2x10 using my old 5 min power number then limp home. Not going to make it up the stairs I don't think

Dang, Sara! Patience vibes sent your way. I know I'd need them in your situation.

I did an hour at the top end of recovery to gauge how I felt with the upper respiratory infection I'm nursing. I felt pretty good and my head cleared up during the ride. The fact that I rode through sunrise with temps in the upper 50s didn't hurt. ;) I'm going to go longer and push into Z2 tomorrow, with permission to back off and/or curtail the ride if appropriate. If tomorrow goes well I'll increase intensity gradually. I've a charity ride Saturday that I was planning on doing the longest version of at 75 miles, and Sunday is supposed to be my last shot at my climbing route before the Austin Livestrong Challenge with that climb I've been wanting to...well, if not conquer, at least make it up without walking. It's definitely going to be a "prudence is the better part of valor" week.

Thank you, Chuck! :)

Heal up, @sarals!

You'll be back at it in no time.

And @revchuck, glad you're feeling better! That was a short trip to the Land of Knish, though. Maybe for the best, small doses are probably your best bet there!

@Heathpack, thanks! I will, I hope. I have to admit to a pang of jealousy when I saw your Strava today. That was the same workout that was on tap for me today on the original, preinjury, TRS....

Every time someone tells me they did the same workout as me, it makes me feel a little less like a special snowflake. ;)

But but...you ARE a special snowflake! ;):love:

The same workouts for special snowflakes...A few years ago, we were using a coach and many of the athletes of the coach new each other. We would all show up on Canada Road with the same workout. I told my wife, I wonder whose workout I am doing today?

In fairness and IMO, totally correct, it is very feasible that a group of athletes of a coach will be doing the same workout especially if they are competing in the same races. It can get down to duration, power level, number of intervals, rest and etc. to modulate a workout to apply to a specific athlete's requirements and limiters.

It is also totally fair and reasonable to assume that there is no secret sauce or special individualized workout that somehow magically takes an athlete from a 5 to a 1 or increases some power metric 50%.

The really good news, IMO, is that the athletes that consistently execute against a plan with feedback are the ones that have the greatest success and reward from training and racing.

Went out for a shake-down ride on the freshly overhauled and re-geared winter/wet bike this AM to find that a road closure due to the county's policy of ripping up a perfectly serviceable rural road for no particular reason forced me to either turn around or take the steepest road in the county: "You Gotta-be-Kidding Mountain Goat Path Road".

I haven't been up that way since getting my Medicare card, how tough could it be?
Really not so bad for the first few miles and then.....the last pitch that was "paved" by dumping a load of chip-seal down from the top and letting gravity finish the process.
I forgot that the technique to making it up the last pitch is to wind as much momentum up on the slight descent leading in and bury yourself to get over.
I (barely) made it with much heartrate and inelegant standing at stupidly low RPM. :foo:

Triple crankset here I come.:thumb:

-Bandera

I was making a joke.


There are workouts and there is the overall arc of the training plan. There is advice on goal setting and help in managing various setbacks. Managing athlete's heads. Keeping them happy and motivated. Reading between the lines. Knowing when to push someone and when to back off. Communicating clearly. Inspiring a sense of confidence in the process. I could go on and on.


But the basic gist being that there is so much more to coaching than assigning X workout on Y day. People with similar training goals may do similar workouts for sure, this is expected and normal.


None of which should be taken as evidence that I am anything less than the most special of snowflakes. :)

sniped out some bits...

Just great! Melted my snow-flaky self. I'll be a CAT6 forever! :foo: :roflmao2:
Honestly, I'll never be a 4 or higher. I don't do crash start races. I like the alone time of TT's rather than riding solo off the back

or shooting, bowling or <fill in the blank>

Stand 10' from this bale and shoot with your eyes closed
So you can shoot pretty well at 30 yds. Now lets get out to 120.

Those two things will tighten up your groups :thumb:


Coaches are wonderful things. I hope that I can hire one back sooner rather than later and get close to by 40K ITT goal.

I'm doomed. I was hoping I was a special snowflake too.

