WOOOOOO!!!!
Team Big Kahuna #1!
On a windy day in Iwakuni, Team Big Kahuna dominated its competition and came across the line in first place in the team division. With efforts by Kirstin and Bonnie and myself we came across the line nearly 10 minute ahead of our closest team, and in 7th place overall!
Times ran something around this. Swim, 25 minutes. Bike, 1hr 5min. Run 43min. All times combined plus some transition time round us out to 2 hrs 15 minutes. Thanks huge to Kirstin and Bonnie for letting my cycle for them. I think I've secured my place on the Team Big Kahuna for next year.
The cycling today was rough, but I did get a lot of benefit out of it.
Here's my stats for the race:
Distance: 40.53km
Time: 01:05:38
Avg Speed: 37.051 kph (23.15mph)
Max Speed: 47.1kph (29.4mph)
Cadence: Avg, though not measured, was easily 100+
Average HR: 176
Max HR: 182
Zone 1: 00:00:00
Zone 2: 00:00:00
Zone 3: 00:01:11
Zone 4: 00:17:59
Zone 5: 00:46:00
This HR information establishes something for me I've suspected for a while. My lactate threshold has gone up since I last measured it in the spring. Using the 40km TT method, I lapped a middle 20 minute section of the race today on the second lap, and the average HR for that time period was 177 instead of 175, which is what I've been using. So I'll adjust all my HR zones today which will be great timing moving into the off season training.
This time and pace really encourages me for the upcoming races the next two weekends. I wasn't able to draft at all today - being a triathlon. I think in a draft I'll be a much more competitve rider now than I was in May when we did the 40km race on base. Our average speed - with drafting - for that race was right at 39.9kph. It'll be interesting to see the paces I can stick with in the coming weekends.
Off to readjust my HR training zones and everything that follows. Yeehaw! Oh, and I'll start polishing my trophy too. :P
VW
Iwakuni Triathlon #1!
September 24, 2006, 7:00 amAnother great ride
September 21, 2006, 8:01 am
Some basic stats for today:
Distance: 85.52 km
Time: 2:35:25
Avg. Speed: 33.016 kph
Avg HR: 164
Max HR: 185
What this doesn't show is the 15km stretch where I drafted a dump truck. Here's the scenario. I'm turning onto Rte 187. For those not familiar, Rte 187 is a slight (1-2%) incline from Iwakuni to Nishiki. It's two lanes, with little to no shoulder on either side. There are a few excavation areas where they are dragging dirt down or taking dirt up to do work along the river bank. Typically, I ride the 43km route from Iwakuni to Nishiki, and return back for an 87km stretch of reasonably level road. There's always a steady wind either up the river valley or back down it (though rarely back down hill).
Today, I turned onto Rte 187 and hopped behind the dump truck. The speed limit on Rte 187 is 50kph, but few vehicles, if any, do that speed limit. Fortunately for me, this dump truck had a good load of dirt in the bed, so he was in no hurry to throw it around the road. So off we went, my destination today was the Rte 5 turn off to go over the mountains back to Iwakuni.
Initially, the road cuts through a residential area with a school yard on the side of the road. Traffic here goes 45-50kph so it's a good place to catch a draft for a little bit before starting the trek up the river valley. Much to my surprise, as we rolled out of the residential area and up the river valley, my friendly dump truck driver never really pushed more then 55kph. I had to slide between cadences a little bit. I had to stand up to move myself back into the slip stream at 50kph a couple times when he'd accelerate around a turn. But for the next 15 kilometers we were cruising, and it was awesome.
Now, granted, today was supposed to be a steady paced distance day. That just never happened. It was encouraging to be able to keep up with this guy and accelerate out of some of the turns and stay with him. A few times in a row it's really felt like I've blown past the peak for this year and am getting slower and slower. But six months ago, at 55kph, slipstream or no, the truck woulda dropped me like a load of dirt.
We stopped for road work once and the dump truck that was following me and my motor-pacer smiled and gave me the big thumbs up. I hope he was thinking "Man, that guy is cruising!" Or, he could have been saying "Look at that guy cheat!"
Either way, the opportunities to go 50-55kph for 15 kilometers in this neck of the woods are few and far between. I'll take 'em where I can get 'em!
VW
Distance: 85.52 km
Time: 2:35:25
Avg. Speed: 33.016 kph
Avg HR: 164
Max HR: 185
What this doesn't show is the 15km stretch where I drafted a dump truck. Here's the scenario. I'm turning onto Rte 187. For those not familiar, Rte 187 is a slight (1-2%) incline from Iwakuni to Nishiki. It's two lanes, with little to no shoulder on either side. There are a few excavation areas where they are dragging dirt down or taking dirt up to do work along the river bank. Typically, I ride the 43km route from Iwakuni to Nishiki, and return back for an 87km stretch of reasonably level road. There's always a steady wind either up the river valley or back down it (though rarely back down hill).
Today, I turned onto Rte 187 and hopped behind the dump truck. The speed limit on Rte 187 is 50kph, but few vehicles, if any, do that speed limit. Fortunately for me, this dump truck had a good load of dirt in the bed, so he was in no hurry to throw it around the road. So off we went, my destination today was the Rte 5 turn off to go over the mountains back to Iwakuni.
