grolby

Road bike in the shop, so I'm relying on the cross bike for all my riding needs right now. I did an hour or so of cross practice with the local crossers on Wednesday. Ugh, it's the wrong time of year to go that hard! Or at least, it's tough for me to be motivated to go that hard. At least practicing with a group helps.

And then yesterday, about an hour on the short loop at one of the MTB trail areas in town. Yeah, on the cross bike. Nothing too technical, but a very rocky and rooty trail, tricky stuff on a cross bike with 30mm tires. Downright scary when I hit some slightly muddy bits, as I'm currently on Michelin Jet tires, which have hardly any tread at all. Can't wait for my new tires to come in. This morning I've got a few bruises, aches and pains!

Creakyknees

Started back in the gym this week... now I have a tweaked hamstring.

beatlebee 

1.3 hour commuting last two days.

kensuf

90 minutes yesterday.

beatlebee 

3.5 hours in Z2 and Z3. .5 hour swim.

mattm

3.5 hour team ride with some of the team, endurace-to-tempo-ish pace.

Good times!

jsutkeepspining

4 hours. first 3 were w/ a junior teammate, so z1/z2. last hour was 6 minute hill repeats at around cp 20. nice day on the bike.

echappist

First long base ride of the year, and power-wise, i'm already at where I was in late December. Still has a bit to go weight wise, but can't complain.

beatlebee 

4 hour team ride. The director talked a bunch about the upcoming season and telling me just what you guys are saying: hold back now to reap rewards later...

OTOH: I saw a half marathon go off today and it was nice to see so many fit people. Dropping another 3-5 pounds is a nice challenge for me during base training. It will be hard though...

jsutkeepspining

you have a director on a cat 5 team???

notwist

how long and how much %FTP do you aim for these long rides? I did 3.5 hours at ~71% yesterday (first long-ish ride in a while) and I felt pretty knackered at the end..

jsutkeepspining

it takes time to build up super endurance. My best advice for long rides is to never stop pedaling, and keep power constant. Dont go out and do a bunch of hills to have a large np versus a small ap. today i did about 3 hours at .73 (i think, i cant do math, and i dont remember what percent 248 is o my ftp). average cadence including zero was 93.

yesterday on the other hand for me wasnt a great example of a base day (i had 3 huors of jra w/ a teammate follwoed by hill repeats, so high np low ap).

pjcampbell

3h20m with 5350 ft climbing in 49F rain. Not exactly sure why I am riding right now but it was a pretty good ride!!!

grolby

Had my first CX 3 race today (third race all-time). Cyclocross is hard.

Now, no races for two weeks, and I'll probably take this next week totally off. Except maybe a CX practice on Wednesday evening. 2013 Base period starts a week from Monday.

echappist

yeah, that's to be expected, but you'll get better with them. The really good riders (national level masters riders) can probably string together two of them back-to-back for saturday and sunday

i aim for at least 3 hours with AP at 75% FTP or greater. I prefer to start "slower" and ramp it up toward in the last hour, which also allows your legs to get opened up a bit if they are a bit heavy when you start.
holy crap, once in a blue moon jks actually posts something useful

beatlebee 

LOL, we have all cats represented. “Director” may just be the title that I give, but he is not really a coach but organizes everything for the team and puts on a National Level Crit Race here.

jsutkeepspining

Hush now dough boy!

echappist

That's Dr. Zaftig to you!

jsutkeepspining

O u fancy

jsutkeepspining

easy jra ya na

https://app.strava.com/rides/25748286

beatlebee 

Base building question: I have a decent amount of time to put in hours, it is just that they do not all occur in one block during the day. I get that I should be focusing on steady efforts, maybe 55-75% of FTP. Can this be done twice per day (or more)? [I hear that people are telling me to not have hard efforts at this time of the year, but is there a limit to volume?] Since I swim when I wake up .5 hours, then 40 min bike commute, 30 min at work could be used (I usually run and this can be done at a slow pace), commute home: about 30 min, and then at least an hour in the evening to ride, some days up to 2.5 hours in the evening. I have an endurance training background and want to use/maximize the next two months in the best way possible. I will add in intervals and variety then after the base months.

Thank you.

jsutkeepspining

from what ive heard multiple workouts a day arent that great, but they are better than none. if i were you, i would shorten/keep commutes super easy then do the 2.5 hours in the evening. Almost making the commutes non training things (just because riding 30 minutes at z2 isnt going to help, and will probably only hurt ur evening ride.)

shovelhd

You can split a workout. However I still think you have not gotten the message.

Creatre

Did my first mountain bike ride Saturday. Just took it easy, adjusted to sliding around and getting hammered around by roots and rocks. Took Sunday off, and Base for 2013 starts NOW!

beatlebee 

I thought the basic message was that volume+intensity = burnout & decreased fitness. My question now is about volume, can it be split up during the day? Seems that some studies support this and certainly many elites use this workout strategy. But I am interested in informed opinions.

Thank you.