Training Status??? (IV)
07-20-18, 04:53 PM
Senior Member
for me, because that type of power is such a weakness of mine, I figured I’d do 2min efforts to be able to repeat and not have to stop, since I know I start to really struggle after 2mins. The fact that I was able to do these 2 days in a row is encouraging. Next week will be 2.5min intervals
07-20-18, 08:14 PM
Cat 2
90 minute ride on the trainer. Watched blazing saddles for the first time today. No clue how it ever got published.. Even if it was 1974...
07-24-18, 04:47 PM
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Fiesta Island low cadence TT workout. I did the TT course at 55-60 rpm - 3 laps. Actually, not a bad TT time for 20K. I was over the 60 rpm in a 54/11 that felt like weak sauce on a couple of the faster sections. I may need to get a 56t for the front.
07-24-18, 08:56 PM
Cat 2
Group ride tonight.. It's a state holiday in Utah so no one was there. Consequently I won my first TNR by just riding the front and shelling people the entire way. I think I didn't pull for all of 5 minutes on the 1 hour route. Maybe it was a bit of dick behavior, but no one complained..
Also thought I was gonna crash wehn a cat running across the road ended up under my front wheel, but I monster trucked it. Really hoping I didn't kill the cat.. Didn't stop to check but it limped off in to the woods..
Also thought I was gonna crash wehn a cat running across the road ended up under my front wheel, but I monster trucked it. Really hoping I didn't kill the cat.. Didn't stop to check but it limped off in to the woods..
07-25-18, 02:56 PM
Senior Member
been continuing with the short duration power training (crossiscoming lol), yesterday was a mix of 3x2min @ 130% 3x1min @ 150% and 3x30sec @ 200%, which went well. Over the weekend I attempted a workout consisting of 25sec @ 125% with unders of 88% over a 5min span, I did not do well with those lol, did 3 of 7 sets, so will have to keep at it to be able to more successfully suffer through that. other than that, I got in a nice 60ish mile ride on Saturday and 2hrs endurance on the trainer today. CTL has been in the high 80s after peaking at 100 just before my vacation, but it's fine for what I do.
07-25-18, 04:46 PM
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I've plateaued somewhat, and I probably need more structure because outside of my group rides everything is haphazardly planned. The big disruptor are the knees, which aren't 100% yet. Its hard to justify intervals over 400 watts (which seems to aggravate them) which wipes out hafl the stuff I'd want to do.
Fun fact, for the last 3 years I've never made it through the 1st week of a training plan. I've made 6 plans and stopped 3x due to injury or illiness, 2x due to a crash, and 1 were ditched for personal reasons. So hopefully I can make it through one, and maybe gain a few watts.
Oh yeah, another fun fact. Something pissed on me today during my ride. It came from the trees, so hopefully it was a monkey or bird and not a homeless person.
Fun fact, for the last 3 years I've never made it through the 1st week of a training plan. I've made 6 plans and stopped 3x due to injury or illiness, 2x due to a crash, and 1 were ditched for personal reasons. So hopefully I can make it through one, and maybe gain a few watts.
Oh yeah, another fun fact. Something pissed on me today during my ride. It came from the trees, so hopefully it was a monkey or bird and not a homeless person.
07-25-18, 05:18 PM
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427w for 17:00. More power, more weight, same time on the climb.
am very much hoping that the trend I've found in improving my sleep by shifting protein intake earlier and away from bedtime continues. Also looking at protein intake and eating more carbs as a result. Cheaper, if nothing else.
am very much hoping that the trend I've found in improving my sleep by shifting protein intake earlier and away from bedtime continues. Also looking at protein intake and eating more carbs as a result. Cheaper, if nothing else.
07-25-18, 09:13 PM
Cat 2
Recovery ride and I've got a college friend in town so fun times ahead.
07-26-18, 07:21 PM
Cat 2
90 minutes with 3 sets of 3min on, 3min off at 125%.
Thought about driving up to a TT tonight, but couldn't justify two hours of driving for 35 minutes of riding.
Thought about driving up to a TT tonight, but couldn't justify two hours of driving for 35 minutes of riding.
