For the power trainers: http://www.cycleiwakuni.com/blog/files/tom_DraffenTom10242007.wko

One of the nice things about this time of year is the fantastic weather. Another nice thing about my work in Japan is the schedule that allows me a lot of ride time while the kids are in school during good daytime hours. Combine these and you get a lot of great mid-day riding in fantastic weather. I thought I'd take the camera along with me today on a 4 hour training ride and let folks see some of the roads and narrate a training ride.

So... let's go for a ride.


After getting set up in the house and dressed we head out the door and grab our trusty steed. Well... not so trusty yet, with 4 rides under the frame. (483 km after today) This time of year we're only taking one full water bottle. The other water bottle holder is carrying tube/tools/rag/CO2. Nice for the temps to be able to go up to 2 hours on one water bottle again.


Out the gate we head. Today the plan was to head southbound and wrap around Oshima Island. This will total 135 km once I've added a little distance to wrap up the 4 hours.


The first thing we ride through are the locust fields just south of the base. In the late summer months, the locust field plants are covered with locust flowers and are quite a sight. This time of year, the plants are dying and the fields are starting to get cleaned out. In spring time, the fields are vast empty mud plots. When the locust plants start to grow, they explode from small stems to full blown plants in about 3 weeks.



Before heading out, I figure we should stop and grab some coffee and snacks for the ride. A quick swing through the Yamazaki Conveenie and we're stocked up. The Pure gummy packs are about 175 calories each, all carbs/sugar. They're easy to munch on and cheap. I think most would prefer the Cafe Espresso from Georgia Coffee, but it seems to be in short supply around the shops I've been heading to lately. So, we'll grab some of the normal cold coffee in a can.


Traffic is miserable today getting out of the city. It's not so bad that I'm not jamming with the iPod, but others might rather not. We'll head through Minami-Iwakuni (South Iwakuni) and get on the coast line.


Riding in Japan you're guaranteed to see a lot of two things. Pachinko parlors and convenience stores. 7-11's, Lawsons, Yamazaki's, and a good half dozen stores are marked on published maps and most people tell directions based on them (since streets aren't named, if they're not numbered highways) The third thing you'll see a WHOLE lot of is road work. Interestingly, for a country with as much road work as Japan has, the roads are pretty miserable. The coast road (Rte 188) is constantly under construction but there always seem to be kilometers on top of kilometers of horribly seamed roads.


After 10 minutes of cruising along at 41 kph average with a strong tailwind, it's time to opt out of the Oshima Island loop. With strong north winds, it's inevitable that the last 2 hours of the ride would be into a horrendous headwind. No thanks. So a cut down a side road and time to head northwest.


Only difference with heading inland, is now we head up hill. There's no where you can go inland on Japan and not go uphill. Even when you want to go downhill, somehow Japan will find ways to make it go uphill. Think you're heading down a river valley? Nah, Japan roads will go up the mountain along the river valley for 10 kilometers and then go 1 kilometer downhill back to the river.



The views in the inland valley between the coast and Kuga are great. Winds kicked up a bit, but we made a smart move by taking this particular road. It heads north west, and the winds are coming from the north east. That means a cross wind or generally following cross wind. Cruising we go. Since we're heading back north bound, we'll need to cut over to Yanai to add some time and distance. Again, we made a good decision based on the stiff winds and heading westbound to Yanai, even the climbing moves along at around 30kph.


The drop into the north end of Nishiki is a fun ride. Descents run up to 7-8% and we can normally top out up to 60kph in the short drop. Today there's an accident keeping us from going full out. Police have traffic stopped, but once through the accident scene, we're down at the base of the valley.



At the north end of Yanai, there are two ways to get to Kuga. One way takes you the route that the Cannonball Race takes you. It climbs like a madman up to 12% for 2 kilometers of suffering. We'll take a pass on that today. The other way climbs a little more subtle like, grades never head over 7-8%, so we'll take that way on Rte 7. The roads are nicer this way anyway. Today's climbing is easy, so we take our time getting up the ridgeline before dropping into Shuto, west of Kuga.





Once again, we need to keep heading further inland to keep the distance/time rolling. After wall, we're only an hour and a half into the ride. Off to Mikawa we head, which means... yes... that's right. Uphill again.


The climb to just above Mikawa is pretty nice. It's a little rougher on the Felt frame than it was on the plush Roubaix, but today my legs just seem to be rolling along so we're moving along at a pretty good clip to get to the top of the climb. 11 kilometers to the top at 28 kph. The road only pulls up at 3-4% at most until the very top, so it's a nice easy climb.


