Proposed Thursday-Wednesday Camp Workouts
Here's what I suggest for a Fri-Sat-Sun schedule of rides:
• Thursday, I suggest a swim, followed by a 30-40 minute run.
• Friday: Snowmass and Capitol Creek Roads, about 52 miles, 3 hrs, 15 minutes, elevation varies between 8300 (my house) and 6900 feet, with two climbs of 5-7 miles @ 3-6% to 8000', another climb from 6900-8300 at the end, mostly 1-2%, but shorter, steeper segments thrown in, work intervals (WI) @ IF of 0.75 of sea level FTP.
• Saturday: Fryingpan Road, 66 miles, 4:10, two climbs, one from 6700-7700' @ 2% gradient, then the same climb as the day before back home, WI @ IF of 0.7 - 0.72.
• Sunday: Castle Creek Rd (Ashcroft), main climb is 7600'-9800', 46 miles @ 3:10, WI @ IF 0.70. Times and IF are what I usually do the route in. If the IF's seem low, remember the ~ 10% reduction of FTP from sea level to 7-8000'.
• Monday, another swim, and also that week's running interval workout.
• Tuesday, I offer an uphill time trial to Maroon Bells, 7.65 miles @ 5-7% grade, 7800'=9600', 45 minutes (or so). followed by a brick.
• Anyone still standing on Wednesday can consider either a 60 mile round trip to the top of Independence Pass, or an 80 mile trip downvalley and back to Glenwood Springs to the the Colorado River and the Hot Springs pool.
That should tire us out, but not kill us, I think. These are all out and back rides, so "slower" riders can turn around earlier, keeping the ride times constant among us.
Comments
Are the hot spring pools open late? Might be worth the drive for post training relaxation
The Thursday - Sunday plan sounds great! The only change I might want to do is Monday do the Independence Pass Ride or something else in the "epic" range. If Scott D and any others want to get a longer ride in I would be glad to lead that ride Monday morning. How far away is a pool? Inside or Outside? What is the expected temps for these rides? Should we pack for cooler rides or will it be warm enough for shorts and short sleeves? How are we going to handle our breakfast and lunch meals? I don't mind just chipping in for one grocery haul. I would imagine a couple of dinner meals out on the town and a couple back at the Truscott Compound, maybe a BBQ?
Personally, I'd like big bike-focusified time. Doesn't have to be monstrous time or volume, but Independence would be COOL and so would the time trial you're proposing. I get in Thurs and leave Tue.
Speaking of getting in/out...How do we work the transport to/from the Casa de Truscott?
So ... Sounds like we need to figure out a way for the maximum # of people to do the TT to Maroon Bells, and give Independence Pass a try. So, maybe on Sunday, do Maroon Bells instead of Castle Creek (they are parallel valleys, anyway.) When all of you are there, I can arrange exactly where and how we will do this, but I suspect there is a big sentiment for going up Indpendence Pass. There are several possibilities: Do the whole ride from my house (60 miles, 5 hours +/-). Drive into Aspen, park there, and drive "just" the climb (7900-12,100'), cutting off 1.5 hours and a lot of "admin" climbing. Or even drive 7 miles out to where the steeper parts start, cutting off even more time.
This may be futile, but I would like to emphasize that this climb should not be viewed as a standard training exercise, more like an excursion. By the time you get to 10,000', you will just be trying to finish, and will discover that you do not have the oomph to feel like you can push it.. And, descending 4,000'/20 miles on a TT bike on a narrow mountain road is not really my idea of fun.
Just an attempt at Truth in Advertising.
While Whole Foods is building a store in the valley, the current best place for groceries is about 25 minutes away at City Market. Cody (my son) and I can buy stuff there if I get an idea of what to get. And, he has the remains of a "quarter cow" grass fed that he purchased last year still in the freezer that he'll sell for $7/ib. Mostly roasts at this point, all the ground beef and good cuts are gone. There is a Costco about 90 minutes away, on the route in from Denver.
Independance Pass sound a lot like the High Pass Challenge I did this weekend. Except for the elevation topped out at about 6000' so the air was a lot thicker. More than a training session I would like to do it because it's an epic ride, and I like to do COOL things with my fitness. As far as food goes I will eat just about anything. So if you want make a trip to the Grocery store keep a tab on how much we all need to chip in and think that may be the simplest thing to do without stressing you out. I could survive on PBJ's for 5 days!
Can we ship a box to the Casa to simplify travel? Is there someone there to accept it? Did you make a decision on CO2 cartridges?
I posted a query about our camp to see if I could get comments from Rich, Dave Tallo, Patrick, and others who have done Big Volume weeks leading to their IM. Here's a copy of what I wrote, which inlcudes the revised agenda:
The 8 campers will be in weeks 13/14 of a 20 week plan for IM Arizona. They seem to want to get a bump in bike fitness, wanting to make this an extra-long Big Bike Weekend. The agenda I devised based on that is below.
I have two questions: (1) Does this workload and intensity seem reasonable (remember, we're living at 8400' and riding between 6-10,000) and (2) Should I worry about group dynamics leading to some folks pushing too hard trying to be KOM?
• Thursday, I suggest a swim, followed by a 30-40 minute run. [people arriving throughout the day, jumping to altitude, needing to put bikes together, etc]
• Friday: Snowmass and Capitol Creek Roads, about 52 miles, 3 hrs, 15 minutes [my usual time], elevation varies between 8300 (my house) and 6900 feet, with two climbs of 5-7 miles @ 3-6% to 8000', another climb from 6900-8300 at the end, mostly 1-2%, but shorter, steeper segments thrown in, work intervals (WI) @ IF of 0.75 of sea level FTP.
• Saturday: Fryingpan Road, 66 miles, 4:10, two climbs, one from 6700-7700' @ 2% gradient, then the same climb as the day before back home, WI @ IF of 0.7 - 0.72.
• Sunday: I offer an uphill time trial to Maroon Bells, 7.65 miles @ 5-7% grade, 7800'=9600', 45 minutes (or so). Total ride is 34 miles, 2:52. Followed by a 30 minute brick.
• Monday, there seems to be big sentiment to go up Independence Pass, 20 mile climb @ 5-7%, 7900-12,100' Plus another 20 miles to and from my house, with additional climbing. [This one worries me, as it is really too high to get any real training value for the race, and it's easy to: (a) burn ot on the way up, (b) get discouraged by the altitude effect on power and speed, and (c) risks of going downhill 20 miles on a narrow road on a TT bike] An alternate ride that day for those not so crazed would be an 80 mile trip downvalley and back to Glenwood Springs to the Colorado River and the Hot Springs pool. This is on a paved rail trail, 1-2% grade the whole way. Both these rides usually take me 4:30-5:00 to do.
• Tuesday, I think really should be a swim/run day, maybe trying some hill repeats downvalley at lower elevation.
• Anyone still standing on Wednesday can consider Castle Creek Rd (Ashcroft), main climb is 7600'-9800', 46 miles @ 3:10, WI @ IF 0.70.If the IF's seem low, remember the ~ 10% reduction of FTP from sea level to 7-8000'.That should tire us out, but not kill us, I think.
These are all out and back rides, so "slower" riders can turn around earlier, keeping the ride times constant among us.