Nov 19, 05:16 PM by Steve | Power Testing Continued

Posted in Cycling & Data

Like I said, I am really bad at taking tests. Apparently today I was too eager to take my test, and went all out on OSM instead of cruising up and saving the full gas effort for tomorrow.

And it’s all Bill’s fault

Seriously… I was aiming for 18 minutes, trying to keep a steady effort around 250 watts, but he started pulling ahead, and not one to be smart and back off from a little friendly competition, I was doing 300-400 watts to keep up. When we hit the flatish part about 2/3 mile in, I kept the power up and pulled away and figured at that point I may as well just go for it. I wanted to back off a few times but also didn’t want to have to do it again tomorrow, so I kept pushing and finished in 16:59.

It was a near maximal effort ay an average HR of 179 bpm, and an average power of 283 watts (287 NP). Plugging the numbers from today and yesterday into the Monod workbook I got from Tom, it spit out 273 watts for my 60m “projection” and 268 for my CP. Given proper motivation (i.e. a wheel to chase) I probably could have pulled a few more watts out, but I think I’m done with the testing for now. I’m going to leave my FTP in WKO+ where I had it at 270 and test again in a few weeks. That’s about 4.2...

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Nov 18, 01:25 PM by Steve | 5 Minute Power Testing

Posted in Cycling & Data

I’ve been using the power meter for a few months now and figured it was time to do a proper test to determine my FTP and get a better idea of some of my shorter durations. So I spent a few days recovering, got my TSB (training stress balance) and set out to do a 5m test today on OSM, followed by a longer test Wednesday or Thursday, and derive the FTP using the Monod Critical Power Model.

I never was very good at taking tests… I went out and hit the little rise just out of my neighborhood for a warmup on my way to OSM for the test, where the first mile takes me just under 5 minutes all out. I figured I would ride the mile first at a moderate pace to warmup, recover for 5 minutes and then hit it again at full effort. I went out way too hard and backed off to a more sustainable pace. Somewhere along the way I decided to just go for it, but completely misjudged how long I had been going and gave everything for a minute, thinking… I don’t know, that somehow I could hold it for longer the rest of the way to finish the mile. I was wrong and basically exploded after 9/10 mile.

I sitll came away with my best 5m of 322W (5.1 W/kg) and 1m of 473W (7.5W/kg) efforts by a significant margin. I know I...

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Oct 30, 09:31 AM by Steve | Kill A Watt

Posted in Cycling & Data | Comments [4]

It’s been a goal of mine for a while, since I got a power meter, to register “4 digits” on the stupid thing. Of course the first thing I did when I got it was go out and do a sprint and didn’t even break 800. A few more tries and I think I got in the high 800s. I was given some hope when I realized mine was reading low, but even after I got a new one I was still never able to break the low 900s.

I’ve suspected it’s more of a neuromuscular/technique issue rather than strength because I feel really uncoordinated, like I’m flopping all around and wasting a lot of energy, and I think I’m holding back a bit because I feel like I’m going to throw myself off the bike. The broken collarbone doesn’t help matters, although at this point I don’t realy feel it anymore.

So yesterday I coincidentally ran into John on the bike path going the other way, so I turned around and caught up with him. After a while of half-wheeling and seeing how hard we could push our wheelsucker before he blew up, we had both gone a little harder and further than either of us had intended. We ended up at the beach on Cabrillo and feeling warmed up and with the whole road open in front of us I decided do do a little sprint. I gave him about 2 seconds warning...

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Jun 19, 03:55 PM by Steve | Ordered

Posted in Cycling & Data

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May 19, 05:16 PM by Steve | Training 5/12-5/18

Posted in Cycling & Data | Leave a Comment [1]

I never felt right after Bakersfield, so I noodled along for most of my rides hoping I would stumble into my groove. Despite my funk, I suprised myself with a new PR on OSM, 30 seconds faster than before, with the pacing help of Marco. Thursday evening I did my old Bella Vista route with John and like an idiot didn’t eat enough, so I was out of energy all day Friday. I tried to do some intervals in the evening and could barely get my HR up to threshold, and it took me nearly 5 minutesfor each one.

I finally recovered Saturday and stayed with Seth and Chester’s constant attacks and went with them and a few other guys on a second small break that stayed away to the end of Glen Annie after we were caught earlier due to traffic lights. Almost immediately after I got home Kim and I went out for our “Pancake ride”, which we cut shorter than usual due to the heat and our need to get back home and deal with out mountain bikes for sunday’s race. I’ve now perfected my order at Beackbreak Cafe: the “Veggie Benedict” without hollandaise sauce or the sautéed (greasy) mushrooms and onions, and instead a tomato, raw onions, and lettuce. I suggested they call it the “Steve Benedict” special.

Sundays mountain bike race went pretty well despite some mechanical issues with Chester’s bike. I think I’m sufficiently hooked that I’ll pick up a mountain bike next year. The...

