Fantastic weather today: 60+ degrees. Pretty windy, but it's winter/spring in Iowa, so what do you want?
I resolved to take my first trip outside for the year, so I made sure there was really some air in my tires, and took the tags off my new kit. (BTW, the shorts really ARE the most comfortable shorts I've worn in a long time...)
Let's start with the disappointing parts first
I seem to have forgotten how to steer straight. A bit more all over the road than I should be. (And more uneven power than on the trainer too.
The guy in the truck that shouted obscenities at me was driving a chevy, not a ford. That breaks my streak of F150s. I now have to admit it's ALL guys in monster pickup trucks who are likely to be jerks, not just ones in F150s. Bummer.
OK, a bit more seriously... I TRIED to get to and hold my FTP today, but just could NOT. I was about 10% short. I was able to hold where I was for most of an hour, rather than dying at the end of 40, but I was really disappointed not to be able to pull the number I've been hitting indoors. Who knows. Maybe I'm THAT GUY who has a lower FTP outdoors than in. Grrrr. I FELT like I was working hard. Oh well.
But then to the good part.
After a short warmup to get from my office to my house (just a starting point), I did one of my very standard rides that's 21 miles out and back to a particular intersection.
That ride usually takes me 1:05. (A couple of years ago, it was 1:15). I can count the number of times I have done that ride at >20 mph on one hand.
But, despite a fairly strong crosswind and my not-so-great feeling power numbers, todayi finished in 57:36.
That's freaking 21.95 mph including getting out of my neighborhood. You gotta like that.
@ William - good post about taking to the roads. I am going out Saturday if the weather holds, for the first time since 2 October with my tri-bike. I am a bit concerned, so I will go at first light and hope to avoid those trucks!
Today's wko - hit all targets. For the Z3, I dropped it to the 39 chainring and worked on my cadence. I'm trying to get up to 90rpms for my Z3 time while I keep it at the comfy 70+ rpms for my Z4 in the 53 chainring.
I was lurking on the thread about when to wear the aero-helmets. I think I'll wait until I can bike straight again before I attempt that!
@William-Awesome job. Nothing like a massive PR on the regular loop. It looks like you have hit your stide this past week.
I ended up doing the ride after work today on the trainer. It took some serious motivation to stay at work today with the nice weather. The 2 x 20 went okay.
Got mine done tonight. I had a 2.5 day trip to Seattle this week, but managed to get all the mid-week work done. After 2 late nights and 2 long plane flights, I wasn't really feeling it, so I changed the 2x20' (4) to 4x10'(2)...same work, but a bit easier mentally. Finished up with 15'@85%.
Nice job everyone...great to see folks getting outside. Spring's still quite a ways out for us, but we've been in the 30s-40s all week, so it's on the horizon.
Thur bike legs were a little shagged from wed run. 1st set struggled to get .94, 2nd set better @ .99, Z3 @ .82 felt good. threw in a short 10' Z1 run for good measure.
Still inside and jealous of you guys hitting the road - dying to try my new P2 on the road!
@ Chris-I'm right there with you buddy. Last night was my most difficult bike of the whole Nov OS. 3x12's exactly the same as Tuesday had me going in feeling bored with that. So, I figured, hey I'm self coached 3x12=36 min @FT. 6x6=36 min too and sounds like enough deviation to make it worth trying. I did it, hitting 1.0 on all of them, but it hurt a lot and was mentally tough. Lately, I've had hamstring/Glute tightness issues, my right knee hurts, etc. Never had those ailments before, so I know I'm pushing to new levels. Looking forward to a rest day BIG TIME!!
Good luck with the weekend stuff. We have the big weekend state championship swim meet for my kids a couple of hours away, so I'll be tied up with that. I'm going to sneak in my Saturday ride before we go, and somehow get the runs done between events. Around here, the weather is surely going to be good enough to run outside...not sure about riding again... but boy was it good to get out yesterday. :-)
@Jeffrey... you will love it, especially if you're coming from a metal bike. I remember being totally amazed at how efficient and smooth my nice new carbon cervelo felt compared to what I'd been riding. :-)
Went out again today to ride as the weather was just so nice. Only had enough time to warm up/MS/cool down.
Did hill repeats for my VO2 work. 5 sets all in the 320-360w range. Felt nice. Need to get the cadence a little higher but I am sure this will come.
Edit - Did my run a few hours later. Called for 25' @ HMP but since I was starting cold I did 1 mi @ 8:40 to warm up then 2.5mi @ 7:25. Ran in the Newtons for the first time in like 5-6 months. Felt great. Loved them. Wil need to keep them in the rotation.
