Well, that was exciting! Last weekend i went over to Vancouver for my first real road racing experience, the finale of the dEVo Spring Series, their stage race consisting of a crit, TT and road race (circuit).
First tho, let's catch up...from last we heard, it was Operation Overkill a week from last Saturday. On the Sunday, i went out to Newton Heights to watch and cheer the 2nd VCL race. (Speaking of VCL, if you're on Facebook, join the group!) Rode longer than i really wanted, back into town with Shailie, Cory and Simon, but hey... TSS for the week was 981 - a new record!! I burned over 8,600kJ of energy, and 375km in 12hr45mins of riding.. *phew*
Tue & Thu were pretty easy days, i think 3hrs between them. I also went for a climb, checked out all the new routes (about 8), fun!! Cleaned several, some gave me some grief!
And then it was Friday... Chatted with Roland, debating whether or not to go. Also chatting with my friend and tv/movie star Stephanie Belding, who's leaving Van to go back to the T-Dot. Wanted to visit her before taking off, and this weekend seemed perfect (and she's into bike racing to boot!) Weather was looking like crap, so i finally decided to commit, and i'd head over, and if it rained, i'd just not race, and watch instead.
Saturday (Apr 3rd) - Crit - 5:30am, alarm goes off. 5:45am - Roland is early. Yip. 6:30, nice and early for the ferry, roads wet but the sky opening up. 9am, on the mainland, roads totally dry. I start to realize that i might be racing...!
We get to Abbotsford and the race course..still dry! Damn, this is it. Sign up, i'm #381 in the B race. Get geared up..it's COLD! Saw Alex Pope, chatted for a bit. Didn't recognize most of the people there... Did a few warm-up laps, legs felt kinda blobby.. They were completely hammered the prior week, and than this week did NOTHING. Far from ideal prep...ahh well. Course was good, one tight turn, the rest of no concern. Very strong wind tho.
Went through staging, the race begins..nothing much to report except it's the typical BC crit. Everyone brakes in the corner, and sprints out. No smoothness. Looking at my power file, i crest 900w over 30 times in 60mins. 600w is peaked nearly 3x that. Gaah. I was fine tho. Made a little attack with 10 laps to go, just as it started to sprinkle. Wanted to see if anyone would make a move, but when i pulled off, the group just recollected itself. Not much fun. I sat back in, practiced getting to the front a few more times, and then dropped back on the final lap to let them duke it out - i had no intention of contesting the sprint on a rainy day..
Result: maybe 20th? About 15 must have been shelled.. Roland finished behind me as well.
Nothing too exciting to report, average speed just under 40kph, 50mins..NP was 262w, but didn't feel particularly maxed out.
Saturday (Apr 3rd) - TT - 4pm, TT out in Fort Langley, lovely countryside.
Course was L shaped. Flat course, nice. Windy as hell tho. You head out in a cross wind, turn right directly into it....then turn-around, and back. My plan was to go hard to the corner, then bury it to the turn-around, try to recover a bit in the tailwind, and then hammer the final section.
And that's what i did! My goal was to average close to 300w.
So - ride to corner: 292w. Ride to turn-around: 301w. Ride back to corner: 280w. Final stretch: 305w. Managed to hold 341w for the final minute as well. Total average was 295w - a new PB for that length of time! Yay - i'm stronger!
Not bad...wish i'd put out a bit more just before the turn-around, but otherwise that was well-ridden. Unfortunately, my time and result did not reflect this.
Even looking at the C's, i wouldn't scratch the Top 10. 19th if i raced A. WTF?
All i can blame it on is aerodynamics. Typically in the Sidney Velo TT, on an ideal day, i'd end up 30 seconds behind Peter Lawless (Tripleshot), and Roland would finish 30 seconds behind me. On this day, Peter was ahead by a minute, and Roland was ahead by 30 seconds. The difference being that i didn't use an aero helmet or front wheel (never have for rear wheel.) I also chose a more 'comfortable' position for my aero bars, rather than lower.. Rollie and Pete both had helmets and wheels (and full TT bikes..but i'm used to competing with them on a road bike.)
Spoke with the A winner, Mike Sidic (H&R Block) - he finished with a 15:31 - insane! Over 3mins faster. Now get this - his average power was 380w - 85w higher than me. It's not really *that* much. Yet it made 3min difference over 12km. I really think it must have been aerodynamics, because that's fairly decent output..
Sunday - Road (Circuit) Race - Actually felt pretty good. Course was tough. 10 laps, just over 10km per lap. Wind. Lots more wind. And a climb from hell, called 'Snake'. For Victoria people, imagine doing the main steep section on Newton Heights, then there's a steeper switchback that connects to the south side of King George Terrace. BROOOOOOTAL.
This course required something i haven't been working on at all..being able to punch it (400w in my case) for over a minute to speed up the climb.
I held on for 3 laps, but then fell off. After the hill was a long section that slowly descended, then the 'drop', and back to the flats. That descent was about the only place there was no headwind. Hurray.
So yeah, i was off, caught a few other shelled folk, and we worked together. Some others came and went..ended it with one lap to go, no point in doing another lap. I was pretty fried by the end, did a lot of work. Fun to chat with Rachel Canning for a bit, who i haven't seen in a long time (we won a Bronze medal together in the '08 Track Provincial Championships in the Open Madison. ;)
I was rather disappointed with that, but when i got home and looked at the numbers, i wasn't so sad. I got a new 1hr PB: 257w (up from 253w). The Normalized Power for that hour was 284w. WOWWIE. (My threshold is at 265w.) Looking at the file, there wasn't much coasting...and that include the last lap i hung in with the pack, and then was solo/chasing for the rest of the time. 2hr wattage was a PB as well, at 240w (up 4w.) NP was 268w. That's pretty freaking big for me, next highest is about 246w NP over 2hrs. If the hill were a bit shorter, i prolly wouldn't have had any trouble hanging in until the finish. It was jamming 400w for a minute that got me..but i'll have that in my toolbelt later this summer..
So, overall happy with my performance!
Results: unsure, maybe around 15th? Looked like a LOT of people dropped out.
All were a success! And despite the fact that i came into this pre-stressed, with lots of hard riding the week before... Monday my TSB was -16, which usually isn't a sign of a 'great' workout to come..
Let's begin. You will know it is time to turn the page when you hear Chewbacca howl like this: RRRRrrAAWWWaaaAAAHHH
Tuesday - 4x O/U
Gorgeous day, i finally stripped off the two pairs of booties from my shoes, and put on the toe warmer! Also, rode with knee warmers for the first time on the road this year. Sunny and bright.
Not too much to report, pretty happy with all four efforts. #2 was interrupted by some traffic, but nothing too crazy. Fast day, nice speeds. Still not averaging 300w (which i was doing on the Observatory), but 296w is the 'magic number', if i do it perfectly. These aren't too far off...it's hard to stay perfectly focused, dealing with traffic, debris, other cyclists, and what-not. (Thank you Colwood Mayor Dave Saunders for making sure we can't use the velodrome. You're a real champ. And by 'champ' i mean 'enema sack'.)
Here's the intervals:
Ave Wts: 288
Ave HR: 177
Max HR: 189
Ave Cad: 105
Ave Spd: 37.1
#2
Ave Wts: 288
Ave HR: 178
Max HR: 189
Ave Cad: 106
Ave Spd: 36.8
#3
Ave Wts: 294
Ave HR: 176
Max HR:188
Ave Cad: 106
Ave Spd: 35.9
#4
Ave Wts: 291
Ave HR: 175
Max HR:187
Ave Cad: 107
Ave Spd: 38.8
Fast day...nice to be moving. I really tried hard on #3, and kept my cadence up for all.
