Are we there yet?

[jsirabella]

@felt, funny thing I was thinking the same as you. I was thinking I was going to loose weight as I have not changed my diet all that much but I have not. I seem to always be between 162-170 and in 20%s bf depending on the workout the day before and time of day I weigh myself. This actually bothers me cause there is one area of my body I just can not seem to loose that weight! Around the belly! I can still pinch a little there. Every other part of my body I can not pinch and plenty of veins popping. I have to examine my diet closer as I may go back for seconds during dinner lately? I seem to be eating more Mexican for lunch lately which is really filling me up, good and cheap food.

As far as hunger I seem to feel a bit but not crazy hunger. Sometimes I feel a little nausea cause when I am pushing myself so hard I think the liquids can help but I over do it on some sessions. Also I am usually filled with so much liquid that makes it a bit harder to eat. I am getting better at not doing that and sipping instead of gulping. In addition I have figured out the liquids will not help me finish a hard ride. You just look for anything to help at those times.

The one thing I actually worry about most is getting a cold/fever. I thought it coming on Monday and actually purposely ate more carbs. It helped when combined with the lighter ride. It is more important for me to keep training than to push so hard that I get sick.

I am hoping as I we get closer to warmer weather and go into shorter rides with more SST/L4 that I can control the calories also and really get a nice watts/kg going. This is the first year in all my training that I am actually approaching cycling like I did with weight lifting.

-js

 

[Felt_Rider]

The image below may indicate why I am almost beside myself with joy this morning thinking that I get to train outside tomorrow. This will be the first time in a number of weeks it has not rained on the weekend. I am thinking about doing 70+ miles tomorrow, but I know I need to be careful that I do not rack up too much TSS and ruin my hope of training outside on Sunday. The image below does not have last night's effort listed, but I can tell you I am ready to get off the rollers for a couple of days.

I can't wait until tomorrow morning. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif

​

 

[jsirabella]

@felt, Get out there and have some fun. There is a reason why they put wheels on the damn thing. It is not to stay in one place!! Myself I had to go to work this weekend in Columbus OH, BG country if I remember. The hotel does not have much a gym so thinking a bit of rest time and with 3 days off the CTL should drop to about 85 or so.

Boy is it old and raining around here...

-js

 

[danfoz]

@felt, 2+ hours on the rollers, I know it's probably been said before... YOU ARE AN ANIMAL! Enjoy the lovely weather tomorrow.

 

[maydog]

Impressive elevation gain on the rollers. Do you get that by inclining them?

 

[Felt_Rider]

Originally Posted by danfoz .

@felt, 2+ hours on the rollers, I know it's probably been said before... YOU ARE AN ANIMAL! Enjoy the lovely weather tomorrow.

Thanks
The e-Motion rollers helps in putting in a little more time. Now js, on the other hand, 3 hours indoors on the CT....Wow!. Beast Mode!
If you saw the power profile for my 2 hour roller session you may not be as impressed. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif

Originally Posted by maydog .

Impressive elevation gain on the rollers. Do you get that by inclining them?

Yes sir but then I have to decline them to get back down to elevation. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif
Don't trust the Garmin elevation accuracy.

 

[bgoetz]

What a week. My 1st week of Base 1, scheduled for 12 hrs (11 on the bike). The 1st day I had slated to get on the bike I got into a car accident, not real bad, but caused a bit of soreness in my knees from getting knocked around. Plus to make things worse it was a work car AND I was at fault (my 1st at fault accident ever). So I missed my 1st scheduled day, not a great start. I managed to kinda get back on schedule by adding a bit of time to yesterday and today's workouts, but after 5hours on the trainer I am feeling a bit fatigued. I have 6 more hours between Saturday and Sunday to wrap the week up, I think both days will be strictly L1/L2, I may even jump on the rollers in the morning.

I did do an Aerobic TT today on the computrainer, on my road bike and my TT bike both. The idea is to do a 5mile TT with your HR between 9 and 11bpm below your LT, then compare your average HR, average power, and time it takes to complete the TT. So I selected a flat 5 mile course with no wind. This was the 1st time that I have tried to balance HR while paying attention to my wattage, and wow!! I knew HR was delayed, but I had no idea just how delayed it was, trying to both keep a steady effort and a steady HR was really difficult. End result was 280 watts on the road bike and 269 watts on the TT bike. I was getting kinda tired by the time I got to the TT bike, but regardless I think I am putting out a few watts less on the TT bike at the same HR. Not sure if it really means anything, because who knows my LT HR may end up being respectively higher on the TT bike. I guess I will see when I do look at my 20min power on each.