5x@ .114, .115, .117, .119, .119 then 1x30 @ .83 + 22' @Z3 run- tough to get going but felt stronger as it progressed - only a few more sat sufferfests
The bike portion of the day is done. First time I have done the 2.5's in a couple of weeks. It was everything I remembered. 331(1.23), 326(1.21), 328(1.21), 317(1.17), and 313(1.16). I am running in a charity relay later today.
@Jeffrey - that's right! We are almost done and it is the "horse to the barn" time. Say, are you a Yankee or a Red Sox fan? Just curious...
Light drizzle, fog, and that's enough for me to cancel my first bike outing in 5 months. So, it's back to the pain cave till better weather. However, I'm now using speed and cadence more as a mental transition to hitting the roads soon.
4 X 2.5' @ Z5 PE, HR began @ Z3 and moved to upper Z4. My last test AVSPD was 20.4 and I was able to keep these at 22mph and felt strong. 6 X 5' (1') @ Z3 PE & HR. I'm now doing this at 85-90 rpm now on the 39 chainring. A week ago, 80-85 was the best I could do for this set!
Run - although it was supposed to be all Z3 (8:07/mi), it turned out to be Z2 (8:49/mi) for the first half then Z4 (7:48/mi) for the second half. Time to kick back and relax and recover before tomorrow's run wko.
Got mine done in the cave. I didn't do the last FT test, but I've bumped my FT up 10 watts to 240. Hit the intervals this week at that pretty well. Today I did: 5x2.5/2.5@120%/121%/121%/122%/123%, 1x12'@88%, 1x11'@85%, 1x10'@87%. Going to do the brick run while my little one plays hockey.
outside, nice weather, rolling hills makes staying in 105-120% difficult but I did the best I could to 'control' those efforts. Sometimes hard to get to 90% and sometimes hard not to get to 200%, nature of the beast, but hit the intervals in an erratic fashion based on the WKO+ graph.
Then paced a smooth 20' climb that we call 'getting out o' the pit' on the back portion, and really picked up the tempo heading back to town.
awesome morning, catching the sun burn thru the fog on the rural roads and farmlands, 3 hrs in the saddle, TSS 222 and IF .92, got the work done.
Team I missed Thurs WO (first missed WO of the OS) due to Flu and 104 temp Wed night until about 4 am......
Slowly coming back but weak still. Last night was the first time I have had 5 hrs of sleep in a row since Tuesday…….no fever but lots of sinus, head cold and low energy – makes Z4 intervals fairly humiliating.
I got up early and decided to ease into a 3 X 8’ Z4 pending on how the first one went. I was able to hang on but felt very fatigued on number 3. So a total of 10 minutes at Z3 and 24 minutes at Z4 – I’ll take it. I did run but could not hold an avg 7:00 pace for 30 minutes – so did what I could with that. Day by day – little by little right now…..
@Shaughn - I know what you're going thru. Been there.
It does get better. Be smart, Don't lie to yourself, you WILL KNOW when to pick up the intensity and duration. You don't volunteer or schedule a time to get sick. Be smart.
@ Shaughn - heck of an effort... but dude, is that a brick wall you're running at? Be smart about how soon, fast and hard....
I skipped Thursday's bike. Needed the rest after my 10 mile tempo run. Right now heading toward Boston my run is my bigger priority. Today I only did the bike, saving my legs for tomorrow's 22 mile run.
4x2.5^2 targeting 258w 125%, 125%, 121%, 117% - faded a bit on the last one
Then 45' straight thru @ 186w (0.865)
Total bike 80' @ 191w (0.887)
As expected the 2.5^2 were as hard as I remembered them but seemed to settle in on the 85% easily. I for one am looking forward to getting outside like some of our southern peeps are doing now.... except it may be another 6 weeks before I do....
Well we mixed things up here today on purpose. We did out run outside with the wind and rain first..Okay but didn't hit HMP for the entire run but felt as if I was working hard:
I then got talked into biking outside in this crap. 26 degrees with windchill and rain. I do not own a piece of cold weather gear so it was fun. I layered up with under armour 3.0, two pair of wool socks and sandwhich bags over my socks. A Gortex running jacket and a under armour face shield...Off we went 5 minutes into the ride my feet were froze but then I didn't care cause I couldn't feel the damn things....Snot dripping and swinging side to side and rain smacking me in the face.....All and all it was a hard workout....rode the hills strong for vo2 max today. Had a friend leading and pushing....Thanks Bernie!!!!!!
"Base camp" in TX 'hill country' (Fredericksburg TX) this weekend: Sat: 85 miles, 4:49 ride time, .79 IF, 4455ft climbed Sun: 75 miles, 4:30 ride time, .73 IF, 4190ft climbed (20+mph winds) Mon: 42 miles, 2:30 ride time, .79 IF, 2628ft climbed
That equals 202 miles in 3 days.
