training log



June 4th, 2014

22 C, 69.7 km in 1 hr 59:15, regular helmet, spandex shorts and short sleeved jersey, shorts are aero, jersey is a bit floppy
max speed 59 kph, minimum 17 kph briefly up two hills
same out and back symmetrical route as yesterday, a bit shorter ride
hair is long, hair is over ears and I have a bit of a beard
92% effort, but my effort is slightly limited due to the physical work I do during the day
wind calm 5-15 kph headwind outbound and eased off on return to 3-7 kph
570 m elevation gain
got a cramp in my calf and eased off for 2 km at 30-32 kph, went out hard against headwind
1km easy (27-28 kph) for drink
bike is a standard road bike (10 kg) with water bottle and standard wheels and race clinchers
I start and end the ride at a truck stop and cross through a stop sign at a highway intersection.

Swampy: just trying out the TT helmet, rest of clothing was a bit floppy short sleeved jersey and full length spandex pants which are a bit loose in the knee and ankle area. The jersey is 6 years old and has stretched.
TT helmet has vents but it gets hot over longer rides.
 
Oct 7th, 2014


took a break from cycling training

my road bike has a problem, the derailleur pulleys are damaged, they can twist and slide side to side reducing drive train efficiency

biking during the summer consisted of about 11 km commutes 5 days a week
a lot of physical work during the summer 6-7 hrs a day also went out jogging 3-4 times over 3 months, one being a 20 km long jog and a couple bike rides of 25 km up including some good
hills, I walked at least 7-8 km 5 days a week

got a fixed gear bicycle (15 kg) equipped with fenders and a small baggage carrier, 37 mm tyres 4.5 bar but it has nice 1 inch round frame tubing and 7/8 inch diameter handlebars
went out riding after a couple days of moderate biking 20-25 km each day
body weight is up to 77-78 kg

Today, 4 C and wind calm

did a hilly 35.5 km route in 1 hr 26 minutes with the fixed gear bike, 375 m climbing, 95% effort - oddly enough this is significantly faster than I've ever done this course on another bike somewhat
comparable to this one, where I rode 1 km farther but took 1 hr and 50 minutes wearing more aero clothing, so really this was much faster than before and I can't explain it
10 km of the ride is at a slow pace through city bike paths and traffic lights
wearing cycling tights and a tight aero top over a long sleeved heavy top with floppy sleeves and wool gloves
hair is fairly short
the fixed gear bike is painful going up steep hills at 40 rpm and I'm turning over at 140 rpm at high speed
 
Try tightening up the pulley bolts. Failing that spend a couple of dollars and ten minutes of your time replacing them...
 
Oct 7th, 2014

yesterday's entry, should read Oct 6th..

yeah, should be fairly easy to replace the pulley bolts, there are some other issues with the bike but I can fix the pulley bolts

6 C and wind 4 m/s g 9 m/s
wearing leg warmers and a full sleeved top and then cycling tights and a tight short sleeved compression top

on the fixed gear, 27.2 km in 1 hr 11 minutes bike speedometer timed and whole ride through city streets and bike paths,
the ride involves about 20 stops or slow downs to 10 kph and starting up on the fixey is slow
7 significant hills, a 250 m 8% gradient, a 700 m 6%, a 100 m long 11%, and a 150 m 9%, and a 400 m 4%, 250 m 6%, 150 m 6%, 350 m 5%
I have to brake for intersections going down these hills

did a few roll down tests but this bike definitely rides slowly
ride pk speed on flat was 37 kph

I've got sore legs, butt and feet because I ride standing up on the short steep hills as rpms are low
 
Oct 9th, 2014

9 C, wind crosswind 5 kph g 10, pretty much calm
fixed gear bike, clothing tight air-stop (rubberized) short sleeved cycling jersey over a cotton t-shirt and cycling tights over pjs, regular race bike helmet
the cycling clothing I just picked up new
51.7 km in 2 hr 45 sec, 9 km of the ride was at a slow pace through city streets
separately timed 45 minutes over a 23.2 km section of highway unimpeded by traffic lights, etc

