*Sigh*
It's been a stressful week so far for me. Stuff at home and stuff at work have really been stressing me out this week. The stress leads to me not really feeling like eating very much, which is not too good when you are trying to ride. I've probably had, at most, maybe 3000cal this week. No, that's not per day, but for the last 4 days, including today. I think today was the lowest - 2 bananas & a snack size bag of goldfish, and a few wheat thins.
I could really tell that I haven't been eating during my ride this afternoon after work. I felt (or thought I felt) pretty good when I started my ride, but by the time I had warmed up and got to the section where I do my intervals, not so good. I had wanted to try 4x8min in zone4, but very quickly realized that I would not be able to do that. Made a change to 4x6min. But, whew, I think those were the hardest ones I've done in a while. Only managed to do 3 of them and even then, I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to do 3 of them.
#1: 187/181/95
#2: 181/179/95
#3: 181/177/93
6min on, 8min off. Cadence should have been higher.
Maybe tomorrow will be zone2 with high cadence drills and not sure about Saturday. Going to visit my Dad this weekend up in Valdese Saturday afternoon. Planning on riding from Marion to the BRP on Hwy 80 Sunday morning. I want to ride on to Mt. Mitchell, but since I've never ridden this road, I'll wait and see how it goes.
Hopefully, some of the stress will be gone or decreased after this weekend. The stress isn't good, for my riding, general mental health, and my health. Though it does help with the weight loss.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
This Week -
Plans for this week? Yeppers. I think I'm going to do 3x10min intervals tomorrow and do them correctly so that I will not have anything left to do a 4th one. These will be done at the upper end of my zone4 (168-195w). Looks like rain for Tuesday, so I'll go to the gym after work.
Wednesday will be zone2 high cadence drills (>120), 3x2min intervals. The ones I did last week, were not done correctly, as they were in my zone 3. Need to do them the opposited direction on the road I use. Gonna be really windy too - maybe I can get the wind to co-operate....
Thursday or Friday will be 3x3min VO2max intervals. OMG. Those hurt! But, damn, I do like them! Ain't that funny? Which day they are done on, just depends on the weather for Th/Fr and what the weather will be like on Saturday. The weather liars say 40% rain for Saturday right now. One of those days will be at the gym also. Gotta keep the exercise up - the weight is coming off again! Yay!!
Anyways, I'll post later on in the week as to how I've done.
Well, I don't think it was a good idea to try and do intervals this afternoon (Monday) after work. I didn't even try them by the way. I didn't realize just how much all of this past weekend's riding affected my legs. I mean, I've ridden 100mi weekends before, and was able to do my intervals on Monday or Tuesday. I don't think it's going to happen this week.
That embarrassing fall I took before the ride put a hurting on my left knee. I must have hit the inside of my knee on the saddle or something. I have a reddish-black bruise with slight swelling that is really painful to the touch. Anyways, I went out after work to do a zone2 recovery ride 'cause I didn't think I could do intervals and it was recommended by the coach/mentor that I not do intervals. Rest, Recovery, Get Stronger. Where does he come up with all of this stuff? :)
But, anyone that knows me, knows I like to push the limits, to a fault sometimes. With that said, this afternoon I went out and hammered the first 30minutes - 18.3mph. But, that was it. No knee warmers, knees cold, and no high cadence drills. I tried the high cadence, but it made my knee hurt. Ended up just cruising back in really easy and ended up with a 16mph avg, 158/136/92.
I believe that I might just have to make this an easy week and let my knee heal. I don't want to jeapordize any of my upcoming rides. That, seriously, would not be good at all.
I stayed up too late last night (1am) and slept in this morning (Tuesday - 6:30am). I really didn't have a great day today and all morning/afternoon I was back 'n forth on whether to go to the gym or not. My mood got a little better later on in the afternoon and I decided that I just can't blow off going to the gym. So, worked late today and then to the gym. Didin't really want to work my legs with weights today so I thought I would just warm up on the bike and do core stuff.
Started out just going to do 15min warm up, but thought what the hell - I didn't do any high cadence drills yesterday - I'll do them on this bike. Man, those bikes just don't feel right. I did do 4x2min drills (>125) with 5min easy pedaling between them. I guess they just can't compare to riding on the road, but at least I got them done. I tried to hold the cadence above 125 and suceeded for the most part.
Cool...I'm glad I went to the gym and didn't blow it off. I would have felt really bad had I done that. Might go to the gym tomorrow too since it's going to be really high winds (20+mph). Thursday is looking pretty good though.
Wednesday will be zone2 high cadence drills (>120), 3x2min intervals. The ones I did last week, were not done correctly, as they were in my zone 3. Need to do them the opposited direction on the road I use. Gonna be really windy too - maybe I can get the wind to co-operate....
Thursday or Friday will be 3x3min VO2max intervals. OMG. Those hurt! But, damn, I do like them! Ain't that funny? Which day they are done on, just depends on the weather for Th/Fr and what the weather will be like on Saturday. The weather liars say 40% rain for Saturday right now. One of those days will be at the gym also. Gotta keep the exercise up - the weight is coming off again! Yay!!
Anyways, I'll post later on in the week as to how I've done.
Well, I don't think it was a good idea to try and do intervals this afternoon (Monday) after work. I didn't even try them by the way. I didn't realize just how much all of this past weekend's riding affected my legs. I mean, I've ridden 100mi weekends before, and was able to do my intervals on Monday or Tuesday. I don't think it's going to happen this week.
That embarrassing fall I took before the ride put a hurting on my left knee. I must have hit the inside of my knee on the saddle or something. I have a reddish-black bruise with slight swelling that is really painful to the touch. Anyways, I went out after work to do a zone2 recovery ride 'cause I didn't think I could do intervals and it was recommended by the coach/mentor that I not do intervals. Rest, Recovery, Get Stronger. Where does he come up with all of this stuff? :)
But, anyone that knows me, knows I like to push the limits, to a fault sometimes. With that said, this afternoon I went out and hammered the first 30minutes - 18.3mph. But, that was it. No knee warmers, knees cold, and no high cadence drills. I tried the high cadence, but it made my knee hurt. Ended up just cruising back in really easy and ended up with a 16mph avg, 158/136/92.
I believe that I might just have to make this an easy week and let my knee heal. I don't want to jeapordize any of my upcoming rides. That, seriously, would not be good at all.
I stayed up too late last night (1am) and slept in this morning (Tuesday - 6:30am). I really didn't have a great day today and all morning/afternoon I was back 'n forth on whether to go to the gym or not. My mood got a little better later on in the afternoon and I decided that I just can't blow off going to the gym. So, worked late today and then to the gym. Didin't really want to work my legs with weights today so I thought I would just warm up on the bike and do core stuff.
Started out just going to do 15min warm up, but thought what the hell - I didn't do any high cadence drills yesterday - I'll do them on this bike. Man, those bikes just don't feel right. I did do 4x2min drills (>125) with 5min easy pedaling between them. I guess they just can't compare to riding on the road, but at least I got them done. I tried to hold the cadence above 125 and suceeded for the most part.
Cool...I'm glad I went to the gym and didn't blow it off. I would have felt really bad had I done that. Might go to the gym tomorrow too since it's going to be really high winds (20+mph). Thursday is looking pretty good though.
Just A Little Blurb...
I think I had a really good week last week. Followed the plan and had an easy week, then a great metric ride and recovery ride this morning. I had 127mi for the week (M-Su), 7:55hr riding, and burned 3500 calories. Guess all this hard work is paying off in more ways than one.
I was down 1.5 to 2 pounds after this weekend. 15 more to go by April 26 and then another 10 pounds by June 9. I'd really rather have that 25 off by the SEBF Pisgah ride the weekend of May 16, but not sure if I can pull that one off or not. I don't think I can. Anyways, going to really start getting a bit strict with the diet so I can reach that April 26 goal. Want to be able to hang with the fast group if I can (and we'll let fast be the 17-19mph riders). Might be too lofty goals, but hey, if you never dream big and try, will you be happy/satisfied? No. At least I won't.