Another nice day, Gillian joined me out to Mattick's and then turned back, she had some paper to work on, or so she said. ;)
Today i knew i would be escalating the riding, going at least 3hrs as well. (It's also worth noting that i got in over an hour of 'commuting' riding...it was a pretty easy pace, but something to consider..)
Started the intervals, felt pretty good, here's the numbers:
#1
Ave Wts: 285
Ave HR: 173
Max HR: 187
Ave Cad: 102
Ave Spd: 38
#2
Ave Wts: 290
Ave HR: 177
Max HR: 190
Ave Cad: 105
Ave Spd: 38.5
#3
Ave Wts: 284
Ave HR: 175
Max HR: 188
Ave Cad: 106
Ave Spd: 39.7
#4
Ave Wts: 286
Ave HR: 172
Max HR: 184
Ave Cad: 101
Ave Spd: 33.9
Even faster day! The 350w 'Over' portions felt not too bad, but when dropping down to 265w for the 'Under', i felt like they were harder to maintain.. #3 was tough, and i took an extra minute to recover (usually 4mins rest between efforts.) I didn't feel super-motivated and attack the final one, i think i really just wanted to get it over..haha..
Finished the intervals, and rode back down Lockside Dr to Sidney, stopped in the Lifestyle Markets there for a water refill, and continued through and across the highway, and rode the East side of the airport to Panorama, and back into town. Remember, i wanted to add more miles today.
I decided early on that if i had a lot of time when i reached the Observatory, i'd do it as well...and i was only about 2hrs in when i reached it, so i also did a 'firm' effort up the Observatory:
Observatory: 7'39
Ave Wts: 299
Ave HR: 179
Max HR: 186
Ave Cad: 79
Ave Spd: 17.4
That's to the fire hydrant at the top. Certainly not my hardest effort or fastest time, but it was another tough effort to throw in. I burned back down the hill, and actually sprinted near the bottom to get myself up to 68kph. =)
Continued back into town, and for some reason i felt really motivated, and just kept powering along and a fairly high pace. My 3hr NP (Normalized Power, sort of like 'average' without zeros) was 235w - that's pretty freaking high for me, esp. for that length of time...!! I was powering along at the 3hr mark, and felt pretty good...that's *really* odd for me. I seem to have suddenly developed this long-distance endurance and depth.. Well, at least for me. It sure ain't going to win the Tour de France, let alone a Cat3 race....but it's pretty cool to somehow develop this...
Wasn't too terribly fatigued after that either, surprisingly...and i think this was one of the harder individual training sessions i've ever done - it was about as hard as an OBB ride for me. =)
Fri - Capital City Cycle Sprints
Part III of Operation Overkill. I jumped into one last year, it's a pretty fun event, and track sprinters should be all over this.
It's over on Harbour Rd (left over the Blue Bridge, Goose runs along there), which is actually a perfect location for this. They start at 7:30pm, and are pretty informal. Most of the participants are fixie and courier peeps, but the spandex is beginning to invade. ;)
The format is pretty simple, it's a 2-up drag race over 300m. You start with a trackstand, and one of you counts down, and then it's go time! It's from the far side towards downtown, so a slight downhill.
I don't know if it'll work the same each time, but last night it was elimination style, so if you lost your sprint, you were out. There were about 18 people to start.
I knew about a quarter of the peeps. Trackies Jimmy Holtz (Holtz! HOLTZ!) came out, as well as Chris Anstey. (Dr. Wayne Walker came out to watch.)
From the MTB scene were Halldor and Mitch. A number of people were excited that Mitch and i would finally square off... Traditionally he's been the guy to win all the sprints...what would happen when he faced his first vegan?
Jeff, owner of Capital City Cycles (who host the event) was out of course to race, and the rest i don't know as well. Fixie Dave made it out, but has been ill, so didn't race.
So things got started, and there were some pretty tight races!!
Quarter-final: Me vs Jim Holtz. Eeep! I know he's got a pretty solid 500m time, so i didn't give him a chance. I decided to ride my 50Tx17T (on my Ridley of course), which is about 80". Pretty light from a track perspective...but it was chill out (maybe 9C), and i wanted to make a quicker start..which i did.
I blasted off the start, and just hammered. My main goal is to get a few good sprint efforts in, so i didn't look back, but just put my head down and drove for the line. (Normally i'd try to keep an eye out, and if i'm ahead, keep it 'close'..i think it's more sporting. But again, my main focus that night was a good workout.)
In Jim's defense, he used a really light gear..i felt bad eliminating him. : \
2nd Quarter-final: the only 3-up of the night, with Mitch and another rider i didn't catch the name of... But this was the show-down... I had a good 20min rest, so was feeling good. (Well, as good as i could after all the riding i've done!)
I'm not a 3-up fan for sprints...but hey.. I was eager to race Mitch tho. We lined up, and i believe Mitch counted down, and we were off!
Well, he was! I felt the last gear was a bit spinny, so dropped down to 50x16, which is about 84". With the bigger gear, and a bit more fatigue, there was a noticeable delay in my start...and i haven't done standing starts in..oh...about a year. My form was shit. But, i got the gear turning over, and started my chase!
I got up to speed, and started to worry... Mitch was still ahead!!! The line isn't terribly clear during most of the approach...! I continued to pump and spin, and began to creep up on him....i edged past and continued to pound the pedals, motivated!! I jammed and jammed and wham - there was the line! I'd made a few bike lengths, but it was closer than i'd prefer...he really spun it out! But that was two more riders down... Vegan power!
Semi-Final: Oh my, now it was Halldor. And looking at my file, there was about 8 minutes that passed since the last sprint, and when i started this one. I was feeling tired now..
We lined up, and Halldor counted down. Wham - we're off. Once again, Halldor was off, but i got my legs spinning seemingly faster, and powered through, leaving him behind at the line. I was pretty fried after that. No mercy from Halldor.
The Finale: There can only be one, and it was between a rider i don't really know, i believe his name is Andrew. (Sorry if i got it wrong!!)
Again, looking at my file, i had a whopping 7mins of rest between the last sprint and this start. Gah. No freaking bike race in the world has you doing three standing starts in the span of 15mins. Owwie!! And Andrew got to recover while Halldor tore my legs off.
Okay, enough whining..haha.. We lined up, he counted down, and ZOOM - he was freaking GONE. I was really feeling it at this point, but i put my head down and jammed the pedals hard as i could. He was still well ahead by the time i got up to speed (if you can call it that at this point) and sat down.... I did all i could: spin my legs. I crept up. It was soooo slow. I clawed my way up to him, and again made it past, and jammed for the line. I knew it was mine before i hit it...VICTORY!!! It was over!!!
You can see i was getting TIRED. Reminder the 1st was in the 50x17, and rest were 50x16 (if memory serves..makes sense based on the cadence and speed.)
The times don't line up really, as the PowerTap recorder ever 1.3 seconds or so...not the *best* for sprint efforts.. I eased off before the line on #4, so it was actually a bit longer (obviously, since it was slower. ;)
Note i rode a bit before, and if you click the Splits page, Lap #2 is the full drag. ~300m, and a bit of a drop in elevation. (It's not a full meter i don't think.)
Fun fact: each sprint burned about 20 calories. Also, my TSS for ~20mins of EM, 4 30sec sprints, and a bunch of light riding was 96 for one hour. NP 247w. Insane. Sprinting counts for a lot in the TSS world!
No PBs, as expected..too tired. My 30sec peak was 727w, not *too* far off my PB. The course was too short, i would have topped that if i could go a full 30sec.
Finally, here's two graphs from WKO that are kinda neat - the first is my first sprint - notice the steady speed and cadence.. The second is my last (4th) sprint...starting to fade!
