Hermes

Fiesta TTT Tuesdays. We had a gonzo fast time for 20km TTT for the wind condition this AM. We were always about 26 mph on the faster sections of the course but the cross wind sections drug us down to 22-23 mph and it does not take much time at that speed to wreck a 25 mph average speed. Tomorrow is second vaccine shot day. Moderna baby. I am ready.

TheKillerPenguin

Thanks! Getting there.

Zwift raced while kinda fasted. It did not go well. But it was still sorta fun.

hubcyclist

Yesterday I did 2 workouts, first was a series of 1min intervals at 120% (18 of them) and 2nd was endurance. Today I did 90mins z2, so evidently I'm doing something 'polarized' lol I have 2 vo2ish workouts this week and will have 6 z2 workouts, so I guess technically it is (although I doubt vo2 purists would call my workouts vo2, since I'm doing 1min and 90sec intervals this week with recovery between). It's not really my intent to do polarized, I just wanted to do this vo2 progression and do a z2 buildup on my weekend rides (2.5 each day this weekend, 3 next and then 3.5 final week, on the trainer). Anyhow I'm rambling lol

It's interesting to see my resting HR this morning when I measured on my HRV app was 66, quite a bit higher than my general 50's range RHR.

furiousferret

Did my first road ride in months, I'm going to have to start putting in more volume out there to get comfortable for racing. I also did 4x4m intervals in the evening, my body is not used to anything over FTP these days...

Now the world awaits:

USA Cycling: He's on the road now, crashing is inevitable. There's nothing we can do.
UCI: There is something that may help. Banning the Super-Tuck should slow it down. Make it so, Bob.

TMonk

I took the day off (PTO) to get 6 hours of pedaling practice, because practice makes perfect.

Yesterday I asked the boss if I could start late so I could do the Tuesday morning Fiesta Island ride, easily my favorite group ride in San Diego. We do 6 long laps (~1 hour) with a steady rotating paceline, however it gets blown to bits a couple times each lap when a local coach and veteran racer (Arnie) gases it to 30+ MPH for a while on an ebike. It's an awesome workout and just whittles down a bit each time. There is always a "b" group that forms behind who just get smooth rotations in.

When I'm riding really well, I like to attack the pacelines and go off on my own, which hurts because Arnie will end up passing me with speed so I'll have to sprint to get back on when I'm already in the red. Killer workout. It also feels really good to not have to slow down very much after his e-bike attacks while people are dying/hurting. Like when I'm fit, I don't need to slow down much and I hate, hate, hate losing speed and momentum. Must be all the TTT work. I'll just roll through to the front and put in a little dig, or at the very least, go through smoothly z4/5 while people are coasting and stay out front long enough for the riders to catch my wheel and rest for a moment or two, before moving other and initiating a new rotation. That is until Arnie attacks again.... Love this ride.

I haven't hammered like that in a while so my legs were a bit sore today at anything mildly anaerobic. Hours 4-5 were a bit uncomfortable TBH, but it passed. Even then, I just had to back off like the slightest bit and my cardio system was there and it was ready to give, give, give. Feels good to be fit.

burnthesheep

Was warm enough out last night I rode the TT bike with lights. I just hammered the old in-town route plus to/from the house. Nonstop.

Trainingpeaks counts zeroes when figuring your power peaks for workouts, given that, and knowing I had to u-turn for a dropped bottle and was stopped at least a minute along the way for a light or sign.............that would have easily been a 1hr PR of power on the TT bike. Hands down.

Now for some flatter stuff soon.

Also, I'm now going to normalize my overall power, TSS, KJ, figures between power meters now in Trainingpeaks. It takes me like 2min. That way the KJ's and TSS will be the same between my left-only Stages and my dual sided Quarq and the Core. The Quarq shows I'm at a 46/54 split on the avg. So, 46% x 2 = 92%. Divide the workout totals for the Stages by 92%, done.

I feel like in the past this has had the potential to really toss my outdoor workouts during rides by going too hard based on what the Stages shows THEN also not getting credit for it in the math in Trainingpeaks.

Folks might think that's stupid, but it should give me more consistent data since my left/right balance will not magically hit 50/50 ever.

Nobody seeing my Strava or anything would ever see the change, so it's not an ego thing either. I just need good data.

The one thing it won't fix is time in zones. I'd have to literally export the file, apply the adjustment to the file, and reimport it. That's just silly.

caloso

VO2max day: 8 x 2:30 @ 120%
Had planned to do 9, but had to cut it short for time, but just as well because I really doubt I could have finished the 9th one. Hoo boy, that was a killer.

furiousferret

I have 30/30s intervals today but I may just call it. Starting out real interval work has taken a bigger toll than anticipated and I don't feel rested. We'll see.

Hermes

Covid vaccine shot II intervals. Sore arm, headache, tired, scalp sensitive to touch, maybe achey. Nap time.

TMonk

Man oh man I'm wrecked today. Two hard days back to back M/T then a 6 hour romp yesterday. I'm leaving work imminently to pack up and head up to Mt Laguna (San Diego) for a few days of camping and MTB. I think it's gonna be an early bed night tonight.

