Posted in Uncategorized on May 21, 2010 |
Did another nice 1.5 hour ride in the sun today. I backed it up to 1130 rather than the afternoon so that I don’t work in the basement flooring and then ride late, with a race in the AM.
HR range was 100-145, but I felt much less labored at 145 than I did yesterday. Generally felt much better and much more opened up.
That is all.
Posted in Uncategorized on May 21, 2010 | 2 Comments »
Yah, I took two days completely off. Well, off, except for installing the subfloor in my basement and ripping parts off my god damned truck for 5 hours. Yah, pretty much just chillaxed. I was so wrecked I don’t think I could have ridden anyway. Tuesday I was worse than Monday.
Then I signed up for Sunapee. Which I still can’t spell properly. So SUnapeE me.
At that point the all hands bell sounded and we went into emergency recovery mode (minus flooring and car fixing). Yesterday I got back out for 1.5hrs, not wanting to completely lock up and shut down. I used my HR monitor, and kept it low. Then I rode over Sherman’s Hollow, which is a several mile dirt climb, but not a steep one. Seated the whole way. I had extended periods where my HR held at 149 or so. Mostly I kept it at 135, but on the harder bits I was certainly riding at 150 ish. But I very quickly recovered after each segment at high HR, and it dropped back to 100-115 once I leveled out or coasted or what not, so that seems like a good sign. And I did not feel lasting ill effects in the legs, so I must not have been accumulating lactic or whatever.
My breathing was troublingly labored at above 145, though. Sure felt like I was entering lactic land. And my legs felt sore while pedaling when I got up to 145. Gosh I hope my FPT or LT or whatever is higher than 150 or I am in trouble, as I think I am racing at 160 the whole damn time. Maybe that is why I burn up and get dropped.
Gotta work on that LT.
Posted in Training Log, Uncategorized on May 18, 2010 | 13 Comments »
Spent the day on my hands and knees (shut UP, Parke!) laying the subfloor in my basement room for wayward southern cyclists. Yes, southern means you, Massachusetts and below…
I was doing the cutting in the garage so a lot of up and down the stairs. Got it all done minus 4 2×2 panels that I was short. Will get those today.
My legs felt decent in the AM, oddly, but progressively worse as the day went along. At 5:30 when I was done, I went out for a spin. I wore my new/old HR monitor strap with the fresh battery. Was actually helpful to slow myself down. I kept it in what I am guessing you training types call “Zone 1″ but who the hell really knows. Ok, I think I know, anyway I kept it under 120BPM except for the hill back up to the house, where I went into the low 130s cause it was just graded and is so loose I was spinning all the way up it. Was hard.
Zones…I should calculate them, eh? So my resting is about 50BPM. My max should be around 178BPM, though have not checked it this year, specifically. So there are two methods, right? working range vs. total range? Lets go with working range. Does anyone even use zones anymore or just buy power meters?
Zone 1: 101-116
Zone 2: 116-131
Zone 3: 131-147
Zone 4: 147- 162
Zone 5: 162-178
Well, look at that. That intuitively makes sense with where I feel I am during various ride efforts, and where I have always intuitively known my threshold is (or was…), etc. So that is neat. Man its been forever since I though about this stuff.
Ok, today I need to finish the flooring, sand it, get a first coat of paint on it, and ride. Tuesday group ride again tonight, but I am going to skip it or go with the older slower group, if there is one. The wheelchair ride. The Walmart scooter ride. The Magic Chair ride. Cause I am still tired.
Hah, last night I got back at like 630, we made dinner and I ate and had a glass of beer from my current 750ml “vessel” . Then, I fell asleep. I went down like a bag of rocks. By 9 I had slept enough to have enough energy to go upstairs to bed. I did forget my allergy pills yesterday, that never helps. But I am clearly tired. No afternoon coffee yesterday either, as I was working on the floor and it always just gets cold if I am not sitting at a desk drinking.
The big question on the horizon is Sunapee. Hilly road race. Really need to do some of those to get better at those, but need to be able to have a prayer of being able to do one before I waste the time/money on one. But how to do that without doing them? Maybe hilly RR are more gradually difficult. Several people have said Turtle Pond, for example, was difficult even though the course was easy because, being so flat, people went harder. Or maybe Wayne Elliot. I can say W.E. was FAST we were never coasting. Or maybe I just need to rest and get a decent warm up. I dunno. On the fence for sure.
Posted in Training Log, Uncategorized on May 15, 2010 |
We went to the mall after my MTB race, and walked and I was really sore (no cool down). So when we got home at 4, I headed out for a road bike spin. Man, the road bike pedals itself after that SS MTB shit. I went out for an hour, and stopped to buy a couple big beers in the Village and order cogs from Gene. Also looked at forks. My 2003 Marzzochi Marathon SL is not doing much in the way of dampening, felt like a pogo stick, and the bushings are shot so its really hard to hold a line, or at least I drift wide a lot and loose my line, which I think is due to the amount of flex up there. Of course, can’t get rebuild kits for them any more really. Boo. Once they go, they are never the same anyway.
So there you go, my first DOUBLE! I also bought a battery for my HR monitor so that was my first ride with HR data. Ooooo! Exciting! I pedalled around at 120 or so. No idea what my max is right now.
Also, what is the deal with max efforts like 50 minute MTB races and cross races not really doing shit for your threshold? I guess I need to ride AT threshold, eh? I think my threshold is really really low right now, which is a problem.
Posted in Training Log, Uncategorized on May 15, 2010 |
Fiddled with my position some more on the MTB, and did another 1.5 hrs on it to get used to riding it. My fork seems to be more of a spring than a damped suspension device, but what can you do.
Not too exciting, but it felt good to be back on the River Trail ripping up the twisty groove on the MTB.
