sarals 

Two days, two hard training rides, both volume based. Yesterday was two hours at "pyramid pace", which was hard to do on the road. I chose a terrain profile that I thought would replicate the efforts, and set out to do it. 30 miles later, I was done. I felt good, having ridden pretty well.

Today was three hours, group ride (read, the Saturday Morning Ride, B group hammer fest). I had not done this group ride in many months, almost a year, I think. I was a little achy from yesterday, but that went away quickly. I stayed near the front for the first few miles, then the group (all guys) ramped it up to over 30 MPH, and I couldn't hang. I popped, like right now, but recovered, and found an OTB group (that was still traveling along at a good pace) and made it to the first regroup with them. The real climbing started after that, and I couldn't stay in contact, but they didn't get away, either. Made the second regroup. From then on, I was attached (even over climbs where I'd never been able to hang before). There was one other woman in the group by then, younger and stronger than I am (a long time racer, too), and I stayed on her wheel as long as I could. That is, until we hit the ocean view stretch. The pace went up to 26 - 28, the peloton stretched out single file, and I was tired! I'd let a little gap open, and someone would come around me and fill it, and I ended up getting pushed further and further back until I finally popped and sat up. I was PO ed at myself, but looking at what I did was pretty remarkable when compared to what I had previously accomplished on this ride. I was riding with mostly younger riders, all guys (except for Sue), some were racers, some were former racers, some were just really good recreational riders, and I stayed in for a long time. I climbed better than any time previously, I read the race well, always seemed to find a good wheel, and worked really hard but rode smart. What I didn't do was push the correct button on the Garmin and NONE of the cadence or power metrics were recorded - grrrrrrrr!!!!! That made me mad, but....a good, hard training ride. Volume is coming up.

sarals 

Oh....I just spent a bunch of money on the Tt bike. New 3T Vola handlebars, new cables (everywhere), and a Shimano 105 (so what) 165MM crankset. Somehow, doing this reminds me of the Einstein quote Hermes has under his posts.....

Hermes

The companion quote to Einstein's is Aristotle's "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."

I got that quote from the video below that is full of gems.

Hermes

VO2 work last night on the trainer plus some endurance.

This was the first time I used the Q-rings on the KK trainer. I was amazed how smooth the effort felt. Even smoother than the rollers and feeling more like I was riding on the indoor track.

IBOHUNT

Good stuff, thanks.

LAJ

Excellent video, Hermes.

I rode to work today. Zone 1-2 is all I get this week, and I never thought I would say it, but I'm OK with that.

happybday29475

Coach's orders? Rest week, or have you been ill?

Do you want more, More, MORE??? <- addict

LAJ

Definitely under orders! Rest week after a pretty tough 3 week run, which will start over soon enough.

Addicted, for sure.

Racer Ex 

Starting a positive trend. Added 12 CTL points this week, had a nice 2 hour ride with Hermes today, and have been concentrating the efforts on core strength/low cadence/positional strength work.

My heart rate drift is ugly right now. Tempo wattage turns into Z4/5 pretty quickly.

revchuck 

Good news!

Oh, you've got a heart? That's not what I heard from the folks you coach....

IBOHUNT

This?

Sorry, my web skills are lacking and I don't know how to embed the video. I'm better off being on the W-30 or M

IBOHUNT

Did a @revchuck inspired work on cadence ride yesterday. Avg cadence - 101.
50 minutes of a monkey with a football

Racer Ex 

I never have anyone do a workout I haven't already done

Hermes

He loves S&A. However, I draw the line at putting a rubber ball in my mouth.

Racer Ex 

You were the one talking about taping tennis balls together yesterday.

shovelhd

True statement. He's an equal opportunity masochist.

IBOHUNT

Added to the training information I didn't need to know...

globecanvas

Hello fellow old people racers.


Question 1: I've been doing more sprint training, plus a lot of crit racing, and the past couple of weeks my wrists, elbows, and shoulder joints have been a little sore. At first it felt like overuse, like the kind of joint pain I used to get 25 years ago when I was a framing carpenter, joints not quite keeping up with muscles. Then I thought maybe I was getting Lyme again, but the fatigue and neck soreness aren't there (though I have gotten a few headaches), so I'm back to thinking it's overuse, or maybe just the Louis CK diagnosis of "you're old and that part of your body just sucks now." I guess I don't really have a question. Random joint soreness when approaching 50 years old, check. Hips and knees are fine though!


Question 2: Battenkill Sunday, I figure I'll keep intensity up and volume down this week. Was planning to do 3 minute work today but would have a lot more fun doing the Tuesday fairgrounds crit. Is that dumb? 1:15 or so of intensity, crit as week-of training for RR?

shovelhd

If Battenkill is an A race for you, then this week should be a taper week. 2-3 hard workouts under an hour each with lots of rest. When was your last rest week? For joint pain I have been taking glucosamine and chondroitin 3000mg daily for years. It took about three months to kick in but it has helped me tremendously. YMMV of course.

I would vote against the training race and do a short high intensity workout instead. Be careful with burnout and overtraining. It can creep up on you and set you back weeks to recover.

globecanvas

Thanks for the vitamin advice, I'll check it out for sure.

