It's killing me but..........

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by Felt_Rider

After being in the limelight (locally) at one time I would much rather be unknown. Just another guy in the gym that no one knows and just another guy cycling solo out on some lonely road. It is much better than where I was back in the day.

I found the easiest way on the road to do it for myself has been a SURLY, good old bike rack on the back, maybe a pannier and than some cargo shorts. And if you want to go extreme grow a nice long beard....lool.

I love it when I see the roadies. You can not loose. Too slow, well you are suppose to be, you pass them, God do they feel defeated. Kind of like the last place team in a league, you can not really loose.

js, you are sick and twisted! I love it! When I was in phenomenal shape I would sometimes go out on my MTB w/slicks and bust some balls. Of course the strong guys could easily cast me aside, but I'm sure taking delight in dropping some of the fledglings whilst riding in flip flops on a mountain bike will relegate me to a special place in hell 😉

Alas the awesome and amazingly fast 26" Vredestein S licks appear to be no more. As long as I didn't spend too much time at the front, I could hang in my local park's paceline on those tires for a few fast laps.

True story. In 1992, I did the MS 150 with my then- now ex- wife. In the weeks before the ride, I kept begging her to get out on the bike, telling her that aerobic classes were not going to cut it in two long days in the saddle. Sher declined my advice. We got to the starting line late (because of typical drama that led to the demise of this relationship) and, because there were no cell phones back then, and the team sponsor from work (my boss) was expecting us to ride with them, I decided to try and catch them who had left at least 40 minutes before. I was riding with a local club and in crazy good bike shape, the wife, only gym-type fitness.We caught them at the second rest stop riding at a good clip. Well, she starts bonking seriously on the last 20 miles and we let my boss and his geezer friends ride on. I mean. slowing down to a death crawl. Sure enough, we are moving so slowly, that we get passed by the woman featured in the link below, who is a local legend.

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On the way back, my ex was hurting so bad that Eiko left her in the dust. Eiko was in her late 60s when we rode, but she would average about 16 mph over the two days, in heels and on a single speed bike. (The ride is incredibly flat) The helmet is newer. Back in the early 90s she road with a broad brimmed straw hat. Again, Eiko in her sixties would outpace all but the serious riders. She did not stop for rest breaks and just kept moving along.

Likewise, once upon a time, I used to hook up my burly trailer with a kid in the back and start weenie hunting on our local bike path. I would look for the quintessential gear queer on an expensive roadie and then practically kill myself staying ahead or passing him with the "family truckster." Mine was an old 1991 Univega Mt Bike with slicks. If I was feeling especially cruel, I would try and engage him in a conversation and control my breathing so that it sounded like it was effortless.

And there is nothing like riding with a guide in Moab or Crested Butte; and after you are dead, the guide lights up a doobie and then begins to crush you up some steep piece of single track.

df, I forgot which night but when I used to do the night rides in CP and had dreams of glory there was this one MTB rider with slicks who who just destroy the field of roadies. I was so impressed with this guy on how he took down harlem hill without loosing a stride as he went over the crest.

ko, +1, people like Eiko always impress me the most cause they truly turned cycling into not a recreation of fitness test but a part of their life. That bike is just not a bike but part of her life. I always worried though if I ever turned into that cause they all do seem to have a similar look. Not to be too mean. You can go to CP or up Route 9 and find a ton of those guys who spend way too much on their first bike and can not even clip in.

At this point I stopped caring when someone wants to chase me up a hill or has too pass me no matter the circumstances. I am having fun again with the bike now anyway.

-john

Good stuff.

On the training side I am thinking about switching gears. I did a classic approach through the early season with some base and build bumping my FTP up from ~200 to about 240 between January and late March but unfortunately missed my target of Battenkill and I haven't done much except a few rides around Prospect Park in the last couple of weeks. I'm now finding myself floundering a bit. The post by RDO a short time back and all this talk of intensity had me thinking about dusting off the old Carmichael Time Crunch book and doing several weeks of top heavy L5/L6 work to see what sort of sharpness I could bring about for June as there are two races in Central Park sparking my interest, the Dave Jordan Classic and the Lou Maltese Memorial. A lot of it will boil down to how consistent I can keep the training schedule and although the job hunt continues to be the main priority at least I'll have a short term goal to maintain enthusiasm.

Btw have been very careful to avoid cycling news outlets since yesterday and watching Paris-Roubaix on NBC right now. I have no idea who wins this thing!

