Switched to a triple, and 10 speed at the same time

Well changed from my compact 50/34 and MTB cassette 11-32 (8 speed) to a triple, 53/42/30 and a 12-27 (10 speed)

Having the gears close together feels wonderful, and going from sora shifters to 105 is a dream as well in regards to shifting quality.

Rode 28mi today, 95% on the 42 ring (undulating), only droped to the grany on a nasty hill, and then to the 53 when going down another steep one :), swimming along on the 42 aat 20mph with plenty more to give was much nicer than my compact, constantly switching hunting for the right run of gears :)

Week 02: 19/10/08 – 25/10/08

Week 02: 19/10/08 – 25/10/08 TEST PERIOD

o Sunday – Steady ride as per normal (group or solo). A few hard efforts are fine. Do not exhaust yourself

Had trouble with this ride, couldn’t keep the HR in the right zone, was always below or above the 153-158 bpm listed. Now the difference between the rides Tuesday/Thursday last week and this one, was the route. I chose a loop round the area that is fairly undulating (can’t avoid it here unless you go up and down the same flat bits) where on the Tuesday/Thursday rides I lapped round some local loops i do, mixing it up a bit, which has some nice flat sections, some nice up hills, but also some good down hills where you can see round the corners etc so can keep the power going. Route I did today, most of the down hills I couldn’t see round the corners or hard turns so couldn’t maintain a constant pace which was demoralising a little, fighting to get the HR back up into zone, but then as soon as I did found another hill etc. Poor choice by me in that respect, lesson learnt.

Cut the ride short to only 1:50 with the warm up as still tired from the week and want to be in good shape for the tests. Kept track of what i was today and yesterday and realised I have not been taking in enough calories to replace the expended from the mileage, going to keep a diary to watch that.

Long Steady Ride

Distance : 26.2 miles (28.1 with warm up and cool down)

Time : 1:39:58

Average Power : 183

Normalised Power : 206

Average HR : 152

o Monday – REST

Wanted to spin my legs a little before the TT test tomorrow, felt a lot better than Sunday, and a couple of sprints out of the saddle felt comfortable and not tiring before the session even began (unlike yesterday which as soon as i stood up to put any power down even after just 10 minutes felt very hard)

Gentle Recovery Ride – few sprints to open up the legs day before TT test

Distance : 5.15mi

Time : 26:33

Average Power : 116

Normalised Power : 156

Average HR : 123

o Tuesday – Approximate 10-mile TT as hard as you can. For example if you have a loop that takes you anywhere between 18 and 30-mins this is fine (or test on the turbo)

Disapointing, , last one i did i averaged 258 watts 5 weeks ago but no speed training since then, wont bother saying more than that.

TT Test

Distance : 10.1

Time : 28:39

Average Power : 241 (Aprox 248 if you ignore numerious occasions of cleat disengaging and no power being put down)

Normalised Power : 248 (Aprox 255 if same as above)

Average HR : 187

o Wednesday – Steady ride

Had a slightly longer warm up than prescribed as very cold and wanted to take it steady, chose a better route than the one on Sunday, higher Power by 10w for 2bpm higher, better route where I could maintain more even power.

Z1 Ride

Distance : 21.4 mi (23.96 inc warn up and cool down)

Time : 1:15:32 (1:30:40 with warm up and cool down)

Average Power : 195

Normalised Power : 207

Average HR : 154

o Thursday – Recovery spin

Recovery ride

Distance : 11.45mi

Time : 57:37

Average Power : 112

Normalised Power : 146

Average HR : 115

o Friday – MAP TEST. Start at 100 W and increase 5 W every 12-secs (25 W/min) until you can no longer keep going! Ask if unsure!

Did not go well, think I should of practised a few times on the turbo first as not something I spend time on, didn’t keep my cadence up and also relied on the power setting of +10w on the turbo which was reading much higher than the powertap. Going to do another Monday, close block and keep the cadence high as I think I toped out at around 340w which was disappointing.

o Saturday – Recovery spin with 3 x 10-sec sprints all-out

Did remember to do some sprints to open up the legs, did them up hill to ensure I was going hard.

Recovery ride

Distance : 17.42mi

Time : 1:30:05

Average Power : 109

Normalised Power : 150

Average HR : 112

MAP Test and Training

Realised I've wasted a good 6 weeks structured training deciding what I wanted to do then waiting for a training plan from a coach (my fault for waiting so long)

My next race is in 8-9 weeks lol!

Picked up a TACX iMagic second hand to use as an ergo, think it will help a lot (and more fun when having to train indoors)

Anyway did a MAP test friday, ram was awful, didn't enjoy it... Anyway peak 1 min from the end was 341 watts, was disapointed, couldnt get my HR up presuming because my cadence was low, around 90 (well lower than my hardest TT)

Did another today, kept average cadence of 100, and low and behold, peak 1 min at the end was 341 watts, dam it! so exactly the same. Well good to see I didn't completely mess it up friday as I thought I had.

