Happy 2008

Not there yet for us. But to the three people reading this...

 

Happy New Year.  I hope you are successful in reaching your goals in '08.

 

-g

Goals and 2008

Every year i have laid out plans to do well at a big events...

 

This year is different.  I just wanna go fast.  And race.  last year i did about 6 tt's.  That's it. No road races.  No mtb xc races.  No cx races.

 

So this year KISS and just plan to race.  Periodic local weekday stuff.  Weekend races.  Some picked where i hope to well.  some just because i like them.  But just do it again.

 

The kids are old enough now that it isn't such a burden.  My lack of racing has increased my desire.  My training is progressing and weight is dropping.

 

So here goes...

 

-g

Climbing into snow...

All's good in the wet and cold.  Too many days where the SRM says 25C (i.e. indoors).

 

Rode to the gate @ Millcreek as the snow is deep now (and time for some skating!).

Felt good going up as now down under 195.  I added 10w to the FTP "estimate" and I say estimate as I haven't done any formal testing.  But then proceeded to do 4x10s @ 260w and they hurt suffeciently so I suspect that my estimate is close.

 

-g

Cardiac Drift (or why use power)

Just downloaded my t6 data (not really interested in HR, but have been tracking EPOC to see how it scales with power for no-power-able rides).

 

Now, if you read last nights post, you know I did 4x10 @ ftp ramp downs (starting @ the top of L4 and ramping to the bottom so the average is exactly FTP).

 

Something you notice not so much in the power file but becomes obvious in the HR trace only is cardiac drift:

 

Click to see full size (like all of my images here).

 

See how the HR during each interval steps up?  But the workload is identical (the averages and normalized powers for each intervals are within 3w of each other - it was in erg mode).

 

How do you think power would have varied if following the same workout description but used HR as the pacing tool?

 

Food for thought.

 

-g

Thursdays Workout

 

 

BTW, yes I know the CSS is buggered on the blog and has a grey background when it is supposed to be white.  Will get to it.

 

Here is Thursday nights workout.  Need the LT work, didn't think I could start at the 2x20 or 1x40-60 yet.  So did ramps that start at top of L4 and ramp down to bottom...

 

Finished it and had more to give.

 

So, good start to structured training.

 

Here is the updated PMC.

 

 

sorry windows live writer buggers the image.  click it to see it animated...

 

-g

Winter riding here in full force...

How can I tell?  Laundry.  Tonight I loaded the past weeks worth of riding clothing into the washer and here is what it consists of:

 

7 pairs of bibs

7 pairs of socks

4 sweatbands

4 headbands

7 hand towels

 

Yeah.

 

So in a comment about the fat falling off (under 196 now) Dave mentioned that I have the tools to do it.  While the tool he mostly was referring to was the PMC (and I agree) I thought that something I might do is walk through some of the other "tools" (I use that word loosely as my wife calls most of them toys) that I use/will be using this year...

 

 

So over the course of the next few post I will cover them in further detail.

 

-g

Last night

went well.  1.5hrs of SST on the CT.  Didn't want to get off early or not finish the laps I had programmed in (4x the central park course).  Which is a good start to the winter indoor game. 

Outperformed the planned TSS.

 

I am addressing the supply side and the demand side at the same time right now.  My supply side is way down (as mentioned in the post about my MAP test).  And my demand side is way up.  Saturday I weighted myself and had an all time high weight of 201lbs.  I have never been over ~ 190 pounds so this was shocking too me.

 

10 days later, I am down to 197 and still another ~30lbs to go.

 

So let's see - right now ~200lbs and 250w - I am a good Cat5.

 

Goal: 4.8 w/kg or 350w @ 160lbs.

 

Seems a long way away but 20 weeks @ -2lbs, +5w, +5-7ctl per week should put me in form in April.  Guess we will see..

 

I will be walking through my tools in my next installment.

 

-g

Well that wasn't pretty

Did the first MAP test in, well, I dunno how long it has been since I have done a personal ramp test.

 

I only do them for those who aren't used to testing (new athletes) or those who have "detrained" such as my own situation.

 

Well, the results aren't pretty and I know I could have done better:

 

Might have to redo in short order (after the weekend) and see if I just wussed out...

 

 

Guess some structured training is in order...

 

-g

Saftey Warning...

Do not ride rollers and watch Dust to Glory at the same time... you will try and drive the trophy trucks from the handlebars, and you will fall off the rollers.

 

-g

Back up and running full speed ahead...

So now it is December and with that the end of the UTCX season.  The first time in a long time the CX season has come and gone with a single race for myself.

 

Blame the granuloma for that one, but it seems to have resolved itself and this week I have ridden the rollers everyday since my last outdoor ride.  Including twice yesterday.

 

Ouch.

 

The Computrainer will be fixed tomorrow when the stand clamp arrives via UPS.

 

Then some of the testing gets rolling again (crankarm length, drop pedals etc).

 

The Utah Coaching Group is set to meet soon, guess they tried to get me to present tonight, but since I had no pc until late Thursday it has been hard to write my presentation about using WKO+.  Dave and I are working to bring a portion of this presentation to all of the UT cyclists, so stay tuned for when you can come see more about it.

 

Also, I owe Ali Goulet a presentation on CX and training.  I had a bulk of the presentation written when the PC crashed BACK IN SEPT!  So I will be working on finishing it and trying to find a time/place to present it.  Albiet, it is post-season for most, but perhaps it can provide some insight into the 08 cx season...

 

more to follow

 

-g