procrit

Couple more hours of zone 2 today. My power in zone is definitely moving up based on RPE and heart rate. Pedal strokes just feeling easier and average speed is creeping up. I am noticing much less fatigue as well from similarly difficult rides. Who’d have guessed consistency pays off lol.

procrit

45’ sweet spot, 45’ zone 2.

Still in the newbie gains phase of rebuilding fitness, every week my power zones increase and endurance improves without much intensity or volume. I’ll probably go for a 20’ test this weekend if I don’t race the last spring MTB race of the season.

procrit

More zone 2 today. Legs feel good, endurance is good, but my body just feels like it's stressed somehow. Wondering if I should ignore it or press on until my performance actually dips.

himespau 

Took my first ride on the trainer using a rocker plate today. That's going to take some getting used to. Scared to think what it says about what my road form has deteriorated into given that Ihaven't ridded on the road (outside of little JRA with the kids rides) since getting hit 2 years ago tomorrow. Had too much air in it and had the backwards bike lean on all the sprints, but I'm hoping to slowly let the air down in the balls to where I get things going the right way as my balance comes back. I've sure gotten lazy with my bike locked into the trainer.

BTinNYC 

Gents, I really enjoyed hanging out here this spring, sharing training ups and downs and getting great common sense advice. Today was the Gran Fondo I was training for and it went great. My goal was finishing/surviving as it was about 3,500' more elevation and about 20 more miles than I have ever done. So after 1.5 years of cycling, I finished a Fondo (hurray!) and of course, I want a bit more. So I'm joining a cycling club so I can train towards racing...and I have a LOT of work to do, just to play at the Cat 5 level.

Thanks and (Arnold voice) I'll be back.
Brent

Hermes

BTinNYC Well that is quite an accomplishment and a very well deserved congrats. With respect to racing, there is only one level to start - novice And if you want to upgrade to a Cat 4 so you can ride masters, then you have to pick races that qualify to get the required number of races in. Generally, these will be criteriums or circuit races but if you have road races available in your area, those count as well. Time trials / hill climbs do not count unless the hill climb is a mass start of sufficient length.

As you look for racing clubs, find one that offers a novice program with a coach. IMO, one of the most beneficial aspects of training for mass start races is the skill sets of cornering, sprinting and practicing at speeds that are representative at a race. Good luck.

topflightpro

I think Cat 5 is now optional, but I could be mistaken.

Hermes

As far and I can tell, USAC renamed the beginner categories for men and women to novice. I checked some race registration pages and there is men's novice racing. I did not see any masters novice racing combined with higher categories. For example, there was an entry possibility for master 50+ novice but no masters 3/4 novice and etc.

BTinNYC 

I've looked at the local clubs and the Century Road Club Association looks like they're strong on training rookies. I'm planning to work over the next year and try to race in the Central Park crit races in 2024. In the Training Peaks Power Profile, only my 20 minute interval is in the Cat 5 level, so, umm, probably not skipping an entry level.

procrit

Had 2 1/2 hours of zone 2 planned but I got rained out this morning and decided to try the local crit race this afternoon, because why not? I haven't raced road in 13+ years, so I jumped into the C race just to see if I remembered how to do it. I ended up holding my own and stayed in great position near the front the entire race, and with half a lap to go, sitting on the wheel of the winner from last week, I peeled off and let everyone go. Legs definitely had enough to be in the mix for a sprint, but I realize I can't officially take points and didn't want anyone upset with me for messing up their race. Next time I'll just do the A race and take my beating LOL.

Phatman

Haha, its funny how that works. I've found that being consistent with any type of plan at all is better than the best plan implemented inconsistently.

I think that my issue with a lot of the "time crunched" plans is that they don't account for **** that comes up...I've found that when I'm time crunched, I have weeks were I have 12 hours to ride and weeks where I have 0 hours, and that just results in fatigue, illness and injury. A consistent 5-7 hours is dramatically better, but mostly unrealistic for the average time cruncher.

