What a rockin weekend of bike racing.
Here's the synopsis, I'll try to keep it short.
First, I've settled on a warm-up routine for crits. As a guy leaned more toward road racing that needs the legs to get warm, I've decided that I just need to get out on the bike for an hour or more of L1/L2 spinning with some rolling terrain or some 30-45 second threshold level efforts to get things rolling. This keeps me from cooling down too fast at the inevitable start line "freeze" waiting for the whistle.
Syn-Fit Crit Cat 4:
Round and round, got in a couple early moves and watched for a break to get established up the road. Nothing was going and that was really getting frustrating. In typical Cat 4 fashion, no one ever lets a guy get more than 5 seconds up the road. This kept the pace high the whole race. Callahan pulled me up to the front to get me a launch right as the prime lap was called. He thought he wasted but actually it worked out just right. The plan was to launch immediately after the "prime slow down" that happens almost always right after the prime sprint.
Launched it into turn one and got a gap fast. No one came across and with now 10 laps to go, I was on my own. I looked under the arm a couple times to see guys trying to bridge, but no one ever made it across and the inevitable failure of my one-man break happened just after the 2-to-go. Evolution was the force on the front, as far as I could tell at the end, but I take consolation that they didn't place a guy top 10 after shutting me down.
Pack finish after the pace blew up with the Bike Rack guys on the last laps and I never recovered from the break.
Syn-Fit Crit Cat 4 35+:
The team took a huge win, and - sorry to the other teams - but we man-handled the peloton. We had a good team meeting before the race and planned our strategy. With no breaks sticking all day at Syn-Fit, we didn't expect one to stick here either and planned for our sprint lead out.
I ended up in an unexpected break with an NCVC rider who was clearly suffering (and admitted as much afterward), but that made it easier to just kinda ride tempo off the front without really punishing it as I was supposed to be the last of the lead-out.
We got snagged with 8 to go and let the other teams manage the minor attacks that went from here to two to go. I had enough time to roll to the back, grab the sprinter and pull through to my lead-out's wheel. Gus nailed it through turn one on two to go and began to "stretch the elastic." New team-mate Pete Warner took it from 1 to go, summarily popping the Colavita rider on his wheel and sliding me right into second wheel. At 1km to go I got to take over and jam through the 200 meter mark. Carnage was all over behind us allowing me to coast in for fifth with a fantastic finish by Rich. Rock on Rich! Best race of the weekend was getting the team and teammate the win.
Carl Dolan 3/4:
Tired yet? Yah.. me too. We did a lousy job with strategy in this race, planning way too late. Ahler's still got a 1st place prize payout from the 4's after the split out of the results and I rolled a pack finish. Of note, moto-refs should not try to relegate someone THROUGH the field. yah, that sucked big time.
Carl Dolan 35+:
Powermeter says the 3/4 was just as fast as this race, but I don't know if anyone would agree based on perception. First, the 3/4 race was bunched up all the time, making it really hard to move around. The 35+ was lined out 2-3 wide almost the entire race. That made it really easy to move up on the side away from the wind, but getting away was a whole different story.
Kudos to guys I know - Matt for getting away in that killer break that was probably the only break of the day that had a prayer.
I got to launch off the front a couple times to bridge to the break, if nothing else to get the WWVC jersey out of the pack. This was bad for me, but good for others who took my attacks to that half-way point and then went the rest without me. Dave hooked me up with an attempt to get me half way across, but it just wasn't happening. We got some distance with two others, but Warno took off and I had nothing. My legs were cooked and I couldn't hold on full tilt at any more than 30-45 seconds.
For being "notorious" for crashes, both races were reasonable safe. The 3/4 was a huge field so there were some serious momentum issues. The 35+ was just so constantly fast that the speed alone kept it safe.
What a rockin weekend of racing. The Syn-Fit was a great venue for fast racing, and that team win was one of the most rewarding victories I've had yet.
(2*Syn-Fit)+(2*Dolan)=Toast
April 21, 2009, 10:10 amWalkersville and Tyson's: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
April 6, 2009, 10:06 am
Walkersville 35+ 4/5 (The Good)
It's nice to know when you're coming into pretty good form. It's also nice to know that you can pretty much go into a day fresh and do with your legs what you want to do with them. Walkersville was one of those days.