Getting dropped on Saturday just makes me want to work that much harder. I hate getting dropped. Especially when I wanted to finish that ride with Andy & Jay and not bringing up the damn rear. /mad/
WP.
I was down 1.5 to 2 pounds after this weekend. 15 more to go by April 26 and then another 10 pounds by June 9. I'd really rather have that 25 off by the SEBF Pisgah ride the weekend of May 16, but not sure if I can pull that one off or not. I don't think I can. Anyways, going to really start getting a bit strict with the diet so I can reach that April 26 goal. Want to be able to hang with the fast group if I can (and we'll let fast be the 17-19mph riders). Might be too lofty goals, but hey, if you never dream big and try, will you be happy/satisfied? No. At least I won't.
Getting dropped on Saturday just makes me want to work that much harder. I hate getting dropped. Especially when I wanted to finish that ride with Andy & Jay and not bringing up the damn rear. /mad/
WP.
Yummy :)
Yummy - this is what our afternoon meal was - Seared Beef Tenderloin with Blackberry-Merlot Sauce, Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes and salad. OMG. That beef was delicious!! I normally don't like my steaks to be rare or medium rare (I'm more on the medium side for my meat), but damn, that steak was medium rare and I devoured it. Along with the potato and salad.
Mind you now, yesterday I burned 1700+ calories on the Frostbite ride and today, burned another 1000 calories on a recovery ride up around Falls Lake. I didn't have anything for breakfast today except a banana and then a gel at the marina. Prolly won't eat anymore today - I'm kinda stuffed right now/rolleyes/.
I guess I'm doing something right too - after yesterday and today, I'm down 1.5 more pounds. Leaving me just 15 pounds to lose by April 26. Should be do-able.
Here ya go - yummy:
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Frostbite Tour Ride Report
Wowzers! What a ride I had today! Can you say absolutely farkin' awesome?? Yes it was!
I got up at 5:30am this morning (set the wrong damn alarm), but couldn't go back to sleep because I had this fear that I wouldn't get back up and that I'd be late. So, I'm up, eat my pb & honey on whole wheat around 6am, then have like 2hr to kill! Gah!!!!! Mess around the house a bit, surf on BF a bit and finally just leave at 7:45 cause I couldn't stand waiting any longer.
Weather was overcast/cloudy/foggy and some drizzle to start with. A few times, I think there was a bit of rain, but not very much. And, the temps were in the high 40's/low 50's I think.
Get over to Archers Lodge, go in to pick up my stuff and as I'm coming out, Andy walks up. We chat for a bit, then someone comes up to us that knows Andy; seems they knew each other from when Andy used to live in the Raleigh area. I leave and get my stuff ready. I see a lot of people that I've ridden with over the past couple of years (who I don't ride with regularly) and say hi to them. Chit chat & BS for a while, ride a little bit, and, embarrassingly, take a fall:(. Sheesh. First time I've taken a fall ever on the road bike. Oh well. Whatever. About 8:45, I get a call from my friend Jay - wants me to go pick his stuff up inside. I was going to, but the line was almost out the door and I didn't want to wait.
Finally, Andy decides that he'll ride a bit to get warmed up, so we do a few laps around the Buffalo Rd area and then go to the start where it seems everyone is waiting. He puts us towards the back a bit or maybe the middle as we don't need to start at the front. Off we go! Andy, me, & Jay. I make it just fine all the way up to Thanksgiving and then look back a little later...Jay is no where to be seen! Seems he dropped his chain and told us to wait, but I didn't hear anything - too focused on Andy's wheel. And Andy said all he heard was me telling him to pick the pace up! Haha.
Damn. We are hauling ass! Seems like starting in the middle made Andy want to chase down everyone! He pulls for like forever till we get caught by a group of riders around 25mi or so. Then he lets them pull for a while. I never took a turn pulling, but that was the plan anyways. The first 30mi up to the 2nd rest stop was at a 19.3mph pace for me! I can't tell ya how fun it was riding with Andy. He pushed me really, really hard up to the rest stop and afterwards, we dropped the pace down a bit. No way in hell was I gonna be able to do a 19mph avg for 60+mi. But, it was/is good to get pushed further than you have before. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. And, I'll be stronger after this ride.
After the rest stop, it was a bunch of little hills, down to Buckhorn Reservoir and then up Buckhorn Road. It's a long hill and it taxed me pretty good. Andy just rode up it like it was nothing, which it probably was considering where his everyday rides are. Made it into Bailey and that's where I started having a bit of trouble. The last little hill before turning into downtown, my calves started cramping. I tried to work through them, but I just couldn't. Andy took on off, pulling a group of about 5 riders, dropping my butt like that. One of the guys we had been riding with for a while, was passing me and I told him if he caught the group to tell the lead guy I had cramping issues. He didn't leave me though. Instead, he was really nice and pulled me up to the group.
I just didn't seem to have a lot left after about 45mi. That first 30mi just wore my butt slap out. I was off and on with the group/Andy untill Flower Hill. Made it up that with relatively little trouble, though slow. Just had to watch Andy spin up it. He's so smooth. 50mi and the last rest stop. I don't think Andy was planning on stopping, but I was farkin' starving and wanted something to eat. Got a piece of orange and some kind of granola stuff. Jay finally caught up with us at this point and was (or appeared) a bit miffed for getting dropped. Told him we didn't know what happened.
Last leg - 12 miles back to the car. In retrospect, I wish that I wouldn't have stopped at that rest stop at the 50mi mark. No real need to, other than I was farkin' starvin'. Once the three of us got started again, Mr. Mountain Goat, just took off like it was an easy day for him. Probably was. My hamstrings were really hurting then. I just couldn't catch up to Andy after that stop. He just left me & Jay, telling me later, that he knew I would be ok with Jay and he wanted to toy with the group of riders that caught up with him later on on Antioch.
Antioch Church Road was hard this time. Mostly due to I just didn't have anything left. But, I thought about what someone posted on BF earlier this week - just embrace the pain. So, I tried. I really wanted to finish with Andy, but just couldn't keep up. I was finally caught by Kevin & Ray on the last climb up Covered Bridge and those guys pulled me back in. Thanks guys! Thanks Jay for helping me get through the Antioch part! All you guys rock!
So, my stats for the ride (broken down):
I didn't get too many pictures today. The pace was too high to try and do much picture taking. Got a couple of Andy at the first part of the ride and then one of him & Jay at the 50mi rest stop. None of me. Oh yea, I wore the Hammer jersey/arm warmers AND I painted my nails to match:) Did anyone notice? :D
Here's what I had the pleasure of seeing all day long:). And, the guy pulling me and Andy along, pulled forever. Which was good for Andy I suppose.
OK, that's all for now. Gotta get this bag of frozen peas off of my knee and maybe have another beer:)
I got up at 5:30am this morning (set the wrong damn alarm), but couldn't go back to sleep because I had this fear that I wouldn't get back up and that I'd be late. So, I'm up, eat my pb & honey on whole wheat around 6am, then have like 2hr to kill! Gah!!!!! Mess around the house a bit, surf on BF a bit and finally just leave at 7:45 cause I couldn't stand waiting any longer.
Weather was overcast/cloudy/foggy and some drizzle to start with. A few times, I think there was a bit of rain, but not very much. And, the temps were in the high 40's/low 50's I think.
Get over to Archers Lodge, go in to pick up my stuff and as I'm coming out, Andy walks up. We chat for a bit, then someone comes up to us that knows Andy; seems they knew each other from when Andy used to live in the Raleigh area. I leave and get my stuff ready. I see a lot of people that I've ridden with over the past couple of years (who I don't ride with regularly) and say hi to them. Chit chat & BS for a while, ride a little bit, and, embarrassingly, take a fall:(. Sheesh. First time I've taken a fall ever on the road bike. Oh well. Whatever. About 8:45, I get a call from my friend Jay - wants me to go pick his stuff up inside. I was going to, but the line was almost out the door and I didn't want to wait.
