Speeeeeeeeeeeeed

In training. On the bike.

In training. Intervals. 6 minutes. 51kmh. OUCH! Recover. 2 minutes. Repeat. OUCH! Feels good!

On the bike. The TT bike. PoD. New position. High saddle. Low bars. Not so comfortable. Man up. Seems powerful. And fast. Oh so fast. Feels good!

More Sunshine = More Cycling

With glorious sushine again I was out on the bike early. 3 hours 26 minutes, 95km and I now have a proper cyclists suntan.

Total training this week was just under 10 hours and a little over 300km of cycling. Legs are feeling very good. The rest of Saturday and Sunday will be rest and then Monday will be active recovery before the next hard session on Tuesday.

Best of luck to Jonny 'Coastal Controller' at Ironman Nice this weekend. Race well buddy.

What did you do for lunch today?

Did you know it’s Bike Week this week? I only found out yesterday during a chance conversation in the changing room, and that one of the guys here had organised a ride out today to ‘celebrate’. 4 of us duly turned out, including Chairman Ed of RAF Cycling! It was promoted as a 14.5 mile ride at a reasonable pace. It quickly became apparent that one of the riders was struggling to ride at the pace of the other 3 so we kept a lid on the pace, although I did launch one attack up the only hill on the route and managed to stay within a few metres of Ed at the top. At the end of the first lap 2 of the guys peeled off and Ed and I launched into a 2nd lap. This was more like it! Although it was windy (the usual perpetual headwind, regardless of what direction you’re travelling in) we maintained a reasonable pace. Coming back along the seafront I kept it 25mph despite the wind and was ‘surprised’ when Ed came passed me at about 27mph. I grabbed his wheel and he ramped it up to 30mph. A little further on, a set of traffic lights and a roundabout later and we entered the last half mile at about 25mph. I eased past and took it up to 30mph working on the assumption that if he could overtake me then ‘Good Luck’. He didn’t and I felt good, but when I looked back he was sat up, smiling, spinning easily! So, 80 minutes and about 29 miles completed with the 2nd lap about 6 minutes faster than the 1st!

Now that’s how lunchtimes should be!

The Next Phase

With 7 weeks to go to The Outlaw I have moved in to a 6-week block of speed and power training. In theory this takes me too close to the race but as The Outlaw is a 'B' race on my calendar this year I'm not too concerned. I will have a week's taper before the event and although my body won't have fully absorbed the training and adapted I hope to at least be rested and turn in a decent performance. I have little idea of how my swim and run partners are doing so I trust all is well with them; I guess I will find out when we meet up at Registration the day before.

I would like to thank those of you who provided me wth comments a couple of weeks ago with training advice, some of which was particularly detailed.

Training this week has so far consisted of some sub 140bpm work, my first 6 x 6 @ 105% FTP session (although I didn't manage 6 reps!) and a very enjoyable turbo this evening that consisted of 10 minutes at 32, 34, 36, 38, 36, 34 & 32kmh. Max HR was 146 (78% of MHR) so I'm content with where I am starting this phase from. For the rest of the week I have another 6 x 6 @ 105% FTP session planned for Thursday evening and then a 4.5 hour rideon Saturday morning. I will also fit in 2 x 1 hours at sub 140bpm sessions as well. Saturday night is the Summer Ball so Sunday will be my rest day this week.

There have been some good results from Bloggers of late, and one Mad Fool has completed the Ride Across Britain. Train smart, race hard, and recover well folks!

Rest and Recovery

It's been a very light week for me this week. After The Magnificat last Sunday this week was planned to be a recovery week, but domestic commitments meant that it ended up as almost a total week off, with just 2 sessions completed. But I'll be honest, I thoroughly enjoyed having a focus on something other than cycling.

On Tuesday we drove up to Leeds for a parents evening at our daughter's new school where she will start in September. Her 2 brothers already board there so it won't be completely alien to her. Our daughter stayed overnight in the boarding house and then had a full day in the school on Wednesday. On Tuesday night Mrs TM and I stayed in a fabulous B&B just outside Bradford and we headed into Bradford for a traditional Indian meal. On the Wednesday we went into Leeds city centre and enjoyed a relaxing day following our noses with no pressure to do anything except make sure we were back at school to collect our daughter at 1600.

