Does rain make you faster?

I rushed home, kitted up and got on the road as quickly as possible to beat the impending rain. There were dark clouds hanging low in the direction I intended to ride, so I altered my plans and went toward the National Park. I was at the end of my 30 minute warm-up when the rain started falling. I started my isolated leg drills and the rain began DUMPING. I pedaled harder. Does rain make you faster? I think it may. I got in 2 or 3 sets before I pulled off to take shelter from the deluge. It was sunny just a ways down the road so I knew this wouldn't last too long. I sat for only 5 or 6 minutes before it slacked up and I set off again. I was able to finish the 10 sets and make my way back home under dry skies. My biggest challenge of the day was the hill of truth. Since the major dumpage of rain, the road was completely saturated and traction was at a minimum. This is multiplied by the grade of the hill. I could not stand on the climb making the effort more labored due to the seated position. I tried to stay in the middle of the road where the asphalt was not so smooth from years of car traffic. This helped, but I still could not stand for very long without spinning the rear wheel. I could get maybe 2 pedal cranks and have to sit back down. I was only out for about an hour, but I got the work done and felt pretty accomplished considering everything. It was sunny and blazing hot when I arrived back at home, go figure...

Easy ain't always easy

I guess I misunderstood what a week off was. In my mind, I just heard the OFF part. In truth, off is more easy than off. I have short easy workouts each day. So I guess that is still a week off. I was stuck on the trainer this evening. The rain was pouring down as I pedaled away, going nowhere. I was doing 10 sets of spin ups. It went pretty fast, but I was glad when it was over. I think it might have been better to be riding in the driving rain. I gave blood yesterday and I think I am still feeling some of the effects from that process. I should be back to normal soon. I have to be by the end of the week because Saturday is going to be an all out attack of a workout. I will be doing a 15 minute interval at max effort. There should be NOTHING left if I do it correctly. I will be dragging myself home. Sound like fun? Want to go with? Yeah, I thought not...

R & R, Ahhhhh

I got confirmation this morning that I have the week off from training. I can do some light spinning a few days if I want, but no hard efforts. I will be doing LT testing on Saturday. That will be a major effort that I NEED to be rested for. This is all very good timing. I donated blood today and I could not have ridden today if I'd wanted. I was very weak and shaky by the time I got home. There was no energy for a ride of any kind. I am going to kick back and take it easy the rest of the week. I may get out on the bike a couple of days, but will have to stick to my guns and NOT go very hard at all. Can someone hand me a cold one??? Ah, when I wake up.

Lame duck seen on road, film at eleven.

I decided to do Saturday's LT workout today instead of a recovery ride since I didn't get it done on Saturday. I think I mush have still been tired from Saturday because this was a brutally hard workout. I felt really good for each of the 3 sets, but it was very difficult to average the needed power output. I struggled on each set. I hot my mark on the first set but was off on the next 2. I was in my LT zone, but barely. I made it throught the workout, dealt with all the traffic, ran out of water and limped home like a wounded duck. I didn't think I was ever going to get home. I had no energy left at all. I was dreading my hill of truth with every pathetically weak pedal stroke. I pulled myself up that hill and basically collasped on the bike at the top. When I made it home, I couldn't wait to get a cold glass of water, then a glass of choclate milk and another cold glass of water. I had some chicken, rice and vegetables then pretty much fell on the sofa and almost dropped off to sleep in a matter of minutes. I dragged myself to the shower a half hour later and it was a real effort to do that. I am completely wasted. Luckily, tomorrow is better than recovery, it is a day off from ANY training. This is the first one I have had in a while, so I will welcome it with open arms. I may tackle the cables on my Cervelo, otherwise, I'm doing nothing. I will be doing an easy recovery ride on Tuesday then my training is going to be kicked up a notch, so I am told. I don't even want to know what that means. More later...

