Road Bike Source

Week In Review

Here is my activity review for the week ended Sept 28th, 2008.

• Time Spent Training-8:39
• Miles Ridden-138.8
• TSS (training stress score)-552
• Weight-160
• TSS YTD-16203
• Total Miles YTD-3852
• Total Hours YTD-222:04

This was a great week for me.  Primarily because I rode the Six Gap Century on Sunday, the 28th.  It was my “premier event” of the year.  I have been training for it most of the Summer and I wanted to do well in it.  As a result I did not ride much the week before the century.  I rode 10 miles on Tuesday, 15 miles on Thursday and a very easy 9 miles on Saturday.  I wanted to be as fresh as possible for the 104 miles of hills on Sunday.  When Sunday came I felt pretty good and had a great ride.  I will do a more detailed review of the ride later this week.  Needless to say, the century accounted for nearly all of my training for the week, 430 out of the 552 TSS.  I was a little stiff and sore yesterday but I feel basically fine today.  We’ll see how I feel when I ride.

The Week Ahead

My goal for the coming week is to give my body time to recover properly by riding at no more than a moderate pace and keeping the cadence high which will help the muscles recover.  I will ride Tuesday-Thursday and on the weekend, as usual, and hope to get in 100 miles or so total.  I won’t push things too much but rather just focus on getting some steady aerobic work.

Looking Ahead

My final “ride” of the year will be the Livestrong ride in Austin, TX on the 26th of October.  This will be done with a team of riders from the area and will be either 45 or 90 miles.  The pace won’t be real intense so it will really be just another long training ride.  After that I will probably take some time off the bike and then start into the “Indoor Training Season” by mid November.  My goal over the Winter will be to maintain fitness and get in some good 45-60 minute sessions on the trainer plus a long ride on the weekend outside.

Stay tuned for a full Six gap recap in the next couple of days.

The Six Gap Century is in 3 days and I am just about ready to “roll”.  But, before I start the ride at 7:30AM on Sunday there are a few things I still need to do in order to complete my preparation.

The Riding

I have really cut back on the riding this week in order to be rested for the ride.  I rode a moderate 10 miles on Tuesday and another fairly easy 16 miles tonight.  I plan on taking a very easy ride on Saturday to just get my legs moving, maybe a total of 10 miles.  I will do a couple of “spinups” on the ride in which I will go at a high cadence (110-130) for a minute or so just to get the blood moving and the heart rate up a little.

The Resting

I have tried to get to bed on time this week and get at least 8 hours of sleep.  I’ve got two more opportunities to do that before Saturday night when I will get 6-7 due to a very early wake up call.

The Fueling

I have tried to eat as normally as possible this week and concentrate on getting a good mix of carbs, protein, and fat.  For me that works out to 60% carbs, 20% protein, and 20% fat.  My typical daily calorie intake will be 2500-3000 based on light riding.  I will burn 4000-5000 calories during the century so I will make sure to have my ziploc bag of Hammer Perpetuem and Heed to fill my water bottles at rest stops.  I will also carry a flask of Hammer Gel (6oz or 600 calories) as well as a few Clif Bars.  My goal is to consume 350-500 calories/hour while riding.  If I do that  I should be OK energy wise.

The Equipment

I will go over the bike tomorrow and lube the drivetrain, check all of the connection points (seat, handlebars, stem, etc) for secure connections, and doublecheck the tires for wear and replace if needed.

I feel ready to go and am looking forward to the challenge that this ride will provide.  It looks like the weather will cooperate with temps in the 50’s at the start going up to the mid 70’s.  As long as I pace myself and fuel properly I should be fine and be able to enjoy the experience as much as possible.

Week In Review

Here is my activity review for the week ended Sept 21st, 2008.

• Time Spent Training-3:53
• Miles Ridden-65.00
• TSS (training stress score)-403
• Weight-162
• TSS YTD-15651
• Total Miles YTD-3713
• Total Hours YTD-213:24

This week was considerably less in terms of training time or intensity, and it was planned that way.  I rode easy Tuesday, Saturday, and Sunday.  On Thursday I got in a little more intense 20 mile ride.  My goal is to be as prepared as possible for the Six Gap Century this coming week.  I have spent lots of time the past few months doing fairly intense rides.  I can’t improve my fitness any more in the week or two before the ride but I can make sure I am as rested as possible and ready to go.  I feel pretty good coming into the final few days.

The Coming Week

I have 5 days until the century.  My plan is to ride easy this week, concentrate on getting enough rest and eating well.  I will also be seeing the massage therapist to have my ankle and legs worked on.  This should help make sure that I don’t suffer any effects from my on again/off again ankle tendinitis.  I haven’t been to the CMT in a few weeks so I am looking forward to it.  I rode an easy 10 miles tonight and will ride a decent paced 16-20 miles on Thursday.  On Saturday I will “take my bike for a walk” by doing an easy spin around the neighborhood with my wife.  That will be just enough to keep the legs loose.  On Sunday I will take the first few miles a little easy i order to get warmed up properly then, if I feel good and the weather is cooperative, I plan on setting a decent pace for the rest of the century.  Hopefully everything goes as planned.

Week In Review

Here is my activity review for the week ended Sept 7th, 2008.

• Time Spent Training-7:49
• Miles Ridden-135.4
• TSS (training stress score)-576
• Weight-162
• TSS YTD-15,248
• Total Miles YTD-3,648
• Total Hours YTD-209:41

This ended up being a very good week.  I was a little bummed on Friday because I hadn’t felt good on a couple of the rides and I wanted to finish the week strong.  Well, the weekend saved my butt. I got in a good 19 mile ride Saturday morning and felt pretty good.  I decided then that I would do at least 50 miles on Sunday and hopefully more.  Sunday came and I felt good.  The tiredness I had the previous few days was gone.  Our group did a nice 56 mile loop at a decent pace.  When we got to the parking lot at the end I decided I would go out for another hour or so.  In the end I got 75.5 miles in which was my longest ride in a couple of months.  It wasn’t real hard but I still had a TSS of 300+ for the 4 hours and 20 minutes I rode.

The Week Ahead

I am feeling back to normal and looking forward to the Six Gap ride in a couple of weeks.  My plan is to do a normal 100-110 miles this week with the longest ride being 40-50 miles.  Then next week I plan on riding easy and making sure I am rested for the 104 miles of hills I’ll be riding.

Well, it’s Friday and I haven’t ridden as much as I was hoping to.  I’m hoping to do a little better this weekend. 

The weather was rainy on Tuesday so I rode for 40 minutes on the trainer.  Wednesday came and my legs were shot so I rode a short 10 miles.  Thursday’s ride was a little better.  I felt fairly normal and got in a good 17 miles.

I have been feeling a little less than 100% healthy the last few days.  Not out and out sick, just a little blah.  I think I have a touch of a cold.  It has gotten better in the last day or so.  I’m hoping to get a good hour to an hour and 1/2 ride in tomorrow (Saturday) followed by 50-70 miles on Sunday with the group.  If I do that I should still get in 7-8 hours of riding which will be more than my average.

I have 15 days until the Six Gap so I want to make sure I am as healthy and recovered as possible.  When this week began I was looking to get in one more tough climbing ride but given the last few days I will not do that.  I think it’s best to just get in a moderate 3-4 hour ride this weekend then do a normal week next week followed by an easy week before the ride.  I definitely have the fitness I just need to make sure my body is ready to go come the 28th.