Another LSD ride in the books

I am glad it is over.

The ride itself was pretty uneventful. I felt great and had a lot of energy. I was able to get 2:30hrs in zone 2 and about 10min in zone 3. The remaining time was a high zone 1. Some highlights: 2600Kcals, 55miles, avgCad92, avgHr145

I felt good immediately after but later that evening some body parts started to tighten up. Mainly my shoulders. I didn't want to think about it but I had another 2hr workout waiting for me the next day. I went to be early but had restless sleep. Got up at 5:00am to ride again but had no energy. I stopped the workout after 30min.

Next week I am going to ease up on the intensity. I should be tired and drained after a long ride not rev'd up.

Tomorrow I am going to try and make up one of the hours I missed today. I will spend the first hour doing today's Spin up workout. Then I will move on to my Force workout.

I shouldn't look ahead

This week will be relatively easy compared to the upcoming 2 weeks. The weeks total hours is 13hrs. Next week is 16:30hrs then a the big week of 18hrs. That means 4:00hr & 4:30hr rides on the trainer are looming. Not Good.

So I should be happy today is will be only 3:30hrs on the trainer for an E2 endurance ride. The goal for this ride is to stay in Zone2 for a least 2:30hrs.

Building the Pyramid

I have a good foundation with lots of time is Zone 2. Now it is time to work on Zone 3 the next layer of my pyramid. This morning I rode continuously in Zone 3 for 30 minutes with some time in Zone 4. I wanted to focus on muscle endurance so I kept the rpms lower near 80rpms. I could of gone longer but decided 30min was a good start. I may do another workout like this later this week.

Phase 1 is Complete!

All 4 weeks of Base 1 are done.

Yesterday I did my first fitness test. It was a 30min all out test to get my LTHR. This time I took 45min to warm up. I basically used a warm up you would use to get ready for a Crit. Easy at first, the about 15min zone 3, and a few zone 4-5 efforts.

The test - with a good warm up it was very easy to get my HR up to 170. After 5min, I was at 176 and working very very hard. I thought it wouldn't last. Then 178bpm, I was going to blow up. I kept it there. I faded a little bit in the last 10min but not much. So my avgHR for the 30min was 176bpm. My avgHR for the last 20min was 175bpm. Not bad of an old man!!

For my training, I will take that 175bpm result a bit down to 173bpm. So now my zones are:

Z1 113 - 141
Z2 142 - 154
Z3 155 - 161
Z4 162 - 172
Z5 173 - 189

I think the test was a good estimate of my current LTHR. I was well rested and highly motivated. I think keeping my cadence high through the test helped. I didn't have the muscle fatigue in my legs to slow me down. My avgCAD was 105rpms.

I have a Muscle Endurance workout on the schedule tomorrow. I am going to make sure that I am comfortable in Z2 before I start. The goal is to ride in Z3 for 30-40min at 90rpms. I want to ensure that I keep good tension on my quads throughout the 30-40min.

Not much to Report

Just sat on my butt at work today. Last week was a hard week and I was very much looking forward to a week off. I could get use to sleeping in late.

I know the "Rest Week" is very important but I am ready to go again. Next week will start base 2. I start building on my aerobic pyramid. I have been doing long endurance ride with 2-3:00hrs in my Zone 2. Now I will put on the next layer of the pyramid and add some time into Zone 3. In the next 3 weeks I hope to be able to sustain up to 90+min in this zone. I still have 5 Muscle Strength weight lifting sessions left to complete.

Sunday I will do my fitness test. I am looking forward to that too. This time I am going to spend 30 - 40min warming up before I make an all out effort. I have no idea where my LT is now.

Now We rest.

I finished my longest week of Base 1. Hooray!! Now it is time for a rest week and then start Base2.

Saturday I did a 1:00hr spin class and tried to lift but was pretty wiped out. So I went home, recovered for a bit and then went out on a 3:00hr ride. I used my Single Speed. I figured I could use the Single Speed on hills to make up for not doing a weight workout.

Sunday I rode with Pat C. for about 2:30hrs. We headed straight North into the wind up to Blair.

I had a good training week but I am ready for some down time. I was able to ride 17:00 of the scheduled 17:30hrs. This week will only be 9:00hrs... that should be easy.

Mid week

I think of Friday as the halfway point of my training week. Today I going to do speed drills. This will include some isolated leg drills and spin ups. I have been working diligently on keeping my cadence high on my endurance rides.

I am sold on the merits of keeping a high cadence for endurance rides. In using a high cadence I can get into my zone and stay there without the muscle fatigue. I still am tired after a long trainer workout but after recharging my energy stores I can carry on with my daily chores. More importantly, I can do another aerobic workout the next day.

I am not sure at this point if the high cadence is making me faster. I seemed to get better speeds when I drop my cadence down from 100rpms to 80rpms at a comparable heart rate.

Tomorrow, I have a 4:00hr day which I am going to break up into two workouts. Probably Spin Class/weights & 2:00hr E2 workout. Sunday it is 3:00hr E2 workout.

BTW- Did 2:00hrs on the trainer last night with 0:55mins in Zone2 and some time in zone 3.

No Options

I was going to get through today's 4:00hr trainer ride if it killed me ( is that an option ?). I had two goals for this ride. Do the 4:00hrs and make sure at least 2:30hrs was in Zone 2. I played it conservatively at first. Allowing myself to ramp up to Z2 and kept it on the low end of that zone.

The first 2:00hrs were long. The 3rd hour was like being in the middle of a long car drive and you just want to get to your destination. I hung out in Z2 for a good chunk of the hour 4... still feeling good. The last 0:15min felt painfully long.

In all I had 3:00hrs in Zone 2 and finished the whole 4:00hrs. My avgHR was 141 and avgCadence 92.

I fear tomorrow is going to be tough. A three hour day but I am going to break it into 1:00hr in the morning and 2:00hrs in the evening. I will do the time but not put any pressure on myself to stay in Z2.

Getting Started - Base 1 Week 3

I climbed on the trainer again this morning for the first of 17:30hrs scheduled this week. At first I thought it was going to be difficult to get my effort to zone 2 but after about 0:20min I was there. Hanging solid at 145bpm, then 150bpm. Out of the blue I pick a goal to stay in zone 2 for 30min. I felt pretty good.

Tonight, I will do my 7th MS session at the gym. This will leave 5 more Muscle Strength sessions. I feel really strong. How this relates to my riding, I am not sure. I am hoping to bust through this workout, get home and get to sleep early. I have a long day tomorrow.

This season in the weight room has been a lot better. I have been choosing my weights very carefully & conservatively. Doing this I have noticed that I not as sore in my legs.

Glorious Rest Days

Mondays are my rest day. No Spinning, no trainer, and no weights.

I had a good weekend. I did not make it to the gym Friday night so after an hour spin class on Saturday, I spent an hour lifting weights. After 6 of 12 sessions in the Muscle Strength phase I am at my upper limit for the hip sled. I did 4 sets of 5 reps@585lbs. According to the training bible I should stop increasing my weight and do more reps. I still have a way to go to max out for my sitting and standing rows.

Saturday afternoon I was able to get in a nap and then later I did another 2:00hrs on the trainer. I felt really good for this and was able stay in Zone 2 for over an hour.

Sunday - Again with the trainer. This workout was ugly. I took my time to get my HR to zone 2 but could not keep it there for long. I was ok with that so I decided upper zone 1 was good. At some point I fell below Zone 1. I didn't have the focus or drive anymore but for some reason I stayed on the bike for the full 3hrs. Not sure if ran out of energy or was just plain bored with the trainer.

I can't help but think about this week. It is going to be a long one but this is my last week of base 1 until the rest week. I still have to make it through 2 days of 4:00hrs. On of these days I can break up into two workout but one has to be continuous. One of my goals is to ride constantly in zone 2 for 2:30hrs. That should be challenging.

The 72hr Forcast

looks like this -

This morning - 100% chance of Speed work which includes periods of cadence of 110+rpms. (This is done already)

Tonight - Fairly light stretching followed by periods of intense lifting... changing to intense stretching.

Saturday - 1:00hr spin in the morning with a 90%chance of a 2:00hr endurance ride in the afternoon.

Sunday - 90% chance of a long Endurance ride of 3:00 - 4:00hrs

Going to be a long winter...