Small town USA

Before I get started, let me note that I will be ranting in this post and there may be language offensive to some.
I left home around 6:30 am and made my way to meet the group that was leaving at 7:00 am. I figured I’d meet them on the road. I actually made it all the way to the start of the ride before they left. This was actually a plus because I was fully warmed up by the time they were rolling out. The route was one I’d done numerous times and it offers a little of every terrain. There were 24 riders. This was a large group for this ride. I had hoped to work in my regular training, but that did not happen. The pace was pretty good, but there were lots of accelerations and decelerations making a steady output of power very difficult. No worries though, the ride was good and I did my share of work at the front. I felt really good. I was climbing well and my turns at the front were not labored. There are several climbs on this route that are contested. The big climb, Metcalf, never gets any easier. It has about a 22% grade at its steepest. I was 3rd on the way up and finished 2nd at the top. I didn’t leave everything on the climb because I knew we still had a strong, fast, long downhill run of about 7 miles. It, as always, was a blast with lots of curves. This climb and descent are part of the National Park. As we rolled out of the Park and headed back into town, all was going as usual until we came to a red light. The group bunched up at the light, stopping, as we should, for the red light. As the light change and we started to move, we rolled through the intersection and began to get back into a pace line. Before we could get that line completed a police car in the opposing lane of traffic blasted us with the PA speaker telling us to “single up, single file”. We were already working on that. OK, we got the pace line formed, got up to about 29-30 mph and all was going fine again. A few riders did their pull and rotated off the front. I did my pull and as I was rotating off the front, a second police car came barreling up next to me with the cop screaming through the passenger window for me to single up. “What don’t you understand about single file?” he yelled. What does he not understand about that’s where the hell I’m heading. I yelled back that I was heading to the back. He yelled something else, sped up, turned on his blue lights, pulled in front of the group and came to an abrupt stop turning into a pull off. He caused the entire group to grab their brakes and risk crashing into him and each other. What an ASS HOLE! He jumped out of the car, yelling like an idiot and had us all pull off the road where he could continue to yell like a driver suffering from road rage. As I already knew and he made sure to announce, he was the “chief” of police here. I must interject here that I have known “of” the chief and heard good things about him, but this display did not resemble anything I’d heard about this man. My opinion of cops has always been VERY low and this confirmed that even more. He continued to berate us, at the top of his lungs, making stupid remarks and comments that had no merit and made less sense. He even threatened to haul one guy off to jail because he was smiling. What a total ass hole. This is just another good ol’ boy, redneck with a badge and a huge chip on his shoulder. By the way, what happened to cops having to go through a physical training test? He could stand getting off his ass and out for a bike ride or some form of exercise with the gut he is carrying around. There was no talking or reasoning with this prick. He is the typical stereotype of the small town, smart ass cop with no clue! Barney Fife is alive and well, believe me, I saw him at his “best” this morning. The driver of a car waiting to get out of the turn off was shaking her head as she could hear all his ranting. As she came by she spoke to a few of us and said “someone is sure having a bad day”. One rider said “we were…” She replied, “You will again as soon as this nonsense is over.”
I guess he finally thought he’s has his say and made some point, which we have not figured out yet. One of the riders has a column in the local newspaper. I can’t wait to see his rant next week. Again, what an ASS HOLE!!!
I’m done.

Leg drills and descending thrills

Tonight I felt much better before, during and after the ride. I guess I must have rehydrated pretty well. I sipped a mixture of water and Pedialite throughout the night and drank lots of water today. I was only out on the road for 20 miles, about an hour. I did 10 sets of single leg drills. I still had 20 minutes to complete my hour after the 10 sets, so I tagged onto the local Friday night ride and did a bit of climbing. It was fun leading the group up the climbs. Well, the group was down to 3 pretty quickly on the first climb. One of the riders was a team mate who is riding really well this season. Nice job David. This loop ends in a fast, fun descent, 40+ miles per hour. I turned off onto my road at the end of the descent. I still had plenty of energy to attack the hill of truth on my route. I have an early start of 6:30 am in the morning. I am going to do the Saturday ride and work in my 3 x 15 minute sets of LT work. Oh boy! This is going to be fun and challenging. 2 sets are tough, but 3 will be a real test. Plus, working this into a group ride may prove to be very interesting. If it is not working, I may have to break off from the group, do my work and head back solo or try to rejoin the group after I'm done. I'll see how it goes.

