Heathpack 

Thirty five miles and 4000 ft climbing for me today on the MTB. Tired legs so I just noodled around in a leisurely manner.

The back side of the island was cool, misting and temps were in the 60s.



The front side of the island was brilliant sunshine and temps in the 80s.



I rode front front side of island to the back side then to the front again then the back again then front. So it was a schizophrenic ride, most of my stopped time pertained to putting on or taking off my arm warmers.

I found an entire herd of buffalo grazing in the mist:



Then lunch and recovery drink(s). Because we athletes must take recovery seriously.

revchuck 

Oh, hell yeah!

sarals 

Heathpack 

Last morning at the island so I decided to do a wee recovery spin. Just a leisurely pace until a group of kind-of-clueless-looking guys passed me. So I had to chase em down and pass them all back. After I opened a respectable gap, I of course slowed back down and ambled back in to town.

Currently under sail and make good speed. No engine noise = peace.

Nice weekend. Aaah.

revchuck 

PT this morning. The therapist is really happy with my progress, told me I could stretch out the trainer rides to 25 minutes twice a day. I did the first one of those tonight, and pushed harder - I've been doing recovery pace, tonight was endurance pace. It's been over a month since I crashed, and I felt the difference in effort. It felt good. I actually considered getting out of the saddle and hammering a little, but my common sense shut that idea down pretty quickly. I don't want my enthusiasm writing checks my partially-healed femur can't cover.

My HR is about 10 bpm higher than usual. Part of that is the heat, and I guess part is due to lost fitness. Once I start back on the road it should come back down.

My biggest fear right now is getting on the scale.

Heathpack 

Coming along, @revchuck!

valygrl

Glad you are on the road to mending, revchuck!

Hermes

@revchuck Great news about your progress. Congrats on using the area above your neck to increase the healing rate.

revchuck 

Thanks, all!

Rode again this morning. I pushed a bit harder, to the point where it got uncomfortable, probably due to my healing hip flexor complaining about overuse. I shifted down a cog for a few minutes and then shifted back up, and the discomfort stayed at a reasonable level. Toward the end of the ride, I pushed up to my (now former ) FTP to see how it felt, and there wasn't any additional pain.

Sweat on the top tube - life is good!

Racer Ex 

Great to read Chuck!

Bandera

Did you know that it's possible to get really, really relaxed/rested in Colorado now and gain three pounds in just a few days? True.

Update on the Sorta-Annual FG Century/Death March:
Last year was unexpectedly the last year for this non-event w/ my FG riding buddy in Hou accepting a well deserved promotion and relocation in the real world.
Trading etouffee for haggis, the bayou for the loch, one side of the road for the other and a kilt for kit.

My highly refined schedule on the bike will now consist of trips to the farmer's market and general plootering about with a lot of freewheeling.

-Bandera

sarals 

@Bandera, I can gain three pounds overnight. Yes. I can!
@revchuck....GREAT news! I am so glad to hear it!

Fitness works wonders, doesn't it? I am reminded how valuable being fit is each time I transport someone who is younger than me but is a physical disaster due to lifestyle choices.

Hermes

It is not easy being a motor or the tale of the hound and the cheetah.

My workouts are pretty boring to write about. They are always similar with slight variation. Maybe the variations are interesting.

We were scheduled for a motor workout but since VSC is booked with racing, we were left with SD Velodrome and our new motor was at VSC with the juniors he coaches.

I was planning to do 3xf500 chasing the motor and my wife was to do 3 x (2 chasing the motor and 2 by herself).

I came up with the idea that I would be her motor for the first two lap since I would need 1/2 lap to wind up for the 500. She would continue for another 2 laps after I pulled up.

The good motor operators know how to increase the speed of the motor without dropping the rider and they have mirrors. I could not see behind.