23.2 km in 45 minutes:00, avg 31.3 kph, riding at 35 kph is at 115 rpm so limited speed on the flat
highway section has 6 hills, 900 m 2%, 1.5 km at 3% (max 5.5% 450 m), 1 km 4%, 1.1 km 3.5%, 450 m 5%, 400 m 2.7%
minimum speed was 21.8 kph up the longer hill
just coasted down the long hill (1.5 km) and reached 51 kph max in a very aero tuck (5.5% gradient at bottom of hill), which isn't impressive and the bike weights 15.5 kg
85% effort on highway and overall
riding upright put I tucked my arms in a bit on the bars about 40% of the highway section

still feels like my shorter term power is 90% of best, maybe even higher while I'd expect 2.5-4 hr power is down significantly
 
Oct 10th, 2014

10 degrees C, on the fixed gear bike

cycling tights , long sleeved shirt and tight cycling top over

36 km in 1:34, all riding along bike paths

all rides posted here are out-and-back symmetrical courses

85% effort

legs are sore

Oct 12th, 2014

legs recovered

10 C fairly calm but direct head/tailwind 6-8 kph, fixed gear bike, same clothing - removed rear carrier from bike and installed 30 mm wide generic semi-slick front tyre
rear is 37 mm cheapo semi-slick

62.0 km in 2 hrs 9 min 15 sec, 3.4 km section ridden at slow speed, ride almost entirely (58 km) on highway with long gentle sloping hills
about 225 meters of vertical
this course is nice except the 80-100 kph posted highway has a narrow shoulder in spots and a lot of traffic - which is unpleasant when large semi-trucks pass, had a semi
pass too close but I knew he was coming and had moved over a bit in a pull-over area - the other highway I ride on has 2 merge areas but there is so little traffic I've only seen a vehicle merging in once while biking - 100 kph posted limit - the maximum speed I reached was 85 kph down a short 5.5% gradient on a time trial bike riding the bars, haven't noticed problems even with semi-trucks passing near 1 meter from my left handlebar
max speed was 50 kph peak on the flat accelerating hard behind a bus pulling out of a busbay - exceedingly rapid accel
78% effort, 1 hr 9 min outbound and 1 hr inbound, out was at 85% effort back was 70% effort, really felt like I had good speed available coming back

getting back in shape already

Oct 13th, 2014

fixey bike - front fender removed but rear fender still on

3-4C and wind fairly calm, pjs, cycling tights and t-shirt with a short sleeved cycling jersey over - bare upper and lower arms

1 hr 22 min, 29.3 km ride at 75% effort got a bit cold but ok, all along bike paths

feel's easier to ride

I've got a cell phone with a decent reasonable camera with a 16GB memory card so I could post up some videos of my rides, have to jimmy a contraption to hold the cell phone
looking forward or backward at a good viewing angle

looking back at my training it seems I had too many days in a row with hard training, too bad I didn't do the time trial this year
 
Oct 14th, 2014

fixey bike - bike has a steel frame which transmits a lot of vibration

4 C, wind fairly calm

53.3 km in 2 hrs 9 minutes, 23 km section on highway - came back at dusk

pjs, leg tights, t-shirt ,cycling jersey, and light but fairly large jacket on - much increased drag area
arms normal position going out, arms in on ride back

ride was hard because of the added drag area

uploaded a video to youtube of part of my commute this morning, not riding quickly because as is clear in the video the camera gets a lot
of vibration. I'm limited to 15 minutes.


http://youtu.be/ZV5Ne8_hXUI

I'll put up some more videos soon.
 
Oct 16th, 2014

fixed gear bike

1 C, wind direct headwind/tailwind 8-10 kph on highway section
on extra layer of clothing, a long sleeved light shirt and a tuc under the helmet and light gloves
52.3 km in 2 hrs 11 minutes with a brief stop and kept the speed down on the bike paths for the most part.

I have video of this entire ride (2 hrs 13 minutes) but it needs editing as with Vimeo I can't edit video with the basic version.

By video I have a 23.3 km section on the highway at 48.5 minutes and I was taking it slow into the headwind

training is getting too stressful outdoors with cold weather, have to go indoors soon unless it warms up again. Even 4-5 C is so much less stressful
than when it gets around zero C.
 
Oct 18th, 2014

temp 3 C and wind light 7 kph

37.5 km in 1 hr 33 minutes, still light clothing - all on bike paths

edited stabilized video of me cycling on highway with semi-trucks passing, max speed is about 50 kph coasting down the hill in full aero tuck this was into headwind

cycling clip : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v26KFiMmS9M

clip 2 is a bit faster biking with the tailwind:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crdrqjy1TSE

real riding, real traffic - notice the 2 cars oncoming near me as I cross the trestle near the end of clip 2.
 
