Damn 'bentist, that’s impressive. You fast. Happy for you.
yeah that’s humbling. my 50 mile ride with 4200 feet was at an average of like 13.5. i was doing ok until the 40 minute dirt climb that i averaged 7.9mph on.
In fairness: A big part of the ride was a short, very steep climb followed by 15 miles of slight downhill that really got my average up. The rest was rollers. So it is an ideal course for some serious ass hauling. My normal average on 50 mile+ rides is 14-15 mph.
Also that was on-bike speed–I had to stop every 20 minutes for neck stretches. The good news is that my neck survived and I had no neck pain the next day. I think I’m back in bidness!
Track thread is buried so I’m posting here.
4km Pursuit tonight went okay. 5:21 which is better that the 5:35 I did 2 years ago. I feel like I could be better if I actually raced this event more often/rode with aerobars ever. Don’t think there was much time I could have picked up equipment-wise since I was on borrowed discs F & R and wore a skinsuit/aero helmet. Definitely could have picked up a few seconds by holding a better line and pushing harder in the middle of the race.
Scratch tomorrow and points sunday. Only one category for dudes that aren’t masters or juniors so I gotta race the real fast guys. Just gonna try to finish those races in the bunch.
I’m in pretty good shape, but I want to get in even better-er shape. I used to be a long-distance runner before I fucked up my foot. Well, it’s been a while since the surgery so I’m starting out with just a few miles a week to see how it goes.
Anyone else use running as a workout when you don’t have 2-3 hours to commit to the bike? Am I wasting my time working out the wrong muscle groups?
no. and yes.
I finished the scratch a lap down on the fast dudes but not alone so pretty happy with that.
What are some good lunch options for workdays? I’m trying to drop some pounds off myself while not dying of hunger. Usually it’s a salad or sandwich with some homemade energy bars.
I do my interval workouts after work and before dinner; that makes my dinner also my recovery food.
If anyone else is interested, I’ve been following most of these suggestions: https://www.trainingpeaks.com/blog/your-14-step-guide-to-weight-loss-during-base-training/
[quote=rauce]Track thread is buried so I’m posting here.
4km Pursuit tonight went okay. 5:21 which is better that the 5:35 I did 2 years ago. I feel like I could be better if I actually raced this event more often/rode with aerobars ever. Don’t think there was much time I could have picked up equipment-wise since I was on borrowed discs F & R and wore a skinsuit/aero helmet. Definitely could have picked up a few seconds by holding a better line and pushing harder in the middle of the race.
[/quote]
spending time in aerobars is mildly helpful for pursuit, but other than dialing in position, it isn’t going to do much in terms of improving your time.
doing 5m vo2 intervals however…
that’s gonna get ya nice and pukey and ready for more pursuits.
[quote=mdilthey]I’m in pretty good shape, but I want to get in even better-er shape. I used to be a long-distance runner before I fucked up my foot. Well, it’s been a while since the surgery so I’m starting out with just a few miles a week to see how it goes.
Anyone else use running as a workout when you don’t have 2-3 hours to commit to the bike? Am I wasting my time working out the wrong muscle groups?[/quote]
2-3 hours is not required to get faster on the bike. if that’s your goal, running ain’t gonna do it. i tried running last winter… i got slower…
you can get absolutely solid bike workouts in 50-60 minutes. this is pretty much what i do 3x a week… 1 hr interval workouts.
plus the high intensity stuff will keep your metabolism crushing all day
^I guess it depends on what kind of shape you are in to start. Running has been beneficial to me, I think (not quantitated) because I wasn’t at peak cardiovascular fitness because of neck-related lethargy.
Well, my commute is 5 miles up a hill, which is nothing, so I treat it like a HIIT and try to do it a few times a day. I can swing 1-hour HIIT hill-climbing sessions, there’s lots of elevation near me. I might keep running just to experiment for myself but thanks for the tip with the interval stuff.
running can help with your aerobic fitness level, but for me, it completely killed my top end. so i guess it depends how you want to look at it… for me it’s important to still be able to ride at a higher intensity than threshold.
if you’re just after long endurance, then it probably won’t hurt you much.
just ftp-tested 7 watts lower on the new pm than the last test with virtual power.
