Hermes

@sarals I am very happy for you that you had a great time at VSC and you have a wonderful training partner who was there to share the experience.

Hermes

Got back from skiing on Thursday and hit the gym for an upper body workout plus typical stretch and foam roller workout.

Friday, I did a leg workout including jumps and dead lifts. One of the trainers was jumping a 40 inch box. So he had the 24" and 18" boxes stacked up. He has really long legs and when he jumped, his actual vertical height was about 12". I asked him to work in and I removed the 18" box to use the 24". On my first jump, I missed slightly and my right foot slipped off the edge and my knee hit the soft side of the box - no big deal and not even any pain. I jumped and landed with my knees slightly bent and cleared about 18" of vertical.

Later, I looked at my knee when I was stretching and saw a nice strawberry where it hit the box. OMG, fortunately, the box was padded. If it had been wood, I would have made a trip to urgent care for stitches. Today, the mark is almost gone.

Yesterday, was a leg opener. It was nice outside but windy. I decided to ride the rollers / trainer. As soon as I set up the rollers next to the house, it started to rain. WTF. I went in the garage and finished my warmup on the trainer. The rain stopped, so I took the bike outside for a seated climbing acceleration up a hill. The moment I went out, the rain started again but I got my seated climb in. I returned to the garage for a rest interval and once again the skies cleared and I did another effort. This continued until I was finished.

Today, we have a window on the rain and wind and I am heading out for the some efforts. Today was supposed to be the Fiesta Island TT which was canceled.

sarals 

@Hermes, thank you!!! I rode again this morning. @Cleave was there, and BJ and I had a terrific bunch of laps on the stayers line on his wheel. I was coping with saddle pain, I was not riding my saddle, and I had to drop out a few laps before Cleave and BJ did. I got out a little later and did a two lap effort at the balustrade. That's just awesome, riding up there! I'm now a member of VSC and I'll be there as often as I can. Perhaps even some LAVRA races!

Here's the write up from yesterday. It written in a basic way because I wrote it for Facebook, and I have a lot of friends who know nothing about the track.

This one deserves a special report. There were SO MANY special things, moments, and people that made this day one of the best I've had on the bike, and honestly, I've had so many!

I scheduled the session I did today several months ago. It was supposed to be an intro/advanced certification session. It usually takes more than one session to be certified to ride in this hallowed place, the Velo Sports Center in Carson. It's an international track, 250 meters in length, with 45 degree banking on a wood track surface. It's the only permanent covered velodrome in this country. It requires certification because it is challenging to ride the boards and that banking. And, the international rules which apply here have to be understood.

I was so excited just to experience VSC, and I felt almost "pre-race"! I was a little jittery! BJ was going to meet me and watch my session. My coach had given me some pointers, as well as the names of a few people to be sure to say hello to. As it turned out, one of the folks Coach had mentioned was to be the coach today! AM was the man! And he was TERRIFIC.

BJ was only supposed to watch. When the coach arrived he asked her "no bike?" She replied that she was already certified, to which A said to her "go get your bike". Yay! BJ and I were going to ride the boards together!

The group was small, there was one other person in the session. However, there were other things going on. Two young women were there to practice for the Madison race on the track tonight, and a world champion team pursuit squad was there to conduct some drills. Exciting!!

A started us off by explaining the rules of the road, how the track worked, what was expected of the riders on it, and track etiquette. It was a very thorough, very complete classroom instruction.

Then we started riding. I was aboard one of the Felt TK2 track bikes owned by the velodrome. I had brought my pedals, and I had my Garmin, which didn't work under that roof. We rolled off for a few laps on the Côte d Azur, the blue band, which has a constant 13 degree bank. A kept us on that band for several laps, then had us move to the pole (black) line, which is banked at 45 degrees in the turns. He admonished us to keep our speed up, less we slip. I was on the front, the excitement and nerves had me going harder than I should have been, and after five or six laps, I had to drop to the Côte d Azur to recover.

A stopped us, pointed out some errors, and then sent us back out for more pacing, behind another rider, in the pole lane. We did several laps in the pole lane, and then moved up to the stayers (blue) line. We did several more laps there, and then came in for recovery and critique.

BJ and I went out again to do some exchanges, and we did several laps of that. Then, came the dessert! After some critique and questions, A took BJ and I out for several laps at balustrade - the top of the track! I was very interested to see how the signs painted on the track would feel, and how much effort would be required to stay up on the track. Answers? No different, and a lot! Each of the turns has a different feel. Turn one is a "soft entry" because it doesn't bank abruptly. The exit, turn two, requires a slight reduction in power because you literally ride down hill as you exit onto the straight. Turn three is more abrupt than turn one and requires a concerted effort to maintain speed. And then the exit out of turn four, to me, was almost like a slingshot!

After that, AM pronounced BJ and I certified to ride in and on that special track. I was so excited!

BJ and I asked AM if we could "make an effort", do a flying 200, and he said, sure, you're certified, go do it!