Hurry up and suffer

I got home late this evening so I had to rush to get out and get my training done. My planned duration was 2 hours. I had to condense it into just over an hour. This meant a shorter warm-up and cool down. I also ended up shortening the time between efforts. I had to do 10 sets of spin ups with 5 minutes between each. I cut this to 3 minutes between each. Just like yesterday, I felt tired and sluggish leaving the house. I just made up my mind to push through, suffer and go pretty hard for the warm-up. I do this workout on a slight grade. I climb the road for my warm-up and do the efforts on the way down. I usually turn around several times and climb back up during the 3 minutes of recovery. Today I did only 3 efforts on this road and the rest on the ride back home. This gave me only about a 12 minute cool down. I guess the session was okay, nothing great, but I suffered and got it done in record time.

My weight was down 3 pounds this morning, which I am sure was due to dehydration from the hard effort yesterday. This could have been a contributing factor as to how I felt early in today's ride. I drank lots of water today, but probably not enough. I will double up on fluid intake tomorrow. It's bed time. I'll likely fall asleep watching the recap of the Tour.

Dude, where’s my chain?

Wednesday
Another LT workout…dreaded horrors! I got home, got dressed and was out the door pretty quickly hoping to avoid rain. I have to admit I was dragging as I started out. I was almost certain this was going to be a substandard workout because I felt tired and sluggish. I had to tell myself to push on, get it done. I was supposed to do this work out Tuesday, but life got in the way, as they say. (Who’s “they” anyway?)
I started feeling much better as I got about 20 minutes into my warm-up. I went to the National Park and did Monday’s ride backwards, i.e. uphill. I started the lap on my SRM and nailed it. I was flying up this road! It felt like I had no chain on the bike. I kept thinking what is going on here? Dude, where’s my chain? This was, by far, the best LT effort I have done to date. I averaged 19.9 mph on this uphill push of just over 5 miles. I turned around and went back down to do it all one more time. The second 20 minute set HURT. It was MUCH harder to stick the watts. I should have expected this because the 2nd set always seems to be a lot harder. My first set was the highest average watts I have ever done on one of these sets. My second effort was par for the course. The watts dropped, but I stayed in the LT zone. Traffic was pretty heavy in the Park for a Wednesday, but most drivers were pretty courteous and I moved over into pull offs as often as I could to let them pass. However, I did not slow or back off the effort. I pulled off as long as the pavement would allow, then jumped back into the lane. This was a really good workout. I would never have thought it would go so well from the way I felt starting this ride. I was able to get in just under 40 miles in 2 hours with no rain. The worst part of the ride was limping my whipped butt back home. My hill from Hell was waiting on my road home and it was a brutal assault on my legs to get up that grade. I had no trouble falling asleep.

Recovery? Maybe not...

Monday
My scheduled ride was a 1 hour recovery ride. I did the ride, but tacked on a group ride afterwards. It was a lot of fun. I used to be able to do this ride every Monday but lately, my work schedule has not allowed this. I was off Monday, so I got to take part in the ride. I was anxious to see how my training would help because I usually battle with a couple of the guys on the 2 climbs. I faired very well. I stayed right on the wheel of the youngest rider for the first climb and was not overly exerting myself. I felt really strong and relaxed. I gapped him about half way up the second climb. I was completely surprised. He sprinted and got me by a bike length and a half at the line. He used to get me by a huge gap on this climb. At the top he was bent over his handlebars gasping for air. I was winded, but not nearly as bad as in the past. I usually want to toss my cookies at this point of the ride. Either the training is helping or he was having a bad day. I hope it is the training and he had to push harder. He did give out on the descent. We had a nice rotating pace line going (6 riders) and he was slow pulling through each rotation. He finally sat one out and the next time through I asked if he was tired. He said yes and we singled up the pace line. I ended up with 42 miles for the afternoon and still did not push too hard. I’m not sure I really recovered though…
On a lighter note, one of the guys said he uses my blog to help him fall asleep at night. He said reading it just makes him tired.