 

[lanierb]

Quote:
Originally Posted by jsirabella .

@df, I will have to try something but figure it will take some getting used to and adjustments. When I used them today I seem to just want to keep moving up on the seat to get comfortable which than puts me on the edge of the seat an creates discomfort down under. Not sure if my elbows should be right on the pads or not for proper position. In addition really not sure how to get into the correct position meaning, a) Do I move up on the seat? or b) Do I bend at the hips and stay in the same position on the seat? If (b) is the case this will take time! Also I have had to raise my seat cause my legs have no room.

-js

Hey guys- I haven't been here in a while so I'm way behind. Anyway, having spent the last year dialing in my TT position I thought I would answer this. If you keep wanting to move up on the seat you have two options: move the seat forward or move the bars back. Either way should solve your problem. However, they will have different effects on your pedaling. Moving the bars back will tighten your hip angle and you may or may not tolerate that. Moving the seat forward (if that's possible) will actually open it up a bit, which should be fine. The general rule is to get the seat right first for power production and then adjust the bars afterward to fit that position, so if your seat is already dialed from your road bike position then move the bars not the seat. (Unless you have your bars much lower than in the road bike position, in which case you probably want to move the seat instead, kind of like you are rotating your road bike position around the bottom bracket.)

I'm just getting sort of back into the training thing myself. It's hard to get motivated in November and December, what with the light, the weather, and the lack of races. However, despite being a hair out of form somehow I managed a good ride yesterday where I did 285w for 1:40, which I think might be my best ever power for that duration, so I'm hoping that bodes well for some gains this year.

 

[Felt_Rider]

bg & lanier, it would be nice, for my ego, if you guys could tell a fib about your seasonal starting level. When your base start is at what I aspire to reach someday as a peak it is a tough pill.....kidding /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif

It is great to see everyone getting excited about the 2012 season and read the individual goals. I hope it will be a good season for all and a safe one too.

bg, glad to hear that car wreck was not more serious. Life is very fragile.

 

[Felt_Rider]

Originally Posted by jsirabella .

@felt, Get out there and have some fun. There is a reason why they put wheels on the damn thing. It is not to stay in one place!!

-js

Originally Posted by danfoz . Enjoy the lovely weather tomorrow.

I enjoyed the training / Cycling outdoors. Can't say that I held good sustained efforts, but it was fun nonetheless. I hope to get out this afternoon for a 2 x 60. Looks like the course I am using today will have direct headwinds, but the sweet reward on the way back.

Saturday Ride Report

I hope you guys are having a good cycling weekend.

 

[Felt_Rider]

Ended my weekend with a 2 x 60 that was 0.88 IF on both intervals. I was feeling the fatigue from the 70 mile course on Saturday and heading out on the first interval was a beast because it was into headwinds. On the way back I was not really pushing hard enough at first until a guy on a TT bike rolled past me and I felt compelled to see if I could hang.

Rolling along next to him, but not in his draft he did not seem to mind. Later he said that me sitting beside him made him push even harder and that he appreciated me pushing him. I was not only fatigued, but was near my FT at some moments and found some relief at some timely intersection stops, some of which blew through, I stopped and then had to somewhat sprint to catch him. Glad I got to find out if I could still dig deep after doing all of this steady paced SST time of work.

I was really happy to see that a lot of that work on aerobic conditioning is helping. I found that even when fatigued my legs and heart were still ready to go and the brief moments of slowing for intersections and slipping through the pedestrians were enough to recover even though it was only seconds. It was tough to keep up with someone sitting very aero on a nice TT bike and I was a compact equipped road bike and not so aero in the drops. A one point I hit 32 mph, but was out of gears and spinning as quick as I could to keep up. No doubt he could have dropped me if he really wanted to. Makes me desire a TT bike with a full crank. The guy was about mid cassette and looked to be cruising effortlessly, but he told me later he was about at his limit as well.

Back to steady efforts training indoors starting tonight. Easy tonight, but then back to L4's.

 

[swampy1970]

There's always the option of fitting a cassette that starts with an 11 sprocket or fitting a 52 tooth ring to the compact chainset. 52/34 does work (lots of pros use that gearing at the Giro - inc Contador). If you find the jump between rings so dissimilar in size "odd" then you can always fit a 36 or 38 inner.

 

[Felt_Rider]

Originally Posted by swampy1970 .

