Training Specificity: 2 weeks out.

I decided that with no racing this weekend I could think more about Tysons.  What do my legs think Tysons is??  They think it is about 60 seconds of steady power up a hill, then about 30 seconds of holding some speed, then about another 1:20 of coasting.

In all of my brilliant wisdom, I created a workout to simulate the Tyson's race.  The chart above is AN OVERLAY COMPARISON of the heart rates during my workout today (PINK LINE) and Tyson's 2009 (BLUE LINE).  (This software couldn't do power in this feature).

What you see is about 24 reps to replicate each lap.  Still couldn't get my heart rate up- I ALWAYS struggle to jack the HR when training/riding alone.

I got the timing of each effort pretty close; if I had a coach he or she would be proud.

I brilf'd it. Does 2 reps count as "intervals"?

This is my first day back to normal training.  Last week sucked.
Mon-Fri TSS scores went: 92, 119, 128, 140, 51.
Race 1 was 88, race 2 was 62.
Sunday was a cruise ride (1:40) TSS 73.

This, above, was a 31 minute TSS of 28.

I need to rest up, still, need to feel good again.

Vint Hill Recapitulated: 3/4 power and some 1/2/3 power

Yellow power line is at 300W for reference.
I posted before, here and here that I was struggling coming off of being sick.  For the sake of overall fitness, I did the OPPOSITE of a taper.  I rode each of the five days between being sick and Vint Hill.  The weather was making me a little bit manic.  If anyone remembers that I pulled about a whole lap, with Ian, with about 1 to 3 to go in the 3/4 race... I say so what.  My teammate said it helped to keep things strung out so he could wrestle for 6th.

Here is why I am such a bitch:  I KNEW that I was tired and 5 days since being sick.  But I still FELT BAD for not being stronger

Compared to starting the 1/2/3 at Richmond... I felt about 70% of that starting the 3/4 at Vint Hill.
I'll be back.  We'll be back.

1/2/3 race; I used less smoothing on this graph.  After 30 minutes I realized my teammate Bruno was in the break, I was in pain, I wasn't doing anything, and tree pollen or whatever sucks.  yellow line at 300W for reference again.

7 days off/sick, 5 days until race #1: What to do? Performance Mg Chart included.

You can see the fall off in the pink line that shows I did nothing for 7 days.  I had originally posted that it was 4 days off.  I thought I would get out and ride last Friday, but I kept feeling like total dog-crap.  Vint Hill is coming up, 1st race of the year, and I was able to ride again on Monday, race is Saturday.  So what the hell should training look like when you took 7 days off- before which one was feeling like a new rider, feeling like maybe his off-season was really going to prove useful?
I decided to ride everyday and slowly increase the training stress.  The graph makes it look dramatic, remember the average was low, so each day I ride it jumps up.
Day 1, Monday, 3/15: 94 minutes, TSS 92.7, IF .766
Day 2, Tuesday, 3/16: 94 minutes, TSS 119.4, IF .87
Day 3, Wednes., 3/17: 82 minutes, TSS 128, IF .96

Today, I will ride a bit.  Should be TSS around 100, but 2 hours (I hope).  that is an easy ride.  I keep an eye on the total kJ when I need to ride like that. 

Day 3 was a little more than planned.  I felt the need to do a 30sec rep because Bruno and I were talking about them; then Robb and I started a 3 person Wednesday goon ride with a guy I didn't know- but he was crushinG it.

When the cartoon characters throw the double hand gestures...

I love it.


as seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9j6f5eTkFU

and elsewhere. Keep it up G!

No blogs, no riding. Got myself sick, 4 days rest.

You may be asking yourself "Where is that one blog where the guy puts up his power profiles but won't discuss real FTP numbers?"

The answer is that I have been trying to rest. My Performance Manager Chart in WKO+ showed me that my Training Stress Balance was getting shoved into negative digits since before the two races at Richmond International (is it really international?) Raceway.

Sure enough. Got sick by:

• hitting the wine fest the next day (poor recovery)
  
• crushing it even harder 48 hours later on Monday
  
• crushing it even harder still at the holy heck Haines Point Madness on Thursday
• waiting 2 days, then going on an epic rolling 4 hour ride with stellar new teammate Bruno

I fought the sickness by:

• Nyquil to sleep and/or nap soundly
• Tons of Gatorade/water with Emergen-C (tangerine) in it
• Lots of yogurt to boost GI immunoeficiency
  
• No training at all
• Humidifier at around 45% to help the breathing

Lesson learned. If I get around to it, I'll out up the PMC to show how it predicted this whole bullshizz.

What the holy heck Haines Point Thursday madness

Let's just say that if you were there, then you KNOW what I am talking about!

Haines Point was beautiful today. Plenty of folks showed up, ready to rock with the super duper headwind.

All I remember is Chuck Hutch and (I think) Brian Butts made a break with 2-3 others...

it gets a little hazy after that. I think the rest of us poor suckers were chasing, but not really.

It was a great day for hard work. I had 45 minutes under me before things got hot. I made one move on the second to last lap, with a tailwind, it was short lived but glorious (for me). Otherwise, just drilling it around the whole course. That was tough!

Technically it is spring? Gettin' outside

So its springtime in MABRA land.

The rush to register is on....

Equipment is being upgraded...

We might all actually get outside

I went to HP yesterday! my chronic training load continues February's steady rise

Richmond 2010 1/2/3 and 3/4: Summary, links, graphs.

I went down to Richmond with the intention of doing 2.5 hours of work. 90 minutes in the 1/2/3 and then right away 60 minutes in the 3/4. it ended up being 2 hours of work, total, because they shortened both races.
In what ways was was the 1/2/3 easier? No sketchy folks, no crashes, but really the consistent power always seems to make my legs happier than a really mixed effort (coast, surge, coast, surge, blah blah blah) like in the 3/4 races.

The yellow line is, again, at 300W as a reference point. Any increase in the HR was either me going with a move or just a steady predictable surge in the race intensity. It was a superfun workout and race. The track is cool and the 1/2/3 field is just a great place to race, it seemed like people were going pretty hard; I saw some attacks that were quite furious.
Link to the ONLINE GARMIN DATA: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/25807032

The 3/4 race:

since getting a mention here I realized I didn't mention that my teammate got a stellar 5th in the 3/4! good job TB
I had time to refill my water bottles. Then line up again, I was shivering at the start. Looking around the 3/4 field after a 1/2/3 race is quite revealing; people look different. In the race, there was all kinds of sketchyness going on, I used my brakes frequently. I thought there might have been times where I could have done some efforts, but the 1/2/3 race left me with just more steady effort. Generally, I just rode safe and surfed the pack.
Of course you see lower heart rate and power (line at 300W) through the entire second race. I did not have the ability to do much more than what you see here, I felt it in my quads.
http://connect.garmin.com/splits/25807024

I was hoping the weekend would launch my Training Stress Score/TSS into outer space, but no. The shortness of the races kept them low: 131.6, and 52.2. The Intensity Factor was good for the 1/2/3 race at 1.025. This may indicate that I need to re-assess my FTP. I never did a fresh test of power at the end of January. I need to revisit the rules on Intensty Factor... Robb? Mike? any input?