First Build week

Looks like I have to go back to Thurdays to catch up my blog.

Thursday PM workout = Did a aerobic SE interval workout.  The plan was to do 5 x 3 - 6 min intervals, intesity up to zone 5b.  The workout description also states that if you are unable to reach zone 5b in the first 3 time that I was not ready and to stop ( in small print.. joe you are a weeny boy).  I am a sucker for a challenge was determine to get that zone 5b.  I hit zone 5b on the second/third/forth.  It was very hard.   I willed myself trough the 4th one but there was no energy for a fifth.

Friday - climbed on the trainer again for a 1:30hr endurance ride.

Saturday - 1hr spin class in the morning.  Did over/under drills around LT.  Then did a 2:00hr ride in the afternoon.  I was suppose to do a group ride but was riding alone.  So, I treated like a group ride in the hills on Q street and Cruise intervals on the flat roads by two rivers.  After that I did 4 x 20sec power intervals at the Omaha Gold sprint competition.  I had to race Brian Tangen. We both pulled our feet out of the pedals but he was able to clip in faster.  I definatly went anaerobic in all the sprint intervals.

Sunday... went out at non with Pat Cash and Tim( a triathlete).  It was very tough not to chase Tim down when he took off up the hills.  I road with them for 2hrs then rode a couple on my own.  61mi total today

Next week just like this week .... rinse, repeat

Moving right along

My first build week is moving along just fine.  A couple hard workouts on Tuesday,  a 3hr endurance ride yesterday, and this morning some power intervals.  Not sure what I am going to do tonight, I have another 2hr ride in front of me.  The schedule calls for speed work so I will do a bit of that.  I may try an Over/Under workout too.

I am looking forward to the week end. It looks like it will be warmer so I can get outside. 

That's all I got for now.  Joe

Force workout

Last night I climbed on the trainer for the second workout of the day.  This was to be a F2 workout, with long steady climbs, cadence lower than normal and intensity up to zone 4/5a. 

I was able to get about 8 solid climbs.  I was able to get my intesity up to Zone 5a on only the last 3 efforts.  The workout felt more like a muscle endurance workout.  I didn't really get the burn in my quads.

Today it is back to an endurance ride...  I am shooting for 3+hrs in the saddle with 1:30hrs in zone 2.

Let the Build begin

This morning I did a Tempo workout.  One hour keeping my HR at 160+bpm which is upper Zone 3 for me.  I actually spent about 15min in Zone 4.  My RPE felt like Zone 2 very easy.  

Tonight, I will hit the quads with a force workout on the trainer.  With my RPMs at ~75, I will get my HR up to Zone 4 & 5a.

It's Build Time

Last week was the last week of my Base Building phase.  Twelve weeks of a lot of time in my Endurance zones, zone 2 & zone 3.  With some short trips up into zone 4.

I feel good and have definatly gained some speed.   According to my training schedule I do a 30min fitness test every 4 weeks at the end of my rest week.   Throughout the base period I have increase the mileage covered in that 30min. 

Here are my last 3 tests:
3) 9.2mi (18.3mph)
2) 8.9mi (17.8mph)
1) 7.7mi (15.4mph)

I feel fast but really have no clue how fast I am.   I need to ride with peeps to get a better idea. 

So taking inventory of the last 12 weeks.  My speed is going up,  I easily do an 1:30hrs in tempo, and long 4hr rides are no problem.  Things to work on - Hill climbing, loosing weight, and time in my upper zones.  Still a lot of work to do.

An early start

Got an early start on my rest week Sunday, since I skipped my scheduled 4:30hr ride.  It was a good call.  If I wasn't overtrained I was very close and my legs were still recovering from a hard hill repeat workout.

End of the Week

Friday night, I did a 3:00hr ride... I began my trainer ride watching the Olympics but was not able to keep my focus.  So, 1:30hrs into the ride I put in my earphones to get my effort higher.  Still, I pretty much stayed in zone 1 with average HR of 128bpm.

