caloso

90 min of z2/3 by myself on the way to work this morning. That last 10 minutes is getting easier, which is nice because I"m really trying to lift the far right hand side of the curve.

TMonk

what?

90min of z2/3 shouldn't be that difficult, right?

disclosure: I train by HR and pace myself such that it drifts upward throughout a workout.

rkwaki

It's having the consistency of having to produce the power that makes it difficult. Your heart rate is going to drift regardless but power is a defined number and either you make it or you don't.

TMonk

right

"The last 10 minutes is getting easier" implies to me that it occurs regularly.

Creatre

I'm assuming he means he's doing upper z2 or lower z3 work. 90min of this can be "fatiguing." He is noticing less "fatigue" when getting to the last section of the ride. May be more of an endurance thing, but still, in theory it would be increasing the right side of his curve like he said. He should be able to make more power at the before rpe for the time duration.

mollusk

When I read this I thought of the Lemond quote about not getting easier and getting faster. If it is getting easier maybe you should go faster?

furiousferret

Do you people who commute have shower facilities at your work, and if not, what do you do to clean up after a ride?

Ygduf

There is a shower, I only use it if I crash and need to wash blood off. Otherwise, wet washcloth and re-apply deoderant. I eat healthy, and I don't think my sweat smells. I share the office with two women who I KNOW would complain about if I stank, so I feel relatively safe in the knowledge that I don't.

mollusk

Lol. I wish.

I have been a bike commuter since the late 1970's. I keep some crappy shoes and a clean pair of socks in my office because nothing is worse than damp feet. I also have good foul weather gear to ride in and that isn't cheap, but much cheaper than driving a car for all those years. And sometimes I use a lot of paper towels from the bathroom to soak up water from various places.

Yes, in a more enlightened time we would have shower facilities and proper bike lockers but in the good old USA we are far from that. Where I work they give out t-shirts if you register online and ride your bike in that one day per year that is the bike to work day. I figure that I should get a closet full of Armani suits for what I have done.

mattm

When I was commuting in Seattle, yeah I showered when I got in. Too much grit on the legs..

One time it was cold though! Ugh..

caloso

Right. I have always had decent 1, 5, and to a lesser extent, 20 minute power, but the wheels would fall off at the hour mark. Last winter I started working with a coach and we worked on 60'+ endurance. A lot of interval work focuses on producing more power for a given interval; this approach just flips it by focusing on producing a given power for more time.

Creatre nailed it. For these long intervals, I am just above the 2-3 crossover and I am focusing on producing steady power for the entire 60' or more. Typically, I spend the first 10' or 15' making sure I keep the power down, then get into the zone. It is definitely fatiguing, and yes, as I do more of them the RPE and the HR stay more under control.

TMonk

oic.

I have a shower at work that I use all the time. I also have deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrush, floss, razor, shaving cream and lotion. I probably shower an even 3-way split between home, work and the gf's.

rbart4506

60min of recovery on the rollers, really digging the emotion rollers... Going to do some tempo work on them next week since the temps will be hovering around 0c...

furiousferret

I'm enamored with commuting, the commute is 12.5 miles which isn't too bad, its the neighborhood. I just looked up the crime stats and there were 11 murders this year within 5 blocks of my work. Its not the best area (Downtown San Bernardino). When I lived closer, I ran to work several times, and stopped when I inadvertently bumped into a guy making him drop some kind of rock in a empty cigarette pouch. The guy freaked out and threatened to kill me. Dunno if it was crack or meth; if it was meth it wasn't Heisenberg quality.

waterrockets 

Showers.

Previous place didn't. I used baby wipes there.

caloso

Fwiw, there are quite a few threads in the Commuting forum on the subject of no shower tips and tricks.

mollusk

Warm up, 1.5 hours SST, cool down.

Tomorrow is team ride and then another ride with a friend in the afternoon.

danielrbaer

Was planning on doing a long Z2 ride today. However, I was feeling refreshed after taking it easy M-F, and ended up doing a somewhat shorter Z3/low Z4 ride.
Ended up with: 3:37, 2412 kJ, 227 TSS.

TMonk

My knee was feeling a little iffy today so I bailed on my 5hr ride and turned around after 30min.

I pissed it off a little on vacation when I ran for 30min on primarily concrete sidewalk. I have been running 1 or 2x/week during my off-season but on trails. stupid stupid.
The worst part is that I just got back from vacation (10 days off bike) and am looking at a week mostly off the bike now.

lame.

I did catch the local club ride (Adam's Avenue - Chilis ride) on the way back so I got a little paceline action, which was fun.

rideaz

I spent all morning on the bike. Awesome ride. Did the group ride then tagged along with some guys out to the lake and around. Wasn't planning on doing that ride but sometimes those are the best rides! Got some really good climbing in.

https://www.strava.com/activities/95462037

furiousferret

150 minutes of z2 work, about 30 miles into the ride my right leg just gives and I lose all power in it; pretty sure its the IT band but I have to figure this out, its really getting frustrating. Once it went out, my power ratio went from 45-55% to 60-40% which can't be good.

Training with power adds a whole to new element to everything, and really is an eye opener to your actual performance.

Creatre

I thought that was you. Saw pics on FB. Used to ride with some of those guys out there when I was at ASU!

thechemist

Yes, I have a shower. I pack for the week in a duffel bag and bring everything I need for when I bike in.

rideaz

Very cool! Those guys are great!

jsutkeepspining

4 hours of z2. nearly 3800 kjs. I'm starving!!!! I've nommed everything in my house and i'm still starving.

p.s. gator skins make you slow. So do headwinds. So does basically everything, but i love my gator skins.