Oct 22nd, 2014

got a bit ill so nothing on Oct 20th, 21st. easy gym bike workout

45 minutes gym bike at 164 W avg, bike is different from the one I used last year and seems tougher to turn at all power levels, did 15 minutes at 100-140 W and 115-120 rpm
even this felt difficult

weight 77-77.5 kg
 
Oct 24th, 2014

40 minute gym bike at 175 W and one sprint to 850 W at 90 rpm for 2 seconds, lost some short term power as I got sore from this
10 minutes treadmill jogging and 10 minutes rowing

Oct 25th, 2014

fixed gear bike, rear tyre changed to Kenda 25 mm semi-racing type tyre at 6.8 bar

51.7 km in 2 hrs 12 minutes 30 sec, 28 km bike path section and 23.7 km highway section (more or less)
2 C and wind cross-wind strong at times 22 km/h gusting to 45 km/h
drizzle and muddy
wearing a light jacket over a t-shirt with a tight cycling jersey over
gloves and tuc ( a big tuc with a ball on the top
got quite fatigued from this ride, 85% effort mostly hard on the hills
gravel on bike paths

Oct 26th, 2014

7 C and wind more direct tailwind headwind 20 g 35 km/h

2 hrs 4 minutes 30 sec, same ride as yesterday but dropped the jacket and replaced with a long sleeved shirt and an extra layer of clothing on the legs, gloves and tuc
85% effort
47:40 timed over 23.7 km highway section
 
Oct 27th, 2014

gym bike 60 minutes, avg 239 W including 10 minutes at 325 W and 3 minutes at 385W
nearer the end of the block, power and fitness coming up fast here, effort 85%, HR max 161 bpm

and then 53.1 km, 2 hrs 1:30 real biking on the fixed gear bike - same course as before but just a bit lighter clothing and dropped the tuc and gloves
44:45 timed over that same highway section - not bad, effort approaching 90% overall for the day

Oct 28th, 2014

40 minutes at 157 W avg on the gym bike, just a easy recovery ride

Oct 29th, 2014

10 minutes warm-up at 157 W avg
65 minutes continuous ride, 267 W avg and 10 minutes at 315 W right at the start followed by 3 minutes at 370 W , HR max 153 bpm, a small break at 185 W for a 5-6 minutes
then basically constant 270 W through to the end and HR was 143 bpm at the end - didn't feel that difficult, breathing pretty except at end of the high power interval
where it was up a fair bit, effort 85-88%
it feels like the juices only get flowing after 50 minutes
this bike has a small cooling fan that blows cool air unlike the bike I used last year, in any case these efforts
body weight 77.1 kg
according to this data I'm going to easily beat every PB I set last year within 1 week
 
Oct 30th, 2014

This gym bike is definitely harder to push and based on my cycling time out on the road today there's no doubt that I've set a new all time record short term FTP
power after just 3 weeks back biking. At 80 rpm and level 20 (the highest level) it takes 650 W to churn the pedals and it sure feels like it. It seems about 5% harder at 320 W
or sop than the gym bike I used last year.

Today : 40 minute warm-up with 10 30 second intervals at 330 W and 1 minute in between at 185 W or so, AP 200 w
30 minute block at 335 W with a 3 minute block at 315 W in the middle, 2 3 minute blocks at 385 W, effort 94%, this was hard 158 bpm max at end
but 165 bpm or so is max
adjust upward 5% compared to the gym bike I used last year. AP was 330 W over 27 minutes, when the 200 W 3 minute section is removed
adjusted power (+5%) 346 W for 27 minutes new PB, body weight 76.9 kg
........
then.. out on the road with the fixed gear bike, platform pedals and running shoes, semi-slick front 30 mm and Kenda semi racing tyre rear 5.0/6.8 bar:
36 spoke rear and front wheels, 15.5 kg weight Raised the saddle 1 cm.

weather 6.5 C and wind direct headwind tailwind avg 15-20 kph gusting 25 kph at times

1:59:55, 52.6 km and wearing gloves and a heavy long sleeved top with big sleeved over a t-shirt and a tight jersey over and pj's with cycling tights.
Same 27.8 km bike paths / 23.8 km highway, 45:40 along highway section but much heavier clothing and nasty wind

two PB's (gym and real) and power output has clearly risen.
 
