By Road Bike Guy on March 12, 2009
Here is the (a bit late) recap of last weeks training:
Week In Review
- Time Spent Training- 7:00
- Time In Sweet Spot- 190 minutes
- Miles Ridden- 129
- TSS (training stress score)- 480
- Weight- 163
- TSS YTD- 3520
- Total Miles YTD- 932
- Total Hours YTD- 51:00
This was a good week in a number of ways. I had the longest week, in terms of training time, that I’ve had in a while. Most of the time was at a little lower intensity like I had planned to do. I also passed 50 hours of training for the year which is right on pace for me to reach 300 hours for the year. Here’s what I did:
- Monday- 45 minutes indoors at a moderate pace.
- Tuesday-off
- Wednesday- 90 minutes indoors broken down into a 60 minute interval at 90% and a 20 minute interval at 85% plus warmup and cooldown
- Thursday- 45 minutes indoors at 85% FTP
- Friday- off
- Saturday- 40 minutes indoors at 90% FTP and 30 minutes outside easy
- Sunday- 45 miles outside at a moderate pace (just under 2:45 hours total)
Looking Ahead
With daylight saving back I will be able to ride outside in the evenings again. I plan on doing at least 2 weekday evenings outside. It’s just so much more fun to ride outside than on the trainer in the basement. I should be able to increase my time riding as a result of this.
I also signed up for the 3 State 3 Mountain Century which will be held on May 2nd in Chattanooga, TN. It has a fair amount of climbing (about 8,000 feet) and is a well organized and scenic ride. This will be the first century of the year. I hope to do a couple more over the Summer and also do the Six Gap Century in September.
I feel like I’m in good shape right now. All I need to do is get in a couple of longer (60-75 mile) rides along with a bit of climbing in before the 3 State and I should have some fun on that ride.
Posted in Training Updates, Training with power | Tagged 3 state 3 mountain century, road bike training |
By Road Bike Guy on March 3, 2009
Week In Review
- Time Spent Training- 3:44
- Time In Sweet Spot- 116 minutes
- Miles Ridden- 72
- TSS (training stress score)- 251
- Weight- 163
- TSS YTD- 3040
- Total Miles YTD- 802
- Total Hours YTD- 44:00
Last week was a bit of a disappointment. I was signed up to do a time trial on Saturday, February 28, but didn’t race due to the weather. I woke up at 5AM and it was cold and raining. The radar showed that it would continue to rain so I went back to bed. I got up at 8:30 and rode inside on the trainer. The weather on Sunday was about the same and I was not too motivated so I took the day off. The end result was a fairly light week.
Reviewing the week I think I am a bit burned out. I have been going fairly hard in most of the workouts over the last few weeks. I think I need a break from training so this week I will ride a little easier and see how I feel.
Looking Ahead
I’ve done a fair amount of riding so far this year and I think it has gotten to me a bit. There has been a lot of indoor training and that can be mentally taxing. I am looking forward to the return of daylight savings time so I can get back outside during the week. I will go a bit easier this week, and maybe next week then see if I can get back into a more intense routine the 2nd half of March. I am ahead of where I was last year at this time so taking a week or two “off” won’t be a big deal. I will probably do a time trial in April and May so I want to keep my fitness up. But right now I think I need to back off a bit and recharge the batteries. I want to make sure I continue to enjoy riding. We’ll see how I feel after this week and go from there.
Posted in Training Updates, Training with power | Tagged Training Updates |
By Road Bike Guy on February 25, 2009
Week In Review
- Time Spent Training- 5:37
- Time In Sweet Spot- 148 minutes
- Miles Ridden- 106
- TSS (training stress score)- 418
- Weight- 164
- TSS YTD- 2788
- Total Miles YTD- 730
- Total Hours YTD- 40:16
This was a fairly typical week. I rode indoors on Tuesday-Thursday and outside on the weekend.
- Tuesday-60 minutes total with 40 minutes at 90% of FTP
- Wednesday-60 total minutes with 40 minutes at 90% of FTP
- Thursday- 60 total minutes doing Spinervals 5.0: Mental Toughness
- Saturday- 60 minutes moderate pace outdoors
- Sunday- 98 minutes (28 miles) outside at a fairly hard pace.
It was very windy on Sunday, especially at 6:30 AM when the alarm went off, so I wimped out and slept in, missing the Sunday group ride. I started at 10:30 and it was still windy but the temperature was above freezing (barely). I made up for that by really pushing it up all the hills and into the wind. I ended up getting in a good hard ride. It was a good finish to the week.
The Week Ahead
This week I have a time trial on Saturday. It is a 30K event in Gainesville, GA, part of the Georgia Cup Time Trial Series. The weather is looking a bit dicey, with the forecast saying there will be significant rain. I hope they are wrong. I will ride if its raining but not if its pouring. I am traing this week assuming I will be racing on Saturday. That means I have dialed back the intensity of the workouts to make sure I am rested.
