Not that I've done any this week but I managed to commute in again twice since my rear tyre debacle (reminds me..new tyre to wrestle on). I have been noticeably slower and slower riding, so much so that I thought I might as well get the Spesh out as the road bike is not conferring any speed advantage at all. Is the reduction probably because:
a) Simply not as much riding of late
b) Denser cold air to push through and more layers to weigh me down.
c) Making a hash of fitting the Crud road guards such that they have minimal clearance and clog at the merest hint of mushy leaves and road muck then act as a brake.....*
One hour of pain in the freezing cold garage, it was utterly baltic and I felt the cold. I am not one of life's warm people it would seem, if it stays like this it will be long fingered gloves, full thermal tights and top and a buff for the next session. Brrrrr.
*(....I swapped the wheel out to put bike on turbo last night.)
Showing posts with label Road to Nowhere. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Road to Nowhere. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
Just want to hibernate....
Where have I been...I gave blood on the 8th of this month and spent about 10 days feeling a little oxygen deprived so took it easy (i.e.got lazy). It all went well this time though so will be doing it again in a few months, I will be wary around any big events I'm doing.
The cold temperature and the dark mornings have made me want to hibernate, the running mileage is climbing back up nicely this month but the cycling most definitely is not. It still feels a little, "unnatural" as my legs want to pedal but it will come back I'm sure. So after the third attempt at getting out of my pit to cycle to work in the last week failed and I forgot to take one of my running shoes with me today (d'oh)...the punishment is ready for tomorrow.
Lets see how long it takes me to crack and get riding outside again:
The cold temperature and the dark mornings have made me want to hibernate, the running mileage is climbing back up nicely this month but the cycling most definitely is not. It still feels a little, "unnatural" as my legs want to pedal but it will come back I'm sure. So after the third attempt at getting out of my pit to cycle to work in the last week failed and I forgot to take one of my running shoes with me today (d'oh)...the punishment is ready for tomorrow.
Lets see how long it takes me to crack and get riding outside again:
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Field Test
Yesterday I was planning to do some running intervals, unfortunately work meant I couldn't get out at lunchtime (same today, boo). I decided to have a go at Field Test to try to determine how hard I should be working when I drag myself onto the trainer. I'm not convinced I haven't been slacking.
A colleague suggested the CTS Field Test as a starter for 10, a reasonable way to determine "lactate threshold" apparently. I programmed it into the Garmin so I didn't have to think:
1. Warm up: 10 minutes easy pedalling
2. Power Interval: 1 minute hard
3. Recovery: 1 minute easy
4. Power Interval: 1 minute hard
5. Recovery: 4 minutes easy
6. Field Test Effort: 8 minutes eyeballs out, maintain around 90-95 rpm
7. Recovery: 10 minutes easy
8. Field Test Effort: 8 minutes eyeballs out, maintain around 90-95 rpm
9. Recovery: Keel Over! 10 minutes easy
Got kit on, towel, drink, Shuffle on the brake cables and off I went. I forgot to open the patio door for some air which was a bit of mistake. First 8 minute field test effort was very, very hard, sweating absolute cobs, ugh. In the recover section I spun for about 2 minutes then had to quickly nip off and open the patio door befor my head boiled. I felt well recovered after the 10 minutes, the worst part being I had 10 minutes to think about the fact I was going to have to do another 8 minutes.
The second one felt better at the start but the last two minutes I was giving it all I could to maintain the rpm without changing resistance and there was an absolute fountain of sweat dripping off my chin - must get a big fan! Geeky HR graph:
Stats from the two efforts look pretty similar to me:
Ist Effort:
Dist: 2.49, Av Speed: 18.7, Av HR: 173, Max HR: 180, Cadence: 92
2nd Effort:
Dist: 2.5, Av Speed: 18.7, Av HR: 175, Max HR: 181 Cadence 91
It did feel very hard and I couldn't help wondering if I was shooting myself in the foot a bit by going all out but I suppose the test would have been a bit pointless otherwise. I also think I would have gone faster if I was working that hard on the road. Need to do some more research on what it means but at least I have some idea of how hard I need to work on the turbo - I certainly won't be applying it to MTBing. I'm guessing I should be aiming for a greater distance/higher average speed as a sign of progression?
Interestingly I don't think its that far away from what I would try to achieve whilst running, running is supposed to be higher. My last two running XC races were at an average of 171, which I found just bearable.