On Friday our daughter was involved in a dance show. Despite a bad graze on her knee from a playground fall earlier in the week she participated in 2 dances in front of a crowd of a couple of hundred or so enthusiastic parents, grandparents and friends. Afterwards, she received 3 awards following dance exams she had completed earlier in the year. Excellent. Straight after this, we drove down to Bournemouth for a weekend away. We stayed in a very pleasant B&B that used to be the family home of the actor Stuart Granger and on Saturday we went to see Blondie in concert. This took me back to my teens and despite being an OAP Debbie Harry can still sing and we had an excellent evening, fuelled by an excess of Ireland's greatest export! Sunday morning came far too early and a man with a jackhammer was trying to escape from within my head. I did my best to conceal it (and failed!) and after a hearty breakfast and opening my Father's Day gifts (a large bar of Toblerone (my absolute favourite chocolate) and 3 short sleeved casual shirts - excellent choice kids; many thanks and I love you all too!), we spent a couple of hours resting on Bournemouth's sandy beach. After this, a ride in the simulator (the Pepsi Max Ride from Blackpool Pleasure Beach) and a '99' I was feeling much better.

Looking ahead, I now have a 6 week block of speed/power training leading up to The Outlaw. I'm really looking forward to both the training and the race itself; I'll let you know how it goes.

All the best

The Magnificat Sportive

Well that was a tough ride. The Magnificat Sportive is based at Newbury racecourse and takes you up and over the North and South Downs and through some beautiful countryside. It's billed as 127 miles and 2800m of climbing but I clocked a little more mileage and a little less climbing. Regardless of that, it's not an easy ride as the course profile from my computer shows.

I met Coastal Controller just before the start and at 0807 we rolled under the starting gantry and headed out. Lesson 1 came soon; the first time Jonny braked hard one of his water bottles flew off his bike. I cruised on while Jonny collected his bottle and caught me up, but by this time the big group we were in were some way up the road and were gone for the day. We rode swiftly, chatting about nothing in particular and after some 40 minutes or so we agreed that we would ride at our own pace. And I left Jonny behind on a long hill. At this time I was feeling OK but was conscious that my HR was giving me figures I didn't want to see; I was riding too hard and needed to slow down. I tried easing up but the hills were relentless, and even going as gently as I dared my HR was always above 160 when the road went upwards. I also spent much of this time riding alone and therefore fighting the wind without any shelter. I know, man up! At the first feed station I topped up my empty water bottles with the organiser supplied Torq drink and this didn't seem to agree with me and caused me some stomach issues for the next couple of hours. I don't think it was the Torq product itself, rather the mix of High 5 that I started with topped up with Torq caused me an issue. The middle leg is the toughest, with the majority of the climbing and I was grateful for the 25-tooth cassette fitted earlier in the week, as I never felt I was in danger of grinding to a halt. I was suffering from a lack of energy, though, and suspect that the Torq drink was not providing me with as much energy as the High 5 I was used to, or maybe I just hadn't mixed it strong enough? Eventually, I reached the 2nd feed station and to my great delight there were peanut butter and jam sandwiches available. The sugar rush was almost instant and after a couple of sandwiches and topping up my drink bottles (going without wasn't an option) I headed off into the final leg. For the first time I managed to hook up with another guy who was riding at the pace I wanted to ride at, and shortly afterwards we were joined by another pair and a little while later we gathered up another so we were now 5 and with one very strong rider at the front we headed in to the last 2 hours or so. There were some hills but nothing too tough and the descents were long and included a nice trip through the outskirts of a town (no idea which one!) taken at 50 - 60kmh, mini-roundabouts and all! There was one roundabout with a tricky exit as the kerb came back in, but I got round in one piece. Just make sure you read Jonny's blog - I won't spoil the surprise but guess what ...? Right at the end there was a cheeky 10% hill to get up and then the run back to Newbury racecourse. I must say it was a welcome sight after exactly 7 hours and 41 minutes, and good enough for Silver standard. It was somewhat slower than I had hoped but I re-learned some lessons about pacing and nutrition and sometimes it is useful to be reminded of these things, no matter how experienced you are.

Overall it was a tough but enjoyable day out. The post-ride coffee, massage and ice-cream were most welcome, and by the time I had everything packed away I was in time to see Jonny come home.

I now have a very easy low volume recovery week that includes a trip to Leeds for our daughter's introductory day at her new school and a weekend in Bournemouth to see Blondie.

Train smart and recover well. All the best.

Bee Stings and Gear Ratios

The good news is that the after effects of the bee sting are now subsiding. It's become quite itchy but the swelling has gone down a lot and it's not so uncomfortable when sitting down. Hopefully, in another day or so my leg will be back to normal.