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May 16, 04:37 PM by Steve | Training 5/5-5/11

Posted in Cycling & Data

I felt like I had a pretty good training week last week. A lot of volume and intensity. I didn’t bother cutting back before the race in Bakersfield because it wasn’t really a priority to me. I could feel the tired in my legs which, of course, didn’t help at the race. If I was just a little fresher I’m sure I’m could have held on the rest of the climb and saved getting dropped for later in the race.

The best indicator of my training improvement was in my VO2 intervals. When I first started them, I went 5 minutes up OSM and repeated for 5 times to the same location. As I continue to do them, it is taking me less and less time to make it to the same distance (.85 miles). This week, doing them with Marco (note that he was behind me, not pacing me up) I clustered 4 right around 4 minutes (fastest was 3:45), then blew up rather spectacularly, but still managed the final one in 4:45. I’d say I need to pick a new 5 minute distance…

Also notable was on the Tuesday “hammerfest” lunch ride. Some of the real hammerheads weren’t there, but it was still fast. I had made it a goal to be able to make it to the end of Glen Annie, and I did just that. It felt very good. I had to sit out of many of the rotations, but I still made it. Wednesday I finally...

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May 14, 03:01 PM by Steve | New OSM PR

Posted in Cycling & Data | Leave a Comment [6]

I did Old San Marcos today in 17:26, beating by far my previous PR of 18:03. I wasn’t sure how I felt today and didn’t really start out with the intention of trying for a PR, but Marco paced me up and encouraged me not to back off when I thought I was going to blow 2/3 of the way up. We were on pace for 17 flat, but did ease up a bit in the switchbacks. Nearing the end he said to dip into my anaerobic tanks. I thought I had nothing left but was able to pick it up and finish strong. I didn’t know exactly what my time was until I added up the splits, but it had to be fast. Marco confirmed that he got 17:25 so I figured mine had to be close to that. You can see from the chart I was redlined for most of it…

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May 5, 06:05 PM by Steve | Training 4/28-5/4

Posted in Cycling & Data | Leave a Comment [1]

I’ll write a full race report for San Luis Rey later, but I felt really good this week and at the race, so I think I’m finally doing something right. This was a fairly light week, as being a human traffic cone for Nite Moves had me missing out on crit practice, friday I blew off intervals to check out Bill’s new bike, and Saturday I spent all day taking picture of gymnastics and driving to San Diego.

Heart Rate Data
Total time: 14.3 hours
Below 50%: 0:07:55
Zone 1 (50%-55%): 0:32:07
Zone 2 (56%-69%): 4:25:13
Zone 3 (70%-79%): 5:08:53
Zone 4 (80%-89%): 3:18:39
Zone 5 (90%-99%): 0:44:45
Calories burned: 14,484

Summary
Total: 266.62 miles, 14.8 hours, 16,307 feet
Racing: 45.28 miles, 2.1 hours, 3,286 feet
Average (all days): 38.09 miles, 2.1 hours, 2,330 feet
Average (work days): 43.00 miles, 2.4 hours, 2,502 feet

Rides
M: 1.5 hr morning recovery spin
Tu: 0.75 hr morning high tempo, 1 hr lunchtime hammerfest
W: 1 hr morning tempo, 1 hr lunchtime w/ 19:42 OSM, 0.5 hr spin to Nite Moves
Th: 1.3 hr morning moderate/tempo, 2 hr easy/moderate evening
F: 0.75 hr morning easy/moderate, 2 hr easy evening
Sat: nada
Sun: 2 hr road race, 0.5 hr cooldown

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Apr 28, 02:40 PM by Steve | Training 4/21-4/27

Posted in Cycling & Data

I feel like Goldilocks trying out different training porridge. This week’s too much, this week’s not enough, this one’s just right. This week felt just right, and after a nice recovery day after Sea Otter, I jumped back in and hit the tuesday ride hard. I felt really good and got an email from Chester afterwards commenting that I looked strong. I wanted to try the Hope Ranch intervals ride, but apparently everyone else went somewhere else and I went and did OSM with Bill and Jamie. We started out at a fairly moderate pace and I felt comfortable (but clearly working closer to my limit than them), until Jamie rode away from us right before the switchbacks. Crit practice also went very well, and I held onto the main field for nearly half an hour, longer than I think I ever have in the past. Once off, I joined up with Dan and togher we picked up a bunch of others and formed a decent sized group. We were finally lapped with a few laps to go; I was going to get back on but right as I got on, Chester came off and as I accelerated to close the gap he shouted at me “not to mix it up” with them. I slowed down and watched Dan and one other guy jump on, somewhat disappointed that I listened to Chester instead of sticking with Dan—I wasn’t going to “mix it up” with them, I just wanted the tow and see if I could hold on.

I was still undecided about Devil’s Punchbowl late into the week, so I took Thursday easy “just in case”. Friday I had pretty much made up my mind to pass on it, so I went and did some VO2 max intervals in the evening. Since I had skipped out on Punchbowl I figured I had to get some good training in, so I did the ROCO ride instead of the Echelon ride, and went around the lake and back up the coast. I had never been up the coast with that group, but heard stories about the pace and was wondering what I was getting myself into. I was holding on just barely on some stretches of PCH and the 101, and when we hit Bates I just watched them ride away. I caught up with Ben at the top when we hit the 150 and he towed me most of the way back to the group. The pace never really “settled” like worlds does on the way back through Summerland, so when the group charged up Ortega Hill I took the opportunity and shortcut them on the bike path. I thought I would come out just ahead of right in the middle of them, but I hit full gas and manged to get out way ahead, enabling me and one other guy to easily make it past San Ysidro before the group caught up with us.

