anaerobic system. Any time spent here in the offseason compromises the additional aerobic capacity that could be built during that time and requires more recovery time which further delays additional aerobic workouts.

Unfortunately I got dropped as soon as the attack zone started on this particular Peach Peloton ride so I used the information from before I dropped. I think it is more applicable anyway... I will not take into account what is most certainly an anaerobic feast for 15 minutes... the attack zones are pretty tough...

Even with an additional 1.5 hours spent on the solo ride, I have less trash miles (AR and AC). Total wasted miles in time for PP ride was an hour and thirty-one minutes and a whopping 47 percent of the ride! Compare that with only 24% wasted on the solo effort. The time spent in my target zone... TE and TH was considerably different also. Compare PP at 27% to solo ride at 48%... that was particularly shocking to me.

With these numbers, there is no question in my mind where I will find the best winter workout... the question is whether I have the fortitude to ride alone when the PP rides are so much more fun...

Time off is good...

2008-11-20T17:26:00.000-08:00

It has been a while... I have a lot that has happened over the last month or so... I will jot it all down in a haphazard method below and follow with blogs talking about things that are more interesting to me right now...

6 gap was a disaster for me... went out to hard, rode the first 2 hours trying to keep up with some friends while my back brake pad was rubbing pretty good and burned myself out. I tried to turn around to cut the course and rode for a long time in the wrong direction. Ended up riding 85 miles and 5 gaps I guess (one more than once) and was glad to get back to the parking lot in one piece... not my finest day...
took my typical week and some change off the bike
Started my winter ramp with a FTP test
Test came in way too high... put out 315 Watts over 40 minutes and did not feel like I had worked all that hard. My speed seemed slow... I think it was 21 mph or so and seemed slow for that much wattage.
Went out the next week on my FTP... halfway through it finally occurred to me... my right leg was not working! I could feel it suddenly... I have been overcompensating with my left leg... the one that was injured. I could see an immediate difference in wattage and inversely speed when I concentrated on using my right leg... wattage goes down and speed goes up.
I immediately scheduled a meeting with Kevorkian Jordan in the cave of pain to test my ergomo, test my leg balance and stroke, and test my FTP...
I did a 1 hour cross ride with Robert and then went into the cave for the testing. The ergomo looked like it was reading accurately, my left leg was clearly putting out more wattage, and the FTP was an unbelievable sufferfest... I put out 312 hard earned watts over a 45 minute effort and proved that the road power was not a fluke... I also proved that my left leg was throwing my numbers a little, but not more than 10-15 watts at worst...
I learned that the cave of pain is a very special place. Kevorkian Jordan was skulking around, drinking a beer, and grinning with every whimper that left my lips. He really is sadistic, but knowing he was there, and knowing that many a legend had ripped their legs to pieces in that same place, makes you go harder than you could or maybe should. If you don't throw up or slump over your handle bars or piss your pants or something major, he doesn't have a story to tell and you feel like a chump.
I don't know if Jordan has a story from my cave trip... I need to ask him. I have blocked most of the event out of my mind.
Cross didn't work out the way I thought... I liked the bike and the idea, but I am infatuated with power and my winter training and not getting hurt... the cross bike is collecting dust... whatever... it is still cool and I really like it and will one day pick it back up...
So I did a perfectly paced FTP the next week... 323 Watts over 40 minutes and 23 mph on the hoods... got the right leg working hard... increased power and speed considerably. I would be better off with a powertap, but I don't care right now... keep pressing...
Did another one the next week... 325 Watts...
Lost 8 lbs... back to 182... not bad for this time of year...

I guess that gets us up to speed...

Burned out...

2008-09-15T17:08:00.000-07:00

Cycling is going great... blogging is not... I have a lot going on... I just dont feel like writing about it. I will be back soon... the chart above shows my max wattage outputs before and after the broken hip. The dotted one is before the wreck. They are very similar and I am very pleased to see good proof that I am back on form from that injury... plus 10 lbs...

For the time being... think about this...

I am building up a cyclocross bike and am incredibly excited. I am trying to do it really cheap, but still build a quality rig. The picture is below... once I finish it, I will probably start back blogging...

Cowboy up!

2008-08-26T11:03:00.000-07:00

I am not ashamed to admit that I thought I was a cowboy when I was in high school. I wore a cowboy hat... wore cowboy boots... listened to country music (I still know more old country than you do... and still love it... the new stuff is not nearly the same... and by "new", I mean anything from the last two to three decades). I even built a 50 gallon drum bull for me and my buddies to ride in my backyard. My parents tolerated it, but could never understand it.

I saw the movie "8 seconds" last night and had to laugh because it used to be one of my favorite movies. The movie is about a great, young bull rider, Lane Frost... the movie is about his life and early death by a bull. The parallels of bull riding and bike racing are surprising and really made me sit back and think.

One of the guys that traveled with Lane that was always writing poems... he read one to his buddies right before they went out to ride at the rodeo national championships and right before Lane Frost's last ride (I think this was probably souped up for the movie, but still). Since I have a DVR, I was able to stop it and rewind it and get most of the lines... if it is copyrighted, I hope no one will mind... I filled in a couple spots with cycling references but showed the other... enjoy...

There is a hundred years of history
And a hundred before that
All gathered in the thinkin’
Goin on beneath this cap (hat).

The cold flame burns within him
‘Til his skin’s as cold as ice
And the dues he paid to get here
Are worth every sacrifice.

All the miles spend sleepy drivin’
All the money down the drain,
All the “if I’s” and “nearly’s”
All the bandages and pain,

All the female tears left dryin’,
All the fever and the fight
Are just a small down payment
On the ride he makes tonight

It’s guts and love and glory,
One mortal’s chance at fame.
His legacy is cycling (rodeo)
And racer (cowboy) is his name.

THE END

-If you race bikes(I don't care what level), you just got chills...
-if you race, but didn't get chills, you may want to ask yourself why...

2008-08-21T16:39:00.000-07:00

Click the image above to see it a little larger...

I was looking at this today... it is really an awesome thing to look back over your year of cycling. A lot of sweat and pain goes into racing a bike and it is rare that you can sit back and view it on one graph... thank God for power meters. I am going to jot down the first thoughts that come to mind when I look at this... no particular order and most of them will come off as inconsequential ramblings... either way, thank God for the power meter...

First some definitions...
FTP- my threshold power for an hour. This is the max wattage output I can put out over an hour time. I measure this often and it is the backbone of my entire training plan.
NP- normalized power- this is average power, but with a twist. Basically, the peaks and valleys the ride are factored in less and it gives a better approximation of the true stress on your body.
TSS- total stress score- this is a stress score that is assigned to each ride. An all out 1 hour effort at FTP receives a score of 100.
CTL- chronic training load- this is basically a measure of how hard I am riding overall for the past while... it is pulling from a 45 day rolling average of workouts to determine a chronic load of training. To quote from elsewhere... FTP is how fast you can go... CTL is how long you can go fast.
TSB- Training Stress Balance- this takes into account your ATL- acute training load (the past 5-7 days of workouts) and compares your current short term load to your chronic load (long term load) to give you a stress balance. The numbers are irrelevant other than a positive TSB means I am rested and a negative means I am tired. A +10 is usually good for racing...

My first workout with my power meter was a 5 hour ride on 7-28-07... it came up as a 376 TSS workout... wow... what a beast. I don't remember what this was, but it must have been tough.
I took two weeks off in October... I did not want my CTL to drop too far... looks like it went from some where around 77 to around 63... not too bad
My ramp over the winter was around 4 CTL points per week... I started to push up on that number and got over 90 on CTL and got injured... not saying that the increase caused it but who knows...
I level off for the anaerobic part of the winter training program
I break my hip
I had not looked at this since I broke my hip.
All of the belly aching about not getting my form back... look at this graph... my CTL did not start an upward movement for almost two months and that CTL is lower than number I have had in a year... even lower for way longer than last years offseason.
I am proud that I toughed out those rides when I was still on my crutches and a cane... it made my comeback better than if I would have been sitting on my tail for 2 months...
My ramp coming back was steeper than my ramp last winter... I did not notice it while it was happening... I was just happy to be back riding...
The month of July sucked...
Look at the last ramp at the far right... I am coming back, but this time with my anaerobic system along with me...
I love cycling

Work in progress...

2008-08-16T12:29:00.000-07:00

Yes, my cycling is certainly a work in progress... in more ways than one. In one way, cycling form is always coming and going, building and retracting, racing and resting... a constant work in progress. That is not the topic of this blog. The "work in progress" that I am thinking of is the work of self coaching.

I self coach mainly because I don't know a coach that I would trust and don't want to pay the money that a guy I would trust would want to charge me for his services. I am convinced that I have a pretty good idea of what I am doing (the power meter helps a lot), but there are two major factors I must face. One, as I get closer and closer to my genetic potential as a cyclist, through hard training and racing, the more important a good coaching is... with a full time job and family, there is only so much time to train... I have got to train very smart (with my limited potential) to be a good racing cyclist. One day, maybe I will realize that I need help to get a little more out of my time.

Two, I am quick to abandon a plan if I don't see immediate results. A coach would help I think. The blog has helped for sure. I have looked back over my blog since my injury... I have set a number of training strategies that would bring me back to form... I have followed none of them more than a week. I realize now that my strategies I set forth in late June would have worked. I wanted to raise my FTP to a peak with 5x5s and max my anaerobic system over the following 3 weeks. That would have put me at a peak right around now. What happened? I looked at my charts the other night and I had ramped up my CTL at a steady 4 points a week for 6 weeks after my injury and had rebuilt it to around 80 when I went to the beach. The ramp rate was steeper than what I did this past winter... which left me with a low TSB around the first of July. My legs were tired, I wanted to ride competitively again and keep the excitement I felt from the rebuilding process. I went out hard with a low TSB and an unbuilt anaerobic system while in Florida and started to get frustrated.

I got dropped a few times... I realized that my anaerobic system was to blame and started some 1x1s... then I quit the plan. I don't know why I did. I think I got frustrated by the intensity of my cycling friends this time of year and the fact that I couldn't hold on. Anyway... I quit the plan. Last week, I checked my FTP... good ride... 303Watts. Good enough. I now realize that the work I did a month ago actually worked to raise my FTP to a reasonable number. I am now kicking myself for not sticking to my plan... a coach would have been yelling at me for sure.

Good news... it doesn't really matter. Normally a one month set back would be frustrating if I were going into a season and I had a certain race in mind. That is not the case now. I am looking forward in my schedule to Augusta... no matter the form.

How do I know my anaerobic system sucks? Good question. I get dropped... you know that, but still...

I went out this weekend to do 1 minute intervals. I did 5 (instead of 10) and could barely hold 440 Watts across the board. My usual is around 490 Watts and has gone to 520 Watts (repeatable) on good days, but never below 450 Watts on average. The system is gone for sure... the good news again... easy come, easy go with that system... it takes 2-3 weeks to build it and 2-3 weeks to lose it...

The First FTP...

2008-08-12T18:16:00.000-07:00

I guess I have watched too many reruns lately. I have no trust of electronics. I think it is well documented... my distrust of the ergomo. I have not written about it lately... it is way overkill at this point and no one can relate. Matrix and The Terminator... two constant reruns that still interest me... I watch them and my distrust grows and grows... stay tuned... now I think the HR monitor is conspiring with the power meter to drive me crazy... they are trying to take over the world, I think...

Both movies deal with humans demise due to machines/electronics. I must be buying the hype. Today was my first FTP since before the injury. Actually, it is my first one since February, I guess. I felt good, but a little timid starting out. I used heart rate to pace myself... I did not want to go out too hard and not be able to finish the workout. My old LT heartrate (tested 1.5 years ago) was 168 bpm and I still use that for pacing. For this 40 minute effort, I decided to conservatively lay out a 165 average on the way out and a 170-172 on the way back. When I got really good at these over the winter, I could average over my supposed LT HR by 4 or 5 beats for 40 minutes, but it was uncomfortable. That was not really what I was trying to do with this first one.

I got to the parking lot and had right at an hour before the sky fell in (rain). I jumped on my bike and realized that my tire had a weird hump in it. Of course, it was the back tire and it was beat... bulging out the side... never seen it before. I happened (thanks Robert) to have two new tires in the back of the Tahoe and I switched them up right fast. Off I go... the first 10 minutes, I kept it around 165 bpm... it actually felt bad for a while and I was wondering how bad this would be. My power was overperforming... around 310W average at this point, but I felt bad. I trusted the HR and kept pluggin along. By 15-20 minutes in, my avg power had come down to around 305W and my HR had crept up to around 166-167. I kept it there to the turn around... lost 2 watts there... and started my way home. I stopped looking at the power meter for a while... when I looked back, I was still at 303W and at 178 bpm. This really is weird. I don't want to freak anyone out, but I have got to question whether my HR monitor is working correctly. I started watching over the last 10 minutes of the ride and I was steadily in the mid to high 170s. I was not really breathing any harder than at 165 bpm, yet I was well over threshold. Usually, I would know it if I were nearing 180 bpm.