Sat - OBB Ride
Part IV: Operation Overkill. Overkill Overdrive.
heh - maybe that's a bit dramatic. =)
Keeping this short, but a pretty firm ride. Lotsa headwind on the way back. Smaller group of us took off from Sidney, missing many of the big hitters..and Craig was going for a longer ride, so wasn't really putting too much effort into the pace.
The pace was firm the whole time. We got onto Interurban and there was a small break off the front with (San Fran)Kevin, Lawrence and Jeff (a newer person on the ride). I knew they didn't have the gas to stay away, but Ryan decided to bridge it up.. We went down the hill just before Camosun and Barbara sprinted away..again, not a threat... Funnily, her husband Dave bridged us back up..haha..
Kevin took off after that, i got on his wheel, but it was short lived. We approached the hill, Barb had gone off again. Over the hill, Kevin went again, i was hoping he was planning some kind of lead-out, so i got on...but he eased up well before the bottom of the hill.....this put me in a shitty place at the front of the pack in the wind going uphill....with Ryan and Mike Elkink right on my wheel.
I didn't have much choice, and hoped for a wee bit of surprise so i got out of the saddle and started jamming it a bit early... No luck, Ryan shot by, and Mike was right beside me. I kicked like Carman having a tantrum over getting a new Ultra-Mega-Mega-Man, but Mike kept me at bay and beat me by a couple centimeters....arrrgh!! Ryan, of course, had it by a landslide.
I don't know if Mike was giving it 100%, but i would like to think that. =)
The group was virtually nil by then...no one challenged me for the Overpass (yay me!), and by the Trestle i was riding solo. I planned to do my 'full loop' (105km, around the water to Haultain), and so carried on. Legs still felt good!
Ran into Charles Durrant as i got onto Dallas. We chatted until St. Charles where he turned off. Hope i talked him into coming out to the next sprint!
I carried on, the winner of the OBB ride. Even as i hit Haultain, i felt really good, and dare i say it: i wanted to keep on riding. I think that's the first time in my life where i've ridden more than 3hrs and actually WANTED to keep it going.
But alas, i had a schedule to stick to, and had fried myself sufficiently. I turned off, and dropped down to a recovery pace for the final 10min home. Finally, a tailwind. =P
I generally try to keep my TSS under 800 for a full week...and it'll cap 900 as i've still got a couple hours to ride tomorrow, although admittedly it'll be a pretty tame pace. I'm thinking i'll head out to Newton to watch and cheer. I'm also eager to do a lap and collect the elevation data. ;)
Sorry sports fans...no race, although it would have been a pretty good field for me and i would have done no worse than 7th...haha..
As i was gearing up around 9am, the rains started.. Roads were very lightly dampened from earlier sprinkles, but this was wet.
Headed out along Richardson, and it was a pretty solid precipitation.
As i rounded the hospital, my MP3 player ran outta juice, but so did the clouds...caught Casey Rider on that back hill to the highway, and we rode out together, i gave him a nice draft on the way out. =)
Got out there, but the roads were pretty wet... My personal rule is no wet races unless i'm on knobs (ie, CX or MTB.) It's really just not worth it to me.
I did a lap to collect the profile data (see Lap #2 here).
At Caleb Pike, each lap is about 2.5km, and features around 48m of elevation..yum. This day, the B's had 20 laps, and were i to race: 25 laps for the A's. Blarg! It worked out to nearly 1hr40min for the B's, and closer to 2hrs for the A's.
I figured i'd watch for a bit, and then go and ride Finlayson Arm or the Malahat since i was out this way.
There was a small pack of A's (7 started) and quite a few B's (~25). Unfortunately only 3 women started.
The A's started, the B's followed a minute later. A bunch of us waited at the bottom of 'the corner', it's where crashes will occur (and surprisingly for the first race of the year, and wet roads, there were no crashes!)
The A's, predictably come rolling through.
Then, barely a minute behind, comes Peter and Bill (henceforth known as P&B. ;)
Okay, they have a little break. They round the corner. We keep looking back up the hill...waiting......waiting......wtf??
Another minute later the B group passes through! HA! Reading some comments after, the TS folks all filled up the front of the pack, causing a distraction, and NO ONE saw P&B make away from the pack....hilarious!!
So they peeled off the front, and it took a couple laps before anyone really clued in and realized what happened...and then they were in trouble. While the pack was close to 20 strong, about five of the stronger riders were Tripleshot...so they weren't going to do any work! I believe the work was left up to about six other guys..
While the success of the team tactic deserves applause, it all ends there when reality kicks in: P&B ended up working in front of the pack 1.5hrs. Bill would cover the 'flats', and Peter would set the pace up and over the hill. (It's funny because if you were watching at the top of the hill, it looked like Peter was doing all the work since he was ALWAYS in the front. ;)
About halfway through the race i was getting a bit cold, but the roads were dry, so i got permission to tag along the race for a bit, and jumped on the P&B train. A lap later they had caught two of the A's who were dropped..they ended up sitting in until they were caught/lapped by the other A's (sandbaggers!).
P&B were holding a solid pace tho, check my WKO file below, i marked out the time i was riding for an idea of the effort. Pretty solid!
Not the sort of thing i'd want to do for 1.5hrs tho. Bleh.
They held off the pack, who had a few surges, but couldn't really pull it together. With two laps to go, TS Josh attacked on the hill, and made away. I presume other TS riders also started to attack on the final lap, as it was totally strung out.
Peter took the win, with Bill cruising up the hill behind. I suspect Bill could have made away with the win if he wanted.
Surprisingly, Josh came in about 20 seconds off Peter - he really closed the gap in a couple laps! (Perhaps he should have made that move halfway through the race!)
The rest of the B's came through, one at a time, as they must have all busted up in a big way on the final lap. Successful application of the tactic, but i don't really know what the point was...haha..
As reward for their efforts, Peter, Bill and Josh will be joining me in the A races. =)
The A race was a bit more animated. They stuck together for a few laps, then there must have been an attack as Marcel Arden(Total Restoration), Matt Dilay(IRC) and Steve Bachop(IRC) were suddenly on their own.. Raphael(Russ Hays) surprisingly faded...i expected him to be up at the front!
The results don't reflect this, but i believe Marcel lapped all the A's. When he caught Matt and Steve, they stuck together again, and Matt put in a big effort to win the sprint...but again, i believe Marcel was a lap up (he didn't look like he even tried.)
For the women, Rita Wania, who rode for OA Vic last year (and TS this year) won her first race, and raced her first race! Nicely done, not so scary, eh? =)
Broke down some of the data, including ride out, and the portion i jumped in, and the ride home. Pretty solid 1hr effort there too. ;)
Total rest day today, no climbing. Gonna focus on the bike this week, with Operation Overkill. Planning to thrash myself with more O/U's Tue & Thu, and then go hard on Sat. Sunday - will see how i feel, maybe launch into another longer ride...been itching to do Shawnigan. There's a Newton Heights race, but i don't really ever want to bother doing that course again..haha..
Just for fun posting my Performance Management Chart from WKO:
This is one of the best and most useful features in WKO. It gives you an indication of how much training you've done, and can handle in the immediate future and/or how 'fresh' you are (besides perceived fatigue of course).
It's balanced out now, but a few weeks ago i was over-cooking it, and the pink and yellow were getting REALLY far apart. A good performance (either for training or racing purposes) depends on freshness, and that happens when the yellow gets up around zero (you can tell the week i backed-off, and the MTB ride on Tuesday wasn't too stressful), and the pink is very close...so according to this, i'm more fried than i've been in the last month (yellow WAY down.) It's only gonna get lower, as i go into a rest week. =)
Tuesday went offroad with friend Lysanne, taking her on the trails for her first MTB experience, and Thursday was out to Sidney with Gillian (who has totally neglected her blog!) for some more Over/Under efforts. Saturday will be an easy-ish spin on a OBB Ride (redux), and Sunday will be a race. Not sure which yet, if it's sunny, out to Caleb Pike on the road. If it's rainy, i'm hoping to get out to Port Alberni for the Island Cup XC #2 race.