Roubaix was awesome. Epic... the only way to describe it. Hats off to Boonen - if it wasn't for the very sad events prior to the classics season I feel he would have just crushed this race.

Pummeled again on the massage table tonight. Mostly back, "ribsy" stuff - intercostals, scalenes stuff around the diaphragm etc and some glutes/hamstring work. 90 minutes of not much fun, no happy endings and I suspect the next two days will be grim. The therapist refused to believe I was relaxed when work started on my back, instead believing that I was fully tensed up... After some exploratory work the only comment given was "oh boy..." Inwardly I thought "oh f**k, another 3 days of pain and no riding until the weekend". Just got over the last pummeling and started to feel relaxed on the bike again.

Made some good changes to my cleat position after discovering what it was like to ride a bike without hamstrings tighter than the suspension cables on the new SF Bay Bridge... I likey. Unfortunately, said changes and previous massage work now means that with my hamstrings and lower back not being as bad as they were the "Cantilever of Tightness" is no longer the same as it was and a ton of weight is now being put on my arms when riding in the tri-bars. This'll be interesting as I have a 400km ride coming up in a couple of weeks and I came just see needed to put the armrests out a bit and drop the stem about 2" to "re-balance" everything to take the weight back off my arms - not an ideal solution before a 250ish mile jaunt...
...first world problems, right?

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by swampy1970

Roubaix was awesome. Epic... the only way to describe it. Hats off to Boonen - if it wasn't for the very sad events prior to the classics season I feel he would have just crushed this race.

HIs form was on. I suspect if they had tailwind instead of headwind he might have been able to ride away, he was heads and shoulders above the rest.

If all goes well I should finish April with 600 minutes of true time in L4. (and for kopride, so far I had 9 minutes end up in L5 this month [IMG]files.cyclingforums.combig smile.pngOpen ↗[/IMG] )

Last year in April I had 250 minutes and then following April of 2013 it dropped substantially and most of my time was at L3 or lower. I feel like I am still on track with my goal, but last week was certainly tougher due mainly to heat and I knew this was going to be an issue. What a difference a few degrees makes as a starting temperature for indoor training. With the indoor temp now starting at 74 (F) I was quickly getting overheated, but toughed it out and that is with two good fans running. I may need to add another fan. It would be better to have a window unit AC to cool that room, but there is no way my wife would go along with that idea. Even with the house AC unit running the temps will be starting in the 80's with high humidity in just a few more weeks. That is when it will become really challenging to this goal.

The other challenge has been cutting calories, but I am cutting slowly so I have not felt a big impact so far.

I tried my 31 mile loop yesterday to beat my PB on that course. I missed my long endurance ride on Saturday so I thought I would do well yesterday and instead my legs were really slow to warm up. I struggled to get loose in that first 10 miles, but then they began to open up. My PB for that course is 1:40:43 and I finished the Strava segment yesterday at 1:42:40. Total moving time was 1:43:15. I did stop briefly to see if a stranded cyclist needed help with his flats. (two flats on aero wheels and he was waiting on a ride to come pick him up - that sucks) There was also a few moments where I drifted mentally - that sucks as well. No biggie it was just a training ride and I ended the ride with 42 minutes in L3 and 55 minutes in L4.

Well that's my update for the week.......I open the door for more community jabs like the last time I posted an update.

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by Felt_Rider
If all goes well I should finish April with 600 minutes of true time in L4. (and for kopride, so far I had 9 minutes end up in L5 this month [IMG]files.cyclingforums.combig smile.pngOpen ↗[/IMG] )

The other challenge has been cutting calories, but I am cutting slowly so I have not felt a big impact so far.

I tried my 31 mile loop yesterday to beat my PB on that course. I missed my long endurance ride on Saturday so I thought I would do well yesterday and instead my legs were really slow to warm up. I struggled to get loose in that first 10 miles, but then they began to open up. My PB for that course is 1:40:43 and I finished the Strava segment yesterday at 1:42:40. Total moving time was 1:43:15. I did stop briefly to see if a stranded cyclist needed help with his flats. (two flats on aero wheels and he was waiting on a ride to come pick him up - that sucks) There was also a few moments where I drifted mentally - that sucks as well. No biggie it was just a training ride and I ended the ride with 42 minutes in L3 and 55 minutes in L4.

Well that's my update for the week.......I open the door for more community jabs like the last time I posted an update.

Ha. No community jabs from me, just an observation of an atypical power pattern. Seems like more time in L5 is like low hanging fruit for you, a little more time in that level should yield real gains. I am now on Strava so PM me if anyone wants to follow me or check out what I am doing.