Loading it into Garmin training centre I was most amused at my apparent "route":
A colleague suggested the CTS Field Test as a starter for 10, a reasonable way to determine "lactate threshold" apparently. I programmed it into the Garmin so I didn't have to think:
1. Warm up: 10 minutes easy pedalling
2. Power Interval: 1 minute hard
3. Recovery: 1 minute easy
4. Power Interval: 1 minute hard
5. Recovery: 4 minutes easy
6. Field Test Effort: 8 minutes eyeballs out, maintain around 90-95 rpm
7. Recovery: 10 minutes easy
8. Field Test Effort: 8 minutes eyeballs out, maintain around 90-95 rpm
9. Recovery: Keel Over! 10 minutes easy
Got kit on, towel, drink, Shuffle on the brake cables and off I went. I forgot to open the patio door for some air which was a bit of mistake. First 8 minute field test effort was very, very hard, sweating absolute cobs, ugh. In the recover section I spun for about 2 minutes then had to quickly nip off and open the patio door befor my head boiled. I felt well recovered after the 10 minutes, the worst part being I had 10 minutes to think about the fact I was going to have to do another 8 minutes.
The second one felt better at the start but the last two minutes I was giving it all I could to maintain the rpm without changing resistance and there was an absolute fountain of sweat dripping off my chin - must get a big fan! Geeky HR graph:
Stats from the two efforts look pretty similar to me:
Ist Effort:
Dist: 2.49, Av Speed: 18.7, Av HR: 173, Max HR: 180, Cadence: 92
2nd Effort:
Dist: 2.5, Av Speed: 18.7, Av HR: 175, Max HR: 181 Cadence 91
It did feel very hard and I couldn't help wondering if I was shooting myself in the foot a bit by going all out but I suppose the test would have been a bit pointless otherwise. I also think I would have gone faster if I was working that hard on the road. Need to do some more research on what it means but at least I have some idea of how hard I need to work on the turbo - I certainly won't be applying it to MTBing. I'm guessing I should be aiming for a greater distance/higher average speed as a sign of progression?
Interestingly I don't think its that far away from what I would try to achieve whilst running, running is supposed to be higher. My last two running XC races were at an average of 171, which I found just bearable.
Loading it into Garmin training centre I was most amused at my apparent "route":
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Two Hours and Twenty Minutes
...is how long I spent on the Turbo on Sunday.
Original plan was to meet up with some other people for a bit of a road ride, waking up to a covering of snow put paid to that. I have borrowed some Spinerval DVD's and one was to help for longer riding efforts, the others are high intensity stuff which wasn't my plan for the day. I didn't think I'd do it all but I did, not sure what that says about me but only the last few minutes were really tough as the "enough" switch was flicked and I really wanted to stop.
Original plan was to meet up with some other people for a bit of a road ride, waking up to a covering of snow put paid to that. I have borrowed some Spinerval DVD's and one was to help for longer riding efforts, the others are high intensity stuff which wasn't my plan for the day. I didn't think I'd do it all but I did, not sure what that says about me but only the last few minutes were really tough as the "enough" switch was flicked and I really wanted to stop.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Turbo Torture
Working from home today due to car being in garage for service so no commute. I got on the turbo for an hour of intervals using the Sufferfest Downward Spiral vid. Strangely satsifying in a "shouldn't have eaten that carrot cake 30 minutes ago I'm about to puke" fashion.
Like a running interval session the hour as a whole seemed to fly by but the individual efforts seemed to take forever. I was only tempted to get off on the easy pedalling 5 minute warmup/down and recovery between the sets. I definitely need a structure to a session on it else I'll just get off!
Running intervals definitely help my running speed so it'll be interesting to see if cycling intervals help my cycling speed (assuming I make myself do them regularly).
I'm also wondering how to schedule them around hard running sessions and if they can be a replacement for running hill reps or not.
Like a running interval session the hour as a whole seemed to fly by but the individual efforts seemed to take forever. I was only tempted to get off on the easy pedalling 5 minute warmup/down and recovery between the sets. I definitely need a structure to a session on it else I'll just get off!
Running intervals definitely help my running speed so it'll be interesting to see if cycling intervals help my cycling speed (assuming I make myself do them regularly).
I'm also wondering how to schedule them around hard running sessions and if they can be a replacement for running hill reps or not.
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