sarals 

Shut up!

sarals 

Chuck - right on, buddy!!!

sarals 

I did a pace ride this morning in temperatures that were the coldest so far of the year, low 40's. I was dressed for success, though - leg warmers under knickers, warm base layer, long sleeve winter jersey, winter weight jacket, long finger gloves, balaclava, helmet cover, and thick socks (which hurt). The ride was programmed for 1:30, but at 40 minutes my legs started to complain about a lack of energy. My heart rate was pretty high for the efforts, too, and after the ride was cut to an hour I ended up with a TSS of 91. I've read that the body shunts blood away from major muscles to it's core to keep warm, and power is therefore lacking. It felt like it!

Tomorrow I have a cyclocross workout on the schedule. It has two sets of 1 minute over/unders, 5 reps each, with a *** in between the sets. Then I'm to go to the dirt and try to hurt myself. The weather is forecast to be slightly warmer, but rain chances will be high. I hope I can get it in! Because I have to be at work by 0900, I'll be on the bike NLT than 0630 - like today.

sarals 

@Heathpack - I'm sure you've done spin classes, but in case you haven't - they are fun and intense! Be ready to sweat, a lot!!

sarals 

I'm so thankful to have that man as my coach. He's just the best.

Hermes

So among other things, I decided to become a track supervisory at Hellyer Velodrome. I completed my training and first aid / CPR certification and today was the first session I was in charge. It was he Saturday’s beginner session which is the most difficult and demanding to work.

I have to sign riders in and collect fees plus hand out and fit rental bikes. The track opens at 8:30 AM and I showed up at 8 to find a couple of cyclists already there waiting. These guys are as bad a golfers waiting for the course to open to be first off the tee. When we started, we had 30 riders with about 8 juniors and a couple of masters plus an older master which was his first time.

The session consists of a lecture followed by a warmup and then a series of skills efforts that culminate in some mock races putting it all together. I develop the lecture and the skills session and efforts and then watch all the cyclists as they execute offering advice. Each new skill starts with a brief talk about what we are doing snd why we are doing them. Everything is an opt in or out for the riders but most everyone does all the skills and efforts.

As we are getting ready to do the contact drills, a woman shows up and introduces herself as a professional photographer who would like to shoot some arial photography. I was a little skeptical only because I did not want a drone dropping into the middle of a peloton. I decided to let her set up in the middle and keep the drone away from the track. So besides watching the riders, I now had to keep my eye on this drone.

Below is the video that is pretty cool. The efforts are 6 lap team pursuit efforts and near the end is where we formed a peloton and then teams on the whistle, would go off the front and take a lap on the peloton. We kept the peloton speed slow so that it was not too difficult to catch them but it simulates a very typical race situation where a group laps the field by working together.

I got a lot of great positive feedback from the session and everyone had a great time and got a great track workout.

https://vimeo.com/145018943
After spending 5 hours on my feet and driving for an hour, when I got home I went for a ride and climbed Old La Honda in prep for next weeks hill climb.

Heathpack 

@Hermes, there is no video attached, would love to see it

revchuck 

@Heathpack - I see it, it's a Vimeo video and it works on my laptop. Maybe you're on a phone?

Heathpack 

Yep, I'm on my IPhone. I'll look at it when I get home.

Husband will want to see it too. He wants a drone of his own. His brother has one. No one likes to be outdone by their brother, I guess.

beatlebee 

Thanks for the tips @Racer Ex

YogaKat

I've been lurking, googling and learning in this thread.
@Hermes I really enjoyed the video. When you say "speed slow," what average pace were they riding?

revchuck 

First day back on the bike in a week. It felt great. It was planned to be a Z2 ride, but it ended up in lower Z3. 1:26, TSS 94, IF .82, 977 kj.

Last week I swapped out the mid-cage RD, 11-32 cassette and Pro4 Endurance tires for the original short cage RD, my "old man's corn cob" (11 speed 12-25) and Turbo Pro tires in preparation for the Senior Games which I didn't do. I had to take a full link out of the chain to get it to shift in the small-small area; I had put a fresh chain on when I swapped to the mid-cage RD and 11-32 and it was too long for the standard RD/cassette combo. It feels like a race bike again.

chasm54

Nice couple of hours in high Z2 today.

People say base training is boring. I suppose I see their point, but I have to say it's my favourite bit of the year. I don't have to concentrate much, just keep half an eye on making sure I don't go too hard, and most of the time I'm rding at pretty much the same intensity that I do when touring. In other words it doesn't feel like work, or even training, it just feels like riding for the pure joy of being out on the bike. Nice.

Plus (and on-topic with @Racer Ex talkng about staying healthy) I never feel healthier than when I've recently moved out of an extended period of base into build. That isn't when I'm fastest, of course, but it is when I feel best - not unduly fatigued, getting stronger, just a really powerful sense of well-being. To extend Ex's mountaineering metaphor, summits are an accomplishment but they aren't necessarily the healthiest places to be.

sarals 

@Hermes- don't tease me! However, I'd love to come up when you're mentoring at Hellyer. Not that I don't already have enough on my plate! VERY cool video!

sarals 

@revchuck - welcome back aboard!

You reminded me that I should swap the 36T inner ring on the CX bike for a 34T inner ring. It's worth trying, I think.

