After a good weekend with a race post taper, I took the dive into the negatives on TSB again. As gentle as one would come up positive for a taper, I dove negative with a quickness and are my legs feeling it.
The last four days of work look like this:
TSS ATL CTL TSB
03/20/07 153.2 102.28 114.54 19.8
03/21/07 161.8 110.78 115.67 12.26
03/22/07 181.4 120.87 117.23 4.88
03/23/07 188.9 130.59 118.94 -3.64
Tomorrow will be another 150 TSS day and Sunday is a group ride century which bodes for 240+ TSS if done at L1 pace. This will drive me into the -20 range in TSB, a 40 point drop from Tuesday's high point.
Here's how the week worked out:
Tuesday was supposed to be a 2 hr L1 ride with no real pressure. Silly me, after a weekend taper and a massage on Monday - the legs felt fantastic. Instead of 2 hrs at L1, I ended up getting 2 hrs in at the bottom of L4. 1 hr 45 min of the ride was @ ~310 watts, normalized.
Wednesday was 3 hours on the bike with power intervals. I still felt great on the bike and was getting ready to go for my 5th one when I flatted so I had to fix the flat and get going again. After the legs cooled off there was no way I was going to get another upper L5 interval in, so I did L1 back to the house.
Thursday was 3 hours of L2 riding. Hit some steep rollers and some good steady climbs with beautiful weather. At the end of the ride we were at 3 hours normalized @ 265 watts, smack in the middle of L2. Grabbed some advice on bike fit from some folks and took it. I shifted from a 110mm stem to a 120mm stem and dropped the angle quite a bit. I could definitely feel the fit difference on Thursday, but nothing other than being much lower.
Friday - today - I got in 4 hours and a little extra of L1 time around Oshima Island. It was a gorgeous day and I almost regretted being in leg warmers/long sleeves. It took my legs almost an hour to "warm up" so that even L1 wasn't painful. I grabbed an espresso and some carbs at the 1 hr mark and pressed on - with the intentions to turn around in 10-15 minutes if I wasn't feeling better. I felt better, so kept going.
In the second day in the new position I started to notice something I didn't notice the day before. It was like free wattage being handed out. When I get into a comfy position with my arms resting on the bar tops/hoods my perceived exertion compared to power numbers was definitely different. I was creeping up into the mid to upper L2 ranges without even noticing it and had to constant back myself off.
Tomorrow I get to do another 120-150 TSS day. 3 hours of L1 which will contain a 25 minute threshold interval at 330W or better. I'm curious to see how this lower position works out for me during that interval to really get a feel for the differences in perceived exertion.
At the end of the long week it'll be 16 1/2 hrs on the bike (Sunday to Saturday). 950ish TSS, I'd guess. If I count it Monday to Sunday, we'll be closer to the 1050 TSS mark and nearly 20 hrs on the bike.
The last four days of work look like this:
TSS ATL CTL TSB
03/20/07 153.2 102.28 114.54 19.8
03/21/07 161.8 110.78 115.67 12.26
03/22/07 181.4 120.87 117.23 4.88
03/23/07 188.9 130.59 118.94 -3.64
Tomorrow will be another 150 TSS day and Sunday is a group ride century which bodes for 240+ TSS if done at L1 pace. This will drive me into the -20 range in TSB, a 40 point drop from Tuesday's high point.
Here's how the week worked out:
Tuesday was supposed to be a 2 hr L1 ride with no real pressure. Silly me, after a weekend taper and a massage on Monday - the legs felt fantastic. Instead of 2 hrs at L1, I ended up getting 2 hrs in at the bottom of L4. 1 hr 45 min of the ride was @ ~310 watts, normalized.
Wednesday was 3 hours on the bike with power intervals. I still felt great on the bike and was getting ready to go for my 5th one when I flatted so I had to fix the flat and get going again. After the legs cooled off there was no way I was going to get another upper L5 interval in, so I did L1 back to the house.
Thursday was 3 hours of L2 riding. Hit some steep rollers and some good steady climbs with beautiful weather. At the end of the ride we were at 3 hours normalized @ 265 watts, smack in the middle of L2. Grabbed some advice on bike fit from some folks and took it. I shifted from a 110mm stem to a 120mm stem and dropped the angle quite a bit. I could definitely feel the fit difference on Thursday, but nothing other than being much lower.
Friday - today - I got in 4 hours and a little extra of L1 time around Oshima Island. It was a gorgeous day and I almost regretted being in leg warmers/long sleeves. It took my legs almost an hour to "warm up" so that even L1 wasn't painful. I grabbed an espresso and some carbs at the 1 hr mark and pressed on - with the intentions to turn around in 10-15 minutes if I wasn't feeling better. I felt better, so kept going.
In the second day in the new position I started to notice something I didn't notice the day before. It was like free wattage being handed out. When I get into a comfy position with my arms resting on the bar tops/hoods my perceived exertion compared to power numbers was definitely different. I was creeping up into the mid to upper L2 ranges without even noticing it and had to constant back myself off.
Tomorrow I get to do another 120-150 TSS day. 3 hours of L1 which will contain a 25 minute threshold interval at 330W or better. I'm curious to see how this lower position works out for me during that interval to really get a feel for the differences in perceived exertion.
At the end of the long week it'll be 16 1/2 hrs on the bike (Sunday to Saturday). 950ish TSS, I'd guess. If I count it Monday to Sunday, we'll be closer to the 1050 TSS mark and nearly 20 hrs on the bike.