STAGES IS FAKE NEWS!
jacques, how many w/kg ??
i haven’t weighed myself in a few years, but if i had to guess, i’d be at 4.5w/kg ftp.
my focus is really total power, given the types of races i do, riding style, and the fact that i don’t put on much weight anyways. current ftp is 335w.
jacques is strong
decided this season to get myself some coaching. last season i felt my fitness plateau with the unstructured way i’d been doing things. so far the external motivation has been really successful for getting volume and intensity up. been at it for 2 months now and my fitness is already better than it was during cross season, which isn’t necessarily saying all that much but i’m still very stoked about.
weekend before last i signed up for a 1/2/3 south jersey early season crit on a whim and had a pretty good day. boring flat course with a headwind on the finishing side. sat it pretty comfortably most of the race, let a few breaks go thinking they weren’t dangerous or that i couldn’t hang with them. was definitely wrong about the former and probably wrong about the latter. the leaders lapped us with 3 to go, then with 2 to go somebody went off the front and i said fuck it and followed. never quite grabbed his wheel but we both stayed away and i rolled the line 10th/20.
in retrospect i should have raced more aggressively, particularly considering my only agenda between now and cross season is to get as fit as possible. still fairly pleased with the result.
good work, scott!
i’ve also just started following a rigid training plan after several years of just winging it. i find that what’s helped me the most isn’t any increase in the quality of the workouts, but the consistency of my training. wondering if you and others feel the same way?
also, did 35m at 336w on sunday. slowly moving in the right direction.
Season is back to mostly uneventful for me. Did the Tour de Murrieta and got 5th in the TT but my power was way lower than I should have been able to hold for that short of an effort (11 mins or so). There was a rough dirt stretch so maybe that screwed me up, but really I needed to have an NP display on my computer to whip me into going harder at the end.
Did terribly in the crit and felt so out of my element re: cornering & aggression. Then in the circuit race I started a break about 30 minutes in and we stayed away for 70 minutes before finally getting caught with 2.5 laps to go. NP was 294 for 1:10 so I think it was a pretty solid effort. They also said we were only a few mins off the course record, so field must have been hauling.
Road race with a ~15 min climb into a headwind last weekend. I got dropped. Couldn’t go over threshold much for whatever reason, so on the 2nd lap when the pack surged up the start of the climb I just couldn’t hang on and the elastic snapped, but I rolled around at a decent sub-threshold pace off the back for a workout.
Then Sunday’s crit got canceled… per SCNCA:
[quote]MOTORIST/CYCLIST CONFLICTS CAUSE CANCELLATION OF POPULAR CRITERIUM! This is almost unbelievable. On Sunday, during the Women’s race, race staff had to cancel the remainder of the day at the Chuck Pontius Criterium. This was due to the inability of a small group of people (motorists) to exercise a bit of patience. Santa Clarita Velo did an excellent job of trying to accommodate everyone, cyclists and motorists, but selfishness prevailed.
Despite the fact that the proper permits were in place and roads were fully closed, race staff tried to accommodate folks who said they needed access to their businesses. Motorists were allowed access to businesses and were escorted onto the course. It was explained that, once inside the course, they would have to wait to leave (between races) and this would be a 40-60 minute delay. The other option would be to park outside the course and walk. After they agreed to the delay, the motorists were allowed to drive to their respective businesses. Once inside the course, some motorists completely disregarded what they had agreed to; they drove their vehicles around/over cones, did not obey course marshals instructions, and some drove the wrong way on the course, opposite race traffic. Two course marshals were nearly hit by one motorist let inside the course after agreeing to respect a possible one hour delay; he apparently changed his mind when he decided it was time for him to leave.
Kudos to Santa Clarita Velo and the Officiating crew in their decision to stop racing the remainder of the day. Their primary concern was the safety of the racers which, given the conditions, they were unable to guarantee. Hopefully this will not be the end of this long standing event.[/quote]
Lame-o
San Dimas Stage Race tomorrow, yay climbing and a sketchy circuit race potentially in the rain 
bummed we still haven’t met up this season. I still need to get into a little better shape before throwing myself back in.