I finished with an average wattage (new threshold power) of 303 Watts. I had estimated my threshold at 302 W from some NP efforts I had a few weeks ago. That was pretty impressive. My average speed was 22.7 mph over the 40 minute effort... right about where it was in the fall and winter for FTP rides along the same route... I ride on the hoods and tops the entire time. The numbers make some sense. My cadence was slower than ever before... 91 rpm versus 95 rpm before the wreck. I have noticed this during training rides... it is a problem and I think it goes back to me trying to overcompensate for my bad side... my spin is not what it used to be and it has cost me power during critical moments. My average HR was 168 bpm, but was very variable during the ride.

What does this mean? Well, I don't trust the power meter and I don't know that I trust the HR monitor. It does not matter anymore... I will go with these numbers regardless. If I believe the numbers, then I am not far from where I was this spring as far as aerobic capacity goes (off by 10-15 Watts). I have put on 8 lbs. Three options... either my teammates are freakishly strong after a great season racing... or... my anaerobic system is still not where it should be and it gets me dropped on Tuesdays. The last option... I am a headcase and my total lack of confidence since my injury has led to me getting dropped on Tuesday rides.

What are the facts?

I have raced twice since my injury. In both races, I raced near the front and finished with the pack. Is there any reason to think I am that far off form from this info?
My FTP is 303 Watts. Even at my fattened up 187 lbs, I am still at 3.6 W/kg... a fringe Cat 3/4 type guy... that is very realistic considering my abilities in races.
The Tuesday Worlds are a real slugfest... if my anaerobic system is off, those guys will expose it. We have a Pro 1 guy, a Cat 2/European racing, U23 guy, a guy about to upgrade to Pro 2, a master racer/Pro 2 guy, two Cat 3 guys that will be upgrading next year probably, and a good group of Cat 4 guys that are all the antagonists in any race... someone out of that group will be on the podium in every race it seems. Is it that bad to get wasted by these guys?

Whatever... today gave me some confidence that was sorely needed. At least I know that my aerobic system is OK. I have said it before, but now I mean it. I am scrapping the Plan from a few days ago. I am going to work on my anaerobic system from here until Augusta and I am coming out guns-a-blazing for that race... no base building... no excuses... it is time to get back in the ring... the guys were right telling me to race back into form... I just didn't believe it...

Now I do...

The Plan...

2008-08-10T18:23:00.000-07:00

You can probably read my blog and realize that I have not been myself since I broke my hip. Yes... there was some uncertainty about my form in February (bad training camp), but after that, I really came into form, raced some, and had a blast. I was two weeks from peak when I broke my hip. I had a lot of positive energy for a few months after the injury... I was out on the bike in a few weeks... pedaling mostly with the opposite leg. I started working back little by little.

I had been increasing mileage very quickly after the injury and got the intensity going immediately. I worked a hard training block at the end of June and hoped that it would be my ticket to form by the end of July. I have not felt good since that block. I felt bad on vacation (July 4th week) and I have never felt right since. There is generally a lack of desire to suffer. I dont know what to say... after 3 years of enjoying every second I spend on my bike and forever craving the next ride, the last 2 months have been tough. I am still riding, but I am not working as hard. I am content to lose... content to quit... content to be weak. I am not the guy that always has to win, or he quits... I have been at the back of the B group many times in years past, barely hanging on... I had more fight in me then I think.

Anyway, I wonder... is this overtrained? Is this what it feels like? This is the way it is described, but still... could I be overtrained after 2 months off from an injury and starting back too fast? I decided two weeks ago that I didnt care. I decided that since I had planned these adventure races anyway, I would use these two weeks as my "time off this year" two weeks. This is usually planned for October, but why not now? I suck... that is for sure. I may need rest... who knows. I dont really have a big race that I am thinking about on the road bike and I dont want to race when my form is so gone. Could I start base building in August for the next season? Would it be too long? I decided that is what I should do.

I talked to a coach when I first broke my hip. He told me to scrap the season and start base building for next year. I didnt believe him at all. I thought I could tough it out and beat the odds. I thought my base through last winter could sustain me through a May layoff. I found that it could not.

This week, I will start back my FTPs and Sprint workouts from last winter. I will step up CTL 4-6 points per week with a drop back week every fourth. I will build up my long ride on Saturday to around 5 hours. I am actually really excited. My program lately has been to get my tail kicked by my teammates on Tuesday nights and mope about it all week. No more! Now I will do my FTP ride (45 minute- all out effort) on Tuesdays and ride for miles on Tuesday night.

This shift in training might be just what I need to get my head and body right over the next few months. If my legs come around, this strategy should work very well for some cyclocross workouts this November/December...

Adventure Races

2008-08-10T18:02:00.000-07:00

I competed in two adventure races over the last two weekends...

The first was in Macon and was a 4 hour sprint race. I raced with a friend from work... it was his first adventure race... we had a great time and finished 2nd in our division and 4th overall. Not bad...

The next one was the Goldrush 24... a twenty four hour ball buster of a race starting in Woodstock, Ga. I don't feel like doing a long description of this race, but I will give it a go... the race was too exhausting to truly capture in print...
We started in downtown Woodstock at 8:00 pm. We had been busy all day... plotting maps... strategizing... driving to Woodstock (through Atlanta and of course sitting in traffic for an hour)... dropping off all of our gear (canoe, bikes, etc)... 1 hour bus ride to the start of the race... prerace meeting... on and on and on... by the time the race started, I was ready for a nap.

We started with a 4 mile road run before the real trekking leg began. This beat my long run from training by a little under a mile... I only did one training run... not the way to start a 24 hour race. We bushwacked, creekwacked, and side hill stomped for the next 5 hours to the canoe leg. The route was exhausting... wet feet... large grain sand in our shoes and socks... and mostly the entire route was side hill trekking on a left to right slope... the slope was probably close to a 1 to 1 slope (a 45 degree angle to the horizon- non technical writing... strange). The grinding in our shoes would not be good later in the race. We found all the checkpoints... got messed up on our route due to a subdivision, but arrived at the canoe in good spirits. The canoe leg was cake... awesome night on the water (we started at around 1:00am)... it was chilly which was a welcome change to the heat of Macon. We knocked out the 15 mile paddle leg in around 4 hours.

Another trek/swim leg followed and never ended. We were in and out of the water... swimming for a while... then trekking over a little island... then swimming again... this went on for the next 10 hours. You could never get the sand out of your shoes... no matter what. It continued grinding for the entire 24 hours. The rest of the team had some bad chaffing problems (the descriptions of pain by these guys led to some cracking up by all team members that can only be appreciated if you are on no sleep or smoking pot (I hear). We got all the checkpoints on this section and arrived at the bike section just in time to head for the finish line...

We finished 3rd in our division and 21st out of 56 teams. We were really happy about this finish. There were a lot of teams who have a lot of experience and many of them had raced this terrain before. Not enough can be said for how much of an advantage that is from a strategy standpoint alone...

Anyway... back to the bike... it was a fun interlude...

Pretty Good Week...

2008-07-19T16:39:00.000-07:00

Got shelled on the Tuesday night ride. Went out Wednesday at lunch for an allout hour. It was a hard ride after a hard ride on Tuesday... NP = 297 Watts for an hour. Not too far from my guess at my FTP right now. Took off Thursday- family responsibility. Went out Friday with what was planned to be an easy effort, but wound up riding harder than I thought I would... NP = 280 Watts for an hour.

I went out with some guys from the team this morning and did a laid back effort for 3 hours. Worked through some rotations on the home stretch and those worked me over pretty quick, but the overall ride was good.

I noticed this past week that my seat had fallen around a half inch. I expect it happened on the trip to or from Florida (unweighted vibration on the rack causes it to fall... it has happened before) and I didn't notice it until this week. Maybe this could be some of the reason my legs have felt so strange. When I raised my seat up, it felt like heaven... I couldn't believe the difference. Maybe it will help... who knows...

Either way, I am having fun on the bike again... I am encouraged to work harder and cut weight and try to get back on task. I have porked up to 187 lbs... from around 179 earlier in this season... and I was on the way down then. Diet starts back Monday...

Racer's Edge...

2008-07-14T18:45:00.000-07:00

Yes, I have lost it. I cant remember the last time my legs felt good. Actually, I can... it was the first day of the hard training block I embarked on prior to vacation... the one where I pulled my back out. Since then, I have been on dead legs... either tired from a hard workout, or lethargic from a day off, or something else...

When I wrecked out and fractured my femur, I decided to schedule a few adventure races with my team at work. Even though I had started an Adventure Racing Team with the guys at work before we ever dreamed up a local cycling team, I had decided coming into this year to only race on my bike. I wanted to be 100% focused on a great inaugural season with our newly formed race team... 100% focused on riding the road bike as well as I could.

Coming into the best form of my life, I wreck and killed my form... I didn't decide to abandon the bike... I jumped back on it while still on crutches and worked my tail off trying to keep up with whoever I could find. I did, whoever, decide that maybe an adventure race or two toward the end of the race season would be a good fallback plan if my cycling form did not rage back.

Whether the form is here or not remains to be seen... I am participating in two adventure races coming up... a four hour adventure race in Macon followed a week later by a twenty-four hour adventure race in Woodstock, Ga. I have gone out on the mountain bike (first time in 8 months) and on my feet (running- first time in 14 months), and it has been a weird run. I was sore for 5 days after a 3.4 mile run... not exactly normal. My mountain bike skills were very rusty, but I held my own out there.

I rested today and will go out for Tuesday Worlds tomorrow. I hope that the training I did one month ago will kick in tomorrow and give me strong, fresh legs. If not, I will not despair... I will look forward to the races I have upcoming and get ready to compete.

New Finding...

2008-07-07T17:11:00.000-07:00

Latest theory on why I continue to get dropped on group rides...

The facts:

My aerobic system is not far from where it was prior to the wreck. I am probably 10 watts off of my best FTP performance prior to the injury... I suspect continued work on 45 minute FTP workouts and 5x5s would put me where I was in 2-3 weeks.
My anaerobic system is where it was prior to the injury... I am putting out large anaerobic efforts of equal wattage and duration to my prior-to-injury self

WRONG!!!!! Well not quite, but wrong all the same. I decided as I came back from injury that I would use Tuesday Worlds to train both systems as I slowly increased workload through the weeks. I now realize that this RR format is training my aerobic system (I usually have a pretty good hour effort (NP close to FTP)), but not my anaerobic system.

This came to me as I worked through 8- 1 min intervals this past week. I have not done these since the late winter. I actually had just finished my last week of these when I broke my hip. I found that the first interval was higher than I expected. With almost no work, I went well above my goal wattage with no real effort. I immediately decided that my ergomo was screwed again. Rather than freaking out, I decided to ram through the rest and see if I could sustain the wattage.

The second interval was shocking... a major drop in power... the third was worse... forth, worse... and so on until I finished at what I do my 5 minute intervals at.

So, here is the finding. I seem to be able to light a match as hot as I did before the injury. The wattage output is relatively equal and the duration is equal. The problem is that I seem to have drastically dropped the number of matches in my box. Rather than 8-10 of these type of matches, I have one to two. Why? Because the guys I ride with are strong enough to burn my match through with one major effort... especially when I am trying to work on the front (which I have been trying the past few weeks prior to vacation). I then get dropped and my workout has only consisted of one or two really high intervals... no more...

The good news is that this system is highly trainable with very drastic and quick results in 3-4 weeks time. If I don't get 6-8 of these efforts tomorrow night at Worlds (meaning that first attack forces me to a wattage where I burn through all I got) then I will do 1 minute intervals on Thursday to try to hone in this system ASAP... it may be the key to the whats left of this season...

Return from vacation...

2008-07-07T16:58:00.000-07:00

I am now back in Macon. The following is an update on the last week of training...

Ate and drank way too much... gained 10 lbs of water weight from fried food and booze. Both kids got sick so I also didn't get much sleep. I stumbled out to all the group rides that I went on with the dazed look of a college student on spring break who had to meet his parents for a midweek breakfast.

The actual training was OK, though. My legs were a little tired from the hard training block... I decreased distance/duration over the past week and a half, but added 1 minute intervals and did a few 5 minute interval sessions. All of them were productive...
I got worked by a few of the flatlanders I ran into. I think they were working against me... I am certain that the pro guy was working against me. Everytime I would come off a big pull, he found his way quickly to the front and blasted the pace up over 30 mph, then the group would tighten up and no one would let me in as I went back through the line of 7-8 riders... even though only 3 of them planned on doing any work... it was weird and it hurt. I was forced to jump on the tail end and then work back up in the wind when I wanted to work again.
I think the new bike and racing kit is working against me... I always enjoyed being underestimated on my crappy bike and solid jerseys... they never saw me coming and when I rode well... they didn't mind so much. Now, I am afraid, it is the exact opposite. I look the part, but I really suck...

