Safe to Enter?

Spent a few more days than planned away from home waiting for the fumigators to finish with the house. Finally returning home to the following posted on my door.

Unfortunately my office parking garage was NOT safe to enter. I had the bike on it's rack. It is about an inch too tall for the cross beam at the entrance. Yes, I forgot about it and drove in... *BANG* Luckily (?) the rack broke. It's much cheaper than a new frame. Or seat post even.

I did a *thorough* check of the seatpost and frame for cracks. No damage evident. The scary thing about carbon... it doesn't always show stress until it fails. And I had no idea how much force it takes to break a bike rack. I didn't have a good feeling about this.

Then I spun the back wheel. It had a good wobble to it. I have a good sense of what it takes to bend a wheel. I've seen bigger whops from hitting potholes. So, I rest easy that the frame and seat post didn't take a hit harder than what they're designed to take. A relief.

I tried to true the wheel. I got it pretty close to straight. But... the spoke tension was pretty huge one one side, and way loose on the other. Time to rebuild this wheel. Tonight I disassembled it, and am awaiting delivery of a new rim, spokes and nipples....

And if that wasn't enough... I replaced brifters...

Added a longer stem and new bars...

These are to relieve a problem with the elbow and lower back that have been niggling since my accident. Need a bit more reach to straighten the back, and allow the arms to flex. I really like the new cockpit. The new Ultegra internal cable routing is a lot neater.

Progress.

Long ride plan tonight. I roll out and head for my proving grounds. A small detour by my house, which is under a gigantic tent. Interesting site. Looks like a circus has taken over. HA! Tonight's first hour is high tempo ride with a 10sec sprint every third minute. This goes really well. My sprints feel strong. My heart rate's where it should be. All is well.

The next 90min are spent at mid tempo power. Steady state this time. It'll be almost 10pm before this night is done. It all goes well... but my butt begins to hurt near the end. A pretty minor complaint. My elbow and back are a bit sore, too. I have a solution on the way for those issues... Tomorrow's an easy day. Active recovery ride, and some rejuvination stretching. Turning into a good training week.

Embracing the Chaos

I am displaced. My house is being gassed for termites. This has me in a hotel Tuesday through Thursday nights. This brings about a set of chaos. Packing. Being in an unfamiliar envionment. No cooking facilities. As I gathered all of the numerous items required for training I realized... the life of a cyclist is not easy. But it is worthy. As long as training is worthy, I'll take the added efforts and chaos it brings to my life. Happily.

Riding from my new temporary residence is not easy. It's in the Galleria area. That means one thing -- TRAFFIC. I manage to find a route to River Oaks with minimal time spent on trafficy streets. Still... there is a gauntlet that must be navigated. But I do it anyway. Last night's ride is a good one, Tempo Crossovers. Simply ride for 90min alternating between tempo (75%FTP) and threshold (100%FTP) every three minutes. It's a great workout that targets and teaches good pacing.

Long ride on tap for tonight...

Befelled by Another Flat

... this time it's me! Today's effort was supposed to be another set of threshold intervals. This time 20min long at 90%FTP. After the last two days of threshold work the legs just laughed at me. I barely made 10min into the first intervals before the legs just shut down.

Today was to be the third consecutive day of threshold work. This was a training mistake. I'm pretty well versed in planning my weekly training load. But... I'm not so good distributing my load within the week. My training load over the week was well within reach. However, I targeted too much load back-to-back. Now I'm forced to rest during my prime weekend training time. Expensive goof.

I need to be more careful in my day-to-day planning. I don't know enough about planning rest on subsequent days following heavy efforts. Is there a 'rule of thumb' for recovery following a known Tss? A research topic for the weekend...

Flats Solved

I'm nervous leaving the house today. After three flats on the previous ride... I spent some time finding the cause. My suspect: bad rim tape. My solution: new Velox rim tape!

Nerves (and spare tubes) are on hand for roll out. Short warm up then a nice workout. Set up at 80% FTP with a 20sec 200%FTP sprint interval every third minute. A fun program. On finishing that effort I rack onto the trainer to do a set of pyramid intervals. I do five sets (5x) of three reps. For the first set, reps are each 3min long @ 110%FTP. For the second set repsare 2min long @125%FTP. For the third set... reps are 1min long at 180%FTP. The fourth set is a a repeat of the second. And the last set is a repeat of the first. One minute recover between reps and three minutes between sets.

A challenging workout. Flat free!

