ridethecliche

You still in boston, no?

TheKillerPenguin

Upstate NY for now.

waterrockets 

6x1x5s today (WRI profile).

ouch

One thing I've been working on is the bike swing. I'm trying to get a more natural swing in there rather than leaving the bike more upright when sprinting. It's starting to feel much more natural now.

mollusk

I really wanted to go for a ride today, but I could tell that there still was some IT band tenderness in the hip area. Given that I decided to take a total rest day (except for that 6 miles of bike commute). Tonight is more stretching and tomorrow is an easy ride, but maybe for some distance. Two to three hours of Zone 2 is possible.

I've never had this issue before and so I'm hoping that it is a one time deal and if I give it proper "rest" (this week) it will go away forever. I'm hoping that the worst case scenario is "punting" the rest of the early season in Florida (last race I care about is mid-June) and working toward the late season when there are a bunch of road races that suit me.

slim_77

Stage Race Training Block:
critique away!!

I'm starting a new block of "stage race" intensity training: 3-4 consecutive hard days ranging from "LT" to "puke". My fitness is coming along nicely. Had a couple of good group rides this weekend with some strong riders and I rode well--good ego boost--even though I was beaten in the sprint--easily--by a "non-sprinter" (3 man break, I had ~30"s rest for the sprint). I guess when you upgrade you give up the hook you once hung your hat on.

stages: RR, circuit race, TT, crit (Fitchburg-Longsjo, Cat 3)

Week 1: 6x5'x1', 60' over-under, 5x5' Vo2s
Week 2: 6x5'x1, 60' over-under, 5x5' Vo2s, tempo
Week 3: same, but different order: LT, SST, 5x5' Vo2, over-under
Week 4: LT, SST, 5x5' Vo2, over-under
Week 5: 3-4 days rest, 5x5 Vo2 & weekend team rides
Week 6: taper/travel (50% volume has worked for me)

I won't have more than these 6 weeks to adapt to riding my aero bars, but I think that is enough time to adapt to the position. I've been stretching to get into a semi aero tuck for a while and I don't think my legs/neck will bother me too much in these 6 weeks.

Also, my AWC/sprint is my strong point. My weak point is FTP, I think this addresses that point.

I really can't wait for this race!

dc1215

Slim, for comparison, heres what my schedule looks like Fitchburg and then Tour of the Catskills. It will change a bit after Fitchburg depending on the outcome...but this is what I have for the next 5ish weeks. I'll be a 4 and these will be my first stage races, so obviously others will be more helpful, but I'd love to hear some feedback as well.

M - Off
T - 6x5x1 + Modified over/under protocol I've been doing
W - Either a race pace group ride or a training crit, depending on the week.
Th - Z1 on TT setup
Fr - Tempo or STUCI on TT setup. Will also be doing some max efforts as we get closer, but really want to work on pacing and getting adapted to the position for now.
Sat - 2-4 hours Tempo
Sun - 4-5 hours Z2 + 10x10" sprints

My concern is it might be a bit too much for me, but I'll adjust as I'm going along depending on how I'm responding.

bostongarden

Easy 36' to just keep the legs thinking bike.

johnybutts

I got about 30 min in today.. somewhere in Tempo zone, but no computer.

I did however, drop a triathlete in the middle of my ride. dialed it up to ~400 Watts and dropped him. It felt good.

Then I fixed my wheel, which had the cassette loose - seems to be a common occurrence with me... maybe I should invest in a wrench.

johnybutts

I kinda think my fitness is coming down right now, mainly because I peaked and now I'm doing many fewer hours now than I did in the early part of the season. I'm not worried about it, because I'm going to do another full build cycle before state TT championships. It just feels weird.

badhat

sore post ride legs on sunday evolved into totally fried hamstring tendons on monday, debilitating, could barely walked. was afraid i'd stupidly derailled my season with my dumb solo break on sautday.

figure out that after 3.5 hours, i fatigued and my form fell apart and i compensated for calf cramps by dropping my heels through the bottom of my stroke, which over-extended my hammy tendons and inflamed them. bad.

was prepared for a worst case scenario long recovery, but after taking monday off from my commute, icing them all evening last night, and commuting pretty easy this morning i'm about a hundred times better than i was, feel like about 90%. and on top of that, as long as my form is good and i dont hyperextend my knees, i dont think i'm irritating the injury anyway.

i'm so relieved.

badhat

current plan is to extend my race period one week to a total of 3 weeks so i can still be on form for superior morgul classic crit and RR this weekend. and then take a major rest week.

slim_77

Yeah. I'm learning this whole thing too.

I think that whatever plan you/we create must reflect 1) what you've got and 2) where you want to go with it...Mine is pretty ambitious, like any plan should be, but it is also doable. Looking at it again I'm thinking about tweekeing the rest weeks so that I go 3 weeks then rest, rather than 4 followed by rest-taper. But I'll make that call after week 3.

I hope some others with experience drop some knowledge...

good luck!

waterrockets 

Really tough 45' SST ride with a teammate. Damn, we're a tough combo for each other. He can hold 350W longer than me and I can hold 400+W longer than him. So we pretty much just work each other over. Today we were rotating on a hill and very windy course. Ouch.

kudude

I could sit in behind you guys. If by "hill" you mean downhill, and by wind you mean "headwind"

Apus^2

I'm installing Golden Cheetah right now. Getting use to it will take a while, as I'm comfortable with WKO+ (I have a new work computer and I'm too cheap to buy the WKO+ upgrade). I do like the bulk import option.