So we did! Three laps, the last was the descent off the balustrade and into 200 meter distance, a little less than one lap. We weren't going super hard, but I felt the G forces as we powered our way through turns one and two and then three and four. Frikkin' awesome!!!

If you wanted to see two little old ladies acting like school girls, you should have been there! What a hoot!

All in all, VSC today was a stellar experience, one of the ultimate bike rides. I'm going to cherish today for a long time!

revchuck 

Sara, that sounds awesome! I might need to drive out to Houston and check their track out sometime.

Longer ride today, 4-1/4 hours. We're currently under a wind advisory; wind from the west, 15-20 mph with gusts higher when I rode, currently 23 mph with gusts to 39. I did an out-and-back with the out leg generally to the west, so I had a headwind most of that leg - nothing like staying in the drops forever, fighting to hold 13 mph! The leg back was fun, though. Lots of time north of 25 mph, even got a Strava KOM. I managed to keep my power fairly even both ways, ended up with an IF of .71 (goal was .70) and 216 TSS.

Heathpack 

Nice @sarals! Cool to get the certification check-in-the-box.

I am happy to report a pretty normal day. Started out with a 90 min easy thing on the trainer. Yay, vision is way better.

Braved the grocery store which was a little ambitious, lots of stuff to read. I even drove the car, which was unimaginable yesterday.

Somehow I had a hankering for chicken cacciatore. Wound up making a batch from scratch, including butchering the bird & making the marinara sauce. While I was at it made 7 quarts, we were out. And while I had the chicken back & neck & wing tips, might as well make a few quarts of chicken stock too. You know how that goes.

Back in business.

revchuck 

Heathpack 

Trainer: good. Some easy stuff & pedaling fast for 90 min.


Train: the train before mine was so late that it worked out to being 5 min earlier than my usual train. So I got on it. When will I get to work? Dunno.

I started a new meditation 10-pack yesterday on the subject of Change. Appropriate I thought.

Weekly weigh-in: gained a little weight. Of course. Lots of lying around of late.

Did I mention that it is a pleasure to ride a bike without blowing my nose or having snot threatening to drop constantly?

revchuck 

Snot on my top tube is a badge of honor.

Hermes

Another combination roller/trainer/road workout yesterday. Using my garage as a safe harbor from wind and rain, I did hill climb repeats in a weather window of opportunity where I bursted my way up Mount Soledad and did other parts of my workout on the trainer and rollers.

Hermes

@sarals The problem with training and racing at VSC is one does not want to train and race anywhere else.

Years ago, I was an avid tennis player. I joined an indoor tennis club. After playing tennis indoors with no wind and sun plus a roof playing outside was so much harder. I remember going outside and throwing the ball up in the air for a serve and missing it. With a roof, one has a point of reference to gage distance. The blue sky with sun just looked wrong.

Of course, it took a couple of practice shots to get back in the groove but it was eye opening.

Racing on the 250 track is so much more fun. That is why we did all the LAVRA races even when we lived in NorCal. And we plan to do them all again this year. I will be at VSC this Thursday.

revchuck 

1:30 at a relatively easy endurance pace this morning. My legs were strange this morning, in that they weren't sore at all until about 20-30 minutes into the ride and then the soreness hit.

Coach is happy with last week's work. I had a goal of 625-700 TSS and ended up with 734; this week's will be somewhere between 800-900. I may set a PR for negative TSB at the end of the week.

Gym only tomorrow, then three consecutive long-ish days. Hope the weather holds.

IBOHUNT

5K ru**i*g on the treadmill at noon then a 3x6@105% LP with 2rbi after work.
Next 4 days travel to Milwaukee to teach. Positive TSB on the way; seems like every other week now. :-(

Racer Ex 

As part of my cross training regimen I hit Mt. Rose today. 19 degrees, 8/10 snow after a huge dump last night, and half the mountain closed. I was in the ski shop when they opened the other half, so I missed the best powder but still got in some very good runs.

Why, you might ask, was I in the ski shop?

Couple of weeks ago I was skiing with my next door neighbor and realized I had forgotten my boots, so I ran back into the nearest town and rented a pair. They were shorter than my regular boots so they adjusted the bindings. I had been too busy to change the settings, my boots still fit but my longer boot effectively reduced the "pop out" setting. Which wasn't a problem until I was skiing some deep moguls today. Got between two big ones, skis flexed down and when they popped back up the bindings released and sent me flying head first through the air downhill, in this pose:




Face plant. As I was spitting out snow I saw my left ski sailing past; it was pointed downhill when it came off and apparently decided to give chase, not recognizing the snowman just to its left. Gave a mighty pursuit on my hands and knees doing some belly sliding as well, missed grabbing my powder cord by an inch. Watch it sail over the horizon.

Fellow skier was nice enough to ski my other ski and pole down to me; by that point I was well downhill from my original impact point. Then I made a 150 yard walk through downhill powder to retrieve my other ski, which had decided to stop when it realized that I was nowhere to be found. Took a while to get things together and ski down.