"Race" Update

2008-06-28T18:03:00.000-07:00

I went out to the Cat 1 rodeo today. Of course it was not as described, but I did get a heck of a workout. As is the case in most places, there was one "head of state"... there was only one "pro" (that was the way he was described to me). I saw the guy when I rolled up... there was no mistaking that he was the head guy... it was written all over him...

The truth is that there are a lot of good riders down here that are very comfortable killing it at high speeds in wind. There is an art to riding in the wind for long periods of time... these guys have figured it out. They stay relatively aero, even when they are on their tops... they conserve energy and stay off the front if they don't have the energy... they know not to trade pulls with that guy...

I, of course, did not know. For the first 10 minutes we rolled at a ridiculously slow pace... My ergomo was showing a NP of 120 Watts at the end of warmup. I have never seen such a low number. As luck would have it, I end up on the pro's wheel when he decides that the warmup is over. He starts adding on the wattage... slow and steady... at some point, I look down and I see 500 Watts... he keeps on... at some point, I look down and I see 700 Watts... he keeps on... at some point I see 850 Watts... he finally comes off. I cant see anymore, but I manage to come around him and turn around as if I am not hurting... the group is way back... no one else is stupid enough to get pulled out on this suicide effort with this guy... 5 miles into a 55 mile ride... no warmup... and big surprise, I ate fried food and drank a lot last night... so much for the racer's edge....

It took me a solid 20 miles to recover from the efforts I made in the first 10 miles. This guy kept shooting off and I kept following and no one else was bothering. Next thing I know, I can barely hold on the group. I recovered and started working again... I had a dehydration headache when I woke up (from booze and oysters) and it was worse now (give me a break... it is vacation)... later on in the ride and ended up with a great workout for the day. Not what was advertised, but I got all I could handle... especially on vacation...

SURPRISE!!!

2008-06-27T04:18:00.000-07:00

I am sure you are very excited... I actually have a wireless connection in my condo down here, so there will be plenty of blogging time...

I found a way to make 5x5s feel longer. Do them on completely flat roads with no wind.

I did five yesterday... the numbers were actually pretty good... all five between 340 Watts and 360 Watts. My legs were a little numb from the workload of the past week, but good overall. It is a long five minutes when you are doing intervals at 25 mph on your hoods... I think the distance covered in each interval makes it feel long. Either way, it was a good effort.

OK... a fun story...

As always when I travel, I call the local bike shop to see if there are any local rides to join. I have ridden these rides down here (Cocoa Beach- we have been coming down here for 25 years as a family) and there are some good riders and good rides. The local shop tells me that there are some rides BUT... the big question comes out... "but, what kind of rider are you?"...

Here is the conversation...

Me: I ride hard... an experienced rider... the longer and harder, the better (we are talking cycling for those that have trashy thoughts)...

Him: Well we have a 25 miler that leaves the shop on Saturday... A good mix of riders...

Me: Anything longer on the weekends?

Him: There is also a 30 miler that goes off from the Sonic on Sunday...

Me: I saw on a blog that there was a ride that goes out of Palm Bay...

Him: Dude, are you a Cat 1? Those guys are wicked fast... and they go for 50-60 miles...

Me: No, I am not, but I might like to give that one a go... I mean, is the entire group nothing but Cat 1s?

Him: Look, man, those guys average over 30 miles an hour... let that one alone...

Me: Tell me where it is...

Him: Hey... Greg (I guess Greg is the other mechanic)... this guy on the phone is thinking he wants to go out with the Palm Bay guys...

Him (to me): Greg says that you do not want to go with those guys unless you are a Cat 1 racer... are you?

Me (reluctantly): No, but I am a 190 lb Cat 4 that does OK on hills and should be better in the flats...

Him: No, no, no... Cat 4? This is not the ride for you...

Me: Tell me where it starts...

Him: Palm Bay Hospital parking lot... at least you will be able to ask directions back... from the ambulance that picks you up...

The End...

OK... the guy was maybe not as witty as I made him out, but that play-by-play is pretty close. Needless to say, I can hardly wait until Saturday. I did intervals yesterday, but will take today off to prepare for tomorrow... no booze... no bad food...

I am racing tomorrow... and it will evidently be my first Cat 1 race...

Out of Here...

2008-06-25T03:19:00.001-07:00

Finished the block... not as long as I wanted but it was still good. Put in 10.5 hours in 4 days... not amazing, but more than I have done since the injury in a 4 day stint.

Finished the block with a very hard hour effort last night. The newly installed ergomo tells me that I put out 318 Watts normalized for on hour... I dont think that is right still...

Either way, I am going to Florida for a week and a half... I will be training but probably not blogging...

Ride lots...

Keep Pushing...

2008-06-22T16:55:00.000-07:00

Took Friday off... mostly due to time constraints and since the TT bike was not set up for riding. Went out Saturday and ripped off 65 miles or so. Mostly easy pace, but with a few big efforts and a few semi-attacks. It was cold and it rained the entire ride. My lower back tightened up around 55 miles in and I thought I had pulled a muscle. I stetched and could not put pressure on the pedals for around 5 miles and then it loosened back up... I babied it the rest of Saturday and got on some Motrin.

I woke up this morning and it felt great... I warmed up once we got to La Grange... agian, it felt great. I raced for 65 miles and it still felt great. Who knows! I was really glad to be racing considering the way it felt when it tightened down. I took 15th in the RR today and didnt really try to contest the final sprint... we had shed the rest of the riders throughout the route and on the last uphill section to the finish. Of course, there was also a wreck in the final stretch that took some folks out...

Legs feel really good and I am excited about finishing the final two days of this power block of training I am pushing through. I would like to put in a 3 hour ride on the next two days to complete 12 hours in 4 days. Tuesday will be a racing format for Tuesday Worlds. I wonder what will happen in that ride with shredded legs. I have a guess...

5x5s...

2008-06-19T16:11:00.000-07:00

Painful is really all you can say about a 5 minute interval. At three minutes you think it has been six already and now you have two minutes left... and you remember how long your 1 minute intervals feel and realize that you have two times that left to put this interval in the past.

I started today on the same hill that I always do 5 minute intervals. It is really steep for the first 45 seconds of the route and then flattens to around 1-2% and holds it there the rest of the way. I start from a standstill at the base of the hill so that I can get as much time as possible out of the steep. In the past, I always finish the 5 minutes right at the gas station... right at the end of the road. I think there was one day where I had to stop 3 seconds early to keep from having to make the turn. It was a good day that day and maybe the wind was favorable...

Now, my ergomo sucks... we all know that by now and I cant trust anything it says (what a horrible existence)... I guess that it is registering 15-30 Watts high right now. I rip off the first interval at 385 Watts... way to high but I am not surprised... but wait! I get to the gas station, look down... I have 15 seconds left of the interval! There was a tail wind, but it is still the fastest I have ever climbed that hill and I am trying to let myself think that I am getting very strong. I know that is not really the case, but it does make me feel better. I repeated again and hit 380 Watts. The following three went downward quickly... I hit the first two too hard and really paid for it. I ended up with a 365W, a 355W, and a 340 Watt to finish the day. The normalized power for the total workout was 297 Watts.

It was a good workout and proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is a problem with the ergomo. On my best day this spring, I could only muster a 345 Watt effort (my fourth... I built up to that from 325 Watts that day). I know I was stronger then than I am now. No way I put out 35 Watts more today on two. The good news... I scheduled an appointment with the ergomo doctor today... All3Sports in Atlanta is the real deal... those guys really know ergomo and said that they would work me in on Monday... AWESOME!!!! The thoughts of no power for my entire vacation... I don't think I could relax...

I have a Plan...

2008-06-18T17:09:00.000-07:00

Here is the plan for the short term future...

Monday- I took off
Tuesday- Got killed but put in some big efforts and a hard 2 hour ride
Wednesday- 1 Hr at hard tempo... borderline FTP
Thursday- 5x5 min at VO2 Max effort
Friday- hour long workout on TT bike- Tempo- Level 3
Saturday- 65 mile tempo- Level 3
Sunday- La Grange Road Race- 68 miles
Monday- Group ride- 2 hours- Tempo plus
Tuesday- Group ride- 3 hours- road race simulation

This long block of training will hopefully start to build my form for next month. I am going to hit it as hard as I can for as long as I can and see if I can break something free. It is time to decide if I will base build through the rest of the race season, or start racing now and not look back. I will be out of town for a couple of weeks after this block and will be riding group rides all the while in Florida. I hope to come back to Macon on form or getting close...

If I see August coming close, and I am still off form, I will realize that the best way to spend training time is to take off a few weeks and start ramping up the winter base a few months early. Maybe that will put me ahead of the game in spring... guarantee two peaks next season or maybe the elusive tri-peak season... who knows...

Another day... Another Theory...

2008-06-18T16:56:00.000-07:00

Tuesday Worlds...

I really felt good last night even though it didn’t show. I don't like the position excuse, but I put out big efforts a couple of times when I didn't need to and it cost me. Generally, I got dropped because I am out of shape... or at least out of shape compared to my old teammates. A few things I realized last night...

My big gear power is definitely not what it used to be. There are times when someone will surge on the front and I feel as though I don’t have the horsepower to hold. That just doesn’t happen to me when I am in shape especially in the flats (I have pretty good power but high weight, therefore I seldom have trouble on flat roads) and that is where it is happening... in the flats… I don’t know what that is but I don’t like it… I think that the FTP testing really help me garner power throughout my entire stroke coming into this season. I think I lost a lot of that when I got hurt… I think my stroke changed a lot trying to compensate for my injury… bad stuff that may take the winter to fix …

I have a theory…

I wrecked at the end of March (29th)… on April 23rd, I, for the first time, said that I had a decent day on the bike. That is pretty much a month off. For the next month, I built my FTP up to 270 Watts… that is 40 Watts lower than where I was. Then I switched the ergomo and things have been haywire ever since… no way to count on any numbers. By the way, the BB shifted for sure and started creaking like it did on my old bike. Now the wattage has fallen way down… I really have got to work to get it over 300 Watts… I think it may actually be right now… if so, I was at 270 when I dropped last night… seems low really but we took it really easy on the way out and I dropped really quick… I will test soon...

UPDATE... I went out for a ride today at lunch. I did an offset prior to the ride and it dropped down 8 points... that brought my wattage right back up where it has been and put me into a 305 Watt hour effort today... I don't think this is right so my dilemma continues. Those of you who did not understand the albatross reference will hopefully understand it now....

My theory is this. Even though I like to think that I was only off the bike for 2 weeks, I was still on crutches when I got back on and could not put out any effort. Then, when I think that I was really only off the bike for 1 month, I look back and realize that at 1 month I was excited to be able to pedal without pain up to 300 Watts. Then when I think that I was really only off the bike for 2 months, I look back and realize that I still had done no true aerobic nor anaerobic work due to my limitations from the injury and high wattage efforts…

Said a different way, even while I have been on the bike “training” for the last two to three months since my injury, I have not been challenging my cardiovascular/respiratory systems at all. My legs have been rebuilding, but I have really been losing cardio fitness. How could I not? The vast system I built up through the winter and early spring has seen a 2-3 month layoff from the workload it had become accustomed to. Even two months after my injury, I was still could only work hard for two hours without drastic failure of all systems with fatigue.

So... what does this all mean... I think I have actually lost fitness (cardio/resp) over the last month and gained power… this may sound strange but I think it has happened. They met in the middle. Where I might could power through a painful stretch without HR and respiratory rate going crazy... only hip pain... now that my legs and hip feel better, I am left without any big power (which I really count on to race) and with no big engine or gas tank. Everything has been trained to mediocrity. Don't get me wrong... I can go out to any group ride and fool someone into thinking I can ride a bike... but I cant race and I cant race within my teammates, even... I can sit on, but who wants that!

Away from cycling...

2008-06-14T17:57:00.000-07:00

My wife gave me an early Father's Day Present tonight. The below link is a slide show that she put together for me to remind me that I have a life away from cycling... just kidding. My wife is an amazing woman... she finds the time to take care of me and the kids, allows me to live this lifestyle of training and racing while she chases around babies, and all the while takes thousands of pictures and keeps up with her crazy life on her own blog. If anyone ever wants to see the other side of our lives with a three year old healthy daughter and an 8 month old son with Down Syndrome, my wife's blog is http://lifewithelizaandjack.blogspot.com/. It is an amazing story to read in print... she is an amazing person...