There's always the option of fitting a cassette that starts with an 11 sprocket or fitting a 52 tooth ring to the compact chainset. 52/34 does work (lots of pros use that gearing at the Giro - inc Contador). If you find the jump between rings so dissimilar in size "odd" then you can always fit a 36 or 38 inner.

I use a 11-28
I am trying to teach these legs to spin faster. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif

I rarely have days like Sunday where I am trying to keep up with someone on a TT bike on flat pavement so I best keep my road bike set for variable terrain. It is typically a good bike for flat and mountains and most in my group have gearing like mine so keeping up with them is more apples to apples.

I have so much more work to do on improving FTP.

I am sure glad to have listened to Dave and Rapdaddyo on training. For what I am trying to achieve their advice sure has helped.

 

[An old Guy]

Originally Posted by Felt_Rider .

At one point I hit 32 mph, but was out of gears and spinning as quick as I could to keep up.

A 50/13 at 32mph is 107rpm. A 50/14 at 32mph is only 115rpm. A 50/12 at 32mph is a leisurely 99rpm. It is unlikely your were spun out.

More likely the impedance (torque and rpm) was not well matched. Must have been down hill or down wind.

 

[jsirabella]

Back from Columbus and did some catching up...

Really could not ride in Columbus as just too busy and there was no bike in the hotel. Not even the standard life cycles. The funny thing my body felt a bit more beat up from not riding. Anyway got back Sunday night and did back to back 3 hour rides on Monday and today. My CTL dropped to about 85 and now is back in the 89 level. Nothing amazing to report on either ride I did back to back 190 avg on them. My second hour today was a 210 so I was a bit happier.

lb, ty for the advice but I did run out of room to move the seat up and my feeling is I just do not have the flexability but I really need to make them more comfortable. Even if I just want to do as swampy says, go fast for one hour, one hour can feel pretty long in an uncomfortable position. I will try and get my flexability up too.

bg, still trying to imagine the CT with the nintendo system. Would love to see it. Your numbers are sounding great. I hear we put out less watts on the TT but the aero position more than makes up for it. Must be a position thing as harder to generate the power.

felt, you are really kicking on rollers. 2+ hours is nice and glad you got out there. Really loving the story with the TT guy. Will you ever go back to riding with the old group?

swampy, I know soon we will here about you back on the CTL ramp...and dropping the keggers.

-js

 

[Felt_Rider]

Originally Posted by jsirabella .
Really loving the story with the TT guy. Will you ever go back to riding with the old group?
swampy, I know soon we will here about you back on the CTL ramp...and dropping the keggers.

-js

It will not be long before you are back out in CP chasing and with these 3 hour sessions you keep hammering out you will be the one that people are trying to catch.

As far as swampy, that dude will be out doing double centuries in the early spring as a warm up for the summer events. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif

 

[Felt_Rider]

Originally Posted by An old Guy .


A 50/13 at 32mph is 107rpm. A 50/14 at 32mph is only 115rpm. A 50/12 at 32mph is a leisurely 99rpm. It is unlikely your were spun out.

More likely the impedance (torque and rpm) was not well matched. Must have been down hill or down wind.

99 rpm is very fast for me. My comfortable cadence range is between 65 to 85. I can do 100 rpm for very short periods.
Did you miss the part above that I said I am working on improving my cadence? Typical for your lack of reading comprehension./img/vbsmilies/smilies/rolleyes.gif

 

[An old Guy]

Originally Posted by Felt_Rider .


99 rpm is very fast for me. My comfortable cadence range is between 65 to 85. I can do 100 rpm for very short periods.
Did you miss the part above that I said I am working on improving my cadence? Typical for your lack of reading comprehension./img/vbsmilies/smilies/rolleyes.gif

I am sorry. I read your post as you not being able to put out the power and then blaming it on your lack of gearing. I was being polite.

---

I am not the kind of guy who thinks that 90-95 cadence is ideal for everyone. I usually average below 90 on the flats. But it is not all that hard to learn to use higher cadences when you run out of gears. The limiting factor is usually power.

 

[swampy1970]

Originally Posted by jsirabella .

Back from Columbus and did some catching up...

