While I have been back on the bike riding for about a month now, after a 6 month break, yesterday marked my return to structured training. The goal will be to build Power at Threshold up to what it was last year. Given my very dissapointing ride at Town Mountain Hill Climb Friday, I have allot of work to do to salvage the season.
Yesterday was one of my favorite workouts and my clients will tell you i prescribe it allot, I call it LT3. It is 2x20:00 at 95-100% of FTP. Here is the SRM Data for yesterday, I felt pretty decent although the second one was starting to hurt a bit at the end.
SRM #1:
Duration: 19:40 (20:01)
Work: 377 kJ
TSS: 34 (intensity factor 1.019)
Norm Power: 321
VI: 1.01
Pw:HR: 5.91%
Pa:HR: 19.57%
Distance: 7.569 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 477 319 watts
Heart Rate: 145 208 184 bpm
Cadence: 50 108 88 rpm
Speed: 9.3 37.5 23.1 mph
Pace 1:36 6:26 2:36 min/mi
Crank Torque: 0 708 310 lb-in
SRM #2:
Duration: 19:49 (20:01)
Work: 379 kJ
TSS: 34.1 (intensity factor 1.016)
Norm Power: 320
VI: 1
Pw:HR: 9.18%
Pa:HR: -1.76%
Distance: 7.256 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 607 319 watts
Heart Rate: 124 197 187 bpm
Cadence: 55 180 85 rpm
Speed: 8.7 37.3 22.0 mph
Pace 1:37 6:54 2:44 min/mi
Crank Torque: 0 635 323 lb-in
Today was a M1 ride which is basically 45:00 minutes at about 85-90%. At first the legs felt really bad after yesterday, but about 10 minutes into it I loosened up nicely and actually felt great for the rest of the ride. My HR was consistent and it felt pretty easy to hold 300 watts for 45:00. Here is that data:
SRM #1:
Duration: 44:14 (45:03)
Work: 813 kJ
TSS: 71.4 (intensity factor 0.984)
Norm Power: 310
VI: 1.01
Pw:HR: 2.67%
Pa:HR: -6.49%
Distance: 14.774 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 648 306 watts
Heart Rate: 139 185 172 bpm
Cadence: 42 165 81 rpm
Speed: 5.2 43.2 20.0 mph
Pace 1:23 11:30 2:60 min/mi
Crank Torque: 0 610 330 lb-in
Tomorrow is a 1HR z2 ride to the local group ride then about 2 hrs of group ride (unstructured VO2 work hopefully, I like to toy around with those guys ;), and then another 1HR easy ride home. Then its the Asheville speedway race on Wednesday. After that i will be looking forward to at least one day off, probably two.
I heard that my teammate Pete Cannell won the 30+ TT at nationals today, look for a report from him soon!
Monday, June 30, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
WIN!
Last weekend PCC athlete Jenny Ives put in an amazing ride to win the womens field, here is her story.
At the start of the 55 mile road race around Wilmington, Lake Placid with a finishing climb up Whiteface mountain road ending just beyond Santa's workshop, I felt a knot tighten in my stomach. I was in for it, I looked around to spot the other women in my race, but it was hard to find their faces since they were buried in the crowd of Cat 3/4 and 35+ men. As if I wasn't frightened enough with the course and the climbs and the twisting descents, now I had to start with the men. I looked for the familiar men's faces I knew from my area and decided that I would stick with them as long as I could. If I could only just sit in the field it would be an easy ride.
I worried some about the climbs, but as I worried I realized I was already 10 miles into the race and I was still riding with them, even after the big climb. I was just amazed, usually I would have been dropped, well I kept going as we approached the twisting decent, I clung to my teammates wheel, who I worked on descending with and put my trust in him, well it worked we actually gapped the field. I felt like I was flying and like this was all too good to be true. As the race went on more and more attacks were taking place, I was able to stay on by grabbing the nearest wheel, I did get gapped close to 26 miles into the race but caught back on with the screaming decent, which actually caught the officials attention asking me if I had permission to descend like I did, I just laughed. For that official to comment on something like that, well let's just say it doesn't happen often. After the descent I noticed it was the start of the feed zone hill, which was a 3 mile climb, I stayed with the boys until just a little over half way and then someone attacked and I went then another attacked and I went and then another, and another, and another, and on this last one I just couldn't go I was done, so I dropped off thinking, man those other women are lucky to stay in there, well, as I looked closer I didn't see one woman, no way I thought. Well I took a breath and thought man this is like a solo break, so I took a drink and popped a GU and rode like crazy for the last 30 miles! I didn't get caught and I didn't see a woman in sight. Well I finished the climb just 3 minutes and 20 seconds ahead of 2nd. I was so excited, this was the first time I won in a break. The race gave me a whole new picture of racing and opened me up to my capabilities, all things I have never experienced before!