Oh, that's cool. I just figured out what the black line on the CP plot tab is for (Today's ride's CP vs Total CP). Nice.

Trying for ZeCanon's intervals tonight.

waterrockets 

sorry, meant "hilly"

waterrockets 

sorry, meant "hilly"

bostongarden

Went out to try some new climbs for intervals.
307ap for 2' 43"
(didn't like this climb, so, I went to the other one), rest of 6' 12" (i.e., ride to other climb)
329ap for 1' 49" (oops, now seeing data, didn't realize it was shorter), rest 2' 46" (ride down hill)
321ap for 1' 54", rest 2' 57"
328ap for 1' 51", rest 2' 59"
335ap for 1' 59", rest 2' 53"
307ap for 2' 05", done, but, decided I wanted to hit a shorter climb on the way back with some effort (so, sort of, rest 4' 54")
348ap for 1' 17"

What I liked about intervals 2-6 (in a way, really the "5 intervals" of the workout) was the first 30 seconds or so where the pitch was steepest (then it flattened for a bit, and then tilted up a bit): 423ap 34", 421ap 32", 453 for 31", 463ap for 32", 444ap for 31". Perhaps this sounds odd, but, I wish the entire length was like the steepest pitch section. There's something about the grade (and the associated cadence) where I feel that it is easier to generate more power than (at a higher cadence) on a flat.

On the (last) shorter climb (that I added on while heading home), the pitch is steepest at the onset -- I was at 472ap for 23". It then flattened out, and then went up a again, but, not as steeply, and I could not generate the same power.

Crash716

Tapering this week. rode myself to the point of almost vomitting like 4 times covering random attacks on sundays training ride.

Monday= Day off
Tuesday= Tempo and TTT stuff for 1.5 hours
Wednesday= Day off
Thursday= Training crit at FTP for 1hr plus 30m warmup
Friday= Day off
Saturday= 2 hours with a few openers.

SUNDAY= STATE Crit Champs where i will kill myself to help my teammate win a jersey!

mike868y

Team Pursuit tonight! So excited, it is a fun ride and great training.

JohnKScott

Trying to get my hours back up without high intensity after being off from some health issues. Feeling quite a lot better but my fitness is way off from what I had hoped for this time of year. In fact it appears to be no better than last year a this time. I suppose that makes sense considering my training hours are down compared to last year from having to lay off. Oh well. Racing tomorrow & Sunday. First two crits ever. Will really suck but will get some experience and VO2 effort for as long as I can stay in the race most likely .

Dr. Appointment for full physical coming up on 6/4. The guy is a D.O., long distance cyclist (did PBP within last 10 years I'm told), and supposedly a great guy. Maybe we can get some things figured out why I seem to get pushed over the edge so easily and don't seem to progress as well as I think I should. Hopefully the answer just isn't "you just suck".

ldesfor1@ithaca

last workout of the taper. 15' TT @ race pace. aimed @ 345w. felt a bit too high. Will pace KSR TT @ 340 for first 15' and then negative split if possible for final 12'.

Position is dialed in and @ race pace, this his how it looks on a roling course:

TT-greendale:
Duration: 3:06
Work: 64 kJ
TSS: 4.2 (intensity factor 0.905)
Norm Power: n/a
Distance: 1.422 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 257 410 344 watts
Cadence: 87 141 101 rpm
Speed: 23.9 37.1 27.5 mph


I figure that adding the booties, skinsuit, disc cover, aero front wheel and race tires should set me around 29-30 on the flats at the same power... position is pretty good, I figure.

sorta pleased at how fast my set up should be... and I really think I could go lower if I tried.

wed/th is zone 0 commute, off the bike one of the days, I hope.

Friday is some openers.

Sa, Su, Mo is 72m CR, 11m TT and 62m mountainous RR. (killington stage race). feel ready.


-L

ronsalicious

Sick. Wish I could be getting that kind of speed at that power. Other than the TT frame itself, what would you say helped you make the biggest gains in aero-ness (all I've done is slapped on some aero-bars)?

mattm

3-hour tour of the east-side foothills. HR was crazy-high at first, but I felt great anyway. ?!

Lap 1:
Duration: 3:06:14
Work: 1984 kJ
TSS: 178.8 (intensity factor 0.759)
Norm Power: 220
VI: 1.24
Distance: 49.918 mi
Elevation Gain: 5366 ft
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 1118 178 watts
Heart Rate: 101 187 156 bpm
Cadence: 15 147 67 rpm
Speed: 0 52.5 16.0 mph
Crank Torque: 0 1791 227 lb-in

Top speed of 52.5 was reached going down Cougar Mtn, 10% grade. I dropped a car for 1/2 mile!

PT initially showed peak power of 2011w, heh... and 1536 just before that, though speed was 0 mph..

mollusk

45 miles of easy Zone 2 today and everything feels fine. More stretching tonight and some ice.

As I was rolling back into town the Hipp Ride (our local hammerfest) was rolling out. I got a "shout out" to turn around and join it. Maybe next week, guys. This week is all about getting this IT band thing nipped in the bud.