I took Wednesday off work due to the weather. I spent most the morning removing snow from sidewalks, streets, and ally ways. Then after lunch I hopped on the trainer for a wintery ride. I was doing ok. I allowed myself to gradually get to zone 2 and I kept it there. To break up the monotony every 15 min I would stay in zone 2 but change my cadence from 80rpms to 105rpms. Coming up on 3:00hrs I had 2:00hrs in zone 2 and 1:00 in Zone 1. Then I crashed in my living room. Yep, my bike came out of the trainer. I tried to get on the bike again but I was done. I really wanted to do a 4:00hr ride, maybe Sunday.

This morning I did a two hour ride. I spent most of the time in upper zone 1 with some short intervals into zone 2. This seemed more like a recovery ride.

I hope this snow burns off so I can ride a few more times outside.

Quick Update

Popped on the trainer for a quick 1:00hr endurance ride (mostly zone2). Tonight, if the gym is open, I will lift.

That is all!

Team Ride Output

Above is the chart from my polar unit of last Saturdays Team ride.

Catching Up

Friday - I spent about an hour lifting in the gym. Still doing low reps with high resistance. My knees are holding up better than I thought. I was able to do 4 set of 6x500lbs on the hip sled with some strength to spare.

Saturday - Taught spinning early and then took a road trip up to Norfolk with Rich to ride with the team. I probably rode to hard in spinning and with the team but it didn't stress me out too bad. On the team ride I had just as much time in Zone 4 as I did in Zone 2. In Base 1 week 1 most the rides are no higher than zone 2. Total time ~3:30hrs

Sunday - Since I just shy of my scheduled hours I jumped on the trainer for another hour of Zone 2 work.

This was a good start to my training. This week I start my base 1 week 2 training. The same types of workouts just a little longer duration.

Wednesday Ride

Left work at noon and was on the road at 12:30. I am starting, more and more, to dig into my winter clothes. I broke out heavy weight amfib pants, winter boots, balaclava, and facemask.

From my office I headed North up the trail a bit and then took blondo to 192nd St. back North into the wind. I made it up to Elk City then West for a few then South through valley, through Venice, and back down to Q street. Forty Seven miles all together.

This was an endurance ride so my average speed was very low. I had good energy for the first 2hrs. It was easy to stay in my zone 2. After two hours it took a lot of focus to stay there. With about 45min left to ride I let my effort fall to a comfortable level which was a few beats below my zone 2. For 3:30hrs I had an avg HR of 140bpm. I am ok with that.

Rode for 1:30hrs this morning. More Zone 2 work... fun fun!!

Ready to ride

I have a 3:30hr ride scheduled today. I took a 1/2day off today to do this ride. I wish I was off yesterday. Temps over 50degrees is much better than in the 30s, but I think I will be on the trainer for the next 2 days.

Did my first Muscle Strength weight workout yesterday. I was able to get 3 sets of 6reps @ 500lbs on the hip sled. I feel pretty good today so I will stick with that for a couple more sessions. My goal is to be able to get 6+ reps at 580lbs.

That's it for now.

Time to focus...

and start working the training plan. This week 12:30hrs. The amount of hours should not be too difficult. I have been logging around 11:00hrs for the past few weeks. The workouts are mainly Endurance workouts with one Spin Up - Speed workout.

My new toy is going to help out a lot. I picked up my Polar CS600x from the bike shop Saturday set it up and took it for a short ride that afternoon. It has a percent grade feature. The hills around here are steeper than I thought. With the unit I got the Pro Trainer 5 software. I can design a workout in the software and then transfer it to the unit. Then the unit will tell you what zone you should be in throughout. There are plenty of other features... I am going to have fun with this!!

This weekend I was able to ride a bit on Saturday and met some peeps for a 2:00hr ride Sunday. good times!!

This Week

I decided to do one more week of prep... Next week starts my training schedule for the Joe Martin Stage Race (JMSR). That means I have about 22 weeks to get race ready and it does not seem like much time.

I will do my base building according to the Joe Friel recommendation but at the end of February I may get the JMSR training plan which is designed specifically for the JMSR.

This week I started the Muscle Transition part of strength training. This is where you do choose a weight that you can lift 10 - 15 times. For the hip-sled, I did 3 sets of 495lbs. I also increased my weight on the Seated & Standing rows.

I will do 2 more Muscle Transition sessions... then off to Muscle strength.

Wednesday I was able to get out for a long ride. The first half of the ride was a pretty miserable. The temp was about 42 degrees and very windy. I fought the wind for the first 2hours. By time I made it through Boyer Chute up to Ft Calhoun I felt that I was done. I grabbed something to eat at the gas station and headed back to town. After grinding up the hill to Omaha trace I started to enjoy the ride. My speed went up from a mear 13mph to a fun ~22mph and I was able to enjoy the late fall scenery on the trace. I put night lights on my bike but I wanted to head back to the safety of the trail before dark. I set out to do a 4hr ride and got 3:52min. I was able to stay in zone 2 for most the ride. My speed? I don't want to talk about it :)

Turkey Day - I hit the trail for a quick 20miles. I am working on a high cadence so it wasn't such a quick 20miles. I logged 1:30hrs in the saddle.

Note: I ordered a Polar CS600x from The Bike Way but Trevin is letting me use his garmin Edge 705. The 705's battery ran out on Wednesday's ride and the thing is big? Trevin says he can send the CS600x back if I want to get the garmin. Right now I think I will stay with the CS600x.

Re Motivated

I have taken some time off from serious training just to ride or do whatever. Fortunately for me I like working out so the "whatever" is usually some kind of exercise.

Now I am re-motivated to get back into the serious training. I need all the motivation I can get to carry me through another winter of training. Last year, because of my upgrade to cat 3, I was motivated. Still it was very hard to get up early in the morning to either ride out in the cold or sit on the trainer.

My base 1 training is schedule to begin on Dec 30th. I am ready to start now! So, I am playing with the idea of beginning base 1 next week on Nov 23. My first 'A' race will be the Joe Martin Stage race in early May.

Today, I am taking a 1/2day off to do a long ride. Hopefully, I can do this more often in the coming year.

Prep Week 2

This week was about the same as last week. 3hrs spinning, 3hrs on the bike, and 2hrs lifting weights. I did miss a weight lifting session on Friday... going to make that up tonight.

The highlights of last week were Tuesday night in the gym lifting and my 3hrs ride on Sunday.

Tuesday - I was able to increase the weight on the hip sled to 315lbs for the last two sets. It is a challenging weight but I was able to crank out 30 reps each set. I felt a little extra soreness in my legs the next day so I won't increase the weight until I start the MT (Muscle Transistion) phase of lifting.

Sunday - It was a gorgeous day in Nov. Starting out it was 47degrees, blue skies and very light wind from the south. I headed North toward Ft Calhoun. I was having an Ideal endurance training ride. Keeping my HR below 150bpm & cadence about 100rpm. I felt good most the ride although my rpms dropped into the low 90s toward the end of the ride.
Some numbers - HR avg 140bpm, 44mi, Cadence avg 92, Avg Speed ~16mph.

Prep Week 1

Last week I start working my training plan. Previous to this week, I was not training with a purpose. I was running when I could, riding some, and going to spin class. This week I started to focus on my training instead of just keeping my general fitness.

I had two goals this week... get on the bike more and hit the weights. I was able to do a fairly long ride Sunday. I lucked out, Munson came rolling up the trail as I was getting clipped into my pedals. He was on his way to Brian R's house for a 3hour ride. So I was lucky because I had some company. See Jon I am not always riding alone !! So I logged just over 2hrs.

I was able to lift twice last week. I am going to keep up the routine of lifting every 3 days. That is lift one day and take 2 days off lifting. Seems to be the right mix for me. I am still keeping the weight low and reps high.

Last week I logged 10hrs with 4hrs lifting, 2.5bike, 3hrs spinning, and .5hrs running. It is a start!

Run/Weights

I ran 2 miles today at lunch. My time was a little slower than Monday but not bad. Also, I think my legs are adapting to running some more. There was very little discomfort.

I will do weights tonight. I am going to see if I can pick up the pace a bit. The last time I spent 2hrs to get all my workout done. I hope I can get it down to 1.5hrs.

Working the Plan

Today, I start my training plan. I am in the prep phase for the next few weeks. This means Anatomical Adaption phase in the gym and starting to get back to riding.

For the next few weeks I will keep up my running but I will probably cut it out in the beginning of my Base phase.