The PA terrain is....interesting. I heard two years ago the mud was INSANE. Last year i raced, first race of the year, and it was a hilarious exercise..unfortunately i didn't blog about it, but it was pretty muddy too. We went for a pre-lap ride. Had well over an hour, someone told us laps would be ~40mins.. 55ins into the pre-ride and i was getting very nervous...no idea how close to the end we were, and the race would start soon! We made it back to the startline just in time to start!! I pulled into my section, the race started, and i pulled off to the right where the cars were parked - put on my racing gear, grabbed some food, and bolted!! Somewhat luckily, the race bottlenecked right away, so 2mins in i was already passing the people at the tail-end... Unfortunately that meant waiting a lot to get around others.. Finally got into an open spot and powered away...somehow finished 3rd in Intermediate, i think the lap times were nearly 50min and did 2x...owwie.
So we'll see what happens this year.. Apparently on the course, you have to literally cross a section of the trail, and downhillers are expected to give way to climbers...that'll be interesting..haha..
Tuesday - MTB
It was a pretty relaxed ride, i decided that i could go easy today with the race on Sunday. Don't want to elevate my TSS too much and burn out again.l
Lysanne took to the trails well, was quite intuitive, and able to both climb and descend technical terrain very quickly! If someone were to take her out 2-3 more times, she'd be pretty much ready to race! *hint hint* *nudge nudge*
We first spent some time in the TTA at Hartland, then did the XC race course, then went up Switchbacks (she broke a chain!), and back down WYDaddy, Nightshift and Skull. Pretty impressive for a first time effort.
I imported my Garmin Edge500 power data into WKO for the first time, and for some reason each lap was 'cut off' at the end, excluding a lot of data per lap - anyone have any idea why it would do this? Not a big deal as i can create my own ranges if it really mattered...but it kind of eliminates some of the usefulness of the lap feature!
Thursday - 4x O/U in Sidney
Headed out to Sidney with Gillan and Emile. Emile ended up taking off to maintain his own pace, and we headed out to Sidney. As always, nice to have company, and also to catch up, chat about music, etc..
Intervals weren't quite up to spec, especially the latter two...but in my defense it's always harder to do these efforts on 'flats', not to mention the terrain is constantly shifting..and there were several distractions such as corners, etc.. I'm happy with them overall, but need to try and keep more pressure on the pedals.
Legs felt pretty good tho, and i did manage to keep the cadence up, here's a brief summary, each is 8mins (2min Under (265w), 1min Over(350w), 2min U, 1min O, 1min U, 1min 0):
#1
Ave Wts: 292
Ave HR: 176
Max HR: 187
Ave Cad: 100
Ave Spd: 34.6
#2
Ave Wts: 290
Ave HR: 177
Max HR: 188
Ave Cad: 100
Ave Spd: 36.2
#3
Ave Wts: 276 (YUCK!)
Ave HR: 175
Max HR: 185
Ave Cad: 100
Ave Spd: 36.7
#4
Ave Wts: 284
Ave HR: 175
Max HR: 187
Ave Cad: 100
Ave Spd: 37.4
I'm wondering if the speed is throwing me off a bit.. I've done these almost exclusively uphill, so used to much slower speeds..i wonder if i'm easing off mentally because i'm sustaining a good speed..hmm..
Another difference is that i'm maintaining 75-100w during my 'rest' periods (4mins), where-as on the Observatory it was virtually zero, since i was coasting downhill..my HR is getting down to the 120's, so decent recovery. Ahh well, prolly just gotta HTFU. =)
Haven't really mentioned my climbing, took off Mon & Wed this week, hand has been sore, did something to it on the MTB ride, planning to go tonight tho.
I accomplished a couple major goals tho! Last week i finally cleaned the 'big rock' 11a overhang that i've been working on - very happy with that. Also, there's a 10c/d that i cleaned that night as well that had been giving me some grief (tricky section in the middle).
There's a new route that was built, a very long, windy one (actually *loses* altitude in one spot!), very slight handholds..i can climb it, but not in one go..that'll be a fun project. It's currently unranked, but i'd say at least 11a, while others were saying 10d. We'll see tonight. ;)
Should be a fun weekend - i'm hoping to do the road race, i feel like i'm stronger on hills now, so this will be a good test. In the past, i've been able to hang in with the A pack for about half the race, and then end up getting dropped..we'll see how it goes today. It's actually been nearly two years since i've raced this course (i didn't make it out last year.) Fingers crossed to finish with the bunch!
Oh, if you're reading this, lemme know if you're checking out the mapping and power data, etc.. Is it at all interesting??
First time doing these on flat ground (usually climbing up the Observatory), felt about the same..maybe the Under sections felt a bit easier as i could maintain a higher cadence...still need to work on getting it even higher tho. Doing the loops out around Sidney should be fine tho.
Friday - MTB w/Jenny Skinner
Jenny recently picked up an MTB, and i offered to take her out to the Dump and help her get going... We practiced some skills in the TTA, and then did a recon loop of the race course, it was pretty fun! It was actually snowy when we got there, and the first part of our ride was in slush...the sun was out en force tho, and it was quite nice overall.
Jenny rode really well, trying out stuff and taking a few tumbles, but no major injuries! Really great considering the adverse conditions - she'll be tearing up the trails in no time. =)
Alright, first 'big' race of the year!! Got there early, thanks for the ride from Halldor! Met Alyssa, and we went and pre-rode the course (again for me) with Raphael. Conditions were MUCH improved from Sunday! Rocks mostly dry, everything totally ridable.
I felt pretty good...haven't ridden four days in a row for a while, so was a bit nervous, but legs felt about as good as usual! Which is a good thing. =)
The loop went well, and i felt confident with the course. I must have made a wrong turn on Friday tho, the rocky double-up climb that i was concerned about wasn't on the course...good news, one less thing to worry about! It took 36mins, and that was a pretty casual pace. I was thinking i'd have to re-evaluate my guess of 30min lap-times. Definitely sub-30mins.
Pro City did an AWESOME job organizing this, the trails were exceptionally well marked - not for a moment did i wonder if i was off-course. And great selection of trails too, with a great compliment of technical terrain.
On final reflection, i think it was a pretty tough and demanding course. Typical 'Dump' riding. Lots of short, steep climbing efforts. While the overall altitude change was less than 100m, each lap ended up around 160m of climbing with all the ups and downs...and several sections were quite technical, with steep rock or protruding roots in the way much of the time. As i said, typical Hartland! I didn't really feel like there was anywhere i could really recover. My HR was pretty much around 180bpm the entire time, peaking at 192bpm a few times. It got as low as 172 for a few seconds on Shock Treatment i believe. There were no extended descents.
I was in the 2nd row. Roland had gotten a prime spot at the front.. Raphael and Regan were the main people i wanted to keep an eye on. Oh, and Geoff Pendrel of course! There were nearly 40 of us lined up in Intermediate - big field! I think i was the only one in a skinsuit tho. ;)
So we were give then start, and i jumped ahead of most of the people in my line, rolled up the first rocky climb no prob, got around the first corner on the way to Pooh Corner and i was up with five riders motoring along. Felt great, we were clear of the pack.
Hit Pooh Hill, and worked our way up. I saw Raph tear away off the front, and that was the last any of us would see of him!! He ended up winning the race by a huge margin, and would have finished around 6th (behind Drew Mac) in the Expert race based on his insane lap times!