The descent is usually really rough because the roads are pretty poorly maintained. Today was quite a surprise will very well maintained and cleaned roads. Gravel had been cleared, bushes were pushed back. It makes for a fast descent today topping out around 50kph on the narrow roads. At Mikawa we'll take a break, eat up some of the gummies we have stuffed in our pocket, refill the water bottle and down a can of cola. After we hit the flats we'll see how far we have to go.



Once down on Rte 187, it's clear we're going to keep adding distance if we want to round out 4 hours of riding, so we'll go back UP into Yasaka. Surely that will take us over the 4 hour mark, and probably around 4 1/2 hrs. That's okay, it's nice weather and we have extra time on our hands.


The roads along Yasaka River and Yasaka Lake are fantastic and in great condition for Japanese roads. By the time we get across the bridge that spans Yasaka Lake, it's time to find out that we're only about 30 minutes from the house at 3 hrs 15 minutes on the ride clock. Dropping into the town of Waki, we hit the 5th stint of road work for the day.


The ride from here back to Iwakuni is city traffic and more of what we started with. We roll on base with 20 minutes to spare so it's time to do a lap of the base. I needed to stop by the gym today and sign up for Kirarahama Criterium at the beginning of December. Tomorrow will be a slow day on the bike as a semi-taper day for the weekend's 40km road race on the base. All in all, the day's ride was a nice, comfy easy pace. The pictures were mostly snapped on the move on the bike, so focus was probably not the best. No handed riding is still a little twitchy on the new bike.

Ride safe, Ride often!

VW

Here she is, in all (almost) her glory.





Specs:

Name: Felt F55
Height - 58CM
Weight - 18.3 lbs (8.3 kg)

Shimano Ultegra Cranks, BB, 11x23 cassette
Shimano Duraace Front/Rear Derailleurs and shifters/cables/chains
Shimano Dual Pivot SL Brakes
Stock Saddle - soon to be changed to the Selle Italia SLK to match the Roubaix's
Felt Alloy Handlebars, we'll see how those go.
After the pics were taken, I changed to a Specialized 120mm -16 deg stem (bit on the heavy side until I can find a better one, had this one in the parts box)
Wheels as pictured - Velocity Aerohead's with the Powertap SL on the rear, 28H rear/24H front

Will change the bar tape to red this weekend.

Last year when "the off season had begun" I set some goals. Let's quickly review those:

1. Zenitsubo Hill Climb in under 30 minutes - I pretty much shattered this goal. In November I rode 29:54. In the course of the year, my new best time is 27:06. (other times are 28:10 and 27:15) I expect to be sub 27 for sure when the 2007 Zenitsuboyama Hill Climb event happens at the end of the coming November.

2. Solo century in under 5 hours - I've done two sub-5 hour solo centuries in the last 10 months. I've done two other rides 170+ km that the first 160km were under 5 hours. This would now be "the norm" for distances going out that far when I'm alone.

3. Tour de Kunisaki in under 4 hours 45 minutes - The idea was to make the top 10 for my spring peak event. I placed 5th/4th. Great ride, great race, great vacation.

4. Sub 1 hr 40km TT - While I can do this on my own, the course selection from MCAS Iwakuni is pretty poor for this event. I still maintained the fastest bike time of the day on the course for 2007, but fell short of this goal by 2 1/2 minutes on "Team The Big Kahuna."

5. Podium @ Okayama Int'l Circuit - Crushed it! Top of the podium. Veni, Vidi, Vici!

Other goals sat out there, and I'm on them all.
1. Weight - I wanted to break the 77 kg mark. I've done that by making 75kg, and am holding steady there now.

2. Functional Threshold Power - 350 was my goal. I haven't tested in a while, but perceived exertion tells me I've probably made this. I started training with power last October sitting @ 315 watts / 83 kg. A year later, if I've flattened @ 345 and 75 kg, that's a huge improvement for one year.

3. Category upgrade - I worked it out with a US Cycling rep to upgrade through Cat 5 to Cat 4. This isn't a big deal for most, but since I'm in Japan, my races aren't USCF sanctioned. But, based on the results and competition I'm riding against, they were gracious enough to count my races as mass start events.

The year has gone great for me. My overall strength on the bike has gone through the roof. Measures that don't tell the whole story, but certainly can be looked at are things like dropping 1 minute off my 3 mile run time. My resting heart rate has gone from 45-46 to 38-39. My body fat % dropped from 10% to 6%. I've gone from putting 8-10 hours per week on the bike to 17-18 hours per week on the bike. At 8-10 hours per week, I was averaging 30 kph over a month of training, all rides included. I'm averaging 32.5 kph for the month of October so far.