The race report for Walkersville isn't anything exciting for someone to read, I suppose. We set off on the course with the 20-30 MPH winds. The folks that were out there know the headwind you were getting on the long straight road. The pack was pretty content to not race. We rolled through an excruciatingly tame first lap. We rolled back into the headwind and teammate Gould was sitting on the front at a slow tempo with the pack all behind him. I pulled through and around and yanked him off the front and let some other folks feel it.
We crested the turn at the flashing light and an unattached guy (Pete) pulled up and away, not by much - maybe 4-5 seconds. Bike Rack dude and I were cruising the front side by side joking about how right about then the rider was thinking "Maybe I can take this for 35 miles to the finish?!" Hah.. right. I closed the gap with the pack on me hanging the turn to the descent, and after having given a pretty good jump to feel out what the legs would do, I figured it was time to see what was going on.
I hit the base of the stair step climbs and jammed. By the crest of the climb I was off the front by a handful of seconds, looked over the shoulder saw three guys coming across and pedaled through the descent just hard enough to stay away but still let them get over to me without crushing it.
This is where the team took over. My guys Gus and Chris were a massive force in the pack keeping the tempo back, and a lap later we were off the front by around a minute. Pete and I did the bulk of the effort in the break, but the poor fellas that were with us were probably 50 pounds lighter and the wind was just killin them. We held the gap strong until lap 4 when it came down to 25 seconds fast.
We got on the north end of the course and Pete and I dropped our teammates on the stair-step climb. We sat up and chatted to let them back on and planned some cooperation to the finish. The plan was to give it the go on the turn out of the headwind and take it to the finish.
The situation changed a little, but the plan stayed. The pack was on us coming off the long headwind stretch and when they were 2-3 seconds off my wheel at the flashing light, I attacked again. Once again, my teammates (all two of them) did the work to make the rest happen. I crested the stair step climb with 15 seconds and a Bike Doctor guy coming across the gap. He latched on at the descent and we rolled with what we had. I was spent 500 meters from the finish and told him as much. He pushed on the front and I wheel sucked my way to the second place. 72 minutes in the break according to the power file, and a great day on the road.
OVERNIGHT REST, CARBS, PROTEIN, BED EARLY
I woke up Sunday feeling remarkably fresh. Benefits of big hours means back to back hard days aren't well.. so hard.
Tyson's Cat 4:
(The Bad) 3 laps of the Cat 4 race and we're sitting at the start/finish neutralized because people make bad decisions with good intentions. I hope the guy from HPC is okay and look forward to hearing as much.
Down side of big hours is that I've always found my legs cool down remarkably quick and take a long time to get going again. Add this to a now 30 minute Cat 4 race that was full on from the go and I suffered for this race. I ducked and dodged the fodder that got popped to get myself into the pack. I gave what I had to make up some places at the end toward the finish but found myself on the wheel of a lapped rider when the two guys in front of me went left/right to avoid him. Only took a tap of the brakes and a quick dodge left to lose momentum. They really should have pulled lapped riders with 2 to go. This little bit sucked.
Three more guys got totaled sprinting for 20th (The Ugly)
Tyson's Masters:
This race was SO drastically easier - not because of power requirements, but because it was so drastically smooth compared to the earlier 4 race that the "dreaded" Turn 3 was taken full speed. I barely had to think about having brake levers in this race.
At this point I was riding for the workout. It was a pretty stacked field so I was just riding to get the pack time. About halfway through the race I realized we'd whittled down a good chunk of the field and what I perceived as middle of the pack was now "tail end." I moved myself up and got in one good push off the front with what I thought was a bridging group to a breakaway. That came for naught and we got sucked in pretty fast.
I really felt like I was opening up at about 50 minutes into the 60 minute race and that sucks. I need to find ways to get that 50 minutes of warm-up in pre-race without burning matches I'll need for the race. The reality of MABRA racing is 60 minute races, and I have to be able to show up at minute 1 ready to roll.
Free advice from the successful taken gladly. Doubled up racing for Syn-Fit and Carl Dolan in two weeks. In between I'm going to take some serious Tyson's frustration out on the bike and roads (and companions at Wakefield).
Cheers,
VW
It's nice to know when you're coming into pretty good form. It's also nice to know that you can pretty much go into a day fresh and do with your legs what you want to do with them. Walkersville was one of those days.