Punished myself pretty good those first two days, by hanging with the CAT3 roadies (until about the 3rd hour - when I got spit out of the back). Not bad for just the OS under my belt!!
Comments
Fantastic weather today: 60+ degrees. Pretty windy, but it's winter/spring in Iowa, so what do you want?
I resolved to take my first trip outside for the year, so I made sure there was really some air in my tires, and took the tags off my new kit. (BTW, the shorts really ARE the most comfortable shorts I've worn in a long time...)
Let's start with the disappointing parts first
But then to the good part.
After a short warmup to get from my office to my house (just a starting point), I did one of my very standard rides that's 21 miles out and back to a particular intersection.
That ride usually takes me 1:05. (A couple of years ago, it was 1:15). I can count the number of times I have done that ride at >20 mph on one hand.
But, despite a fairly strong crosswind and my not-so-great feeling power numbers, today i finished in 57:36.
That's freaking 21.95 mph including getting out of my neighborhood. You gotta like that.
Today's wko - hit all targets. For the Z3, I dropped it to the 39 chainring and worked on my cadence. I'm trying to get up to 90rpms for my Z3 time while I keep it at the comfy 70+ rpms for my Z4 in the 53 chainring.
I was lurking on the thread about when to wear the aero-helmets. I think I'll wait until I can bike straight again before I attempt that!
I ended up doing the ride after work today on the trainer. It took some serious motivation to stay at work today with the nice weather. The 2 x 20 went okay.
20'@ 272 (1.006)
20'@ 267 (.991)
That is awesome. What a great feeling it is to see an improvement like that.
I did Saturday today and hit all my 2.5s on target, then did a straight 36:00 at .85, then the 25:00 run outside at 6:27 pace. Feeling strong today!
Nice job everyone...great to see folks getting outside. Spring's still quite a ways out for us, but we've been in the 30s-40s all week, so it's on the horizon.
Still inside and jealous of you guys hitting the road - dying to try my new P2 on the road!
@William - Throw Down! Like others have said, don't worry about the power. In the long run, it's all about speed anyway.
turned the 3x12's into 2x12's and struggled to hit in the IF .95 for both. STRUGGLED thru like nothing yet in the OS.
autopsy....2 days of nothing but a can of soup due to GI bug, tired. feeling better today and ready to get some good numbers this weekend.
Good luck with the weekend stuff. We have the big weekend state championship swim meet for my kids a couple of hours away, so I'll be tied up with that. I'm going to sneak in my Saturday ride before we go, and somehow get the runs done between events. Around here, the weather is surely going to be good enough to run outside...not sure about riding again... but boy was it good to get out yesterday. :-)
@Jeffrey... you will love it, especially if you're coming from a metal bike. I remember being totally amazed at how efficient and smooth my nice new carbon cervelo felt compared to what I'd been riding. :-)
Went out again today to ride as the weather was just so nice. Only had enough time to warm up/MS/cool down.
Did hill repeats for my VO2 work. 5 sets all in the 320-360w range. Felt nice. Need to get the cadence a little higher but I am sure this will come.
Edit - Did my run a few hours later. Called for 25' @ HMP but since I was starting cold I did 1 mi @ 8:40 to warm up then 2.5mi @ 7:25. Ran in the Newtons for the first time in like 5-6 months. Felt great. Loved them. Wil need to keep them in the rotation.
Light drizzle, fog, and that's enough for me to cancel my first bike outing in 5 months. So, it's back to the pain cave till better weather. However, I'm now using speed and cadence more as a mental transition to hitting the roads soon.
4 X 2.5' @ Z5 PE, HR began @ Z3 and moved to upper Z4. My last test AVSPD was 20.4 and I was able to keep these at 22mph and felt strong.
6 X 5' (1') @ Z3 PE & HR. I'm now doing this at 85-90 rpm now on the 39 chainring. A week ago, 80-85 was the best I could do for this set!
Run - although it was supposed to be all Z3 (8:07/mi), it turned out to be Z2 (8:49/mi) for the first half then Z4 (7:48/mi) for the second half. Time to kick back and relax and recover before tomorrow's run wko.