Better indicators of fitness might be:
Hiro Road Race - 8th
Kirarahama TT - 6th
Kirarahama Crit - 7th
Kunisaki - 5th
Mominoki - 1st
Cannonball - 1st
Kyushu - 4th overall, 2nd in Category
Nakayama - 2nd
Iwakuni TT - 1st
Okayama - 1st

More indicators of improved fitness:

5 min power - 400 to 435 ( 4.8 w/kg to 5.8 w/kg )
Functional Threshold Power - 315 to 345 (low side) (3.79 w/kg to 4.6)

Of course, can't not go into the graphs that have become such a huge part of my existence from day to day.

So, here's the year's performance manager chart.


I started the year with an estimated CTL of 72. I took my data out from last year and did some fuzzy math to come up with the general estimate. After a couple weeks off last October, CTL was 72 and ATL of 56. November kicked off with 10-11 hour weeks as I learned how to ride with the power meter, while preparing for Zenitsuboyama (eventually cancelled due to weather). I really ramped up the training and time in December, 14-15 hour weeks as I really laid in some foundational base mileage and learned how to ride in the threshold zones. In January, my 2007 calendar was set and it was on to 15 hour weeks. CTL was growing pretty rapidly, but if I were honest, I should have adjusted my FTP and it would have slowed the growth down.

In February, my training was completely restructured and with the help of Ric, Alex and a WHOLE lot more research, reading and studying, I set off full speed toward Kunisaki. With an adjustment of my FTP, my CTL appeared to flatten, though it was probably more like a "true adjustment" of what it should have been all along. I showed up to race at Hiroshima and Kirarahama, not expecting much. Both times I made the winning break, but both times I played some tactical mistakes and walked away from those races as learning experiences.

April saw my heaviest training volume I'd ever done with some massive intensity - just over 72 hours on the bike. By the end of the buildup for Kunisaki, I was really suffering as I got ready to peak. Once I started to taper though, the legs told me it was ready and Kunisaki came with a bang. I was very pleased with the results of Kunisaki. But the rest of the month just helped it out as I followed it up with two victories. May was my first real experience in a racing season where you live from day to day "on form." You get to just get on the bike and fly everywhere you want to go. What fun!

Transition month was June, a taper down to MAP testing and some other fitness testing. Numbers were definitely not what I wanted, but my weight was going all over the place, and my body was not taking to the transition period well. It's one of those reason's I'm avoiding it right now. It was a miserable experience to feel completely gunked up on the bike in June.

After getting over that gunk, the 3 hour enduro in Kyushu confirmed I was still okay for fitness as I placed 2nd in category, and 4th overall where the winner was a Japanese continental pro. July and August were returns to building that huge training load and my typical training week went from 15 to 18 hours. My average 7 day TSS climbed out of the 120's into the 140's. My exercise diet went from VO2max to 2x20's and SST time.

I rolled through the Nakayama Circuit almost as if it didn't happen. I went, rode hard for 45 minutes, placed second against Japan's professional MTB rider for Team Giant where only he and I completed the full 15 laps. Got up the next day and rode on. I was running just barely sub 15 minute laps on the 4 lap TT course and pretty confident that a sub 1 hr was possible.

By the middle of September, my CTL peaked out at 141.78 before getting ready for the TT. Unfortunately, wind and course conditions prevented me from making my sub 1 hr time. But, I bested my time from last year by 3 minutes and still beat the next closest rider by just under 3 minutes. Meanwhile, my team trounced the other teams in that competition. Fortunately for everyone else, my whole team will have moved by this time next year, so someone else will get their shot.

I wasn't too confident rolling into a short taper for my October peak event. I only took enough of a taper to put me with enough +TSB that at the end of the day, I'd be just above 0. By the time I got to my pre-race day workout, my legs were in fantastic form. It all came together. I can't get over how good my legs and cardio system felt in that race, which ended with me taking the 1st place spot.

So, now I reset goals and start looking forward. There are a lot of races on the calendar for next year and choosing where to peak will be a little more interesting. In the next week I'll sit down and write out my goals for next season. Some of them are already easy to look at:

1. Cat 3 by June

2. FTP/MAP improvement in the next year by 10% w/kg. - This one is a little bold - putting me just over 5 w/kg, but one can reach. In the last year, FTP has improved by ~ 20%, mostly due to weight loss, but partially due to a focused training plan. Well, this year weight loss isn't an option, so training plan will have to do.