Finally, Andy decides that he'll ride a bit to get warmed up, so we do a few laps around the Buffalo Rd area and then go to the start where it seems everyone is waiting. He puts us towards the back a bit or maybe the middle as we don't need to start at the front. Off we go! Andy, me, & Jay. I make it just fine all the way up to Thanksgiving and then look back a little later...Jay is no where to be seen! Seems he dropped his chain and told us to wait, but I didn't hear anything - too focused on Andy's wheel. And Andy said all he heard was me telling him to pick the pace up! Haha.
Damn. We are hauling ass! Seems like starting in the middle made Andy want to chase down everyone! He pulls for like forever till we get caught by a group of riders around 25mi or so. Then he lets them pull for a while. I never took a turn pulling, but that was the plan anyways. The first 30mi up to the 2nd rest stop was at a 19.3mph pace for me! I can't tell ya how fun it was riding with Andy. He pushed me really, really hard up to the rest stop and afterwards, we dropped the pace down a bit. No way in hell was I gonna be able to do a 19mph avg for 60+mi. But, it was/is good to get pushed further than you have before. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. And, I'll be stronger after this ride.
After the rest stop, it was a bunch of little hills, down to Buckhorn Reservoir and then up Buckhorn Road. It's a long hill and it taxed me pretty good. Andy just rode up it like it was nothing, which it probably was considering where his everyday rides are. Made it into Bailey and that's where I started having a bit of trouble. The last little hill before turning into downtown, my calves started cramping. I tried to work through them, but I just couldn't. Andy took on off, pulling a group of about 5 riders, dropping my butt like that
I just didn't seem to have a lot left after about 45mi. That first 30mi just wore my butt slap out. I was off and on with the group/Andy untill Flower Hill. Made it up that with relatively little trouble, though slow. Just had to watch Andy spin up it. He's so smooth. 50mi and the last rest stop. I don't think Andy was planning on stopping, but I was farkin' starving and wanted something to eat. Got a piece of orange and some kind of granola stuff. Jay finally caught up with us at this point and was (or appeared) a bit miffed for getting dropped. Told him we didn't know what happened.
Last leg - 12 miles back to the car. In retrospect, I wish that I wouldn't have stopped at that rest stop at the 50mi mark. No real need to, other than I was farkin' starvin'. Once the three of us got started again, Mr. Mountain Goat, just took off like it was an easy day for him. Probably was. My hamstrings were really hurting then. I just couldn't catch up to Andy after that stop. He just left me & Jay, telling me later, that he knew I would be ok with Jay and he wanted to toy with the group of riders that caught up with him later on on Antioch.
Antioch Church Road was hard this time. Mostly due to I just didn't have anything left. But, I thought about what someone posted on BF earlier this week - just embrace the pain. So, I tried. I really wanted to finish with Andy, but just couldn't keep up. I was finally caught by Kevin & Ray on the last climb up Covered Bridge and those guys pulled me back in. Thanks guys! Thanks Jay for helping me get through the Antioch part! All you guys rock!
So, my stats for the ride (broken down):
- First 21mi - 169/139/93/19.9 (NP/AP/rpm/avg)
- Second 21mi - 162/138/88/17.5
- Last 20.2mi - 148/127/87/15.5
- First 30mi - 166/140/93/19.3
- Last 32mi - 155/131/86/16.1
- Entire workout - 160/135/89/17.5, total work done=1722kJ
- Elevation gain - 3300+/- per motionbased/garmin
- Garmin file
I didn't get too many pictures today. The pace was too high to try and do much picture taking. Got a couple of Andy at the first part of the ride and then one of him & Jay at the 50mi rest stop. None of me. Oh yea, I wore the Hammer jersey/arm warmers AND I painted my nails to match:) Did anyone notice? :D
Here's what I had the pleasure of seeing all day long:). And, the guy pulling me and Andy along, pulled forever. Which was good for Andy I suppose.
At the 50mi stop, Andy & Jay:
So, overall, I really enjoyed the ride. One of the hardest I've done since Cullowhee. I think I need to start riding with the 'Hammers' some. Next time, maybe I can hang on at 19+mph for 35mi.
OK, that's all for now. Gotta get this bag of frozen peas off of my knee and maybe have another beer:)
Friday, February 22, 2008
Building Up to Burnsville
It's just a hair over two months until the Burnsville Metric, which is one of my A rides this year. By that time, I will have had a good solid four months of training and hope to finish in 3.5hrs or less. Can't remember the elevation gain right off hand and the route is 58mi, so I should be able to do ride it in that time...
I need to get some riding done in the more mountainous areas of the state before this ride though, so I am a little more used to the elevation gain that will occur. That being said, I think that in the next two months following the Frostbite ride, I'm going to be heading out west for some riding. This week has been a scheduled 'easy' week due to the FBT and next week will start a three week period of 'hard' weeks, followed by another 'easy' & so on.
I'm contemplating the following schedule to incorporate longish (60mi+) and more elevation gain rides in preparation for the Burnsville ride. *Edit* I think I'm going to ride, at least the first 35mi of the Frostbite metric route on Saturday. I have to know whether I can do 17-18mph avg solo for at least this part. Don't think I can do the 19+mph that Andy & I did Saturday, but I'm gonna go give it all I've got and see what happens.
I have really been enjoying the training I've been doing. It's really nice to have the structure/organization that I get from my mentor on training. I just can't do this stuff as 'self-coached'. I like for someone to lay it out for me and tell me what to do. I will then bust my ass to do what's scheduled for that week. Man, organization/structure FTW for me.
My next A ride will be Assault on Marion in June. Right now, I'm really apprehensive about that ride, but I know with four months left to train before that ride, that I will be ready for it.
I need to get some riding done in the more mountainous areas of the state before this ride though, so I am a little more used to the elevation gain that will occur. That being said, I think that in the next two months following the Frostbite ride, I'm going to be heading out west for some riding. This week has been a scheduled 'easy' week due to the FBT and next week will start a three week period of 'hard' weeks, followed by another 'easy' & so on.
I'm contemplating the following schedule to incorporate longish (60mi+) and more elevation gain rides in preparation for the Burnsville ride. *Edit* I think I'm going to ride, at least the first 35mi of the Frostbite metric route on Saturday. I have to know whether I can do 17-18mph avg solo for at least this part. Don't think I can do the 19+mph that Andy & I did Saturday, but I'm gonna go give it all I've got and see what happens.
- Feb 24 - Mar 1: North Raleigh area for 60mi + *
- Mar 2 - Mar 8: Frostbite Tour metric route (plus maybe a little more)
- Mar 9 - Mar 15: Tenative trip to Valdese area to visit parents & go ride the BM route
- Mar 16 - Mar 22: Easy week - FTP testing
- Mar 23 - Mar 29: Benson/Coates route for 60mi +
- Mar 30 - Apr 5: Day trip to Gastonia for Crowder's Mtn metric route
- Apr 6 - Apr 12: Day trip to Pilot Mtn area to ride Triple Hump
- Apr 13 - Apr 19: Frostbite Tour metric route
- Apr 20 - Apr 26: Easy week - Burnsville Metric
I have really been enjoying the training I've been doing. It's really nice to have the structure/organization that I get from my mentor on training. I just can't do this stuff as 'self-coached'. I like for someone to lay it out for me and tell me what to do. I will then bust my ass to do what's scheduled for that week. Man, organization/structure FTW for me.
My next A ride will be Assault on Marion in June. Right now, I'm really apprehensive about that ride, but I know with four months left to train before that ride, that I will be ready for it.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Help Me Choose My....