The Ride from Hell

A simple plan for Tuesday's ride. Three (3x) 20min intervals right at or slightly above FTP. Turns into an epic exercise. It starts before I even leave home. My rear tire is flat. I patched this tube last Friday. I think this is a slow leak as it gradually went flat over the weekend. I toss it in the garbage. I hate finding pinholes. New tube, and out the door I go.

I get through the first interval feeling quite strong. This provides good correlation to my recent threshold test. My training really is working! As I round a bend the bike feels unusually twitchy. Bouncy almost. I look back and... I've got a rapidly deflating tire. I quickly change it and off I go. I'll use the flat change as my rest interval. As I start out my tire catches in a gap along the sidewalk where I was reparing my tire. I fall. Not hard. No injury. Just a scraped up calf.

"Rub some dirt on it Princess!" I tell myself. I wind up for the second interval. Less than five mintues in... another flat! Sad times...

Hmm.. Maybe there's something in the tire. This time I caaareeefully inspect the tire for anything stuck. I don't find anything. I'm out of tubes. But I do have insta patches. I carefully locate the leak, apply the patch . The bad luck streak isn't over. I snap a tire lever putting the tire on.

Searching for the non-existant puncture source, and patching a tube takes a while. I'm on a short time schedule. My plan is to ramp back up, complete one more 20min interval and call it good.

About four, maybe five mintues in... I start to have that "not so fresh feeling". Am I bonking? I push for another minute or so. Yup. I'm bonking. Light headed. Unclear thoughts. Nausea. Whole thing. I'm a bit confused. My nutrition was good today. I brought a carbo-loaded sports drink on board, consumed about half of it to this point. No reason to be bonking but I can't deny what I'm feeling. I quickly douse the half bottle of sports drink and head for the house. Softly. Impishly. Pedaling as lightly as I can. Making matters worse.. my tire is losing air! It's a race between my rapidly bonking legs and a flatening tire. Why all the flats? I suspect there's a problem with my rim tape.

The score for today: One (out of three) 20min interval successfully completed. Three flats. One broken tire lever. One fall. One bonk. The result... one day off of the couch and riding in the sun. Even when it's a bad on the bike... It's a good day of life!

Sick or Not?

Spent the last couple of days in a funk. Felt unmotivated and lethartic. Even passed on a trip to NOLa for JazzFest. This is all quite unsual for me. Fell asleep quite early last night. And slept almost 14 hours! Definately not normal. But I felt much better today. Was I just run down? Maybe. I felt fine today. So... let's ride as planned!

Today's selection is a road ride. Tempo pace, in the new (higher) zone. I head out bound on a mostly out-and-back route with a slight tail wind. Constantly reminding myself, don't burn it all. Riding back will be harder. I took a new route through the Spring Branch neighborhood, that avoids much of the Memorial Villages. I like this route better. In the Villages you have to ride the sidewalks. City ordinance. Ichk.

I make it out to Barker Reservoir, and take the bike path around to Barker Cypress, spin around and head back. The wind's channeled along the levee, and gives a free boost. Fun!

On my return route I decide to take the trail through Terry Hershey Park.

I'm quite apprehensive about this. I'm not superstitious, but it seems every time I take this route something bad happens. On this trail I have */broken a chian */suffered a ride with three flats */and broken my elbow. How could anyone break their elbow on this?

Fooling with the cell phone! At almost the exact point where I fell... my phone rings. I didn't even consider answering it, even though I suspected it was someone I wanted to talk to! Bad Karma.

True to form, there is a slightly negative experience. As I near the Beltway I discover the trail closed. And ripped up. Unrideable. It's a long walk. So I end up sneaking through a nearby neighborhood. Getting quite disoriented on cul-de-sac streets. "Just follow the Garmin" I remind myself, convinced I'm going the wrong way. I make it back to known territory and polish off the ride with a nice upwind effort back home.

Today's route...

A quick ice bath, snack, and bed. What will tomorrow bring?

Pleased

Over the last few weeks my work outs have been progressively easier. Tonight... I put numbers to the gains with a battery of tests. Found out a few things:

• My FTP is up almost 25% since last test in Jan. Normally, that would be an eyeopening gain that would bring accusations of doping. But, it's not uncommon after an extended layoff. And 25% of not very much is... not very much! HA!

• My right/left imbalance has improved a lot since my last test. Nearly dead even. I haven't done anything to address this. Perhaps my left leg atrophied faster than my right?

• My 5s, 10s, and 30s were all up. My 5sec time was waaay up. This is total surprise, as I've focused on aerobic threshold improvement. All training is good training.