My goal for Saturday is to average 280 watts plus for the 30k. That would be a good result given my current fitness. We’ll see what happens. The weather will have a big impact on the race so I will prepare for the worst. I’ll post an analysis of the powertap file after the race, assuming the weather isn’t too bad and I actually race.
Posted in Training Updates, Training with power | Tagged spinervals, weekly ride summary |
By Road Bike Guy on February 16, 2009
Week In Review
- Time Spent Training- 6:25
- Time In Sweet Spot- 72 minutes
- Miles Ridden- 113
- TSS (training stress score)- 389
- Weight- 164
- TSS YTD- 2372
- Total Miles YTD- 624
- Total Hours YTD- 34:39
This week was a little different as I had my first time trial of the year on Saturday, February 14th. I adjusted my training a bit to try to be ready for the race. As a result I rode fairly easy during the week. Here’s a summary:
- Monday- 50 minutes at a moderate pace.
- Wednesday-45 minutes with a 5 mile “simulation” at FTP (280 watts) in the middle of the workout.
- Thursday-45 minutes with 20 minutes at 85% of FTP.
- Saturday- 45 minute warmup then Time Trial
- Sunday- 45 miles at a easy/moderate pace.
Time Trial Review
Saturday’s time trial was my first “race” in close to 2 years. I decided that I would do several time trials in 2009 as a away to test myself and provide some motivation for Winter training. The race was actually a little under 10 miles, closer to 9.4 miles in length. I got to the race about 90 minutes before my 10:52 start time so that I could get registered and have enough time to get in a good warm up. It was cool (about 50) with a light mist in the air when I arrived but the precip stopped before my start time. 
I set up my trainer behind by car and warmed up for about 45 minutes. My goal for the warm up was to get my body ready for the very hard effort of the time trial. I spent the 1st 20 minutes spinning at a moderate pace then I did a few 1 minute intervals at race pace with about 30 seconds between. I then did some easy spinning for 5 minutes or so. The final part of the warm up was to do a five minute “race pace” effort with a couple of “sprints” tossed in. I then spun easy for a few minutes before heading to the start line.
Race Time
I got to the start about 5 minutes before my start time. I felt good and started off strong and felt pretty good throughout the race. I didn’t start the interval function on the Powertap so I had to “guesstimate” based on power output. Here is the screenshot of the powertap file: 
My goal was to average 290-300 watts for the race. I figured that I should be able to go above my FTP since the length was well under 60 minutes. As you can see, I achieved my goal, averaging 297 watts for the 9.3 miles and 24 minutes of the race. I was definitely tired at the end but I might have been able to go a bit harder. I also noticed that my average cadence was 98rpm. That might be a bit high. My guess is that I could have gone 1 gear higher resulting in a little lower cadence and a bit faster speed with the same power output. Oh well, that is just some things to work on. My official time is not really official as they somehow didn’t get me crossing the finish line. They had a split time of right at 12 minutes so they doubled the time to get my final time. I was a little upset initially but I realized that I wasn’t in the running for any medals or anything. They did refund my entry fee, which was nice.
Looking Ahead
I was happy overall with my performance and I hope to improve in the next time trial. I signed up for another time trial on February 28th. This one is the 1st in the Georgia Cup Time Trial Series. It is just under 18 miles and is over a rolling course. The series will have 3 races over this same course so if I do all three I will have the opportunity to evaluate my performance over time. I will tailor my training over the next two weeks to hopefully put me in good shape for the race on the 28th.
Posted in Races, Ride Reports, Training Updates | Tagged time trial, tundra time trial |
By Road Bike Guy on February 10, 2009
Week In Review
- Time Spent Training- 6:25
- Time In Sweet Spot- 130 minutes
- Miles Ridden- 117
- TSS (training stress score)- 461
- Weight- 165
- TSS YTD- 1981
- Total Miles YTD- 512
- Total Hours YTD- 28:13
This was a good week. I got back into my pre-illness routine and got some good work in. Here’s what I did:
- Monday- Off
- Tuesday- I did Spinervals 2.0 Time Trial Special
- Wednesday- Spinervals Vol 18 Aero Base Builder III
- Thursday- I did a 45 minute interval at 95% of FTP
- Friday- Off
- Saturday- One hour outside at a moderate pace
- Sunday- A little over 2 hours outside at moderate pace
Other than some left over sinus drainage, I feel normal and back to full strength.
The Week Ahead
This coming Saturday (February 14th) I have my 1st race of the year, the Tundra Time Trial. It’s just under 10 miles in length and fairly flat. I’m hoping to be well rested and ready to go. Hopefully the weather is decent. To prepare, I will ride a little easier this week. I rode on Monday, will skip Tuesday due to a business dinner. I’ll ride Wednesday and Thursday, skip Friday and then get a good warm up on Saturday before the time trial. It will be a good test of my fitness and I’m looking forward to it. If I do OK and “enjoy the pain enough” I may sign up for a few other time trials throughout the rest of the year.
I’ll post my results and Powertap files after the race so you can see how well, or not, I did.
Posted in Training Updates, Training with power | Tagged spinervals, training update, tundra time trial |