Today, I had weight lifting scheduled but I am going to put that off 'til tomorrow. I lifted Sunday and was still a bit sore last night. If that seems like I am already abandoning my plan... I am trying to listen to my body more and adjust accordingly.

So this morning I did an endurance workout for an hour. I quickly got my HR up around 148 and kept it there. This is my zone 2 very comfortable.

Training Plan

I built my 2010 training plan this weekend. At least most of it. I still have to fill in the rest of the races that I want to do.

I have the plan built around the Joe Martin Stage (A races) race and another peak later in the season (say State RR!!). The Norfolk Classic, Omaha Weekend, Tour of KC and Sioux Falls Crit will be B races for me. All other races will be C races.

I worked pretty hard last year. I don't think I can train much more than I did last year, so I will have to train smarter.

What am I going to do different? The Motto for this year - consistent Training... challenging but not over the top.
1) I reduced the number of hours. My longest training week will now be 19hrs.
2) Reduced my HR zones. I will rely on them to get me close but will use RPE to get the desired training effect.
3) No more 4hr sessions on the trainer. Outside I can do 4hrs easy but it is unbearable indoors.
4) Work more in the weight room. Be very conservative, increase weights only when I can do all the reps in good form.
5) Stick to the training plan better. If I can't be disciplined in group rides and stick to the plan I will have to ride by myself more.
5) Get weight down to 175lbs. I backed down my training intensity so I can be more consistent with my eating. I give myself too big of a license to eat before and after a big race. Also, if I have a stressful training week I tend to forget about my diet plan.

These are my New Years' resolutions of sort.

My Goals - I think the main one is to Complete a 20+mi TT with a avg speed of 26+mph. If I can do that I should be super competitive in Crits and RR.

Base 1 starts the week of 23 Nov. 'till then I will keep up my running do spinning and weights.

BTW - I ran today. 2mi 8:30min pace.

A month ago

I was getting ready for the State RR. Until then I was riding about everyday hitting the group rides on Tues/Weds night and usually long rides or race on the weekend. Since the RR I have ridden about 3 times.

I hope to get on the bike this weekend but I need to start building my training plan. That means writing down goals and picking races. I also need to find something to motivate me through the winter. Last year my upgrade to Cat 3 had me worried so I was super motivated to train. I still need to find something that will get my happy butt up for those early morning training sessions.

I may change things up a bit too. In the "Training Bible" Joe Friel recommends that masters do a 3week instead of 4 week base/build periods. I may give that a try.

I have taken up running to give myself a break from the bike. It has been a very slow start though. For the first week I thought I was starting conservatively with a 2 mile run on Mon/Wed/Fri. I started the second week with the same schedule but pulled a muscle in my calf on the Wed run. So I took the 3rd week off. This week I picked up running again Wed. the goal was to run 2mi but after 3/4mi my calf started to hurt again. I turned around and walked back. Today, I went the full 2mi. I had some discomfort in my calf but I kept on going. Next week I hope to 2mi on Mon/Wed/Fri again.

2009 - Year in Review

I would like to take a couple minutes and look at my 2009 season.

Early Season (April, May, June) - I know I raced a bunch early but I can't remember a lot of the particulars. Some things that come to mind, I was sick for one of the Spring Fling and Perry Damn race. I was upset about that and regretting upgrading to Cat 3. I had a flat in the Bing RR. Not much to say there.

Snake Alley was painful, but I did well in the Wappello RR, & Melon City crit.

I did better in Norfolk with the RR & Crit I mixed it up in the pack but was still far from the lead guys.

Mid Season (July, August) - I was still not very competitive on the hillier races (Omaha Weekend). I did not do well in the Tour of KC races. For the 3 crits that I did I remember hanging on to the pack for the first 35-40min with my HR just 10beats below my max HR. After that my body shut me down.

Late Season (August, Sept) - Did the Sioux Falls Crit late August. I did well in the Master's Crit 3rd. In the Cat 3 crit, I stayed on the front too long and blew myself up and dropped off the pack.

State RR - I felt good with my performance there. The goal was to stay with the pack. This was not easy for me. Each time up the hill, I struggled. I was just happy to be with the group at the end.

So that is it for 2009...

What's next for 2010... I would like to do a couple NRC races... Joe Martin comes to mind. I would like to do the Cascade Classic stage race too(mid July) but I don't think that is in the cards next year.

Now What?

Race season is over for me... Rich may talk me into a cross race though. There are no hill repeats, zone interval, or spin up workouts in my near future. Instead I will focus on areas other than riding to improve my performance on the bike.

One thing is to drop some weight. At one point in the season I was down to 188 my weight went up to 196.

I am running now. I running 2mi 3days a week and so far I ran Monday and today. I like riding much better.

Weights? I need to start that soon.

I am sure there are many more off bike activities that will make me faster on the bike.

State RR

I finished off the season with the State Road Race this past weekend. I had no expectations for this race. I thought if I could hang with the pack to the end, I would have a chance for a respectable finish. I did feel confident with my sprint on a flat finish.

Also, I was worried about hanging on the group for "the hill", the one right after the turn to Liebers Point. There were KOM points every time up the hill so I knew I would be struggling to stay on each time up.

The first couple of laps were mellow. The Cat IVs caught up and were just behind us so the group consensus was to speed up a bit. I am not proud of it but I did a lot of wheel sucking even when the pace was slow.

There were times I was completely spent another hill or surge I would have surely been dropped. That didn't happen. After surviving "the hill" on the last lap, I was just happy to be there.

Last 10 miles: Tim Farham is off the front about 2 minutes ahead... there is no catching him. Shim(Midwest cycle) makes a break and shortly after Lucas(The Lucus) bridges up to him. Ian (Cyclismo) starts the effor to chase the two escapees just ahead. Feeling guilty about sucking wheel and good about just being there I thought I would help in the effort to catch the break. I was making some progress but could not do it on my own. Still nobody came around. I was on the front for a good 3miles until we turned into Liebers point. Lucky for me the group started to come around and I was able to rest. I felt good about my chances for a bunch sprint.

The group started to speed up the last hill before the final corner. I was on the inside of a line of about 7 riders. Had to slow down a bit for the corner but sprinted to catch the group. They were just out of reach and one guy on my wheel got me to the line. I regret letting him pass me. Again, I was just happy to be there for the sprint.

Dan Ertz Tough!

Dan Ertz is so tough... Top 10 List

10) President Bush DID have a sure fire plan to end the war in Iraq, However Dan Ertz was busy that day.

9) Dan Ertz has already been to Mars; that's why there are no signs of life there.

8) When the Boogeyman goes to sleep every night he checks his closet for Dan Ertz.

7) Dan Ertz does not use spell check. His spelling checks itself.

6) Dan Ertz does not sleep. He waits.

5) Dan Ertz has counted to infinity, Twice!!

4) Dan Ertz once shot a German plane down with his finger, by yelling, "Bang!"

3) A man once asked Dan Ertz if his real name is "Daniel". Dan Ertz did not respond, he simply stared at him until he exploded.

2) Dan Ertz's tears cure cancer. Too bad he has never cried.

1) Dan Ertz competed in a Mtb race with a broke pelvis.

Norfolk Classic weekend !!!

Well this is it... Race weekend. This week, according to the training plan, I should be at my Peak fitness. I feel good, rested and ready to go. I had a couple hard rides last weekend and a blistering ride Wednesday. Now there is nothing to do but rest up and prep the bike.

Good luck everyone, ride safe, and have fun!!!

See ya at the Classic

Snake Alley Weekend

Yep... I did the Snake Alley Criterium this weekend. The original plan was to do the 40+ masters and then the Cat 3 later that day but one race was enough for me. Each and every time up Snake Alley had me thinking about abandoning the race. Loup Gouru summed it up pretty well.

I also did the Wappello-Burlington 3/4 RR the night before. Note to self pre-view the course. I felt good for most of the race. I started the race in the back of the field so I got some good experience moving up through the pack. Working through gaps and leveraging my way to the front. The speed of the peleton was very high with the average speed at the end of 26mph. I was in a couple breaks but we were brought back. In the end I did not have a good position for the final sprint. I got 18th out of 77. Still within a couple of seconds from the winner.

I also did the Melon City Crit 40+ masters... got 15th out of 28.

About Last week

Last week I had a solid week of training. There was just the right mix of easy days with hard days. I was able to two fast group rides on Tues. & Thurs and took it easy for the Bike Masters group ride on Wed. Saturday, I rode alone some then I hooked up with Craig and some other people on a polio ride. Sunday I did a quick ride up to Blair. I was hoping for a 4hr ride but I covered the 55mi in just over 3hrs.