Initially, the road cuts through a residential area with a school yard on the side of the road. Traffic here goes 45-50kph so it's a good place to catch a draft for a little bit before starting the trek up the river valley. Much to my surprise, as we rolled out of the residential area and up the river valley, my friendly dump truck driver never really pushed more then 55kph. I had to slide between cadences a little bit. I had to stand up to move myself back into the slip stream at 50kph a couple times when he'd accelerate around a turn. But for the next 15 kilometers we were cruising, and it was awesome.
Now, granted, today was supposed to be a steady paced distance day. That just never happened. It was encouraging to be able to keep up with this guy and accelerate out of some of the turns and stay with him. A few times in a row it's really felt like I've blown past the peak for this year and am getting slower and slower. But six months ago, at 55kph, slipstream or no, the truck woulda dropped me like a load of dirt.
We stopped for road work once and the dump truck that was following me and my motor-pacer smiled and gave me the big thumbs up. I hope he was thinking "Man, that guy is cruising!" Or, he could have been saying "Look at that guy cheat!"
Either way, the opportunities to go 50-55kph for 15 kilometers in this neck of the woods are few and far between. I'll take 'em where I can get 'em!
VW
Great ride
September 7, 2006, 4:36 pm
What a great ride I had.
I took the standard "Nishiki Route" up Rte 187 to where it meet Rte 434 on the Nishiki River. I expected to ride at a tempo pace, nothing crazy but just a 90km relax day. I tossed some music on the iPod and off I went.
Well... tempo ride went out the door when I made the turn at the Sanyo entrance behind a good size truck and accelerated with him. Suddenly we were doing 55kph on the flats and occasional incline along the riverside. I stuck behind him for the next 5km, but unfortunately he wasn't going my way up 187. It seems once you get in the groove at the higher speeds it's almost impossible to get your mind to slow down so off I went up 187 at speed.
I watched the HR monitor the whole way up, just watching my cadence and HR. I've found this to be so much better than trying to watch speed. I can get a much more steady workout by just watching the body's exertion on the HR monitor. I kept the HR right around 170-172bpm. About 2-3 km from the top of the route, the wind spun around and started pushing back down the valley so that slowed me down a bit at the end where it gets to be around a 3% gradient. I arrived at the Nishiki stop averaging 33.7kph.
I got my water and hopped on to turn around back to Iwakuni. That wind shift certainly helped. I put it in gear and was off. I pushed a little harder going back with the HR getting up to the 175 line of lactate threshold and over the top of it a couple times to hop in behind cars for some short drafting at high speed. I knew I was cruising, but didn't expect it to last. Well, it did. I made the bottom back to the Sanyo entrance and had averaged 37.2 kph for the return trip. This was the fastest I'd ever ridden this course. My next best time was 10 minutes off the pace.
It was good timing for a ride like this. I'd started to get a little wrapped up in the numbers in my ride journal watching what seemed to be a progressive "slow down" in my speeds in the last couple months. But I know that even with "following winds" I wouldn't have been able to keep yesterday's pace up for long.
I've moved into the gym this week to start my transition period into the "off season." It's probably a little early since there are three races to go. I'll certainly lay off the weights those weeks to avoid soreness, but I'm getting a feel for what I can lift and how hard I'll need to work to meet the goals for the weight training. November really starts the "off season" training plan.
My first goal being set for next year is to complete the Tour de Kunisaki in 4hrs 45min. To make this happen I've got a regimented training plan to follow. It'll certainly require a paradigm shift for me - going from being a guy who just "goes and rides" to actually setting purposes for most of the riding. Goal for next year will not be distance, it will be time - 500 hours on the bike.
It's hard to believe it's only September and next year is coming together already.
VW
I took the standard "Nishiki Route" up Rte 187 to where it meet Rte 434 on the Nishiki River. I expected to ride at a tempo pace, nothing crazy but just a 90km relax day. I tossed some music on the iPod and off I went.
Well... tempo ride went out the door when I made the turn at the Sanyo entrance behind a good size truck and accelerated with him. Suddenly we were doing 55kph on the flats and occasional incline along the riverside. I stuck behind him for the next 5km, but unfortunately he wasn't going my way up 187. It seems once you get in the groove at the higher speeds it's almost impossible to get your mind to slow down so off I went up 187 at speed.
I watched the HR monitor the whole way up, just watching my cadence and HR. I've found this to be so much better than trying to watch speed. I can get a much more steady workout by just watching the body's exertion on the HR monitor. I kept the HR right around 170-172bpm. About 2-3 km from the top of the route, the wind spun around and started pushing back down the valley so that slowed me down a bit at the end where it gets to be around a 3% gradient. I arrived at the Nishiki stop averaging 33.7kph.
I got my water and hopped on to turn around back to Iwakuni. That wind shift certainly helped. I put it in gear and was off. I pushed a little harder going back with the HR getting up to the 175 line of lactate threshold and over the top of it a couple times to hop in behind cars for some short drafting at high speed. I knew I was cruising, but didn't expect it to last. Well, it did. I made the bottom back to the Sanyo entrance and had averaged 37.2 kph for the return trip. This was the fastest I'd ever ridden this course. My next best time was 10 minutes off the pace.
