[JEP Coaching Scholarship] Report for Week 11 (ending 2012-02-26)

Weekly Overview:

I received my SL3 back from Calfee, and made time this week to put it back together. The blocker was a replacement set of SRAM Red shifter blades. I eventually caved and got Force replacements. They are identical, except for two splotches of paint. Oh well.

Rebuilding the SL3 took a total of about ten hours of work over three weeknights. On the first night, I discovered that WD-40 is an amazing degreaser. On the second night, I built the frame up from scratch. On night three, I cabled the bike, tuned the shifting, and applied bar tape. It was great to split up this work instead of doing it all at once.

Training is moving toward the "build" phase, with slightly less volume but more intensity.

Workouts:

02-20 Monday

Prescribed: Rest day.

Actual: As prescribed; a much needed holiday.

02-21 Tuesday

Prescribed: 1h Crossfit plus Tabatas on bike: 20 seconds "on" Z6, 10 seconds "off" Z1 - for four minutes, three times.

Actual: As prescribed. Crossfit featured stretching, kettle bells, and deadlifts per norm. The Tabatas were brutal. Who is this Tabata fellow anyway? Apparently he is first author on PMED 8897392, "Effects of moderate-intensity endurance and high-intensity intermittent training on anaerobic capacity and VO2max", from 1996.

Bonus points to someone in the academia racket who can get me the full text to that article!

02-22 Wednesday

Prescribed: 90min unstructured Z2 ride plus 30min stretching session.

Actual: As prescribed. 90min Z2-Z3 rollers ride in AM, 45min stretching in the evening.

02-23 Thursday

Prescribed:1h Crossfit in AM. Rollers session in PM: four 10 min efforts of 2.5 min "on" Z4, 0.5min "off" Z1.

Actual: Did Crossfit in AM; very similar to Tuesday. Did rollers workout immediately thereafter. I was able to hit the power numbers but it was a challenge.

02-24 Friday

Prescribed: 90min pedaling in drops (Z2-Z3) plus 30min stretching session.

Actual: Rode on rollers in drops for about 1h15m. Continued stretching is making the drops slowly but steadily more comfortable. Did some stretching afterward.

02-25 Saturday

Prescribed: Spectrum ride (sit in) plus 2x Kings Mountain at Z4, stretching afterward.

Actual: Did Spectrum ride. First group ride in a very long time. Remembered the joys of riding in a big group. Rode strong out on Canada. First effort up Kings was pretty strong; second one was less awesome. I re-discovered that cold weather riding with high intensity causes back pain, no matter how flexible I am.

02-26 Sunday

Prescribed: Day off.

Actual: As prescribed.

Weekly summary:

Time: 13 h 59 min

Distance: 194 miles

TSS: 1012

(Distance and TSS only incorporate rides for which I have power data.)

I've copied this report to my blog at http://bikefleet.blogspot.com/, where you can also find past updates, race reports, and more!

Thanks for reading.

--Jose

[JEP Coaching Scholarship] Report for Week 10 (ending 2012-02-19)

Weekly Overview:

After some weeks of building up to the training camp, I greatly enjoyed an easy week. I suspect the volume will begin to increase again fairly soon.

I did a 20min test on Saturday, and calculated my FTP to be 358W (measured with a PowerTap). See below for further details. (If you're not aware, FTP stands for functional threshold power, a mythical power number with all kinds of implications. It is, among other things, the power you should be able to average in a 1h time trial, and about 15% over the "sweet spot" of Z3 tempo training.)

Workouts:
02-13 Monday
Prescribed: Day off after training camp.
Actual: As prescribed.

02-14 Tuesday
Prescribed: 1h Crossfit in AM, 1h Z2 ride.
Actual: Rode to and from Crossfit in AM, were our day focused on range of motion post training camp.

02-15 Wednesday
Prescribed: 90min Z2 ride, 30min stretching session.
Actual: Did Z2 work on rollers and outside for a little under 90m. Did some stretching of tight areas (hamstrings) in AM.

02-16 Thursday
Prescribed: 1h Crossfit in AM, Z2 ride.
Actual: Rode to and from Crossfit in AM.

02-17 Friday
Prescribed: 90min either in drops or aerobars pre-test, Z1-Z3, plus 30min stretchi
ng session.Actual: Rode in drops on rollers for about 1h20m, with some spinning outside after
ward. Did about 20min of stretching post ride.