If you are not into watching family photos, you can at least watch to get a laugh at how chubby I was especially in the early photos. I was probably 30 lbs heavier than I am now and had already shed 15 lbs by the first of these pictures...

To Dad dy - Happy Father's Day!!

Charts...

2008-06-12T18:01:00.000-07:00

So I decided to take my best weekly normalized power output for every week this year and plot it versus time. I was curious what I would predict as my future 1 hour power at some future date if certain trends that established were continued throughout the year.

The arbitrary date I chose was July 1st, 2008. The chart to the right shows my max normalized power each week prior to my injury. The trendline shows that if I continued along the route I was on, by July 1st I would have an FTP around 327 Watts. While I recognize that my FTP development during the race season would not likely look like this trend, I wanted to start with this as a baseline. I don't really think it is that unrealistic. I had hit 317 Watts for 57 minutes in a race in late March. I think 10 more Watts would have been expected since I had not yet peaked according to my training schedule...

The chart to the left is data after the injury, but before I started feeling good. This is the same date as my ergomo swap from old bike to new bike. I wanted to view this one because I was curious what the trendline would look like across that time period and where it would take me. This trend has me hitting out on July 1 at around 312 Watts.

The last chart (below) shows all post injury data up to my latest download. This trendline predicts a raise in FTP to around 322 Watts by July 1st.

So, what does all this mean? Not that much really. The most interesting thing to me is that there is not a whole lot of difference between any of them. They predict a range from 312 W to 327 W and I would be happy to fall anywhere in that range. I mainly wanted to see where things could have been had I not gotten hurt. Maybe things are not as bad as I thought. I also wanted to see how crazy the trend looked when I take into account the data post bike switch over. I have had trouble believing in some of the ergomo data, but as of late I have started to think it is right. I think the trending shows that this might be true. The jumps and drops seem to match very well to the trend and this makes me feel better.

Anyway, it was nice to see it all in one place. I would like to think that I could drop 5-10 lbs in the next month and raise my FTP over 320 Watts. This would get my pump primed for the late season race and make me feel like all the winter hours were worthwhile.

5 Minutes of Pain

2008-06-12T17:54:00.000-07:00

I did some 5 minute intervals today. I did 4 repeats on a long hill in Macon... it has a few false flats that make it hard to hold the wattage, but it works better than anything else I have found.

I averaged 340 Watts, 342 Watts, 333 Watts, and 330 Watts in the four intervals. This is very near where I was the last time I did these things in February (I think it was Feb). I was pleased with the effort, but recognized something very real from the workout...

I am not used to suffering. This winter, I did FTP and sprint workout all winter and then moved into 5 minute and 1 minute intervals. There was never a week that I did not have a really tough workout (mentally and physically). I now realize that for the last 8 weeks, I have been very satisfied sitting in and making excuses. The burn I felt today was different and woke me up to the weak outputs over the last few weeks. Mentally, I am using my injury as a scapegoat to keep from working over the edge...

I must keep these intervals going... even if they don't raise my threshold, they will raise my mental toughness and we all know that will make me faster than threshold...

So Many Thoughts... So little time...

2008-06-12T17:36:00.000-07:00

Here is a quick run down of what is going on in my cycling world...

My new bike is up and running. It is fast, corners on rails (good for a guy with a broken hip), looks incredible, is lighter than my old bike, and is the first bike I have ever owned that I can really be proud of.
My current form makes me feel like I don't deserve the bike... but who does... besides Boonen and he is a coke-head...
My ergomo has come back with some weird readings since the switch to the new bike... I got a freaky high reading in the Union City race for one. We are talking 297 Watts for 3 hours with a 1 hour max of 325 Watts. This is not likely... actually it is impossible. I calibrated it right before that ride... it was only my second time on the bike.
My theory is that three things happened. 1) my leg got a lot better just prior to switching bikes. This makes a lot of sense if you look back through my blog... the first really good ride where my power came back was actually the day before I shot the albatross. 2) the ergomo BB must have "shifted" during the race and started measuring high. When I rode after that, I did a new offset and it has been correct since then. The offset is well stabilized and I think the numbers are more realistic. I will talk specifics on the numbers in the blog to follow. I did throw out that race from my data... surprisingly I hardly set any records with that race for my all time best power curve. I think I moved up my 1:30 a little and that was it... 3) I have been overcompensating with my left leg... yes, the bad leg. Maybe once it healed, I started using it more and have thrown my numbers off on the high side... long shot, but a theory all the same...
Back to the leg/hip... no pain... at all... none... I can do no movement that will cause me pain. There is occasional tightness when it rains... but it never rains so who cares. I am 100% and am no longer limited by my leg.
Regardless of my leg issues, I am not as fast as I was. I am guessing my new FTP to be around 302 Watts based on a few NP returns. At a fat arsed 187 lbs, I have some work to do to get back up to speed... such as lose 15 lbs and increase my FTP by 25 Watts or so...
I cut off my Euro Mullet. I was growing it in support of Christian's European Campaign and told him so. I wanted to take a picture of it... it was beautiful... like Iban Mayo's from a few years ago, but with less curl and looking very much like a coon pelt... it is gone now and I am slower for it...

Charts to follow...

First Race Back...

2008-06-03T18:35:00.000-07:00

I raced in Union City on Sunday. It was kind of a spur of the moment decision. My main goal for the 68 mile State Championship RR was to finish with the pack. The terrain was rolling with a couple of decent hills but nothing too tough. The whole team was up there with just me and Drew racing in the Cat 4/5 under 35 years old race. My longest ride since the injury has been a couple of metric centuries that I have done at a moderate to hard pace... could I go at race pace for longer than that at this point in my training... would my race pace even keep me on the back of the pack for 70 miles? These were the questions in my head going into Sunday...

I raced hard. I felt like I could throw up from the effort for most of the 2 hour and 50 minutes that we were on the course... but that did not keep me from attacking once and spending a fair amount of time on the front. At around 40 miles into the ride, I had convinced myself that I could win the race. By 60 miles in, I had realized that I may need a ride from the wheel truck back to my car. My legs went, but I never quit fighting and achieved my goal... I finished with the pack (which had dwindled from 75 folks to around 25-30 folks by the end) and no breakaways stayed out.

I felt very excited about this race but I was worked over. I was sore all day yesterday (the race was Sunday) and felt a little tired at Tuesday Worlds tonight. It felt great to be back with the team and back competing again, but it is strange to ride in a race that you don't think you have the chops to win. I hope that my goals will be different in a few weeks when we head to La Grange (don't let the "La" fool you... we are not talking about Italy)...

I SHOT THE ALBATROSS!

2008-05-22T18:22:00.000-07:00

Rime of the Ancient Mariner... This is an old poem that we read in highschool. The poem has always stuck with me even though I have not seen it in 15 years. It is a story of an aged mariner that tells his story to a groom prior to his wedding. The mariner, while traveling to the south pole, and in tough times, has an albatross join him on his journey. He and his crew celebrate the omen for a while, and then, to his crew's chagrin, he shoots the albatross with a crossbow.

Suffice to say that a lot of weird stuff happens to the mariner as the albatross is avenged... the crew hangs a dead bird around his neck... a ship with a dead crew arrives... his crew dies and is brought back to life by the Holy Mother...

I have forsaken my power meter! It is gone to be moved to my new racing steed and will not be used for the next 5-6 days while my horse is built up. I am still riding every day on the old bike, but the ergomo is sitting in a box before boarding my new frame. The power meter was working in my favour over the last few days, and I hope that this move does not work against me or my crew (Security Bank) over the next few weeks. The last thing I need is the team to hang a dead ergomo around my neck (no support in the US... haven't you heard!), and drop dead waiting for the Holy Mother to save them! Most of those guys are Protestants anyway!!!!!

Good ride... Much better...

2008-05-21T17:14:00.000-07:00

I rode Tuesday Worlds last night... most of the guys from our team were taking it easy or were not riding due to the Tour of Atlanta... the racing starts on Thursday. The ride was uneventful and I really did not feel quite right.

I went out today at lunch and really felt pretty good at the start... my legs were a little slow to wake up after last nights effort, but that was expected. My left leg felt strong without thought. Five minutes into the ride, I looked down at my power meter when I was pulling and my power meter said 345 Watts... I thought it would say 270 Watts or so. This kept happening over and over. I started pulling while watching my power meter and was averaging 325 Watts for a few minutes and didn't feel bad. At around 20 minutes in, I look down to see that my NP for the effort so far was 285 Watts. Why not go for a new FTP? Today is as good a day as any...

So I worked hard. It dropped steadily throughout the rest of the ride and ended up at 272 Watts... up 7 Watts in a week. I will settle for no less improvement than that each week from now until I race at the end of June!

Summary of Facts...

2008-05-16T17:25:00.000-07:00

Here it is... I have not blogged in a while. The following is a summary of facts/items of interest that have presented themselves since I last blogged...

My FTP is 265 Watts. I did a 30 minute test and that is what I came up with. My pacing was bad again, so I think this number would be OK for an hour effort. Once you get used to these efforts (I did one a week through the winter), it is pretty easy to tell what it will end up at for a full hour.

Number one really sucks. That is 50 Watts or more less than my FTP prior to my injury and I have gained weight and lost muscle since then. Long road to recovery (see picture to the right)...

I bailed out of the Tour of Atlanta... the reasons follow...

I have found that my TT position is not powerful due to the tightness in my hip... I can't push over the top of the stroke the way I used to

My sprint is down over 200 Watts for a 15 second effort

My fitness seems to only allow around an hour at a high level of effort... I die after an hour and cant put pressure on the pedals. Prior to the injury, I was at around three hours...

My doc says that I don't need to take a hit on my hip right now. It is not fully fused so it would be very bad to fall on it.

So, the first item above takes me out of time trials... the second takes me out of the sprint stage and any chance for a field sprint... the third kills the RR... and the forth kills the crits...

No reason to race at the back of the pack where the risk of a wreck goes up and there is no chance of winning... so I bailed out of the Tour. It breaks my heart... I trained all winter with that race in mind and it was the race of the year for me and our team. If I go out and kill it on Tuesday Night Worlds next week, I will of course rethink the whole thing, but with the FTP I put out today, I am pretty certain that the outcome will be the same.

I have planned to train my FTP for the next four weeks... like I described before... a FTP workout on Tuesday and 5 min VO2 max workouts on Thursday. I now know where I am and lets see how quick I can bring it upward. The amazing thing is that a 210 Watt NP effort is no a L3 workout for me. That was a sleep on the bike type workout for me pre injury... now it is sweet spot training... or close to it. I will, of course, be pushing the upper end of L3 for all workouts between my FTP, 5 min, and long ride workouts. I will be growing my weakassed CTL of 59 by 4-8 CTL points per week to a more respectable number while growing my FTP.

Lightbulb On!

2008-05-04T19:07:00.000-07:00

It just occurred to me after posting the below post, that I am being a little too hard on myself (not much, but a little). I have been so disappointed in my power numbers in comparison to my old numbers, but I did not think of the mathematics of the issue...

My old threshold was around 314 Watts. My new left leg threshold as reported by the ergomo is maybe around 255 or 260 Watts. I had told myself that this is a 60-70 watt difference in what my left leg is able to produce, but it really is not. Since ergomo takes your left leg wattage and doubles it, the numbers are closer than they appear since only half that number is produced by the left leg anyway.

If my threshold measures at 260 Watts on my screen, than my left leg is putting out 130 Watts. My right leg only had a 2.5 week break and has been working really hard ever since I got back on the bike. I would not be surprised to find that my right leg is putting out 300 Watts for FTP or 150 Watts with a right leg only measurement tool. Add those together and my actual FTP is closer to 280 Watts in a race... not good, but not too bad.

I know this will be obvious to everyone, but for some reason I was using the double number in my mind when thinking of how bad my left leg sucks... I don't have to make up 60-70 watts, only 30-35 Watts... that sounds much better...

Normalized Power Pothole

2008-05-04T18:02:00.000-07:00

Click the graph to enlarge... if you want to see why a grown man will cry...

This is what my mean maximal normalized power chart looks like from before and after the injury. It is pretty ugly and I cant seem to change it. Yes, there is a 70-80 Watt difference in my performance across the board... and that is the good part of the graph. If you want to see something really ugly, you should see the MMP graph for average power. It shows clearly that of all the things that are lost, my sprint is by far the worst. My 5 second has gone from 1250 Watts to 830 Watts and my 15 second has gone from 1046 Watts to 572 Watts. I don't mind telling the competition my weakness because there are so many weaknesses and I don't really have competition anymore because I cant race...