07-27-18, 08:10 AM
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3x10 minute climbing efforts @107%. On the 3rd one, I cracked at 7 minutes. The weather seemed okay, but it was more humid than usual and warm climbing.
Last edited by Hermes; 07-28-18 at 08:15 AM.
07-28-18, 06:53 AM
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I’ve had a tough time since getting home from Park City, one of our dogs died unexpectedly, putting us both into a funk. Work drama for me and I’m at the level at work where I’m supposed to fix the drama, but this particular drama has no fix. Ultimately the type of thing that affects my income and QOL, so that forces us to begin to refigure some big picture financial stuff.
Bleeding over into the bike, I find I skip a workout at least once a week now, just don’t feel like it. But that’s no big deal right now, and I’m not too stressed by it yet. Plenty of time to get back in that groove.
Right now I’m in Mammoth Lakes CA for a Trek Dirt Series clinic. Two day mtb clinic, women only. I found myself a little intimidated by the idea of it in the few days leading up to it, everyone is a better and bolder mtb-er than me (in my mind). I’m sharing a condo with 4 other women who are part of an SoCal women’s mtb group that I belong to (but have never ridden with), they are of course all bad ass. But super nice.
I arrived yesterday lunch time and got out for a little easy ride. Lots of bike rentals and people riding in street clothes and I can clearly see that everyone is not a better mtb-er than me after all, lol.
Theres a big mtb park here at Mammoth Mtn, huge network of trails. So far, I’m impressed. I rode some pretty fun flow trails yesterday and am feeling relaxed about the clinic now, think it should be pretty fun. Trek Dirt Series has a very solid reputation too, it’s supposed to be excellent instruction.
Light was beautiful yesterday afternoon. Lots of smoke from the Yosemite fire, though, which is right over the mountain.
Bleeding over into the bike, I find I skip a workout at least once a week now, just don’t feel like it. But that’s no big deal right now, and I’m not too stressed by it yet. Plenty of time to get back in that groove.
Right now I’m in Mammoth Lakes CA for a Trek Dirt Series clinic. Two day mtb clinic, women only. I found myself a little intimidated by the idea of it in the few days leading up to it, everyone is a better and bolder mtb-er than me (in my mind). I’m sharing a condo with 4 other women who are part of an SoCal women’s mtb group that I belong to (but have never ridden with), they are of course all bad ass. But super nice.
I arrived yesterday lunch time and got out for a little easy ride. Lots of bike rentals and people riding in street clothes and I can clearly see that everyone is not a better mtb-er than me after all, lol.
Theres a big mtb park here at Mammoth Mtn, huge network of trails. So far, I’m impressed. I rode some pretty fun flow trails yesterday and am feeling relaxed about the clinic now, think it should be pretty fun. Trek Dirt Series has a very solid reputation too, it’s supposed to be excellent instruction.
Light was beautiful yesterday afternoon. Lots of smoke from the Yosemite fire, though, which is right over the mountain.
07-28-18, 07:04 AM
Senior Member
Took the cross bike out on the mountain bike trail...and crashed when I hit some sand at an angle at the start of a bridge. Was feeling pretty good before that, the trail is perfectly rideable on a cross bike now, just have to be careful in a few spots...which is even more obvious after last night. Some rain would really improve the grip on the trail and tame some of the sandy spots.
As soon as I saw the sand I knew I was going down..hit it and bobbled on the bridge itself before going down. Some bridge/trail rash on my arm and knee. The worst part is my left palm..must have jammed it into my handlebars as I was going down. Riding should be interesting for a few days at least.
https://dgtzuqphqg23d.cloudfront.net...-1536x2048.jpg
https://www.strava.com/activities/1732150390/overview
As soon as I saw the sand I knew I was going down..hit it and bobbled on the bridge itself before going down. Some bridge/trail rash on my arm and knee. The worst part is my left palm..must have jammed it into my handlebars as I was going down. Riding should be interesting for a few days at least.
