No, really, I was doing 350w for that interval...and I'm ready to race...and....
Gremlins and Groundhogs
1 hour ago
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Sunday, January 29, 2012
excuse me while i break my own heart
Good and bad weekend. On the good side, new orthodics and some tweaking of my position on the bike has got my ankle under control -- I hope. No pain for a few days, and a 12-hour, 10,000kj, 800TSS week in the can. A few more like that and I'll be sort of not really ok.
Saturday was a nice ride from Clemson up to Jocassee. Hills. A lot of hills. I wanted a power file that would look like a race, so I did the idiot move and took most of those hills in the big ring -- standing up like an idiot grinding at 80rpm and zone 5-6 watts a lot. The end result was a variability index of 1.25, so yeah, about what a 2-3 hour hilly RR would be. Today was just 3 hours long and flat and windy.
On the down side, power isn't up at all from December. Part of that is the increased work load, part of that may be plateau. At any rate, I'm not seeing fitness coming. So excuse me if I break my own heart. Call me the Beatle Bob of bike racing.
Sold some bike crap and bought that Epiphone Dot. It may need some Duncan PAFs -- the Epi pickups have a reputation for being a little dark sounding. I'll give it a few weeks after it arrives.
On the big plus side, I caught Tony Tidwell's show in Clemson last night. Fine songwriter and frontman. Really nice to hear -- ages ago, I was lucky enough to do opening gigs for Kevin Kinney and Fread Eaglesmith (both of whom got heavy pub as alt-country singer-songwriter-bandleaders a while back), and I though Tony sounded as good as those dudes. We're lucky to have a guy that talented here in Clemson.
Saturday was a nice ride from Clemson up to Jocassee. Hills. A lot of hills. I wanted a power file that would look like a race, so I did the idiot move and took most of those hills in the big ring -- standing up like an idiot grinding at 80rpm and zone 5-6 watts a lot. The end result was a variability index of 1.25, so yeah, about what a 2-3 hour hilly RR would be. Today was just 3 hours long and flat and windy.
On the down side, power isn't up at all from December. Part of that is the increased work load, part of that may be plateau. At any rate, I'm not seeing fitness coming. So excuse me if I break my own heart. Call me the Beatle Bob of bike racing.
Sold some bike crap and bought that Epiphone Dot. It may need some Duncan PAFs -- the Epi pickups have a reputation for being a little dark sounding. I'll give it a few weeks after it arrives.
On the big plus side, I caught Tony Tidwell's show in Clemson last night. Fine songwriter and frontman. Really nice to hear -- ages ago, I was lucky enough to do opening gigs for Kevin Kinney and Fread Eaglesmith (both of whom got heavy pub as alt-country singer-songwriter-bandleaders a while back), and I though Tony sounded as good as those dudes. We're lucky to have a guy that talented here in Clemson.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Decisions....
Over the next week, I need to make a choice as to whether to try racing in February or use that entry fee and gas money to grab a cheap but great-playing and sounding Epiphone Dot guitar that I don't need (note: guitar heads know that every guitar is the guitar you don't need, but that you must have, anyway).
Why the dilemma? My left ankle is a lot better, I've been cleared from therapy, but it's still stiff and sore. It handles zone 4 training just fine, but microbursts make it sore, and I'm not sure about trying any VO2 work on it. SST and FTP intervals are just not enough to race on, and if short hard hills and VO2 efforts make my ankle and foot flare up -- which may or may not change that much, considering the congenital nature of the problem with my pancake plat feet and posterior tibial tendon dysfunction -- then why bother? Better to ride zone 4 a lot and stay fit that go into zones 5 and 6 and flare up that tendon.
I did pick up new orthotics for my everyday shoes this week -- they seem a good bit better, but at the end of the school day I still have some burning in my posterior tibial tendons and tightness in both posterior tibialis muscles. The orthotics fit the sole of my foot perfectly, and are as stiff as Carolina Prosthetics and Orthotics can make them. The only other route would be a UCBL brace, which would probably be overkill at this point. Maybe my feet will adjust to the new inserts, maybe not. I'll see.
As far as training goes, my zone 4 base is coming along ok. Still staying with two-hour, 2000kj rides, and I'm getting better at carrying the zone 4 efforts into the last half hour. Today was 3 x 30, with the efforts at 92%, 94%, and 91%. Throw in the last 20 minutes at 87%, and I'm really happy with that.
Wait and see. Racing, or this (or sell a bunch of bike crap and go for both...).
Why the dilemma? My left ankle is a lot better, I've been cleared from therapy, but it's still stiff and sore. It handles zone 4 training just fine, but microbursts make it sore, and I'm not sure about trying any VO2 work on it. SST and FTP intervals are just not enough to race on, and if short hard hills and VO2 efforts make my ankle and foot flare up -- which may or may not change that much, considering the congenital nature of the problem with my pancake plat feet and posterior tibial tendon dysfunction -- then why bother? Better to ride zone 4 a lot and stay fit that go into zones 5 and 6 and flare up that tendon.
I did pick up new orthotics for my everyday shoes this week -- they seem a good bit better, but at the end of the school day I still have some burning in my posterior tibial tendons and tightness in both posterior tibialis muscles. The orthotics fit the sole of my foot perfectly, and are as stiff as Carolina Prosthetics and Orthotics can make them. The only other route would be a UCBL brace, which would probably be overkill at this point. Maybe my feet will adjust to the new inserts, maybe not. I'll see.
As far as training goes, my zone 4 base is coming along ok. Still staying with two-hour, 2000kj rides, and I'm getting better at carrying the zone 4 efforts into the last half hour. Today was 3 x 30, with the efforts at 92%, 94%, and 91%. Throw in the last 20 minutes at 87%, and I'm really happy with that.
Wait and see. Racing, or this (or sell a bunch of bike crap and go for both...).
Monday, January 23, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Song For Tomorrow's Rest Day
Saw one of these shows -- the Columbia SC one at the New Brookland Tavern. Was a great period to see this band....
Another Step in the Right Direction
This weekend was just hard. I don't do rain, so it was into the garage yet again. Saturday was pretty simple -- 45min@95%, 5 minutes easy, 30min@92%, 5 minutes easy, and then 20min at 90% to bring it in. Cool down, and 2000kj in the can in two hours.
I was pretty tired today, but surprised myself with a year-best for 60min -- 298w. 50 minutes of that hour was 300w, so I'm getting closer to clearing 300w for an hour in a workout. I'd like to think that would be the doorstep to decent fitness for the spring.I've blabbed about it before, and I'll blather it again -- I'm convinced that for most of us schleps, a setady winter diet of as much 90-95% as you can handle is the best way to build Base and raise FTP. It is a bit of a grind, though.
Looking at the weather, it looks like rain again next weekend. There's been a disturbing trend of sunny 60 degree days during the week, and then 50 degrees and pissing rain on the weekend. Not fair, mother nature. Not fair.
Right now, ugh. Just ugh. Glad tomorrow is a day off.
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