The Pros and the woes

The Pros and the woes

I am chilling right now with a cup of hazelnut coffee and the Tour on the tube. Life is good. I am supposed to get out for an hour and a half recovery ride today. It will be later in the day. The temps are actually a little cool right now. Arm and knees warmers would be required for the start of a morning ride.
Big George Hincapie was robbed of the yellow jersey yesterday. Many, including George, feel that Lance and his Astana team pulled a crappy move to chase down the breakaway. I agree. I won’t get into all that…on to training.

Equipment
I have had a few questions about my bike, gearing, etc., so, here are the steeds in the stable.
I ride a 51cm Cervélo SLC-SL (Soloist carbon-Super Light) with SRAM Red, 10 speed components, a 11-26 cassette, Quarq Cinco Saturn wireless power meter on a SRAM S900 crankset with a Garmin 705 GPS, FSA bar/stem, Cane Creek Volos clincher wheels and Michelin Pro3 Race tyres.
I also have a 51cm Orbea Opal with Shimano Dura Ace 7800 10 speed group, 12-25 cassette, SRM wired power meter, Zipp bar, Syntace stem, Cane Creek Volos clincher wheels and Michelin Pro3 Race tyres.
My Time Trial bike is a 51cm Orbea Ordu with Shimano Dura Ace 7800 10 speed, 11/23 cassette, Vision bars, Cane Creek Aros 58 carbon tubular wheels with Tufo tyres. I don’t have a power meter on the TT bike. I use the Garmin on this bike.
All my saddles are Selle Italia SLR XP.

I use Look Keo pedals on all 3 bikes.

Saturday
I have to admit I could not get motivated to get out on the bike for this training ride. LT efforts are quickly becoming a dreaded day on my weekly calendar. My ride started with a mechanical issue which sent me back home, up my steep finishing climb, to do some quick shifting adjustments. I didn’t get the issue completely resolved, but it was 90% corrected. It was good enough to get the training ride done. Today, once again, I had to up the anti. Not only are the 2 sets 20 minutes, but I had to insert 10 second jumps every 3 minutes. Doesn’t sound like much, but get out and give it a go. You will change your mind quickly. The jumps are not so hard to throw in the mix. The problem is trying to jump right back into your LT zone after the jump. Your strength is sapped for a few moments as you try to recover, get your breathing under control , get your heart rate back down and get your watts back to the desired level. I was surprised after the very first jump as to how hard it was to maintain my watts. I was, somehow, able to keep my average power output pretty consistent during both sets. I am dreading the day I retest and my LT zone increases. It will be that much harder to get in and stay in that zone. I did the workout on an average grade of 6%. I put in a little over 35 miles in 2 hours. I was scheduled to do 2.5 hours, but the skies looked very threatening, so I cut the warm-up and cool down short. The weather held and here was no rain, so I actually could have stayed out longer. But, I was pretty much spent by the end of the ride, so I don’t regret cutting it short. I worked on the bike once I got home, but a new set of cables and housings are in my very near future.

Friday
Today I worked on single leg isolations. I was out for an hour and did about 20 miles. I felt pretty good during this workout. I can definitely tell a difference in my pedal stroke as a result of doing these drills over the last couple of months. I also note that my power output is more consistent from leg to leg.

Thursday
10 sets of jump sprints; this workout was about what I expected. I'd call this an average workout. I felt sluggish and it got seemingly worse as it went. I was surprised by the watts on the last set though, over 1000 watts and this workout was just to work on jumping to start a sprint, not an all out sprint effort. I was out for an hour and a half, 28 miles.

Back to basics

AHHH, recovery! Monday I had a nice relaxed recovery ride. I was out for a little over an hour. I did hook onto the Monday group ride for a few miles, but I stayed with the B group most of the time to keep my effort in check. I jumped on the train of the A group on the way bck into town and work my way through the rotation. I did one short pull and peeled off to ride home alone.
Tuesday it was back to the hard stuff. I did an aerobic capacity workout much like last week's but instead of 6 x 3 minute sets, I had to do 8 sets at 3 minutes each. It was an intense session, but I didn't feel as wasted as when I did only 6 sets a week ago. My legs a a little sore this morning, but no worries, I'm sure I will work that out tonight.