I had a solid 2 x 20 outdoors Thursday and averaged about 250W, 240W for the first and 260W for the second. The reason for the disparity being the insane offshore NE wind and gusts blowing head on into my ride on the Northern leg. That ride was funny, I was like top 15 heading South, averaging only 240 watts; and 400 heading north, averaging 260W. (Spring break with kids so no riding on Fri Sat.) On Sunday, an Easter Brunch and trip back from the shore took up most of the morning so I only had an hour to squeeze in a quick late afternoon ride. I decided to do my hill interval ride on two well ridden CAT 4 Strava segments, and the results were fun. I was top 20 on all the Cat 4 hill segments; and 3 and 4th in my age group on the two main intervals. I will self plant an asterix next to these efforts since many of the other folks did these segments as part of longer loopy rides. (My buddies have already demanded a notation since I didn't do the usual full loops theses segments are a part of.) On the other hand, I am still way down FTP-wise from where I was before my layoff so I think that I will be easily doing this pace on longer rides by the end of the summer. Also keep in mind, I had half the brunch buffet and a huge omelet down my gullet for these efforts along with pilfered Easter candy from my kids. (Nothing is easier than taking candy from babies). In any event, given my pathological competitiveness, I can see that Strava will be a great motivational tool for me. It is amazing how many scary fast guys are out there. (One of the times set on a particularly nasty hill seems to have been set by a pro racer so I am not seeing a KOM on that segment in the near future). Another fast time was set by a well known area club racer and that might be a more worthwhile goal.

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by swampy1970

Swampy, massage therapists are great; and I don't want to sound like one of these folks who discoverers Yoga and then becomes a zealous yoga evangelist, but there is no substitute for a good yoga class to get some of your flexibility back. And yes, hamstring and hip flexor flexibility among cyclists are like zero. I feel and move so much better now that I've integrated yoga into my routine. it is great for your core and you will sit on the bike more comfortably. And you are exercising with a bunch of women who are standing around in their underwear stretching themselves every which way. If you are going to be hanging with folks wearing spandex, this is the group you want to hang with. I ride with a hirsute Armenian guy and a nordic guy who looks like an old SS recruiting poster. I do yoga with college girls and very fit bored housewives. It's a much needed balance; and corrects all the disturbances in the force. .

x2 on yoga. I made that discovery last year after making fun of my boss about going to it, then I finally tried it. It made a very noticable difference in recovery times from both the gym and cycling. It also fixed the issue I had with knee tendon pain on hard rides. And yes, the college girls and desperate housewives that frequent the classes are definitely a bonus.

I thought it was pretty interesting and encouraging to see a FB post about a week ago by Dr. Coggan of doing 20 weeks of "living in the sweet spot" and reporting a fairly good increase in FTP.
No L5 from what I understand.

(With data posted for the result)

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by Felt_Rider
If all goes well I should finish April with 600 minutes of true time in L4. (and for kopride, so far I had 9 minutes end up in L5 this month [IMG]files.cyclingforums.combig smile.pngOpen ↗[/IMG] )
Last year in April I had 250 minutes and then following April of 2013 it dropped substantially and most of my time was at L3 or lower.

That's actually a huge increase in what I call high-intensity efforts. The first cut I make in looking at my ride time by week is L1-L3 and L4-L7. I target specific distributions of L4-L7, but I consider that to be secondary to gaining fitness. My #1 goal is to get a high percentage of L4-L7. Going from 250mins to 600mins is huge! Well done.[IMG]files.cyclingforums.comcool.pngOpen ↗[/IMG]

No question SST has a lot of benefits and is probably the optimal way to train for cycling only athletes. I would like to see the data for cross trainers like us. The whole concept of that sweet spot idea is maximizing effort without going too far over the edge and you can keep training with less recovery. But how does that apply if you are shredding legs on alternative days? And riding less than true single sport cyclists. We need data for us cross trainers, until then we are trial and error.

kopride said:

Swampy, massage therapists are great; and I don't want to sound like one of these folks who discoverers Yoga and then becomes a zealous yoga evangelist, but there is no substitute for a good yoga class to get some of your flexibility back. And yes, hamstring and hip flexor flexibility among cyclists are like zero. I feel and move so much better now that I've integrated yoga into my routine. it is great for your core and you will sit on the bike more comfortably. And you are exercising with a bunch of women who are standing around in their underwear stretching themselves every which way. If you are going to be hanging with folks wearing spandex, this is the group you want to hang with. I ride with a hirsute Armenian guy and a nordic guy who looks like an old SS recruiting poster. I do yoga with college girls and very fit bored housewives. It's a much needed balance; and corrects all the disturbances in the force. .