https://dgtzuqphqg23d.cloudfront.net...-1536x2048.jpg
https://www.strava.com/activities/1732150390/overview
07-28-18, 06:27 PM
Senior Member
Visiting my parents this weekend, brought the fluid trainer for ease (usually lug around the Hammer, but chose not to this time). Did a 5x5min session with 25sec at 120% and off at 88%. I have the inride pod on the kinetic road machine and it’s supposed to be pretty accurate, so I’ll have to trust it lol it felt easier compared to doing erg mode on my smart trainer. I don’t know if it’s that at higher wattages it’s easier to get into the spiral of death or what, but I didn’t have the sensation of having to stop an interval because everything was grinding to a halt. So I’ll have to try some of these harder intervals in non-erg mode on the smart trainer and see how that goes
07-28-18, 07:54 PM
Cat 2
100 Miles this morning. 300 TSS, 5hours. 2 climbs, one of them hard. Thought I'd beat the heat, but it was still 95* by the time I was done. And the air quality is real bad right now, I think I got out of it before it hit the worst.
Going up into the mountains for a gravel ride tomorrow to hopefully escape some of the smoke. First time riding gravel on my cx bike. I somehow managed to shove my 43c gravel tires in there. A tight squeeze, but I think it'll work just fine!
Going up into the mountains for a gravel ride tomorrow to hopefully escape some of the smoke. First time riding gravel on my cx bike. I somehow managed to shove my 43c gravel tires in there. A tight squeeze, but I think it'll work just fine!
07-28-18, 10:09 PM
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Well day 1 of the mtb clinic was pretty darn good.
I went from refusing to ride a 10 inch drop in the morning skills session to riding a couple of black diamond trails on the afternoon ride. Not so much a skills breakthrough, although the instructors definitely made some important tweaks. It was more a breakthrough in having an idea of what is rideable for me specifically and some pointers as to how exactly to ride it. Throw in a little sessioning and appropriate people to ride with and that’s a recipe for progress.
Very impressed with the instructors at the Trek Dirt Series, all of them I’ve worked with so far in this clinic have been very good, just the right mix of explaining things, encouraging you to try, not sizing you up as incapable if you don’t try something, not forcing anything, and then going on and continuing to present appropriately difficult things all day long. I’m sure striking the right note is really hard and they just did a great job with that for me.
I went from refusing to ride a 10 inch drop in the morning skills session to riding a couple of black diamond trails on the afternoon ride. Not so much a skills breakthrough, although the instructors definitely made some important tweaks. It was more a breakthrough in having an idea of what is rideable for me specifically and some pointers as to how exactly to ride it. Throw in a little sessioning and appropriate people to ride with and that’s a recipe for progress.
Very impressed with the instructors at the Trek Dirt Series, all of them I’ve worked with so far in this clinic have been very good, just the right mix of explaining things, encouraging you to try, not sizing you up as incapable if you don’t try something, not forcing anything, and then going on and continuing to present appropriately difficult things all day long. I’m sure striking the right note is really hard and they just did a great job with that for me.
07-29-18, 03:35 PM
Cat 2
59 miles and 5100 feet of elevation on dirt roads this morning. Fun time, only came off the bike one in some really loose sand going down hill. Lost it in a rut that I couldn't see and tossed the bike. Somehow ran out the crash and didn't end up falling down. Just under 5 hours on the bike, about 250 TSS makes this a pretty big week for me.
I need to do more gravel riding. The views are awesome an such little traffic makes it feel so safe!
I need to do more gravel riding. The views are awesome an such little traffic makes it feel so safe!
07-29-18, 04:59 PM
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427w for 17:00. More power, more weight, same time on the climb.
am very much hoping that the trend I've found in improving my sleep by shifting protein intake earlier and away from bedtime continues. Also looking at protein intake and eating more carbs as a result. Cheaper, if nothing else.
am very much hoping that the trend I've found in improving my sleep by shifting protein intake earlier and away from bedtime continues. Also looking at protein intake and eating more carbs as a result. Cheaper, if nothing else.
07-30-18, 12:39 AM
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Well Trek Dirt Series Mammoth Mtn Edition is a wrap.
Incredible experience, learned tons, did stuff I didn’t think I could do, rode trails I would have never attempted. So awesome to ride with nothing but women, that changes so much for the better.
There were maybe 15ish coaches for 50 students. Every instructor I encountered, with one exception, was excellent.