I've been debating what to do with the next 4-week bloc. My philosophy will be to continue with the FTP work. But I'm going to incorporate some significant skills practice and dirt time. I've also got to focus on dropping the injury weight. Also have a few specific strength issues to work through. Looks like I'll need to go to a 2-a-day schedule to pack in the long threshold rides...

At last DIRT!

It's about the easiest place to ride on dirt. Double Lake Recreation Area. But easy to ride is exaclty what I needed for my first post-elbow frx trail ride.

As I drove to the trailhead I was both nervous and excited. Also curious how I'd do off road after a 5-month absence and an unsure elbow.

It took 5-seconds before I became all smiles! It was absolute beautiful weather. The first half lap reaquaints me to the sights and sounds of trial riding. The hum of the tires through the ground cover, the squish-squish sound of the suspension, and the rush of wind through the trees that sounds like the roar of a cheering crowd. No worries about being mowed over by a car. No red lights. Just me, my legs, my bike, and the trees!

There is precious little to impede progress at Double Lake. That makes it perfect for testing out the elbow. It also makes the trail *fast*. Because my joint strength isn't 100%, I deadman the handle bars a lot. As a result my turn-ins and apexes are more yanked than smooth. I struggle at picking lines, and make a couple of decisions that nearly put me into the trees. Today, my legs can easily propel the bike faster than my cornering skills can keep it on the trail. I use the brakes today. A lot. The flow just isn't here.

After the first lap... I use a trick I haven't used in a long time. I pretend I'm going twice as fast as I really am. Such a simple trick. It works for me. It forces me to move my eyes up the trail. That makes everything feel slower, because perception of speed slows as things are further away. That inperceptively draws me into riding faster.

This trick also makes me smoother on the trail. Looking ahead I don't see all of the smaller trail obstacles. Our brain tries to "solve" for the smoothest route. Trying to calculate a route with too many options, leads to routes that wiggle across the trail too much. Looking ahead dissolves those details. They wash away into the context of trail. You simply float over any insignificant bumps and roots rather than trying to avoid each of them. By seeing less of the trail, the brain is more clear. Less cluttered. And the riding improves. It's quite Zen actually.

I rip 12-minutes off the first lap's time. Limiter remains trail techniques and not my legs. That helps me form the plan for my next training bloc. By the end, my elbow's a bit sore. Clearly still not upto full strength. Wheelie hops are unpossible at the moment, for example. But what the heck. A "bad" day on the dirt... after a long abstinence... is a great day no matter what! It's a wonderful feeling to be out in the forest again! From the moment I awoke it was clear this would be a special day. I'm solidly on the trail to recovery and working toward being a better rider than ever before!

Sparkless

Some times the spark just isn't there. The plan was simple enough. Over-unders. This is a great ride. Three minutes just under threshold (85%) then three minutes just over threshold (120%). Go for an hour, bookending warmup and cool down. I never got into a solid rhythm. Not sure why either. The effort felt do-able. And I did the effort per plan. But it never felt "right". I never acheived the strong feeling this ride usually evokes. My mind seemed to wander all over the place as well.

I looked over the power file and I can't pinpoint anything specific. I'm not showing the unusual HR that turns up before I get sick. Perhaps it's more mental than anything? Donno. And it really doesn't matter.

The training lesson I take away... is to remember that an important part of training is turning out good efforts on bad days.

Pushing Through

Tonight I'm dragging. Don't want to ride. My legs still feel tired despite yesterday's rest. I'm tempted to tank this one. After about an hour of wrestling with the ride/don't ride decision... I'm getting dressed. As I roll out my legs are stiff. I don't feel like a champion today. I get through the motions of warming up. The legs are opening up, but still not feeling good.

"Go" I mumble as I start my first work interval... That was it? "That wasn't so bad," I tell myself. After the recovery portion the second interval feels even better. Ah! This is why I got off the couch! By my fifth interval I'm feeling fiesty. By the sixth and final interval the fun factor returns. It feels too easy. I reaaaally wanted to bury the needle today. I talk myself out of it. I've got to leave something in the tank for the rest of the week.

That's the hard part of endurance training. It's all quantity, not intensity. Go too hard one day, and you'll be wrecked for the next. Counterproductive. It feels like you aren't doing much. But the fitness gains I'm observing tell a different story. Counterintuitive. The chronic fatigue that's setting in also points to the cummulative effect this block of training. Pushing through this week before taking a few days off.

The next bloc of training is an open question. In fitness terms, I'm ahead of where I though I'd be when writing my season plan back in February. I'm considering using the next bloc for rehabbing the dirt skills and strengthening the elbow for the trail. I didn't expect to be trail-ready until late May. I'll beat that expectation. I'm probably ready for something easy like Double Lake now. There is dirt in my future! The next bloc's crucial, and likely the most important of the year. Much to consider...

