Third day of this easy week, second day of riding. Legs still a bit stiff/sore, but mentally I felt great and I can feel my testosterone levels surging back up. I ended last week totally drained, esp. after Sunday's 6 hours.

Tomorrow will feature a commute on the TT bike with a detour to Fiesta for 20 min on the gentle side of SST. One ~2-3 hour ride on the weekend and that will cap it off. Next week I'll test and officially start my base training for 2020. I want to be flying by VoS (February).

Knowing where you're starting is a big part of it, then the other is already having your experience on what to do about it. You'll grab it back.


So............the new TT position is a rocketship for the watts/CdA. I ditched the roadies and left while there was still daylight on the TT bike on the same route. It's in town. Lots of rollers, some steep. Some getting stuck behind slow cars losing time.

Despite all that..........24mph avg for around 30min of the ride on only 230w avg. On just the roadie wheelset and GP4000's, no TT helmet, not wearing the Bodypaint 3.3, no disc or trispoke. Probably would have been around 25 if I didn't get held up a few times for cars. Or if it was flatter.

I think this weekend I may wait for the warm part of the day and do an out-back 10 miler with the good kit on a good road and see what it gets. Has me curious. Or try for an hour of power or 40k on a good road loop. Since those are close in time for me, could just do either. If I break 40k, keep going for an hour. If I hit an hour, keep going for 40k.

Also, the "road manners" of this setup and bars is really nice. I think about where I want the bike to go, and it goes there. No more bars going out of tilt over bumps like the old clip-on junk I had. Nice and steady.

I really need to do the regional TT next year.

Leg strength training last night and 1xSoledad Mountain today. It was a very nice day but a steady headwind on the climb. The climb was sort of a half baked over/under where I did the steeper sections at ftp / VO2 and the flatter sections whatever.

New 1rm for dead lift in the gym last at the end of the set. Fun stuff! So happy to be in the time of the year where I can lift heavy. Todays sweet spot workout was a bit tender on the hamstrings, but I might've under assessed a little bit on Tuesday. Aerobically it was pretty easy. I'll leave my ftp alone for one or two more workouts before I potentially bump it up.

Man, Zwift zones are a bit easy for their workouts. I had to bump my ftp on the workout slider by 5w then add from 10 to 20w in the sets to make it worthwhile.

Mind you, despite doing this, I could not conceivably toss out that amount for an hour. But somehow can execute the workout based on that power just fine.

Did the 2018 academy lactate clearance workout.

Wife is out of town this weekend, so once kids in bed looks like I'll have a couple nights of Zwifting to do. I'll probably just free-ride some Z2.

Any idea why the TT bike on Zwift is such a dog? I swear my real rig on my slowest kit is faster. Was going to ride that for the training stress, but it doesn't seem to rack up miles like I'd expect.

No drafting effect, but the tt bikes are still the fastest bike in the game. see this link (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...gid=1812742034)

My day was pretty sweet. Rekindling a love for the road bike. Lifted this morning, went well. Got on the bike, met with some friends, chilled, rode over met some other firends, we rode together for about an hour and I rolled up to my LBS. Had a cup of coffee with a mechanic, chilled for a bit then rolled down the hill back to home. 2:56 total time, 1:15 of moving. Was a great day. Then I rock climbed this evening and headed to a concert with friends. Today was a good day.

Another 10k run for the week. Legs felt real good. Tempo and then 1/2mi kickers for the 5k and 10k finishes. 10k PR, let's call it 49:59 since the kiddos slowed me up on their bikes once or twice. One of those days the legs finally just did the run thing without it feeling like a chore at all. Good temperature also. Last 3 weeks went 550, 450, 450 for TSS. Not bad at all. The run TSS inflates it, but it counts. Wonderful aerobic contribution if you're on a time budget. I try to just not up the volume so much as to detriment riding.

If my Amazon order comes in mail soon enough, Zwift TT race tomorrow. Totally didn't realize they'd DQ you for no HRM in my race class. Doh. Have a group that really wants me to join their TTT. I got the little voice app thingy now at least.