The poor sprinting does not bother me as much. High power output has been difficult on my bad hip. When I move above 500 Watts, I can feel that it puts pressure on my hip in a bad way. My main frustration is with my threshold power. I went out this week to do an FTP workout. I had set a goal to hit 300 Watts for 18 minutes and build from there... longer and harder each week. I held 270 Watts for 5 minutes before I crumbled. Of course, I went out way, way too hard. I told myself that I felt great in the first minute when I averaged 320 Watts... and you know where it went from there. I guess the thing that bothers me is that I don't feel that I am challenging my cardio/resp. systems right now. They are falling back to meet my hip with every passing week without stress. Then I have the weird left leg injury thing going with the ergomo. God knows what that means in reference to FTP. Should I set a new FTP for myself based off of left leg only? I think so. Should I sell the ergomo and buy a powertap so I don't have to worry about my left leg anymore? Yes, I think so, but then again, that might be the worst thing to do. Then I wont know how bad my left leg is and I might overcompensate with my right forever.

I abandoned my previous training program because I just could not get it together to complete the effort. It all based on FTP and my FTP is yet to nailed down. I plan to determine my left leg FTP this week and will use that for all of my retraining workouts from hereforward. I will do an all out 30 minute effort and use my HR monitor as a guide for the first 10 minutes and then go as hard as I can after that. That will be my new FTP and I will possibly quit being a crybaby and start working toward a solution to this problem... such as getting better. Since my fitness must run through the bad leg, that is how I will train... I think I have convinced myself that I will stick with my ergomo... If I can fight through FTP workouts again now like I did during the winter, I can track my progress and use that for inspiration. The first one is the hard one... setting the baseline at such a low number is painful and discouraging and difficult to pace... all at the same time. I will do it Tuesday... just like over the winter... I will track my speed, too... that will help me to relate my left leg to overall output and keep up with those efforts...

The doc says that my femur will be clinically healed at around 12 weeks from the injury. It has been 6 weeks. He said that in 3 weeks, it should feel back to normal. I am walking without the cane now and really can walk without limping if I am not too tired.

I love to ride, and thank God that I am able to do that... but I miss the thrill of the race. Will I be ready for the Tour of Atlanta in three weeks? It looks like a long shot, but one I have to work towards...

My First Good Day...

2008-04-23T18:41:00.000-07:00

In a minute...

I measured my quads last night, because my left leg looks shriveled to me. It turns out that I lost 1.5 inches (circumference) of girth off of my left quad during the last 4 weeks (two of which I have been riding... or something like riding). This is in comparison to the right quad (measured along my cycling short tan line), which also lost some muscle for sure. I thought that was a lot... no wonder I can see a difference and it really looks a lot better than it did a week ago.

I knew it was bound to happen and it finally did. I felt weak all weekend, but still managed a 3 hour ride... the NP result? A measly 210 watts and I felt like I was really working. Both legs were fried after the effort, which was my main goal for the workout... I want to make sure that my left leg is getting a hard workout regardless of what else happens. I know I am overcompensating with my right leg to keep up with whoever I am riding with, but the power meter results are horrible (left leg measurement only on ergomo- that is the leg I fractured). Obviously, this shows my left leg is not putting out.

After two weeks of 150W to 205W efforts, I went out for the Tuesday night group ride. Within ten turns of the cranks and I new that I had turned the corner. My power meter lit up in front of me and showed 220 Watts while I was warming up. I cant explain it really, but it seemed more like I had purchased a new meter that was now working. The perceived effort was the same as throughout the last two weeks, but my left leg was putting out.

It was great... every additional watt that my lefty will put out is obviously needed. I went out with the race team and held through several hills. I broke off before I got dropped and did some work on my own while waiting for the slower group to catch me. After 20 minutes, I had a NP of 260Watts or so and wound up with an hour and a half at 230 Watts I think. I spent some time over 500 Watts for the first time since the injury and even sprinted up to 700 Watts for a spell.

This is the first week of my retraining program. The program will be separated into two sections... aerobic and anaerobic. The 4-5 week aerobic program will consist of two key workouts per week... Tuesday will consist of VO2 max intervals (increasing from 3 to 5 intervals, in duration from 3 to 6 minutes, and in intensity from 1.1 % to 1.13% FTP) and Thursday will consist of FTP workouts (working toward 2 intervals of 20 min and 98% FTP). The prescribed VO2 intervals seem too tough and if they are, I will adjust as I go.

My Protector... Madonna del Ghisello

2008-04-19T08:45:00.000-07:00

I am Catholic. This is not as popular in the bible belt as it is throughout the rest of the US and the world. Many rumors are spread throughout the southeast about what Catholics believe and don't believe, and I am certainly not interested in discussing these in this forum. One practice of devout Catholics is the wearing of medals. The Church's stance on this is that we are honoring a saint or holy figure by wearing their picture... almost a walking shrine in honor of them. That it is similar to keeping your grandmother's locket in your pocket... or a loved ones picture close to your bed... it is a item for remembrance and honor for the person depicted in the image.

Now... legend says something more. For many years, people have claimed protection from demons, protection from wrongdoing, and protection from injury and sickness by wearing a certain saint's medal. Sometimes they go even further than that... You may have heard that by burying a statue of St. Joseph (the saint of lost hope), your house will sell. I can tell you, by the way, that this has worked for nearly everyone in my extended family... houses that were on the market for 3 months and longer sell within a week of burying the statue... it really is freaky.

As a cyclist and a Catholic, I am obviously a madman... cyclists are almost always superstitious as are Catholics as are Italians (I am only 1/4 but most of my family tradition comes from that side), so why not work that into a religious belief and let it run. That was what I did nearly a year ago... I purchased a religious medal of the Madonna Del Ghisallo (the patron saint of cyclists).

The legend and back story are as follows...

Madonna del Ghisallo is a hill close to Lake Como in Italy. It is named after a legendary Marian apparition. According to the legend the Medieval count Ghisallo was being attacked by bandits when he saw an image of Virgin Mary at a shrine. He ran to it and was saved from the robbers.

Madonna del Ghisallo became a patroness of local travellers. In later times Madonna del Ghisallo became part of the Giro di Lombardia. In 1949 the local priest Father Ermelindo Vigano proposed to declare Madonna del Ghisallo the patroness of cyclists. This was admitted by Pope Pius XII. Nowadays the shrine of Madonna del Ghisallo contains a small cycling museum with photos and artifacts from the sport. There also burns an eternal flame for cyclists who have died. One particularly notable artifact is the crumpled bicycle that Fabio Casartelli, a native of the region, rode on the day he died in a crash in the Tour de France.

I would be shocked if any serious cyclist had not heard of the Madonna del Ghisallo shrine in Italy (pictured). Here is my story and why it applies... Since I purchased the medal, I have worn it on nearly every ride. I have ridden an average of 6 days a week for the past year so we are talking about around 300 rides. I figure that I have forgotten to wear the necklace with the medal on maybe 15 rides and it is probably closer to 10.

I know this is dragging out, but walk with me a little longer.

The day I wrecked, we were out with the team plus a few on an 80 miler or so. I wrecked at around mile 65 or so I think. When we were 20 miles in, we were rotating in an echelon when three large, junk yard dogs ran right in front of us. Now, we all know that more than one dog in a group of cyclists is trouble... the three dogs cut our group to pieces... brakes locking everywhere but there was no time to stop... we all slid through the dog pack... cyclists dodging both sides of all three dogs... and we all came out the other side unscathed. It was amazing... I threaded the needle between two running and dodging dogs and I had 5 inches to spare on either side and avoided the guy in front of me who had braked hard. I reached inside of my jersey to see if the Madonna had saved me and realized that I was not wearing it. I actually thought to myself, "well I guess I don't need it after all."

You know the rest of the story... fractured femur later in the ride...

Out of 300 or so rides in the last year, I have not worn the medal 10-15 times. I have wrecked twice during this time frame and was not wearing the medal either of those times...

Needless to say, it has not left my chest since...

1st Week Back... Patience... Patience...

2008-04-13T18:15:00.000-07:00

First day back was Tuesday. I rode a lack luster ride that night and really came away feeling like it might be a long recovery regardless of what I said in my last post. I took off Wednesday (trying to come back slowly)... I went out on a group ride on Thursday night... felt better, much better. I went out with the A group... a group of guys that are all great cyclists, but are no longer interested in riding with the racers that have developed in middle Georgia over the last few seasons. I hung in there for over an hour and had some decent efforts along the way... I dropped for two reasons... 1) my muscles felt tired in my bad leg, and 2) I bonked horribly. I don't know what the deal is, but since I have come back from injury, I seem to burn calories at a faster rate than before... even though the wattage is half what I am used to...

My NP for the effort was a little over 200Watts... up from 150 on Tuesday. I took off Friday and went out Saturday with Bret. My legs were not into it... my hip could feel the rain and cold when I got out of bed and I was disappointed with my effort. Sunday was better... I could sustain 200Watt+ efforts for the first time and even ventured into the 400 Watt range. My CTL is shot and I don't know what my FTP is now... I think I will list out some issues of interest... most of these are of interest because I am shocked at how far my fitness has gone down in three weeks...

My legs and endurance suck, but my cardiovascular and respiratory system seem to be OK. Obviously, they are not stressed much in this condition, but even when I make a big effort, I am not winded nor does my HR shoot up.

A two hour ride post hip injury feels like a 6 hour ride for me prior to injury. My neck, back, arms, and ass feel like I have never ridden a bike...

I have heard/read that you lose half of your muscular fitness in 10 days of inactivity versus 20-30 days to lose half of your cardio fitness. I think this is right after this past week. I can see a major difference in my leg muscles... it is really shocking. When I look down on the bike, I barely recognize my own legs... especially my left. It shows me that when you talk about time to recovery for sickness and injury, sickness is not the same as injury unless you are bedridden with sickness. I had no weight bearing on my left leg until I got back on the bike, really. After 2.5 weeks with no activity, my legs are sickly looking and it is a major disappointment.

I am projecting that I will be back to painless activity in one week. The difference day to day is still impressive. Today, for instance, I could stand on the bike and almost forget that I am hurt. Thursday, I was not close to that. I am only putting out around 300-350 watts, but it is still promising...

I am walking with a cane now... I think Ronnie and Causey will enjoy knowing that I have officially joined the "old guys on bikes" race club...

As a way to pass time while I sat on my ass for two weeks, I made some new purchases. I bought a new frame (below) and a new groupo... both slightly used, but both in great shape. I will be building up a new racing steed over the next few weeks and I am super pumped. I have never owned a high end bike... the one I currently ride, I purchased on Ebay for $1150 and the one before that, I bought used for $500. I am moving up from that.

I am not bitter about this injury. I thought that I would be, but I am not. It is strange, but I am already looking forward to this winter. I know that I will be good again this season, but the way I was progressing, I wanted to see where my peak would be from a power perspective. I think, without injury, that I might have hit 330Watts or so for my FTP this year. I was at 317 Watts NP for one hour when I got hurt and I was on a steady rise. My CTL was at an all time high... with some rest and some racing, who knows... either way, I am looking forward to a good season and then really stepping it up in the off season to see where it can go... could I really be talking about winter in the spring... I need my head checked... I did break my helmet in that wreck... maybe it knocked something loose...

Back in the Saddle...

2008-04-08T18:05:00.001-07:00

Went to the orthopedist today... he gave me a good report. I can go as hard as the pain will let me. After two and half weeks, he was surprised with my progress and wants to see me back in three weeks. So, of course, I went out on the group ride for my first ride back...

First off... my power meter is by ergomo so it only measures left leg efforts. Since my fracture is in my left femur, my power meter will be all but worthless unless I make sure to utilize each leg equally. This proves harder than it sounds...

I started with one group easier than I usually ride and steadily worked my way back throughout the ride to the stragglers in the last group and quit the ride early. My NP for the 1.5 hour ride was 150 Watts. I would guess that the actual effort was closer to 200 Watts. I noticed how hard I was working with my right leg (trying to compensate for the bad left leg) around halfway through and decided to let up a bit and concentrate on using both legs equally. This made my speed drop off considerably showing that my right leg was overcompensating.

If I was concentrating on equal effort between legs, my typical output was between 100 Watts and 120 Watts. This was comfortable and could have been sustained for hours. I did a few 300 Watt efforts (actually registered there on the screen... God knows what my right leg was putting out, but it was enough to get me breathing hard) and that felt OK I guess.

I will be using my blog to chart progress so that I can track where I am through the rebuild process. It will be boring for readers, but it is all I have to say right now and it will be nice to see improvement by reading past entries.

My spirits are still high, but there is a long way to go. Mentally, I want to attack everyone that I am riding with, but today I could not hold wattage long when I pushed...

Depression and Bitterness...

2008-03-26T12:49:00.000-07:00

I should have never lost the tough guy routine. Look what happens when you let your guard down...