3. Jefferson Cup Road Race - March 30th, "A" priority race. We'll talk other races once we get to the states.

Goals, goals, goals. Lots of changes in the coming year. Next week or so I'll be posting up a "tentative" calendar, my goals, and this past year's "Gear in Review." I've definitely gone through some gear this year.

Ride lots and ride safe,

VW

Power file here: DraffenTom1082007.wko

The countdown started Oct 9th, 2006. I crossed the line in 11th place at the Okayama Int'l Circuit 2 hr Enduro. The race was exhilarating on a fast 3 km loop. The course map is a bunch of turns, in the wrong condition it could be pretty dangerous. That was today.

But, for the leadup... Saturday we're driving up to Okayama to camp for the night to get some relaxation on Sunday. Half-way up, BAM! Flat tire on the RV. We sat in Fukuyama service area for 2 1/2 hrs waiting for the base to send someone up to change the tire, as they were nice enough to leave a very TINY lug wrench to take off the pneumatically installed lug nuts. By the time we left, it was well past our chance to get into the intended campground, so we camped in the next closest service area to the course and called it a night.

Sunday morning we were up and stopped nearby the course. I needed to get a pre-race day spin in and we were going to hit the onsen to get cleaned up. The bike path that goes from Bizen north was gorgeous. I got out and would normally have done 2 hrs of recovery zone spinning with some intervals but the legs felt SO good, I bumped to the bottom of Z1. The temps were great in the low 70's and a gorgeous multi-use path. I hit up my intervals and 60 km later, called it a morning. I knew then that the legs were in form. There's just something you feel.

Onsen, lunch, groceries and a trip up to the course. We settled down for the evening outside the gate. Weather had been gorgeous so far, even though the forecast was rain before we left to the circuit.

We woke up in the morning, gates open at 5 am to get to parking and setup. Pouring rain! Ahhh..

Fast forward through setting up our area, picking up race packages for me and the four kids. The kids got started with races and participated for the fun of it. Oldest came in "pack fodder" in the 12/under, while the next two oldest were last and second to last in the same race! Ah well, it was all about participation. #4 child raced last and she came in middle of the pack in her race, 9/under. They had fun, mostly - but it was a quick lesson in winning/losing/participating.

I hopped on the trainer at around 8:45 am to get warmed up. I ran through a really basic warm up. A 2 hour race was going to give plenty of warm up. When I finally jumped off the trainer, shivers went down the spine. It was all there. I've raced a little more than a handful of times this year, but today was different. The legs felt different, and quite honestly - it sent shivers. It was time to rock.

Off we went. Four races in progress: teams (white numbers), 2 hr (pink numbers), 3 hr (yellow numbers), 6 hr (orange numbers?)

The rain was still coming down, and the course was going to be very dangerous at speed. First "S" turn out of the gun, two guys off the front go down in full view. That got everyone's attention. For the next hour, there was at least one crash per lap. There were specific lines in each corner that you didn't want to take, and any time someone took it, they were guaranteed to meet pavement. I have no idea which lap it was, but at one point a guy went down right in front of me in the turn. How I didn't go down is beyond me, but as he sprawled out on the asphalt, I rolled right over his arm, felt the bump and pushed on.

After the third lap we rolled on to the straight and I decided to give my legs a stretch. My heart rate had hardly had a workout so let's see what folks have in their legs. I rolled up on the inside and no one followed. I flicked the powermeter over to current watts for some guidance, stuck it to the 300's and tapped out a rhythm. When I saw no one followed, I set a pace I knew I could handle if I was alone for the next hour and 45. 2 1/2 laps later (~15 min), a fellow I'll shall call "tri-guy" pulled up along side, dragging along a small bunch. The bunch was mostly white/yellow numbers with 4-5 pink numbers scattered in the group of about 15 riders. Some thinning out accomplished.

Tri-guy was in full blown tri-gear, aero bars and bull horns and was riding an enormous chain ring. On the flats he could hammer out a rhythm, but once the turns/climbs came, he'd fade. He was a 2 hr solo rider - marked man for me. A rider from "Team Kens" was in the group, solo 2 hr guy. He was on his feet in every uphill stretch and he was rocking like mad only 45 min into the race. Ignoring him, he's gonna pop soon. 3 other 2 hr solo riders came in and out of view. A number of the strong riders I recognized from other races had already been dropped or crashed (saw some of those, heard many more).