Interval 1: 242 watts
Interval 3: 256 watts
Interval 5: 252 watts
Interval 7: 251 watts
Interval 9: 254 watts
Entire workout (153 watts):
Duration: 1:40:09 (1:42:02)
Work: 917 kJ
TSS: 126.9 (intensity factor 0.876)
Norm Power: 185
VI: 1.21
Pw:HR: 12.3%
Pa:HR: -4.19%
Distance: 28.401 mi
Elevation Gain: 1100 ft
Elevation Loss: 1048 ft
Grade: 0.0 % (42 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 560 153 watts
Heart Rate: 80 160 134 bpm
Cadence: 30 218 88 rpm
Speed: 0 39.1 16.6 mph
Pace 1:32 0:00 3:36 min/mi
run for 20 mins at 10:13 pace
Then paced a smooth 20' climb that we call 'getting out o' the pit' on the back portion, and really picked up the tempo heading back to town.
awesome morning, catching the sun burn thru the fog on the rural roads and farmlands, 3 hrs in the saddle, TSS 222 and IF .92, got the work done.
brick run was HMP for 20'.
rock on.
Team I missed Thurs WO (first missed WO of the OS) due to Flu and 104 temp Wed night until about 4 am......
Slowly coming back but weak still. Last night was the first time I have had 5 hrs of sleep in a row since Tuesday…….no fever but lots of sinus, head cold and low energy – makes Z4 intervals fairly humiliating.
connect.garmin.com/activity/69105774
Keep fighting all, we're almost there!!
2x20
275, 280 (the 44 minute range was 1 watt higher than my current ftp of 272 so definitely a boost coming)
Entire workout (250 watts):
Duration: 1:00:54 (1:03:34)
Work: 913 kJ
TSS: 91.8 (intensity factor 0.963)
Norm Power: 262
VI: 1.05
Pw:HR: 5.27%
Pa:HR: 9.33%
Distance: 26.166 mi
Elevation Gain: 0 ft
Elevation Loss: 0 ft
Grade: 0.0 % (9 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 388 250 watts
Heart Rate: 69 167 153 bpm
Cadence: 30 147 85 rpm
Speed: 0 30.8 25.7 mph
Pace 1:57 0:00 2:20 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 19 6 lb-in
Altitude: 891 904 896 ft
Crank Torque: 0 748 247 lb-in
Temperature: 59 68 64.9 Fahrenheit
It does get better. Be smart, Don't lie to yourself, you WILL KNOW when to pick up the intensity and duration. You don't volunteer or schedule a time to get sick. Be smart.
I skipped Thursday's bike. Needed the rest after my 10 mile tempo run. Right now heading toward Boston my run is my bigger priority. Today I only did the bike, saving my legs for tomorrow's 22 mile run.
4x2.5^2 targeting 258w
125%, 125%, 121%, 117% - faded a bit on the last one
Then 45' straight thru @ 186w (0.865)
Total bike 80' @ 191w (0.887)
As expected the 2.5^2 were as hard as I remembered them but seemed to settle in on the 85% easily. I for one am looking forward to getting outside like some of our southern peeps are doing now.... except it may be another 6 weeks before I do....
Well we mixed things up here today on purpose. We did out run outside with the wind and rain first..Okay but didn't hit HMP for the entire run but felt as if I was working hard:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/69213698
I then got talked into biking outside in this crap. 26 degrees with windchill and rain. I do not own a piece of cold weather gear so it was fun. I layered up with under armour 3.0, two pair of wool socks and sandwhich bags over my socks. A Gortex running jacket and a under armour face shield...Off we went 5 minutes into the ride my feet were froze but then I didn't care cause I couldn't feel the damn things....Snot dripping and swinging side to side and rain smacking me in the face.....All and all it was a hard workout....rode the hills strong for vo2 max today. Had a friend leading and pushing....Thanks Bernie!!!!!!
Entire workout (187 watts):
Duration: 1:03:28
Work: 710 kJ
TSS: 106.2 (intensity factor 1.018)
Norm Power: 209
VI: 1.12
Pw:HR: n/a
Pa:HR: n/a
Distance: 18.956 mi
Elevation Gain: 639 ft
Elevation Loss: 610 ft
Grade: 0.0 % (31 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 458 187 watts
Cadence: 31 191 79 rpm
Speed: 0 35.2 17.7 mph
Pace 1:42 0:00 3:24 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 28 7 lb-in
Altitude: 1053 1193 1145 ft
Crank Torque: 0 1000 200 lb-in
5x 2.5
334, 328, 324, 318, 335.
I cut out any z3 stuff and only ride 34 minutes. The IF was still 1.0 though.
Sat: 85 miles, 4:49 ride time, .79 IF, 4455ft climbed
Sun: 75 miles, 4:30 ride time, .73 IF, 4190ft climbed (20+mph winds)
Mon: 42 miles, 2:30 ride time, .79 IF, 2628ft climbed
That equals 202 miles in 3 days.
Punished myself pretty good those first two days, by hanging with the CAT3 roadies (until about the 3rd hour - when I got spit out of the back).
Not bad for just the OS under my belt!!