One thing though, my HR was about 10bpm higher for the test Monday (today) with the higher cadence.

Maybe I had falsley assumed this was helping (PM so far is 25:38 on an undulating course, 101 rpm, 195bpm average, no power data)

Week 01: 12/10/08 – 18/10/08

First week having a coach and this week is what i'm used to, the wednesday ride really showed how the tuesday and thursday rides may not be as good for me as I originally thought....


Now Sunday is a Z1 ride, Wednesday is a Z2 (Z3 and Z4 climbing respetively)

The club rides Tuesday, Thursday were supposed to be Z1, Z3-4 climbing, but didn't work out that way and dont think they ever will.

o Sunday – Steady ride as per normal (group or solo). A few hard efforts are fine

Did not complete the ride due to falling off my bike and breaking the mech hanger almost straight away, bruised and bloodied so didn’t switch to the TT bike for training.

o Monday – REST. Try to avoid training

Rest day, no biking , did not even bike to work (due to broken mech hanger)

o Tuesday – Steady ride/social ride

Biked to work and back, then in to my local town for the club ride (aprox 9 miles, gentle pace) then club ride

Club Ride

Distance : 18.7 miles

Time : 1:21:06

Average Power : 159 watts

Normalised Power : 227 watts

Average HR : 148 bpm

o Wednesday – Core endurance ride, this is an endurance ride, but slightly harder than the LR work. Preferably done on TT bike, but could be road bike!

Couldn’t use TT bike due to elbow hurting if putting weight on it (big bruise) so on road bike. Biked to work in the morning and went straight from work.

Have not done a tight HR ride before and can see how maintaining a zone would help fitness and how club rides are far from optimal in that sense (read, I am even more happy to give up the club rides to gain better fitness that before)

Core Endurance (not including 5min warmup each side)

Distance : 22.4 miles

Time : 1:20:12 (not including warm up/cool down)

Average Power : 193 watts

Normalised Power : 210 watts

Average HR : 161 bpm

o Thursday – Steady ride/social ride, but include 3 to 5 x 10-secs ‘all-out’ sprints as hard as you can. At least 5-mins easy between sprints

Missed the 3-5 x 10 sec sprints on the weekly sheet, will keep my eye out for anything like that again, did do some attacks up hills though but not all out.

Did a 600ft climb that absolutely killed me, was one of the first up it but legs were still tired from it the following Saturday

Club ride

Distance : 13.83 miles

Time : 58:12 (actual ride time, lots of waiting as big hill)

Average Power : 147 watts

Normalised Power : 228 watts

Average HR : 145

o Friday – Ride to GF or have a REST day

Recovery ride

Distance : 13.8 miles

Time : 1:02:25

Average Power : 122 watts

Normalised Power : 148 watts

Average HR : 118

o Saturday – Core endurance ride on road bike, with a 10-minute TT in it (about halfway) that feels about like your 25-m TT effort

First 20 mins found very hard and did not think I could finish the session, legs still feeling dead from Thursday. Eat a power bar (stupidly had a very minimal breakfast which wouldn’t of helped) and pushed on, after about 45 mins legs were moving well but out of the saddle was feeling very hard.

Core Endurance + 10min TT

Distance : 32.1 miles (35.1 including cool down and warm up)

Time : 1:49:12

Average Power : 197 watts

Normalised Power : 209 watts

Average HR : 163 bpm

First Z2 Session : Average Power – 195 watts, Average HR 160 bpm

10min TT Session : Average Power – 227 watts, Average HR 173 bpm

Second Z2 Session : Average Power – 193 watts, Average HR 163 bpm

Anyway good first week, testing next week and looking forward to it!

Hill Climb and oh what a mess up after

Well being my first day of being coached and an impromptue hill climb had planned my day with the following:

1. Hill Climb
2. Gentle 10mile recovery pace ride to get a mate on a bike
3. 2 hr Z1 solo ride (was supposed to be 2:30-3:00)

Anyway hill climb went well new 1 min peak power :) before only had around 450watts when doinga kilo sprint, now this is at 580ish i think

Gentle 10 mile recovery ride caused a problem, came off a couple miles in, gravel, but honestly I was going to fast into a corner, broke the rear mech hanger, scratched the shifters and pushed them offline.

Well took the mech off, shortened the chain but it was then stuck in a fixed gear, about 50x14-15

Rode home, so 10miles but gravel rash etc so skipped the Z1 ride

meh

Coaching HO!

Well first week of coaching starting tomorrow...

First week is just what im used to, plus little extra to get used to the whole process.

Second week is MAP test, TT test etc...

Sunday – Steady ride as per normal (group or solo). A few hard efforts are fine

• 
  

Monday – REST. Try to avoid training

• 
  

Tuesday – Steady ride/social ride

• 
  

Wednesday – Core endurance ride, this is an endurance ride, but slightly harder than the LR work. Preferably done on TT bike, but could be road bike!

