Jan 24, 03:20 PM by Steve | Training 1/18-1/24
Posted in Cycling & Training
This week has been a break from the routine of the past few weeks, welcome or not. The theme of the week has been wet. As predicted, several storms have hit us pretty hard bringing more water than we can handle in such a short time frame, heavy winds, and a tornado (!). As such, and compounded by a problem with my power meter on my Tarmac, I’ve been riding the Tricross. It gets the job done but it’s a little akward on the road and I don’t think I can put out as much power or be as comfortable in the position it puts me in.
I spent my two VO2 max interval days, or 4 hours, on the trainer but otherwise spent the rest of the time on the road. I hate riding on the trainer and would rather (and did) ride in the rain, but I don’t think I could manage to do intervals in the rain so I suffered through it as necessary.
Overall the VO2 intervals seem to be working, I dispatched several 4-5 minute VO2-level efforts during the Simi ride, and one impressive near-VO2 13 minute effort up Box Canyon after the ride. Things are shaping up nicely for a strong season, and to some extent I have to hold back so I don’t build too quickly and burn out. That’s what I have a coach for :)
Next week is reduced hours, extra recovery, some tempo spinning and a few mini sprints leading up to the first races of the season: The 68 mile Poor College Kids Road Race on Saturday, followed by 2 or 3 races [130-170 minutes] at the Mothballs Criterium on Sunday.
Total: 15 hrs, 194 miles, 863 TSS, 8,577kJ
Mon: Day off
Tue: 2 hrs easy
Thought I would be able to beat the rain but I was wrong. Rode the Tricross out Cathedral Oaks to 101N and took that to Refugio. It was super WINDY, much more than I realized and it took me 80% longer with 25% more power. It also started really pouring on me halfway back to town.
Wed: 2 hrs on trainer w/6×4 VO2 intervals [see power graph]
It was raining, with thunder & lightning outside, so I used the Tricross on the trainer in the living room. After the first 230W set I had to open the windows but that wasn’t enough and I way overheated after the first set of 3 I had to go get a fan. The extra cooling helped and I was able to put out more power for the second set but not nearly as much as on the road. 330W, 283W, 265W (ouch, not even threshodl!), 316W, 308W, 294W. Average 300W (4.6W/kg).
Thu: 2 hrs on trainer w/8×3 VO2 intervals [see power graph]
I used the Tricross on the trainer in the living room again. This time started with better ventilation which meant I was too cold at the start, so I wore a shirt and took it off after the first 15’ of tempo. Also, because it is harder for me to put out the same power on the trainer as on the road, I reduced the power I tried to do the 15’ tempo intervals to 220W instead of 230W. These seemed harder than yesterday but I managed to eek out a little more power due to the shorter intervals. 355W, 306W, 304W, 300W, 314W, 296W, 282W, 302W. Average 307W (4.7W/kg).
Also for shits & giggles I decided to wear my HR strap which I haven’t done in ages. As I was sitting on the couch browsing bikeforums in between getting ready I saw 38 on the display which is nice and low, good to see that’s still really low. My HR was creeping up higher than it probably should have been during the first tempo interval, which is part of the reason I backed off and decided to target 220W instead. During the rest after each VO2 interval, it was also nice to see my HR recovery.
Fri: 1 hr recovery ride
After 2 painful/annoying days on the trainer, I had to get out on the road rain or shine. It turned out to be not much of either, just light sprinking near the start. I did my standard “easy” loop around Goleta and through the University on the Tricross. I left home a little late and had to be at work for a meeting at 9 so I was a little liberal with “under 150W.”
Sat: 4.75 hrs Simi Ride + Extra Credit [see garmin data]
I was dreading this day a little, mostly because I’m not particularly enamored of riding the Tricross on the road and thought it’s handling might be frustrating in a tight & fast group ride. Using the bike ended up not being too bad, except the high position is still rather annoying. The group cut out the “Easy Street” option due to road debris, and as a result there were people all over the road on the Norwegian grade again. I thought I had managed to move
pretty far to the front for the start of the climb, but found I was further back than I realized and stuck behind people blowing up again. I somehow managed to weave my way through and catch the lead group over the crest. My power steadily increased throughout the climb, and the last minute was my highest for the ride. On Potrero my power was higher than last week but my time was longer, which I credit to the extra weight of my bike and of myself. I got over halfway up Seven minute hill with the leaders, kept them in sight and finished to the crest in about 6:45. Progress is good.
But the best part of the ride was riding back to Chatsworth over Box Canyon with Mark Shimahara and Daniel Ramsey. Although Daniel lives in the area he had never been up it. It was a good climb with some killer steep 16-20% ramps and although we were talking much of the way I put out an impressive (for me) amount of power for the 13 minutes it took to complete the climb, on the order of some of the 4 minute VO2 intervals I had been doing.
Sun: 3.25 hrs under 180W
Pure endurance pace day, no tempo intervals. Meant to get ahead of Worlds but ended up passing by just as the tail end was coming out of the parking lot. They pushed it a little harder right from the start and I ended up going a little over my limit on Channel Drive, the Ortega path and a few other random spots. I had my power alert set and it kept going off and someone (Smitty?) said it was going to end up in the ocean. Haha, well that didn’t happen, and I dropped back near Padaro as they sped away. I ended up approaching the regroup right as Matt was flying up Bates with Aaron right on his heels. I turned down Via Real and took the frontage road through Carpinteria and came out past the polo fields ahead of the group. I came across Karl and rode with him through Summerland and Montecito before the group caught us along the beach.
![[see power graph]](http://www.photoscene.com/kimandsteve/images/8587.png){kind=link}
![[see power graph]](http://www.photoscene.com/kimandsteve/images/8588.png){kind=link}
what’s the problem with the quarq? mine’s been flaky, too
— Mike at Jan 30, 01:32 PMMike, it was a problem with a solder joint. They had a bad run but the problem has been fixed as far as I know. It worked fine one day and the next day it had a bogus calibration number (-30,000 or so). What is yours doing?
— Steve at Jan 30, 06:41 PMZero’s bouncing around like crazy and cadence spikes. Also found that the radio is pretty darn weak. I put some loctite on the chainring bolts; might’ve helped with the zero. I had one with a bad solder joint too. That was more of a bummer :(
— Mike at Jan 30, 07:13 PMI had a few cadence spikes the other day. I had like 1 or 2 samples in a 4 hour ride where the cadence and power were double. I’ve been having other problems with my Garmin though (speed spikes) so I figure it was related.
Anyway, are you going to be at Cantua Creek or Pine Flat?
— Steve at Jan 30, 07:23 PMSteve, no, not going to Cantua nor Pine Flat. Got a training camp. Have a great time if you go!
Quarq is replacing my meter. It doesn’t like water, as I found out yesterday on a rainy ride. Clearly I’ve just had bad luck.
— Mike at Feb 8, 02:49 AM