ridethecliche

Yeah, I had pre-reged for it but didn't end up going. Called the teammate and he didn't feel comfortable racing with winds as gusty as they were supposed to be. I'm not feeling all that great right now anyway, so tomorrow should be better in terms of racing.

I'd prefer to do well (i.e. finish) at bethel tomorrow. Strong winds would ensure that I'd be wayyy to beat tomorrow.

Congrats to you, hocam, and Austin for a good race. Hocam seems to be doing mad well lately. Good for you guys!

Lets see how this week goes, depending on that I might end up doubling up on saturday and not racing sunday. Friends want to go to a crit at yale, but I might just end up taking next sunday off depending on how I feel.

grolby

It was pretty funny - everyone remembered us from last week! They were all coming up and saying, "Hey, if you guys want to try something, I'm glad to help out, we'll kick some ass!" Guess they'd rather be dishing it out then receiving it! The race was really slow until Hocam started things off - everyone was waiting for us to do something, I guess. Sigh. We couldn't put in quite the showing that we did last week, but it was fun.

I won't be racing next weekend, I'll be going home to be with the family for the holiday weekend, but have fun!

ldesfor1@ithaca

super sore legs at the end of BUILD3 meant took 2 days off the bike.

Good decision.

Legs feel fresh and ready today.

Today: 1 hour leg opener: 25' WU, 3-5 form sprints and one 3' VO2 effort. 10' CD followed by some good carbs and hydration.

Tomorrow: 1st official race of the season. 38 mile 1-2-3 CR. Should be windy and fast out in Marblehead, MA. A good day for the 60/90 wheels and my generally windproof physique (read: very heavy).
Plan is to stay close enough to the front to "try" and get into a good looking move where I will try to trick my way into not being dropped by stronger racers.

More exciting for me though is that our new team (Threshold Cycling) will have a HUGE presence in the 4/5 field where I expect a flurry of mad attacks and hopefully a super fun race to watch. GO THRESHOLD!!

... ok, time to open up these legs.

-L

Hocam

Yeah I'm pretty sure they were waiting for us after last week's attack-fest... Still fun though, despite the boringness of allowing the break up the road to win.

bostongarden

100 miles of love with some good hammering in miles 35-50 or so and then a 45 minute charging dual-echelon into the wind...muscles spasmed and tightened at mile 70 or so and had to get off the bike...teammates were at the ready...I learned about these cute little electrolyte pills -- absolute magic!! I hope the cramping/spasms subside so I can long again tomorrow...more in the 50-70 range though...

ericm979

137. I'm on target for a 550 hour year.

I did my best 20 minutes ever (282 watts) today. It was on the first climb of a club ride. I wasn't particularly trying for a good time, just felt good. It was on a classic benchmark climb in the area- Old La Honda. I didn't time myself but looking at the data it looks like I did it in about 20:45 (fastest ever). So a sub 20 min time may be possible, especially if I don't save something for another 50 miles of riding.

My SST intervals (thanks Waterrockets for suggesting them) have gotten easier as well. Maybe its time to move my FTP up!

esammuli

14th in the road race. 3 laps of Boulevard. I'm very tired. Crit tomorrow, hopefully my legs don't fall off.

Race:
Duration: 3:12:25 (3:16:31)
Work: 2387 kJ
TSS: 221.2 (intensity factor 0.832)
Norm Power: 250
VI: 1.2
Distance: 66.761 mi

Min Max Avg
Power: 0 910 208 watts
Cadence: 29 244 82 rpm
Speed: 2.4 47 20.9 mph

umd

I had one of those days where all objective metrics of performance didn't agree with my perception of effort... in a good way. I'm doing 3 crits tomorrow so my goal was to mostly take it easy but throw in some good but short efforts. My warmup was 15' @ 265W / 304NP. Met a group and did 5' @ 322W on the front with 1' @ 507W in the middle without really trying and a 20' NP of 323 to the regroup. At that point people complained that I said I was going to "take it easy" and was "asked" to stay off the front for a bit I chilled mid-pack for a while. There was a light that split the group but I bridged back to the front group. Going up a false flat to "the sprint" I had started near the back (due to aforementioned "chilling") but worked my way back up near the front bridging gaps as people were blowing up and attacked on small rise about a mile out, coaxed someone to bridge up to me and together we rode away. It was about 800W jump and 400W AP, or ~24mph up a 2% grade for 2 minutes and nobody was close to us. Fun stuff.

Flatballer

I'm a little over 100 hours for the year so far. Not as much as I should, but I've been doing a TON of intensity and a lot of racing.

umd

I've done 23 hours of racing so far this year...

merckx89

I'm not sure exactly how many miles of racing I've done, but I have 53 hours on race days (including warm up and what not). Probably take off 1/4 to 1/3 of that or so.

fishmel

Did Portland's pirate ride called De Ronde van Oeste Portlandia yesterday along with 4-500 others. This has been the most brutal ride I have done the last two years. 48 miles, 7,700' of up, including 2 streets that avg @ 22-24% for a 1/4 mile that have ya seeing God by the top.

3hrs 18mns
48.2 miles
2610kj
TSS 258.5 (.884)
219 watts avg. (NP274)

Finished the day with 75 miles, 4hrs 54mins, 3557kj, TSS 333.7, 8,903' of up

CTL sitting at 112, 192hrs on the bike so far this year. Last 14wks avg. 790 TSS/wk.

Hocam

Hit a giant wall of fatigue today.