On a training ride this past Saturday, I hit a patch of sand/pea gravel (perfectly positioned in the apex of the turn and around 4 inches deep) and went down. Robert wrecked in front of me and by the time I saw what happened to him, I was down. It was the slickest stuff I have ever hit on my bike and my entire front end went out with no warning. I did not skid at all... I hit straight down on my left hip, knee and elbow. Besides a lot of road rash, I fractured my greater trochanter which is the bony protrusion of my femur at my hip. It is very painful because the bony protrusion serves as a tie in point for many muscles and tendons so any movement of my left leg causes pain in the fracture.

Obviously, I am very disappointed... I was riding into the best form of my life. I would have peaked in two to three weeks based on my training program schedule and I was very excited, based on the slope of my improvement since the build cycle, to see where that peak would have been. I will now try not to be a baby, sit on my ass for four weeks, weep when no one is watching, and start the rebuilding process.

I have already started to research my retraining plan and it looks like I will need around 4 weeks off with a 7-8 week retraining cycle. Luckily, the guy (Howe) that laid out the training program I followed all winter, also laid out a "recover from injury" program for a 28 day break from training due to injury. Yes, I know, it sounds a little too coincidental, but it is true. With this plan, I would be back in form for the Tour of Atlanta and only miss one race that I had planned to do... the Athens GC and crit. Not to say that I cant do those races... I will just be out of shape...

Anyway, I will be out of pocket for a while with nothing to report... I will be having a nice pity party each and every day... you are all invited...

Enough is Enough...

2008-03-19T17:03:00.000-07:00

Alright... enough of the tough guy routine...

Time to talk about the other things that I am obsessed with, my wife and my kids. They have been to both races so far this year and have been awarded the prize for our team's biggest fans (by me!).

My daughter, Eliza, is almost three and talks about bikes everyday. She has been supporting her dad on Tuesdays for the group ride (it passes by her grandparents house and by our house coincidentally) by sitting by the road with Mommy and Baby Jack and ringing her bell.

My son, Jack, is almost 5 months old. He has Down Syndrome and has finally been scheduled for open heart surgery next month to repair a major heart defect. I am often reflective on the fact that I pour so much time into athletic endeavors, yet he can't hold up his head for more than a moment without losing his breath from the effort. Feeding is a full workout for my son... he needs a break halfway through a 4 ounce bottle to regain his strength. I pray that this surgery will help his stamina... we have heard from other patient's parents that this surgery will change everything with Jack... he will be much stronger and finally start to thrive.

I have always been drawn to cycling... since the first time I learned about it. It was the summer after my freshman year in college... the summer of 1994. I was an avid runner... only 25 miles a week, but to my lazy college friends, I was a freak. Two things happened in the span of a month... 1) I met a lady that had started riding a bike... she was a friend of my Aunts and told me that she rode 50 miles the day before... I was blown away... she was eating a ton... she was really lean... I was in love... with cycling not with her... she was old (probably 35- but that was old to me)... 2) I went on vacation and a hurricane ran us away from the coast... when we were inland, my folks stopped at a Books A Million and I was looking at the magazines... I spotted a Bicycling Magazine... It was a special issue called the "SuperFit Cyclist"... it was a series where they broke down every body part and discussed what happened as you trained it on a bike... it also had a coaching section where Mike Walden broke down every aspect of training and racing... I was sold...

So I got my folks to buy me my first road bike... an old cannondale with downtube shifters... for my 21st birthday... I still have the magazine that I bought that day... my wife laminated it years later as a Christmas present since the pages were worn through and tattered. Ironically, the information is mostly outdated and in Bicycling fashion it was very lack luster (not to me then... it was awesome then)... to date it properly I will give an example... the cutting edge technological training method... heart rate monitors... they don't mention power meters at all.

I tell this story because all that led me to here... I think for a reason. Jack could be a great athlete... he could play basketball or tennis or golf or baseball... who knows. But most certainly he will be able to ride a bike. Most certainly I will be able to get a tandem and me and Jack could ride together. No matter how challenged he is... we can have this. It happens to be my passion and it happens to be one of the best pastimes/sports for disabled children and adults. God works in mysterious ways and I am thankful that regardless of Jack's interests, he can always hop on the bike with his old dad... and hopefully ride him in the ground.

Perry Roubaix Race Summary

2008-03-16T20:16:00.000-07:00

I think that bike racing is 50% physical and 40% mental. There are a lot of other factors that go into racing, but most of them fit into those categories. What is the other 10%? Luck... it is a major player in winning races. "Bad luck" comes in a few ways during a race... two race ending bad luck issues are crashing and mechanical problems. Great racers make their own luck. They position themselves toward the front to avoid crashes and they avoid road hazards and are meticulous in their bicycle maintenance. Sooner or later a crash or a mechanical will turn a good day into a bad day for even the best. For a guy like me... I cant complain when bad luck finds me and it is a mechanical... I am just glad that I didn't crash when my luck turned south yesterday... that can ruin a season rather than a single race...

Alright... the weekend...

We started out with a 10 mile TT with rollers and one climb to work through. This was my first time on my new TT ride and I really did not know what to expect. I had ridden it three times and made major adjustments to the bike each time through. I did not have my computer set up on the bike, but used my HR monitor to gauge effort... or at least make sure I was working as hard as I felt like I was. I felt good... in a lot of pain... and really worked my tail off... I felt like I left everything on the course for sure. In hindsight, I probably took it too easy on some of the uphills... I was trying to make sure that I didn't blow up, but I think my mind was on the FTP efforts of the offseason, rather than an all out 20 minute... that is not the same as a 45-60 min effort and I have got to get that through my head. Anyway, the results came out and put me in 8th position for the TT. The good news is that Robert killed it with a 2nd place result and the Security boys took 5th through 8th places in the TT. A great team effort that has us all looking forward to the team time trial later this year...

The circuit was a mile long loop that had a few bumps but was mostly flat. The overall classification would be determined as an omnium rather than as a stage race format. This means that points are awarded for finishing places and MARs and KOMs. It really turns it into a sprinters weekend if you are willing to go for it (not a climbers weekend... the climbs are too short and there are not enough of them to have a major impact). I decided to make a run at the general classification and go for MAR points during the circuit. I worked my tail off. I received points on almost every MAR sprint, but worked myself over in the process. Doug got in a break with a couple of strong guys and stayed away. I worked for position on the last lap and found myself around sixth or seventh into the last corner... I thought this was probably too far back, but it was all I had left. I found my legs in the sprint and worked the left side passing 3 riders and securing a 6th place finish. Jake was 4th (3 in a break) with other teammates close behind us. Evidently the guy in between me and Jake was bumped down due to an infraction, so I ended up with a 5th place finish in the circuit race. The MAR points I raced for ended up bumping me into 4th place in the GC heading into the RR on Sunday.

The RR is a 14 mile loop that we were to complete four times. KOM and MAR points would be awarded on each lap to help determine the omnium placement for the GC. Our strategy was our typical... kill it up front from the word go and get to the dirt first. The KOM was 2 K from the start line and we hit the hill hard. I raced for points and got second on the KOM. After the hill, there was a long rolling section with a agricultural field to the right. A stout wind coming across the field hit the pelaton so we positioned ourselves at the front on the left edge of the racing lane to keep everyone working in the wind. When we hit the dirt road, me and all of my teammates were on the front. We got some help on the dirt road from other teams and came out the other side with our entire team in tact. The pace was crazy fast and everyone was in difficulty. There was a 2-3 mile section back to the start... about 3/4 of a mile from the finish line (MAR), a guy breaks out of the group to capture the points. I hesitated just long enough in my chase to give him a nice gap and give a few sprinters time to get on my wheel... PERFECT! I chased to about 300 meters from the line and realized that I was pulling the guys behind me into perfect position to kill me in a sprint. I sat up, moved to the left and made a hand motion for the guys to come through... as expected they sat up so the guy in front of us got first... at the last second, I jumped up and sprinted and captured second from the wheelsuckers. It was a nice point reward but at an extremely high cost. I was in trouble... tired from a sprint and the all out two minute effort to close the gap... pretty stupid really but I wanted the points. Guess what... the KOM is 1 K away.

Right when we hit the hill, I see my MAR friends shooting backward in the group... they were feeling it the same as me. I was working back when suddenly there was a gap between me and the pack... I look back and realized that our group consisted of only around 20-25 riders. I guess that we started with 50-60 or so... they must have all quit... they were no where behind us. I struggled up the hill, and started to regain composure as we went past the ag field. I worked up through the group to the front and found myself in perfect position again to hit the dirt (third man). Doug had broken off the front with around 7 other riders and they had around 5-10 seconds on the chase group I was in. There were a lot of guys around me that were energized to chase at this point and I was doing no work since I had a guy in the break. Perfect situation and I suddenly felt strong. Then... a look ahead... we were at the end of the dirt... the break was right in front of us... I felt great... I chose the wrong line through the turn and hit a 6" deep hole that ended in an asphalt wall. I avoided the indo, but managed to pop my front tire so bad I could hear it whistling. I waited for the tire truck... they had decided to sit behind a 250 lb guy that entered this race thinking it was a "ride". By the time I got back on the road, the race was over... I was over 5 minutes back without a soul in site except the fat guy who was stopping for a sandwich. DNF...DNF...DNF...

Good race though... I am really ready to go again...

Tuesday Worlds and more Roubaix...

2008-03-11T18:37:00.000-07:00

Tuesday Worlds is back. A little different than last year... the racers went out pretty well alone today and rode together while some of the other guys that typically go out with us formed their own group and rode together. My group hit it hard and had a competitive ride/race with plenty of attacks and failed breakaways. I felt good most of the time... it was tough at times, but I was able to recover between big efforts so that I was never thinking I would get dropped.

Of interest... in the RR at Albany, I noticed that my one hour normalized power maximum was at 311 Watts. Some people swear that this is as good as a one hour test (using average power) in determining FTP. Today, in the group ride, I hit 317 normalized for one hour. Does this mean that my FTP is now up to 317 Watts? Probably not that high, but I wonder if it is now higher than 302 Watts... probably... maybe I will test in a month or so and see where we are at...

OK... more on the race this weekend. The Perry-Roubaix is a three stage race... typical setup... a TT (around 10 miles), a crit (around 25 miles) and a RR (around 50 miles). In spring classic fashion and in the spirit of the real race, we race "the cobbles of Georgia"... otherwise known as a dirt road (picture right there). Last year it was crazy... it was loose and there were a lot of wrecks. Supposedly it will not be bad this year... time will tell...

Race Week... Perry Roubaix...

2008-03-10T17:02:00.000-07:00

Recap of the last week or so...

Took off the day after Albany and then had three hard workouts in a row. One was an interval workout (8x1min... around 475Watts)... the next one, an old cycling friend came in town and we took turns killing each other for 1:15... the next one, I took the TT bike out with the lunch group and hammered for 1:15. All of these were better than 100 TSS. At first, I felt fine and energized for more work, but by weeks end, I felt a little beat down. I went out Saturday in some of the worst weather of the winter (20 mph wind with 30 mph gusts... oh, also below 40 degrees) and only mustered a 2 hour ride. Sunday, I went out on the TT Bike with a new position (a little more aero than my first set up)... I felt like I compromised a little comfort and a little power, but I think it is workable... I did that for around 45 minutes... Then me and the lunch boys rode 45 in windy conditions... my legs were dead during and after this ride. They are still sore and I dont really know why. I think that maybe the hard efforts of early last week and the race weekend caught up with me at once. I was remarkably unaffected by the races... my legs never felt tired, but they do now.

OF NOTE: I checked my power files to see if the numbers would tell me why I felt fried. They didnt, but I do notice one thing. My legs seem to be around a week behind my workouts. If my TSB goes above 0... up to maybe +10, my legs feel good... but they feel great if I stay above 0 for a little while... maybe 4-5 days... that is when I really feel strong. Maybe the same goes for big efforts. I was able to put in six- 1 hour or longer, above-threshold workouts over 6 days and perform them all with intensity. I am now taking around 4 days to recover (while riding each of those days in a lackluster fashion).

Either way, I am still not in race/peak phase... I have got to remember that and continue making progress toward that part of the season. Even as strong as I felt in Albany, it was only a B race for me... the true test is yet to come...

Group rides start tomorrow. This will be a time to test the racing legs weekly against some of the best racers in Georgia. Everyone will come out with the guns blazing tomorrow and I will do the same. I figure that I will watch what happens and have fun... these are meant to be training rides and I will ride them that way... it will be some nice midweek TSS to add into the schedule any way you look at it.

This Week...
Monday- Off today
Tuesday- Worlds
Wednesday- Tempo to L2 (80 TSS) and TT practice (on Perry course)
Thursday- Microinterval workout
Friday- off
Saturday- 10 mile TT and 25 mile crit
Sunday- 50 mile RR

More about the upcoming race to follow later...

TT Bike Tune in...