Trail work to get ready for xc ski season yesterday and a 2ish hour ride yesterday with a bit of climbing. I have no fitness right now, had to ride through snow and wait for a friend up one of the climbs. Still damn near PR'ed the thing. Why does this happen to me?

Today I spent all day outside rock climbing. Not many days of that left this year. First time ever doing a multi pitch route (kinda) and my first hard trad climb. Was scared ****less on the second pitch where I was leading. It's way below my ability level but the fear factor of falling on gear is something I haven't got over. I'm sure I would've just run up the wall on sport-lead or TR, but this was tough to me. Anyways, here's a pic of me following on the first pitch. Hauling a ton of stuff up to my buddy. Climbing with 40lbs of gear around your neck is a different experience too.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3e44cad48e.jpg

I haven't ridden since last weekend, and I think that's ok.

This weekend consisted of a USPSA Action Pistol match all day Saturday, and then an airsoft scenario day on Sunday. Trigger finger is tired and my legs are BEAT from running around for a cumulative 9 hours. Might be time to start incorporating running into my life, just so I can do it and walk the next day.

Zwift TT race. I got 5 miles in forgetting I didn't make it in time to do the 10mi race, it was the 18mi race. Doh! Needless to say, that hurt.

Managed 245w AP for the race. Mixed TT position and sit up if speed was slow enough for a hill. I did honestly try to stay down the whole time.

Pacing was perfect. Then again, it's Zwift. I hope it's perfect.

I passed 10,000 miles on the year. Its been a goal of mine for a long time. I've gotten close many times but either injury or burnout usually keep me from it.

Great milestone.

I have no idea what my miles are b/c I don't track dirt or velodrome miles, but that sounds a lot, nice work FF.

Baseline FTP test this morning, rode a conservative 295 w for 20 min at 147 lbs this morning. Same starting point as last year. If I'm able to replicate last year's fitness, I should drop a few lbs and add 20 w to that number by February.

Was able to do the River Ride on Saturday. Again, my fitness isn't enough to do much more than to sit in, but until that time that time when I can go to (or off!) the front again, I'm working on my pack skills.

Sunday, a super mellow ride around the neighborhood with my wife.

Monday, 2.5 hours of basemiles.

kicking myself over my CX race yesterday, was a very real possibility finish top 10 in a 40 person 4/5 field (was predicted 11th on crossresults), not sure where I finished but I know it wasn't top 10 (it was manually scored and didn't stick around to see more than the top 10). Of course there were people in the top 10 I have beaten on multiple occasions lol. Just didn't have it yesterday, I think part of it was I did zero riding the day prior and I didn't get much of a preride or warm up in.

I know NP doesn't tell the story, but my NP was only 211 (FTP 290) and I was just gassed (lots of >500w for me), did 5x10min @ 272w today (94%) and it was gentler on me!

Some Vo2 work on Fiesta this AM. When I was finished and saved my ride on my Garmin 820, the Garmin noted that my Vo2 Max had increased 10%. I will take anything that increases on the bike EXCEPT finishing times for timed events.

First time on the bike in 8 days last night. Saw an ex teammate on Zwift, so I rode with him while he was doing a 3x18. Saw Scottie Weiss, so I played around with him for a bit before heading back to my friend.

Also put down a leg speed sprint at the end of the ride, but didn't crank my resistance unit up high enough. I blasted straight through my cassette and ended up cadencing out. 11 seconds @ 1107W while spinning 130 rpm on rollers had to have been a sight to see :lol:

Wanted a long one today without having to get up early and hustle a work day around it, so I took the day off and ended up with 5.5 of low z2. I had planned on more (distance and AP), but my legs hurt a bit at the beginning of the ride from my efforts over Monday/Tuesday so I decided to dial it back a little bit and focus on just time in the saddle. And I don't feel too bad for the wear!

Day off tomorrow, some SST on the TT bike on Friday and another ~4 hrs or so on Saturday will cap off the week. I'm getting treated to fancy birthday dinners on Friday and Saturday, so I'll have that to look forward to.