Last week was the final week of my build 2 period. I am ready to do more hard workouts but I will stick to the plan which requires me to take a week off this week.

The forgotten blog

not really forgotten but just haven't taken the time. Anyway another quick report on last weeks training.

Wednesday night - 2:30hrs to North from Mid Town to Ft Calhoun and back. I was hoping to catch the Trek store group but I don't think they went north that night.

Thursday Night - 2:00hrs. I let Nick and Vaughn beat up on me. We did a quick ride from Bike way North to Elk City. We hammered hard on the road east of Mt Micheal. I barely hung on to the two speedsters on the longest hill. I recovered a bit to take a few pulls but they did most of the work. I was able to get several long zone 5a efforts and one 2-3min zone 5b effort chasing Nick down. It didn't happen.

Friday Night - off

Saturday - 1:00hr spin class. 3:00hrs w/Nick Z & Chris S. Another hammer fest for me. After riding around town for a bit... Chris had to help someone with her mower. We headed towards Blair. I felt good that day, even though I would get dropped on a few hills. Thursdays ride seemed to be aerobic... this ride was more power and muscle strength. I am not sure why but my HR stayed mostly in the 160s but my legs were burning like crazy. It felt like one 2" strand of my quads was doing all the work.

Sunday 3:30hrs:64mi - by myself. North to Blair again. I kept the HR under 150bpm but I was still cruising fast. I tested my cruising speed. On a flat section of road and out of the wind I ramped my HR up to 150bpm (middle of zone 2 for me). My speed was about 25mph. The last time I did this my speed was about 24.

Monday - off

This is my last Build 2 week. It would be sweet if I can repeat last week again this week.

It has been a week

since I have made a blog post. I need to report quickly about last weeks training.

Wednesday night ride went well for the Bike Masters ride. My goal was to take it easy and I did for the most part.

Thursday night - It was time to work with some SE Intervals. 3 - 6min Zone4 - 5b 90rpm cadence. Curiously I was not able to get to zone 5b. As per Friel, I stopped after 3 tries. I finished the 2:30hr ride staying in zone 2.

Friday Off

Saturday - Spin Class and I was able to get a good 2:30hr north on hiway 75. I hit the hills hard.

Sunday - T-storms all day.. Put the trainer on the front porch and rode for 1:30hr in zone 2.

Monday Off

Tuesday - TNR at High Gear. I did Hill intervals on the ride. So basically I would ride on Kevin L's wheel get to my zone 5a and hang there for 6+ minutes. Then drop off into zone 2. The rest of the group would catch me then I would work in my next interval with them.

Spin class this morning

Tonight if there is no T-Storms I am heading out for at least a couple hrs.

Briefly

Last night I rode with Mr. Kevin and the rest of the High Gear group. The goal for the night was to get in some zone 4 => 5b interval work. Mission accomplished. I hit zone 5b about 3 times otherwise spent a lot of time in upper zone 4 and zone 5a.

Le Tour de Husker

Race Review - Finally a race I can get a feeling on how I am riding. In all the previous races this year there was something preventing me from doing my best. I was sick for the Spring Fling race. Then later for the Twin Bing race I had a flat tire. This weekend none of that happened. There were no excuses.

Tractor Test Track Crit(a half mile "oval") - After a raining morning the skies cleared for a near perfect afternoon of racing. When I got to the track there were already 6 wreck from the earlier races. A lot of them caused by the rain. While I watched the Cat 4 & 5 race there were at least 3 more wrecks. This didn't concern me much. To tell the truth I was more concerned about not being able to hang with the group.

Before I knew it the race started. The first two corners of the race were no problem... the group was still ramping up to speed. The second lap we were going fast. Nobody really knew what line to take. I got caught taking an inside line with too much speed. Coming out of the turn I could not hold a good line went wide. Yep, I heard about it. My bad!!

After that I played follow the leader through each turn. Kevin B kept yelling "go wider" so we could cut through the apex of the turn. That was a good call. Still we brought our wheels within inches of the grass on the inside of the track.

I was staying up with the group. I wasn't hanging off the back or put in too much difficulty for about the first 15 laps. Then it started to happen. Each time the group came out of the back stretch into the wind. I would start tailing off. A little a first and then more. I would catch back up and be ready for the next lap but I would get less and less rest. Until, with 27 laps to go I could not catch up.

So I pretty much rode solo after that. Of course it is no fun being lapped by the group but I wasn't too discouraged. I figure all the accelerations in and out of the corners got to me. I like more of a steady pace.


TTT - I love team time trials... I wish there were more. Devin was our locomotive and rabbit. All the rest of us had to do was keep up. Easy? We ended up 3rd of 6 teams.

Sunday's Crit - This crit was much more my style. There was not so much slowing and then accelerating. About 15min into the race I was off the back of the pack with Paul W. We worked together for awhile then Kevin B & Brian R joined us from behind. Others from the lead pack dropped back until we had about 7 riders. This was not an organized group. People were taking their turns on the front but it wasn't a smooth rotating pace line.

Then Jared B lapped us and our group raced up to get on his wheel. So, till the end, it was Jared(a lap up) on the front. The rest of us were tucked in behind Jared. I was at the end of the pace line. Not a good place to be so I tried to move up. There were no gaps. Every was tucked in tight.

Bell lap. Everyone was moving into position. I ended up right behind Brian R. A little slip of Brian's rear wheel sent him off course and crashing into the outside curb. I took the inside track to miss him and all looked good. Until his bike went high into the air. I was quite sure the bike was going to hit me so I ducked. I thought I was going to catch a pedal or something in my back but I made it through.

The Red Cross medics quickly ran down to the scene. More details are on his blog

I was happy with my performance. I still need to do more work. I was doubtful about my decision to cat up to Cat 3 but I am glad I did. It is where I need to be. Although, I need to get a lot faster to be competitive. I am up for the challenge.

Race Week - Le Tour D'Husker

I am getting in some good training this week.

Tuesday I rode hard with the High Gear crew. We did about 40 hilly miles. At the end of the ride I had 25min in HR zone4 and 5 minutes up to zone 5a. This was a little disappointing... I want to get where I have an hour or more in zone 4.

Wednesday's ride was another group ride at Bike Master's. It was a fun ride. The guys that usually push the pace were not there. As usual the ride broke up into small groups. Then on the way back I found myself in a group of 5. We maintained a good pace and would pass small groups of riders. Many of the passed riders would join our group. So the group swelled to over 10 riders. It was fun! I worked hard but it was bearable.

Thursday - I took the day off riding.

Friday - Don't know I may go out for a zone 2 spin tonight.

Since I have my training plan set to peak for the Norfolk race, I have an extra week to play with. So I am going to burn that week. I will call this week a rest week and start my Build 2 period next week. Reason? I think I need to focus on my ability to get to zone 4/5a and stay there for longer periods of time. Also, focus on hill training. Finally, another thing I am missing is longer rides in zone 2. In the winter I was really good about riding 3+ hours. I have only done one of those in the past few weeks.

Build 2 begin

I finished up my Build 1 phase last week with a hard ride on Saturday and a recovery ride Sunday.

Now it is time for Build 2. Last night I did some hill cruise intervals on the Tuesday night ride from High Gear. It was a great night for riding. I was able to ride approx. 30min in my zone4 and 5 minutes up into zone 5a. There were several fast riders hanging on to Kevin L's wheel along with me.

Today I need to take it easy. Going to do ride up to the bike masters ride. The hard part about todays workout is keeping my HR below 155bpm.

Saturday - High Noon Ride

I should be nice Saturday. I am setting up a ride from Wehrspan Lake on the West side of town. 12:00pm. Dan Schuldte and I will be there for sure. Devin B may make the trek from Wayne? to ride with us and of course all are welcome. This will be a fast spirited ride 18+mph.

This week.... so far

I rode Tuesday night with some of the Bike Way team (Rich, Bryan, and Dan). Rich, Bryan and I were hitting it hard on the rolling hills on Platteview Rd. I would classify the ride as steady tempo with periods of high intensity. At one point Bryan tried to come around me. I couldn't let that happened so I kicked it pick up the pace. My HR quickly jumped to 185 which I have not seen in a long time.

