burnthesheep

What's that about insanity? I know it's not an accurate statement, but the whole bit about doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results?

Yeah. How many times am I going to do a workout and go for a PR and not consider what I have (or better, have not) eaten that day. Moron.

Using the long Watopia KOM for a route I wanted to try to up the 20min number from 295 to 310. 310 for 10min. HR at 10min was easily fine to finish, zero energy.

Was good for a PR and the leaderboard polka dots.......but didn't really give a rat's about that after bonking the workout.

Also, idiot, by my excel sheet my TSB was -20 on Wednesday. Lol. When are we going to learn?!

I did hit 20min at 310w accumulated over a total of 24 minutes. I rewarded my failure with some steady-state grinding up "bonus climb".

Hermes

Fiesta this AM on the TT bike. 3 laps nonstop low cadence work 55-60 rpm riding mostly in the 54/11. I find these workouts very meditative. Today was very light winds, with a few rain sprinkles.

Ttoc6

Lots of mtbing recently. Got sick after the last cross race (was gonna win but flatted back to 3rd on the last lap). The new mtb is so much fun. It's slower uphill but getting to party downhill is freaking sweet. A few pictures from my last couple of weeks.

Cypress

Zwifted for the first time in a while because it is dreadful outside. Hit the Alpe and used the switchbacks to guide the efforts. Right-hand switchback sections got 250W, left-hand switchback sections got 340W, and the few shorter left-hand sections got 420W. Should have gone harder, but I think it's going to be a long winter.

big john

Did your lip get back to normal?

big john

Hard to tell, is it an Evil? When I got my new mtb last year I climbed slower on it but as I got used to using the suspension on rough climbs I am faster. There is a rough, steep 3 mile climb I do and it has holes, rocks, and ruts. It's hard to climb without pedal strikes so I lock the shock at least part way.
Yesterday I climbed it with the shock open after learning to time my pedaling and pick lines to avoid pedal strikes. It was easier and faster with the shock open. It's 150mm rear travel.

Cypress

Sure did! The Prednisone worked pretty darn fast, and I was back to 100% in about two days.

big john

Good to hear. Your story about it splitting reminded me of a friend years ago who had big lips and a lot of skiing had his lower lip split and looking bad. We were sitting around and his baby daughter reached up and yanked on that lip. It hurt me just to watch it.

burnthesheep

I had let the TT bike sit for a while. It's been too hot outside. I had to get out yesterday and went when it was still too hot. Miserable.

I have some things to fix on that bike still, and one popped up during the ride. I need the lower profile direct mount rear brake so the meter doesn't need to be spaced out. And.......that crank arm fell off.

Also, the chain is about a link too long it seems. Going over big bumps the thing slaps/slams back to tension with a nice ugly sound.

Horrible ride. 90+ deg. Mechanicals for that crank /brake rub. Horrible route. Near the house is NOT the place for that bike, all 70 to 100 ft per mile riding short hills. Nothing continuous/flowy.

And......the power output was abysmal. I'm going to have to experiment with front end stack and power output. Sure, aero AF position. Doesn't matter if your power sucks.

Either way, with fall and some running coming in a month I just realized Zwift has the run feature. Buying a footpod today!

Hermes

Yesterday, 2.5 hour endurance ride along the coast. Perfect day.

Heathpack 

Well, I haven’t been riding much, I’m essentially recovered from the concussion and rib fracture but haven’t got back to the bike with my typical gusto. Lol maybe I just learned sleeping past 4:30am is kind of nice.

Last weekend though we finally got up to our friends cabin in Big Bear. I was supposed to ride fireroads with the wife both days but she bailed 25 minutes into Sunday’s ride so I got a bunch of single track riding in, it was awesome. Motivationally. I suddenly felt like my old self. But so tired everywhere- arms, legs, abs. Obvious that I’ve lost a lot and have some rebuilding to do.




Now Im on vacation in Tahoe, added a few days to a conference I’m attending later this week. We’re staying up at Heavenly Ski Resort, around 8000ft. Have had some unseasonably cold weather the past few days and I’m currently waiting for the snow to melt. Met @racerEx at lower evelation yesterday for a fairly measly ride which kicked my butt. Twenty solid minutes of threshold heart rate on the headwind climb on the way out.




Beautiful open area to ride, with a huge sense of spaciousness.

More mountain bike this week through the weekend.