Tour of Possum Creek Road Race

What a weekend. I went out for a quick ride Friday night just to open up the legs. I did a little over an hour. No major stress on the legs, just 10 sets of spin ups. I got home, showered, loaded my gear and headed to Kingsport, TN. My race was just across the TN/VA line in Yuma, VA. The drive was not bad and I had a primo spot waiting for me on the floor of a hotel room occupied by 2 team mates. I threw down a padded exercise mat, a pillow and a blanket. Home, sweet, home. We were shocked that the hotel did not have VS. This meant no Tour de France coverage. Bummer! Luckily I’d seen the day’s Stage at work via streaming video on my computer. The other 2 had not been so lucky and were really bummed. We talked and carried on for a couple hours before, one by one, we gave in to the need for sleep. We had to be up for an early breakfast, a short drive to the start of the race and hopefully a good warm-up before the race.
Saturday we were up and out of the hotel heading to a Waffle House for breakfast. Go figure that one. I had brought my food and already had a bagel with peanut butter and a bowl of cereal. I just wanted a couple of eggs for some additional protein. Of course, my eggs came with grits, toast and coffee. Who am I to waste food? I knew immediately I’d regret eating so much even though I still have almost 2 hours before the race. My standard practice is to eat 3 hours prior to an event and have a shot of energy gel about 15 minutes before the start. That was already out the window.
We arrived at the race venue in only a few minutes. We were registered and pinning on our numbers in a matter of minutes. One of my team mates’ race started a half hour sooner than mine. I got my gear together and set out for a warm up ride and to get a look at the approach to the finish. There was a nasty patch of loose gravel right in the intersection of the last left hand turn before the finish. I told the race organizer and I saw him shortly after heading that way with a push broom.
Against my better judgment, I tried a new energy drink in one water bottle, untested prior to this race.
I regretted this after only a couple of sips. I tried to dilute it, as it was way too strong. I should have just gone with water.
The race started about 20 minutes behind schedule. The pace was not all out from the gun as I expected. This was a nice surprise. I quickly moved toward the front and settled in about a third of the way from the front. We were going about 24-25 mph at this point. Within the first 5 miles one rider flatted. He was able to change wheels and get back to the group with the help of one of his team mates.
One unusual thing about this course was a left turn that took us into a tunnel. Well, it was actually an underpass with a concrete divider separating the lanes. I don’t think it was planned, but on each of the 2 laps, riders went on both sides as we went through. I always took the right side as that was the correct lane of traffic. Luckily, we never face oncoming traffic in that area. The roads were open for traffic, so this was a possibility. Weather conditions were really good. The temperature was in the high 70’s for the start.
The race started heating up with accelerations and several breaks. They were all brought back pretty quickly. I was quite happy with my performance because I was able to stay with the group and match all the accelerations. The first lap was basically uneventful. I was just staying very attentive and watching everything that was happening. I was saving energy by staying tucked into the draft of the other riders. I was able to snag a bottle of water at the feed zone. I chugged it down pretty quickly, tossed the bottle and it was back to business. The wind picked up on the second lap and created a bit of a challenge as it was a crosswind that angled from the front/left of the group. It was hard to find that sweet spot in the draft. There were 3 predominate teams in the bunch. I knew they were the ones to watch. I had all sorts of scenarios running in my head as to how this race would play out. I felt sure it would come down to a bunch sprint finish. One team had five riders and I was certain they would be the team to beat. I was almost certain that I could not win in the final sprint, but I was also unsure of my ability to make a breakaway stick. I felt really good, but once out front on your own, energy would be sapped quickly. Well, sometimes, you just take the hand you are dealt. About 5 k to go we started up one of the last climbs. There was one rider off the front about 25 meters. As we went up the climb I found myself moving up through the group with what seemed like little effort. I passed everyone, including the guy off the front. I felt sure he would jump on my wheel. He didn’t. As I crested the hill, I looked back and no one was on my wheel. There was actually a gap opening up. One again, I knew I could not win in a field sprint with this group, so, I put my head down, got in the drops and dropped the hammer. I took a flyer and it was on. I had to give it all I had and hope for the best. I hit over 30 mph on this short gradual descent. I glanced over my shoulder or under my arm every so often to see where the peloton was. I pushed as hard as I could. My legs were screaming! I was averaging about 27 mph and trying my best to go faster. At 2 k to go I could tell the group was getting closer. I was not going to make it to the line ahead of them. I was determined that I would not get spit out the back. I would finish with the group somehow. At 1k to go I was swept up by the bunch. I stood to accelerate and stay with them. NOOOO protested my legs. I was immediately back in the saddle and hammering all I had left to turn the pedals faster. I managed to lock on before getting passed by all the riders. I stood again to sprint for the line. 2 riders in front of me seemed to give up, which was their mistake and lucky for me. I was able to sprint past them and gain a couple more places in the finish. I left EVERYTHING I had on the road. I was completely cooked. I was sure I was going to lose my breakfast but the feeling passed as I slowed the pace and continued spinning to clear the lactate acid from my legs and cool down. I had several riders come by saying things like, they thought I was gone for sure, great move, strong effort and one guy I have ridden with on training rides said he was the lead rider chasing me down. He said they were pushing 28-30 mph to make the catch. Though I placed 16th in the field, I think this was a very successful race. I was able to stay with the pack, conserve energy, match all the accelerations, get in a solo break for 3k, finish with the group and still finish ahead of other riders. A little over 2 hours and 57 miles later, I was pumped, (after I was able to breathe again). I had lunch with my team mates and headed home that afternoon very content with the day’s events.