The race report for Walkersville isn't anything exciting for someone to read, I suppose. We set off on the course with the 20-30 MPH winds. The folks that were out there know the headwind you were getting on the long straight road. The pack was pretty content to not race. We rolled through an excruciatingly tame first lap. We rolled back into the headwind and teammate Gould was sitting on the front at a slow tempo with the pack all behind him. I pulled through and around and yanked him off the front and let some other folks feel it.
We crested the turn at the flashing light and an unattached guy (Pete) pulled up and away, not by much - maybe 4-5 seconds. Bike Rack dude and I were cruising the front side by side joking about how right about then the rider was thinking "Maybe I can take this for 35 miles to the finish?!" Hah.. right. I closed the gap with the pack on me hanging the turn to the descent, and after having given a pretty good jump to feel out what the legs would do, I figured it was time to see what was going on.
I hit the base of the stair step climbs and jammed. By the crest of the climb I was off the front by a handful of seconds, looked over the shoulder saw three guys coming across and pedaled through the descent just hard enough to stay away but still let them get over to me without crushing it.
This is where the team took over. My guys Gus and Chris were a massive force in the pack keeping the tempo back, and a lap later we were off the front by around a minute. Pete and I did the bulk of the effort in the break, but the poor fellas that were with us were probably 50 pounds lighter and the wind was just killin them. We held the gap strong until lap 4 when it came down to 25 seconds fast.
We got on the north end of the course and Pete and I dropped our teammates on the stair-step climb. We sat up and chatted to let them back on and planned some cooperation to the finish. The plan was to give it the go on the turn out of the headwind and take it to the finish.
The situation changed a little, but the plan stayed. The pack was on us coming off the long headwind stretch and when they were 2-3 seconds off my wheel at the flashing light, I attacked again. Once again, my teammates (all two of them) did the work to make the rest happen. I crested the stair step climb with 15 seconds and a Bike Doctor guy coming across the gap. He latched on at the descent and we rolled with what we had. I was spent 500 meters from the finish and told him as much. He pushed on the front and I wheel sucked my way to the second place. 72 minutes in the break according to the power file, and a great day on the road.
OVERNIGHT REST, CARBS, PROTEIN, BED EARLY
I woke up Sunday feeling remarkably fresh. Benefits of big hours means back to back hard days aren't well.. so hard.
Tyson's Cat 4:
(The Bad) 3 laps of the Cat 4 race and we're sitting at the start/finish neutralized because people make bad decisions with good intentions. I hope the guy from HPC is okay and look forward to hearing as much.
Down side of big hours is that I've always found my legs cool down remarkably quick and take a long time to get going again. Add this to a now 30 minute Cat 4 race that was full on from the go and I suffered for this race. I ducked and dodged the fodder that got popped to get myself into the pack. I gave what I had to make up some places at the end toward the finish but found myself on the wheel of a lapped rider when the two guys in front of me went left/right to avoid him. Only took a tap of the brakes and a quick dodge left to lose momentum. They really should have pulled lapped riders with 2 to go. This little bit sucked.
Three more guys got totaled sprinting for 20th (The Ugly)
Tyson's Masters:
This race was SO drastically easier - not because of power requirements, but because it was so drastically smooth compared to the earlier 4 race that the "dreaded" Turn 3 was taken full speed. I barely had to think about having brake levers in this race.
At this point I was riding for the workout. It was a pretty stacked field so I was just riding to get the pack time. About halfway through the race I realized we'd whittled down a good chunk of the field and what I perceived as middle of the pack was now "tail end." I moved myself up and got in one good push off the front with what I thought was a bridging group to a breakaway. That came for naught and we got sucked in pretty fast.
I really felt like I was opening up at about 50 minutes into the 60 minute race and that sucks. I need to find ways to get that 50 minutes of warm-up in pre-race without burning matches I'll need for the race. The reality of MABRA racing is 60 minute races, and I have to be able to show up at minute 1 ready to roll.
Free advice from the successful taken gladly. Doubled up racing for Syn-Fit and Carl Dolan in two weeks. In between I'm going to take some serious Tyson's frustration out on the bike and roads (and companions at Wakefield).
Cheers,
VW
Just plugging away....