Legs didn't feel too bad when I woke up but on the bike was a different story. It was like I was stuck in recovery mode, I just couldn't put out the normal amount of wattage I would expect and the legs felt dead. I had to turn back an hour and change in, which is too bad because it was a new route through some spectacular countryside on almost car-free roads. Fortunately I had a nice tailwind most of the way home. I've never felt this way before, very strange. I think I had been ramping my CTL too fast, 7/week the week before last which made this weeks rides very difficult. I was shooting for 550 TSS this week but only got 460.

Rest week this week, I've found my limit and I need some serious recovery. Maybe I'll be flying at plainville this Saturday.

Apus^2

85 hours so far...impressive there are multiple people out there with 100+ hours more than me already.

SushiJoe

68 hours so far here.

esammuli

148 hours so far. I was off the bike for 10 days, so I missed those hours, plus limited hours for the first 2 weeks afterward.

Jan- 56:13
Feb- 30:35 -Injured
Mar- 52:12
Apr- 9:21

Flatballer

Well, looks like I'm in the injury pile for a little while.

I messed up my hamstring (recurring injury) during the TTT bonk yesterday. I think my form fell apart and I started pedaling heel down, and this essentially lengthened my saddle height and pulled my hamstring. Didn't race this morning, I could barely walk.

I might try to spin a little bit tomorrow and see what happens. Hopefully it won't be long, conference championships are in two weeks, and I'd like to finally get some results. I'm skipping next weekend, both for recovery/peaking and because I'm hurting.

ridethecliche

About 55 hours or riding so far this year, ramping up intensity a ton right now to get ready and build up CTL.

This week ends up with 539 TSS, which is significantly more than I put on between march 1 and 22. I still feel great right now, so I'm going to keep doing the build by 'leg feel' allowing for recovery as needed. I only ride 2-3 days during the workweek anyway, so there should be ample time for it.

Crit today rocked.

Got 11th of (??) in the bethel 3/4. 265 NP for the hour long crit. My FTP is set to 260 right now, I thin I'll move it to 270 over the next week or two based on how SST workouts feel.

Time to study now, I have so much work...

slynkie

dejected.

OTB for 2nd crit in a row; and i've only got 5 starts to my name. is it possible that too much AWC work (via competitive tuesday/thursday group rides) during the week, has burned me out already? despite having just taken a rest week (actually, mostly a week off), and TSB being positive?

well, gonna take a few weeks off of racing, do some nice long weekend rides, and re-evaluate. i guess.

and re-read training + racing with a power meter.

waterrockets 

Nice!

Well, take a step back and think about exactly what's happening that is popping you off the back. Are you staying in the top 1/3 of the pack before the pop? If not, why not?

Is there something else going on?

Unless you're in your first season on the bike in general, longer miles may not be the corrective step. It might just be positioning, tactics, or speed.

ridethecliche

Thanks man.

It was great, I kept finding new matches. Not only was I able to get 'more' matches by recovering for 5-6 seconds every now and then, I was strong enough to help form a chase group and bridge to a break. I wouldn't have ever dared do that before. Last week, I was a player in the 4/5 crit, this week I was a player in the final 3/4 race for the series. The pace was ballistic for the first 10 laps, but I never thought about wanting to drop out. I just felt awesome.

I think I've really learned to start being a smoother rider, i.e. not wasting energy by speeding up a lot and then having to slow down by grabbing brakes only to repeat again.

Looks like my training/resting/racing is coming along well. I shouldn't have stopped following CDR's wheel. I should have kept on that to see how sprints really work.

Next crit is next sunday. I have a tough tough tough school week coming up so I might take an easier week. Or i might switch up my work/training schedule so I can go into work on the gross days and still be able to ride 4-6 hours during the m-f week.

ridethecliche

Yeah, let your legs and body dictate some stuff.

This was my hardest week yet with 529 TSS. For comparison, my 'hardest' month was Jan with 1263 TSS, so this was truly a crazy hard week. I'm really tired from the race today, but I can't sleep for a few hours due to a test tomorrow. I talked to a friend, and I can now skip a class before that so I can sleep in a little and get her notes. Lucky me can sleep an hour more!

slynkie

i've been riding for a few years, first year racing. i try to stay in the top 1/3, but i'm not strong enough to do so after 8 or 9 times up the short, punchy hill before the finish line on this particular crit course. looking at the data, these are 25" efforts, averaging maybe 450w. i know it doesn't sound like a lot, but i'm weak

i was following a fairly structured training plan before the races started..2x20s, had worked in VO2max days, but had barely done any intervals shorter than 2'. which is why i was surprised to hang so comfortably the first 3 races. but after the races started, i've been doing a very fast competitive training ride tuesdays, a slightly slower version thursdays, and then racing sundays. nothing else.

the looking at longer miles wasn't really intended as a corrective step - it's just something i really enjoy, and i miss it.

i guess in general, i need to figure out my priorities..

ridethecliche

If you want to race and race well, you have to change your training substantially if you like going out on doodling long rides. You can do tons of those in the winter 'off' season, but they will hurt performance if you do too much in season.

Look at umd's performance and training, he did much better at his races as he started training with power and rode less but rode harder. He still loves doing long rides and does a ton of them, but he's also gifted with a really good aerobic engine and doesn't tire from those rides. I wouldn't be able to pull of what he does or anything even close to it.

BigSean

Cut out one of the group rides and do some 2 minute intervals on a slight climb, something around 4% is good. Do some of em in the big ring if ya can, if not work yourself up to it.