The End

Finished up the week with a 3hr trainer ride. I am done 'till Tuesday.

Looking forward to another Base 3 week.

Base 3 Week 1 wrap up

Overall, it was a good week. I will fall short of the scheduled 14hrs. That is ok, I did do all my BT workouts. As per the plan, I had a solid muscle endurance trainer ride which included 75min in Z3. A longer ride of 2:30hrs on Wed. Then the reason I am going to be short on hours, I took a break on Thurs & Fri.

Yesterday, I did a spin class in the morning and a 2hr my force workout later. I picked out a couple long hills North of Omaha on Highway 75. These hills were longer and steep at places. I ended the workout with 12 climbs. On past endurance rides, I had to keep my HR down in Zone 2 on these hills. With a force workout I could let HR climb to Zone 4. It was hard work but felt good not to worry about not working too hard. I was tired for the last two hills but drummed up enough energy to get it done.

So today I will do another long endurance ride of at least 3hrs.

Base 3 is On

Officially started my base 3. Today's schedule called for a Muscle Endurance workout. This workout includes 75min in zone 3 and I kept the Cadence at 80 or below.

Everything happened according to plan. It was pretty easy and I am starting to think I went too easy. Zone 3 is a very narrow range for me 155 - 161. There were times I lost focus and fell below 155 but not for long.

The other breakthrough workouts will be a LSD ride tomorrow, Hills on Saturday, and a Speed workout Thursday.

Mixed results

Today I did my fitness test 30min all out effort.

It was a little disturbing that I could not get my average hr up over 170bpm. I ended the test with a average HR of 168bpm. I think my HR was much lower because I did a 3hr ride yesterday. Not sure of the reason... Could be less strength or my motivation was lacking.

I am very happy with my average speed for the 30min. It went up from 15.3mph to 17.9mph. That went up 2.6mph. Which tells me that I have more power at LT. Can't wait to see what base 3 training will get me up too.

Rest Week Closeout...

My rest week is quickly coming to an end. I just have my LT test to do tomorrow. My workout today may have an influence on the test.

Today I went out for a quick 2hr ride. I didn't need to but the weather was nice for January in Nebraska. It was 39degrees when I left the house and the temps were suppose to top out in the 40s. Other than the wet streets, it was nice day for a ride. I was very happy with the ride, I had great energy through out.

I looked back in my 2009 log and compared today's ride with other 3hr rides. Comparing the speeds I am about a 1mph faster.

Highlights of this rest week - I completed 9 of 9 scheduled hours. 3hrs in spinning class, 3hrs on the trainer, 3hrs on the road. My long ride was 3hrs today. I hit all marks for the week and feel rested and ready for Base 3.

Joe Martin Stage Race

I did a map my ride on this race and found you can watch the route from Google Earth. Pretty cool
http://www.mapmyride.com/route/us/ar/jmsr/627126417229377437

Spin class

Yesterday was a rest day. Nothing to report there.

Did spin class this morning, for 45min. Stayed in Zone 2 for the first half of the class but the EVIL instructor had us doing fast spins out of the saddle. That bounced my HR into zone 5.

Tomorrow I will join the group at the bike rack for a CTS training DVD. I will probably get there early to 1:30 in the saddle. Sometime this week I need to do a 3hr ride or at least a 2hr ride.

That is all for now.

Made it through Base two

Today completed my longest week of this years training. Now I can enjoy my rest week but rest weeks go fast.

This week I am looking forward to my fitness test on Sunday. I had an amazing test 3 weeks ago. I don't know how I am going to top that but I hope I do.

Recapping last week - 17:30hrs total time, either on the road, trainer, or spin bike. No weights. Three 3hr rides one of them on the road. My breakthrough workouts include 60min in zone3. Also, a force workout with low cadence and intensity into zone 4.

I feel real good about my training and fitness. I need to pick it up though. Joe Martin is coming soon. I set the bar high for myself, I want to be the highest placed Nebraskan at this race. I could get lucky and be the only one from the Cornhusker state entered. I am not counting on it.

I have a good start but none of this winter training will count unless I keep it up. It is like a diet, starting and going for a few weeks is easy... making it last and maintaining is the hard part.

It's Evolution baby

Yesterday schedule included a morning spin class and another longer ride to complete the 4 scheduled rides.

Spin class went well, the class was packed. I had them do some longer intervals into zone 4. We started with some short intervals to warm up. After that we did a pyramid starting with 1 min intervals up to 4 min intervals. The class seemed to like the longer efforts.

After class I felt like riding immediatly but it was still cold and icy so I waited till noon. Through the hills up to Blair I felt strong and fast. Even though I was keeping my HR in zone 2. I made it to Blair in under an hour so I kept heading north. I wanted 3hrs on the bike. I knew that I would have a head wind so I turned around 1:15 into the ride. I still had another hour to ride from Ft Calhoun so took the Boyer Chute, NP Dodge route for some extra time. Final time 3:02.

Getting closer

I am getting closer to my Base2 rest week.

This week is progressing well. I am only an hour short of schedule. I want to make up that hour in the worst way but I need to let it go.

Yesterday, I finished up with 3hrs of training broken up into two sessions. Spin class for an hour and then 2hrs at home on the trainer. The trainer workout I had good energy for about 1:30. After that motivation fell through the floor. I was done... If I was on the trail even BR could pass me.

Today I felt much better. I did a Force workout. This workout included 10 three minute hills, effort up to zone 4 and cadence down to 70.
This was not a power interval with a sudden burst of energy. I just shifted down to a hard gear watch my HR rise to zone 4 as I kept the tension on my legs.