The first two efforts I was in the pole lane and she was at the relief line and she was supposed to drop down standing and chase me as I accelerated. The final one we both dove off the banking together and that seemed to work better because as I pulled up after my two laps, she was a couple of bike lengths behind versus the previous efforts she was farther behind.

sarals 

Thursday night I did the Hellyer Sprint Session. I like Bob C, he gives a good session! The order of business was a 20 lap warmup, then we did "slow roll" standing starts. I had the bike configured for TT's - aerobars, TT setup seat post and saddle (I have a separate seatpost and saddle ready to go, I just swap them around), five spoke front and disc rear. I was riding 86 inch gearing, for both the warmup and efforts.

The slow roll starts were done as full on start efforts, but shut down between turn one and two.

We did a lot of discussion on weight work, and I learned much through the discussion. Bob's critiques following the session was that I was overgeared for the warmup (I knew that), and undergeared for the standing starts. He also said I was "stiff as a board" when riding into the turn, when the upper body and arms should begin to relax because your speed has gotten quite high and the effort changes. I agree. Coach and I will work together at Hellyer this week and I think we're going to gear up.

My lower back was stiff prior to the session, and had been since the weight workout at the gym two days prior. In the past, when that happened, it would usually loosen up when I started riding. By the time a warmup was done, it would be fine. This time, it did loosen, but I could feel it during the start efforts (which are very violent) which affected the way I did the starts. It threw my form off, which was why I had trouble relaxing in the efforts. Worse, it caused my back further discomfort, and it's been quite stiff and sore over the last day or two. Today it feels good. I am supposed to go to the gym today, however - Coach has stressed that if things don't feel right, don't exercise. We'll see how the day goes.

Hermes

@sarals Did you only do starts and how many with how much rest?

Every athlete has to develop a warmup strategy that includes gearing that works for them.

Here are some ideas for you. And of course, we know that you discuss stuff with R'ex and many times are trolling for ideas.

Observe what highly successful pure sprinters do for warmup. A good place to do this is at LAVRA. Sato does not go on the track. He warms up on rollers. The same for Jay W. Quinn H, who trains in my group at VSC, does not go on the track for the motor warmup with Travis but uses a roller warmup. The same is true for Lee Povey. No track warmup. The reason...rollers start out easier and generate more heat in a shorter period of time. The sole purpose of the warmup is to prepare the body (and ones back) for the efforts. At VSC, one has to put in too much power too soon and at Hellyer, even though one could go easy on the track, the racers never do.

Sprinters always do jumps in a warmup gear - one seated and one standing. So the jumps are part of the warmup.

Next many do some type of active stretching or myofascial release. I like to roll my back after a warm and even do planks and bridges although not too much. Povey uses a foam roller and does active stretching - not yoga. The bridges and planks are for muscle activation.

Changing gears is a pain on fixed gear bikes. I totally get the idea of using the same gear for warmup and efforts. The problem is that a race gear is too hard for a sprinters warmup on the track. So when racers say that they knew they were in too large of a gear for the warmup, what does that really mean?

The trend at the track is for bigger gears. The only way to know if a bigger gear is better is to do timed segments on the track.

So for my workouts and the workouts of others in my group, we start with warmup gears and then change to race gears. Each effort generally requires a gear change as we go from race to over gear and back to race.

sarals 

@Hermes, I printed that, thank you! Yes, I do troll for ideas. "The dumb question is the one you didn't ask".

To answer your question about RBI, I did three sets of two efforts, the last set only had one effort. In the sets, between the individual efforts, I rolled around the warmup circle for five to seven minutes, and then did a lap of the track on the cote de zur before starting the effort.

And, this brings to mind how proficient I am on the rollers. I haven't been doing my homework on them, and I'm not very good. However, there is still time to get good enough to use them before races. I am one of the few that doesn't use rollers to warmup. I am aware of that! I have just recently started bringing my foam roller with me to Hellyer, although it's not quite in the "muscle memory" category and I forget to use it. I know how beneficial it is, too, I use it religiously in the gym.

Thank you!!