Battenkill isn't really an A race is terms of hoping for a result. I don't expect to be top-10 competitive because the 45+ field is super strong. On the other hand I'm not saving myself for any other targeted races before Tulsa in June. For Battenkill my goal is mostly to be able to race it without feeling like I spent 3 hours hanging on by my fingernails, and to try to have fun.

As for overtraining and burnout, I'm pretty sensitive to that risk since I experienced it a couple of years ago. Last year I raced for only half a season because of unexpected family/life issues and that worked out really well; I'm expecting to mostly pack it in after June this year.

Hermes

What's next prostate questions?

Last year, I ramped up my standing start practice and gym work in anticipation of track nationals. Plus I did a lot of high power work in the aerobars. I managed to tweak the A/C joint of my right shoulder and neck was sore and stiff.

Over time, it got worse instead of better even with rest. I had an MRI and it showed pathology from years of golf, tennis, football and cycling. It was all bad but the doc said, hey, it is not bad for a man your age. I love when they say that.

He prescribed PT and told me that if I do not keep my shoulders back and stop rolling them forward under load, I will not be happy. Generally, cyclists roll their shoulders forward. In fact, we like to roll and round them for better aerodynamics. The problem is that is not a strong position for the AC joint. In the proper position with supporting muscles, the AC joint can take a lot of load. Rolled forward, not so much.

I suspect younger athletes can get away with most anything but the truth is that high power efforts that require the use of the upper body any misalignment may cause damage and then it is just a matter of time before one must pay the piper.

@globecanvas Fudgy gave you comments on your pic and I agree with him. I stopped offering advice as most do not want any and why should I offer help when I have paid a lot of money to either fix something or get a training or aero competitive advantage.

In your case, you offer a lot of advice and seem like a good guy. Sooo.....

IMO, you need to work on your thoracic spine flexibility and keep your shoulders down and back during sprints and when riding. I have been working on improving my thoracic flexibility so that I can flatten my back more and better distribute the load across the upper vertebrae. When I lift my head, I do not want all the motion to come from one to two spinal joints.

So in your position, I think you need to raise your bars slightly, flatten your back and lower your head while you keep the shoulders back. More than likely, you frontal area will be the same. This is not easy to do. It takes a lot of work (stretching and manipulation) and practice. For me, it has fixed my neck and shoulder issues. That and a shot of steroids in my AC joint. However, medication is only to allow the PT to work and get through the pain.

As a side note, I can do lateral raises with 20 pound dumb bells. However, I could barely raise my arm using only my rotator cuff muscles. I over developed my deltoids and traps so they did all the work. I am now up to 2 pounds isolating the rotator cuff muscles and I have restored the neurology to those muscles.

My goal is to have that regal posture with the shoulders in-line, down and my chin down and neck straight when standing. Think ballet dancer versus a vulture sitting in a tree. When I am on the bike, I try to bend at the hip and carry that position to the handlebars. In that position, the AC joint, rotator cuff muscles and neck are more protected and in a strong position for power moves on the bike. YMMV

globecanvas

Hermes, thank you, I sincerely appreciate it. I've made an appointment with a real fitter in a couple of weeks so I can get some hands on advice as well.

I don't think I'm quite understanding the connection between mid/upper back flexibility and the advice to flatten the back -- unless by flexibility you mean the ability to keep the mid/upped back straight, rather than bending there. If you draw a line from hips to shoulders, in my case generally the lower/middle back is curved above that line. Flattening the back will raise the shoulders, unless I also narrow the hip angle (which is already extremely narrow) or move the saddle and cockpit forward (which is the direction I have been going).

If this is too much detail or just annoying, feel free to ignore. I do appreciate the help though.

FWIW here is a more side-on shot, though this is a lap later than the other photo, crossing the line after a really big effort, so basically exhausted and starting to sit up. Head is too high in this shot as well, but that seems like more of an awareness thing (remember to keep head down and look up the road with the eyes) than fit-specific.

Hermes

Yes. Most cyclists, including me, round the upper back. We try to lower the torso for aero benefit. To to see ahead, we raise our head. This works until it does not and causes pain.

It turns out that a round object in the wind has a poor drag coefficient. So ones head in the wind is bad. Putting on an aero helmet helps but the shape is still basically round but now has a better Reynolds number and has a more aero shape. So lowering ones head is the best and cheapest aero gain around.

That is why many times aerodynamics are improved by raising the handlebars. The back can be made flatter that enables the head to be lowered.

There is something not quite right with your fit, IMO, It looks like you need more separation between your thighs and chest - seat to low maybe or cranks too long or both.

IMO, there are not many fitters who are both capable of fitting someone to a bike and fitting for pain reduction and to correct problems.

ERO guys at Velo Sports Center do a great job of fitting for athletes' limitations as well as aerodynamics.

Here is my wife's position after her aero testing at VSC with ERO. At the time, she was at the top of the pyramid with the lowest CdA of all the pros / international racers they tested.



Mount Tam HC Race on her road bike.



She has amazing back and pelvic flexibility that allows her to keep her body in alignment and her head down.

She can generate a lot of speed with not much power.

Cleave

fify

IBOHUNT