I think I’m formulating a game plan to start TTing again in Jan, race TTs Jan- June and then switch to endurance gravel and mtb events/races. I’m a fatty so racing might not make sense, I might have to settle for being a finisher. We’ll see if I manage to lose weight, I might try to race.

Thinking of maybe a 50 mile mtb event in Carson City (aka Tahoe) next June, and Rebecca’s Private Idaho in Sept, and possibly the White Rim Trail in early Oct. there’s an appealing gravel event in Santa Cruz CA too, amongst the Redwoods. Might explore working that into the mix too.

We shall see.

Hermes

More TT work on Fiesta Island today.

TMonk

I also plan on touching base on Fiesta tomorrow with the TT bike, but just for a couple laps in position. Won't focus on hitting it hard quite yet as I'm still so green to it and won't be training in earnest for a few more weeks. Gonna try to ride it (TT bike) twice/week between now and then and probably going fwd after that, with some real workouts. Gotta start hunting for a deal on a 11 sp rim brake clincher alu brake track disc wheel.

Cypress

Smart move on slowly and easily adjusting to the position before laying it down thick. If I haven't ridden the TT bike in a few months I can expect my power to be around 75-80% of what it usually is. I can also expect to be seeing my chiropractor about twice as often.

...It does loosen me up for the road bike though. Going from the TT bike to the gravel bike is like hopping on a chopper.

Hermes

@TMonk For me, this time of year is strength and adaptation. I was doing low cadence laps today in the 54/11 and I put a sprinters warmup plus accelerations and starts on the front end of the workout just to pop my ATP PC and glycolytic systems. I am sure I will see you out there.

FWIW and I know you are very experienced on Fiesta, keep your head up at all times when in the TT position. I have the bars up and not in my best aero position just for forward vision. There are really odd people that just walk or run in the middle of road with or against traffic. Unbelievable.

TMonk

Thanks for the pro tip, while I am very experienced with Fiesta, I'm not super familiar with the TT bike. Thanks again.

TMonk

OK, CTL at 60! If all goes according to plan, this should be where I bottom out for the year. I'll spend the month riding the TT bike and MTB bike informally, slowly building things up a little more for when I really start to hit it later. I think like last year I'll do a "pre-base" week during the last week of the month and pile it on big, rest the first week of November, then test and start training.

This Sunday is our first off season team training ride. I think I'll ride to and from it (~25 mi ea way) for a solid century ride.

Hermes

@TMonk Are you joining us this year in masters or staying with SDBC?

Hermes

Gym leg workout last night.

We have four juniors from local high school football team that come to the gym and workout together and the gym may have kicked in some personal training for them. Last night, one kid was with a PT on the leg press that I like since it seems to align the best with my pedal stroke. The junior is doing presses with two legs. When he finishes, I get on and cut the weight in half and do single leg presses.

I would think for football, one would want to reinforce single leg neurology strength training and it is very easy to do with the equipment we were using. However, the kid did go from the dual leg press to single leg lunges.

TMonk

@Hermes in 2020 my racing age will be 34, so I'll have a little to go before I can join the Master's ranks.

burnthesheep

TMonk,

If you do duathlon or tri though, be mindful that for AG's they bump you at the beginning of the year (Jan 1) in which you turn 35 for the 35-40 or 35-42/45 age groups.

Also, 35-40 is often fastest in USAT (with a T). I would have podium'd the du in AG 30-34 last year, but bumped to 35-40 and finished 4th. Womp womp womp.

TMonk

Naw no competitive running over here, just USAC rules. I turn 33 in a bout 1 month so I'm close but still have a little ways to go for Master's cycling.

M35+ are typically the second fastest races in SoCal behind P/1/2, and usually not by much. There are some hitters down here.

Hermes

Fiesta today, road bike. 3 laps of a super secret interval sequence guaranteed to add 20 watts to FTP and you look good doing it. Amazing day at Mission Bay.

TheKillerPenguin

I spent a bunch of September putzing around wondering wtf was going on with my legs that were making them suck so bad, and now that I've rested I'm doing PB repeatable power and w/kg. Based on this and some other weird thing that were going on it is seeming like i have been overtrained, and so the goal is to better prioritize freshness in the long-term. I'm trying to figure out what this means for training this winter and for staying sharp between races next year. I'm wagering a normal base period is probably a good thing but that in season I need to be more low key between weekends instead of ripping intervals. I'll be doing some experimenting thru November to test out approaches.

TMonk

Yep, I'm tired now. But in a good way.