Zach, you have taught me so much about riding and how to enjoy it and how to not give up and be patient because my time will come, well you sure know what you are talking about! Thanks for everything, you have shown me a whole new side of my capabilities, I guess you could call it. Thanks again for everything, hope this write up helps some.
At the start of the 55 mile road race around Wilmington, Lake Placid with a finishing climb up Whiteface mountain road ending just beyond Santa's workshop, I felt a knot tighten in my stomach. I was in for it, I looked around to spot the other women in my race, but it was hard to find their faces since they were buried in the crowd of Cat 3/4 and 35+ men. As if I wasn't frightened enough with the course and the climbs and the twisting descents, now I had to start with the men. I looked for the familiar men's faces I knew from my area and decided that I would stick with them as long as I could. If I could only just sit in the field it would be an easy ride.
I worried some about the climbs, but as I worried I realized I was already 10 miles into the race and I was still riding with them, even after the big climb. I was just amazed, usually I would have been dropped, well I kept going as we approached the twisting decent, I clung to my teammates wheel, who I worked on descending with and put my trust in him, well it worked we actually gapped the field. I felt like I was flying and like this was all too good to be true. As the race went on more and more attacks were taking place, I was able to stay on by grabbing the nearest wheel, I did get gapped close to 26 miles into the race but caught back on with the screaming decent, which actually caught the officials attention asking me if I had permission to descend like I did, I just laughed. For that official to comment on something like that, well let's just say it doesn't happen often. After the descent I noticed it was the start of the feed zone hill, which was a 3 mile climb, I stayed with the boys until just a little over half way and then someone attacked and I went then another attacked and I went and then another, and another, and another, and on this last one I just couldn't go I was done, so I dropped off thinking, man those other women are lucky to stay in there, well, as I looked closer I didn't see one woman, no way I thought. Well I took a breath and thought man this is like a solo break, so I took a drink and popped a GU and rode like crazy for the last 30 miles! I didn't get caught and I didn't see a woman in sight. Well I finished the climb just 3 minutes and 20 seconds ahead of 2nd. I was so excited, this was the first time I won in a break. The race gave me a whole new picture of racing and opened me up to my capabilities, all things I have never experienced before!
Zach, you have taught me so much about riding and how to enjoy it and how to not give up and be patient because my time will come, well you sure know what you are talking about! Thanks for everything, you have shown me a whole new side of my capabilities, I guess you could call it. Thanks again for everything, hope this write up helps some.
Monday, June 16, 2008
NC State RR Championships
This past weekend was the NC State RR championships and also my first racing in a little over 9 months with little training to speak of so far this year.
Saturday. Masters 30-39
Pete Cannell, Rich Malencio and Myself started this masters race with about 60 others. The race was pretty stacked with all of the strong "baby masters" present and seemingly fresh. We were in for 80 miles of pretty flat racing in 90 degree heat. From the gun Bruce Humpries, Hincapie/Coca-Cola, attacked. And I do mean from the gun. Of course none of us thought that would work so we let it roll. He was soon joined by Jay Charles. A case group soon formed of about 8 guys and the break had gained about 2 minutes. Slight panic at this point. We wanted to keep Pete fresh so Rich and I went to the front and tried to chase but the Hincapie guys were having none of it. We both attacked a few times to try and get things rolling but it just wasn't happening.
With about 25 miles to go Rich Harper rolled off the front with absolutely no protest from the field. This I could not believe, it was like no one wanted to race their bikes! I was at the back resting from my earlier efforts an couldn't do anything about it.
The rest of the day saw some of the most negative racing I have ever experienced and it was no fun at all. Last time through the feed zone some guy who had an obvious issue driving his bike just fell over in front of me????? I was gaped and didn't have the desire or fitness to latch back onto the field. I did a cool down lap and then hung it up. Peter ended up about 10th in the field sprint. Harper won.