Wed night I did the Bike Master's hammer fest. A big turn out. I would estimate 30 people showed up. My goal for the night... hang with the lead group. I was right up there with them. The group eventually thinned out to Spence, Vasquez, Rodgers, Brackenberry, Lempach and me. Pretty good company in my book. I am happy how my training is progressing.

Finally..

after several failed attempt I finish the work part of build 1. All I have is the rest week then I start Build 2.

I am happy with how I did last week. I was able to do my all my hard workouts including a 4:30hr ride yesterday.

I am looking forward to next week. It looks like Build 2 requires much more time in Zone 4 & 5a for my aerobic workouts and time in 5b.

Stats(guessing at these) - bike mile ~150mi, duration ~15:30hrs,

Build 1 Week 3 update

I want to get this update out before I forget.

Tuesday night - Did my cruise intervals on the trainer. I did a couple intervals of 8minutes and several 10+minute intervals. I touch zone 5a a couple times. Next time I do cruise intervals I will try to do more time in zone 5a. As part of my warm up it certainly helped to do a couple of shorter 2min intervals. time 2:00hr

Wednesday - One hour spin class in the morning. Bike Masters group ride in the evening. I felt pretty good for the group ride. Total time 2:40hr

Thursday - Ride with Vaughn west of town. Ziemet/Spence suck the life out of Vaughn so we took it easy. time 2:30hr

Friday - Got up early to do form sprints. Did 10 form sprints. time 1:40hr

Overall a pretty good week so far. I am a little behind on time and it is going to be tough to get in rides this weekend. Trainer? UGH, I don't want to think about it!!!!

About Last week

Last week I finished up with some good rides. I was able to log another 15hrs and almost 250miles. Could be better but not bad.

Friday I did some form sprints. Eight of them fifteen seconds each. The first two were a bit wild but by the last one I was able to get smoother. In that 15 secs I was able to accelerate from 20mph to nearly 30mph.

Saturday, rode with Brady, Mike, Mike, and John. It was basically the Wed. night Trek Store ride. We set a good pace on Hiway 36 and on Omaha Trace. I spent about 15 minutes in zone 4 and about 46sec into zone 5a. It was a great ride until I broke my derailleur.

Sunday, an easy ride with Mike and the gang. I did some bonus time to get close to 4hrs.

Tonight I will probably sit on my trainer and do cruise intervals. It doesn't sound like fun.

Many thanks to mike for the derailleur and the expertise!!

Build 1 Week 2 continued

Rode with "The Bike Way" guys last night. For me it was a text book Group Ride according to the "Training Bible".

There were several times that I was in my zone 4 for 8-10min. we had some hill sprints where I made it up to zone 5b. Another time Bryan Tangen and I were working together into the wind. I wasn't trying ride him off my wheel but I did pick up the pace right before the turn around.

Dan Ertz and I mixed it up a bit. While Dan & I were battling each other Craig sat in and blew us both away in one of the final sprints. Oh, I got another flat. That makes 3 rides in a row that I somehow got a flat. This time it was defiantly rocks.

A very fun ride!!

stats - Distance 40mi, Duration 1:50, Avg Speed 22mph

I also did a spin class in the morning for another 1:00hrs.

=========================

Todays schedule call for the Group ride. So I swap yesterdays schedule for today. On tap, 4hrs in zone 2. I was able to meet Rich on the trail at Culver's. We headed North up the trail from there. Straight into the brisk wind. It felt like a Janurary day with out the frozen water bottles.

Well I only got 3 but it was a great ride too. Most of the time I was in my zone 2. There we times I was up into zone 3. Rich was keeping the pace high into the wind.


stats - Distance 53, Duration 3:10min, Avg Speed ~15mph

Cruise Intervals - My favorite!

Not really my favorite but I did them. Last night I was going to ride outside from work but I forgot my shoes. So I had to go home. I spent some time looking for my headlight charger but could not find it.

I was running out of time for a longer ride and the thought of riding the trainer was very unappealing to me. I felt like skipping the workout but decided to hop on the trainer instead.

The intervals went well. The first 2 intervals I fell short of the desired 6min. This happens no matter how much I warm up. I think the next time I do intervals, I will do a couple efforts into zone 4 before I start my interval workout. The 3rd interval I was right at 6min and mid zone 4. Then I did 2 more efforts that were 7min long and I was able to hit zone 5a for a bit on the last one. Finished out the 1:30hrs back down in zone 2.

I wanted to go longer but had to teach spinning early in the morning.

Stats - Avg HR 149, Max HR 178, KCals 1270, Duration 1:30hrs, Z4 time 23min

Build 1 Week 2

Today is my first day to work in Week 2 of my Build 1 phase. I was going to get up early for an hour tempo ride but could not find my headlight charger last night. So, it just going to be Hill Cruise intervals. I brought clothing for 40 degree temps but The Weather Channel is reporting a feels like temperature of 28degrees. I may have to get warmer clothing from home.

I feel good after a day of rest and am ready to push my limits again. We'll see how it goes tonight.

Week in Review

Finally, I was able to get a respectable build week. The nice weather was a big help. I spent a majority of my time on the bike.

I feel good and am ready to move on to build 1 week2. Having a race under my belt I know better what race pace should feel like. On my hard days I will try to replicate that feeling. More hill work for me too. Sunday I road to Ft Calhoun there are a couple nice long hills I can do my hill repeats.

Last week, some stats - Ride time 16.5 hrs, Mileage 250+ miles, trainer time "0", Spinning time 1:00hr

A Mixed bag

Overall I had a good weekend. I was able to race on Saturday (thanks Kim for sub'ing!) and I rode another 55miles of riding Sunday. Now for the bad news... two flats. One during the race and one at the end of my ride Sunday.

The Race(Twin Bing RR) - I rode the A race which included category 1s, 2s & 3s. My race started at 10:00am. At 9:30am it was still chilly when I started getting into my race clothes. So, I put a skull cap for my head, leg warmers, and a vest. After a brief ride it seemed to be much warmer. Off with the vest for sure and I used Rich's knee warmers instead of my leg warmers. I removed the skull cap while at the start line.

The race started and I found myself immediately on the front end. Usually not the place to be but I just went my own pace. I was really nervous about the first hill which happened to be the finish line. I stayed up front. On the front you can set the pace up the hill. If you are going to slow the pack will come around but that usually takes a few precious moments to for them to realize. Nobody came around and I was still on the front. Surprising! I kept going on the front, still a comfortable pace. I had a gap... wow! Not for long though. Kevin Limpach came around me but he is crazy so I didn't chase.

After a couple miles some people in the pack decided it would be nice to get in an early break with Kevin. I remember seeing Bryan R., Devin, and maybe one other get up into a lead pack. With the peleton I gave chase too. A rookie mistake. I was on the front of the chase group reeling in one of my own teammates Devin. I got caught up in the action and wasn't thinking. It was gruppo compacto the rest of the first lap 22.2miles.

I was happy to survive the first lap. None of the hills seem to trouble me. I was able to get a good effort chasing a break away. All is good, so far! That was only the first lap of 3 which is usually tame.

Lap 2 - The first hill of the course was staring at me again. After seeing the rest of the course this hill was easily the most difficult. I was ready to dig deep into my "suitcase of pain" to stay with the pack over this hill. Then I heard a pop like a firecracker. It was me, I had a flat. Another mistake, no wheel in the wheel truck. I brought them but was too lazy to mark them and put them into the truck. Luckily, it was only 1/2 mile back to my truck.

Now my race turned into a training ride. I replace the flatted wheel. Made a bathroom stop and was on my way. When I made it to the top of the first hill I looked back to see if the B race was close and they were. Just riding through town. New Goal... stay ahead of the B race. I worked hard. Hammering up the hills and keeping a high speed on the flats. I was able to hold them off for a long time but they caught me about 15miles into the second lap. I let them pass and put a good gap behind them. Then I started to work again. They must have slowed down because I caught them. They were going slow. I decided to pass them. It was almost the end of the race and the official didn't want me to get in the way of the finish. So he asked me to hang off the back of the pack. That was ok with me. It was a headwind section. He allowed me to draft off the group. There was only about 16 of 76 left in this group. In the final stretch I let the group and official's car get about 1/2 mile in front of me and watched them finish up the hill.

Lap 3 - One more lap to go. This lap I just maintain a good tempo pace. HR about 160+. Speed was good and still had good energy. I was in the drops a lot and my lower back was squawking at me. Overall I was happy with my performance.