I had originally planned to do Punchbowl, and then stay in Santa Clarita for the crit on Sunday. Since we had stayed home Saturday, Kim wanted to hit up the Beachbreak Cafe for her favorite, chocolate chip pancakes. My race wasn’t until 2, so we had plenty of time for a nice leisurely ride to breakfast and came back through Hope Ranch. I did some low-gear jumps and sprints on the path on the way home, which must have looked funny to Kim. I would shoot off and spin up around 30 and then coast until she caught me and then do it all over again.

The race… went ok. I had low expectations going in—my main goal was to feel comfortable in the pack, cornering, and not feel like I was about to get snapped off the back at any moment. For the most part I would say that there was never any difficulty holding on, I was very comfortable going into the corners and I was able to maintain my speed well and not have to constantly accelerate back on. There was a crash about halfway through the race that I was caught behind (I actually ran into one of the guys on the ground going about 1mph, fell over and landed on him), but was able to use a free lap to get back in. I didn’t try to move up near the end, I was content to maintain my position and finish solidly in the pack.

Heart Rate Data
Total time: 17.4 hours
Below 50%: 0:18:15
Zone 1 (50%-55%): 1:08:09
Zone 2 (56%-69%): 6:02:12
Zone 3 (70%-79%): 4:25:00
Zone 4 (80%-89%): 4:05:01
Zone 5 (90%-99%): 1:26:55
Calories burned: 16,609

Summary
Total: 299.40 miles, 17.5 hours, 14,912 feet
Racing: 15.97 miles, 0.6 hours, 224 feet
Average (all days): 42.77 miles, 2.5 hours, 2,130 feet
Average (work days): 31.92 miles, 2.0 hours, 1,841 feet

Rides
M: 1.5 hr morning recovery spin
Tu: 1 hr morning tempo, 1 hr lunchtime hammerfest
W: 0.75 hr morning tempo, 1 hr lunchtime spin w/ 19:15 OSM, 0.75 hr crit practice
Th: 1 hr low/moderate tempo
F: 1 hr easy spin with TT course preview
Sat: 4 hr around lake Casitas, 1 hr spin to dial in race setup
Sun: 2 hr easy ride with Kim, 0.6 hr crit

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Apr 24, 11:13 AM by Steve | Training 4/14-4/20

Posted in Cycling & Data

This week it took me a little longer to put this together, mostly because I’m lazy, but also because I got a new Garmin Edge 705 and started using the HR strap with it instead of my Polar, and it was complicated trying to reconcile the data. Some of the difficulty was that I switched halfway through the week, and the rest was because they don’t report data in the same way. With that out of the way, the over-analysis can begin.

I felt good going into Sea Otter, well rested but not any stronger than usual. True to form, I was dropped on the climbs after a few laps. I thought more people had dropped out of the road race behind me, but that turned out not to be the case and I was nearly DFL. The circuit race again hammered home the point that its the repeated anerobic efforts that do me in. Eventually they wore me out and snapped me off the back.

Note that it looks like I have a lot of hours for this week, but looks can be deceptive. Much of it was either after Sea Otter, or very easy riding with Kim. I got a few good hard efforts in early in the week and then took a bit of a rest before leaving for Sea Otter. The annoying thing about Sea Otter was that I had the long road race early Friday morning, and the shorter circuit race late Saturday evening. I wasn’t exactly sure what to do with myself the rest of the time but I knew sitting around the hotel room all day Saturday would just be asking for trouble. We had been up here before her Vineman a couple of years ago, and rememered a good breakfast cafe, and she wanted to return, so we rode to there and then along the scenic 17 mile drive. We got back just in time to shower, check out and head over to the venue.

Heart Rate Data
Total time: 19.6 hours
Below 50%: 2:00:28
Zone 1 (50%-55%): 2:31:02
Zone 2 (56%-69%): 6:10:32
Zone 3 (70%-79%): 4:19:51
Zone 4 (80%-89%): 3:47:43
Zone 5 (90%-99%): 0:49:16
Calories burned: 17,545

Summary
Total: 325.99 miles, 20.0 hours, 22,389 feet
Racing: 64.67 miles, 3.5 hours, 6,901 feet
Average (all days): 46.57 miles, 2.8 hours, 3,198 feet

Rides
M: .75 hr morning recovery spin, 0.75 hr TT warmup, 27:58 TT
Tu: 1.3 hr morning tempo ride, 1 hr lunchtime hammerfest
W: 0.75 hr crit practice
Th: 0.75 hr morning easy spin with a few “openers”
F: 0.5 hr warmup, 3 hr road race
Sat: 3 hr easy ride with Kim, 0.5 hr warmup, 0.5 hr circuit race
Sun: 3 hr “worlds”, 3 hr easy ride with Kim

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