It was one of the worst days I have had on the bike in a long time and honestly was not very fun.
Sunday Elite 1/2/3 race
The next day we had to do it all over again in the 1/2/3 race. This would prove to be a completely different day even though many of the same guys would be racing, just add a few of the youngster's and some of the older masters. We had 9 guys and were well represented with some pretty good firepower including Pete Cannell (National Champ), Mark Jellous, Jay Cox, Brad Messenger and Myself. We started with 80 riders. The race started out ridiculously fast and for the first 13 mile lap we averaged 30MPH! For the entire race we averaged 27.2 MPH covering the 80 mile course in under 3 hours!
We had a pretty laid back plan, race smart and try to get in every move. The first move to go was awesome on paper Chris Harkey (Hincapie/Coca-Cola), Ryan Jenkins (Carolina Masters), our own Pete Cannell and an Industry Nine rider. This was a pretty strong group of guys and we were more than happy with 1 out of 4, especially considering it was Pete. The break established itself at around a minute and we debated considerably how to handle the field. It was decided that with that many guys still fresh and all of the teams that missed the move, we would not be able to do much to interrupt the chase other than making enemies and possibly causing a crash, so we sat in and waited for the catch/counter and watched for any free rides up to the break. The 4 were off the front for about 28 miles before slowly being reeled in after a hard fight.
The flurry of counter attacks was nuts but nothing really stuck immediately. Jay was doing a really smart thing my marking Terry Huss who we knew would be a big threat. Terry hit it with 3 laps to go and Jay was right there, instant gap. After only about 10 minutes a strong chase group of 10 formed and we put two into that group Mark and Brad. They quickly bridged and it was a strong group of 12 off the front with all of the strong teams represented. It was keep the field in check time for the rest of the day and Brad M, Pete and Myself all rode at the front keeping it together. The only puzzling thing of the day was Hincapie/Coke chasing even though they had a guy in the break, I guess they were not happy with the odds. We were able to keep sticking our nose in there and they could not get an organized chase going. My job was done and I faded back in the field to cruise it in. Pete hung in near the front and did an awesome job winning the field sprint. Unfortunately the blistering pace of the break had taken its toll and our guys were not able to get the win. We finished 9th, 10th, 11th in the break and Peter was 13th with the field sprint. On a positive note we raced really well as a team and were well represented and respected as a powerful team.
It was much nicer on Sunday to be in a good fast positive bike race rather than the surging negative mess from Sunday. I look forward to a successful last half to the season for MOB Cycling.
This week is the Asheville Speedway race on Wednesday and the Asheville TT on Thursday which I will do on the road bike and use it as a good field test.
Saturday. Masters 30-39
Pete Cannell, Rich Malencio and Myself started this masters race with about 60 others. The race was pretty stacked with all of the strong "baby masters" present and seemingly fresh. We were in for 80 miles of pretty flat racing in 90 degree heat. From the gun Bruce Humpries, Hincapie/Coca-Cola, attacked. And I do mean from the gun. Of course none of us thought that would work so we let it roll. He was soon joined by Jay Charles. A case group soon formed of about 8 guys and the break had gained about 2 minutes. Slight panic at this point. We wanted to keep Pete fresh so Rich and I went to the front and tried to chase but the Hincapie guys were having none of it. We both attacked a few times to try and get things rolling but it just wasn't happening.
With about 25 miles to go Rich Harper rolled off the front with absolutely no protest from the field. This I could not believe, it was like no one wanted to race their bikes! I was at the back resting from my earlier efforts an couldn't do anything about it.
The rest of the day saw some of the most negative racing I have ever experienced and it was no fun at all. Last time through the feed zone some guy who had an obvious issue driving his bike just fell over in front of me????? I was gaped and didn't have the desire or fitness to latch back onto the field. I did a cool down lap and then hung it up. Peter ended up about 10th in the field sprint. Harper won.
It was one of the worst days I have had on the bike in a long time and honestly was not very fun.
Sunday Elite 1/2/3 race
The next day we had to do it all over again in the 1/2/3 race. This would prove to be a completely different day even though many of the same guys would be racing, just add a few of the youngster's and some of the older masters. We had 9 guys and were well represented with some pretty good firepower including Pete Cannell (National Champ), Mark Jellous, Jay Cox, Brad Messenger and Myself. We started with 80 riders. The race started out ridiculously fast and for the first 13 mile lap we averaged 30MPH! For the entire race we averaged 27.2 MPH covering the 80 mile course in under 3 hours!