Jersey that I will wear on Saturday:). Yea, I know, just wear whatever, but, hey, I'm a woman and I also want to look nice while I'm sweating profusely during my ride:). The choices are Pink Hammer jersey, Colavita jersey, or T-Mobile jersey??
Please post comments telling me which one you like the best! :)
Please post comments telling me which one you like the best! :)
Holy Cow! It's Cold Again!!
Dang...cold front moving in and the temps have dropped! Gonna be a cold ride this afternoon after work for sure! I get an hour or so of zone 2 riding with 3x2min high cadence drills and I'm going to try to do the Powerstarts my mentor wants me to do. Gotta get those damn things done without my chain falling off. Hopefully, I can get them done in the 50/14 w/o it falling off. High cadence drills (>=120) will be tough, but maybe they'll help me stay warm.
Two more days till the Frostbite ride! I feel a lot better about the ride...I know I can do this ride and I will be fine. I'll let Andy, Jay, Paul, Kevin, Neal, & Ray pull me around on Saturday:). It's nice riding with all these guys:) - 'specially when they are all cute roadies:). Hehe.
Hopefully, the rain that's forecast for Saturday will hold off till after lunch time. I should be finished with the ride by then (3.5hr +/-) depending on how fast of a pace Andy gets going.
Interval info later on....
Ha. I did pretty good on these 3x2min high cadence intervals. They are a bit hard and really tax your aerobic system. The first one isn't exactly correct, but, eh, it is what it is. 5min rest between each. Considering that this is really the first time I've done these, I guess they are ok.
#1: 158/108 (AP/rpm)
#2: 162/127
#3: 149/122
Sheesh - It was really cold too. I wanted to ride for about a 1.5hr, but it was just too damn cold. I did these intervals and headed on back to my car!
Two more days till the Frostbite ride! I feel a lot better about the ride...I know I can do this ride and I will be fine. I'll let Andy, Jay, Paul, Kevin, Neal, & Ray pull me around on Saturday:). It's nice riding with all these guys:) - 'specially when they are all cute roadies:). Hehe.
Hopefully, the rain that's forecast for Saturday will hold off till after lunch time. I should be finished with the ride by then (3.5hr +/-) depending on how fast of a pace Andy gets going.
Interval info later on....
Ha. I did pretty good on these 3x2min high cadence intervals. They are a bit hard and really tax your aerobic system. The first one isn't exactly correct, but, eh, it is what it is. 5min rest between each. Considering that this is really the first time I've done these, I guess they are ok.
#1: 158/108 (AP/rpm)
#2: 162/127
#3: 149/122
Sheesh - It was really cold too. I wanted to ride for about a 1.5hr, but it was just too damn cold. I did these intervals and headed on back to my car!
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Oh Hell Yea!!
Oh Hell Yes!!!
Sorry, but I just had to post about my interval ride this evening after work. I have an easy week because of the upcoming Frostbite Tour on Saturday. Today, the wind was aweful, but YOU DO NOT SKIP YOUR INTERVALS!!!!
Therefore, intervals it was today, 3x8min in my zone 4 (168-195w). I nailed these bad boys today:
#1: 188/186/96
#2: 186/185/96
#3: 189/188/88
Do you see how the NP/AP are about the same??? =GOOD.
Anyways....
Sorry, but I just had to post about my interval ride this evening after work. I have an easy week because of the upcoming Frostbite Tour on Saturday. Today, the wind was aweful, but YOU DO NOT SKIP YOUR INTERVALS!!!!
Therefore, intervals it was today, 3x8min in my zone 4 (168-195w). I nailed these bad boys today:
#1: 188/186/96
#2: 186/185/96
#3: 189/188/88
Do you see how the NP/AP are about the same??? =GOOD.
Anyways....
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Frostbite Tour Is Almost Here!
It's almost here! 6 more days. This week will be a rest week for me also, as I've had 3 good 100-mile hard weeks of training. I feel like I'm progressing well, but I will still worry about the ride on Saturday. Especially the first 2-3 miles. This is when I got dropped like a hot potato last year:(. Things are different this year tho...I am 32 pounds lighter, I know what to do about the breathing problems I had last year, and I've been a training fool since November. Damn, I hope I do well. Where does my confidence go???
The weather is a bit 'iffy' for the end of the week and ride day. Hopefully it won't be raining nor very windy. The wind just absolutely kills my energy.
Training this week will be light...one day of 3x8min zone 4 intervals early in the week and one day of high cadence drills. Gym work will be light this week also - don't want to wear my legs out prior to Saturday. That's about it for now.......
**Edit**
Why do I get so nervous about rides like this?? I've got a case of the nerves already and it's not going to get any better as the week goes on. I shouldn't be worried about this...it's what I've been training for, it's why I've worked so hard, it's why I've already ridden the route once and 2/3 of it twice. Is it 'cause my mentor is going to be here to ride as well? Is it the fear of not being able to do as well as he thinks I can do?? I know I can do this ride, but the apprehension starts filtering in and the confidence wans....Whew....I need to go for a ride. Like right now!!!
The weather is a bit 'iffy' for the end of the week and ride day. Hopefully it won't be raining nor very windy. The wind just absolutely kills my energy.
Training this week will be light...one day of 3x8min zone 4 intervals early in the week and one day of high cadence drills. Gym work will be light this week also - don't want to wear my legs out prior to Saturday. That's about it for now.......
**Edit**
Why do I get so nervous about rides like this?? I've got a case of the nerves already and it's not going to get any better as the week goes on. I shouldn't be worried about this...it's what I've been training for, it's why I've worked so hard, it's why I've already ridden the route once and 2/3 of it twice. Is it 'cause my mentor is going to be here to ride as well? Is it the fear of not being able to do as well as he thinks I can do?? I know I can do this ride, but the apprehension starts filtering in and the confidence wans....Whew....I need to go for a ride. Like right now!!!
Friday, February 15, 2008
End of Week Review
Wow. It has been a great week as far as exercising and riding! After last week's pre-FBT metric ride, I didn't ride on Sunday due to the extremely high winds in the area. I have done some sort of exercise every day this week! Yay for me!
Monday: I did intervals - 4x6min in my zone4 (168-195w), 8min of rest between intervals, and cadence above 95. I really wanted to nail these so that I could tell my mentor that I had done them right. I didn't want to be fussed at tho, he usually doesn't, I don't like to disappoint. I want to do my best all the time. These were not easy. Especially since I concentrated on keeping my cadence up above 95 and the watts above 168. First two weren't too terribly bad; the third one was more difficult and the 4th one was, harder. I don't think I could have done another one. I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to complete the last one, but I managed.
My results: 188/176/98; 184/182/97; 176/170/94; 169/165/95
I also went to the gym after work! 1 set of: squats, single leg squats, leg extensions, leg curls, leg presses, adductors, chest press, rows, triceps pressdowns, biceps curls, bosu ball crunches, ab machine crunches, back extensions.
Tuesday: Recovery ride with some stomps thrown in. Stomps didn't go well, cause the chain kept coming off the big ring. I scouted out other roads for riding & doing intervals on. Pretty easy riding today. No gym work.
Wednesday: No bike riding today. I was kind of glad too, didn't feel much like riding. I went to the LBS at lunch to pick up a birthday gift for a friend and while there, thought I would have them look at the bike since I was there. These guys adjusted the FD a lot, but it didn't help! Checked to see if there was any play in the cranks....well, there were. Thought it might be bad bb, but after inspection, it was determined by mechanics that bb was just loose. Tightened up really well. Couldn't try it out after this adjustment, as it was raining. I had plans to go to the gym after work, but didn't really feel like it. But you know what?? I thought "what would my mentor do or say to me?" He would say get your butt to the gym!!! So, I did go to the gym, but I changed up the weights so I could get 2 good sets in without hurting myself. I dropped the weight down on the squats (this is what hurt me last week) and they were much better. I guess on a good note - I have been able to increase the weights for the Hamstring curls from 45 pounds to 70 pounds.