At that point I went to the ski shop, and got my bindings adjusted.

Racer Ex 

Alkek is to Carson what an '85 Yugo is to a Ferrari.

Good for aerobic fitness. Nice substitute for "base" rides in that respect. Lose a little of the cycling specific muscular benefits but keeps you from quitting the sport after the 16th hour on the trainer...

sarals 

@Hermes, isn't that the truth! You folks who have ridden on VSC fairly often may take this for granted, but for me it was almost a spiritual event, riding on that hallowed wood. OMG, it was fun. There wasn't anything easy about it, but that didn't matter at all. Seeing @Cleave there, and riding on his wheel as he led BJ and I around on the stayers line was pretty darned special. And @Cleave wasn't the only person I knew who turned up there! There were three women from Hellyer there, and then another woman from SCNCA who knew me from who knows where! The racing community is a small world, indeed.

I don't know how many LAVRA events I can do, but I'd like to do some. I need to stick my nose into a mass start event at some point, Hellyer first, and then VSC. Hector N encouraged me to "come race!"

@revchuck, you really DO need to check out the track! Honestly, I don't have a good reason or excuse as to why I took so long to come around. Let me tell you, though. Track is special, but, if you ever get a chance to ride in a place like VSC, on the boards, you'll never forget it.

Oh, I'll stop gushing after this, but that track is a live thing. Those boards talk, little creaks and groans. The bike always talks when you're aboard it, on the road, dirt, whatever, but there is an added verbal communication that it does on the boards. The tires squeak. A lot! There are certain squeaks you don't want to hear, they mean you're going to slow on the banking and you'd better get moving. However, there are little chirps as you cross paint, do an exchange, come off the saddle and punch it, so on. It's all just so cool!

shovelhd

I rode the Zwift volcano route yesterday. It didn't feel any hotter in the room. They've got to work on that.

Heathpack 

"Not real enough". That's Zwift.

I'm on light activity only until my Fri recheck with my eye surgeon. So no scheduled workouts, I'm just doing whatever and it has to be on the trainer (absolutely no crashing!).

So it's kind of cool, a bit of an indulgence. I get on the trainer with no plan and during my warmup, I make up a workout. Since it can't be too strenuous, I focus on cadence. Today I rode up and down these cadence pyramids. Pick a gear and stay in it. Then 5 min at 100 rpm, 5 min at 105 rpm, 5 min at 110 rpm, then back down the other side of that pyramid in the same way. Repeat 3x for a total of 65 min. Ok so the 110 rpm intervals were thresholdish but otherwise it's a very reasonable and fun workout.

Cold out this morning though. Most of my workout was 32F and I didn't have any gloves on. Brrr. Better cold than hot though, always. I have no desire to visit Shovel's volcano.

I have an early work meeting tomorrow so I'll either sleep in (relatively speaking) or just do a recovery ride. Need to figure it out with the train schedule.

sarals 

Going to Hellyer today to ride MY bike. I understand the entrance road is flooded, but there is a back entrance. I hope it's not a slog through a marsh swinging a machete. I never learned those skills....

valygrl

I rode the volcano and had to stop myself from reaching for my inhaler because of all the visible smoke in the air. I'll ride again later. My head has been feeling crappy lately and i only rode 30 minutes this morning and then cut it off. I have a gnarly work day and can't afford to be stupid(er than usual).

Racer Ex 

FWIW I've been stacking Sigulair on top of my inhaler, and it seems to be really helping.

Hermes

I am totally digging these fat sprinter workouts. Posting on BF (now) during my rest interval - priceless.

happybday29475

This morning I skinned up the local ski hill. I started at about 8am, got to the top about 9am.

I've wanted to do this for years, but only now am getting to try it. This morning was my first try. Despite some first time logistical snafus, I gotta say it was pretty awesome. It was quite beautiful. I was passed by a couple of racer types but it was otherwise empty (lifts don't start until 9am), and my workout was probably 45 minutes of Z2 with 15 minutes of Z4/5, to the point I stopped to rest a couple of times.

I got a late start today. While I'm no HeathPack nightcrawler type, I think I'll be able to get this in and be back in town by 9am at the latest (and even back by 8am in a month or so when the sun rises a bit earlier).

My self-designed training plan is going to call for doing this at least once a week...

This might be the wrong forum, but hey, maybe I'll try a skimo race, so that would make this "training for racing ALL DISCIPLINES" lol.

Heathpack 

@rapwithtom, @Racer Ex and @Hermes, I do not get this attraction to cold wet fluff. But y'all do make it sound semi-fun. Glad you enjoy it!

@valygrl, hope your head is better...

@sarals, how was your track session today? I don't know what to make of you and all this time off from work!

valygrl

Hey - yep, thank you, felt better later in the day and got some decent Zwift time in.

How's the seeing going?

sarals 

@valygrl, glad to hear!
@Heathpack, neither do I! But back to reality Friday. I hope your vision is even better today!