T- is for Threshold

Threshold Thursday! Pretty excited as I leave the house this evening. I'm tired, but still putting in my work for the day. The plan... 2 by 20's at ++100%FTP with a 30sec sprint every 2min. I'm determined to do these at a truly maximal pace. I run into the West End ride on the way to the Froot Loop. I consider ditching my plan and jumping on, but decide riding in a pack isn't my plan for today. This would be a mistake.

Tons of folks out in the fall weather today. The squirrels and pathletes were out in full force. It's crowded. I ramp up for the first interval and run into a huge pack. This is OK, but it's harder to pace in a pack. I don't want to mess my interval up by sprinting away. Don't want to slow down either. The periodic sprint means I'm surging in and out of folks. I do the best I can. Hmmm... I came here to escape traffic.

The crowd clears out for the second interval. And the pacing is much, much better. I realize after a sprint or two... I'm running out of gas. If I continue them, I'll not see the end of this interval. I ditch them. The threshold work is more important, and I hold it as designed. I try to kick it up for the last minute, but there's not much there. My pacing is pretty close.

A full harvest moon comes out for the easy paced ride back to the house. Nice. Fall is here.

Hard Core

Wednesday night core work. Difficulty level -high. Tried some new motions on the physio ball. They must be great exercises, because I'm sore in places I'm not accustomed to. Other good development, my elbow is at last strong enough to do planks and full pull ups.

Tonight's ride is a challange. I'm both excited and apprehensive. And expect to collapse into an early sleep upon my return...

Threshold Tuesday

Back to it tonight after a day of rest. Glorious rest. Tonight's menu is four (4x) 12'00" intervals at ++FTP. Six minutes (half of the work interval) of recovery between. This is a progression from last week's 4x10'00" interval. The added work duration was about perfect. Next week... it bumps to 14'00".

I refueled with roundsteak, rice & gravy. Accompanied with friends corn and a cucumber and tomato salad.

Bon appetite.

Ya. I Spent Some Time in Huntsville

Saturday. Just short of 3h00 around Huntsville. Haven't been here in almost a year. First time since the broken arm, too. Fun ride. The temperatures were warm, but nothing like we've seen the last few months. Even as I was wrapping up at near noon, the temps were tolerable.

HSP is fun for everyone. Jane came along, and ran the trail while I rode.

Fun riding. Sandy trails. Had one near biff. So close, I'm not sure how I saved it. My body just reacted the right way instinctually. Reassuring.

Sunday brought a recovery-endurance paced. Ride. 2h00 around town, just enjoying the weather and sights.

It's been a good week. With more to come next!

Late Night Flop

Not a thread about Conan Obrien. A late start to the eve's training. Ride in the dark? Or ride the trainer? I chose trainer. It took only a few moments to discover I'm too washed out for for the work planned. Too late, too tired, too hungry. I hang it up, and ride some tempo just to stretch the legs. Try again tomorrow.

Interesting....

Had a cold last week. I've been feeling better. But clearly I'm not completely recovered. I've pointed this effect out before...

On the right is my heart rate collected into zones from tonight's ride. On the left my power is collected into zones. Usually, these two graphs have the same shape. But tonight... the majority of my heart rate was a zone higher than the majority of my power.

Same effect last night:

... two zones higher. Physiology is cool!

Temporary Injunction

Planned to leave for Palo Duro Canyon on Friday. Not going. The elixer of job stress, a head cold, and doubts about my fitness proves toxic to racing fun. Need to spend the week catching up on life's tasks. Fall season is jumbled up; but still have some good opportunities for fun. Look to be back for HSV and Ruston.

Completely inappropriate. I make chicken soup tonight. It is too early in the fall, and not cold enough. But I had a craving. Diced chicken, diced yams, whole wheat penne pasta, spices. What could be simpler? Keeps well, so the majority of my cooking is done for the week.

Weekend Capsule

Fall weather is finally arriving in small doses. Friday I arrived in Austin. My anticipation level for a great ride was running high for an early Saturday morning ride in the cool temperatures. I prepared my nutrition, and gathered all my gear for Saturday's ride... then... I realize... I've forgotten my shoes! Far from the first time I've done this, and determined to ride, we head over to the bike shop to purchase a spare set to keep in the truck. Thus, I will always have a pair of shoes at hand.