02-18 Saturday
Prescribed: 20 min test following protocol of ~20min warmup, 2x3min Z5 effort, 5min rest, tare power meter. 20min TT pace. Road ride (~2h) and 30min stretching afterward.
Actual: FTP 358W (CP_20 * 0.95 = 358W). Test completed on rollers. Used PowerTap; need to compensate for drivetrain losses if using crank-based power in future (~2%). Details (avg/max)[units]: power (377/508)[watts], heart rate (168/175)[beats/minute], cadence (95/139)[revolutions/minute], temperature (16/16)[C]. Normalized for my weight and using the usual Coggan chart, this puts me in the mid-Cat 2 range (surprise surprise). Did a little bit of stretching immediately post ride. Did 2h easy road ride afterward. Need to recalculate my power zones after this test.

02-19 Sunday
Prescribed: Day off, optional Z2-Z3 ride.
Actual: As prescribed.

Weekly summary:
Time: 10 h 57 min
Distance: 148.7 miles
TSS: 591

(Distance and TSS only incorporate rides for which I have power data.)

I've copied this report to my blog at http://bikefleet.blogspot.com/, where you can also find past updates, race reports, and more!

Thanks for reading.

--Jose

[JEP Coaching Scholarship] Report for Week 09 (ending 2012-02-12)

Weekly Overview:

Rain and cold returned to NorCal just in time for training camp. This was the hardest week yet - over 20h between riding, Crossfit, and stretching/massage sessions. I had a good week in training, and am looking forward to an easy week coming up.

I hit one of my weight targets (180 lbs) a couple of weeks early. If/when I get down to 175 lbs, I'd like to get a DXA scan to see just what my body composition is.

Workouts:

02-06 Monday

Prescribed: 1h30m Z2 ride (some Z3-Z4 OK) plus 30min stretching session.

Actual: Managed to get in just under 1h15m of riding. No time for stretching session today.

02-07 Tuesday

Prescribed: 1h Crossfit (stretching, lifts, Tabata intervals) plus 1h30m Z3 riding

Actual: Did Crossfit - it was challenging with two Tabata interval sets. Managed to get in just under 1h15m of Z2-Z3 riding, some on the rollers. (It is still cold.)

02-08 Wednesday

Prescribed: 1h30m Z2 ride (some Z3-Z4 OK) plus 30min stretching session.

Actual: 1h30m of rollers, Z2-Z3. Managed to get in 15min of stretching.

02-09 Thursday

Prescribed: 1h Crossfit in AM, 1h rollers ride with 4 x 10min Z4 efforts.

Actual: Did Crossfit - lighter day than usual due to Dan's camp. Rode to and from Crossfit before doing workout.

02-10 Friday

Prescribed: 1h30m Z1-Z3 (HR, not power) focusing on riding in drops, plus 30min stretching session.

Actual: Life caught up to me today and I had to run a bunch of errands. Rides were cancelled.

02-11 Saturday

Prescribed: 4hr+ road ride (training camp) plus 30min post ride massage.

Actual: just under 5h30m on the road. Route was: up Kings Mountain, up West Alpine, up Old La Honda, up West Alpine. I descended dirt Alpine in the rain (not advised on road bike). Fun ride. Post ride massage was good idea.

02-12 Sunday

Prescribed: 4hr+ road ride (training camp) plus 30min post ride massage.

Actual: 4h50m on the road. Up Old La Honda, up Haskins, up Tunitas. Felt surprisingly good. In post ride massage we theorized that my rectus femoris is tight, causing an anterior pelvic tilt and possibly the cause of back pain on long rides.

Weekly summary:

Time: 20 h 01 min

Distance: 278 miles

TSS: 1596

(Distance and TSS only incorporate rides for which I have power data.)

I've copied this report to my blog at http://bikefleet.blogspot.com/, where you can also find past updates, race reports, and more!

Thanks for reading.

--Jose

[JEP Coaching Scholarship] Report for Week 08 (ending 2012-02-05)

We have been very fortunate, here in the Bay Area, to have one of the driest "winters" on record. Indeed, I was able to get in a good ride this Saturday. It was a repeat of last Saturday's ride, along Old Haul Road, but dry conditions on the trail are better than wet.

Weight loss progresses well. I'm slightly ahead of my target. I can already feel that the reduced weight makes life going easier uphill. Yes, I've lost weight before, and this is nothing new, but it is still a good feeling.

It will be at least another two weeks before my cracked SL3 frameset is back in my hands from Calfee. My repurposed cyclocross/commuter bike fits me well and is a fine training bike, as long as I avoid the brakes!

Doing the prescribed workouts continues to be at odds with my work schedule.

Weekly Overview:

Workouts:

01-30 Monday

Prescribed: 1h Z2-Z3 ride plus stretching session.

Actual: 1h Z2-Z3 on rollers; no time for stretching session.

