An Excellent Week

After my social life interrupted training last week I wanted to get a solid block of training in this week. The result was 10 hours and 20 minutes of quality training that also represents my biggest training week for 10 months, so I am really pleased. It was topped off with a 40km turbo TT today; usually I do these on a Saturday morning after a rest day on Friday but this was slipped a day as I was out on the icy roads with Jonny Briggs yesterday (great to see you again Jonny). I was not expecting fireworks as it was at the end of a hard week, but the result was 55.42, a season PB and beating my previous best from 2 weeks ago by almost 2 minutes. I am amazed at how quickly the power is returning; when I started my structured training 4 weeks ago I recorded an FTP in this test of 277 Tacx watts; today it was 303.

I have a very busy week of work ahead so will do what I can when I can.

Train smart folks.

2 Steps Forward 1 Step Back

After 2 good weeks to start my 2010 campaign Week 3 was a bit of a disaster from a training perspective. I'm not injured or sick, its just some of the other things that we amateur athletes have to do in our lives came together in a block. These things happen and I'm not downhearted about it.

First up, on Tuesday night was Mrs Turbo Man's birthday and as we all know it is more than our lives are worth to miss that! On Wednesday it was a colleague's Stag do and as I have the breaking strain of a kit kat I was completely unable to limit myself to just a couple of shandies. Consequently Thursday was written off with the most monumental hangover. Friday we were in the car driving to the same colleagues wedding that took place on Saturday. Yes, lots more good food and plenty of Guiness. Sunday we visited some good friends and although no alcohol was consumed there was a rather good selection of cakes available. I am weak.

Not to worry, I'm back on the turbo at the start of Week 4 and things are looking up. I have a couple of very busy weeks at work that may prevent me training at lunchtimes so I will just do what I can when I can. Jonny Briggs phoned today and hopefully we will be getting out on the road this weekend, something I am really looking forward to.

Train smart folks.

The Black Rat Sportive 16 May 10

At last, I've managed to enter one of my planned events, the Black Rat Sportive. Details are here: http://www.blackratcycle.co.uk/index.php

This event is based just south of Bristol on the doorstep of Sags' new mansion (!) and offers 2 distances - 100km or 100 miles - and includes the Cheddar Gorge. I've entered the 100 miler (naturally) and have never been to the Cheddar Gorge before and so cycling up and through it will be a new experience, and one I am really looking forward to (especially on my 16 pound steed!).

For Frank and Sags - I didn't see your names on the entry list. :-)

This Surprised Me

Last Sunday I struggled through 10 x 30 secs flat out 4 mins recovery and in the last interval I was unable to maintain my max cadence. However, today, I did the same session and was able to push through every rep and maintained a minimum of 120rpm for the whole 30 seconds of all 10 reps. As a bonus, at the end of 10 reps I felt like I could have done more. It surprised me that after just one week I am already feeling much stronger and cycling harder - result!

I also need to clarify something about this session. I use the word 'recovery' to describe the 4 mins but it is not easy spin recovery, I do these at 75% FTP or what I would consider to be a reasonable power output for a 2 hour+ road ride. The session then makes more sense. If you are riding at your 2-hour + pace and you then overload your system by doing 30 secs absolutely flat out then I can understand how physiological changes may result.

Changing the subject completely, we went to see Avatar in 3D yesterday. I won't give away any of the plot but we thoroughly enjoyed it; its a long film though so be prepared. We were armed with a GIANT diet coke, toblerone, mini Creme Eggs and Cadbury's Whole Nut although an emergency toilet would also have been useful!

That's More Like it!

Saturday means its time for the 40km Turbo TT, and after the disappointing figures from last week I wasn't holding out for a significant imptovement. But there was hope. I undoubtedly started off too fast last week and so today I set off just above my FTP from last week. After 40 minutes I felt good and so knocked it up a gear and, despite the pain, held this to the end.

The result was a 57:46 at an average power of 291 Tacx watts, a massive improvement of 3:48 and an increase in average power of 14 watts. As a training point, this is a clear indicator of how going too hard too soon can affect your overall performance, as there is no way that one week of base orientated training is going to show that sort of improvement. Interestingly (well I think so), today's results are virtually the same as the figures I recorded in Nov 09.

