Another dose of Tempo

Monday and Tuesday were much needed off days with Wednesday duplicating the first workout of the season. After a 15 minute warm-up, 3 minutes at 325W and then 1X45' @ 85-95% of FTP. The temperature today was 30F warmer than it was when I did this workout last Tuesday but it seemed about 20% harder. Looking at the #'s they were pretty much identical to what I did last time.

2x20's tomorrow at Sub-LT with about 20 minutes of pyramid work - 320 to 260 and then back up to 320. After that I do 10 minutes at upper endurance pace with 5 second bursts to 450W every 30 seconds. Should be fun!!

I Made It Through The First Week

The first week of my training plan is in the books, riding 210 miles in 11 hours and 17 minutes and racking up 704 TSS points. As far as calories, I burned 7,587. As of today, my CTL is 65 and TSB is -24.

On Saturday, the plan called for 4 hours of endurance/tempo riding in addition to 2 x 20's in a range of 85 - 95% of FTP. The alarm clock went off at 5:45AM and at first glance out of the window, I knew it was too dark to ride. I waited until 6:30AM and headed out in a temperature hovering around 38F. My daughter had a soccer game at 10:30AM and we were leaving for the South Carolina football game at 3:00PM. so I knew getting in 4 hours after the late start would be impossible. I was able to complete 3:10 of the 4 hours and near the end, my right hip starting getting tired. I got home in time to change and mix a recovery drink before heading out with the family for the soccer game.

We got home at 1:30AM Sunday morning from the football game and I knew that riding before church was out as I needed sleep. The alarm went off at 7:45AM and felt tired. In fact, I felt tired all day long. The plan called for 2:30 with 2 hours in range of 180 - 220W and the rest WU and CD. I started a little after 9:00PM and I felt terrible. I think I was on the verge of bonking with an hour left and I stopped to find a PowerBar Gel. It was all I could do maintain an average of 180W and to top things off, my right hip started hurting. I stopped the ride at 2:01, got a recovery drink and hit the showers before bed. Monday and Tuesday are off days (which I really need) and plan to fill this time with plenty of stretching. This week is relatively light as it is giving me a breather for the 17.5 hours scheduled for next week.

Training for 2008 Season Starts Today!

Today was the official start day for my 2008 racing season. Hunter Allen uploaded my training to TrainingPeaks on Saturday and we discussed and refined it yesterday. Everything looks good and I dread Thanksgiving week as the blocks for the week have me doing 4 hours on Monday and 4 hours on Tuesday, 1.5 hours of subLT on Wednesday, off Thursday and Friday and back to 4 hours on Saturday and 4 hours on Sunday. That amounts to over 17 hours on the bike. I better stock up on Chamois Butter and PowerBars as I'll be going through quite a bit that week.

My plan actually started yesterday but I was scheduled for an Active Recovery day and completely off the bike. Hunter wanted me doing at least 6 hours over the weekend but I was only able to muster 3 as life got into the way. Before the ride, WKO+ PMC had my TSB at+7 and CTL at 57. The plan for today was to ride 45 minutes in a range that amounted to 85 - 95% of my FTP which is estimated to be around 260W. After a 15 minute warm up and 3 minutes at 115% of FTP, I started the 45 minute interval. I must say, I felt great today. Not sure if it was the positive TSB, excitement of starting the season/plan, or possibly the Hornet Juice I added to my water bottle, but either way, I managed an avg power of 245W for the 45 minutes and had plenty in the tank. Racked up 1210kj of work in 98 minutes, covered 32.3 miles and had a TSS of 122 with an IF of 0.863.

Block training moving forward

Now that I'm back with power, I need to make sure I put it to good use. I've been doing a lot of reading over the past few weeks and feel as though pure block training is the way to go. Since I have a flexible work schedule, I think a program of 3 on and 2 off will work great.

Instead of reinventing the wheel and possibly developing a plan that doesn't make sense for what I'm trying to accomplish, I decided to go straight to the power guru - Hunter Allen. As you aware, Hunter co-authored the book - Training and Racing with a Power Meter with Dr. Andy Coggan and the book is considered the ultimate guide to training with a power meter. Hunter is working on a pure block training program that will focus the majority of my time over the next 12 - 16 weeks in the range of Tempo/SST/TH. As the racing season approaches, he will alter the plan to add VO2 work as well as L6 and L7.

I plan to start the new plan on November 1st so stay tuned for some updates!

Back with Power

It's been a while since I posted but did want to give you an update. From January 1 to July 25th, I logged in over 5,000 miles. Plenty of early mornings, late nights, and long weekends and the end result was losing 35lbs and pack finishes in every race that I entered. Why is July 25th so important you ask? That is the day I stopped training with power. I decided to remove the Ergomo Power Meter and ride strictly on PE and heart rate. I think I was experiencing burn out and my thought processes were effected. Keep in mind that I lived a sedentary life up until September 2006 and 5,000 miles in 7 months was considered a life changing event.

Fast forward to September 1st where I entered the NC/SC State Road Race Championships in the Masters 30-44 category and realized that training on PE and HR was a big mistake. I got dropped 30 miles into a 60 mile race and I attribute this to my decrease in training intensity the 5 weeks prior as a result of removing the power meter. I rode solo for the next 30 miles and had plenty of time to evaluate my life and training program and decided to recommit myself to training with power. 8 days later I purchased a Power Tap SL laced to a Mavic Open Pro rim.

In addition, I contacted 55nine Peformance in Atlanta - Eddie O'Dea and had a Wobble-Naught bike fitting to insure that my position was right for maximum power output. Eddie raised my seat, moved it forward, lowered my bars, and pushed my brake hoods out so to speak to allow for better reach in the drops. The first ride after the fitting had me pedaling about 3 to 5 rpms higher per gear and climbing out the saddle felt more stable. I'm experiencing a little soreness behind my right knee but I think this is a combination of going too hard right after adjustments were made. I plan to spend the next few weeks doing nothing but endurance miles and hopefully, this will allow me to get acclimated to the new position. All in all, I highly recommend a Wobble-Naught fit!

Week of Vo2 - Day 1

Today was a beautiful day with temperatures reaching 99F and plenty of humidity. I planned on heading out at 7:00AM but was delayed until 12:45PM. You know what they say about the best made plans..... My plan for today was hard, short sprints. The focus for the next few weeks is V02 and raising my CTL to 100 before my next race in July/August.

WU: 15 minutes
1 x 5 minute at Max HR
Cruise for 10 minutes
4 x 1 at Max wattage starting at 24mph
1 minute rest
Cruise for 5 minutes
5 x 30 seconds at Max pace
1 minute rest
Cruise for 10 minutes
3 x 2 minutes at Max pace
1 minute rest
CD: 10 minutes

Racked up a TSS of 169 and burned 1303kJ in 100 minutes. NP was 261 and 5Sec power was 1195W. Still having issues with gastric distress after the ride and plan on trying a new energy drink. Currently use First Endurance's EFS due to the high amount of sodium but I'm now thinking this might be part of the problem. Will keep you posted.