We had a pretty laid back plan, race smart and try to get in every move. The first move to go was awesome on paper Chris Harkey (Hincapie/Coca-Cola), Ryan Jenkins (Carolina Masters), our own Pete Cannell and an Industry Nine rider. This was a pretty strong group of guys and we were more than happy with 1 out of 4, especially considering it was Pete. The break established itself at around a minute and we debated considerably how to handle the field. It was decided that with that many guys still fresh and all of the teams that missed the move, we would not be able to do much to interrupt the chase other than making enemies and possibly causing a crash, so we sat in and waited for the catch/counter and watched for any free rides up to the break. The 4 were off the front for about 28 miles before slowly being reeled in after a hard fight.
The flurry of counter attacks was nuts but nothing really stuck immediately. Jay was doing a really smart thing my marking Terry Huss who we knew would be a big threat. Terry hit it with 3 laps to go and Jay was right there, instant gap. After only about 10 minutes a strong chase group of 10 formed and we put two into that group Mark and Brad. They quickly bridged and it was a strong group of 12 off the front with all of the strong teams represented. It was keep the field in check time for the rest of the day and Brad M, Pete and Myself all rode at the front keeping it together. The only puzzling thing of the day was Hincapie/Coke chasing even though they had a guy in the break, I guess they were not happy with the odds. We were able to keep sticking our nose in there and they could not get an organized chase going. My job was done and I faded back in the field to cruise it in. Pete hung in near the front and did an awesome job winning the field sprint. Unfortunately the blistering pace of the break had taken its toll and our guys were not able to get the win. We finished 9th, 10th, 11th in the break and Peter was 13th with the field sprint. On a positive note we raced really well as a team and were well represented and respected as a powerful team.
It was much nicer on Sunday to be in a good fast positive bike race rather than the surging negative mess from Sunday. I look forward to a successful last half to the season for MOB Cycling.
This week is the Asheville Speedway race on Wednesday and the Asheville TT on Thursday which I will do on the road bike and use it as a good field test.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Back on the bike!
Well, after a 5 month hiatus from the bike with basically no riding (I think i may have done 15 miles twice) I have been back on the bike for a month now.
For those that think/claim that this kind of break would ruin a season, I can honestly say with the utmost conviction that that is not true. After a few recent training races, group rides and field tests, have found that i still have a leg to pedal on! Threshold wattage is not where it was this time last year, but it is close. I will need to get my weight back down about 8 pounds and continue to work on threshold and then VO2 later in the year. I should be back in semi-top form by the last races of the year, when everyone else is burnt out! And then there's cross........
I have noticed that I feel incredibly fresh and have a renewed enthusiasim towards racing. On a personal note, we did move into the new house the beginning of May and it is mostly inhabitable, we just lack a few things to wrap it up. Ill post pictures soon.
The State championship RR's are this weekend. I will ride in the 30-34 on Saturday and then the Pro 1/2 on Sunday. We will see how i hold up to the 2 80 mile races back to back. One thing i don't have much of right now is endurance.
Ill try to post results next week.
Happy to be back and done with the hammer swingin for a while,
Zach
For those that think/claim that this kind of break would ruin a season, I can honestly say with the utmost conviction that that is not true. After a few recent training races, group rides and field tests, have found that i still have a leg to pedal on! Threshold wattage is not where it was this time last year, but it is close. I will need to get my weight back down about 8 pounds and continue to work on threshold and then VO2 later in the year. I should be back in semi-top form by the last races of the year, when everyone else is burnt out! And then there's cross........
I have noticed that I feel incredibly fresh and have a renewed enthusiasim towards racing. On a personal note, we did move into the new house the beginning of May and it is mostly inhabitable, we just lack a few things to wrap it up. Ill post pictures soon.
The State championship RR's are this weekend. I will ride in the 30-34 on Saturday and then the Pro 1/2 on Sunday. We will see how i hold up to the 2 80 mile races back to back. One thing i don't have much of right now is endurance.
Ill try to post results next week.
Happy to be back and done with the hammer swingin for a while,
Zach
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