Sags mentioned Reverse Periodisation in his comment to my last post; I might do an article on that in the future. I've also been doing some research into cadence for long distance cyclists/triathletes and will post something on that soon; this is very interesting. Don't let me forget. Just remember that I am not a coach and have no qualifications to speak with any authority whatsoever on these matters; these are just my thoughts; nay, ramblings!

A Little Bit Harder

It was a session on the gym bike today and I thought I needed to suffer a little, so it was 55 minutes of the hill session at Level 14, + 5 mins recovery. The peaks were at about 90% of MHR with the majority of the session being at about 75%. Probably a bit high for this time of year but I felt good afterwards.

It Can Be Tough

Getting back into your training regime after any sort of break can be tough both physically and mentally. I'm a couple of days into Week 2 and I'm already noticing that I need more sleep. It's OK getting up early in the morning for that easy/moderate turbo session, or going to the gym at lunch time, but I am struggling to get out in the evenings, especially in the sub zero temperatures at the moment. I'm doing about 90 minutes per day at the moment that I'm very happy with. About 60 minutes of this is cycling but I've also added in some X-trainer and rowing for variety.

Sleep well folks.

2010 Week 1

Sundays should be my long road ride but, lets be honest, there was no way I was going out on the road today. So it was back on the turbo - but what session should I do? I could simply replicate an easy road ride and sit on the turbo at a relatively low power level for 2.5 hours but that is the sort of session that makes turbo training insanely dull and boring. I mentioned on Mat's blog a couple of weeks ago a session I cribbed from Cycling Weekly last winter (or was it the winter before that?), that of 6 x 30 seconds flat out 4 mins recovery. Mat did the session and mentioned that it didn't feel that hard and so today I thought I would do this session but take it a step further. Or several steps further in fact.

I wanted to do an hour on the turbo and so after a 10 min warm up I did 10 x 30 secs flat out 4 mins recovery and then a 5 min warm down. Yes, this isn't a very long warm down but as the last 4 mins of the last rep were at a relatively low level I figured that was OK. So how was it? Well, as Mat said, doing 6 of these doesn't appear to be that hard; fatigue is certainly building up as the reps go on and there is a definite increase in effort required to sustain the 120+rpm (about 66kmh) that I do the 30 seconds at. By the 9th rep it was really hurting and I was unable to sustain 120rpm for the whole 30 seconds. On the 10th rep my legs had turned to jelly; I couldn't get up to 120rpm and even then the cadence simply fell away and there was nothing I could do about it. My legs had, quite simply, had enough.

So there you have it; 6 reps is manageable but 10 is definitely a much tougher proposition. Like Brainiac, I do these tests so you don't have to!

So, Week 1 of my 2010 campaign has been completed and despite the weather I clocked up 121 miles on the turbo. I'm looking forward to the weather improving but in the meantime I'm loving my turbo.

Oh yes, and we went sledging this afternoon as well. Great fun.

Train smart folks.

You Can't Hide From The Truth

Whether you think you've been good and have kept your training ticking over since the end of last season there is only one way to find out the truth, and that is to test yourself, push yourself to your limit and see where that limit is compared to where you were at the end of 2009.

So today I hit the turbo for one of the hardest sessions - the 40km turbo TT. The turbo race of truth. So lets set the scene, my best in 2009 was 50.33 and I reckon I need to improve by 7% in 2010 to hit my Barcelona target, so this needs to drop to 47 minutes - eek, just typing that hurts.

Lets cut to the chase, today I managed 1.01.34. And it hurt. A lot. But, I now have a marker in the sand and this session will be my standard Saturday morning ride on the turbo. I am also enthused by the fact that in 2009 I made significant improvements during my base phase just by simply riding the bike. So here's looking forward to seeing this time reduce in the weeks and months ahead.

A Good Day

When the weather closes in you have to be imaginative in getting your exercise in. Today I did:

30 min walk with the dog in 6 inches of soft snow. Harder work than you might think.
30 mins on the turbo. 10 mins @ 190w, 10 @ 230w, 10 @ 190w
40 min walk to work
45 mins on the gym bike
40 min walk home
20 min walk with the dog although avoided the deep soft snow this time.