Mammoth Mtn is a very cool bike park. And I won a pair and of blue crankbrother pedals to go on my blue bike. Sweet.
great weekend
yes there were switchbacks, lots and lots of switchbacks
Incredible experience, learned tons, did stuff I didn’t think I could do, rode trails I would have never attempted. So awesome to ride with nothing but women, that changes so much for the better.
There were maybe 15ish coaches for 50 students. Every instructor I encountered, with one exception, was excellent.
Mammoth Mtn is a very cool bike park. And I won a pair and of blue crankbrother pedals to go on my blue bike. Sweet.
great weekend
yes there were switchbacks, lots and lots of switchbacks
07-30-18, 05:41 AM
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Well Trek Dirt Series Mammoth Mtn Edition is a wrap.
Incredible experience, learned tons, did stuff I didn’t think I could do, rode trails I would have never attempted. So awesome to ride with nothing but women, that changes so much for the better.
There were maybe 15ish coaches for 50 students. Every instructor I encountered, with one exception, was excellent.
Mammoth Mtn is a very cool bike park. And I won a pair and of blue crankbrother pedals to go on my blue bike. Sweet.
great weekend
yes there were switchbacks, lots and lots of switchbacks
Incredible experience, learned tons, did stuff I didn’t think I could do, rode trails I would have never attempted. So awesome to ride with nothing but women, that changes so much for the better.
There were maybe 15ish coaches for 50 students. Every instructor I encountered, with one exception, was excellent.
Mammoth Mtn is a very cool bike park. And I won a pair and of blue crankbrother pedals to go on my blue bike. Sweet.
great weekend
yes there were switchbacks, lots and lots of switchbacks
07-30-18, 07:57 AM
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@Heathpack Glad your MB camp was a success. I assume the haze in the pic is smoke?
07-30-18, 08:09 AM
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cool stuff @Heathpack
__________________
"Your beauty is an aeroplane;
so high, my heart cannot bear the strain." -A.C. Jobim, Triste
"Your beauty is an aeroplane;
so high, my heart cannot bear the strain." -A.C. Jobim, Triste
07-30-18, 08:12 AM
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I had one of my best endurance training weeks in several years. Tues, low cadence, Thurs 107% z4, Saturday 3x5' 117% z5 with the last effort being the best and Sunday, 2 hours of constant power z3 through Camp Pendleton with 2x90" z6 efforts @130% with thrown in. The weather was perfect Saturday for z5 efforts with cloudy skies and temps in the low 70s. Sunday, was warmer with high humidity and sunny. As soon as I stopped to pee, the sweat dripped off even out of my gloves. I knew I was falling behind on hydration.
07-30-18, 09:04 AM
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Attempted an FTP test, got out the door late because I wanted to watch the end of Tour, and went to Oak Glen. I just didn't have it and was 50 watts under my best the last 6 weeks. I knew it wasn't going to be good going in but it being 110 out didn't help. The nice thing is was raining at the top of Oak Glen and dropped to the 80s.
@Wylde06 I did a ton of crashing when I got my CX bike as well. The hard thing for me to figure out was not to brake and never use the front brake. Not sure if that's great advice cus I still crash alot!
What is it with Biker Gangs and Fruit Orchards? I get Saloons, Casinos, Pawn Shops, etc. but apparently any place that serves fresh Apple, Cherry, or Pecan Pie seems to be just as dangerous.
@Wylde06 I did a ton of crashing when I got my CX bike as well. The hard thing for me to figure out was not to brake and never use the front brake. Not sure if that's great advice cus I still crash alot!
What is it with Biker Gangs and Fruit Orchards? I get Saloons, Casinos, Pawn Shops, etc. but apparently any place that serves fresh Apple, Cherry, or Pecan Pie seems to be just as dangerous.
07-30-18, 10:35 AM
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@Heathpack Glad your MB camp was a success. I assume the haze in the pic is smoke?
I'm still thinking about the clinic and how impressed I am by how "right" they got things. I was staying with some other women who I'd not previously met, we're all in the same women's MTB group. They were much more experienced and skilled than I, yet also were challenged and learned a lot. They were as happy with their experience as I was with mine. Just figuring out the needs of all those different people, on the fly like that, is a pretty difficult task.
Totally I'm going to do another one of these camps when I can.