Really could not ride in Columbus as just too busy and there was no bike in the hotel. Not even the standard life cycles. The funny thing my body felt a bit more beat up from not riding. Anyway got back Sunday night and did back to back 3 hour rides on Monday and today. My CTL dropped to about 85 and now is back in the 89 level. Nothing amazing to report on either ride I did back to back 190 avg on them. My second hour today was a 210 so I was a bit happier.

lb, ty for the advice but I did run out of room to move the seat up and my feeling is I just do not have the flexability but I really need to make them more comfortable. Even if I just want to do as swampy says, go fast for one hour, one hour can feel pretty long in an uncomfortable position. I will try and get my flexability up too.

bg, still trying to imagine the CT with the nintendo system. Would love to see it. Your numbers are sounding great. I hear we put out less watts on the TT but the aero position more than makes up for it. Must be a position thing as harder to generate the power.

felt, you are really kicking on rollers. 2+ hours is nice and glad you got out there. Really loving the story with the TT guy. Will you ever go back to riding with the old group?

swampy, I know soon we will here about you back on the CTL ramp...and dropping the keggers.

-js

I know CTL will go up but I'm not chasing any particular number. As long as sustainable power keeps on going up and weight keeps dropping I don't care if CTL remains at 38, which is about where it is now or ends up at 120. As long as I keep my FTP set in the right ball park the CTL will end up where it does - it's not like I'll likely end up overtraining on my 4 days a week. I've lost more than a few lbs the last few weeks so I'm not worrying about the weight per se. Even at 156lb last year I was still like a skinny guy with a beer gut albeit a smaller gut that I have now - there was still more to go.

Looking back at the past few years of training with the PT I've tried a few different things with regards to training pre-May and it looks like this year I'll be going with 3+ hour rides on Sat&Sun with 90 minutes on Tue/Thurs that feature a non-to-strict 3x25 format (mostly L4) but with some 5 minute efforts in there. As training progresses I'll be better able to handle the L5 effort and minimise,or even eliminate, time spend recovering and get back to threshold work but for now it is what it is. Past training would suggest that my FTP, at least initially, responds better to L4 and L5 work than it does to mountains of L3 and L4 so this year, despite having more long events to ride (a brevet series through March-May) at least half of my training sessions will be rather uncomfortable.

I need to get a new battery for my old laptop so I can get my interval countdown timer program up and running. It makes keeping track of intervals of varying lengths much much easier and to some extent stops the desire to let the rest go on for a minute more after a big effort.

Bought some Profile T3 aero bars for the somewhat flat brevet rides. Yeah, I'm riding these with the intent to get in some big miles with a watchful eye on the powermeter with regards to training but I might as well be really comfy and a bit faster whilst doing it. As the pads on the bars can be placed way behind the "tops" of the regular bars it'll be interesting to see what the setup will be like as I probably won't have to compromise stem length and change the regular position at all. I'll have to find a nice little circuit and "Chung" the position. Even 0.25mph of a difference will add up quite nicely over a couple of hundred miles.

To some extent the aero bars may help figure out what is causing my lower back some grief on longer rides. The shoulder that I injured years ago hurts at the same time and when it does I drop that shoulder lower - if I can reliably keep that the same will the back still have issues? Is it the lower back that triggers shoulder issues or vice-versa? It's like which came first - the chicken or the egg? My money is still on the rooster...

 

[jsirabella]

@swampy, I know what you mean about CTL. as I am not really chasing a number per se. I use it more to see when I should cut back or add more time on the bike. Actually I find the daily TSS numbers more interesting and playing with them to keep myself fresh.

You have been down this road several times so I am sure you have your training regimen pretty much dialed in. Do you try and see if you beat the previous years times on your events? I remember that was pretty much my yearly goal when I would head to Boston or Baltimore.

As for aerobars and LB/shoulder issues I have way too little experience in aero and way too much experience in LB. Based upon my personal experience right now I find it still difficult to get comfy in the drops initially but as the hours go by I can get into them a bit easier. Ironically the most comfy position is the set up I had before putting them on! It did put havoc on the back, more the thorasic than the lumbar. I know my T5 is a bit screwed up and was before my issues in the L5/S1 area. The spine is a tricky beast in that as you found out one area affects the other for obvious reasons. For myself the issue with my T5 puts more pressure on the L5/S1 and generates more discomfort there. I mean I do 3 hours in the saddle now so not as bad as the past when I had trouble walking but I will at times use ice or heat to help. Dave's idea of the tilt up helped a bit but in the end you have to experiment. My guess about the LB issues on longer rides could be simply a leaky back as they would say across the pond.

Good luck in that area...

One other thing to all, would buying a TT bike make a huge difference in comfort when putting the aerobars on a road bike?

@og, One thing you are not is polite, as you would say you lack the proper motivation or ability to be polite.

-js