No fun AT ALL

Monday’s workout was supposed to be my easy spin day. It started that way. For the most part, I did get in an hour or so of easy riding, but I got in on part of a group ride as well. I passed them on the road and turned around to join in the pace line. I gave chase and realized that there must be some heavy hitters on the front of that group because I was not gaining very quickly. I pushed harder and harder and finally gave in to the fact that I would not catch them on my own. I knew they would be stopping soon to regroup, so I would join them then. I rolled up, spoke to a few of the guys and decided to take an all natural break. When I got back to my bike, they were all back on the road. I was back in chase mode. Once again, I was firing all cylinders to bridge to them. Once again, I could not make the catch. I met them at the next regrouping area and scolded them for their lack of sportsmanship. Of course, they laughed and said they didn’t know I was not with them. Blah, blah, blah. I did not miss the start when they rolled out this time. I stayed right in the front 5, did my pull and my day was done. I dropped off at the turn leading to my house, and limped home. The hill I climbed every day was still waiting. I managed to look at my GPS as I climbed it and the gradient starts at 4% and goes up steadily to 19%! I knew it was steep, but not THAT steep.

I missed my Tuesday training ride and had to play catch up on Wednesday. I had a 2 hour ride with 6 sets of 4 minute intervals at aerobic capacity. This was an extremely difficult workout; not because of the intervals, but because I just did not have any snap. My legs felt dead and heavy. It was a struggle to get and stay into the proper power zone. I hope tonight’s ride is much better.

Weekend watts & the Tour

Saturday’s workout was not fun. It was very hard to maintain LT for each 20 minute set. Just like last time, I had to fight on the second set to keep my power output where I wanted. Plus these sets were 5 minutes longer than my last session at LT. I am still fighting with some chest congestion and I had a coughing attack during the second set which made it really hard to maintain the effort. I may have left part of a lung on the road. It felt as if I did anyway.
I managed to nail the first set, spot on, but my average dropped by 5 watts on the second. I still averaged in the upper part of my LT zone, but I’d like to get into the very top end of that zone. There were very few cyclists on the road Saturday afternoon. I guess most got their ride in Saturday morning in order to celebrate the 4th. I only saw 5 others on the road in the 2+ hours I was training.
I didn’t make it out for a spin Sunday. I choose to practice full recovery as opposed to active recovery. I watched Stage 2 of the Tour. I will get in an active recovery ride this afternoon if the weather allows. The forecast is for afternoon rain and thunder showers. I doubt an easy effort would be enjoyable in the rain. I’ll opt for the trainer if the storms move in as predicted.
There is a race this weekend but I have not committed to it at this point. I may just train this weekend. I will have to make that decision soon as the race is pre-register only.