Saturday,  had a great spinning class.   We started off with normal warmup and some intervals to get primed.  The last half of class we did some Power intervals 3 x 3min "full on" hard efforts. 

Next up, I met Rich for a ride in the hills on Hwy 75.  It was hard to let Rich get ahead of me up the hills but I wanted to stay focused on my form.  I tried to stayed smooth and relaxed in my upper body and minimize my rocking.  The past couple of hill workouts I concentrated on getting my HR up to the top of zone 4. This time my focus was concerned with applying as much force as possible on the pedals.  My legs are very sore... this is a good thing.   I still need a lot of help on the hills. 

Tempo Time ... Again

Despite being tired last night I climbed on the bike for a Tempo ride.  At first I thought I only had the energy for about 45 minutes in my Tempo zone 3 but I was able to sustain the effort for 1:40hrs.

I was surprised with some of my stats compared to the 1:30hr Tempo ride I did last week.  Most surprising was my average speed.  It went from 16.9 - 18.4mph.

Tonight, I have to do a 3:00hr endurance ride.  Just going to stay in zone 2 and watch the opening Olympic ceremonies.  I am going to save the legs a bit for hill repeats tomorrow.

That is All, Joe

Cruising

I missed my morning spin class, so I started the week an hour behind schedule.   Last night I climbed on the bike for a Cruise interval workout.  It was probably the toughest workout I have done this season.

I was anxious to get started with the intervals.  The plan was to do 5 x 6min work intervals in Zone 4/5a with a 3min zone 2 rest interval in between.   I am not quite sure if I made it to Zone 5a.   My HR monitor started flaking out on me.  Hopefully it is the battery.  Each interval was very hard... in fact the second interval I blew up and didn't finish.

Today, I get off early from work and plan to ride outside. Brrrr!!  If I get 3:30-4hrs I will be happy.  Heck, I will be happy with 3hrs.

Base 3 Final Week

Yes! it is my last week of my base period.  It is also the longest week of my training schedule.

I finished strong this weekend.  Friday I had a good 2hr endurance ride.  Then followed that up with 1:00hr in spin class and then 2:00hrs of hill repeats.   I finished Sunday with an Ok 4:00hrs on the trainer.  Sunday was just Ok because I spent a lot of time in Zone 1.  I was mentally tired.

I finished off the week with 15:15hrs of 17:00.  Not bad.  The time I was short was due to work.

This weeks schedule calls for 19:00hrs... yikes!  If I get 16:00hrs I will be happy.  I made some slight modifcations to the schedule.  Instead of a tempo ride Tues., I will do a Cruise interval ride.  The tempo ride will be pushed to Thursday mixed in with some form sprints.  Still doing hill repeats on Saturday.  Don't want to think about the two 4:30hr days..ugh!

Base 3 Update

Base 3 Week 3 is going ok besides a major setback Wednesday.

Wednesday I was set to do my scheduled 4hr ride outside but worked called.  So I rode about 30min back to work.  After the issue was resolved I headed up to the Bike Rack to do the Wed. night CTS series tape.  So instead of 4:00hrs I rode for 1:30hrs.  Really in the grand scheme of things not a big deal.

Thursday I had Spinning in the morning and a scheduled S1/S2 workout.  I do ok on the speed workouts.  This year I have increased my pedal speed quite a bit.  I can cruise comfortably at 110rpm and "Spin Up" to about 130rpms.  I can hit the 150s but it is not pretty. 

I also did isolated leg drills last night.  I can pedal with one leg smoothly for about 45secs, then its back to chopping wood.  I some work on those more.

Tonight it will be a 2:00hr endurance ride.  I have two simple goals.  1) Get it done. 2) Stay in Z2 for 60min.

Tempo Time

I had a great Tempo workout last night... don't know what it was but felt like working hard. Had to hold myself back. 90min of Zone 3 bliss!!

Today endurance miles. I think it will be outside :D.