2008-03-05T18:55:00.000-08:00

Alright, I got the TT bike ready tonight. My experience with TT is that I bought a bike through an ebayer that was selling me a computrainer. The guy had a litespeed with 650c wheels (disc in back) that looked pretty sweet. I know nothing about TT bikes other than it looked good and fast and I needed a bike and it seemed like a good deal.

I got the bike and never felt natural on it. I rode it in two or three TTs and really underperformed in all of them (I thought). Over and over, I hear friends talking about riding their Cervelos... like that was something different from my TT bike... like riding a Cervelo was fun or rewarding or fast or something. They actually seemed to like it.

So, of course, I sold the old TT litespeed for a Cervelo... monkey see, monkey do...

I got it set up for me tonight... dialed it in... reset the components from shipping... set the handlebars...set the saddle fore aft position and height... everything...

I went out for a test run tonight... 10:00 with a head lamp on Pate Road in the 30 degree weather with some wind and my TT helmet. It felt extremely fast and extremely comfortable. Was it in my head... maybe, but I don't think so. It just felt powerful. No matter how many adjustments I made to my old bike, I could not get it right. Within 5 minutes of playing with my new bike... it felt right...

It might turn out to be a very interesting season... my mojo is back if you haven't noticed...

Albany Recap...

2008-03-02T16:50:00.001-08:00

Yes, I know the manimal before Albany thing was a little weird... especially for anyone who didn't watch the show. But now it is after Albany and time for a race recap...

First off... Albany was a blast and not just because I got my legs back. Racing again was like seeing a long lost friend return home after giving them up for dead. The energy of it... seeing old racing buddies... the speed... the intensity... measuring up your competitors by the size of their guts/arses... checking your gear... registering... switching your race number from your left side to your right side between stages knowing that you will never get it as tight as it just was... pain and anger... elation... and finally... adrenaline. I loved every second of the entire weekend. On top of everything else, it seems that my 3 year old daughter loves watching daddy race and ringing the TDG bell I gave her for the race last year. My wife tells me that she rang it as hard as she could each time around and screamed for her daddy every time. It is really cute, she thinks that all the guys on my team are her daddy because she is used to seeing me in the race kits we are wearing now. Each time I would finish a race, she would want me to pick her up and hug her... she would not let go and she never does that... I don't know what she thought or why she did that, but of course I loved it!

The races...

The prologue was great... perfect race for me... plenty of turns and plenty of burn. I felt strong throughout and only wasted time in a couple of turns and a jerk got in my way crossing in front of the roundabout and cost me a few seconds. Other than that, the race was without major problem. Of note... my lungs burned after that race worse than I have ever felt. Two hours later they still hurt a little and I had a raspy cough for the rest of the day... it was great... mostly because I had heard Leggit, Sherwin, and Roll talking about the "cyclist cough" that would follow the prologue (of almost identical distance) of the Tour of California a week ago... it made me feel like a pro. Well the results were great... I took 4th in the competitive category and my team had 4 of the top 7 places with the other guys all placed well overall. Our team had a great day...

The crit was along the same course as the TT so we knew the terrain. We planned to work the front of the crit and try to get someone in a breakaway. We were all positioned to gain a major move in the GC if we got someone in a break. Another goal was to get Jake up to the front and set him up for the sprint. The crit was great fun. I worked a lot on the front until Doug got in a three man break and then I tried to stay on the front and be disruptive. Toward the end, I tried to pull the last few laps and keep Jake out of trouble and keep any breaks/attacks down. I put in a good effort, but could not muster the strength to get him around the last lap and died to the back of the pack... or so I thought. I sat up a second and let the first 10-15 guys come by me and all of a sudden there was a gap of 4-5 bikes between me and the group... we had shattered the race to pieces and what I thought to be a pelaton of 50 or so was now only 15... anyway, I could not close the gap and rode in the final half lap by myself. Doug took 2nd and Jake took 6th I think... a lot of our guys were well placed in the top 15-20 so it was a great day...

The RR was a 31 mile flat effort. We had plans to attack all day and make sure we protected Doug at the same time. We attacked all day and protected Doug at the same time. I dont know how else to describe it. There was not a time during the entire race that we were not pushing the pace or attacking. Every guy on our team dug deep and went all out. We got Jake to the finish line and Jake did his thing and took 1st in the RR... we all rejoiced in his victory. As a funny side note... they had a KOM on the course that I sprinted for and picked up. No one was paying attention and for once, I actually saw a sign... I never see them on group rides and miss the jump, but I saw this one! So... I guess the big boy in the pelaton will be wearing polka dots in the next Ga Cup race! They probably will not give out a jersey, but it is fun to think they will!

Our team is awesome and we are going to have a lot of fun this year!!!!!!!

Race Time!

2008-02-28T16:20:00.000-08:00

It is finally here... months of preperation... months of cold weather and solitude... finally ending with the birth of a new race season. I really cant wait. I have been looking forward to this moment since November 1st last year when I hammered out a training plan and started working toward this season.

I think I am prepared. I certainly have a great team around me... we have a sprinter, a few mountain specialists, a few guys that should do well in crits, a few TT guys. I would think that all of our Cat 4/5 team will be toward the top of the group we meet on Saturday, but time will tell.

I am a big Georgia Football fan and college football fan in general. There are always those running backs that are not great practicers... but you put them in game situations and watch out. They have a way of out-performing when there is a lot on the line... they react and feed off of the crowd... they enjoy hurting other folks. They are gametime guys. These are the guys that you dream that you have around the first of September (earlier than that nowadays)... you have not heard about them much during the spring and fall practices, but pray that they will put out when the going gets big...

I hope I will be a game-time guy this year. I have actually been a great practicer... the schedule suits me... the goal oriented, task oriented training I have been doing makes a lot of sense to the engineer inside of me. Set the goal, organize, and accomplish. It has really been fun. Before I decided to race my bike, I really loved the training more than the race. I never really cared about the outcome of a race... the training... the long hours... the commitment... that was what I enjoyed. I would train for a marathon (just once) or a triathlon (only a few) and have a time goal in mind, but it was a personal adventure. I cared more about the distance covered than the time or the competition. My, how the game has changed.

I really have got to get my head straight for the big efforts ahead. At the beginning of last season, there was no amount of discomfort that would make me back down... until I had at least thrown up in my mouth. Toward the end of the year, I could not put out anymore... I started making excuses. Dont get me wrong, there were plenty out there to grab on to. Having a child with down sydrome is not an easy thing to get your head around and Leslie was still pregnant at the end of last season. That was my last taste of racing... my head was not in it... I was just going through the motions. I am not going to do that this year. There is a very fine line between thinking that this is the day you will push yourself all out and telling yourself that there is always another day. The first is a loser and the latter is a winner.

I have thought a lot this week about what motivates me to try to win a race. How have things changed in the last year of my cycling "career"? At some point... around this time last year... I decided that maybe I should give it a go... try my hand at racing... and I wasn't half bad. In my mind, I plan to transform... just like the manimal right before the TT in Albany... ... hopefully say bye-bye to base and not turn back... think panther... yes, think panther...

Inlaw Afterburner...

2008-02-24T05:42:00.000-08:00

My wife planned a birthday get-together for her Dad in Madison, Ga. When this happens, she will usually throw me a bone so that I will not be a baby about going... I can ride there or home or both depending on the distance we are traveling. This situation was no different, so I decided to ride home from Madison on Saturday. There was a 10-14 mph wind working to the N-NW, so I knew that it would be a tough day, but I love a point to point ride on roads that I have never ridden.

The best part of the trip... I was up against a time limit if I were to make it home before dark... I needed to ride 70 miles with no stops at 19 mph or else it would get dark on me. I set out with the general goal of averaging greater than 20 mph, regardless of the headwind...

The wind did not seem bad at first... it was mostly a cross wind and did not feel too bad. By the end of the ride, I had really started to feel it. For the past two weekends, my stamina and power output seem to drop at 3 hours in... I am training to ride much further, if the pace is moderate, but if I push it... it appears that I can only put out strong for 3 hours before a performance dropoff. At close to three hours in, I checked my stats... NP- 256 Watts, AP- 236 Watts, Average Speed- 20.2 mph... and the decline began...

I did what I could to maintain this effort, but dropped off in the last 30 minutes. I ended up with 70 miles and average fo 20.1 mph... not bad considering the conditions... and I had done a 1 min interval workout on Friday night in the rain...

Updates on Albany Prologue Strategy...

2008-02-20T18:59:00.000-08:00

I have kicked around my calculations with some folks. No one thinks it is possible that a Cat 4/Cat 5 could hold 32 mph with 11- 90 degree turns and a roundabout. The distance that is reported is not accurate... at least that is the theory.

I dont think I will be able to use my power meter for pacing. There are too many turns and therefore too much slowing and sprinting to make it helpful. But, the guys that did the race last year have been given me some tips for success...

Dont burn out on the first uphill from the start... the adreniline is pumping and you are apt to do something stupid...
Dont touch your brakes going into the turns if you want to do well... the turns look tight, but are not as tight as you think... you must take risks to do well in this race...
This is a TT for crit racers... be ready to work the corners like you are in a crit breakaway closing in on the peleton and looking for the lap...
It is the first race of the season... dont do anything stupid...

I will continue to comment on the race as info comes in...

Trade out on the TT Bike...

2008-02-20T18:45:00.000-08:00

I am pretty excited... I have made a buy/sell deal to change my TT ride for the new season. I had a Litespeed Blade with 650C wheels (to the left)... I now am getting a Cervelo with 700C wheels (below). I never felt right on the Litespeed, but I am not sure that I ever will feel good on a TT bike. I am trading off mostly because I always hear people talk about how much they love getting on their cervelos... figure it must mean something... besides 650c wheels look ridiculous with a 6'2" rider on board...

Interesting Tidbits on Albany Race Weekend

2008-02-17T16:23:00.000-08:00

I was studing the Georgia Cup Albany Race results from last year. They did the same TT/Prologue course as we are doing this year... the first place Cat4/Cat5 guy rode the 1.94 mile course in 3 minutes and 34 seconds. The 10th place guy- 3:47. That puts the winners average at 32.6 mph, the 10th at 30.8 mph and the 26th guy (halfway/midpack) at just shy of 28 mph for average speed.

So, of course, I must go to my trusty speed/wattage converter...

http://www.kreuzotter.de/english/espeed.htm

and determine what I must put out to win the event... place 10th... place mid-pack...

I have found this calculator to be off a little, but it is due to the difference between my position and the assumed frontal area it uses based on weight and height... my natural position is a little more aggressive than it assumes which returns a higher wattage at the same speed when compared to actual testing.

Anyway, when I assume...

I will race in the drops on a road bike and
The course is flat with no wind

I find that I must average 550 watts to average 30 mph and come in 20th. I will need 600 watts to come in top 10 and I will need 700 watts to win the event. Looking at my mean max power chart... things dont look so good. Add in the fact that I must also negotiate 11 corners and a roundabout...

All I can say is that I will redefine my MMP chart in two weeks... my 3.5 minute power is currently resting on a svelt 365Watts... whoa...

The good news (as there always to seems to be good news in my world)... I have never tested this time/distance and it is really too long to show up from group rides. The times I have tested... 1 min and 5 min... I have only done interval sessions. I can repeat 8 intervals (so far) 1 minute intervals at 475 watts. I think I could probably do 630-650 Watts if I tested just one- one minute all out effort. My 5 min max effort also has not been tested, but I was doing 5 repeats at 335 watts and think I could do 360 Watts for 5 minutes or something like that. So, where does that put me for this type of effort? It is hard to know... the graph is steep when you go from the anaerobic system to the aerobic system. A three minute effort, in my mind, is right at the edge. I think everyone would agree that a 2 minute effort is closer to anaerobic and a 4 minute effort is closer to aerobic. It is really a very interesting thing to consider.

The other question... if you are riding at 30 mph, can you help not being on a TT bike... even if you are taking 11 ninety degree turns and a round about? I dont have a choice... I just sold my TT bike and my new one will not be in for a couple of weeks... but it makes one wonder...

I love this stuff...

One More Theory Before I Go...

2008-02-17T14:20:00.000-08:00

Last one...

There is one other thing. I have reflected a lot in the offseason about racing and my race team. I am a competitive guy, but I think this training program is teaching me to focus my aggression toward the race season. Right now, I have several "key workouts" each week. If I get them and hit my CTL goal, then the week was a success. The good news is that I have only missed one weekly goal since November 1st. The bad news is that I think this attitude is causing me to lose my intensity in these preseason workouts. Most of the guys are out for blood, showing off their preseason form. I, on the other hand, am a little soft. The workouts when I go out with the guys are mostly CTL fill in... they are not intensity workouts for me... I have already done those for the week when I show up.

I think this might cause me to "let it go". I think it makes me think that I will fight another day... I will get mean in a few weeks...