Thursday: Easy zone 2 ride today with some high cadence drills (120rpm). These were to be 3x2min (I think). Wow. Those were hard - really taxing the aerobic system. Pretty much just did these for practice, I'll do them for real next week. Oh yea, I only barely managed to get 1min done! Told ya they were hard.
Friday: Intervals today. I took the bike to work in order to ride at lunch, but the weather looked like it was going to be a bit warmer later in the afternoon, so I took a half hour lunch and left early to do my ride around my home. Intervals again today, but these were 3x3min in my zone 5 (196-223w). I do believe my mentor was trying to kill me when he told me to do these!!! OMG. Can anyone say HARD??? Tried to pace myself better on the first one so that I would have consistant numbers for each interval instead of the numbers falling on subsequent ones. Holy Moly! The second one was killer and I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to do a third one, but I did. And, like the 4x6min ones, I could not have done another one.
So, that's been my week. I hope to see a drop in weight tomorrow also. (fingers crossed).
Monday: I did intervals - 4x6min in my zone4 (168-195w), 8min of rest between intervals, and cadence above 95. I really wanted to nail these so that I could tell my mentor that I had done them right. I didn't want to be fussed at tho, he usually doesn't, I don't like to disappoint. I want to do my best all the time. These were not easy. Especially since I concentrated on keeping my cadence up above 95 and the watts above 168. First two weren't too terribly bad; the third one was more difficult and the 4th one was, harder. I don't think I could have done another one. I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to complete the last one, but I managed.
My results: 188/176/98; 184/182/97; 176/170/94; 169/165/95
I also went to the gym after work! 1 set of: squats, single leg squats, leg extensions, leg curls, leg presses, adductors, chest press, rows, triceps pressdowns, biceps curls, bosu ball crunches, ab machine crunches, back extensions.
Tuesday: Recovery ride with some stomps thrown in. Stomps didn't go well, cause the chain kept coming off the big ring. I scouted out other roads for riding & doing intervals on. Pretty easy riding today. No gym work.
Wednesday: No bike riding today. I was kind of glad too, didn't feel much like riding. I went to the LBS at lunch to pick up a birthday gift for a friend and while there, thought I would have them look at the bike since I was there. These guys adjusted the FD a lot, but it didn't help! Checked to see if there was any play in the cranks....well, there were. Thought it might be bad bb, but after inspection, it was determined by mechanics that bb was just loose. Tightened up really well. Couldn't try it out after this adjustment, as it was raining. I had plans to go to the gym after work, but didn't really feel like it. But you know what?? I thought "what would my mentor do or say to me?" He would say get your butt to the gym!!! So, I did go to the gym, but I changed up the weights so I could get 2 good sets in without hurting myself. I dropped the weight down on the squats (this is what hurt me last week) and they were much better. I guess on a good note - I have been able to increase the weights for the Hamstring curls from 45 pounds to 70 pounds.
Thursday: Easy zone 2 ride today with some high cadence drills (120rpm). These were to be 3x2min (I think). Wow. Those were hard - really taxing the aerobic system. Pretty much just did these for practice, I'll do them for real next week. Oh yea, I only barely managed to get 1min done! Told ya they were hard.
Friday: Intervals today. I took the bike to work in order to ride at lunch, but the weather looked like it was going to be a bit warmer later in the afternoon, so I took a half hour lunch and left early to do my ride around my home. Intervals again today, but these were 3x3min in my zone 5 (196-223w). I do believe my mentor was trying to kill me when he told me to do these!!! OMG. Can anyone say HARD??? Tried to pace myself better on the first one so that I would have consistant numbers for each interval instead of the numbers falling on subsequent ones. Holy Moly! The second one was killer and I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to do a third one, but I did. And, like the 4x6min ones, I could not have done another one.
So, that's been my week. I hope to see a drop in weight tomorrow also. (fingers crossed).
Monday, February 11, 2008
Beater Bike Update
Well, I finally made some progress on the building of the bike. I now have installed on the bike the shifters, cranks, RD, FD, and brakes. I put the wheels on just so I could get some pictures. The freewheel isn't installed yet.
I think it's gonna look really nice with a white saddle, bar tape, and cable housings. Here are a few pictures...
Pre-Frostbite Tour Metric Ride Report
A bit late on the report, but I was fairly busy this weekend.
I had some trouble with the front tire going flat earlier this week after leaving the bike in my car at work till I rode it at lunch on Wednesday. I pumped it up Wednesday and thought no more about it. I noticed when I put the bike on the car to head over to the start point, that the tire was flat again! Oh well, I'll just pump it up again was my thought....
Arrived over at Archer's Lodge aroun 7:50am and Neal & Ray were already there. Kevin was on his way. I got my bike off the car and proceeded to pump the tire. I finished and then heard the "pffftt" of air leaking out. OK, then. Proceeded to change the tire with Neal's help, as my fingers were getting cold and I couldn't get the last little bit back on the rim. In the meantime, Kevin arrived. Once the tire was fixed, off we went...
Nothing really exciting about the ride...we stopped at 21 miles at Shoeheel, but my buddy Cletus wasn't there. I guess it was too early for him. Headed on out after a few minutes. Things went pretty well along the route. It got a bit hilly after turning at Antioch Church Rd but nothing that was all that bad. I lagged behind on the hills this day because I didn't prepare properly the night before and my legs were still a bit sore from my gym workout earlier that week.
We crossed Buckhorn Reservoir and I had to stop for a few pictures. This was one of my projects that I worked on a couple of years ago. Got a few pictures, and will either post or link them in a bit. Headed up Buckhorn Road (guess that's the name of it?) and yes, this is short and steep, but nothing that a compact double and 12-27 can't handle. I think the first town we came to was Bailey after the reservoir. We stopped at a store for some water and food, then headed out for the last third of the route. This was when it turned bad for us.
The last leg of the route was into the wind the whole time. It was pretty hard riding too. Kevin is a real workhorse! He pulls and pulls and pulls. He's a very strong rider. So, into the wind, down Hwy 231 to the infamous Flower Hill. Yea, it's hard. No, it's not harder than anything I've done up in the mountains. And, again, nothing that a compact double & 12-27 can't handle. The good thing about this hill is that it's short.
We made one last stop at the Flower Hill store then headed on for the last 12-15 miles back to Archer's Lodge. This, I think was the hardest part, going back on Antioch. Not that Antioch is all that hard, but it is hard when you have to pedal downhill to just keep from slowing down!! Note of interest here...I got gapped just a bit on Antioch and this mail lady in her Chevy Blazer with flashers on, passed me and got behind the guys. I'm following her, not too closely thank goodness, because she starts to slow and then the next thing I know, she slams on her brakes and I just about run into the back end of the Blazer! We shout at each other and she claims she had her turn signal on to make a right turn. Duh! The damn turn signals don't work when you have your flashers on lady!!!! Grrrrr.
That was about all the excitement we had for the ride. We rode down Buffalo for a short distance to make sure Ray had 100k ridden so he could tell his kids that he had done it.
It was a really beautiful day and the ride would have been perfect had it not been for the wind. I hope the actual Frostbite date is as pretty and doesn't have the wind to contend with. I hope I'm ready for it - ready to keep up with Andy & Jay!
I had some trouble with the front tire going flat earlier this week after leaving the bike in my car at work till I rode it at lunch on Wednesday. I pumped it up Wednesday and thought no more about it. I noticed when I put the bike on the car to head over to the start point, that the tire was flat again! Oh well, I'll just pump it up again was my thought....
Arrived over at Archer's Lodge aroun 7:50am and Neal & Ray were already there. Kevin was on his way. I got my bike off the car and proceeded to pump the tire. I finished and then heard the "pffftt" of air leaking out. OK, then. Proceeded to change the tire with Neal's help, as my fingers were getting cold and I couldn't get the last little bit back on the rim. In the meantime, Kevin arrived. Once the tire was fixed, off we went...