All that fresh air has made me very weary but I feel good.

And I got an e-mail from Parkers saying my frame protectors are on the way - yippee!

Feeling Good About Things

No training on Monday as it was the last day that the boys were home before heading back to school in the evening. The day was spent running around finding various bits and pieces and then dropping them off at the airport. Fortunately they got back safely before the weather closed in; Leeds/Bradford airport was closed today.

This morning, though, despite the cold, I was up just after 5am to hit the turbo for an easy 30 minute session. I also managed another 45 minutes at lunchtime on the gym bike. The weather has now taken a turn for the worse and it has now been snowing consistently for the last few hours and we have a good couple of inches. I know this is just a sprinkling compared to some parts of the country but the bottom line is that there will be no road riding until it clears up, so its the turbo or nothing.

Another piece of my Litespeed puzzle arrived today; the bottom bracket cable guide. I've had a message from Parkers saying that my frame protectors were out of stock but will be with me shortly. It's largely irrelevant at the moment as there will be no road riding, especially on the Litespeed, for some time.

Stay warm folks.

Too Hard Too Soon

After feeling somewhat under the weather yesterday and missing my planned session I felt compelled this morning to make amends. Usually Sunday mornings would be a long road ride but with the thick frost and ice on the roads this was simply not going to happen today. So it was out to the garage for a session on my trusty turbo. I accept that turbo training is not everybody's cup of tea so I've been trying to think of different sessions that would make life on the turbo more interesting. I'm just starting my base phase so it should be lots of low intensity work, but frankly these are THE dullest sessions you can do on the turbo. I've already mentioned the 30 seconds flat out 4 mins recovery set that is supposed to equate to a 2 hour L2 ride and today I thought I would try something a bit different.

No warm up required as the first few levels will take you into the session progressively. My turbo bike is set up with a 53/39 chainset and a 12-23 cassette.

Start in 39-23 and then every minute go up one gear, maintaining 94 rpm (my personal preference; each will have their own ideal cadence). To avoid bad chainlines I avoid 39-12 and 53-23. Once I got to the 53-12 it was then a case of going back down the gears (again avoiding 39-12 and 53-23) until it was back to the beginning. With a 9-speed cassette it takes 30 minutes to complete one set. So how was it? Well it starts off OK and you get a bit of recovery when you move from the 39 to the 53 sprocket due to gear overlap (39-12 is a bigger gear than 53-21). By the time I got to 53-16 I was working hard, and by 53-12 I was puffing like a steam train. I managed to complete one set and started on the second. I got all the way up the cassette to 53-12 but then blew, and had to drop back to recover and completed the hour at a steady 200 watts.

So what did I learn from this? Well this session is way too hard for this point in my season. Perhaps with some small changes it could be a useful addition (maybe starting in a slightly harder gear and only go up to 53-14 and then going up and down the cassette between that and 53-19?). We shall see.

Anyway, I'm back into the training mindset and looking forward to the challenges of 2010. Train smart folks.

Happy New Year ...

... to my fellow bloggers.

I gave in this morning and went on the turbo for 40 minutes. I had said that training for 2010 would not start until 2 Jan as I fully expected to wake up today with a hangover, but after a pleasant lie in and a walk along the beach with our dog I felt good and disappeared off to the garage for a quick session. Nothing spectacular but having worked out my power requirements for QCB in October I thought it would be amusing to see if I could hit the targets now. The answer was, unsurprisingly, no! I have set my FTP target at 340 Tacx watts and so need to sustain 360 watts for the 30-minute test; I managed 2 x 2 minutes this morning. Clearly I have some work to do. Tomorrow is the first 40km turbo TT of the year; these will be a regular Saturday morning feature of my training programme this year with every 4th week (the recovery week) being done at 38kmh. Yes, the time it takes to complete this test will be the same but I expect my average HR to reduce over the course of the year.

My Litespeed build is currently stalled while I wait for some frame protectors to arrive from Parkers; should be here in the next day or so. The frame protectors go on the cables so I need to fit them when doing the cable work, hence the delay. I can't believe I have so recklessly added some 50g to the weight of my bike with these protectors; I will have to find some way of shaving that from somewhere else!