COLD CX workout this morning. I did two sets of over/unders, *** in between (CX1, heathie), and then did a short dirt session (CX2). I had my training road wheelset on the CX bike for the over/unders, and then swapped the set for the CX wheelset (CXP33 with 38MM off road tires) for the dirt session. The rolling resistance on those dirt tires is HIGH, and it takes a real effort to make the bike go, much less go fast, in that configuration. Race pace efforts wear me down pretty quickly. The again, cross races wear me down pretty quickly, too.

Hermes

I will do Saturday sessions sporadically the first Saturday of the month. Other supervisors has assigned weeks for the Saturday sessions.

First, this is a beginner session so it is designed to be easy so that cyclists have success and a great time. So the emphasis is about skills training and learning to ride a fixed gear bike with no brakes. On the other hand, many show up at this session having done many before looking to get a great workout and ride their fixed gear bike on the track.

We had 5 juniors with crazy good bike skills that were very fast plus a couple of masters who were excellent racers as well as other racers who were very good.

I was referring to the peloton speed when I said slow. Since we had new riders who had not been on the track before and not on a fixed gear bike before, when I put the entire group on the track I said to ride 15 mph but it was not about the absolute speed but more that I did not want the juniors to amp up the speed before the newbies felt more comfortable riding on the track in a group.

In the team pursuit efforts, speeds varied from 18 mph to I suspect 27 mph depending on the team. The did flying 200 meters and some hit 35 mph.

Some show up at the track excited but very apprehensive and some say they have been dreaming about riding the track. My job is to make dreams come true and everyone feel welcome and confident while designing a program that allows the more experienced racers to get a great workout.

When the session was over the juniors wanted yet another Australian pursuit race. I hung around for one more race. Instead of closing at 11:30, we ran until 12:30.

YogaKat

I was curious what a peloton training speed started at. Those are some impressive speeds for some that have never even been on a bike before.

It sounds like an outstanding experience. I really like the idea of having a group with mixed skill levels learning together. It sounds like you made this quite successful.

Thank you for sharing and answering my question.

Racer Ex 

Started building out my schedule with an eye twoards road nats and getting myself back into shape. With snow hit or miss I'm keeping some days with a "goal" vs. specific workout, so I can crosstrain, ride the trainer, or get out on the bike. Thursday did an hour of xc skiing on top of the mountain at 9000'. Pics to follow. Friday hit the gym, 15 minute warmup jog then weights, which I hadn't done since track nats in July. The mighty certainly have fallen.

Saturday did a 2+ hour small group ride with some other AG stud guys. Had some good and not so good moments. Did a TTT rotation near the end, and I threw in some sprints off "lead outs".

Last night I was quite tight during my stretch/roll, woke up with a couple of compressed nerves on the left side. Took an hour of really aggressive pressure point work to relieve things. Unpleasent at best. Day off today.

LAJ

Weights, Worlds, then a little climb yesterday.

Today, 3.75 hours of Zone 2. I used to not like Z2 rides, as I found them somewhat tedious. Now that I have learned how to do them, I now find them hard. 5% in Zone 1, so I think I did it OK.

Heathpack 

Science Reveals Why Calorie Counts Are All Wrong - Scientific American

Yesterday we're laying at the pool and one of the staff comes by offering magazines (have I mentioned this place is fabulous?!). Husband takes a Popular Science, which I glance at briefly. There's a few paragraphs discussing why the calorie databases for many foods are inaccurate. Interesting, so I google the topic (free wifi everywhere at this resort- because it's fabulous, remember?).

I found the interesting article that I link above. Explains a lot perhaps- why people who eat processed foods tend to be overweight (more calories are available in their food), why vegetarians tend to be skinny (less calories are available in their food). Suggests a few eating strategies for weight management- vegetables, uncooked foods, perhaps rare over braised meats- for those of us trying to lose weight.

Interesting stuff. Of course, we should all eat minimally processed food, especially when calorie-restricted, because it is generally more nutrient-dense. But also possibly effectively lower in calories, putting you in to the double bonus.

LAJ

Good article, @Heathpack.

Toast with butter in the am to jump start the metabolism a bit. Weight days, Recoverite in the am too. Normal flatraters lunch, which means I eat my lunch in bits all day long, and a salad with turkey breast and ham 6 nights a week. Bread and butter pickles with ghost pepper flakes installed and/or watermelon for dessert. I don't get sick anymore. (knocking on wood) Simply put, I've been following those recommendations for a bit, and it works for me.

Heathpack 

I typically eat like that too. Recovery drink post-workout, then a few hours later first breakfast (before my appts start). Then a few hours later, pre-lunch, in between appts. Then I finish appts around 2, that's lunch before procedures/surgeries. Then a snack or two in the afternoon and dinner when I get home.

EXCEPT when I'm in Mexico. Then I lay around all morning, go to yoga at 10am and hit the over-the-top breakfast buffet at 11. From 11-12:30, the buffet is half price. Pack in 1500 cals at one sitting and I am done for the day. This is how you feed two adults for $25 a day. I have been too stuffed to even partake of happy hour, we've seriously had one drink since we've been here.

Today that changes however. Because they gave us a coupon at breakfast yesterday- free pitcher of sangria at the Spanish restaurant, the plan is to take them up on that this evening.

LAJ

All bets are off when you cross the border.

shovelhd

What happens in Mexico stays in Mexico.

Hermes

I heard that it is ok for racers to hang on cars during races in Mexico.