Training Log 12/21

Back on full training intensity and volume after a couple lighter weeks (last week's volume was lighter since I skipped Friday). Actual intensity is a full notch above November, but feels the same or easier effort wise, which is great. Also felt more comfortable at the end of long rides. In other news, I'm done with work in 2008, returning 1/5... my only vacation in 2008. 

Next week I'll be in Austin, TX to spend the holidays with my sister, brother-in-law, and father. Will be an easy training week, doing some indoor spinning (at Kevin Livingstone's Pedal Hard, downstairs from Lance's Mellow Johnny's shop) and hopefully some on-the-road bike time (will be renting a bike Friday-Sunday). Weather's looking good in forecasts. 

The following week off will be a big training week. I'd thought of doing the San Bruno hill climb on New Year's, but after discussing with my coach, I'll be training full bore instead (16hrs scheduled).

Tuesday (1h 16, 21mi)

Plan:

Endurance ride - 1h 30m Zone 1

Speed - 8 x 20s Zone 5 (seated)

Notes: 

Extremely cold (40F) and quite wet. 5 of us total at Polo Fields at pretty steady pace. For no good reason, I attacked with 1.5 laps to go for a hard solo effort. Hands were frozen after changing halfway to drier but lighter gloves, and cut z1 riding short by 15m.

Did 8x repeats with Jay. Did first 5 in 39x12. Then used big ring (53x16 or so). Took a good jump to get that going seated and spun it out to 120rpm.

Wednesday (1h 32m, 28.5mi)

Plan:

Tempo Endurance - 6 x 6m Zone 3

240w

Endurance ride - 1h Zone 1-2

Notes:

@ Polo Fields. Very cold, high-30s, which somewhat constricted breathing but I was otherwise pretty warm under all the layers. Most comfortable ride for a while, given the weather and my general recovery. Right glute / IT band felt tight but concentrated on smooth round pedaling, which seemed to get all the right muscles engaged. At end of last rep, right glute felt well worked out, which seems to happen when I work hard in the drops. 

Felt like a meaningful workout. Kept pace up during recovery, spending most of the ride in Z2+, with reps in Z3. Lengthened the reps a bit, since I did today at the Polo Field and travel time to/from was at a minimum.

Friday (1h 38, 25mi)

Plan: 

Leg speed - 8 x 30s Zone 3

max rpm

Endurance ride - 1h 30m Zone 1

Notes: 

First comfortable, relatively warm/dry day for a while, around 50F. Took the non-interval part of ride relatively easy (low Z1), with relatively high cadence. Went out to Lake Merced, around 3x. Felt quite sick to my stomach and stayed home rest of the day.

Finally installed cadence monitor on bike. Having a real cadence number to look at made this workout more interesting. For intervals, was able to spin up from 120 to 135rpm smoothly. Took some concentration not to bounce over 135. Sometimes could hold it smooth at 140, but pretty mixed results. I got 2 reps to 150+. Was playing with gearing and pwr vs. rpm on various reps.

Bonus: Did 2x out-of-the-saddle leg speed sprints in 53x15 and 16. Felt pretty smooth hitting 120rpm on 1st and 130rpm on 2nd. ~10 sec each, starting the sprints from 110 and 115 rpm.

Saturday (3h 45m, 53mi)

Plan: 

Climbing - 3 x 10m Zone 3

~250w

Climbing - 45m Zone 2/3

Endurance ride - 2h 30m Zone < = 1

Notes: 

Conzelman repeats then Mt Tam to Pantoll (stop at Bootjack). Averages on repeats: 252W/144bpm, 263W/147bpm, 250W/143bpm. Good cruising speed. 

Took Tam on the easy side compared to Thanksgiving week, cruising in mid-Z2 for the climbing sections, recovery in easy Z1 on flatter parts. I was concerned that if I was too aggressive, I might aggravate the IT band again. It felt a bit tight, almost achy.

Did an extra bit of warmup through the Presidio before the bridge and repeats. Plenty of time in Z1 and some just below Z1.

Sunday (4:15, 67mi)
Plan:
Endurance ride: 4h Zone 1

Notes:

Paradise loop then Lake Merced 2x.

Started dry but turned quite wet, as expected. Met the Mouse group ride at bridge to chat, but pre-announced plan to split off. Hung with group to Camino Alto hill, then waited for a while with group after hill for Nick to try to fix his flat, but he wasn't having any luck and blew the tube on try #1. It was cold and DP suggested I keep going.

Overall steady Z1 HR, but did spend a good bit of time in low-to-mid Z2 power. In the second quarter of the ride, I was trying to get my core temp up.