March 21, 2009, 6:58 pm
Half way through March, and things seem to be moving along right. Hours on the bike are right and I'm putting out numbers that show I'm getting stronger and stronger.
Now if I can shed these pounds ... so, it's been back to the micro-managed diet this week. Once I get in the habit, I actually enjoy the dieting thing. It's getting in the habit that is so hard. I don't need to shed a ton of pounds, about 2½ kg.
I've had questions about how I drop weight, and this is pretty much how I do it.
About 2 yrs ago I had my RMR measured (resting metabolic rate). It was measured 3 times between 2200 and 2400 calories. It's a little different than BMR, but it provides me the right starting point.
So, with that in mind I estimate on the low side and assume my daily "non-biking" output is 2200 calories. There's a little debate how to convert kJoules from the powermeter files over to calories burned. I know a bunch of people that use 1.1 or 1.2x the kJoules with success, but to be honest - there's enough math in my life. For me, I call it a 1:1 amount. If the Powertap says 1000kj of work, I call it 1000 cal burned.
Some people say "Don't weigh yourself every day!" Whatever. I do it every morning after I relieve the bladder. I log everything about the food I eat. I use a program called "NutribaseEZ" because it has an awesome food database - and it's licensed for as many computers as I want to use it on. It has a EASY customizable database for recipes and all sorts of stuff (the shortfall of most of the programs I've used). I get really anal retentive here. If there's something not in my database, I take a photo of the label and toss it in later. Especially for things you grab at the 7-11 or something out on a ride.
I also count carbs/prot/fat's. 70-15-15 is my ideal carb/fat/prot mix. That's what works for me anyway. On 15-16 hrs per week, I'm running right around 29000 calories for a whole week's diet to maintain. If I run a deficit daily of just about anything greater than 0, I start to lose weight. The RMR doesn't account for walking around, housework, or anything else you do.
I'm also a lose weight slooooow guy. Some people go for the 1lb per week. Me, it's just "lose slowly." Right now I'm aiming at being 76-77kg steady by Ephrata (end of April). If I lost a pound a week I'd be way lower than that. Also a 500 cal/day diet just is not sustainable for me. My appetite won't support it - and never has.
Finally... the whole "losing weight during intensity training periods." I call what I'm in now the "intensity training period." But I do enough long/steady endurance miles that make up for the two days of full bore workouts and usually one long tempo workout per week. I make sure I am well fed and get good protein resupply after those for muscle build / soreness prevention.
Anyway... I have all sorts of spreadsheets and numbers and stuff that I get to play with and that makes it a little more fun for me.
Finally... yah, that 15 hr weeks thing? Whatever. I'm losing that battle, but man are my numbers looking good. And considering my 1 hr power right now is on par with what it was last summer at peak form, I ain't changing a thing. Right now it's the push, push, push until Ephrata.
Racing starts next weekend at Jeff Cup for me, and the good news is it looks cold and rainy in the forecast. Good... news.... yah... whatever.
Ride hard, ride safe, ride lots,
VW
Now if I can shed these pounds ... so, it's been back to the micro-managed diet this week. Once I get in the habit, I actually enjoy the dieting thing. It's getting in the habit that is so hard. I don't need to shed a ton of pounds, about 2½ kg.
I've had questions about how I drop weight, and this is pretty much how I do it.
About 2 yrs ago I had my RMR measured (resting metabolic rate). It was measured 3 times between 2200 and 2400 calories. It's a little different than BMR, but it provides me the right starting point.
So, with that in mind I estimate on the low side and assume my daily "non-biking" output is 2200 calories. There's a little debate how to convert kJoules from the powermeter files over to calories burned. I know a bunch of people that use 1.1 or 1.2x the kJoules with success, but to be honest - there's enough math in my life. For me, I call it a 1:1 amount. If the Powertap says 1000kj of work, I call it 1000 cal burned.
Some people say "Don't weigh yourself every day!" Whatever. I do it every morning after I relieve the bladder. I log everything about the food I eat. I use a program called "NutribaseEZ" because it has an awesome food database - and it's licensed for as many computers as I want to use it on. It has a EASY customizable database for recipes and all sorts of stuff (the shortfall of most of the programs I've used). I get really anal retentive here. If there's something not in my database, I take a photo of the label and toss it in later. Especially for things you grab at the 7-11 or something out on a ride.
