caloso

Candy intervals.

Racer Ex 

Did an hour with the masters swim program. Nice back and forth wih the on site coach, especially when I almost drowned trying to backstroke. Hard workout but I am, even at this neophyte stage, a much better swimmer than I am. ****** right now. Basically outpaced all the interval marks.

Rode back and forth to the clubo the fixed gear at a pretty brisk pace. Sore and tired. Good stuff.

Allegheny Jet

Candy intervals, swimming, ******g? The silly season is full on!

Cleave

Candy intervals? Do you mean intervals to burn off Halloween candy or is it that I'm really out of touch with modern training jargon?

revchuck 

I understood that to mean candy eating intervals.

sarals 

I like the way you think. You did mean chocolate, now, right?

FTP test Sunday. I'd better study....

valygrl

God-awful two weeks off the bike per new coach finally over. Was only allowed two hours today, though.

revchuck 

I'm done with that block of base miles except for a recovery ride tomorrow. Today's plan was to ride with the slower group from the team...except the slower group didn't show up. I just rode with HR today, I had dropped the CAAD9's bars another cm and wanted to make sure it wasn't too far, and it did in fact work okay. Too lazy to swap the PT wheelset to the Cannondale. I spent way too much time on the wrong side of my threshold HR, and that trashed me but good. I stayed with the whippersnappers to the halfway point, where we took a break. After the break my legs turned to wood. I stayed with them maybe ten minutes after we started back up, then dropped off and finished the ride at endurance pace. Staying on someone's wheel doesn't help that much with a 15 mph crosswind.

Totals for this block:
First week: 320 miles, 920 TSS
Second week: 285 miles, 910 TSS
Third week: 211 miles, 622 TSS (plus about 14 miles and 30 TSS tomorrow).

Stick a fork in me!

caloso

Raced CX this morning. 91tss. Average heart rate somewhere north of the 220-age "maximum."

LAJ

Did the rest help? Feel ok on the bike?

Racer Ex 

After a layoff like that, my guess is "stale".

*** Friday. Did a huge ride with the team Saturday. Forgot my shoes and helmet but fortunately the ride was close to home so I went back and got them. Caught up with the group and then did the climb up SGR to Crystal Lake. Asthma/breathing only marginally better than last week. Inhaler was a 20w bump at the same HR around the 2.5 hour mark when we started hitting real altitude.

More than a little frustrating.

Legs were trashed after.

Planned a recovery ride today with the fixed gear and the trailer doing some shopping and errands. Set up the trailer to find one tube on the trailer is split, so now I'm off to Big Box for a couple replacements. Pick up the groceries on the way then go do a recovery ride.

580 TSS week so far. Might do some core stuff tonight. Looks like I'm back training. Well, cross training.

revchuck 

Did a recovery ride today. Final stats for this week are 226 miles, 659 TSS.

I woke up this morning and puttered around, drinking coffee and reading. It was friggin' awesome. I realized today that I'm tired, and wanting some time off the bike. I don't enjoy the Fickle Finger of Fate, but the two weeks off the bike prior to it are well timed.

Right now, I've ridden 1168 miles more this year than I did last year, and I've got another block of big miles coming up after the break. I'll probably fall just short of 8,000 miles this year. I didn't think I'd ever ride that much in a year. I've done a lot of re-setting of contexts in the past year. I'm already looking forward to next year!

AzTallRider

Great timing on the break, Chuck. I did ~8K miles year before last. I definitely broke through some limiting factors that year, in addition to creating a big base. I still remember some of the long solo rides I did off into nowhere: just me, the bike, and the road. Turned me into a fat burning machine, that's for sure. I pushed my metabolic equivalency point (where fat and carb burning is even), way up.

revchuck 

AzTR - I'm hoping that it'll be a breakthrough for me. I've been through a bunch this past year, starting with seeing how thoroughly I can get my ass handed to me, making racer noob mistakes, and then more recently happening on some "ah ha!" moments. My self-confidence is a good bit better than it was. Finding out how it'll all come together will occur in mid-February in Monroe, LA, at the first race of the season.