You only went faster on the road for shame of being caught out wearing pj's with cycling shorts....
 
Haha.. no, I wear full ankle length cycling tights.

Oct 31st, 2014

some fatigue or glycogen store depletion..felt tired

same route 2 hrs 1:30 and the highway section in 45:50 but wearing very thick pj's with cycling tights and 3 layers up tight with a full sleeved shirt
gloves and tuc , highway section at only 83% effort anyway, coasting down some hills or just half-pedaling.
 
Oct 31st, 2014.. continued

There are some small typo's in my previous post, as the 315 W block in the previous post should read 215 W did a 35 min gym bike recovery ride at 156 W AP 35 minutes and discovered I lost 1.4 kg of (before the recovery ride) weight..
that's why I was fatigued and lost power yesterday

I've got a bit of a cold, it was -5 out today.

Nov 1st, 2014



40 min recovery ride at 164 W AP, avg HR 98 bpm (it was at 90-94 for the first 15 minutes), that avg HR is way down compared to last year
at same power interval length.

3 light/moderate intervals :
7 minutes, 295 W AP with a 3 minute interval at 410 W avg, HR max 143 bpm, rec pwr 175 W
7 minutes, 265 W AP, 3 minute interval at 425 W avg, HR max 149 bpm, rec pwer 165 W
10 minutes, 230 W AP, 3 minute interval at 455 W (6 W/kg) avg (pk 575 W 4 sec), HR max 150 bpm, rc power about 135 W
HR 167 bpm is maximum workload for a short interval

weight 75.9 kg

One change I've made - cut out a lot of junk food from my diet and not much meat either.
 
Nov 3rd, 2014


30 mm wide rim and tyre swapped out for lighter 25 mm wide rim with 36 spoke wheel with Vittoria Open Pave tyre, 6.7 bar.

53.3.6 km 2:06:25 same course as previous rides, 46:30 timed over highway section
wearing cycling tights and a long sleeved top with a long sleeved light but floppy jacket over

Nov 4th, 2014

7:50 am

9 C and wind 7-8 kph gust 20-25 kph
same course but a bit longer, 53.85 km in 2:02:25,timed highway section (23.5 km) in 43:47 (best) with 85% effort, just coasting down one 1.2 km hill and another 700 m
section of hill. Fixed gear bike turnover rate is around 135 rpm at 50-52 kph so I just let it coast. I'm a grinder and prefer 82-87 rpm.
My best road bike time for a similar section is 38:20 but the gearing is just all wrong on this fixed gear bike.

Long cycling tights over leg warmers and a long sleeved top with a tight short sleeved jersey over

have to do some other rides, riding the same course over and over is not good and there seems to be a lot of traffic now when I ride on this highway
 
Nov 4th, 2014

continued..

gym bike 60 min at 175 W avg recovery ride, constant power

and some gym exercises : power clean (60 kg)/ dead lift (60 kg)/ squat (60 kg) /pull down (90 kg) / decline bench press (50 kg) - 1 set each of 2-10 reps
and some bounding exercises: Triple jump/ jumps over benches/ jump off bench into broad jump

Nov 5th, 2014

40 minutes 150 W avg with 2 short intervals at 315 (HR was 142 bpm (!)) and 360 W for 30 seconds, avg HR 113 bpm... ,
avg HR jumped 15 bpm above a workout a few days ago at a lighter workload.. this is a clear marker of over-reaching and yesterday's TT ride intensity is revised
to 94% of maximum (I was chugging at max for a few minutes) but overall time on bike was 3 hrs and 30 min yesterday.
 
Nov 6th, 2014

got a GoPro cheap model, 1024x768 x 32 fps

HR back down to near normal so a little bike ride through the city at a decent clip, up on video


same heavy fixed gear bike, having some slight trouble with YouTube

let's see if this is viewable

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBvXL3bK-1U&feature=youtu.be

clip 2: this was one clip but the camera seemed to split it for some reason:

http://youtu.be/QfwRXEVd8_M

clip 3, and in downtown traffic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbJCNsVvM2g