I also count carbs/prot/fat's. 70-15-15 is my ideal carb/fat/prot mix. That's what works for me anyway. On 15-16 hrs per week, I'm running right around 29000 calories for a whole week's diet to maintain. If I run a deficit daily of just about anything greater than 0, I start to lose weight. The RMR doesn't account for walking around, housework, or anything else you do.
I'm also a lose weight slooooow guy. Some people go for the 1lb per week. Me, it's just "lose slowly." Right now I'm aiming at being 76-77kg steady by Ephrata (end of April). If I lost a pound a week I'd be way lower than that. Also a 500 cal/day diet just is not sustainable for me. My appetite won't support it - and never has.
Finally... the whole "losing weight during intensity training periods." I call what I'm in now the "intensity training period." But I do enough long/steady endurance miles that make up for the two days of full bore workouts and usually one long tempo workout per week. I make sure I am well fed and get good protein resupply after those for muscle build / soreness prevention.
Anyway... I have all sorts of spreadsheets and numbers and stuff that I get to play with and that makes it a little more fun for me.
Finally... yah, that 15 hr weeks thing? Whatever. I'm losing that battle, but man are my numbers looking good. And considering my 1 hr power right now is on par with what it was last summer at peak form, I ain't changing a thing. Right now it's the push, push, push until Ephrata.
Racing starts next weekend at Jeff Cup for me, and the good news is it looks cold and rainy in the forecast. Good... news.... yah... whatever.
Ride hard, ride safe, ride lots,
VW
Little things
March 8, 2009, 7:14 pm
I'm certainly not an "old timer" when it comes to riding a bike. I started riding more than "recreationally" in 1999 on a mountain bike. I rode on and off in mountain bike form until 2005 when I switched to road biking. So for me, just under 4 years.
But, what I can say I do - I really study and pay attention and log how I feel, when I feel it and what things my body is doing when I'm training. I feel like I have a pretty good barometer for when my body is making the right kind of progress (and when it's going in the tank - though it's hard to admit it even when I know it's happening).
So, with some movement of off days this week in my training schedule to accommodate family scheduling and rolling into training camp, I came slightly fresher than I normally might this time of year. I took advantage of that to pound in some good long miles and see how the body feels on the aerobic base side. More importantly, how is my recovery from day to day on high TSS - and can I start ramping in the intensity the way I want?
Date TSS IF Hours KM kJ
03/05/09 (Thu) 220.02 0.820 3.27 101.74 2954.67
03/06/09 (Fri) 234.52 0.729 4.41 131.63 3380.07
03/07/09 (Sat) 258.93 0.781 4.25 131.64 3674.86
03/08/09 (Sun) 352.68 0.810 5.38 168.05 4777.46
Thursday was a good long ride day, nothing crazy about it.
Friday I hit the lunch ride at the Point for some spirited wind ups before rolling on my way.
Saturday was just a good cruising pace out to Dry Mill and back.
I honestly didn't expect today to be nearly that intense a ride. It should have been way lower than that - like IF .73? But with the IF that high for 5+ hours after a 3 day stretch leading into it - me thinks FTP might be underestimated. We'll see soon enough.
I got on the bike this morning and the legs hit the chill morning air, and I began thinking ... hrmmm... 5+ hrs? But I'm sitting here now with fatigued - but not really sore - legs. So, my answer? Recovery good. Aerobic base, good. I popped my CTL up into the 110+ range for the first time since... well.. a couple months, for sure.
Now, intensity. 3x20s, hard group riding at Wakefield and VO2, with a LOT of recovery in between. If I feel "on form" in May, I'll be happy. Before then? No good.
I gotta say, I'm digging the daylight savings thing for afternoon->early evening riding. Of course, riding in 70° weather probably skews the perceptions a bit, but I'll take it!
After these four days, it's a recovery spin for 90 minutes tomorrow. Wakefield on Tuesday night, depending on the weather. I'll stretch the week with solid tempo riding with another recovery spin before hitting training camp this weekend.
Cheers!
VW
PS > Saw lots of folks out in Loudon today out by Snickersville. Fantastic riding out there again today in Loudon/Bull Run/Purcellville and points in between.
But, what I can say I do - I really study and pay attention and log how I feel, when I feel it and what things my body is doing when I'm training. I feel like I have a pretty good barometer for when my body is making the right kind of progress (and when it's going in the tank - though it's hard to admit it even when I know it's happening).