01-31 Tuesday

Prescribed: 1h Crossfit plus 1h30m tempo ride in AM; 1h Z4 efforts in PM.

Actual: 1h Crossfit plus about 1h Z3 tempo ride to/from Crossfit in AM, plus 1h rollers ride with two 20min Z4 efforts at low cadence.

02-01 Wednesday

Prescribed: 1h30m Z2 ride (some Z3 okay) plus 30min stretching session.

Actual: 1h30m rollers ride before work. No time for stretching session with work schedule.

02-02 Thursday

Prescribed: 1h Crossfit plus 1h30m tempo ride.

Actual: 1h Crossfit plus 1h Z3 tempo ride to/from Crossfit in AM.

02-03 Friday

Prescribed: 2-3h ride with two 20min Z4 hill climb efforts. Climbs include 30-60s Z5 bursts every few minutes. 30min stretching session in PM.

Actual: No riding or stretching today.

02-04 Saturday

Prescribed: 4h road ride with climbing, aim for 40+ minutes Z4. 30min stretching session after.

Actual: 5h13m road ride: up Kings, down 92 West, down 1 and Stage, out Old Haul, up Portola Redwoods and West Alpine, down Alpine - same as last week. Good ride. Did 20min stretching after.

02-05 Sunday

Prescribed: Day off, 1-2h Z3 ride option.

Actual: 2h15m Z2-Z3 road ride with one Z4 effort up Kings; made it up in under 25 minutes. Watched the Super Bowl afterward.

Weekly summary:

Time: 16 h 15 min

Distance: 241 miles

TSS: 1238

(Distance and TSS only incorporate rides for which I have power data.)

I've copied this report to my blog at http://bikefleet.blogspot.com/, where you can also find past updates, race reports, and more!

Thanks for reading.

--Jose

[JEP Coaching Scholarship] Report for Week 07 (ending 2012-01-29)

The slow and steady progression back into form continues.

The warmer weather and earlier sunrise made training easier this week. I've settled on taking Caltrain to and from work for the time being. The good news is that this makes some logistics much easier. The bad news is that I can't combine my commute with training this way, so training time suffers.

One of the constant challenges is making the most of the training time that I have available. Dan wants me to train more, and keeps pushing me in the direction of putting in more hours. I'm pushing back. Between dieting, long hours at work, and really not riding very much for several months before training again in earnest, I'm better served by quality than volume. Burnout has been a problem for me in the past. I am trying to avoid it this year by being conservative and realistic. When the weather is nice, the days are long, and I'm in good form, putting in the hours does not seem like a challenge at all. (It's barely February!)

Weekly Overview:

Workouts:

01-23 Monday

Prescribed: 1h Z2-Z3 ride plus 30 min stretching session.

Actual: Unable to do rides today due to time constraints.

01-24 Tuesday

Prescribed: 1h Crossfit, 1h Z2 ride, 1h rollers session with Z4 efforts in PM

Actual: Did Crossfit, plus ride to and from. Hang power cleans continue to be a challenge. Evening rollers workout is harder to start than it is to complete. Z4 efforts are getting more solid, I'm seeing somewhere around 360-380W+ in efforts.

01-25 Wednesday

Prescribed: 1h30m road ride plus 30min stretching session.

Actual: 1h30m Z2-Z3 rollers ride, plus 30 min stretching session.

01-26 Thursday

Prescribed: 1h Crossfit, plus 1h in aerobars on TT bike on rollers (in PM?)

Actual: Did Crossfit, with more lifting and Tabatas. We're starting to do plyometrics: jumps, bounds, etc. I need to make some improvements to my form in bounds. Logistical challenges prevented me from getting my TT biek ready, so I rode to and from Crossfit as usual.

01-27 Friday

Prescribed: 2h+ road ride with four 10min Z4 efforts.

Actual: Did prescribed intervals on rollers.

01-28 Saturday

Prescribed: 4h road ride with some Z3 efforts.

Actual: Long 5.5 hour road ride. Up Kings, down 92, down 1 to Pescadero, along Old Haul Road (trail!) to Portola Redwoods State Park. Up West Alpine, down dirt Alpine. Gorgeous day. Too bad my computer died an hour or so from home; the weekly summary numbers below don't reflect the tail end of the ride.

01-29 Sunday

Prescribed: Day off.

Actual: As prescribed!

Weekly summary:

Time: 12 h 34 min

Distance: 182 miles

TSS: 878

(Distance and TSS only incorporate rides for which I have power data.)

I've copied this report to my blog at http://bikefleet.blogspot.com/, where you can also find past updates, race reports, and more!

Thanks for reading.

--Jose