procrit

Down 2-3 more pounds and added 10 watts to my 20’ power. Still doing mostly zone 2 work and trying to make gains with adding volume little by little and not pushing intensity. 8% away from my best 20’ power ever and 6% away from my lightest weight ever…

hubcyclist

the 21mph century remains my elusive white whale lol but for the 3rd year in a row I did sub 5hrs. I was doing my best to maintain 240w average (which according to mywindsock would have gotten me close). For the first hour I did 244avg/247NP at 20.7mph, but the subsequent hours weren't that high. at 4hrs my avg was 228 and NP 236. My garmin reset at a couple of points, so I was able to see I was doing about 20mph so I stopped trying to stay around 240 and just dialed it back for the last hour. I think in the future I'll try to do hour laps, that way it might be easier to make sure I try to stay consistent hour to hour and not gradually drop off with coasting and what not. I'll also try to have a better power strategy than just set it at x watts, and try to push more on certain segments and slightly less on others. It's a fun personal challenge, I'm sure I'll get there eventually, so the fun is in trying

procrit

The 100 mile time trial is a fun game! For those of us that like to suffer that is lol.

TMonk

Starting a new base block this month. I'll average ~16 hours over the next few weeks, mostly all z2 minus one race level effort each week. Barrio Logan GP criterium this weekend (35/45+), then the "Quick n Dirty" MTB race the following two.

This morning, I just went for a bit under 2 hrs at z2 indoors. Felt sluggish for the first hour, but ripped it up a VO2 max segment (Titan's Grove Reverse) and had great power. Felt pretty spirited after that and sorta just meandered through lower Watopia between different B pacer bots.

himespau 

A bit over a week ago, I woke up with a twinge in my knee. Never a good sign, but I had a workout I wanted to get in, so I just said, "suck it up" and did the workout. Big mistake. Feel like I pulled something in my knee, it was painful to walk for the first couple days, so I took the rest of the week off the bike. This past Saturday, it had been a week, and I was antsy to get back on the bike. My knee felt a little stiff but hadn't had pain in 2 days, so I hopped back on for a quick workout. Just 30 or so miles. Man, that was a mistake. Once again, it's still painful to use the stairs and I know I'm going to have to take more time off.

procrit

Give it time. I banged my knee up riding motocross and it took months to heal to the point of being able to use it at all on a bicycle, and even more months to use it normally on a bike without pain.

procrit

3 hours zone 2 a couple of days ago, and 30/30s with more zone 2 today. As happy as I am about my endurance and power going up, I’m almost as happy about my saddle sores turning into calluses and no longer hurting on longer rides lol.

TMonk

CTL bottomed out around ~78 or so before entering a base block starting this week.

Had solid TSS over M/T before taking some time off work in the AM today to get 4 more hours in. The legs were cranky in the first half but I was rip-roaring by the end. Nice. Picked a great route too, I may ride this more often when I'm looking for 3-3.5. It was a little short for 4 so I had to make up time in some local neighborhoods (Tierrasanta).

TMonk

Started the winning attack in the Master's (35/45) crit yesterday, 4 laps in. Only managed 3rd (of 4th), more on that later in the other thread.

3 hours of z2 today at the low end of the zone. In AP at least. Legs/body pretty cranky for most of it, but I stated to open up in the final half hour. Good sign for the big volume week coming up.

hubcyclist

i just did a 16hr week, did back to back 4hr rides this weekend while down at my parents, same route, roughly same power (200ish watts) same speed lol i also did a mix of threshold and sweet spot including 2x alpe du zwift. it's not really the best time of year to work on threshold tte inside, but I've def got at least around 40mins at 300 in me. After this next rest week we'll try and see what I can do

BTinNYC 

News Flash!
It doesn't take long to gain weight and lose strength.

TMonk

'bout to head out on my last ride of the block, 6 hr solo z2. Don't really want to TBH. Always feel like this towards the end of a base block, but its just 1 more so its nbd. Then I get to be lazy.

Track on Tuesday night but TBH I might not be feeling the vibe. Maybe I'll go to hang after work and have a beer or two.

TMonk

Only real effort of this rest week, a 10' supra-LTHR effort on Fiesta Island, otherwise z1/2 cruising. Happy with the effort. My legs were a bit cranky, but I had a couple riders ask if they could ride my wheel so that kept me motivated. They even took a turn or two each.

Up next, camping at Mount Laguna for the weekend. Some hiking, but mostly MTB. It's gonna be a warm one! But not too hot. Finally feels like summer around here.

TMonk

Next block, VO2s. Unlike last time (March), I'm going to only do 2x VO2 workouts per week instead of three. For the third one, I'll do something fun instead - track racing, zwift racing, local practice crit etc. "All work and no play makes Tmonk a dull boy" and all that. Riding time is going to be decreased significantly next season, so I gotta live it up!