On Zwift last night doing a tempo plus burst workout. Saw an apatosaurus, I think?

Another Zwift race last night. TTT. Over 27 to about 28mph avg speed. Within 10w of ftp for 45min.

I feel like the team surged off the line too much (more than I would in a TT) and my meter/Zwift decided I wasn't putting out power for the first 3 seconds. I spent the next 2 min bridging at the beginning of a TT. That ain't good. It took me about 400w for 2 min to catch up, then settled in just below ftp.

The two leaders were A (one almost an A+) riders well above the rest of us, so we just wheel sucked. I think I pulled uphill for 20 seconds twice out of 45min. So none.

Great workout. Hurt really bad. Talking on Discord was key to keeping us all together. Somehow we did. One guy bridged a guy up twice off the back and I bridged the same guy once or twice back up off the back during the event.

I feel like the draft was pretty close to accurate for the speeds we were going at, and sitting in at for power. Somehow.

Next, will try road/crit race on there soon.

While others are doing exciting Zwift workouts and races, I continue my journeyman leg strength training on Wednesday, Fiesta endurance work on Thursday. But it was another gorgeous day riding outside. And I knew exactly how much weight I used in the gym and how much power I generated on the bike...so there is that.

1x20' and then 1x12' on the TT bike at Fiesta this morning, running late. I can stay in position for the full 20' now without getting numb or sore which is cool. Also, in between intervals I got to "race" a triathlete who I passed a couple minutes before the end of the first interval, and then again into the second one. So maybe it was on the higher end of SST :), but well below LTHR. Plus he had all the fast kit on! (wheels, helmet etc).

Interesting. Perhaps trying out his race kit for something soon?

I don’t ride the crazy wheels and helmet unless I feel like redlining it.

It's gotta be a lie, but TP and the Wahoo app said 240w NP for 3 hours today. We put together a hill sprint ride, dirty dozen, around Raleigh. I gave it the beans on 8 of the 13 hills. When I say give it the beans, I mean I was gagging at the top. One KOM, several top 10's. Shoulda had another KOM but it didn't stop the timer right at the stoplight.

I think it's a record on NP for that long a ride for me, and also a record for avg power being low versus NP high.

200 TSS ride. And......I'm looking forward to dinnertime.

Sprints and short hard efforts can throw off NP, which also throws off TSS.

I was voluntold to do the Belgian Waffle Ride, so I guess accelerated base season starts this week.

Endurance ride on Saturday with my wife doing team time trial through Camp Pendleton. We had some solid work. Sunday was a shorter ride that featured 4x45” gonzo hill climb efforts mixed in the ride. We plotted out where we would do the HC efforts during the ride. Great weather.

3.5 hrs on the MTB on Saturday, fairly hard with a couple VO2 level efforts (by HR) up some steep as hills coming up from the river surrounding Mission Gorge/Mission Trails. Did some exploring and found some *really* cool/enjoyable trails in between San Carlos and Allied Gardens, "Rancho Mission Canyon" they called the place.

This morning was 2 hrs with 2x20' by feel on Fiesta, again focusing on position. Will head to the shop after work to get fitted for helmets and shoes next year and get my race reimbursement check, and have some free pizza and maybe a beer. Then I'll ride back home.

Tomorrow I took a 1/2 day at work so I could really pile it on, should get about 5.5 hrs with a commute back home after. I'm going to take the roadbike to the Tuesday morning paceline workout at Fiesta. The ride starts a little late for my work schedule (~8:15 start) so it will be nice to enjoy it and catch up with some familiar faces. I usually wave hello as I'm flying by the causeway bleeding out of my eyeballs nearing the end of a solo interval workout.

Hardly rode at all last week except for commuting. Figured I'd be totally out of it for my CX race on Saturday. Turns out, I podiumed. [shrug emoji]

Thanks to work this week, I'm going to have to try the same thing next Saturday too. We'll see how that goes.