Hermes

Covid vaccine intervals over. In the gym, today and felt great and back on the bike tomorrow.

furiousferret

I rode my CX bike for the first time in over a year. I essentially got 3 new bikes last year, and barely rode them because of the pandemic. The CX bike is my only Shimano bike so half the time I'm mis-shifting because I'm used to eTap.

Anyway, I was better out there than I thought, but I need to be better on the descents in dirt. BWR is in 5 months, and I'd like to find a 5 mile and 10+ mile loop I can simulate the race. My offroad discomfort is what's going to kill me out there so I need to be less scared cautious when hammering in the dirt. The initial part of the downhill is like 9% and I'm not comfortable at all there, I stick my feet out and go really slow lol.

gsteinb

But now they're tracking you.

big john

Have you tried lowering the tire pressure? How big are the tires? Did you try and copy your road position or are you running the bar a little higher?
If you don't have off road experience it might just take a bit of practice and getting used to sliding around.

furiousferret

30 psi, could be lower, 30 tires. Since its only the road I have to consider that and probably won't go over 32. My bar is much higher and I have a tad wider handlebar.

Its mostly just not being comfortable off road.

big john

There are some fire roads and some singeltrack next to Hwy 38 going up to Angeles Oaks. When I rode there it was on a mountain bike but I think the fire roads are good for a cross bike. The BWR page says 50 miles of dirt in the event. Practice would be good.

The guys I know who ride gravel type bikes use at least 38mm tires.

furiousferret

Yeah, which are about 10 miles from my house; but they are legit climbs. Steep, loads of sand pits and ruts. Not sure a CX bike is going to do okay in that environment. We have some sectors similar to BWR, I just have to talk to the vets and see.

I believe (and feel free to correct me if you've done it) the dirt descents in BWR are category 4, so a mile or 2. The big thing is descending, that's where I'm going to lose tons of time if I don't do it well. I don't necessarily want to kill myself going up, because its more the technicalites I have to learn.

big john

No,I haven't done it but some forum members have and there was a thread about it. I think Peter Stetina won it on a Madone with road tires.

wktmeow

I did it in 2019 on a tarmac disc with 28mm tubeless schwalbe pro ones. It was fine, no flats, but I lost time on descents and even dirt flats and climbs because I just can't put good power down off road when bouncing around. I did some gravel rides before that but none at anything close to race pace which was a whole different beast for me

https://strava.app.link/3AhVDl4weeb

Not an awful time but not competitive with the big boys by any means.. would have finished slightly faster but caught up to a teammate with a mechanical and rolled in a little easier with them and a couple others that were cooked

Hermes

4 hours of endurance riding over the weekend with good weather both days and I had great legs. We planned to ride Camp Pendleton on Sunday but higher Santa Ana winds kept us south.

furiousferret

Turned into a recovery week because of weekend stuff. Probably for the best.

burnthesheep

Previous 90min PR on Trainingpeaks was indoors during a weird long sweetspot mashup workout I invented on Zwift.

Somehow on Saturday I went for a 2hr ride on the TT bike and set a 2nd best power PR of only a watt or so less while outdoors. I warmed up from the house on all the hills then went out to do a TT effort on a route I want to create in Strava. Did that, then some tempo after.

Just a good area to keep rolling.

Now, key will be trying some "suited up" training rides to make sure the speed matches the power. Doesn't matter set a PR if you don't go faster.

I'm thinking about doing a flat local loop soon for 50mi nonstop to see how close I can get to 2hrs. I don't think I can break 2 hrs for 50mi even in full race kit, but I think I could get within a few minutes.

TheKillerPenguin

I hear the J&J vaccine syncs your blood to your icloud account.

burnthesheep

Training related.......I've been doing 30 to 100 pushups a day randomly throughout the day for about a month. Some days I'll mix it up with suitcase crunches and plank. But I figured if you do the pushups at modest pace, doing a set of 20 takes you about 30 seconds. So, 100 pushups per day would be 150 seconds of plank I guess.

It has made a tremendous difference in TT bike comfort. I used to get sore a bit in the neck, shoulders, squirmy on those long training rides on it. Now, no different than riding the road bike.

Looks wise also it does you favors, haha! It was one thing being a dude that wears size M bike clothes but was kind of shapeless north of the waist. It's nice having a little tone. Not to mention, self weighted stuff doesn't really add any useless bulk. Just functional muscle.

Also, may need to watch the weight pattern a touch. Not been super hungry during the day then just normal appetite at dinner. I logged a weigh in this morning on the Withings I've never seen. Morning time or even when I was at my smallest after a really long super hot summer ride. My skinniest when I had hit 155 would always have been after a ringer indoors workout OR a long hot summertime ride. No need at all to drop it quickly, just really slow while keeping fitness and growing the TT engine some more. So, if it continues on the trend it is now......it'll be time to eat a bit more.

TheKillerPenguin

Honestly man if your "shapelessness" is just starting to disappear above the waist, you probably aren't harming yourself by losing weight, assuming you're doing it slowly. Definition/tone is more a function of body fat than pushups. Especially since you're saying you are at PR watts and such.