Kept it brisk in the last couple hours. Headed around Lake Merced twice to wrap up and did a couple 30m stretches averaging ~190W. It dried out, I warmed up, and felt great in this section and to the end. Spent a lot of this time in the drops and was surprisingly comfortable. Guess the stretching and the long rides are helping the back and neck. Tacked on a bit extra and felt like I could have kept going, especially with the easy week ahead.

Training Log 12/14

Nothing as interesting as the Mt. Ham hill climb, but the last couple weeks have had their challenges. First off, I've been dealing with some soreness in the right IT band. It started the day after the hill climb, when I was scheduled to take a day off the bike but since I was on vacation, I tuned up the TT bike and took it out for its first ride on the road. Not smart for a major training week, given the aero position naturally a bit stressful and I don't have it dialed in. It was getting better the week after, then I did my Friday workout on the trainer (was home sick) with the TT bike, which triggered it again.

So last week was an easy week. This week was back to the programmed training intensity but it was a stress week at work and I skipped my Friday workout. So glad I had a good ride up Mt. Ham yesterday, plus some time on the track (for Gio's track clinic at Hellyer). Today I got a good base ride in, but was half frozen in the rain. 

I write a fair bit of individual ride detail when I upload my files to my TrainingPeaks.com profile. It's mainly for my coach's benefit (Peter at Whole Athlete), but here's a sampling:

Tuesday

Endurance 1h 30m Zone 1 Polo fields 

Speed work 8 x 15s Zone 5 seated max accelerations

Very cold, but wore lots of layers, including leg + knee warmers. Stayed in paceline for longer than most weeks for thorough warmup. Had added bonus of making the pacelining a bit more consistent (since there were few attacks until last 10 m), which was good for the couple newbie Mice who were out. Put in a couple attacks in the last 3 laps to get things lively, then did the leadout. Rolled around with Jay, then Jamie, both of whom were also doing seated accerations from the WA plan. Felt better on the whole, but not 100%.

Wednesday

Tempo Endurance 5 x 6m Zone 3 steady effort ~235w 

Endurance 1h Zone 1-2 do not exceed mid-z2 HR 

As described. All at Polo Fields. Cold morning, so took 30m to warm up before first rep. Felt better after first one.

Saturday

Climbing 1h 45m Zone 2/3 Mt Ham in the a.m.- do first two sections ~240w, then last long section middle of z3 HR (do not exceed 157bpm) and let's see what kind of power it produces. 

Cold day, but I dressed well. Had extra vest layers I zipped up as I climbed the hill, then put on extra dry layers at the top. Much more comfortable decent than Thanksgiving. I was running late because I stopped at the stop to get them to add the 17t training sprocket I'd bought a while back. So had easier 49x17 gearing at the track clinic. Very late by the time I got to Mt Ham. Wanted to do as much as I could. Cut out half of section 3, which saved me 20m I needed to make the track clinic productive. Mt Ham was fun to climb. Took time to warmup and eased into 240w pwr target. Felt good when I got really going and was feeling great in the Zone 3 HR section at the top. Felt like I was getting a lot of power for 154-157bpm (266W avg for 3rd section, 20m). 

Track clinic was around 35m of on-the-bike time (8m in zone 4 HR). Due the rain last night and thread of rain later today, they changed the schedule and compressed the afternoon materials into the late morning, so I missed most. What I did get was a bunch of standing start practice (4x). On the first one, I nearly lost my balance transitioning from low-rpm to mid-rpm. Got much better at it from the practice (and had aero bars on so it was representative of 4k pursuit). We also did a 4k team pursuit from standing start. Tomorrow is canceled for rain and the event will get a new date in January.

Sunday

Endurance 4h Zone 1 steady ride in the morning. stick to z1 except for limited z2 on hills 

Paradise loop w/o Camino Alto hill, then Polo Fields. Just missed the 2hr window when it wasn't raining and left just as it started again. I wore plenty, but I really need to get some upgraded clothing for serious rain. After an hour, I was wet pretty well through (except on core) and at the 2hr mark, my hands were pretty well frozen. Plan was to do a couple Paradise loops, to minimize decending and generally keep it safe and steady. Decided not to do a second Paradise Loop given the frozen hand situation. Stopped at Mike's Bikes and found some winter gloves on sale for $25, which if nothing else were dry and allowed me to finish the ride. Apart from the cold and wet, I felt pretty good. Got a good high Z1 rhythm going at the Polo Fields for the last 45m (avg 184W, 132bpm).