Nothing really exciting about the ride...we stopped at 21 miles at Shoeheel, but my buddy Cletus wasn't there. I guess it was too early for him. Headed on out after a few minutes. Things went pretty well along the route. It got a bit hilly after turning at Antioch Church Rd but nothing that was all that bad. I lagged behind on the hills this day because I didn't prepare properly the night before and my legs were still a bit sore from my gym workout earlier that week.
We crossed Buckhorn Reservoir and I had to stop for a few pictures. This was one of my projects that I worked on a couple of years ago. Got a few pictures, and will either post or link them in a bit. Headed up Buckhorn Road (guess that's the name of it?) and yes, this is short and steep, but nothing that a compact double and 12-27 can't handle. I think the first town we came to was Bailey after the reservoir. We stopped at a store for some water and food, then headed out for the last third of the route. This was when it turned bad for us.
The last leg of the route was into the wind the whole time. It was pretty hard riding too. Kevin is a real workhorse! He pulls and pulls and pulls. He's a very strong rider. So, into the wind, down Hwy 231 to the infamous Flower Hill. Yea, it's hard. No, it's not harder than anything I've done up in the mountains. And, again, nothing that a compact double & 12-27 can't handle. The good thing about this hill is that it's short.
We made one last stop at the Flower Hill store then headed on for the last 12-15 miles back to Archer's Lodge. This, I think was the hardest part, going back on Antioch. Not that Antioch is all that hard, but it is hard when you have to pedal downhill to just keep from slowing down!! Note of interest here...I got gapped just a bit on Antioch and this mail lady in her Chevy Blazer with flashers on, passed me and got behind the guys. I'm following her, not too closely thank goodness, because she starts to slow and then the next thing I know, she slams on her brakes and I just about run into the back end of the Blazer! We shout at each other and she claims she had her turn signal on to make a right turn. Duh! The damn turn signals don't work when you have your flashers on lady!!!! Grrrrr.
That was about all the excitement we had for the ride. We rode down Buffalo for a short distance to make sure Ray had 100k ridden so he could tell his kids that he had done it.
It was a really beautiful day and the ride would have been perfect had it not been for the wind. I hope the actual Frostbite date is as pretty and doesn't have the wind to contend with. I hope I'm ready for it - ready to keep up with Andy & Jay!
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Broken Links
Sorry for the broken links to photos. I have had to do some house cleaning at PhotoBucket and haven't had a chance to fix the links. I'll try to get that done soon.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Intervals Again & More Bike Parts
Yesterday was really nice, tho just a bit windy, but I rode anyways. I wasn't sure what I was going to do when I started - either a zone2 ride or intervals, depending on how I felt. I must have been feeling ok, because I decided to do intervals.
I thought I would try to do 10 minute intervals and drop down to 8 minute if I couldn't do them. I managed to do them alright. But, as my mentor tells me after thinking about them over night, it seems I didn't do them correctly. I went too hard on the first one, and the 2nd & 3rd ones were ok, but I didn't take enough time for recovery between them. Then I decided to do a 4th one. It wasn't even in the correct zone:(. Almost in zone 4, but not really there.
Next week, I have 2 days of intervals scheduled - 4x6min with 8min rest in zone 4 with cadence 95+ and 3x3min with 6min rest in zone 5 with cadence 95+. I have to nail these. I'll find a road tomorrow while riding that I think I can do in 6 minutes and just repeat the intervals there. Same for the 3 minute intervals. I guess the training will be picking up a bit....
I also took my bike to the LBS to see if the front derailleur could be adjusted so that the chain would not come off the big ring while I attempted to do stomps. Prior tries had it falling off when I was in the combination of 50/12,12,14.
Now for the beater bike build....
I got a couple of tapered files at Lowe's Hardware and filed off all the powdercoating from the bosses. I was able to put the shifters on, but I didn't have all of the parts. Last week, I ordered a set of clamp-on Arabesque shifters off of ebay, thinking they were what I needed. Well, they are not what I need, but they do have all the parts and in the order of installation. These shifters also look WAY better than the ones I have. I will be putting these on tonight.
Last night, I tried to install the bottom bracket. It seems like you need to put the left side part in first then the right side. I started opposite that. I couldn't get it to screw in, so my husband thought he was more mechanically inclined and tried to screw it in. Needless to say, it didn't work and it got stuck. I didn't think it was going to come out, but we got it out. I put the bike away afer that because I was getting aggrevated with it and would most likely mess something up further if I continued.
I also received the Vittoria Rubino Pro white tires and the Look KeO Classic pedals from ProBikeKit on Monday. Looks like I will be able to get that Selle San Marco Regal white saddle afterall - got some money for my birthday!
Maybe I'll get more of my parts installed this weekend and have some pictures to post!
I thought I would try to do 10 minute intervals and drop down to 8 minute if I couldn't do them. I managed to do them alright. But, as my mentor tells me after thinking about them over night, it seems I didn't do them correctly. I went too hard on the first one, and the 2nd & 3rd ones were ok, but I didn't take enough time for recovery between them. Then I decided to do a 4th one. It wasn't even in the correct zone:(. Almost in zone 4, but not really there.
Next week, I have 2 days of intervals scheduled - 4x6min with 8min rest in zone 4 with cadence 95+ and 3x3min with 6min rest in zone 5 with cadence 95+. I have to nail these. I'll find a road tomorrow while riding that I think I can do in 6 minutes and just repeat the intervals there. Same for the 3 minute intervals. I guess the training will be picking up a bit....
I also took my bike to the LBS to see if the front derailleur could be adjusted so that the chain would not come off the big ring while I attempted to do stomps. Prior tries had it falling off when I was in the combination of 50/12,12,14.
Now for the beater bike build....
I got a couple of tapered files at Lowe's Hardware and filed off all the powdercoating from the bosses. I was able to put the shifters on, but I didn't have all of the parts. Last week, I ordered a set of clamp-on Arabesque shifters off of ebay, thinking they were what I needed. Well, they are not what I need, but they do have all the parts and in the order of installation. These shifters also look WAY better than the ones I have. I will be putting these on tonight.
Last night, I tried to install the bottom bracket. It seems like you need to put the left side part in first then the right side. I started opposite that. I couldn't get it to screw in, so my husband thought he was more mechanically inclined and tried to screw it in. Needless to say, it didn't work and it got stuck. I didn't think it was going to come out, but we got it out. I put the bike away afer that because I was getting aggrevated with it and would most likely mess something up further if I continued.
I also received the Vittoria Rubino Pro white tires and the Look KeO Classic pedals from ProBikeKit on Monday. Looks like I will be able to get that Selle San Marco Regal white saddle afterall - got some money for my birthday!
Maybe I'll get more of my parts installed this weekend and have some pictures to post!
Monday, February 4, 2008
A Sad Day
I just found this out via BikeForums - Sheldon Brown passed away last night or early this morning. Such a wealth of knowledge. You will be greatly missed!
Birthday Ride
TRAIN LIKE YOU RACE. My mentor got on to me this past week because I hadn’t been riding and more so because I said I had a group ride on Saturday and that we would be stopping/waiting at turns for the slower people. He asked me if that was how I was going to ride Marion (Assault on Marion) and I said no it wasn’t. Well, “train like you race” was what I was told.
I tried really hard to do this on the Saturday group ride and did pretty well at it, but on my birthday ride, I wanted to do even better. I haven’t looked at the motionbased file yet – it will tell me the amount of stopped time I had. I had one stop to add arm warmers, one stop to cross the road to the RS and about 5 minutes there getting checked out and refilling bottles. After that, I don’t think I stopped again until I got back to my car.