It was good timing for a ride like this. I'd started to get a little wrapped up in the numbers in my ride journal watching what seemed to be a progressive "slow down" in my speeds in the last couple months. But I know that even with "following winds" I wouldn't have been able to keep yesterday's pace up for long.
I've moved into the gym this week to start my transition period into the "off season." It's probably a little early since there are three races to go. I'll certainly lay off the weights those weeks to avoid soreness, but I'm getting a feel for what I can lift and how hard I'll need to work to meet the goals for the weight training. November really starts the "off season" training plan.
My first goal being set for next year is to complete the Tour de Kunisaki in 4hrs 45min. To make this happen I've got a regimented training plan to follow. It'll certainly require a paradigm shift for me - going from being a guy who just "goes and rides" to actually setting purposes for most of the riding. Goal for next year will not be distance, it will be time - 500 hours on the bike.
It's hard to believe it's only September and next year is coming together already.
VW
Over the hump!
September 3, 2006, 4:21 am
I did it... ok, a little early - but it's done!
On this day, I rode 96km (actually almost 50 short of my intended ride). At the completion of today's ride my 2006 distance total is 10,006.38 kilometers. I set the 10,000km goal thinking it was going to be near impossible. I certainly didn't expect to get done this early in the year.
Some interesting (at least to me) tidbits about my riding so far this year:
* 157 rides in 36 weeks (246 days to be exact) to complete the 10,000km.
* Of the 36 weeks, only 3 weeks were less than 200km totals.
* Likewise, only 3 weeks were more than 400km.
* Average weekly distance: 284.7km
* I burned 326,303 calories which equates to roughly 93.23lbs of fat.
* I spent 348 hours 1 minute and 18 seconds on the bike so far
* I climbed approximately 72,930 meters (239,272 feet)
* At an average of 314 heart beats per kilometer, my heart beat 3.14 million times while cycling.
(in perspective, I have a resting heart rate of 46. During the 5,555 hours not riding, my heart beat 20 million times - 1/10 heart beats are on the bike)
* My average moving speed for the year is 29.232 kph. (hoping to nudge that over the 30 mark before the end of the year)
All this to say I have four races in the next two months. The Iwakuni Friendship Triathlon sees me riding in a team. There's a 140km race on the 1st of October and a 2 hour endurance event on the 9th of October. Sometime at the end of October should be the Iwakuni Base 40km race.
My handy-dandy cycling journal predicts I'll have around 14,000km ridden by the end of 2006. I'll still probably set the mark next year around 12,000km. I was fortunate this year to have good health and mostly good weather. The summer was long and the work schedule was extremely cooperative. For now, I'll focus on the races in the coming weeks and achieving the October-December goal of 2500km. (I've already ridden 2800 km for July-September so I'm over the 2500 km goal for this quarter already :P)
A new Giro Atmos or Pneumo helmet will be my 10,000km reward this year. Lightweight and airy! It'll beat the one I'm wearing now which has saved my skull three times already and deserves to be retired.
VW
On this day, I rode 96km (actually almost 50 short of my intended ride). At the completion of today's ride my 2006 distance total is 10,006.38 kilometers. I set the 10,000km goal thinking it was going to be near impossible. I certainly didn't expect to get done this early in the year.
Some interesting (at least to me) tidbits about my riding so far this year:
* 157 rides in 36 weeks (246 days to be exact) to complete the 10,000km.
* Of the 36 weeks, only 3 weeks were less than 200km totals.
* Likewise, only 3 weeks were more than 400km.
* Average weekly distance: 284.7km
* I burned 326,303 calories which equates to roughly 93.23lbs of fat.
* I spent 348 hours 1 minute and 18 seconds on the bike so far
* I climbed approximately 72,930 meters (239,272 feet)
* At an average of 314 heart beats per kilometer, my heart beat 3.14 million times while cycling.
(in perspective, I have a resting heart rate of 46. During the 5,555 hours not riding, my heart beat 20 million times - 1/10 heart beats are on the bike)
* My average moving speed for the year is 29.232 kph. (hoping to nudge that over the 30 mark before the end of the year)
All this to say I have four races in the next two months. The Iwakuni Friendship Triathlon sees me riding in a team. There's a 140km race on the 1st of October and a 2 hour endurance event on the 9th of October. Sometime at the end of October should be the Iwakuni Base 40km race.
My handy-dandy cycling journal predicts I'll have around 14,000km ridden by the end of 2006. I'll still probably set the mark next year around 12,000km. I was fortunate this year to have good health and mostly good weather. The summer was long and the work schedule was extremely cooperative. For now, I'll focus on the races in the coming weeks and achieving the October-December goal of 2500km. (I've already ridden 2800 km for July-September so I'm over the 2500 km goal for this quarter already :P)
A new Giro Atmos or Pneumo helmet will be my 10,000km reward this year. Lightweight and airy! It'll beat the one I'm wearing now which has saved my skull three times already and deserves to be retired.
VW
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