Hermes

@sarals Your RBI routine is sort of in no mans land. If the goal is starts only, then yes, do sets. However, do one rep and then rest a minute or two and do the next rep. Now the ATP PC is depleted. Rest 20 minutes to recharge and do the next set.

The ATP - PC system is slow to recover.

sarals 

Yes. Bob C. was running the session, and I was doing what he directed. The second start in the set felt good after the warmup circle. We did do a long recovery, 20 minutes or more, between the sets.

On another note, after four nights of sleeping (if you call it that) in a crappy bed and sitting in an awful chair for five days, all while at work, my back has had enough. I rode the cross bike this morning - carefully - and the back is sore once again. Rolling out helped, it usually does. Tonight I get to sleep in my bed. Here's to peace for my back!

Racer Ex 

Sara's Thursday night stuff is a structured group practice, I get a cursory outline email from the person running the show via the list serve for the track. My understanding is that it's more technique driven than "physio" driven; I plan accordingly so that we have what's needed covered prior to that day. One of those things where you're beholden to the leader, group dynamic, and schedule vs. running your own "optimized" show.

In most cases there's already a fair bit of fatigue in the legs. Right now 100% physio isn't a target, that will come soon enough. It's about pushing as far up on the learning curve as possible and logging track time while also getting the physio side covered as much as we can. Balance and all that.

We've discussed the warm up. We will discuss again. Like muscle memory, it takes some time to build out a routine.

revchuck 

I've ridden (still the trainer) three times since I last posted, feeling better each time. There's a twinge at the front of my left hip (the one I broke) when that leg hits the top of the pedal stroke, but it's getting less noticeable and goes away once I'm warmed up. I'm up to 45 minutes and getting pretty comfy. Going longer isn't an issue, other than getting the go-ahead from the PT guy. I've been keeping the IF at .64-.68; the EF is staying around 1.3 as opposed to around 1.5 prior to the crash.

I've been cheating on the walker, going around without it the last couple of days but taking it easy. My appointment with the osteopath is Tuesday, now I just have to figure out how to not fib to him about it. I'm SO ready to get back to normal! Hopefully, he'll clear me to ride on the road.

sarals 

@revchuck - here's hoping!

The supervisors at Hellyer do a really good job with structure during the advanced sessions. They create a program prior to the session and usually email it out the same day (just like the WNTL Omnium schedule). Their program is more for those who arrive without direction, they can follow the supervisors guidelines. Those who do have a preplanned workout can do their own thing. The supervisors are all experienced track racers, and they are cognizant of recovery (I've been reminded of that more than a few times). They also understand the needs of the athlete, if the athlete tells them what they have in mind for the workout. The warmup on the track is usually done en mass, but one can warmup on rollers if they choose. That said, the warmup for the sprinters session is easier and shorter than the enduro warmups. If one wants to do an effort for activation, it is allowed.

Hermes

@sarals I agree that the supervisors do a great job at Hellyer. As a former Hellyer supervisor, we have very broad authority when running sessions at the track. As long as the athletes are reasonable and communicate effectively, their needs can be usually met even in structured sessions.

IBOHUNT

Good to read the progress.
As for the fib... If you aren't asked then no harm eh?
If you are asked you can try to change the subject

Hermes

Track workout at SD Velodrome with new motor. First, I really like this motor operator / coach. He is the best motor I have used on an outdoor track. He was extremely smooth and was able to negate the wind that is always blowing at the SDV.

I did 3xf666meter efforts. And of course, a motor warmup and two jumps. I did the motor work in a 94.5 gear.

Here is a video of the second effort with the final lap time of 22 seconds. And it has a good shot of the velodrome.

revchuck 

Just got back from seeing the osteopath. I'm back on the road! He told me that riding the bike wasn't the issue, but falling off of it was. He also told me that I could transition off the walker in a couple of weeks. He didn't ask if I'd tried walking yet, so no fibs needed. I'm just tweaking his timeline.