Our group chased, up and up. I had a dab on that section up to Crazy Horse, stupid root! I never ride this section either.. Finished riding up, and a sharp left turn into a tricky rocky section...had to dab again, and Geoff came TEARING by! Hello good-bye! I carried on and tried to edge back up...that was the top however, and i was about 7th overall at that point - sweet! How did i ever manage to climb so fast?!!
So the chase began, and worked my way down the trails..started to close the gap, a bit, but then got caught by Regan and another..damn.. They got away and Guy Gensey and another caught me. Funny, as we would often end up duking it out in the Cross on the Rocks races!
We stuck together up cross-over, down N-Trail, and then at the tricky rocky section at the bottom Guy biffed in the spot where all the water collects.. I tried to navigate around, and i guess i caught my rear wheel on a rock because FFFFFFFFFF! I lost a bunch of air! GAH!
I tried to roll through, but the rear end was REALLY squishy. Frack!
I stopped and worked my pump free. I had taped it to my fender..haha.. (Didn't want sticky gunk on my new frame!) Took me a minute just to get it off!! It's my mini Lezyne pump, which has the hose...i didn't really expect to have a flat! I've never burped a tire before either! (With tubeless tires, sometimes you 'burp' a tire, causing the rim and tire to separate for a second, letting out air..)
I assembled the pump, and pumped away... Disassembled the pump, and jumped back on the bike. Started to pedal...and the rear was too squishy. DAMN. Got off. Rebuilt the pump, started pumping.. By then over a dozen riders had passed, including Halldor and Roland.
I jumped back on, and got moving again. Tire was good. I had a lot of time to make-up for tho...i was off the bike for 5mins.
Caught a couple riders fairly early, rode Shock Treatment, passed another rider or two...got to the lap-point, hit the button on the Garmin - under 27mins first lap - nice! Too bad there was the 5mins stop...
I powered along, caught a couple more riders before Pooh Hill. Passed Adam Lawrence on the way up! Rode hard up to the top, nearly exploded myself! Of course, no real recovery, and carried on along Crazy Horse and Rollie Ridge..didn't see too many more people for a while.. Passed a rider just before i crossed the bridge on the beginning of Crossover, saw Alyssa there:
Checking the time stamps, i was 3mins behind Roland.. I rode and rode some more, and eventually crossed the line. Finished 16th out of 34 starters:
Checking the times, if i hadn't been delayed, my time would have been in the 55min range, and so i would have finished near Guy in 7th...oh well! I did manage to shave another minute off my time from Roland at the bridge. ;)
Raph for sure will have to move up to Expert.. I think Scott and Regan (and a few others) ought to move up as well, they would easily be in the Top 20 in Expert, possibly Top 10.
So, first big race out of the way! I'm really happy with my effort...not really sure what i could have done differently. Will bring a different pump..haha..
I rode about as strong as i could, Normalized Power was at my threshold - 264w. AP was 230w. There were LOTS of peaks, and i hit near my max wattage a few times, surprisingly (peak of 1156w). As mentioned, my HR was pinned. Second lap was a bit weaker than the first..but i held it surprisingly high! So a big improvement there (where i'd normally fade.) Lap times were about 26:30 and 29.
Here's the WKO+ 3.0 data, broke down each lap, and also the full race:
First, i upgraded WKO+ - so now have the current version of 3.0. The Quadrant Analysis is kind of neat. Will be interesting to import directly from the Garmin as well...maybe drop down to one computer on the MTB..heh..
Also, i'd been looking into new pedals for the MTB and CX. I've been riding Crank Bros Egg Beaters on the MTB, and Candy SL's on the 'cross bike. I was burned by my Candy's at the Blubberburn event, when my pedal died (and so apparently did the photos i took!) It literally blew off the end, and the pedal body came off the shaft/spindle.. (It actually happened prior to the race as i was riding around.)
I decided that was the last straw. I've had some complaints about Crank Bros pedal designs for some time.. Mainly:
* difficult step-through for CX - pedal/cleat doesn't allow for a smooth step-through, unless you're really careful..so i'd just do the 'step-back', but that's slower, and i think it's what fucked-up my ankle and foot early on in the 'cross season...landing on a stopping/sliding foot at 40kph+ can't be good for it.
* difficult to unclip at some angles: such as the very top of the pedal stroke while on a steep ride-up. There've been several times where i've stalled out, and tried to unclip, and it wouldn't, and i'd take a tumble. Not fun. Happened on the day of Blubberburn actually.
* crappy bearing/friction: the pedals never seemed to 'spin' on the axle, and there's always some friction there. Oddly, they seemed to spin more with less lube. It's a poor design, imo. Easy to rebuild, but they make them so it's rather necessary.
They're great in mud and snow - doubtless there..but these factors just don't make it worthwhile, not to mention the pedal itself doesn't have a very solid engagement, and feels like you're standing on ice.
I was hoping to adopt something else, but ended up getting some Shimano XT pedals today for the MTB. I know they work well. Solid engagement. You know you're clipped in. You can feel where you clip out.
They spin SO NICELY off the top, and stay that way. Pedals are an AWFUL place to have friction, as there's so much movement/rotation there...not a place you want resistance.
It'll be nice to do step-throughs in CX as well. Not as great in the mud...but that's a fair trade-off and minimal experience compared to everything else.
Alright, those are the main details! I updated my RideCam album as well, here's the latest:
On the way out it was rather gusty, but as i came off Interurban it had really picked up...and as i hit the water, look out! As i was cruising along Dallas just before Moss, i was pushing 250w, and going all of about 17kph. Normally along there i'm 40+! I could actually feel the wind blowing off my frame onto my legs...weird feeling.
For training today, i opted out of more O/U efforts today, as WKO was telling me my TSS has been too high, and my TSB hadn't rebounded enough after the weekend...plus legs were feeling chunky.
So decided to mix is up, and go out for 2hrs, and toss in some HSS (High Speed Sprint) efforts. Basically, you want to get up to speed (at least 45kph) and then get out of the saddle and sprint, and when spinning out sit and keep pushing. It's only a 10-12sec effort. I make it easy and do them at the bottom of a hill, so i can focus on the sprint portion of it. =)
I did my 'flat' loop, there's not a lot of elevation, but a few appropriate descents that allow for a sprint at the bottom (ie, not into a corner). First was just pass the uphill around Mt Doug...there's a spot where you pick up some speed. Next was the bottom of the hill past Mattick's. Then the decent on Island View (normally start my Tempo efforts there.) Bit of a gap after that, but turned onto Durrance Rd, went 3/4 up the first incline, turned and descended and sprinted there. Then the descent just past the Ob (road was clear). And final effort was the flat portion of the OBB sprint. Last one wasn't quite 100%, there was a lot of traffic and couldn't really ignore it... I intended to do one more on the waterfront, but the wind made that pointless, and i cut off Dallas Rd early on Moss St. It was just dumb slogging it out on there with no cover!
Pretty happy with my efforts. Haven't done these for a long while! All but the last had peaks in the 1150w range, pretty consistent hitting that. First effort was a peak of 1241w, 5sec was 1166w and 10sec was 1019w. Looks like my sustain was pretty good there, which surprises me!
I haven't been tracking my 10sec peaks (and this is a critical flaw of Training Peaks, imo..it doesn't track overall peaks, only for a short date range and i had to program in a couple charts to track that), but in the last month, the next highest was 966w in an OBB sprint. Happy to see i can hold over 1000w that long! Most of the rest of the efforts were mid-900's over 10sec. Last one, again, was lower, only 814w.