LAJ

That sounds like a good description.

valygrl

The first 15 minutes felt awful, and then it was like "Legs, what legs?" - meaning, I could just accelerate away from the people I was riding with without trying and I had to hold back / circle back in order to stay in contact. Sunday I did a 2 hour ride by myself, my garmin was in my pocket instead of on my bars (borrowed bike) - I thought I was doing tempo up the climb but when I saw my HR later, it was more like sweet spot.

Of course the main reason for this is probably I was at sea level in the bay area instead of at 5000' where I live.

Ex, I didn't read through everything, I was staying out of here during my time off, too painful to read about other peoples' riding. Are you on a daily inhaled steroid? Sorry your asthma is so bad.

revchuck 

valygrl - Sounds like the time off the bike was productive, like you needed that rest. Those "no chain" days are great, too. Looking forward to hearing how your training goes with your coach.

Racer Ex 

I'm on a rescue inhaler right now that I use before/during riding. I'm sure part of my issues are allergies, been a long problem with me that has come and gone over the years. That has rolled into a pretty good case of EIA in the last 2 or 3.

Making a bunch of medical "tune up" appointments for the coming month, and that's on the list.

The difference between sea level and 5k is off the hook. First ride I did with my new power meter coming down from altitude in Reno where I had been training I thought the thing had gone out of calibration. I was a monster.

Altitude is certainly evident with the EIA BTW. I'm completely shut down around 4000'. Just puny.

sarals 

Back at it.

Aborted the FTP test yesterday because the place I wanted to do it (the Polo Grounds track in Golden Gate Park) was being used by a track and field event (lots of kids running and having a good time, it looked like fun!). The Tall Russian suggested the Great Highway, so I rode there, and was met by one stop light after the other along with sand blowing across the road. So much for that. TSS: 52; IF .893

Today I did the FTP test. I did almost an hour warmup, but I really did NOT feel as good as I did yesterday. I did the test on a pretty much constant 2% grade. I didn't feel very strong, and I'm sure the calculated FTP will show a decrease over last season. TSS: 133.1; IF .915; 24.72 miles @ 1 hour 35 minutes. I'm tired!

Allegheny Jet

After 8 hrs of mtb over the 3 day weekend with 2.5 hrs racing, riding with my wife for 1.5 hrs today was therapeutic. The Iceman didn't go great as I had 3 mechinicals that dropped the chain in the middle of climbs and on each the chain went behind the little ring and got wedged against the chain stay. Plus a broken rear spoke that took a few minutes to unwrap it then bend it in position that didn't rub the cassette or brake mount, got it right in attempt #3 . I still beat my last years time by 3 minutes but only placed 30/111 in the 58-60 yr group.

revchuck 

With three mechanicals and the busted spoke, I'd be pretty pleased with 30/111! Way to go, AJ!

Allegheny Jet

Thanks revchuck. The dropped chain issues were killing me. The hills were very steep 30" - 60" efforts, but once the chain drops, it's off the bike, get off the trail, fix the issue, then push the bike up the hill and get back on. Seeing 20 to 30 people pass you, then having to go at them again really gets one pissed off. I estimate that I lost 5 to 7 minutes plus the energy needed to push the bike up the steeps.

sarals 

AJ, I don't know how you do it. Like Chuck said, I'd be pretty pleased to have FINISHED with those odds against me, much less 30th.

Allegheny Jet

But Sara my finish was only the top 27 percentile. I was anticipating a top 15% and hoping for top 10%.

Last night I checked the results to see how much time I needed to reach my goal. I discovered that I am now not listed as being there! Now someone else is in 30th and there were only 110 racers. Email already sent as my time this year establishes next years start wave.

While driving to work today I'm exploring making this an A or B+ race next year. If I train up to and for Track Nationals I can take short break then build up for the 2hr MTB race effort. The past two months have been fun but not focused as I have not done any cross racing or training.

Cleave

AJ, One-hundred and eleven, 58-60 year-old racers?!?!?! That's nuts.

Overcoming multiple mechanical problems to finish? Priceless.

However, you might want to hire a new mechanic.