IBOHUNT

Trust me, it's gone looking at the HR vs Power vs RPE
I've logged a request to put it on milk cartons

In raeda speramus

sarals 

You'll be fine!! You'll bounce right back.

sarals 

I went out for an intervals session prior to sunrise yesterday and it was so foggy I couldn't see, literally, 40 feet. I bagged it in the name of safety (hit something or be hit by something) and returned home to the trainer. On the trainer I had a TOTAL meltdown.

After some time of contemplating quitting racing due to my current life/work situation, and the pressures it's putting on my time and mental well-being, a discussion with Coach helped me put things into focus. I'll be off the bike until next week for some rest, and I'm heading to SoCal for some fun - and hopefully a get together with @Heathpack!

Heathpack 

Hope we can connect, we're heading down to San Diego Sat am and then back Sun mid-day. Both times, we'll be driving right past you.

I really think you need to get your trainer set up optimized. You guys are having so much rain and your work schedule is so constrained, it would help to know you can reliably get in a good workout on the trainer. Plus trainer workouts can be so time-efficient.

I'm lucky in that I'm happy on the dumb trainer, so I don't feel a need to go to the smart ones just yet (although the idea of being able to enter a TT course and ride it over and over is quite appealing), so I don't have that expense. Airflow, temperature management and music do it for me. I'm not sure what happened on your trainer to cause a melt down but if you're riding indoors, you might consider setting it up on your back deck. I set up a bike stand with two box fans suspended from the bike stand, right in front of my face.

I'm not sure what exactly will work for you but maybe post what you've got and the fine minds of BF can help you trouble-shoot it.

<Unless you're just one of those people who hates the trainer. In which case, disregard.>

chasm54

So much for my classical education. I had to look up raeda. ​

Voodoo76

Started back into structured training about 6 weeks ago. Took an old program and tweaked it a bit for power (vs HR). Heavy dose of Sweet Spot the last 10 days (most of it on trainer). Today CTL is at 88 with TSB at -23. Pretty aggressive but wanted to see how much load I can handle. Off today and feel very good. Plan over the next two weeks keeps TSB negative (not quite that negative). Then back off a week and test.

Sarals, I would agree with Heathpack. Some of us need a cool place to set up their trainer. Mine is in the garage. Not pretty, but with lows in the 40's here it's always cool enough with just one fan. I can honestly say w/o a good trainer setup (and Zwift) I would not have even started back down this path. Job demands, lack of daylight, single parent. But I can set up a schedule now and stick to it. Rain/shine, free at 6am or 10pm, doesn't matter. That alone has taken most of the mental stress out of structured training. A year ago I would have said no way. Now I'm back to playing with the numbers and wondering what is possible.

sarals 

My trainer is an older Blackburn "Trackstand" trainer. It has three magnetic resistence settings; Easy; A Little Harder; Too Hard. I've used it for, what, five years? Last year I had no issues riding the trainer at all, as I told Coach yesterday, but this year it has been demanding. I've had it set up in various places through out the house, as well as in the garage. For now, it is in my bedroom, because my room mate and I are on different schedules, and I don't want to bother her while I'm riding the trainer at 0600 in the morning or 2300 at night. My room is less than optimal, but it works. I have a fan, now, and I cool off much better than in the past. The garage is no longer an option, for many reasons. The deck won't work, because it has no awning over it, which is not great when it's raining - which is when I ride the trainer, anyway.

I'm not captured by Zwift, at least not yet. My computer is an older Macbook Pro, which I've mentioned in the past. It works, but the frame rate is slow. I don't have a larger monitor to connect it to, so the Zwift experience isn't exactly immersive as it stands right now. My trainer is dumb, too, so I don't get the varying resistance that I would with a high tech trainer. Like @Heathpack, I'm not going to spend money on a smart trainer, not for the foreseeable future.

My meltdown yesterday was mental as well as physical - the brain drives the body? I was super frustrated with how things were going, so I gave up on the session rather than get more upset.

Racer Ex 

Got in three solid days on the trainer last week; Friday woke up to a foot of powder around the house and the sound of grenades on the mountain. Loaded the alpine and cross country gear into the van and tip toed my way down the road...