On each effort i typically gained ~10kph, usually starting around 45kph. On Durrance, went from 48 to 59. =)
This is fairly close to what i do on the track for a 200m effort...i'll do my jump in the 45kph range, but i'll usually get up over 60kph. All my efforts today were in the 200m range too. I wish we had access to the track...i'm guessing my 200m effort would be greatly improved, i don't recall holding quite that much wattage in the past..
Broke down all six sprints as well. I selected them all rather hastily, so the 'average' wattage may not be terribly useful, but the peaks and speeds are neat to compare.
I commuted downtown just before noon on Monday, and it snowed briefly!
Then, as i biked to the climbing gym, it snowed again! It must have been me. What other explanation can there be?? It snows twice, both times i'm commuting.
Sat - OBB Ride
Owwie.. I didn't really intend to ride this hard. And the problem with riding hard is that you log less time. So my 3.5hr ride turns into a 2.75hr ride...but all the same work compressed into it..
It was a nice day, sunny but chilly early on. Good little group out to Mattick's. I led the first group out from there, and it was a small pack of 8 of us...which i actually prefer.. We kept the pace up, good effort to Sidney. (Check the WKO file linked below, i broke down the three sections.)
Had a fairly long rest at Sidney since we had kept the pace up...but headed out as a fairly big group. Pace picked up before long, but nothing crazy.. Got a bit peppy around the airport...then we hit Panorama and all hell broke loose.
Going up the hill, Mike Elkink (aka Naked Mike ;) and Marsh Cooper (of Symmetrics fame) tore off the front. I kept tempo after them, but didn't feel like bridging. Scotty also broke away and bridged up. Perhaps there was one other rider...
OA Kevin tried to jump in, but he only made it a few meters ahead of me, and i soon caught him and we topped the hill. Looked back and a few people had stuck to my wheel, and a few more including Chad and the two Juniors were just catching up. Sweet, we'll have a decent chase group.
I led the descent, we kept up a firm pace along Daffodil Rd, and caught Marsh along there i believe. By the stop sign, we caught Scotty, and just after Brentwood we caught Mike. All back together!
The group kept the pace fairly high though all the way in...didn't have any problems by the Dump, the pace was pretty sustained...same with up by the Ob. We descended, and got onto Interurban..i helped pick up the pace..good effort along the road, but nothing exciting to report.
I was at the back of the pack as we rounded the final corner and gradient before the sprint. Kevin was at the front, driving the speed.
As we were coming down the gradient to the final stretch, i went to drop a few gears on the back, and realized i was all out! It flashed in my head that i was beginning to spin out my 50x12. Okay, we're moving!
I saw Scotty moving up, so got on his wheel...he sprang, i kept seated as there was actually a pretty decent headwind..best to stay low and get out of the saddle only when necessary....
We FLEW by the rest of the pack.... There was no chance of me catching Scotty, and i looked back as i approached the line, and no one was close... 2nd, i'll take it!
Fastest sprint along there in quite some time, i hit 70.4kph. Looking at my data, i was spinning 131rpm.. Compact chainrings are BRILLIANT. That's a great cadence for me, and i can spin over 160rpm and be reasonably comfortable...which would be pretty freaking fast...i don't think i'd ever be sprinting at over 90kph.
Took the King of the Overpass, Kevin challenged, but i just nailed it. ;)
Just Kev, Marsh and myself completed the ride. Haven't ridden with Marsh for a long time, prolly some track race in Burnaby a few yrs ago.
* my max and 5sec peak power were just a bit below my max. No idea how i'm maintaining this, since the only time i come close to doing these efforts is 1/wk on this sprint.. I think my 30sec is suffering a bit tho.
* ave speed of 34.5kph from Matticks to Victora, ~2hr 7mins ride time.
* my Normalized Power for my peak hour was 273w...8w over my threshold...ouch. Actual power was 225w. (Normalized is calculated to basically factor out the coasting.) For that hour we averaged just under 38kph.
Sunday - Sprinkles
Plan was to head over to Mt Doug and do another standing effort up it.. Took out the Ridley, looked dry although overcast...started to sprinkle as i passed the university, so opted for my 'Power Hour' route. Blew through it, and rode a bit more to ensure i got the 100 TSS pts i needed for the day.
Not much to report..good Power Hour results, HR a LOT lower than previous efforts:
#4 SB Power Hour: 825kj burned, TSS 82.2, NP 240w, AP 229w, HR 160, Spd/Dis 32.2km, ~8C
#3 SB Power Hour: 842kJ burned, TSS 87.2, NP 243w, AP 234w, HR 172, Spd/Dis 31.3km, ~4C, breezy
#2 WB Power Hour: 822kJ burned, TSS 84.4, NP 239w, AP 228w, HR 170, Spd/Dis 31.1km, ~2C
#1 WB Power Hour: 805kJ burned, TSS 80.7, NP 234w, AP 224w, Spd/Dis 31.3km, ~12C
Terrain was a bit different tho, since i went 'longer', the peak hour was shifted over a bit, so thus the greater distance, i think.. I didn't feel like i was going particularly hard tho..rather tired feeling-legs i'll admit. Started to kick in near the end tho.
Climbing
Been climbing still, three days last week, and today (Monday). Still trying to clean the 11a overhang (by the lounge)...i'm SO CLOSE. I've gotten as high as the 2nd-last hold, but my forearms keep failing...
Today there was a new route. Unrated, but i'd say 11a/b. It's very long, switchbacks back and forth, and even goes DOWN a little bit..haha.. It's really fun, very tough but not at all impossible or anything.
Don't think i'll be climbing for too much longer...at least going several times a week. I'd like to keep it up 1/wk, it's great for my core...
Tomorrow (Tuesday) planning to continue my Over/Under intervals, it's calling for rain, so will likely head out to Sidney and do them along Lochside..wondering how it'll feel to do these on flat terrain instead of uphill...
Next Sunday is the first Island Cup MTB race of the year, at the Dump - kind of looking forward to it...! I just don't excel in MTB events..too much climbing. =P
haha - hope you get that awful song stuck in your head!!
It was a pretty nice, sunny day. Temp ~11C, although a bit of a cold breeze. Kev came out to join me in the suffering! It's been really awesome having people out to train with this spring. =)
So, same general idea as Tuesday:
2min U, 1min O, 2 - U, 1 - O, 1 - U, 1 - O (8min total)
U/Under = 260w (will bump that up to 265w next time.)
O/Over = 350w - well above my anaerobic capacity. FYI, i can hold 350w for ~5mins, and i am DONE at that point..totally esploded.
So this is a pretty challenging workout. I'm either at my 1hr threshold (265w) or well above. The point is to develop recovery, despite intensity. Clear the legs out of the nasty stuff, etc.. In the 8min effort, i'm holding 350w for 3mins, so i think this is maxing me out pretty well.
Did 4x, here's the quick #'s:
#1
Ave Wts: 298
Ave HR: 174
Ave Cad: 92
Ave Spd: 17.5
#2
Ave Wts: 296
Ave HR: 175
Ave Cad: 91
Ave Spd: 17.2
#3
Ave Wts: 301
Ave HR: 176
Ave Cad: 90
Ave Spd: 17.3
#4
Ave Wts: 294
Ave HR: 176
Ave Cad: 91
Ave Spd: 17.1
Was fading a bit on the final one... I'm holding my 260w portions very well, many were in the 270w range. Some of the 350w portions were down around 345w. The entire effort average, according to my math (5x265 + 3x350 /8) should be in the 297w range, so i'm getting what i need out of it. (32mins averaging ~300w is great!)
Note there's a 4mins rest between each effort, just enough time to get to the bottom. Max HR was 189 for the final two, and 186 for #1. Also, kept my cadence as high as possible, it was in the 80-90's for the Under portion, but i was often around 110rpm for the Over, for some addition aerobic stimulation... I must say, feels REALLY weird going uphill at 110rpm!! Much more used to grinding a bit more..heh..