So, with some movement of off days this week in my training schedule to accommodate family scheduling and rolling into training camp, I came slightly fresher than I normally might this time of year. I took advantage of that to pound in some good long miles and see how the body feels on the aerobic base side. More importantly, how is my recovery from day to day on high TSS - and can I start ramping in the intensity the way I want?
Date TSS IF Hours KM kJ
03/05/09 (Thu) 220.02 0.820 3.27 101.74 2954.67
03/06/09 (Fri) 234.52 0.729 4.41 131.63 3380.07
03/07/09 (Sat) 258.93 0.781 4.25 131.64 3674.86
03/08/09 (Sun) 352.68 0.810 5.38 168.05 4777.46
Thursday was a good long ride day, nothing crazy about it.
Friday I hit the lunch ride at the Point for some spirited wind ups before rolling on my way.
Saturday was just a good cruising pace out to Dry Mill and back.
I honestly didn't expect today to be nearly that intense a ride. It should have been way lower than that - like IF .73? But with the IF that high for 5+ hours after a 3 day stretch leading into it - me thinks FTP might be underestimated. We'll see soon enough.
I got on the bike this morning and the legs hit the chill morning air, and I began thinking ... hrmmm... 5+ hrs? But I'm sitting here now with fatigued - but not really sore - legs. So, my answer? Recovery good. Aerobic base, good. I popped my CTL up into the 110+ range for the first time since... well.. a couple months, for sure.
Now, intensity. 3x20s, hard group riding at Wakefield and VO2, with a LOT of recovery in between. If I feel "on form" in May, I'll be happy. Before then? No good.
I gotta say, I'm digging the daylight savings thing for afternoon->early evening riding. Of course, riding in 70° weather probably skews the perceptions a bit, but I'll take it!
After these four days, it's a recovery spin for 90 minutes tomorrow. Wakefield on Tuesday night, depending on the weather. I'll stretch the week with solid tempo riding with another recovery spin before hitting training camp this weekend.
Cheers!
VW
PS > Saw lots of folks out in Loudon today out by Snickersville. Fantastic riding out there again today in Loudon/Bull Run/Purcellville and points in between.
Great, great week
February 21, 2009, 8:26 pm
Rolled a great week on the bike this week.
I started the week with 75 min @ 340 watts.
Next day: 4x4x4 VO2 workouts: 422, 419, 421, 408 watts.
Everything else this week has been tempo or endurance, with a 90 minute recovery spin on Wedneday.
Polished the week of with 15+ hrs on the bike.
Yesterday's ride was a hard 3½ hours in a brutal wind and I expected to be really sore out on the bike. But as soon as I got the legs spinning today, they opened up immediately. Took 4 hours with Pete, and for the first two hours or so we had a great tailwind and some pretty easy riding. We turned into the strong winds on the way home and I settled in and rolled. My legs are tired today, but they're the right kind of tired.
It's been a week of really earning the rest days, but the rest days are plenty to get back to the training with the right amount of "feel goodness"
I still need to drop 5-7 lbs, but that should start rolling off pretty easy now that I'm getting good consistent hours to compete with my appetite!
The weather should only get better from here, right?
Hrmm.. we'll see about that.
Ride safe,
VW
I started the week with 75 min @ 340 watts.
Next day: 4x4x4 VO2 workouts: 422, 419, 421, 408 watts.
Everything else this week has been tempo or endurance, with a 90 minute recovery spin on Wedneday.
Polished the week of with 15+ hrs on the bike.
Yesterday's ride was a hard 3½ hours in a brutal wind and I expected to be really sore out on the bike. But as soon as I got the legs spinning today, they opened up immediately. Took 4 hours with Pete, and for the first two hours or so we had a great tailwind and some pretty easy riding. We turned into the strong winds on the way home and I settled in and rolled. My legs are tired today, but they're the right kind of tired.
It's been a week of really earning the rest days, but the rest days are plenty to get back to the training with the right amount of "feel goodness"
I still need to drop 5-7 lbs, but that should start rolling off pretty easy now that I'm getting good consistent hours to compete with my appetite!
The weather should only get better from here, right?
Hrmm.. we'll see about that.
Ride safe,
VW