If there was a little pill for yoga induced priapism (caused by college hotties and sexy bored housewives) I might go... ... But it's best that I just stretch my muscles at home. Besides, fat guy in yoga class - not cool. Lol.

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by RapDaddyo
That's actually a huge increase in what I call high-intensity efforts. The first cut I make in looking at my ride time by week is L1-L3 and L4-L7. I target specific distributions of L4-L7, but I consider that to be secondary to gaining fitness. My #1 goal is to get a high percentage of L4-L7. Going from 250mins to 600mins is huge! Well done.[IMG]files.cyclingforums.comcool.pngOpen ↗[/IMG]

Thanks for helping me look at this with a bit of a different perspective.

I hope to make 600 by the end of the month, but at worst I should be in the 500 minute range. I have a gut feeling that I am on the right track with all else being balanced out for this year's goal. I can say with some confidence now that I am coping with the schedule training in the two types of stress loads and have not reached feeling overwhelmed and yet I feel trained.

This has been my typical Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday routine with 4 x 10 L4 (longer endurance type of rides on the weekends). My goal is shoot for the upper edge of my L4 range because I struggle with heat management in a 20 minute session. If I were doing 20 minutes I would back it down to 91%, but I tend to get overheated in my training room. Even at 70 (F) with two good fans and a dehumidifier I get overheated. From next month until the fall it will be challenging to stay in L4 when the starting temp in the room will by 80+ degrees (F).

So this is how I am trying to improve my time in L4 this season. I've been in the schedule since February.

Last night (with a few minutes between each to cool off a bit)

1st 10 - 100%
2nd 10 - 100%
3rd 10 - 98%
4th 10 - 98%

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Notice the data drops in the last interval? I finally figured out that comes from my wife heating up her dinner in the microwave upstairs. It took me a long time to figure out that each night at the same time I would get data drops so we did a test a few weeks ago and as soon as she turned on the microwave the data began to drop to zero until the microwave was finished. For about 3 years I thought it was something else in the training room interfering with the signal or even the power meter that was acting up.

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64% humidity last night in the room with the dehumidifier running, which was not too bad considering it was at 78% outside. All this makes such a huge difference in trying to train at a higher intensity inside.

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by Felt_Rider

Notice the data drops in the last interval? I finally figured out that comes from my wife heating up her dinner in the microwave upstairs. It took me a long time to figure out that each night at the same time I would get data drops so we did a test a few weeks ago and as soon as she turned on the microwave the data began to drop to zero until the microwave was finished. For about 3 years I thought it was something else in the training room interfering with the signal or even the power meter that was acting up.

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64% humidity last night in the room with the dehumidifier running, which was not too bad considering it was at 78% outside. All this makes such a huge difference in trying to train at a higher intensity inside.

Too Funny on the microwave interference. All I can say is that if you're wife is cooking for you while you are working out, seems a bit unfair to complain about the cooking method! I had to get off my bike during my second 20 minute interval, because my daughters had some school stuff and my wife was helping with homework--so my workout got cut short.

The body temp issue seems a bit abnormal if you've got the fans cranking and your HVAC system is working. Have you had your thyroid checked lately? I had a similar problem in my hot yoga class, i.e. the heat just seemed to really get to me to the point where I could barely finish the class. I got my thyroid in check with some synthroid and the problem has been solved, or at least improved considerably.

I think you are close to my age (@48); and a good physical with full blood work is essential for folks our age who are working out hard. Thyroid is the obvious one with heat intolerance; but liver dysfunction can be an issue as well. If you are taking a daily aspirin, then that can contribute as well. And if it is really that bad, you should get a stress test. Don't F--- around. I lost an acquaintance who was a crazy fit 50 year old triathlete, and he dropped dead on the treadmill. He would have been the last guy you would ever think had any health issues. If you are sweating abnormally or suffering from heat intolerance, don't ignore it!

Just a note of clarification.

1. I wasn't complaining about my wife cooking her dinner (I eat my own cooked food later after I finish training). I was pointing out an oddity that the microwave oven had been causing an interference and it took me a long time to figure out that was the culprit.

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by kopride
seems a bit unfair to complain about the cooking method!

Felt,

I was totally kidding! Sorry if my humor got lost in the translation. Please take no offense.