Each snowflake is different, but shares commonality with other snowflakes. The likelyhood of two snowflakes sharing at least some similar patterns is high.

And BTW, it's impossible to say that no two snowflakes are alike. Well, you can SAY it but it can't be proven with any scientific certainty.

----

So managed a bit over 11 hours last week, TSS of 550. Likely to beat that this week. 2 hours on the fixed gear yesterday, 200 calories of leftover salmon did not sustain the effort, lights went out around 1:45 in. Big MTB weekend coming up, 7ish hours over two days.

Well I know I am a special snowflake.:D

Fiesta Island TT work today doing some hard efforts. I am still congested but my power is back. It was a good workout albeit I desperately needed a tissue but used my glove instead. Yuck.

1:18 on the TT bike tonight

After the TT workout, I went to the gym. I debated whether I wanted to use the gym as a recovery gym, upper body, legs or all three. And I thought I would prefer to rest on Friday versus do gym work. I opted for a complete gym workout - legs, upper body, core and recovery with Friday as a rest day.

I'm a snowflake that was plowed off the road in Upstate New York and is mixed with road salt and is melting...

:)

I have a grade two sprain of a muscle in my lower left back. It was (and still is somewhat) painful! The doc said she doubted anything was torn, although there could some slight tearing of some tissues. The muscles around it are affected, and the congenital stuff I have going on in my twistie back have been exacerbated by the muscle being weakened. The good news is that the muscle is healing, and a balance of sorts (my back is anything but balanced) will return. I have NO disc involvement, no discs are herniated, and there is no nerve impingement. I DO have two vertebrae in my mid back that are partially fused and are essentially immobile, but I seem to compensate for that without issue. Except that my shoulders droop and I don't stand up straight. A princess I will never be. Nor a special snowflake.

But, the Wicked Witch of the North is a distinct possibility! As soon as I get my warts worked out. :)

@sarals, heal up & feel better. And try not to get into too much trouble while you're off the bike.

Rode mountain bikes this am with a friend. He took me up a trail that I can ride to from the house. The main climb itself is 3 miles & 1300 ft, so it's a decent climb. Lol I still have to walk up 16-18% grades, weakling.

I love looking at the mountains from the top, this pic is looking back toward town. The earth looks all wrinkled, you can really imagine plate tectonics at work.

Beautiful day too.

http://i771.photobucket.com/albums/x...D1F83B8E79.jpg

The worst of whatever-it-was-that-I-had is past; now I'm into the part where you feel okay but sound like you're fixin' to die due to your body trying to dig all that drainage from your lungs and expel it.

Since our last episode, I've done 1:30 at a solid endurance pace Wednesday, a set of seven hurty intervals during a two-hour endurance pace ride yesterday, and an hour's recovery ride today with no ill effects. My planned 75 miles tomorrow has changed to 46 and Sunday's 75 miles with climbing has changed to just the climby parts multiple times with about half the mileage. Coach basically told me that I've got all the fitness I'll have for Austin, and the idea now is just to keep sharp and not get stupid trying to scrape out a little more.

@Heathpack, thank you! I will admit to two things: worry about fitness loss and the road back to fitness, and going stir crazy. I don't which is worse.

Beautiful photo!

Chuck, you're getting stronger and stronger!

6 1/2 miles ru**i*g Rule 9

The charity ride went better than expected this morning. My legs are back and I had no problem breathing, even when pushing it. Halfway through the ride I had to speak sternly to myself to slow down, since I still have those climbing repeats tomorrow. I ended up with a TSS of 132 over a 2:11 ride. Part of the reason was that the young guys just wanted to suck wheels. Bah.

Nice @revchuck.

I did a 2:30 climbing ride this am- 30 miles/3000 ft. During this ride I got talked into a semi-epic MTB fire road climby thing instead of the local club fun hill climb TT. Too many appealing rides these days, I have trouble making decisions.

Definitely have gained some weight. Definitely need to lose some. So therefore it made sense to bake some apple hand pies today, right?

http://i771.photobucket.com/albums/x...69C8145A1E.jpg

Apple hand pies. Of course!