***********************************************************************************
It was a beautiful day yesterday for a birthday ride! It’s been a long time since I’ve had such a beautiful day on my birthday. Most of the other times, the birthday day has been typical January/February weather. But, yesterday the temps were in the mid 60’s, blue sky, a few wispy clouds, and slight breeze occasionally.
I tried to get some friends to ride with me, but I guess everyone wanted to stay home & watch basketball games, had other plans or didn’t feel like they could ride after riding the day before. Anyway, I had some things to take care of before lunchtime, so I was unable to ride in the morning. After lunch (which I didn’t have), I loaded up my bike stuff and headed out to Archer’s Lodge Community Center to do my birthday ride.
Felt pretty good while riding and was able to get up the grades on Covered Bridge without too much trouble. I had to stop very shortly after starting though and put on some arm warmers. It was just a tad too cool to ride without. Once I got these on, I headed out again. I tried to keep the pace fairly high to mimic what I might be riding at the actual Frostbite so I could see how I felt. I did well – kept the pace around 17.3-17.8mph average until around 25mi. By this time, 1.5hr into the ride, I had eaten all 3 of my gels and drank almost all of my Cytomax. I stopped at a little store at the intersection of Hwy 42/NC 222 to refill stuff.
This little store is not the best one to stop at. Nothing really wrong with it – quite a few Mexicans in and out and it was very small. There is a BP store about .25mi down Hwy 42 that I’ll use next time. I got a Coke, peanuts, and bottle of water. I ate a few of the peanuts, refilled the bottle with Cytomax & water and headed out towards Flower Hill. I drank the Coke along the way. Afterwards, I wish that I hadn’t got the Coke, as it seemed to upset my stomach a little bit and cause my right side to hurt a bit. This last leg of the route, from around the 25mi mark until the end, was a little more hard for me. Maybe I was getting tired…Seemed like the wind was a tad stronger and blowing in my face. But, maybe not.
Made the turn onto Antioch Church Road and had around 12 miles left. Everyone says this road is hard to ride because of the hills. I didn’t think it was that hard. Riding in the mountains and doing the ride I did in December puts this all in perspective. We don’t really have hard hills in our area (Clayton). You just have to gear down when you hit the grades around here and pace yourself up them. I remember the last time I rode Antioch – the Frostbite Tour last year. I can remember coming up those hills, especially the one that has the church on the left side of the road, and about falling over because I was so tired and going so slow. Not this time.
Made the turn onto Thanksgiving and was able to turn the power/speed up a notch as it was a slight downhill grade to the next turn at Covered Bridge Road. Then there was one last longish climb, around 6% grade. Made it up this ok, albeit a little slow. Upon reaching the stoplight at Buffalo, I still didn’t have close to 43 miles, so I rode on past my car and then back ‘n forth on the road in front of my car until the mileage turned over to 43mi. I was off the bike then!
I had really wanted to ride about 6 more miles to make sure I got in 100mi for the weekend, but I just couldn’t do it. If I had started earlier, like 12:00-12:30pm, I had also considered riding a metric to get in my age plus my daughter’s age. Alas, it didn’t happen. But, that’s ok. I really enjoyed the ride; just wish I had had some company.
I did have one problem on this ride though. I wore my Hammer kit and the shorts are not good for long rides! These shorts and any others that are not Sugoi RS Flex shorts are only good for around an hour’s worth of riding. By the time I reached the store, my butt was starting to seriously hurt. It was hurting a lot more on Antioch and I think some of my average speed drop-off was due to having to slow down often to rearrange the shorts to see if I could get more comfortable. It didn’t work. I will be getting at least one or two more pair of these short and retiring all the others to just lunchtime rides at work or any ride of an hour or less in length.
Overall average pace was 16.4mph, dropping from 17.5mph (first 25mi) due to butt soreness issues and the little extra I had to ride at the end to get in 43mi; slower riding for the last 1.5mi. Even so, I had a great weekend of riding! I have renewed my love affair with my bike and will get the training back on track this week.
I tried really hard to do this on the Saturday group ride and did pretty well at it, but on my birthday ride, I wanted to do even better. I haven’t looked at the motionbased file yet – it will tell me the amount of stopped time I had. I had one stop to add arm warmers, one stop to cross the road to the RS and about 5 minutes there getting checked out and refilling bottles. After that, I don’t think I stopped again until I got back to my car.
***********************************************************************************
It was a beautiful day yesterday for a birthday ride! It’s been a long time since I’ve had such a beautiful day on my birthday. Most of the other times, the birthday day has been typical January/February weather. But, yesterday the temps were in the mid 60’s, blue sky, a few wispy clouds, and slight breeze occasionally.
I tried to get some friends to ride with me, but I guess everyone wanted to stay home & watch basketball games, had other plans or didn’t feel like they could ride after riding the day before. Anyway, I had some things to take care of before lunchtime, so I was unable to ride in the morning. After lunch (which I didn’t have), I loaded up my bike stuff and headed out to Archer’s Lodge Community Center to do my birthday ride.
Felt pretty good while riding and was able to get up the grades on Covered Bridge without too much trouble. I had to stop very shortly after starting though and put on some arm warmers. It was just a tad too cool to ride without. Once I got these on, I headed out again. I tried to keep the pace fairly high to mimic what I might be riding at the actual Frostbite so I could see how I felt. I did well – kept the pace around 17.3-17.8mph average until around 25mi. By this time, 1.5hr into the ride, I had eaten all 3 of my gels and drank almost all of my Cytomax. I stopped at a little store at the intersection of Hwy 42/NC 222 to refill stuff.
This little store is not the best one to stop at. Nothing really wrong with it – quite a few Mexicans in and out and it was very small. There is a BP store about .25mi down Hwy 42 that I’ll use next time. I got a Coke, peanuts, and bottle of water. I ate a few of the peanuts, refilled the bottle with Cytomax & water and headed out towards Flower Hill. I drank the Coke along the way. Afterwards, I wish that I hadn’t got the Coke, as it seemed to upset my stomach a little bit and cause my right side to hurt a bit. This last leg of the route, from around the 25mi mark until the end, was a little more hard for me. Maybe I was getting tired…Seemed like the wind was a tad stronger and blowing in my face. But, maybe not.
Made the turn onto Antioch Church Road and had around 12 miles left. Everyone says this road is hard to ride because of the hills. I didn’t think it was that hard. Riding in the mountains and doing the ride I did in December puts this all in perspective. We don’t really have hard hills in our area (Clayton). You just have to gear down when you hit the grades around here and pace yourself up them. I remember the last time I rode Antioch – the Frostbite Tour last year. I can remember coming up those hills, especially the one that has the church on the left side of the road, and about falling over because I was so tired and going so slow. Not this time.
Made the turn onto Thanksgiving and was able to turn the power/speed up a notch as it was a slight downhill grade to the next turn at Covered Bridge Road. Then there was one last longish climb, around 6% grade. Made it up this ok, albeit a little slow. Upon reaching the stoplight at Buffalo, I still didn’t have close to 43 miles, so I rode on past my car and then back ‘n forth on the road in front of my car until the mileage turned over to 43mi. I was off the bike then!
I had really wanted to ride about 6 more miles to make sure I got in 100mi for the weekend, but I just couldn’t do it. If I had started earlier, like 12:00-12:30pm, I had also considered riding a metric to get in my age plus my daughter’s age. Alas, it didn’t happen. But, that’s ok. I really enjoyed the ride; just wish I had had some company.
I did have one problem on this ride though. I wore my Hammer kit and the shorts are not good for long rides! These shorts and any others that are not Sugoi RS Flex shorts are only good for around an hour’s worth of riding. By the time I reached the store, my butt was starting to seriously hurt. It was hurting a lot more on Antioch and I think some of my average speed drop-off was due to having to slow down often to rearrange the shorts to see if I could get more comfortable. It didn’t work. I will be getting at least one or two more pair of these short and retiring all the others to just lunchtime rides at work or any ride of an hour or less in length.