Met up with a buddy at Mt. Rose and pounded the mountain for the next three hours. Just terrific skiing. Late in the morning they were finished doing avalanche control and opened up the Chutes. Oh. My.





Eventually the legs turned to jello. Packed it in before the "last run" syndrome kicked in ("I was on my last run when I fell and blew out my knee/hit the tree/Etc) and headed the rest of the way over the peak. Spent the next 45 mins at 8800' cutting new tracks on the XC boards.



Figured that was a 200 TSS day. Yesterday rode up the Stelvio. Big week. It was good.

IBOHUNT

jealous... except the flat bit

revchuck 

The last week has been weird. Monday was my first ride in a couple of weeks and went pretty well. Wednesday, not so much. I was planning on going long Wednesday, and hit the wall an hour and a half into the ride - WTF? I struggled to make it home, power in the double digits the last few miles. I spoke with my coach about it, and she theorized that the training I had done to maximize fat burning was too long ago...apparently if it can be trained, it can detrain as well. My rides the last few months have been relatively short (<two hours). Then I went out Friday and my Garmin died six minutes into the ride. I thought it might be permanent, but it had just lost its charge. Took it four hours to fully recharge.

Today was almost like old times. I planned on going long again and brought food this time. It apparently did the trick. The ride was not snafu-free, though. I filled three bottles with water and made sure I remembered to stick the third one in my jersey. I got out on the road and went to take my first drink and realized I had left the other two on the counter. I detoured to a convenience store and picked up a bottle of Powerade - yukky, but it sufficed. Ended up with 3:00, TSS 197, IF .79, 2055 kj.

Heathpack 

Did any of y'all ever have one of those dogs who always wanted to run around and chase things no matter how long they'd already been at it? The kind where you'd throw a ball for an hour and finally they look at you with kind of a dazed expression and flop down on the ground and you'd think, 'great, I've finally tired this fool dog out.' So you'd pick up the ball to head into the house and of course the dog pops up expectantly, ready for you to throw it again? You know that dog?

That dog is me.

Over/under intervals today, just 30 minutes of 'em. I was a little disappointed that it was over so soon.

Nice ride with one of my Nightcrawler friends, coffee after. He was asking which I liked better, the kind of prep I'm doing now for TTs or the stuff I was doing for the endurance climbing. 'They are both awesome.' How about TTs vs epic climbing? 'Both, I just like it all'.

Hermes

I have been following the World Cup in Hong Kong and notable US results were women's team pursuit silver (not including Sara Hammer) and Sara Hammer taking silver in the omnium with Laura Trott winning gold.

Why is this more interesting? Look who else was there - Cavendish. Yes, Cav competed in the men's omnium and plans to race in the 2016 olympics on the track team. Cav will do the TdF, world championships and Rio Olympics track in 2016.

I wish someone would clue him in that he should be doing long gonzo team rides with his team right now. And that track racing right now is totally wrong and he will undoubtedly burn out, do poorly in the TdF and give up racing at the end of 2016.

Here is one of my favorite pics from the WC. Pics by Andy Sparks.

It looks like Cav is trying to get Laura Trott's telephone number. At least she has removed her headphones from her ears. My wife is growing her hair longer and plans to braid it. Since we know that the Brits do everything for a reason, even the direction of the braiding in Laura's hair is of interest.



Cav in the individual pursuit. Good grief a sprinter on aerobars...what is the world coming to.




I thought this was a cool shot on the 45 degree banking. Note the blue band near the bottom. Also note that if one rides on the blue band or right next to the blue band and a racer goes by fast in the pole lane, his upper body will crash into you.

Also note the lenticular design of the front disc and no chubby tires for this racer.

valygrl

ha ha, me too. My coach's biggest challenge is to make me ride LESS. Of course, she makes me ride HARD too, which is not always the case when I'm on my own.

Unlike you, when I have a rest day/week on my training plan, I am always thinking about/wishing for a ride instead.

On the third hand, I'm really tired today after a hard block, and this is my rest week before training camp, and I know i need the rest. I still don't wanna tho'

Heathpack 

Back when @LAJ was racing crits, he posted a picture of himself and some teammates in between races. He had that same look on his face, it reminded me of one of those excessively happy dogs.