Having to wait for the bike shop to open, we start a bit late. But with the lower temperatures this isn't a swealter fest. In fact, it's downright nice. Indeed fall is here. My riding partner Jane dressed appropriately for the kickoff of football season! Parmer Road provided a great route with small rolling hills and nice wide shoulders.

Unfortunately there were a few hiccups. I had a soft tire. And quickly replaced the tube, hit it with the CO2 and remounted the wheel. I took a couple of pics, and we jumped back on the bikes instantly realizing, the new tube was flat. Uh-oh. I patched that tube. But... that failed, and there was apparently another hole. Being a bit concerned, we accepted a tube from some fellow cyclists, which worked out. Jane's bike suffered from shifting problems. We both have some maintenance bugs to work through.

Sunday provided another glorious day. We skipped over to spectate for the Tour de Austin crits. This was a fun time.

Watching the races reignited the bug to race. I forgot just how exciting crit racing is. But... that season's almost over. Something to keep in mind to integrate into next spring. For now mountain bike season is almost here. Ready or not!

Mixed Results

I had an entire post in my head before I finished tonight's ride. But after looking over the power file... those ideas don't fit the results. This is off the top of my head.

The plan was 2h00 fast tempo with a 10sec maximal spin every 5th minute. The warm up is difficult. For some reason my stomach is burning. And I feel sloshy. But I get through it. When the time comes, it is clear from the way the legs feel the spins aren't going to be a good idea. As the power comes up much above FTP the legs just lactate up and start burning. Cool! They match my stomach, which is still burning and feeling turmoiled. I keep going without the spins, this may be a long afternoon. Keep the fast tempo. The stomach settles down after about 45'00 in. As long as I'm in my tempo zone... all is well. Any effort above starts burning. Hmmm...

I bypass my water stop today. I've brought enough. This is cool. I've never done this route non-stop. I'm feeling better. I think I cought every single light red between Hermann Park and River Oaks. Finally, as I enter I realize I'm free for a while. I decide to spin this hard. At this point I'm feeling great. I rip off a great 10'00 uninterrupted spin. It feels good, and I think I may want to look at this when I get home. The rest of the ride is fairly uneventful, except I feel better at the end than when I started.

Given the way I felt starting out, I didn't expect good results. But the power file says otherwise. My average was right on target. The normalized power was higher than expected (the starts and stops factor into this). And my 10'00 "time trial" through River Oaks looks darn good! Looking at it, and considering how I felt riding it, I've got a good idea what my FTP is. Improvements continue.

Sometimes it's not as bad as it seems. Good reason to never give up. Store that in the memory bank...

A Bit of Bother...

Tonight's ride put me into a bit of bother (as Phil Ligget likes to say). It's a repeat of the same ride over the last three weeks. Tonight the plan hurt. I struggled to match last weeks numbers, and looking at the results in WKO+... I didn't make it.

I'm not concerned. There are so many variables contributing to performance on any given day. First there's three weeks of fatigue. I started off a bit hungry. The weather is always different. And on, and on, and on.

I'm interested to see how I bounce back tomorrow. This is definately a week to push things forward. The fall season looms...

Struggling Through That Time Of Year

I thought it was just me. But talking several folks, it seems others are struggling with their training as well. There's something about August.

Maybe it is the heat? It is indeed hot. Daily the heat index has been over 100° F. Rather dismotivating. After a week or two, draining. Even with shortened workout duration, the heat just takes the fight outta ya. Who wants to train in this?

Maybe it's the change of the seasons? Like a guest that has overstayed it's welcome... it's time to kick summer out for hanging around. Combined with anticipation of more comfortable training weather ahead, the days seem to drag on endlessly this time of year. It breeds a theme of -- it's time to move on!

Is there hope? Of course. In about three weeks solid signs of fall will be upon us. When I was last at Double Lake, I noticed the first tinges of fall scent in the forest. The forest smells different in the fall, and it's starting to waft out. The days are getting shorter. I'm just starting to notice that I'm needing lights on the end of my evening training.