Coffee, Tour de France, training, a nice way to start the 4th of July

Happy 4th of July! I went out for an hour long workout yesterday. I concentrated on single leg drills of 30 seconds each. Great workout. Very intense, high wattage hour. Today is a monster workout. I will be doing 2 LT sets of 20 minutes each. This will not be fun. I am having coffee, watching Stage 1 of the 2009 Tour de France. Lance just started his Prolouge effort. I'll be heading out for my training in an hour or so while the temps are bearable.

This ain't your momma's aerobics!

“Should have been a ridiculously hard workout.” That’s what my coach said after I sent him my ride data today. Oh, it was. I never expected 3 minute intervals to hurt so much. WOW! I was toast after this workout. I had 6 sets of 3 minute intervals at my aerobic capacity which is pushing 300 watts. I easily averaged 27, leg burning, mph on each interval. I was only out on the bike for an hour and a half, but I felt like I’d done a 5 hour ride afterwards. Focused training is much more intense than junk miles on a group ride. Don’t get me wrong, I like to hammer and ego bash as much as the next guy on the local group outings, but if that’s all you do, you get no significant gains. You are riding a lot, but a lot of what? JUNK miles, that’s what. It took me several years to realize this. There is no sense in killing yourself putting in thousands of miles each year and getting no real results or gains in your abilities. I have not dominated any races this season, but I started seriously training late and got in almost no base miles over the winter. I plan on huge improvements by this time next year. I can already tell I can go harder and stronger in only a few weeks. That can only improve with consistent training. I am now starting to get back to a strict, healthy diet. I need to drop some lbs to make needed gains in my climbing abilities. 8 to 10 pounds would be great if I can do it without sacrificing strength. The goal is to increase my strength to weight ratio. Less weight, same strength=faster. Added strength on top of that would be even better. I’m on my way, if the training doesn’t kill me in the process. BTW, the legs feel much better. That’s kind of a surprise after the ride on the “pain train” today. The photo is not from today, but sums up how I felt after the ride.

World of hurt

July 1, 2009
I am pretty sore this morning. My legs were screaming when I got out of bed this morning. While walking Ruby, my dachshund, she tore out after a cat on a downhill slope and I cringed as I ran down the hill trying to keep her pace. I hope my recovery spin helps the pain. I'm heading out shortly.

June 30, 2009
I took the Cervélo out with the Quarq power meter. I did a quick test on my road and all seemed to be working fine, so I decided to do my training ride on this bike. I choose a moderate climb of 2-4% for the LT workout. I got in a good warm-up and hit the climb hard. I was amazed how good I felt. I stayed in the big ring for the entire workout, spinning at about 90 rpm. I did the first 15 minute interval with ease. I could feel that I was going hard from the pain in the legs, but I still felt really good. I turned around and blasted down the hill to get ready for the second interval. I started out strong again, but soon found it hard to maintain my desired watts without a very concentrated mental effort. I would find myself drifting from the average I needed to maintain and have to kick up the pace to get there. By the end of the interval I managed to lose only 3 watts on my average from the first interval. I welcomed turning around for the downhill ride. I knew I was cooked when I could not get up to speed on the descent. Once off the climb I shifted to the small ring and spun home. I had nothing left. The gradual, but tough climb that I always face on the road I live on was no fun. I was in my highest gear and really digging deep to get home. Once there, I had a recovery drink and got out the “stick” to roll my legs. This was very painful. This self torture is to push the lactic acid from the muscles to improve and promote recovery of the muscles. It is always painful, but beneficial. I had a knot in my right quad that was particularly difficult. I winced every time I pulled the stick across this knot. I was able to reduce it a bit, but I still have a knot there. I will continue to work on it tomorrow before my recovery ride.