Some race stats - Speed 19.7mph, KCals 3499, time 3:30hrs, distance 68miles, 20th of 26

Sunday - Met some guys with Velo Veloce for a LSD ride. They went out for a couple hours and I continued on for another 1:30hr until I flatted again. Mistake 3... no repair kit. Called Christine for a rescue. Still was able to ride 51 miles.

About Last night

Rode for about 2:00hrs last night. I had planned to do Aerobic intervals but decided to do some Jumps - hard short sprint like efforts. Not sure if I was doing them right. I started off at a good speed HR in zone 2/3 and then kicked it in for several pedal strokes. Rest interval between sprints was about a minute. Then about 5 minutes between sets.

Today I am schedule to do form sprints. These sprints are suppose to be zone 5b efforts but since I am racing tomorrow I may hold back a little on intensity.

I am looking forward to the race tomorrow. I don't have high expectations, I will do my best to hold onto the lead group. We'll see.

Hanging in there

After riding for about 1:30hrs I met up with the Bike Masters ride which included a bunch o' KAOS riders. I worked in the pace line with them for a few miles... it felt good but my HR was into my zone 3 so I decided to let them go. When the second wave of riders caught up with me I stayed with them. Unfortunately they wanted to turn around. Since I had some time left in my workout I kept going.

Up ahead for some reason the fast group slowed down and I caught up with them. They slowly turned up the heat and I decided to stay with them. I get a grade of an F for self control... it was suppose to be a rest day! I stayed with them for about 3miles until they turned around. I was happy with my effort. I finally got up into my zone 5a and I did well on a hill. Still lot of work to do for me.

Cruising

My cruise intervals last night went well. I was able to do 3 x 7min and 2 x 10min intervals. My goal for each interval was to hold my HR to about 174bpm but I fell a bit short of that at about 169bpm. I was able to get to 174bpm in the longer intervals. I need to do more of these.

Today, I did spinning class this morning and I have a 3hr ride tonight. Todays scheduled options are a E1(recovery) or E2(aerobic endurance). I feel rested enough for a E2 ride but will probably do the E1.

Primed for cruise intervals tonight

I am ready to go for some cruise intervals tonight. I am going to head out west from work to Q street and start doing the intervals on the flat section near Two Rivers State park. Then finish up with some hill intervals on my way back home. I hope to get at least 40mins of zone 4/5a time.

Ready to go.... Again!

It has been awhile since I have posted anything and a lot has happened. 2 weeks ago after my cruise intervals I got sick again. Not good since I had a race that weekend. I recovered enough to race but my performance was lacking.

Last week was a wasted week. I was still a little under the weather but was able to get in a couple of rides. In particular I rode with the fast group on Saturday. I was ok for awhile but when we hit the first hill I fell off. Disturbing! I have to work on that. I feel like I am no mans land as far as my fitness. Not really a cat 4 and not really a cat 3.

Yesterday it was back in the saddle for a 3:30hr distance ride. I was able to hold a good pace for at least 3:00hrs.

Anyway, I put myself back into build 1 phase. This should allow me to peak for the Norfolk Classic RR and crit. This week I will focus on Hills, LT work, and one Distance ride. Every other day will be some sort of recovery ride.

Wiped out

After doing the cruise intervals in the morning I was wiped out. In the evening my HR was still high. So I skipped the evening trainer work out and I went to bed early. Yesterday raised an interesting question. It only took me about an hour to do the Cruise interval workout. What do I do with the rest of the scheduled 3hrs? The Training Bible doesn't really say. I suppose next week I will save my cruise interval workout for the evening and do a tempo or an aerobic workout in the morning.

This morning I felt better and was able to ride the Spin bike for an easy 2hr workout. Tonight more of the same.

Cruise Intervals ReDux

Last week was the Recovery week of my Base 3 period. I was able to get in 7hrs training. I did the LTHR test again on Friday... my avg hr was 176bpm. I think that is high but I am going to use it.

Got up early this morning for some Cruise Interval Bliss. I did 5 x 12min intervals. The first couple intervals I max my HR out at 170 (blame it on early morning). The rest of the interval I was able to get my HR up to 173. The workout called for time in zone 5a, unfortunatly I was not able to get up to that zone. I was about 3 heartbeats shy. I will work on that. Overall I am happy with the workout.

Recovery Week

I haven't done much this week and I need to get going. With the reduced hours on the bike I try to take care of things that fall by the wayside. I haven't done that yet.

Got on the trainer last night for an Hour E2 workout. That went good. This morning I led the spinning class for a solid hour workout. I didn't get much sleep last night so I may skip the weight workout tonight. I will do it as a second workout tomorrow.

I am starting to get geared up for the Spring Fling and Damn Races down in Lawrence, KS Mar 7/8. I hope to do two crits and then the road race following day. These will be training races for me so I may be looking to ride some extra miles that weekend.

Base 3 Done

I finished up Base 3 with well below the prescribed hours. On the bright side, I hit all BT workouts (Cruise Intervals, Hills, and Long ride).

Yesterday I was able to ride 67miles in just under 4hrs. Saturday, I had the spin class do four 5minute hills and then I got out later for another 20miles of hill work. Friday, on the trainer for 70min tempo.

So I ended up the week with 11:30hrs. I had thought of repeating my base 3 but I could really use a rest week. So, this week I 10hrs is on tap then I start my build training phase.

Tuesday Act Two

As I posted earlier my goal last night was to do cruise intervals... 8x8minutes. Well, I did 5. The first 4 were fine. I hit my target HR and kept it there throughout the 8min interval. I knew I was getting tired toward the end because it was getting difficult to maintain zone 2 during the rest interval. For the 5th interval it took a little extra time to reach zone 5a. After about a minute there it became increasingly difficult to maintain and I eventually quit after 6mins. Still I was able to ride for about 1:45min.

I hurt myself bad. My heart was racing all night long and I didn't get to sleep until about 2:00. Knowing my alarm was set for 4:00am did not help either. Instead of doing the 2:30hrs planned this morning, I did 1:00hr spin class. My weight lifting workout tonight is also on the chopping block.

Tues Act One

Dateline Tuesday 4:00am, the alarm rings. I thought about rolling over and catching more sleep but it is the beginning of base three, there will be time to rest next week. After some morning chores I climbed on the trainer. Today I have two muscle endurance rides scheduled. Act I a tempo workout - maintain 160bpm for 60min. Act II Cruise intervals - 8 x 8min intervals in zone 4/5a.

So this morning was tempo work. My focus was primarily on heart rate and secondarily on form. My legs got a good force workout last Saturday/Sunday so I wanted to leave any strength work out. I took about 10min to warm up then I started the tempo work. I didn't reach zone 3 until about 8min into the workout. It took about 20 more minutes to get to 160bpm. The last 30min I was comfortable maintaining 160bpm HR with a cadence of 92 - 102rpm. I think my TT cadence is about 92. That seems comfortable.

Tonight the main event ... cruise intervals. This will be a 2:00hr workout. I plan to do 8x8min intervals near LTHR(172) with 3min rest into zone 2. Again the focus will be on HR and not strength. I had been doing my weight lifting Tuesday nights but that has been pushed to Wednesday night.

Base 3 Week 2, in the books

It was a tough go but I finished week 2 of my base 3 week. Now I have Base 3 week 3 staring me in the face.

Weekend wrap up:
Friday - I had an 3:00 E2 workout split into a 1:30 in the A.M. and 1:30 in the P.M. The A.M. work out was fine but I should have just skipped the P.M. workout. I was tired and did not want to sit on the bike for another 1:30hrs.

Saturday - Spin class in the morning. We focused on zone 4 work and heavy resistance. In the afternoon, I did some long hills on the trainer. I did 6 intervals. The first one was only 5 minutes but the rest were 6, 7, 8, and 8minutes. Each time I allowed my HR to climb into zone 5a. I focused on keeping my pedal stroke smooth.

Sunday - I climbed on my SS for a 4:30hr ride. Temps were from 28 - 33 degrees, almost no wind and it was sunny. Weather wise it was a pleasant ride. I started off with some flat roads and finished with some rolling hills. I put on my studded snow tires just in case I came across some ice patches. The studs make it sound like you are constantly riding on gravel. I have no idea how fast I was going but I felt strong and fast climbing the hills on Highway 36 and 75. I had good energy through the entire ride.