Overall average pace was 16.4mph, dropping from 17.5mph (first 25mi) due to butt soreness issues and the little extra I had to ride at the end to get in 43mi; slower riding for the last 1.5mi. Even so, I had a great weekend of riding! I have renewed my love affair with my bike and will get the training back on track this week.
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Bike Love & Training Woes
Sooooo...this past week has left my training very lacking. I just felt no love what-so-ever for my wonderful RC. Poor baby! I don't really know what the deal was this week - just didn't feel like riding. Maybe it was a combination of the roads I have to ride on during my lunch hour plus the high winds. Most of the roads have little to none as far as shoulders and when the wind is like it was this week, I'm blown all over the edge of the road. Top this off with the stupid traffic that I also have to deal with and I just had no desire to ride.
I feel bad that I didn't ride this week though. And guilty. Maybe instead of riding out along Rock Quarry Road, I should head into town on those windy days and find some hills to do repeats on. I suppose that would be better than not riding at all.
February is going to be better though. I'm going to make sure that I get in 3-4 days during the week of riding - need to kick it up a notch, as well as get to the gym 3 days. And weekend rides.
TRAIN LIKE YOU RACE
I haven't been doing this very well. It's hard to train properly in group rides. Most of the guys I ride with are out riding to have fun and there's nothing wrong with that. It's just that I have more serious riding goals this year and it's very hard to get the required training in for these riding goals when I do group rides. Maybe it would be better to do group Sunday rides, but I doubt there will be much interest in that.
The Frostbite Tour is coming up in 4 weeks. I've never ridden a 100 miles, but I'm going to try my damnest to complete 100mi. BikeWNC will be in town that weekend and will be riding, probably doing 100mi as well. I seriously need to keep the training up the next 3 weeks...I want to be able to keep up with him, but I'm just not 100% sure I will be able to. That's why I've got to kick the training up...next week, I'll be riding the metric route of the Frostbite and the following week I'll complete the metric and part of the 100mi route for 75mi. The last week will be a rest week preparing for the 100mi route.
Wish me luck!!!!
I feel bad that I didn't ride this week though. And guilty. Maybe instead of riding out along Rock Quarry Road, I should head into town on those windy days and find some hills to do repeats on. I suppose that would be better than not riding at all.
February is going to be better though. I'm going to make sure that I get in 3-4 days during the week of riding - need to kick it up a notch, as well as get to the gym 3 days. And weekend rides.
TRAIN LIKE YOU RACE
I haven't been doing this very well. It's hard to train properly in group rides. Most of the guys I ride with are out riding to have fun and there's nothing wrong with that. It's just that I have more serious riding goals this year and it's very hard to get the required training in for these riding goals when I do group rides. Maybe it would be better to do group Sunday rides, but I doubt there will be much interest in that.
The Frostbite Tour is coming up in 4 weeks. I've never ridden a 100 miles, but I'm going to try my damnest to complete 100mi. BikeWNC will be in town that weekend and will be riding, probably doing 100mi as well. I seriously need to keep the training up the next 3 weeks...I want to be able to keep up with him, but I'm just not 100% sure I will be able to. That's why I've got to kick the training up...next week, I'll be riding the metric route of the Frostbite and the following week I'll complete the metric and part of the 100mi route for 75mi. The last week will be a rest week preparing for the 100mi route.
Wish me luck!!!!
Lost Boys Ride:)
Group ride this morning from the local meeting spot, The Grocery Bag. There were, I think, 8 total riders and we were headed towards Kenly, then back to start. Temp was nice to begin with, slightly warmer than I thought it would be. I had to take the amfib tights off and put a different pair on - I was sweating before even starting the ride.
Had a mechanical not long after starting, one of the guys had trouble with his seatpost slipping and we used some parts from a patch kit to fix it. The clamp wasn't getting a good grip and it was as tight as possible. Got that fixed and headed on....our next road was NC 222...my testing ground.
A short ride down 222 to the intersection of Hwy 42 - crossed this and I started my test. As usual, I started too damn fast and was getting tired after 5-7min. I looked at the time and thought "13 more minutes!! I'll never make it". But, I did. Jay was on my wheel the entire time, encouraging me, telling me I was doing good, "c'mon it's not time to quit", keep pedaling smoothly, just a little further...that helped, but not quite enough. I just didn't have any more to give...I didn't have a good supper the night before and overslept this morning, so not a great breakfast either. I ended up getting just slightly better normalized power for that 20min - 183watts. Cadence was really good - 97! And, had an average of 19.2mph.
Probably, when I do the test next month, maybe it will be a little better. I hadn't ridden all week due to just not feeling any love for my bike and the wind has been awful around here this week. I'll definitely try to get more riding in this month so I can maybe raise my threshold numbers in March or April.
Anyways, after the 20min test, I took it easy for the next 2mi into Kenly and met the guys at the McDonald's for some more water & another gel. Then we headed on towards Clayton. To me, it seemed like the pace was pretty fast after leaving the rest stop and I started getting the cramping in my calves, but not bad enough that I needed to stop. Came on this one grade and I got dropped, just didnt' have it in my legs to keep up. Jay slowed and waited on me, then he and I tried to catch up to the rest of the group. Here's were the title comes from...those guys missed the turn and we turned. Waited on them for about 5min then headed on following the route. Those guys eventually figured out what they did wrong and turned around. While Jay & I were at the last rest stop, the group of Lost Boys showed up.
Heading out for the last leg of the route, I got a serious cramp in my right quad just after cresting a slight grade. Had to stop for about 5min or so and rest it. One of the guys massaged it and that helped a lot. I had to limp back in, slower than I wanted to, but at least I didn't quit.
A really great route and great company today. I always enjoy riding out that way. Tomorrow will be another beautiful day and another ride!
Had a mechanical not long after starting, one of the guys had trouble with his seatpost slipping and we used some parts from a patch kit to fix it. The clamp wasn't getting a good grip and it was as tight as possible. Got that fixed and headed on....our next road was NC 222...my testing ground.
A short ride down 222 to the intersection of Hwy 42 - crossed this and I started my test. As usual, I started too damn fast and was getting tired after 5-7min. I looked at the time and thought "13 more minutes!! I'll never make it". But, I did. Jay was on my wheel the entire time, encouraging me, telling me I was doing good, "c'mon it's not time to quit", keep pedaling smoothly, just a little further...that helped, but not quite enough. I just didn't have any more to give...I didn't have a good supper the night before and overslept this morning, so not a great breakfast either. I ended up getting just slightly better normalized power for that 20min - 183watts. Cadence was really good - 97! And, had an average of 19.2mph.
Probably, when I do the test next month, maybe it will be a little better. I hadn't ridden all week due to just not feeling any love for my bike and the wind has been awful around here this week. I'll definitely try to get more riding in this month so I can maybe raise my threshold numbers in March or April.
Anyways, after the 20min test, I took it easy for the next 2mi into Kenly and met the guys at the McDonald's for some more water & another gel. Then we headed on towards Clayton. To me, it seemed like the pace was pretty fast after leaving the rest stop and I started getting the cramping in my calves, but not bad enough that I needed to stop. Came on this one grade and I got dropped, just didnt' have it in my legs to keep up. Jay slowed and waited on me, then he and I tried to catch up to the rest of the group. Here's were the title comes from...those guys missed the turn and we turned. Waited on them for about 5min then headed on following the route. Those guys eventually figured out what they did wrong and turned around. While Jay & I were at the last rest stop, the group of Lost Boys showed up.
Heading out for the last leg of the route, I got a serious cramp in my right quad just after cresting a slight grade. Had to stop for about 5min or so and rest it. One of the guys massaged it and that helped a lot. I had to limp back in, slower than I wanted to, but at least I didn't quit.
A really great route and great company today. I always enjoy riding out that way. Tomorrow will be another beautiful day and another ride!
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