Reco Day

Yesterday was recovery day. Only training activity was stretching. Able to do some poses that I've been unable to do with the injured arm. Sooo close to 100%. With the increasing workload and my inconsistant stretching practices my flexibility has taken a turn for the worse the last couple of weeks. Flexibility is so important. Nothing will make one feel older than waking up stiff.

Was in bed by 8P. Back to it later today...

Day of Unusual Sights

Today's mission. Consolidate the work from yesterday. I like following up endurance efforts with a low intensity, but semi-long effort. Today I have an errand to run cross-town. Tailormade for what I want today. A long, but leisurely pace ride.

Off I go. I'm on the Elysian Street Viaduct and hear an unusual noise. I look over the other side and see a steam engine. A genuine old fashioned steam engine!

What a unique sight and sound. I catch another glempse of it as it crosses over.

After finishing my errand I run into this doggy. Don't worry he isn't driving. I don't think. But he's indeed huge!

Nearing home I see this unfortunate sight...

From a distance this looked like bad news. Tons of smoke. Eight or nine fire trucks. Luckily it looks like someone only had a damaged garage...

Returned home glad my house wasn't on fire. The driving dog didn't run over me. And I saw a steam locomotive today. Legs felt great after the ride. The fitness is coming back. In some ways I'm ahead of where I thought I'd be. Satisfied for now, looking forward to the road ahead.

A Long One.

I bedded down last night a bit apprehensive about today's ride. My allergies were kickin'. This morning I awoke to the sound of rain! Hooray! It rained until about midday. Effectively knocking all the pollen out of the air.

I start a bit late, but well fueled on pancakes, canadian bacon, and banana.

I'm rolling out late because of the rain delay. It's a nice day. Clearing clouds. Temperature perfect. Winds are out of the east. My route today... starts with a looong stretch to the... east! I fight the urge to pin it. When I stay in my zone... I'm moving slow. I'll need patience today. If I go too hard... I'll only suffer later.

While climbing the Tidwell railroad bridge I run across this interesting peice of litter. Look closely. Hmm... good for a laugh on a challenging slog.

Last time I was in this area I saw a goat. Today I spy horseback riders.

Saw several more horse riders later on as well. Northeast Harris County has a lot of horses. Neat.

My destination today was Lake Houston. Unfortunately, what looked like a cut through on Google maps... was a locked gate on a high school campus. The only way to get to my route was to double back about eight miles, or ride on the Beltway. The Beltway... not the feeder. NO!

I never make it to the lake. Bummer. Turn tail for home. The wind's enough crosswind to make it feel like a headwind. My PowerTap craps out about an hour from home. Dead battery likely. I'm zapped, too. The only thing keeping me going is the scratch made jambalaya I have waiting at the house.

Soon enough I'm home. Fed. Tired. Total for today 78-miles. Longest ride since September. Feels great! My only remaining task for today is climbing into bed, elevating my legs, and drifting off to slee....

Pollen Shortened Ride

Today's ride calls for 90min of over-under intervals. I get about 50min into it and the allergies hit. My eyes poof up. Snot galore! Lungs crackly. I back down from the interval for hoping it will clear. It doesn't.

What to do? I decide tomorrow's long endurance ride is way more important than pushing through this ride. Doing over-threshold intervals while having breathing problems is akin to running a motor too lean. Usually ends in a bang.

The pollen this year has been prodigous. It's everywhere. Like the entire town's been dusted in yellow powder. Back home I go, slightly dejected. Some anti-histamine, relaxation and sleep. Tomorrow will be better. I hope.

Pinched for Time

With house guests and thunderstorms coming in the evening I use my lunch break for today's ride. The plan fits great. Two 20min threshold intervals with only a short recovery between. The ride goes well. Too well. The first interval is too easy. Hmm... my threshold isn't where it was a few weeks ago. I bump up the wattage on the second interval... and flirt with that good ol' LT burn. This gives me a better idea where my threshold is. Today is an example of why one should listen to the body, and not the gadget sometimes.

Cool down, zip back to work, realizing I've forgotten my lunch. DOH! Luckily, I keep food around the office just for such times. Lunch is a mish-mash of deli chicken, yogurt, a banana, and pretzles. Actually, a good calorie profile!

I'm really pleased with the fitness rehab. At the onset I feared it would take as long to build my fitness up as it did the first time. But it seems re-building isn't the same as starting from scratch. Maybe I've gotten better at training? Either way, I'll take it. Starting to get hopeful for some summer challange rides.

