Training: 10-23-12

Plus 2 days. Folsom Canal. I decided to revert back to the daily, low-intensity, P.R.E.-based training that I was doing before I acquired the Powertap. I felt horrible yesterday due to my last training session so didn't even do a recovery ride (thanks in part to heavy rain). I set the display on the Powertap to "max watts" so I wouldn't know what my current output was and wouldn't be tempted to look. I went at a pace that my body knows is right. My average watts was 174. That will be on the high end of the output spectrum as I had a days rest. The 174 watts was very close to the 170 of five days ago when I went by feel. That represents 62-63% of my aerobic capacity. I suspect the next sessions with no rest days in between will be in the 50s.

Training 10-21-12

plus 3 days. Folsom Canal-usual distance. My legs felt strong today so I decided to do a little testing. Even though they felt strong their aerobic capacity didn't seem to improve. I did two short efforts. The first was 3:30 with an average wattage of 315 and the second was a lower intensity effort of 6:30 for 277 watts. I expected the second effort to be easier for the given load and it gave me the familiar feeling of riding a dying horse. Some of that might be due to my position. Even though the overall body angle is good the forward rotation makes the push portion of the stroke too quad dominant (my recent quad growth verifies that). As a result, when going hard the whole thing feels funky and not mechanically efficient. When I'm rotated back I can push with my hips and virtually deactivate my quads. Anyway, I don't think I'm going to have a lot of success chasing watts with this configuration. I need to hollow out the stays of my trike so I can fit a 700c wheel back there again and then put some bend back in the frame. That will be a lot less work than what I'd need to do to make the two-wheeler optimal. The two-wheeler as it is is great for general, low-wattage riding. The handling is so neutral that it isn't any more stressful to ride than the trike. edit: also, adding the lumbar support shifted more emphasis on my quads. I realized it right away but with my back in the condition it was I had no other choice.

Training 10-18-12

Plus 3 days. Folsom Canal, usual distance. Easy day with a total ride time of 1:06 and average watts of 170 (stayed under 200 for the entire ride). I had some very small, slightly achy spots from last session so took it easy. My seat is killing my lower back causing excessive pressure on my spinal discs. I've shimmed the lumbar area with extra padding for the mean time. When my velomobile gets here (they're crating it next Tuesday) I'm going to reconfigure the frame (of the two-wheeler) to match the position of the velomobile. I'll eventually do the same with my trike.

Training 10-15-12

Plus 3 days. Folsom Canal + 3 miles with a 60 minute block of 226 watts average. I purposely did a lower watt (but longer) effort to avoid the trap of feeling like I had to beat my previous effort. I need to remind myself that I'm in a building phase, not a peaking one.

Training 10-12-12

Plus 3 days. Folsom Canal course (same). 32 minute block with a 244 watt average. I didn't mean to increase so much (or at all) but I experienced a marked increase in pedaling efficiency (my third training session with this setup). Near the end of the block I noticed my wattage dropping by about ten. I realized I was relying too much on the pull portion of the stroke and letting the push portion coast too much. I rectified that and my wattage returned to normal. Thanks again, Powertap.

Training 10-9-12

Plus 3 days (from last training ride). Did a 33 minute block with a 217 watt average (79%). Overall ride about 1hr 15min. Switched to 140mm cranks.

TT result, training with power and experimentation

I haven't seen the official results but I was told my time was 23:34 (about 25.45mph) which is slightly slower than the last two results when I was using a 20 degree steeper seat angle. Oh well, so much for that and I'm glad because now I can focus on the position that allows me the most power. I never was too crazy about riding laidback. It always felt like I was taking too much muscle out of the equation. After a couple of days rest I used my Powertap (my second used one) for the first time. I installed it on the bike pictured at top. It's no speed demon, for sure, but what I like about it is that it has the exact same body angle (~124 degrees) as the one below it. That bike (the one below) was GOD, and I felt like god riding it. It allowed the perfect balance of glute, hamstring and quad activation (much glute and hamstrings, little quads) and because of that it not only allowed me to produce more power it enabled me to train with higher intensity and more frequency. As I have said many times before that, I believe, is because my glutes and hamstrings are predominantly slow-twitch (and therefore my nemesis when I was a powerlifter) and my quads are fast-twitch (my nemesis in cycling). Mind you, I've never ridden this bike in the current configuration before (excuse) and I'm back to using 170mm cranks after using 140's for the past month (another excuse) so my pedaling technique and overall efficiency wasn't too great. Anyway, in the middle of a 30-mile ride I did a 3-mile threshold test. I ended up with a 275 watt average (at a bodyweight of 84kg). I was a little higher on the ascent portions and a little lower on the flats and descents. The important thing I learned (besides how pathetic I am... but I already knew that) during the entire Powertapped ride was how lazy and sloppy I've allowed myself to get with my pedaling. The Powertap lets you know what efficient (watts produced/muscular effort) is. I've been allowing myself to evolve from an efficient turbo to a lazy diesel. This wasn't a surprise as I've notice my cadence drop in the past two years but now I can easily see the consequence. I could see the power drop as I went from an attentive spinner to a mindless quasi-masher. Job one this off-season will be to rectify that. The other thing I need to figure out is how to inject more intensity into my training without burning out. The way I've been training (lots of steady state but relatively low intensity) for the last seven years has worked okay but it's only going to take me so far and the low power outputs are okay when you assume an extremely aerodynamic position but I'm not doing that anymore. I need to get in real shape. For starters I'm going to try doing a ride of at least 30 miles while staying above 200 watts the entire time and then follow that with however many short rides (6 miles) at below 100 watts it takes until I'm ready for a ride at 200+ again. 200 watts is pretty easy but it does require concentration if I want to maintain it without going into mash-mode. If I hope to nudge the output up over time I definitely need to avoid mash-mode and it's ability to find my weak physical link and destroy it. Another thing I've changed is protein consumption. In past seven years I've probably averaged 70-100 grams per day (counting only animal sources). Now I have upped that to 140-200