I'm taking the approach I had post-surgery. When the instructions said "don't make any big decisions today" as a warning for the anesthetic. August is one of those time when not making any big decisions is probably a good idea. It feels like a good time to give up. To succumb to the heat, the fatigue, the dying season. Give it a month. The world be much fresher. Trodding through what's left of the summer will make the fall that much sweeter!

A Hot Lunch

The heat index is a mere 96°F. Overcast skies, and some ominous clouds to the southwest. Today I'm out to shell the legs with a short intense ride. The plan is two sets of ten (10x) intervals that are a mere 10seconds long. On the recovery side, it's 50seconds. The effort level is as hard as possible without leaving the saddle, or losing form. Lots of huff and puff by the end of the 10min set.

Church's Chicken, oh how I loathe thee...

Each time I pass they are frying thier delectably odorifous treats. Tempting, but I resist.

Timing is perfect today. As is the effort. I just barely muster up the last effort interval. I don't think I can do another. I return home just on the ragged edge of bonking. Food comes just in time. And just as I walk in the door the skies let loose with a barrage of rain.

A quick sandwich, cool refreshing watermelon, quick shower, and back to work!

Pile Ons

Tonight's workout plan. 5min max. 1 min recovery … 5min max. 2min recovery … 5min max, 3min recovery … 5min max, 4min recovery … 5min max, 5min recovery. The 5min max work intervals are tough to pace. Just the right length to toy with the mind. I spend the first 3minutes thinking it's too easy. And the last 2min thinking "what have I done?" That's about the right pace for the intervals!

The heart rates overlay. Shows the first lap lower, but pretty consistant for the remaining laps. Interesting. There doesn't seem to be much change in *heart rate* for the varying length of rest. Big difference in my respiration rate, though. Sometimes I wish I had a trace of respiration rate as well.

Tomorrow is a skills day... but haven't picked what I will master... hmm...

Week-to-Week Comparison

Today's ride is based on a ride I did last week. Last week I attempted three sets of 2min long intervals, maximal effort. I rode them without looking at the PowerTap. After the ride, I noted the efforts. Andrew Coggin recommends looking at the average of the third interval. Which makes sense. The first one is a gimmie. You're fresh. By fifth or sixth you're tired.

Sure enough, there was a big decline in rep one to rep two. But third and after were remarkably close until reached the point where I couldn't complete a full 2min interval. I didn't complete the final set last week.

This week I repeated the same workout. Just for giggles I knocked 20watts off the target for the intervals to see if I could complete all the sets. I pushed things through, and did indeed finish all sets at this slightly lower power level. Could I have finished at the same power level? Donno. These felt way easier. But today's temperature was a significantly lower. 102°F vs. 96°F. The magic number being 98°F (body temperature). Too many variables to control, but things seem to be working OK for now...

How Long Until it's Cool Enough to Ride?

Tonight's tempo ride started late in an attempt to beat the swealtering heat. I waited until 8:25PM. It was still hot. And humid. I cut the ride short. The heat index on return home... was 105°F. AT 9:45PM!

I think the answer to the title of this post is.......October!

Even Though I'm An Adult...

I still like playin' in the dirt. Saturday's dirt tan...

A few hot laps around Double Lake Recreation Area.

Hot describes the weather and the effort. My first lap was fairly leisurely. I even eat some jelly beans!

The second lap was supposed to be up tempo. But, feeling great, I decide to take a peek into where my fitness is at. I crank up the intensity to 11.

Felt great! I'm not deadmanning on the bars. Which a great development. The core work is paying off. The legs feel great. And I'm coping with the heat well.

Until the third lap. In the forest... the trees provide great shade. But it's a pine forest. So when the sun gets directly overhead... that shade vanishes. And it gets H-O-T quickly. I throttle back this lap and head home.

It's a good day!

Skills Day

The day after intense work is a great opportunity to take some time to work on skills. These are light days. Nothing heavy, but if needed to test your skill, go for it. I choose one *specific* thing to work on. Set a goal and go for it.

