Allegheny Jet

revchuck, when I do long easy rides water is my drink of choice. I do put electrolytes in the bottles and put a handful of GU packs in the jersey just in case I feel a bonk coming.

Allegheny Jet

Flew back from Barcelona Spain today and got a 1.25 hr road ride in during a spectactar sunset and early darkness. Felt great to be on a real bike for the first time in 16 days. Looking forwards to my own bed tonight.

revchuck 

AJ - thanks. I've got electrolyte tablets I use - Camelbak makes them for 24 oz. servings, so it's one/bottle unlike Nuun and such.

Have a great night's sleep in your own bed!

Hermes

2 hour ride to Woodside and back followed by a 1.5 hour nap and then watched the finish of the St. Louis / 49s game.

IBOHUNT

13.3 ru**ing in the rain.

IBOHUNT

16 miles of low force high cadence work

Allegheny Jet

Three hours and four minutes on the MTB and my feet never touched the ground between the start and finish.

AzTallRider

Ahem...

50' at recovery pace. On a bicycle. On the road.

Book it.

revchuck 

Consider it booked.

revchuck 

3:46 at endurance pace with 4x20 Z4 intervals in there. TSS 244, IF .81, 2343 kj. I'm feeling this one. Today was supposed to be a rest day, but there's a minimum 60% chance of thunderstorms/showers tomorrow, so I'm resting tomorrow instead.

Had a couple of unpleasant encounters on the road. Towards the end of the first interval, a knucklehead driving a log truck laid on his air horn just as he drew even with me. In response, I displayed a digital indication of my estimate of his IQ. My next interval was just over LT, I was that steamed about it. Later on, after the intervals were done, another knucklehead in a pickup towing a horse trailer did the same thing, albeit sans air horn. His trailer passed me with maybe a foot's clearance. No oncoming traffic, just being a knucklehead...and yes, there's a three foot law in Louisiana.

Four hours Thursday at endurance pace, an hour recovery ride Friday, three hours Saturday and 2:30 (which may slip to 4:00) Sunday. Unless something happens, this will be my biggest week. Evah.

VanceMac

Wow, chuck.. sounds like some serious ramping up going on. And the embedded 4x20 would seem to belie that IF? I'm not familiar enough with those numbers to know for sure.

Be safe with those trucks and trailers...

caloso

80' of tempo on the extended commute last night. I think I need to retest my FTP, there's no way I'm near the mid-season wattage number anymore.

revchuck 

VanceMac - The intervals, now that I did the math and checked them, were actually lower Z5 (~96% of FTP). No wonder I'm so dang tired. But that's still only 80 minutes out of 226. The rest of the ride was firmly in Z2 (55-75% of FTP).

I'm riding a lot because I have the time. It looks like I'm involuntarily retiring due to the job market where I am, so I might as well make lemonade. I'm about to take two weeks off the bike at the beginning of next month due to my thrice-annual urologist's visit, so I'll be left with ****ing during that time. I want to be as physically prepared for next season as possible, and lotsa base miles are part of that.

sarals 

I did a ride with some of the MBRT Team this morning. We had a meeting with our major sponsors, Rabobank, at a facility they underwrote in Salinas, a gorgeous football stadium (used by the local high schools). The head of the bank himself was there, all the way from the Netherlands. He was a nice fella, and he was thrilled to see us in our kits on our flashy bikes!!

After that we did a 25 mile "reasonable" paced ride back to the parking lot where we started. I found out after the first 12% short climb that my cardio was indeed sub-par! I hung in there, managed to mostly stay with the pack, until the last climb. On that one I developed some impressive track hack, which didn't stop until long after I did. Oh, how the small but mighty have fallen! Revchuck says I have gall. I could have used it today!

IBOHUNT

6.5 miles of ru**ing

Allegheny Jet

Did my weekly evening into night group ride today. Seven riders showed up but several were 2's and 3's that pushed the pace on lonely country roads. Yesterday's three hour MTB ride took away my legs after the first hour and I quit taking pulls and at times was deep into the hurt locker. Luckily with about 7 miles to go in the 38 mile ride two guys went off the back and the group slowed to stay together and I didn't get dropped on my ride.

revchuck 

New PR! 1:04 at recovery pace, average power 88 watts, average HR 90, TSS 16.6, IF .40, 326 kj.

Allegheny Jet

You must have been riding with my wife as those could have been my numbers.

AzTallRider

In my one post-***** ride, with TallWife, my power numbers would have been down there, but my HR is elevated, just as it was last time. It's going to be an interesting climb back. I've seriously considered setting racing aside, but if I do that, I know I just won't train hard enough to maintain the fitness I need to function well overall. So I told TallWife I'd only crash on the other side from now on. She said "Wrong. Crash on the same side, so you keep one arm functioning and can work." She's always looking out for me. Actually, in addition to that, she said "Caution, with a capital 'C'. No more crashing, period."

Allegheny Jet

AZTR, your wife has the heart and mind of an athlete.

Racer Ex 

Yeah, it's like this...

VanceMac

Ha... coincidentally my barber went a little TOO high and tight last week. I'm about an inch away from a Travis Bickle.

sarals 

I really struggled in spin class this morning. My cardio was way off, and I couldn't even come close to completing most of the intervals, even using resistance levels that were considerably lower than I am used to pushing. My legs ached, I couldn't get air, and I felt really dizzy after some of the efforts. I can't believe my cardio fitness has disappeared this quickly, but it seems it did. I felt way off on yesterdays ride, too, really getting beat up on the climbs. When I was working hard (or trying to), I felt a strange feeling in my chest that I hadn't felt before and I couldn't catch any where near the air I needed when in the higher zones. When I finally blew up I never really recovered. This morning was pretty similar.

In fairness, I do have swollen glands in my neck and I don't feel 100%. I expect a little loss from that, as well as my recent lack of intensity in my rides. But, I just can't believe that this little illness, if that's what it is, has caused me such a big loss in my performance.

Racer Ex 

It doesn't take much to knock off what feels like a lot. Thing about PE, HR, and other metrics is that they may or may not be indicative of actual output, which is why power meters came to be such an important training tool.

sarals 

I've been riding without it, the little riding I've been able to do over the last couple of weeks. I'll dust off the TT bike (the PT wheel is on it right now) for a short jaunt tomorrow and get an idea what's going on. Frankly, I am surprised that I could go from power to the back of the pack in a group ride in just the span of a few days. Something has to be wrong with me. Then again, I don't have a heck of lot to fall back on as far as experience goes. I've never been as strong as I was over the summer, so maybe I'm just seeing high average levels and mistaking it for impending death. I'm looking forward to getting back on the wagon, I want that strength and pop back. And I want to loose that six pounds!