All the power data here, including detailed cuts of each interval:
Note i also broke down the ride out and ride back. Total ride is a bit longer, includes the four descents from the top of the Ob, plus my short warm-up and warm-down (which i excluded from the ride out and back portions.)
Again, the peaks in the Elevation view make me laugh!!! ~830m of total elevation today...starting to sound like a climber. ;)
Climbed Wed night, had another good session, made it up the overhang 11a with only one stop...figured out some smoother manoeuvres, hopefully will clean it soon! Maybe tomorrow night.. Sat is OBB, and prolly another short MTB ride on Sunday.
Basically rode in, went up the Regional Trail to the 'entrance' to Shock Treatment on the far end, back in along that, up Skull, Inventive, down Little Face, up Emergency 2 to Rolly Ridge, then Crazy Horse to See-Section/Centerfold/Switchbacks, then across to T.Run, curious to see what it's about. Cruised down slowly and carefully, looks like it'll be pretty fun! Back up See-Section and across to Nightshift, Skull and out.
Still climbing 2-3 times a week, had a good session with Kelly. The new 10c/d is all figured out, i might clean it in the next few tries.. Been working on the 11a overhang with big, round holds...might be able to clean that one soon as well. Getting a little stronger overall...
Tuesday - EM w/3x Over/Under Intervals
Headed up to the Observatory with Chad to do some 'easy' ones, only going up to 330w on the Over efforts (260w on the Under). Power was solid, i marked the wattage for each interval:
Still got cold #2, didn't feel nearly as good as i should have, but rode them out. Thursday will head back out, and do 4x, and bump it back up to 350w.
On the Elevation view, the peaks crack me up..haha.. Nearly got 700m of elevation in 2hrs tho.
As for the splish splash, it was actually rather sunny when we left, and on the 2nd effort the rain came down!! It lasted just as we finished the 3rd effort, then stopped...but soaked the roads. I'd taken the Ridley out since it was supposed to stay dry...grr.. Stopped in at Oak Bay Bikes to give it a bath on the way home...nice and clean now. Don't like getting it wet tho!!
So i will do these for a few more weeks, making them tougher as i progress (ie, replacing an Under minute with another Over minute), and then in April start throwing down efforts well above VO2, like the 4min on, 4min off nasties...
Until then, will be getting more comfy with life at 350 watts. =)
Felt alright this morning, didn't feel so great last night (Friday); was planning to go to the climbing gym, but my body just said 'no', so stayed at home and took it easy. I've gotten another cold of some kind, second this week..blarg! It's a relatively light one thankfully.
The ride to Mattick's and Sidney were relatively easy (broke them down, check my wattage file below) at only ~170w each. Ride through Land's End and back were a bit more work! My normalized power for 1hr was actually my threshold of 265w. 1hr TSS = 100. Ouch. (If you're not familiar, 100 is about as high as it should be able to go! 1hr at threshold is 100pts. NP will sometimes be above FTP, i hit 268w 1hr NP last weekend, TSS=102.4. AP was 233w.)
It was a pretty relaxed pace most of the way.. Pro City Jamie started to put on the heat at Daffodil Rd, with a very strong pull. We kept the pace up for quite a ways after that..doing a fair bit of a rotating paceline in our group which was actually pretty big (~14 riders). I felt decent doing that, tho i could tell i wasn't recovering properly and it felt like each effort was just compounding on the last.
The final straw was the small hill right by Hartland (the Dump), where i believe Scotty attacked! Looking at my power file, there's my 10 second peak of 717w, and i done blown up at that point... HR hit 189bpm a few seconds later, and my body essentially gave up.. I watched the pack pull away. They were actually only ~75m ahead for some time (up to the Ob), but i couldn't pick up the pace any. Barb passed by me, but i caught back up to her by the Ob hills. Pro City Tom fell back by the Dump, i dropped him pretty hard despite my fade...he was almost as far back as the group was ahead of me!
Barb and i worked together from there, i did a long pull up past the Ob well onto Interurban, Barb did a strong pull, and then Tom flew by on the dip before Camosun..jerk!! Barb and i continued to exchange pulls and we passed him by the sprint hill and i glared at him..haha.. (Turns out he just had a lot of momentum on the descent, thought we would latch on..he was going a good 10kph faster tho, hard to get on that!!)
Dave MacLeod was waiting for us by the light, and we chatted for a min (he said he was bleeding from the eyes from that effort..haha..) I wanted to keep the pace up, so pressed on towards the Goose.
Curious what happened in the sprint - if you're reading this and were there, post a report in the Comments section! =)
Jamie and OA Kev were waiting for me by the light, and caught me up...passing Interurban they busted up the pack quite a bit. Jamie and another (Raf?) were the front two, Kev and another the next pairing, and the group off behind them.. Similar to last week, they were caught by the pack at the sprint, but Kev managed a 5th with a last-second decision to sprint. Sorry i missed it!
From downtown i pretty much bee-lined it home along Richardson, save some legs and TSS for an MTB ride tomorrow. =)
Lotsa data for you numbers fans to peruse, here's the Garmin file:
If you're new to Victoria and looking for a good route, this is what i recommend. If you've done the ride, check it out, neat mapping info on there.
Turns out we gain almost 700m of elevation on the ride. Not huge, but pretty good.
Also, note that the power and cadence data there is from T.Skinner, my Garmin hijacked his data..haha.. Oddly, for the same period of riding, i got ~190w average, where he's at 230w...we were in the same group and presumably did similar amounts of work, so i have to suspect that his unit isn't zeroed. (IE, it's calibrated a bit high...in theory our output should be relatively close..that's a HUGE difference. I would expect that if he weighed 25lbs more than me or something..maybe he's been putting on that weight at the gym. ;)
All built up, nice day, feeling like mixing it up, so i went out for a shortish MTB ride on my new orange RIP9 MTB frame!
Upgraded from an older version, partially for the stiffer, stronger frame. Mostly for the color! (Oak Bay Bikes had this as the centerpiece of an orange shrine for a while..haha..)
Still gotta dial in the suspension a bit, but felt great off the start! Once i hit the trails, i could tell the rear end was different..definitely stiffer. Otherwise feels much the same...love the glow tho. =)
Trip was pretty straight-forward, i'm calling it the Up & Down.
Took the trails most of the way out, except for a few shortcuts to save some time. (If you're looking for a non-road way to bike to the dump, check out my Garmin map link below. It's a bit longer, but so much better.)
Went up Meadowbrook, Executive, did Shock Treatment (it's changed a bit, and was really wet in the woods!!) Up Skull, then the Regional Trail up to the bottom of Lemmings Run, which was the highest point of my ride (239 meters up, according to Garmin!) The bombed down Who's Yer Daddy, Nightshift, Skull, and back down to Executive and out..and part road part trails to get home. Limited the climb (the trail's head is actually a bit higher) as it was getting a bit late.
Ride to Meadowbrook was 50min, spent 40mins riding the Dump, and then another 45mins ride home. Neat to have all this data...and you can check it out yourself!
Here's the data from my Garmin, including Power, as my MTB is wireless:
Gotten a little behind in the updates! Trying out a slightly different format for this one.
So today is/was my birthday! 34. Yip!
Headed out for a ride, planning to pull off a 30min Tempo. Felt good off the start. Kept an eye on my HR, it was in a good range. I've been hit with a 'low level' cold the last few weeks...my HR would really elevate riding at my EM pace..today it was down where it should be - yay!
Made my way out to Sidney the usual way, it was overcast with a threat of rain. Opted to ride the Ridley and take a chance..it was my birthday!!