Next week is my long week 20:30hrs. If I get 18:00hrs in I will be extremely happy. I am going to increase the duration and number of cruise intervals I do for muscle endurance. More hills on Saturday. Also, I am going to substitute a couple tempo rides for my endurance workouts. The long ride will be the same 4:30hrs. With the weather and snow on the ground it looks like most of the time will be spent on the trainer.

One day closer to Spring

Winter is back but I am checking off the days 'till spring. I don't know exactly how many days but I know that another day of winter has come and gone.

Last nights speed work routine went well. The goal was to keep a high average cadence with a couple intervals of extremely high cadence. I was able to do a couple minutes with my cadence in the 130s. I finished the night with an average of 100rpm.

Climbed on the bike again this morning for 90minutes of zone 2 work. I had good energy throughout the whole workout. For this workout I focused, like the night before, on a smooth high cadence. I have another 90minutes to do tonight.

Junk Miles

Last night I forced myself to climb on the bike for an endurance workout. Zone 2 stuff. I was pretty tired to start with so it took some extra time to get my HR up into the 140s. My perceived exertion was about right but the HR dropped back down to 130s, that's zone 1 for me. I kept going. After, 1:30hrs the HR dropped down below 100... not good. I tried to remotivate myself but I wasn't feeling it. So I envoked the "no Junk Miles" clause and got off the bike at 1:40. I took my shower and by 9:00 was passed out on the bed. I have to be happy with three hours and 40min of riding for the day. Tonight will be some speed work.

Quick Update

Did some weights last night. Kept all the same weight settings still looking to increase then number of reps. I was able to increase the number of bench presses by one with 135lb to four sets of eleven. I also up'd the number of sit ups to 26 on the incline bench.

This morning 2hrs on the spinning bike with another 2hrs tonight.

I don't like Wednesdays much. I am usually tight from weight lifting and I have long rides on the bike. It makes it hard to wake up in the morning.

I am looking forward to my first weekend of racing March 7/8th. Starting to firm up plans for that.

Cruise Intervals

Another round of Cruise intervals was in store for me today. Since the first interval last week was really tough I took a full 20 minutes to warm up to zone 2. It was still hard to get my HR up to zone 5a. I did another 7min interval and then two 8min interval (this was last weeks workout). I did a final 10min interval. This last interval was actually very easy. There was very little effort to bump my HR up to 168bpm and from there I ramped it up to 175bpm.

I noticed some improvement over last week. I was able to stay in the aero position longer and it was easier to stay in zone 2 for recovery. I think I have my LT dial in at 172 plus or minus a beat. 170 is hard but I can maintain that for quite awhile. When my HR hits 173bpm my breathing is heavier.

I am happy to see my weight go in the right direction... 193.8lbs. I seem to be losing about .5lbs a week. Next week I want to see 192.*lbs.

Weights again tonight. Same routine as last week.

Woo Hoo

This weekend was great! Record temps, I needed the outside riding goodness.

Friday Craig and I headed out on a 3hr endurance ride. For the most part we stuck to the zone 2 workout, but we pushed it for a couple sprints. He has some great top end speed. I can get him on the longer sprints though.

Saturday, I pulled out all the stops. Rigged the Pinarello for launch, ditched the winter boots and armadillo/goo wheels. Met "The Bike Way" boys for a ride. The plan for me was to do hill intervals HR can be zone 1 - 4. The hills weren't very long so I would work hard through a couple hills. Then rest for a couple minutes and then hit the next two. It felt good to open up the lungs after months of base training. I am not as slow as I thought I was.


Sunday, back down to a endurance ride for 3hrs. Even though the temps were still fine, there were not many cyclist on the rode. I did see Dave Rodgers on the way back from Ft. Calhoun. I will have to race him if he and I do masters races. UGH!! Oh well new motivation to train smarter.

Spring Fever !!

Cough...must leave work early. :D

Going out for a ride about 1:00pm today. 3hrs, hills low intensity. I am saving myself for tomorrow. I have a hill workout tomorrow with some Bike Way boys (Dan, Craig, and Rich). Heading south Louisville, Buffalo Rode way. I am going to hit the hills hard and as many as I can. See if I can get that "Punched in the Face" feeling. Wehrspan Lake, 2:30 at the main entrance... all are welcome.

Quick update

Did an hour ride at the Trek store. We watched a CTS Mtb training video. It was pretty good, a lot of 30secs max effort WI with 30secs RI. Then the same but for 2min. Since I was doing an Endurance ride I kept my HR in Zone2 and switched between the big & small chain rings for the intervals.

Today I am scheduled for some speed work. I am going to lift tonight and do some speed work in my 3hr endurance ride tomorrow.

I feel good but I want to get faster... faster!

Base 3 - Day 2

Yep, it is only day two into my Base 3 period. So I won't claim any major victories but I am staying on track. After briefly riding with Dave Rodgers and Chris Spence I have new found inspiration to get faster. Therefore, I have new inspiration to keep on my training schedule.

I did weights for an hour last night. Dropping the weight on some exercises helped. I was able to get more range of motion and a better burn.

This morning I did a spin class plus an hour of riding.

I have another hour tonight of endurance riding tonight and tomorrow is an easy day. I am looking forward to Friday. I have 3hrs scheduled and my take the afternoon off to do that since it will be so warm.

It's a start

Base 3 workouts started for me today. First thing to tackle was Cruise intervals. Three to Five intervals 6 - 12min long working hard building to zone 4/5a. My goal for this workout was to get 30min in these zones.

I did a total of four intervals.

Interval One - was 7min and the toughest. I had to work very hard to pull myself out of zone 1 into zone 4. I touched zone 5a for a few seconds. My form wasn't pretty either. I was all over my bike.

Interval Two - another 7min better. Since my HR was comfortable in zone 2 for the rest period it wasn't so hard to get up to my target zones. Again I labored to keep my HR into zone 4/5a.

Interval Three - 8min now that's a cruise interval. I got up to zone 4 within the first minute and hovered around 172bpm HR for most of the interval. I had some time to experiment lifting my effort to 175 and then back down.

Interval Four - 8min last one! Got the HR up to the appropriate zones quickly and was able to maintain a HR at 174 for a couple minutes.

All in all a good workout. I did what I needed to do. Next!!

Next is weights tonight. My focus for weights will be to drop the weight on the hip sled increase the reps and go for more burn. I have been doing 3 set 4 by 630lbs but I am not getting very much range of motion. Also, it is just tough on my knees. So I am going to back it down to 540lbs... get full range of motion then go to failure on that.

Week Wrapup

I took another rest week last week. For the most part I didn't do any training until this weekend. A spinning class mid week and that was it.

Saturday was a good day though. I did spin class in the morning and rode with Dan in the afternoon. I allowed myself to go hard. Although my HR was extremely high most of the ride I had good energy for 3hrs. I was above 165bpm for 1:35min. We logged 55 miles.

Sunday, I was off for another 3hr ride. This time at a lower HR and a slower pace. I did run into Dave Rodgers and Chris Spence at NP Dodge park. They were just getting started so I was able to keep up until we hit the hill going north. I was surprised to hold on for so long but blew up toward the top of the hill. They started picking up the pace so I just drafted for awhile then let them go. I need a lot of work.

Anyway, I ended up with 9hrs last week and am ready to start Base 3 Week 1. Tomorrow will be Cruise intevals. I will try to get at least 30min into zone 4 & 5a. One of this weeks goals is to get my weight down to 193. I have 'till the end of the month to get down to 190.

Writing it off

I pretty much fell off the wagon last week. I only got 7hrs of training. Way below that of even a rest week. "Not good Maverick"!!

There were some highlights. I dropped another pound or so. I was able to do a solid 60 minute tempo ride and get in two weight lifting sessions. So the week won't be a total loss.

I had plans of digging into Base3 this week right away but I am going to keep on schedule with a rest week. That will be at least 10hrs training. I may take a day to extend my tempo time out to 90min.

I think I would be setting myself up for failure if I started base 3. I need a mini break to recharge/refocus. Also, I need the weather to warm up a bit so I can do more miles outside. Sitting on the trainer really sucks!!

Time out

I climbed on my bike yesterday morning not feeling the best but I still attempted a tempo workout. I had to stop. I had no energy and felt nauseous. I went to work but had to leave early.

After a couple naps, I felt better... guess my body needed a time out. I still feel a little week, but I was able to teach spinning this morning.

So, I missed one of my weight workouts and a Tempo workout. I am not going to worry about it. I may substitute the tempo workout tomorrow morning instead of my single leg drill. I have one more weight workout scheduled for Saturday.