• 
  

Thursday – Steady ride/social ride, but include 3 to 5 x 10-secs ‘all-out’ sprints as hard as you can. At least 5-mins easy between sprints

• 
  

Friday – Ride to GF or have a REST day

• 
  

Saturday – Core endurance ride on road bike, with a 10-minute TT in it (about halfway) that feels about like your 25-m TT effort


What im used to except a ride wednesday, not sure yet how i feedback to the coach but asked the questiontion to the chap :)

Looking back

Well with the first month of using a power meter thought I would have a good look back at what the Power Meter and WKO+ has told me.

First thing I noticed when I got a power meter was the fluctuation of power along an varying route compared to my heart rate, didn't expect it to be so varried.

Setup zones based on a few hour efforts and some practise TTs of a FTP of 240, think it might actually be closer to 260 but got time to figure that out...

Spent almost 10 hours in active recovery??!?!? like dam, if i dont include zero's from costing its still 3/4 of that.



If I look at HR, it gives a different picture, 1hr 40 in AR compared to 6 hours in endurance, almost 7 in tempo, 5 in threshold and about 2 in V02 max


Interesting to see how I do over different distances, mind you not completely accurate as I have not done race level efforts for specific intervals



Can see the ATL load droping for the last week due to being ill and not on my bike,and the CTL gaining slowly since I got the power meter.



Now its this screen thats got me aiming!! It has the cat labels on there and trying to get into cat above going by these and you can see you you are progressing in time, it is presuming mind you thatyou are putting in max efforts.


Hmm interesting to see my 1 min is fairly low compared to the rest, and I have done a 1km sprint that i did boil after the first minute....

Not sure what to make of this really, as not an all rounder, time trialist etc profile...

Drinking in the tuc on a TT bike

Well got a 19-20 mile race tommorrow and not used to having to drink as the 10mi races are over and done before I know it



Found this which could be interesting but won't help for the ride tomorrow, going to try and fix somehting in the back of my helmet that will take enough to get me round, will take a picutre and put it up.







Clips between the bars, the mount is extra, about 20quid so not to bad, add in a profile computer mount to go between the bars and would be a happy chappy



Link to the above bottle and mount, and a larger bottle

http://www.totalcycling.com/index.php/manufacturer/profile/DB_PROFILE_AERO.html

http://www.totalcycling.com/index.php/manufacturer/profile/DB_PROFILE_BRACKET.html

http://www.totalcycling.com/index.php/manufacturer/profile/DB_PROFILE_AQUA.html

All these tranining plans...MEEP!

All these training plans, long slow miles, sweet spot , like what the hell!!!!!!

Well going to put me behind 3 weeks while I wait for a training plan but signed up to RST coaching services



http://www.cyclecoach.com/

Filled in a qeustionaire and waiting the feedback, head coach seems a good bloke and they do special deals for clients on powertaps

Can't wait to get the plan back and get going!

First race with a PowerTap tomorrow, miss the disc wheel but ah well its not a points race :)

EDIT-Race cancelled due to weather, well mud and standing water :S

Sweet Spot

Well decided to include high end endurance/tempo training over the winter, weekend training. Today was going to be the first, but still feeling exhausted from the training yesterday.

Took more out of me than I expected so took the day off as got a bit of a cold coming, not going to make the mistake of over exercising and having to take time off.

PowerTap first impressions

PowerTap first impressions

Compared to my 705 or even the 305 the display that comes with the PowerTap Pro is awful, i was actually shocked at how basic it was but then I have not used anything but a Garmin 305/705 for biking, never used a cate eye even though one came with my TT bike.

Fitting was simple, putting wiring up my bike was anoying though as never had to do that before all being wireless, expect the Power Tap SL 2.4 is much better than that.

Merging the data into SportTracks went okay, but my GPS read over the distance i expected by .4 miles, first time ever its done that, and i think the PowerTap was accurate compared to this..

Have had a piece of software recomended for merging different data:

http://www.topofusion.com

Will have to try it later, trying to decide today if its a long ride i do, or a FTP test...

Garmin 705 and PowerTap Pro

Well after smashing up my Garmin 305 when in Scotland earlier this month I bought the new 705, happy with the functional improvements, had one dodgy activity saved so far so its not bug free even with the new 2.4 firmware, hopefully wont be a race one in the future but race season pretty much over!

Also rented a PowerTap Pro that should arrive Thursday, 8.50GBP a calender week for the wheel , computer etc, and an extra bike mount.

Just renting the base system so far to see how I get on with it, and also the versions above wont talk directly to my 705 until Cycleops release a firmware update to there PowerTap SL 2.4 (End of Septermber or early October)

Need to get my bikes insured as thats a system worth £700

Reading 'Racing and Training with a Power Meter' currently, lots of terms to take it.

First thing i need to do really is a FTP test, but expect my first ride will be a gentle local ride Friday evening to make sure everything is worthing, then a long slow ride Satuday.

Can't wait to get my head all around this, downloading the WKO+ software trial to have a go