One Hour Hard

I'm not logging a lot of training hours right now, so I decided to make the most of this morning's trainer ride. I did a very short warm-up, then did 2 x 25 minutes at about 300 watts. The whole workout including warm-up and cool-down was at 91% of FTP. I think I'm gonna do hard rides like this a couple of times a week and avoid distance rides for the most part.

Trail Ride

The stats on this ride are a little weak. I really wish a had a power meter on my mountain bike, but I don't. I have a speed sensor, so I can use the Powertap computer, but no power. This ride was at Harbison Forest this morning on my 29er singlespeed riding a 32x17 gear. This is a pretty big gear, so I stuck to the faster trails. I pushed the final 9.5 miles and averaged 13.2 mph. Its really fun getting back on the trail again after several months of only road riding, except that I managed to crash pretty hard once on one of the many roots that cover much of the trail. Luckily I was unhurt.

SST in the Wind

I want to keep some fitness, but mentally I'd rather do a short hard ride than the typical 3 hour + LSD ride that most people do. On Saturday morning I rolled out with my wife, who is still rehabbing her foot and just getting back on the road again. Leaving the neighborhood, we went opposite ways, and I did my familiar Cedar Creek, 269, Syrup Mill loop. For most of the ride I just rode SST. It was real windy out there, so that keep the speed down a bit.

Sunday Stroll

I was really exhausted from my three race weekend, so I did almost no riding for several days. I did a couple of short easy runs and one short ride on the trainer, then finally felt like doing something on Sunday. My legs felt great so I rode tempo most of the way. It's amazing how good riding feels at a TSB of +26.

For the next couple of months, I'm going do a mix of cycling, running, singlespeed mountainbiking, and weightlifting to maintain some fitness and maybe build a little strength. That sounds like a lot, but in reality I'll do less hours per week than when I'm in season. For example, today I lifted for a half hour at lunchtime, but that was it, no ride.

3rd Race in 2 days (4th place)

This morning was a 52 mile road race on a military base in Port Royal. It was a pancake flat course, but still a very good venue for a race. We had full road closure for all but a mile or so. There were several turns and curves on the 10.5 mile course, and many areas exposed to the wind. It was definitely a course that favored the big power riders. My teammate LL got into the early break at mile 3, then hooked up with Eric C and shedded the rest of break. Those two built up a two minute lead and stayed away, with LL finishing a close 2nd in the sprint. Back in the field I was able to break free solo with a little over one lap to go. Sean from team CTM quickly bridged up to me and we were able to build a big gap after a few miles. We got pretty close to LL with a couple of miles to go, so I decided to ease off because it didn't make sense to help a spinter up to the front of the race right before the finish, who would probably smoke us all. I felt better about LL's odds one on one against Eric. Ultimately, I was overmatched in the sprint for 3rd, but felt good to snag 4th on a course that didn't really suit a skinny climber type like me.

From a wattage perspective the race file isn't outstanding, with only a 279w NP average for 2:05, but there were a number of hard zone 6 bursts when the race was active. There were also plenty of lulls where it was easy to recover.

I finished 3rd in the three race omnium, while LL vaulted up to 4th. It was a solid way to end the season. Now that its over, I'm not going to pack away my bike. I'm just going to ride when I feel like riding, and do a little running. I am NOT riding or running or anything tomorrow. I'm tired.

Afternoon Crit

Race number 2 of the day went a little better than this morning. I finished 4th in the crit, after bridging across to a 7 man group that got away about 30 minutes into the race. One of the guys in the break managed to crash himself on a straightaway with 1.5 laps to go. Mark W won the field sprint for 8th. I'm 3rd in the omnium going into the road race tomorrow. I think LL is 7th.

The power file show that the race was not super hard. I made a few short hard efforts, including a nice 2 minute or so effort at 400 watts and 28.6 mph to bridge across to the break. I led out the sprint which was for 2nd after 1 rider escaped with 10 laps to go. I tried to get a gap before the last two turns, but couldn't. I managed to sprint to the line pretty well (10s @971w), but still got passed by 2 faster guys.

SC State TT

My effort in the 40K time trial this morning in Yemassee was less than what I was hoping for. I rode a 59:57, good enough for the bronze medal in 35-39. LL rode a solid time of 58:05 to get the silver.

Right now I'm relaxing in a hotel room, waiting for the crit in downtown Port Royal at 5:00. Due to the low number of entries, the race is going to be a combined group including pro/1/2, cat 3, and masters 35+. Should be fun. More updates after crit.

Intensity During Taper Week

After doing short easy spins on Monday and Tuesday, I threw in some intensity this morning. My goal was to spend some time at and above threshold, but I wanted to keep the total interval time at about half what I would do in a typical workout. I ended up doing 8 minutes at about threshold, 5 minutes about 20 watts above that, followed by 1 minute really hard, but not all out. I think this was enough work to keep me sharp, but not cause much fatigue. Tomorrow, I'll do 30-45 minutes easy. Friday I'll do about 1 hour with a few short efforts. Then Saturday morning it's off to the state TT championship in Yemassee, SC followed by a 60 minute crit in the afternoon, and a 63 mile road race on Sunday.