Looking ahead now, I have borrowed a cassette for this weekend's Magnificat. With 2800m of climbing in the 200km I wanted to have the option of spinning a smaller gear, and when a friend offered to loan me a Dura-Ace 12-25 cassette for the weekend it was a no-brainer. Coupled with my compact chainset using 50-34 rings this will provide me with a very low gear, and when that is linked to my vastly improved bike position following the bike-fit session the other week, I am confident that the hills will not be an issue. The weather forecast remains good so I'm hoping it will be a really enjoyable day.

All the best

The Bee's Revenge - "Take away the pain but leave the swelling!"

OK, the bee may be dead but it's legacy lives on. One of my thighs (or at least the top of it) now looks like one of Chris Hoy's. When I woke up I described the swelling as marble-sized, or possibly golf ball sized. But now the swelling is an oval shape some 6" x 4" in size and maybe half an inch or more in depth and it's position makes sitting in a chair very uncomfortable. If it wasn't dead already I would hunt that bee down and ... well ... KILL IT!

Fortunately this week is a recovery week so I'm not planning on cycling too much, although there is the small matter of The Magnificat sportive on Sunday to look forward to.

Train smart fellow bloggers.

A big week. And a bee.

I planned this week to be a BIG week and that is exactly how it turned out. I didn't complete every session on the programme but did plenty of quality, and rested when I felt tired. It was my biggest training week since January 2008 and is giving me a good feeling that my cycling is still improving. The stats tell me I completed just over 14 hours of training and some 405km (251 miles) of cycling. Within that mileage was a good mix of turbo intervals, sub 140bpm work, IM pace work, hills and TT style efforts.

So what has the bee got to do with things? Well today I was heading downhill at a reasonable pace when I felt a pin prick close to the top at the back of my right leg. The pin prick very quickly bloomed into a red hot poker being driven into my thigh. I managed to shout "I've been stung" to my riding buddy before completing an emergency stop. I was convinced the offending small dog-sized hornet (because I'm sure a humble bee couldn't have caused so much pain!) might still be in my shorts so by the time my riding buddy had returned to where I had stopped I was semi naked with my shorts around my knees desperately hunting for the offending beastie. It hadn't actually occurred to me that as I, like most cyclists, ride commando under their cycling shorts I was 'as nature intended' and showing an awful lot (nay, everything!) to anyone who may have been passing by. Fortunately, we were on a quite country lane so hopefully my indiscretion was only witnessed by my riding buddy (poor fellow!).

So look at for those little nasties, keep your mouth closed when descending quickly! :-)

All the best

T Man

New Seatpost

My new FSA carbon seatpost arrived yesterday so I fitted it last night and made the final adjustments as recommended by Andy at Bike Science. I need to ride the bike again to confirm all is OK with the position so hopefully I will get another bunch of miles in over the weekend. I've clocked up over 150 miles so far this week so it's safe to say that training is going very well.

All the best

Training Advice Required Please

Training is going very well at the moment; my FTP is currently back to the same level as my 2009 peak, and I still have 4 months to go until my A race. I'm currently in the middle of a BIG week of training and this will lead into an easier week next week culminating in the 200km Magnificat sportive. After that will be a recovery week and then I have a 6-week block of training before The Outlaw IM-distance triathlon relay. And it's with this block of training that I need some help please.

So after 23 weeks of base and build I want to add some top end speed and speed/endurance. I'd like some suggestions as to what sessions are recommended and what sort of gains I can expect. I'm a bit beyond 'do some intervals' type of advice and would like an idea of a programme to follow for the 6 weeks. My thoughts are:

Monday - Rest & Recovery
Tuesday - 6 x 6 mins @ 105% FTP (total session time 68 mins)
Wednesday - 60 mins sub 140bpm (75%MHR)
Thursday - 6 x 6 mins @ 105% FTP
Friday - Rest & Recovery
Saturday - Long road ride (2 - 3 hours easy)
Sunday - Long road ride (2 - 3 hours moderate with some hill/sprint intervals)

I don't follow the 'build for 3 weeks recover for 1 week' philosophy and will train on 'feel', so if I am tired I will skip a session. I also feel that as this block will be more intense then I will need more rest (I'm not exactly getting any younger!). So, fellow bloggers, let me have your thoughts.

Halfords Tour Series

The Halfords Tour Series cycle race event came to Portsmouth this evening and so I ventured across to witness my first cycle race of this type, and I must say it was most entertaining. Fast, action packed cycling with some spectacular crashes - there will be some sleepless nights tonight for some cyclists! I have no idea who won but thoroughly enjoyed it. Coastal Controller, Mrs Coastal Controller and a couple of my Titchfield cycling buddies were also there and with a cool beer and some chocolate fingers (!) it was very enjoyable.

And today I've managed 2:17 on the bike and over 62km, so ticking over quite nicely!