System Check

Today's ride is a system checkup. It looks like this: 8 minute block alternating 15sec at 150%FTP then 15sec recovery. Recover fully for 10min, then 10min right at FTP with a 10sec maximal out of saddle burst every minute.

The point of this workout is to tax the lungs; it does so very effectively. After weeks of doing base work, today's program is simply to check on VO2 system. It's way too early in my training to try and carve out gains on the "high end". But I do want to know where I stand... just 'cause.

The workout starts out feeling way easy. But it always. The first couple of minutes feel like a breeze, but by the end I'm usually seeing spots and getting faint tastes of my previous meal. Thus, I stick to the plan. But it never quite gets to that intensity. I'm still feeling strong at the end. Darn, should have gone harder.

Looking over the power/HR traces after the ride show better than expected. Am I ahead of were I thought fitness wise?
Maybe... I'm slowly becoming a believer in base training. Endurance athletes know that sub-threshold training holds benefeits across the physiologic ranges. I'm becoming warm to the idea that endurance work holds benefits for non-endurance focused riders.

I'm very curious to see where I'm going to be when I performance test in a few weeks. Two weeks remain on this bloc, followed by another 4-week base building bloc. Then the heavy work begins as I try to put on strength, power, and speed in preparation for fall.

Don't Fear The Ride

This ride scared me. As I look over my plan, this one looks tough. Making matters worse, I'm delayed. Don't start rolling out until after 7PM. I'll finish in the dark, but I'm undaunted. Although skeery this is one of my favorite rides because it works so well.

The first phase is simple. Set up just under threshold. Every third minute PUNCH IT! Short 20sec max effort then return to the just under threshold pace. This goes on for an hour. The just under threshold pace feels easy tonight. And the max efforts come off really strong. This is encouraging...

The second phase is two 10min intervals 110-125% over threshold. I pin the first one. It feels really, really easy. Whaaaa?? I resist the urge to peg the effort and keep it as planned. After a short rest, time for another interval. Same effort. This one feels harder. Glad I didn't peg the first one now! Although harder than the first, it's still doable. I rip this interval off. Scurry back to the house, down some dinner and straight to sleep... ah glorious sleep!

The legs are really opening up nicely. Power's coming up. Endurance has a way to go. This training bloc is going very, very well. Two more weeks then time to retest. Eager to quantify the progress.

Good Books for the Biker

During my injury downtime I read two excellent books.

Advanced Sports Nutrition by Dan Benardot covers all of the basics of feeding yourself. The book doesn't contain any secret formula for instant success. It's not a diet book. It's just a solid science-based outline of what to eat, and most importantly why. This book explains the role of each macro nutrient, vitamin, and supplements in sometimes painstaking detail. Beware, it's almost textbook like at times. But that's what makes the book so good. It's not a junk science guide to eating.

Cycling Anatomy by Shannon Savndol is per subtitle "Your illustrated guide for cycling strength, speed, and endurance." This book effectively illustrates each muscle group, explains that muscles' relevant role in cycling, and prescribes exercises for strengthening each group. The book covers the rider from head-to-toe including the all important core muscles. Cycling is more whole-body than I'd realized. Reading this book has been one of the motivators for increasing my crosstraining effort this year.

Both books are execllent reads for any cyclist looking for basic knowledge of how their body works. Neither provide dramatic revelations, but provide good background and reinforcement of knowledge most cyclers have cobbled together from many sources of experience.

Sunday Runway!

Goal Sunday was a solid tempo ride. I decided to take a new route. This one is known locally as the "runway ride". Roughly, the route goes from the city's core up to the Bush Intercontinental Airport. New routes are always and adventure! The winds are howling from the north, with gusts from the northeast. At one point, look down and see single-digit speed. Mercy. What do you do when you're out of your zone, but going so slow? Keep riding out of zone! I put in more effort on the northbound portion of the route than intended. Takes more time than anticipated as well. Why they call it the "runway ride"...

.

Southbound feels riding downhill! Big boy gears all the way. Just a mile or two from the airport, I run into what at first glance I think is a dog...

Whoa! That's a goat! In the middle of the city! Do goats bite? Do they chase biker's like stray dogs? I don't hang around to find out. It's easy to forget how rural parts of Harris County are. Especially when just another few miles away is this view of the city scape from the Union Pacific rail yard...

As I near the end of the ride I'm beat. Tired of being in the wind. Odd how wind can make you feel so tired. It's a good ride. A bit more effort than I wanted, but worth it. Tomorrow's rest will be earned. That's a great feeling!