The next 45 minutes was a good steady race around the course. Portions began to dry up, and speeds began to increase. Our pack continued to thin and I believe by the 1 hr 15 min-ish, we were down to 6-7 riders in our "breakaway" group jamming along. Time to start to work. I pushed up on one of the turns and ramped up the pace a little. I wanted some more thinning and got it. My legs were giving everything I wanted and then some.

Half hour to go and the pace started to climb. At one point a gap opened in front of me and I let it go. Ahead of me were two 6 hr riders and 1 relay-team rider. Knowing the competition for my race were behind me in the paceline, I let off the gas to let the gap get closed. A rider was nice enough to give me a nudge and I smiled over my shoulder and waved. He gave me a push on the butt to get me moving and I soft pedaled - nice enough to grab his wheel as he put his bike in the gap.

Two laps to go, and two riders miscalculated. A rider from the six hour race took off, motioned for a 2 hr rider to take the leadout and they made the dash - hitting the start/finish line at 1 hr 56 min. Aww... too bad, too early. One more lap to go guys! Tri-guy pushed on ahead and we all grabbed for a wheel as he settled into TT mode. Back side straight and we made ready for the finish. 1 km out, and the leadout guy tried again. This time his buddy missed the wheel and I was on it. Before he knew it we were heading for the finish. He peeled off when he saw me and I gave it gas. I got a gap, avoided the road furniture in front and hammered with all I had left in the tank. It was enough! I threw both fists in the air with exuberance. Top of the podium!

This was the peak event of my fall season, and to hit the peak event "on peak," "in form," and "on the top" was simply fantastic. The final time difference was about 6 hundredths of a second after I let up and crossed the line with hands off the bars. Need to be careful about that next time! Only five of us stuck to the last lap, and only three were able to hang to the finish in contention.

And with that, 2007 season is finished. Out with a win. The calendar will soon reflect the projected 2008 season. USA, here I come!

Another month is finished for 2007. 1 more week before the last priority race for 2007.

Fitness really feels like it's been up and down of late. There just seems to be little in the way of consistency from workout to workout in perceived exertion.

The team triathlon went well enough. I'm not particularly excited with the resulting numbers, even though the numbers put us in first place. The power numbers were horrible for the entire event for me. Wind was brutal and the course is just such a bear to ride at any consistent power. The first lap was great. I felt like I was holding back just enough to push through. By the end of the first lap things were under control. By the end of the second lap, a good half of the 300 participants were populating the 10 km loop and I was ducking and dodging riders in and out of every corner and even on the straights.

By the third lap, I was suffering from the brutal wind and having to play cat/mouse with the other riders. The power numbers were not there and lap times got real slow. My resulting 40km time was an abysmal 1 hr 2 min 45 sec. I was really hoping to break the 1 hr mark, but it just wasn't to be on this day.

Things I know I would need to work on to focus on TTs:
1. Aerodynamics - I'm an aerodynamic mess. I'm not comfortable in the aero bars at all. My quads and hip flexors were on fire for days after what was a mere 115 TSS day.

2. Pacing - I am learning to love to ride @ threshold. That's going on an affirmation card somewhere.

3. Well.. 1 and 2 is pretty much all of a TT. Ride hard, stay aero. Have to learn to do both better.


In other news, my VO2max power has definitely crept up. I'm consistently able to do my 4 min intervals at any time, any place @ 420-430 watts. I'm hoping that this increase will translate into raising the cap on my threshold improvement capability. There's some belief that threshold can only improve to a certain % of your VO2max power. If that's the case, then hopefully the 7-8% (30 watt) improvement in 5 minute power will soon translate into a 7-8% improvement in threshold power over the off season. Hmm.. just the thought of it wets my whistle, as that would put threshold power @ 375ish, or in broad terms - the magical 5 w/kg.

As September rolled out, I wrapped up some of the heaviest training load I've held to date. I crept over a CTL of 141 before a 2 day trip to Kyoto. I should creep over it again before final taper to the race next week. I had a lot of long distance on the bike with some solid interval work throughout the month.





My last week of September was an epic ride week. 1242 TSS, 705km, 21.28 hrs on the bike (nicely enough that means with 705 km on the bike, I still managed to avg 33.22 kph - just over 20mph)

But with all that heavy training comes the physical and mental toll. With Okayama in my sights for next week, I'm anxious to get there and put the rubber to the track. Once it's done, I'll be glad to be into a sort of transition period and get right back to threshold improvement focus and start taking in some of that VO2max improvement with FTP improvement. Stay tuned here for next season's goals. I'll have them written down sometime next week while I'm in the transition and my calendar will start to reflect.

Ride Safe, Ride Lots,
VW