I dont think this is good really... my mental toughness is a little off right now. The good news... I have been focusing on the race season, and I will continue to do so. I plan to peak after Albany, but I will be going all out there and will be excited to see how it turns out.

Theories and More Theories...

2008-02-17T09:14:00.000-08:00

I have been thinking for a while about my training and the different phases of it and when I will "come into form". I have a theory... it is mostly me trying to rationalize why my form seems to be lagging behind several of my teammates... this was proven yet again on yesterday's effort. I was dropped during a hard rotation and just could not put anymore out.

Here is the deal... I rode with my teammates all last season... we all ebb and flowed along, some better one month, some better another month. I had worked harder and smarter than I ever have in the offseason... I lost 7 lbs since last season. I really expect to be much better this season than last season and still racing in the same category. Since I do not appear to be performing up to snuff (based on comparison to my teammates), I have developed the following fall back theory...

So, here it is... be patient, it takes some build-up

I weigh 180-185 lbs depending on the day and time that I weigh. I became convinced after much research, that my focus during the winter should be on L1 to L4 efforts. In particular, one L4 effort per week (40min FTP TT on Tuesdays) with several L2-L3 workouts throughout the week to build up to a certain CTL- thus "base miles". These would be base miles on steroids, though... I was really not holding back except to stay under threshold... I could ride as hard as I wanted up to 300 Watts. I spent most of my time at L3...

There arose a situation that I noticed during the winter. When I would go out on the Saturday group ride (I probably made it to half of the peach peleton rides this winter), the pace up the hills would force me into a wattage much higher than threshold, even though I did not feel like I was killing it, my weight was forcing my wattage above threshold and me into doing microintervals. Like I said, I realized this was happening, and based on further research, decided to minimize the peach rides I did, and minimize my time over threshold (other than 15 sec sprints). I started riding with some newbies and I would pull all of our long rides. With this strategy, I could keep a perfect wattage up hills, downhills, and on flats... never going into the red, but pushing the line all the time. The point is, at my weight, I dont ever ride like this with competitive riders... ever. If we are riding a moderately spirited ride, I will be hitting 500 Watts on power hills. There is no doubt.

I realized it one time when my waifish teammate commented to "keep it under 400 Watts" because he thought I was pushing to quickly up an incline. When I looked down, I was in the 550Watt range. This is foreign to a guy that weighs 145 lbs in Macon Georgia. The rollers here should not force him into that range unless he is really killing it...

SO... I decide to hold 300 Watts on all uphills during the offseason... this makes for a slow offseason racer, but a good pal to newbies.

Fast forward a month... now I go out with a bunch of folks that have been riding attack zones throughout the winter. Their anaerobic systems are not as untrained as mine are for sure... they should be beating me... but when and why?

Not in the mountains... they should have not advantage there (I am speaking of the guys that are my weight, of course)... those are threshold efforts (long climbs... not long, but long for the south... 15 minutes+... or threshold plus 10% maybe)... more of a VO2 effort with a little anaerobic system mixed in but mostly aerobic. My thought is that I was off my game for this one. One of my teammates rode the first climb and he hit at 10% over threshold... I rode (what felt like all out) at 10% below threshold and felt like it was all I had.

What about Saturday? I got worked with a thousand tiny accelerations... working through the echelon for hours. Was the workout intense... yes, my NP was 266 at 3:30 and I had spent the first 40 minutes before I met the guys screwing around at 210W NP. It looks like the NP for each of the long stints was around 280W... that should not have killed me... my FTP is close to 300 for heavens sake. The only answer (other than continuing this BS theory that I was off my game) is that I am accumulating lactic acid in my muscles due to an untrained anaerobic system. That the intensity in my training over the past months has not put me in a position to excel in these efforts I am faced with.

The good news... if my theory is right, I will build my anaerobic system over the next two weeks and then prepare both aerobic and anaerobic systems for peak output over 5 weeks of racing... recover for a few weeks... rebuild... and 5 more weeks of racing.

If the theory is right, things are proceeding perfectly and according to plan. If the theory is wrong... I will need to work hard to develop a new theory before my next entry... maybe harder than I have worked this entire offseason.

Anaerobic Phase Begins...

2008-02-12T18:11:00.000-08:00

Today was my first workout in the anaerobic phase. I will be here for three weeks... it is a place that I have blocked out of my mind over the last three months. It is a place that I really enjoy. It is here where real suffering is... it is the burn that we cyclist love to hate and hate to love.

I never thought that I would forget the feeling, but today was like smelling a grill in the spring or like visiting your old highschool... I just couldnt help but think of racing. I thought about the group rides around here... where you can cut the suffering with a knife... where you lay it all on the line to stay on the back of the group... then progress to stay in the group... then progress to work with the group... then progress to attack the group... and one day, maybe leave the group (if some of the best guys move away from here)... that is the growth of the cyclist.

Yes, today I enjoyed lactic acid flooding my musles and it hurt and felt good. After 8-1 minute intervals, I was tired but I could not help but to attack my riding partners from work and arrive back to the office alone. I dont know why I did it... it just happened... I think I have already forgotten this past weekend... I think I am back. Not that leaving the work cycling group is very difficult, that is not the point. The point is that spring is here... anaerobic is here... there are no more thoughts of holding back... there are no thoughts or concerns of hindering aerobic development... anyway... I am out of breath...

Today was good. I thought I would go by the book and set my goal today for eight-one minute intervals at 150% of FTP or 450 Watts. I felt too good for that. I did some over 500Watts with one as high as 535Watts. I think I averaged 475Watts across the eight. Not to bad and I am energized for more. I think I will try to hold 500 Watts across the board next time. I will be doing these 3 times a week for the next three weeks. My schedule will go as follows...

Monday- OFF
Tuesday- 10x1 min at 150-200% FTP
Wednesday- L2 for 1 hour
Thursday- 10x1 min at 150-200% FTP
Friday- L3 for 1 hour
Saturday- 10x1 min at 150-200% FTP with 1 hour L2
Sunday- Endurance

Cheers!

Training Camp...

2008-02-11T09:41:00.000-08:00

The truth of the matter is that we dont always know why things happen in cycling. Sometimes you just have a bad day. Sometimes, after months of focus and preparation, the day that you have been thinking about and looking forward to throughout the long miles of winter, ends up a little lackluster.

Should I be surprised that I got whipped by a few guys that are 40 lbs lighter than me in the mountains? No, I shouldn't and am not. Should I be surprised that I got whipped by a bunch of guys that are my weight? Maybe not surprised, but definitely disappointed. Saturday was not a great day for me.... I got dropped on every climb by guys that I had hoped to be equal to coming into this season. I really did not feel right all day...

Was it the saddle height that I adjusted the day before and was still tinkering with on Saturday? Was it the fact that my body was fighting sickness that showed itself as a cold/sore throat on Saturday night through today? Was it that the guys on my team have really benefited from the long rides and attack zones that I have missed out on many weekends this winter? Has my killer instinct been lulled to sleep during a winter season where every waking minute is a rush to balance two kids (one newborn), a wife, a career, and 10+ hours a week on the bike?

I dont know, but I do know one thing. I would rather be a surprise... I would rather over-perform come race time. I would rather shock my teammates and surprise them in a good way when I exceed expectations. All I can say after this weekend... if this were my strategy... things are definitely proceeding according to that plan... I have set a low standard in my team's mind for my fitness and strength... I now have to work to redeem myself...

The only redeeming thing (other than a fun weekend where I got in some good rides with a great team) is that my power meter showed that it was me that wasnt putting out. My numbers were atrocious... really bad. On the two climbs where we decided to compete, I put out 280W and 240W. These are not 2 hour climbs... they were 15 minute climbs. I would have expected to be at or above threshold on both and I could not put out the power. I could not push the pedals...

Anyway, onward to the season... nowhere to go but up...

Build Phase is Gone, Gone, Gone...

2008-02-05T16:32:00.000-08:00

I finished my last VO2 session today. It's not that I won't do them anymore in training, it is just that I will not do them every week anymore in training. My training plan now ends the build sequence (building CTL) after this weekend and goes into the anaerobic phase of training. I really feel think my fitness from an aerobic standpoint has improved over winter.

I raised my FTP 8 watts on Saturday and today my 5 minute intervals were quite a bit higher than when I started these. My training plan calls for intervals done at 110% of FTP. The first one is usually pretty easy and the last one feels pretty hard. At 110%, at my old FTP, I should be doing repeats at around 322 Watts. Over the last few weeks, I have been lucky to hold 322 for three and fall off after that. Today, since my FTP had increased, my goal was to hold 325 Watts in all five (I know 3 watts means nothing, but I have a problem). I finally found the perfect place to do these... I imagine that helped as much as anything. I held 333 Watts for the first three, 340 Watts for the fourth, and went for 350 on the last... I almost had it when I burnt up at 4.5 minutes in and ended up dropping off to 340 again. I tried to do the last one on the way back to the office and blame the terrain for the drop off. You just cant hold the wattage when you hit a slight downhill, weigh 185 lbs, and have a tail wind coming off of the lake... it is impossible after 4 hard intervals...

The idea is that right now I am maxing out my aerobic system in preperation for anaerobic training. I want to maintain my aerobic fitness while increasing my anaerobic fitness quickly and working on race specific training over the next month or so. I will utilize the first few races of the season to polish my form and skills for the first block of my peak racing season.

This is my first time with anything that is close to structured training. I have no idea what the result will be... I just know that it will be better than last year...

Anyway, it was a good day. Now, I will take it easy and wait to see what happens in TN. Either way, it will be fun...

Training Camp Preview

2008-02-03T15:03:00.000-08:00

We have training camp this coming weekend. We will be going as a team up to Chattanooga, TN for a weekend long retreat with our newly formed team. We will ride 50 miles Friday, 90-100 on Saturday, and 50 on Sunday. After this effort, my CTL will hit 94 and will be the highest it will get this offseason.

I am a little disappointed in this... I wanted to hit 110 because I read that elite/professional cyclists should be at 110 or higher after the build phase. I think I will be OK since I am not elite nor am I professional, but it still makes me question, "how much is enough?". I slowed up a couple weeks ago due to a hamstring/calf/back of knee pain that came out of the blue and put me down for a few days. The pain was not severe, but I could not go full power and I knew I needed to back off a bit. I was on an upward surge at the time, had dropped the easy week from my program and was increasing a steady 4 CTL points per week when it happened... I was around 92 TSS/day when it started.

I got rid of it with anti-inflammatories and haven't felt pain at all since then... until today. Not bad, it just let me know that it was not fully healed. A racing cyclist is always on the edge of injury or sickness, or they are not pushing hard enough. I do believe this, but really wanted to take it easy this offseason... it just didnt work out that way... I am a slave to the graphs!!!!!

A Little Background...

2008-02-02T12:11:00.000-08:00

This will provide a starting point, bringing me up to present time (so I can remember later)... I have loved cycling for many years, but never committed the time to it that I needed to become good (I am obviously not genetically gifted- I have got to work at it to be decent). My fitness was completely horrible when Eliza, my daughter, was born on April 29th, 2005. Life changed quite a bit and got even more busy than before. I had put on some weight by the winter and was disgusted. It was that time when things changed. I started riding again. I started riding during lunch with a coworker... I weighed 218 lbs... my heaviest ever in my life. I rode my way into spring and lost 20 lbs. I went out on group rides and got killed... but I had fun. I did my first century that year (2006) in September and followed it up three weeks later by completing the 6 gap century in north Georgia. I had a decent winter that off season and stayed in shape riding some lunchtimes and riding mountain bikes with Brooke. We were doing a 45 minute ride at night on the moutain bikes (1-2 days per week) and a 2 hour ride on the weekends... all pretty hard. When spring came around, I was in the best shape of my life, but it took a while to get my road legs up and running. I had lost another 10 lbs and was now around 190 lbs. I raced several times last season as a Cat 5 and upgraded over this offseason.

I bought a power meter and am in the middle of a winter training program that me and a teammate put together after doing a lot of online research (google wattage mostly). The winter base phase basically lasted from November 1 to the end of the year, increasing CTL incrementally (4-8 points per week- I chose the low end and took it easy every 4th week or so) while doing a 45 minute (usually 40 minute because it felt so good to quit 5 minutes early) FTP workout every week and a sprint workout (8x15 second sprints... all out). Since November, I have increased my 40 minute effort from 270 Watts to 302 Watts and have increased my 5 second (1111W to 1250W)and 15 second sprints (739W to 1046W- this interval was untested until this winter) considerably. Overall the program has been great. I am currently doing five- five minute intervals at 110% FTP each week with a FTP (40 min) every other week or so (sometimes more). Over the next week or so, I will be posting some charts to show progress over this winter thus far...

Why Not!

2008-02-02T11:39:00.001-08:00

Everyone else does it... why not me? I read several blogs religiously and thought I might as well give it a try...