It will be so much fun to ride with y'all when I come to Colorado. When does the racing schedule get published?

Hermes

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heathpack

Did any of y'all ever have one of those dogs who always wanted to run around and chase things no matter how long they'd already been at it? The kind where you'd throw a ball for an hour and finally they look at you with kind of a dazed expression and flop down on the ground and you'd think, 'great, I've finally tired this fool dog out.' So you'd pick up the ball to head into the house and of course the dog pops up expectantly, ready for you to throw it again? You know that dog?

That dog is me.

Come and ride with us at the track and extend your interval effort time. The effort below was with 2 other men and took us 53 minutes to complete. We were happy with the 12th interval was done.



The next effort was a pace line motor effort with options to ride behind the motor or take laps on the motor. You could have taken laps.

chasm54

Cav might not make the team. As for ingratiating himself with Laura T, he'll have to elbow Jason Kenny out of the picture first.

The braiding will be to keep her hair out of the way when she throws up - which she reputedly does every time she trains.

valygrl

Schedule is out - I was trying to find our conversation with your Breck dates and couldn't find it. Was it June 18-26?

You can see it here: Bicycle Racing Association of Colorado || Event Calendar | www.coloradocycling.org

I want to do the Parker weekend but don't care about the Boulder stage race (yes it's my home race but the RR is a bullcrap hill climb). There's a chance they might add the state TT champs one of those weekends too, since that is traditionally in June and hasn't been scheduled yet, but I would be a little surprised, they don't normally double-book races. I may have to travel for work during the week in between.

I hope we can make this happen - and get Ex, Sarals, and whoever else out here too!

LAJ

The climb in the RR is bad enough, but I heard the descent on the dirt was just plain dangerous. This bullcrap (to take your nicer way of stating it, @valygrl) need to race on dirt is annoying as hell.

LAJ

Rest week.

I was one to dread them, commute on them, and generally break the rules on them. Had you been in my head on Sunday, you would know how much I was looking towards this week.

revchuck 

Short ride before work, I apparently overdressed because my base layer was wet at the end of the ride. 58 minutes, TSS 63, IF .80, 660 kj. I now have a thoroughly bogus -13.3 TSB due to not having ridden for those two weeks.

Heathpack 

Breckenridge June 19-26. Denver area before and willing to cut Breck short by a day to create more time in Denver on the weekend of June 25. It will depend on where people want to ride. I'm not great in altitude, so I can't imagine I'm going to want to do a TT, just some fun scenic rides.

Heathpack 

I am tempted by the track, believe me, it does look way fun.

Hopefully I did not give the impression that I have some kind of girly training schedule. I am almost always glad each interval is coming to an end, right at the end of it. But give me 60 seconds and all that is forgotten and all I can remember is that it was "fun". Although I never would have called it fun at the time. Lol, it makes no sense but I'll bet most of you know exactly what I mean.

sarals 

What's this skiing stuff? Isn't that ****ing with boards under you?

I'm off structure, but I rode the trainer this morning because I wanted to. I did 02a intervals, too, because I wanted to. That trainer is so much harder than the road. Yeah, I know I've said the before.

VG, I hear you on SLOWING DOWN. I have every reason to myself, coach said "full stop", but it's so hard to do! However, I feel okay about this morning's ride because it was on my terms, I wanted to do it (no stress), and I'm going to be off the bike until next Monday.

Hermes

Cav is pretty good at argy bargy but so is Kenny. Cav may have to settle for a selfie with her. Cav did fairly well in the Omnium however, there may be others who have done more track racing in WC competition and other races that matter than Cav and accumulated more points. Although, I read there was talk of a Cav Wiggo Olympic Madison team.

Laura is known for her puking and it was reported that Craig McClean took a bucket to the track for her.

happybday29475

Let's make this unanimous! The Boulder Stage Race starts with a fine TT, then has a stupid circuit race on an uninteresting course except for the loose gravel which causes crashes in most every category, and ends with a big hill climb. The hill climb is 90 minutes or more so the time gaps for that stage determine the winner; the first stages are quite pointless. It's really the dumbest event of the season.