I haven't downloaded my data yet but I should have close to 150miles for this week.

Two more days until rest week. I have 4hrs tomorrow and 3hrs Sunday.

Change of Pace

Since it was SOOO warm yesterday, I decided to ride on the road. I am happy to say the roads North of NP Dodge Park are for the most part dry. HiWay 75 has a dry shoulder and Omaha Trace looks good too.

Rich was able to meet me at NP Dodge. It was a pleasant ride, we kept a steady tempo through out. I am a little disturbed because he dropped me on the hills. It is still early. We road non stop for just over 2hrs and had to stop because we ran out of daylight.

I rode one more hour on the trainer but I am short of my scheduled 4:00hrs.

This morning I did another hour in spin class and I will get two more hours tonight. Speed drills... should be fun.

More Trainer time

I completed my M1 workout. Ramping the continuous zone 3 time for 60 minutes.

I noticed a couple interesting things when I looked at my workout chart. My HR line stay steady at ~160bpm for the entire 60min but I did notice that my avg. speed dropped a bit from ~19.3mph slightly to 18.6. I also had a lower cadence toward the end. I am not sure if I was loosing power due to cardiac drift or less efficient pedaling at lower cadences. Next time I will have to experiment with my cadence.

Tomorrow, I have a 4:00hr E2 ride schedule. I think it will be more mental than physical endurance.

Last work week ....then Rest

I started this morning with a spin class. Tonight the main event. A Muscle Endurance ride. 60 min in Zone 3, sounds daunting. The big problem for me will be to keep the focus and stay at Z3 intensity. Physically it shouldn't be a stretch.

Tomorrow, I am still undecided whether or not I am going to do my 4:00hr ride outside.

Near Perfect Week

In respect to following a training plan. I had a near perfect week.

I did the all the scheduled 16:30hrs. I was 30min short going into yesterday's 3:00 workout but felt good so I added an extra 30min. I hit all of my BT workouts. Including a 45min Tempo ride Tuesday. My longer ride of 4:00hrs wednesday and a force workout Friday.

The only thing I can improve on from last week is my sleep. I should be getting more of it.

Next week is 18hrs... I am still motivated but am ready for a rest week

Stay on Target

For the most part I am sticking to the training plan. Last night I climbed on the trainer for another 1:30hrs to finish a 3:00hr day. I had a good amount of energy to stay in zone 2 for about 55min.

The schedule today calls for a F1 workout within a 2hr time frame. According to the workout description, the F1 workout consists of several hills that take at most 3minutes to climb. Cadence about 70rpm and intensity in zones 1-4. So I will take my time to warm up and the test the legs with some high resistance. My focus will be to get that burn up near my LT and work a bit on my muscle endurance.

Tomorrow I am going to break up the scheduled 3:30hrs with some lifting, a spin class, and another bout with the trainer.

Toughest Day

I have come to the conclusion that Thursdays are my toughest days. I do my LSD workout on Wednesday. So when I wake up on Thursday I am exhausted.

Yesterday I completed 4:00hrs on the trainer. I tried to be more conservative than last week with the intensity. Last week my avgHR was 144 for 3:30hrs, with most my time in Zone2 this week, I kept it in Zone 1 and had a avgHR of 132.

This morning with spinning class I racked up another 1:30hrs. I have another 1:30hr to do tonight. I need to get on the trainer and go ASAP. Get it done and get my happy butt in bed early. I need to get more sleep or get Monster Drink injections.

Forty Five Minutes in Zone 3

This was a little more difficult than I thought. I don't think I warmed up enough so it was tough for the first 15min and the last 15min took forever.

I did it though. I have a nice flat chart with my HR right in the middle of Zone 3 for 45min. The speed graph looked good too. I held my speed to about 18mph. Who knows what speed that is on the road. The important point is that there was no loss of power.

I varied my cadence from upper 70rpms down to lower 60rpms. I wasn't very smooth at the lower cadence... I will have to work on that.

Today, I have a long day in the saddle 4:00hrs. If I get 3:00hrs I will be happy. The goal today is just to survive and keep the effort restricted to the lower part of my zone 2.

Starting Base 2 Week 2

The plan this morning was to teach spin class and then do my M1 muscle endurance routine. The only problem with this plan was that I had a head cold. This is a time when I could really use a couch. The wife says to take it easy. To summarize Joe Friel... basically he says if you are sick below the neck, rest. If your symptoms are above the neck, try the planned workout.

So I did Spin class and it went ok. I had good motivation, and was able to get my HR into my upper zones. I climbed on the bike after class for my M1 workout but lacked the motivation to continue.

Tonight I will skip the weights and do the M1 workout. The goal this week is 45min in Zone 3. As before, I will do this at lower cadence so I can keep constant pressure on the quads.

If my cold symptoms get worse after today, I will skip my 4:00hr LSD ride tomorrow. I have done plenty longer rides so I don't feel to bad about missing one.

Another good week

I am happy with last weeks training. I was able to get about 11 hrs of riding with a couple hours lifting in the gym. I started watching what I eat and am back down under 200lbs.

Some Highlights:
A few good breakthrough workouts - M3 workout 30min in zone 3, LSD 3:30hrs, a solid Force workout with time in Z4.

I think I pushed too hard in my LSD workout. I was too tired for my workout the next day. So I think I will back down the intensity.

This week I will look to increase my Z3 time to 45min.