Today's choice... front brake use. I recently read Keith Code's Twist of the Wrist. He mentions that most bikers when presented with a panic stop almost always grab the rear brake. Why? Because that's what they learned first. And most children when learning to ride are taught not to use the front brake too much. Part of reprogramming yourself is going out an using the front brake, and becoming OK with what happens around the edges of its envelope of use. That was my goal today.

Off to Spotts Park. I dove down the hill and practiced braking all the way to the limit of traction... and a bit beyond. Unlike the childhood stories we all heard... nothing really bad happens when the front wheel locks up. As long as you keep your weight back... the wheel slides long before a trip over the bars occurs.

A bit over an hour of efforts and I'm feeling a new sense of confidence braking heavily. Tomorrow... threshold crossovers and crosstraining.

It's Not The Heat

Ok, it *is* the heat! Lunchtime ride was under a heat index of 105°F. The evening ride wasn't much better. 102°F. Fortunately, I've planned for this. At this time of year, the intensity cranks up, and the duration decreases. I'm not spending hours out baking in the sun. Lesson learned from last year when at this time I was still doing long rides throughout August. By September I was burnt.

Today's rides were tailermade for the heat. At lunch... Two sets of 10x 30sec long intervals as hard as possible, followed by 30sec 'recovery'. It's over quick, but far from easy. The evening was three sets of 5x 2min maximal effort with 3min recovery, and 6min between sets. Didn't finish my last set before meowing. Legs just couldn't produce anywhere near a sensible target.

Remainder of the eve... Biofreeze, compression tights, feet up on sleeping wedge, and an early bedtime. A fun day tomorrow...

Despite the Gadgets...

PE is still the most important training measurement tool. What's "PE"? Perceived Exertion. Which is a fancy way of saying how hard did the ride feel. WKO+ and PowerTap give me Training Stress Score (TSS) and Intensity Factor (IF).

Comparing yesterday's Tempo paced ride; and today's Intense Interval ride... both rides had an almost identical TSS. Yesterday's ride had a low IF (tempo paced!). Today's ride had a high IF. Yesterday left me feeling fresh -low PE. Today wiped me out -high PE.

Both rides should have left me equally tired. Theoretically. The fact that the intensity left me wiped is telling me I need to work on my intensity training. This despite having worked on this... I need to develop this regime more.

All of this to say... listening to the body is always important. Gadgets help generate data, but unless correlated to what the body is doing... the numbers are useless. There's no more basic measure than "how do I feel?". It's also one of the most important.

Vineman Travels

A short break from training for a trip to California's Napa region. I was there to support Jane's ironman triathalon. We touched down in San Francisco and headed directly for the ville of Windsor, CA up the iconic US101 route. Passing over the Golden Gate Bridge was a neat feature. As an engineer, this is a wonderful testiment to times past. The architectural-like details are striking. Amazing to think that every rivet in that structure was placed by hand.

Notables from the trip...

We ate at Real Doner in Petaluma, CA. this was our first stop after touching down. Wonderful Turkish food!

As we dined outside we got our first taste of the weather. Amazing. Temps in the mid-60s and a nice breeze. I relexively ask aloud "I wonder how hot it gets in the summer over here?" Failing to realize this is the summer! Being from the gulf coast, I naturally associate these temperatures with fall or spring.

The race started in Grueneville, CA. This is a town that time seems to have forgotten (for the better) nestled between vineyards and a redwood forest. The race swim was in the Russian River...

Again the weather was absolute perfection. I wrote some messages for Jane.

along her biking route...

It would turn out to be a tough day on the bike for our hero. Suffering from some mechanical issues, and many logistical issues caused by the promoter. Jane would run late into the night, when the promoter ended her race before she was willing to give up. She got robbed.

A painful way to cap off a strong effort of fending off multiple adversities. Everyone should watch an ironman triathalon atleast once. It's an amazing experience to see people come through the event. Folks of all ages, of all types all pushing themselves beyond what nearly everyone thinks is impossible. Just don't stand near the Team In Training folks. ;-)

Departing was difficult. I really enjoyed the stay here. More than anything I didn't want to leave the weather behind...

... ah back to the triple-digit heat of south Texas. *sigh*