Started my Tempo in the usual spot, and was tearing down Lochside, and at the corner just before the MacTavish construction, this huge, oncoming water truck crosses the road and into the bike lane and just STOPS THERE!!! WTF?? I manage to stop, although i was well over 30kph...i get around it, and pick up my pace again, and then i see what this truck was doing: soaking the road. WTFx2?! The road had been dry (very slight spitting), but this goof was driving along dumping water on the road.
I slowed down, as i don't want to get any more dirty/wet than necessary...summer bike and all. I look ahead, and there tons more water on the road. GAAH!! I'd gotten 17min into my Tempo, and was feeling GREAT. I've since checked my watts, and i had been averaging 270w. For fracks sake..
I pulled the plug there, if i were to keep going, i didn't know how much further the road was wet, and it's pointless to have a 5min break in the middle of this type of interval. Ahh well, here's the brief summary:
Ave Wts: 270
Ave HR: ~170
Ave Cad: 73
Ave Spd: 32.1kph
There was even a perfect headwind, so i wouldn't pick up too much speed downhill...gaah.. Not 100% on the HR, PowerTap head wasn't picking it up..
So one new feature of my entries will be GPS data! The Garmin Edge 500 i ordered finally came in, and has some pretty sweet features! I *love* having the big Lap/Interval functions and visual. The worst thing about the PowerTap head unit is that it only displays 3 items. I typically have Watts, Speed and Time (or Cadence.) Now i have all that data right there..hehe.. Unfortunately it can't connect to my wired PowerTap unit (what i have on the road), so no power data, but just about everything else is in this file:
If you're non-American, click on 'Metric' in the top right to make sense of it all. ;)
Lots of neat stuff you can click around on...i love the mapping and elevation features. This will be even cooler when i get out on the MTB (esp. since it IS a wireless PowerTap.)
Today i also did another Mt Doug effort. Last time i went up was Jan 21st, did it in 8min flat, averaged 310w. Today did it in 8:08, but only averaged 305w.. On the Garmin link above, it's Interval #7, if you want to check out the elevation data.
So another thing i'm doing is posting ALL my wattage data, but instead of filling up my blog, i'm going to save it in Google Docs, so here's today:
You can see the Mt Doug effort, the Tempo, the Garmin section (the same period recorded as the Garmin) and the entire ride, which has me riding to the shop, and back home from there. (I don't really feel the need to include my home address. ;)
No major peaks, although my 1 and 2hr NP are pretty high, averaging 243w over 2hrs..that's a lot more wattage than i'm used to seeing over that period!
The other news: i've upgraded my Niner RIP9 mtb to the orange frame i've been lusting over for months:
It's significantly stiffer, and ORANGE!!! Hopefully will get out for a ride on Thursday...if not, Sunday. =)
Calling it a night, g'nite world! (I'll update the rest of my last week soon!)
Looks like i'm going to have to listen, today's training session is definitely a sign that i'm over-cooking it... But first:
Saturday - OBB Ride
Another lovely day, broke out the Ridley once again... It kept civil to Mattick's, and from there things picked up with a rather surge-y rotating paceline out along the farmland...not sure why people were picking it up like that...or chasing down some of the people who powered away..haha.. Ahh well.
Got to Sidney, and another strong group left from there...kept it civil until past Land's End, then things started to get spicy as we approached the airport, and it carried through until close to W. Saanich, and then it eased up again until Interurban.
Good fast paceline lead-up to the sprint, but as Steve D (visiting in New Zealand right now!) reminded me, i allowed myself to get boxed-in, and so the sprint was a non-feature on my part...some of the other guys were cooking tho!
Went for the Overpass with Ryan, but a commuter just flew onto the trail without looking our way, and i had to brake to avoid a collision...ahh well! Carried through at a firm pace until Estevan where i turned off. All the gory details:
Entire workout (195 watts):
Duration: 3:11:15 (3:22:57)
Work: 2212 kJ
TSS: 264.6 (intensity factor 0.915)
Norm Power: 243
VI: 1.25
Distance: 105.686 km
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 1110 195 watts
Heart Rate: 102 182 153 bpm
Cadence: 25 126 90 rpm
Speed: 0 67.2 33.3 kph
Fast. Actual watts HUGE. And an NP of 243w over 3hrs...wow. The TSS reflects this. I was cooked. The peak hour was 260w NP, and 37.8kph...that's summer speeds! And a new high for TSS. Ouch.
Sunday - Short Ride w/Climbs
My week's TSS value was well over 600, and i was feeling fried, so i opted for a short ride. I actually haven't ridden Mt Tolmie (at least in recent memory) so opted to swing by there, and do a couple out-of-saddle climb efforts, as well as to scout it as a potential training spot.
The south side (off Richmond) is pretty steep, about the same as Mt Doug i'd say, with a short flat section. Did it in 2'52 at 330w, 56rpm. 567m.
North side (off Cedar Hill) is much flatter.. Did it in 2'53 at 318w, 64rpm. I got 634m on that side. I think the starting elevation is a fair bit higher there too. Will know when the Garmin Edge 500 i order comes in...will be neat to include elevation data as well!
Getting more used to standing and climbing. From there i got up to MacKenzie, and crossed over to Caddy Bay, and rode the 'water' back, to the end and back to my place near OBB. Started cloudy, took the winter bike just in case, closed with some sun. =)
Entire workout (206 watts):
Duration: 1:13:31 (1:14:26)
Work: 904 kJ
TSS: 96.1 (intensity factor 0.888)
Norm Power: 235
VI: 1.14
Distance: 33.383 km
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 626 206 watts
Heart Rate: 72 181 147 bpm
Cadence: 32 114 86 rpm
Speed: 3.7 65.7 27.4 kph
In hindsight, i went harder than i should have...
Tuesday - EM w/30min Tempo
Monday was a full rest-day, no climbing.
Headed out on the Ridley again (nice day - sunny but chilly), hoping to do a 45min Tempo in the same spirit as last Thursday, where i SMASHED it! 269w over 40mins, i think that's my best sustained-effort ever done. It was 4w short of my 30min PB (273w), and i held it 10min more...nice.
So, today.. Bad omen's all the way. Legs felt like hamburger. Poor output. Heart rate was waaay too high. Met up with Kevin out on Lockside just before Maddicks, and tried to figure out what i should do.... The smart option would have been just to do a 'ride', hold my EM pace, go for ~2hrs, and then focus on my interval on Thursday.
I decided to ignore my better advice, and began my interval on Martindale. Legs got the power up alright, and i felt okay... 10mins in, still doing okay, but legs were feeling it.
It's funny...i *felt* like i was pushing the watts i needed to, although it was an effort. It looks like the right watts are coming up on the screen....but alas, i must only be looking when they're high..haha.. I decided to just do 30mins, and it came out like this:
Ave Wts: 256
Ave HR: 178
Ave Cad: 74
Ave Spd: 34.8kph
Ouch. Watts were too low, and HR was insane for that effort! My 40min effort on Thursday at 269w was 177...!!
Crap. I overcooked it.
Lesson: figure out and use the Performance Management Chart in WKO. I know the basics, but i think it can be used to help prevent this type of meltdown... Keeping an eye on the TSB value (Training Stress Balance, or 'Freshness', good WKO jargon descriptions here.)
I think i need to manage my training to try and keep it a bit higher.. This will prolly mean shorter Tempo intervals...but i think it stands to reason that doing 30mins at the right wattage is better than doing 45mins at 10-15w lower than i should be at...and feel better doing it all as well!
The average HR is HUGE. Even a hard ride should be 10bpm lower.
A'ight, that's it for now... Short climb at the gym tomorrow, and the OrganicAthlete Victoria AGM in the evening, and then for Thursday......i'll keep an eye on my TSB, if it's still pretty low, i'll just go for a ride. ;)