As far as trying to get 18.5 hours this week? Forget about that too. I will just take the rest of today off and pick up with schedule tomorrow.

Taking it to the Streets

Friday night according to schedule I did some hill work on the trainer. I did about 10 sets of 3min hills with 3min rest in between. For each hill I allowed my HR to climb up to zone4.

Saturday, I took a little break to get some housework done. I still was able to workout for an hour in spin class. I needed some rest/recovery from the hill work.

Sunday, I was able to get back outside again and I took full advantage of it. I knew that I was going to get at least 4hrs of riding. The neighborhood street were still snowy so I decided to take out the SS(Single Speed). From my house I headed North on Radial Hwy and then 75 to Blair. The hills were a struggle with the SS but I tried to stay seated for all. I felt pretty good into Blair so I kept going North toward Herman. To make a long story short, I was able to get 5:30hrs of riding time. I had good power for about 4:00hrs. After that I was in the "just get it done" mode.

It was another good week. I was able to get all my BT (breakthrough) workouts done.
BT 1) Tempo 35min 2) Hills 10x 3min x 3min 3) Long Ride 5:30hrs
On the downside I only lifted weights one day.

I have one more work week of 18.5hrs then it is a recovery week. It will be tough to get all the hours. I am going to try but my main focus will be on the BT workouts. I need to get a 50min tempo ride, more hills and a 4:30hr Long ride.

Speed work Thursdays

I was schedule for 90min but didn't drag myself out of bed 'till 5:30. I considered skipping the workout entirely but I knew how much I would regret it.

I climbed on the bike for a hour. I did 3 sets of isolated leg drills. Each rep included pedaling with one leg for a minute then switching to the other leg for a minute. Times 3. I could keep my pedal action smooth for about 40 sec. After that it got sloppy. Also, I could only get my cadence up to about 83rpm. So there are a couple things I can improve.

Tonight I am going to do more speed work with Spin ups. Another 90min. UGH!! Tomorrow will be nice because I only have to spend an hour in the saddle. I hope I have the energy to get an effective hill workout.

Janurary - This is it

the month I have been dreading since picking up my training again. Mother nature is keeping up her end of the bargain. Then there are the long hours on the trainer. Check...got that too. I can handle another couple of weeks on the trainer but I need to get outside soon.

Last night I lifted. I think I am done with Muscle strength training. I am going to keep all the weights the same from here on out but shoot for higher reps.

Got up Uber early this morning to get 2hrs of training. Tonight is another 2hr.

Tempo Zone

It was pretty easy rolling out of bed this morning. After a day rest I was ready to get back on the saddle. I was schedule for tempo ride... Zone 3(approx 153 - 163) for 35min.

This time anything less than 35min was unacceptable. After about 8minutes of spinning easy, I forced my HR up with some 30sec hard efforts. 15min into ride I was firmly into my zone 2. After 18min, I was up to 150bpm. So, I started my tempo work 19min into my workout. I still struggled with the first 10min in zone 3. I think I will just have to get use to it. My HR leveled at 160bpm and for the last 10min in zone 3 I had to concentrate to keep my HR below 163. It was easy for the last 10min.

For the rest of the workout I just soft pedaled and kept my cadence up around 105. I finally climbed off my bike after 1:15hr. My new mantra is "No Junk Miles" or in this case "No Junk Minutes". Coach Troy said this on one of his Spinerval DVDs. If I am not being productive on the bike then I am done with the workout. No sitting on the bike "Doing Time".

Pretty Good Week

Last week I accomplished all my goals. Reduced weight by a pound, do a 30min tempo workout, and ride for at least 3hrs straight. Not very lofty goals but I checked them all off. With a last burst of energy Sunday, I was able to get 14 of the scheduled 14.5hrs.

Saturday was my only low point. In spin class I ran a fitness test so I was off the bike helping people to stay motivated. I lifted after class and did a 2hr ride in the afternoon. That was not pretty. I was very tired and I probably should of taken the time off. Anyway, I burned some calories.

Today is a welcomed day off but then I start Base2 week 2 - 17.5hrs. Most of the time will be spent on the trainer. It is going to be a lot of early mornings.

Getting use to the Trainer

I didn't have any trouble climbing on the trainer for either my morning workout or my evening workout. I just climbed about and did it with no preconceived notions of the upcoming boredom. It IS nice not to spend the extra time bundling up for the outside.

Anyway...
Morning workout - 1:30hrs, HRavg 139, Cad 89, zone 2 time ~1:20min
Evening workout - 1:30hrs, HRavg 137, Cad 93, zone 2 time 52min

Short and Sweet

Last night I skipped the Evening workout. I was eager to go this morning. I will do another 90min tonight. Lifting and a force workout tomorrow.

1:30hr E2 workout, 1:12min in zone 2, avg cad 92, avg hr 139

Tweaking Zones - Still

Since I don't have the luxury of a power meter I have to deal with HR. It is really important to get my HR zones right. Right? I don't know.

Lets look at zone 2. If you follow the Friel plan, most of your riding is in zone 2.

If I go by my first power test(with LT set at 167) my zone 2 range is 137 - 148bpm. In practice, I usually keep my HR in the Upper part of that range sometimes going over when I feel good. After about 1:30hr of riding it is really easy for me to stay around 148. This is a solid aerobic effort for me but not tough. I can do 2:00hrs riding in this zone and do another two then next day.

Using my second power test(LT @ 179) my zone 2 is quite a bit higher 145 - 155bpm. Since this is new I don't have much experience using this range as my zone 2. I think keeping my HR in this range, I would not be so eager to get on the bike again the next day.

I stay motivated with setting my zones according to the lower LT but is that challenging enough? Should I challenge myself more with the higher zone.

What to do? There is one big smudge in my log book where I keep erasing and changing my training zones.

1st Tempo Workout

I hate to admit that I struggled with this one. This 1st Tempo (M1) workout was suppose to be 20-30min in zone 3. For the past couple of months almost all of my workout have been in the upper end of zone 2. I can ride with my HR at 148 for at least 2hrs. I figured no problem, I can do 30min in zone 3. That's just another 10bpm more.

After a 20min warmup, I started forcing my HR up to the 150s and topping out in the lower 160s. I started having doubts 5min into the workout. Then at the 10min mark I started changing my mind about doing 30min. Luckily I started getting into a groove. I settled down to a HR of 159 for the last 5 minutes. I stopped the workout at with 20min in my zone 3.

It was shocking to me at how much harder I had to work to stay in zone3. One of my goals for this week is to do a 30min tempo ride so I am going to try again. Probably in one of my Thursday workouts.

HR Zone Tweaking

UnScientifically speaking this is how I figure my HRZones based on my VAST :p experience, testing and racing.

Zone 5c(187bpm or higher) I haven't seen any effort higher than that... but it is possible

Zone 5b(186 - 182bpm) Can get there on a tough hill or sprint efforts of less than 2-3min. Could keep pedaling but would quickly drop down to zone 2

Zone 5a(182 - 179bpm) 5 - 10min effort like at the end of a TT

Zone 4 (178 - 165) One hour to 90min effort Crit speed

Zone 3 (164 - 155) Could do 2 - 3hrs if racing but not every day

Zone 2 (142 - 154) Longer rides - cruizing speed

Zone 1 (141 and below) recovery

Base 2 begins

Although I only got 8hrs training in last week I accomplished all of my goals.

I did my power test. Not happy with that. I had the lowest power numbers of all the guys on the team here in Omaha. 3.63 watts/kg. Bill, who did the test, says that my LT is 179. I not sure that is accurate. With that new info I adjusted my training zones up a little. When I did my power test in Oct with Marc Walters of he told me my LT is 167. So, I moved my training LT up to 171... splitting the difference. There is a lot of overlap in the Friel zones so I should be ok.

Did a 3hr training ride yesterday. Used the new HR zone 2 and felt good. Spent 1:25min in that zone.

Shaved a pound off my weight. I am at 197now... survived the Holidays

This week Base 2 begins. I get to add more intensity with a tempo and a force workout.

Happy New Year

Not much to report. I did a spin class Weds. morning for about 1:15 and nothing Thursday. I've had been re-reading my Paleo Diet for Athletes book and actually started following that but it was preempted by Dad's new years dinner. So I am starting today.

Spin class tonight and tomorrow with a power test after the spin class. Should be fun!!