BIKEOOZE

I wish I knew then what I know now.

2011-12-31T11:54:00.003Z

Blimey it's been a long time since my last post. There are a few reasons for this, but the biggest was that whenever I read through my previous posts I cringe at how naive, trite and twatlike I sound. So I'm going to try and sort that out from now on. I've looked at the stats and can see that there are a lot of people reading this so I'm going to clean up my act. I'll try and sort out the sloppy grammar mistakes too.

Another reason for the big gap is that I crashed (again) in a race which lead to two nights in hospital and 8 weeks of no riding. It was another unnecessary topple caused by some nervous braking by a rider in front of me. With training and racing off the agenda, I didn't want to write about it.

I'm now riding again and have made big improvements in little time, which is mostly what this post is about.

So here is a list of things I wish I knew when I got started with all this racing malarkey. It's part inspiration, part knowledge gleaned from others. I'm sure there's nothing particularly groundbreaking or controversial I'm also certain other people will have said all this before while others will think it's all nonsense. But I've made some big improvements lately (measured in the power I can dish out for an hour).

This is my take on training...

Riding at low intensity is a waste of time. I'm talking about the rule that says you have spend the winter riding for hours on end in the cold and rain at Zone 2 (<75% MHR, <60% FTP or LSD whatever you want to call it) in order to 'build a base'. This idea might work well if you have 30 hours a week to train, have friends to ride with and live nearer the equator, but for me it's a shortcut to riding slow followed by suicide. I think the key to building a base is to overload the body with aerobic stress. For me is riding anything up to 95% FTP as much as possible. Having tried both approaches I have seen bigger improvements in sustainable power riding 2x20 @95% FTP than a three hour zone 2 ride in the cold. With the benefit that I feel like training the next day. There's nothing wrong in riding for longer, especially if it's for fun but there's no need to ride for longer than the longest race.

Periodization is for the pro's Or people who don't crash, get ill, have families, don't puncture etc etc. The book (you know who you are Friel) says you must put all your eggs in one basket to be racing at your best. To me this is nonsense. I think the year can be broken down into just two periods - 1. Non-racing and 2. Racing. The non racing period is where I'll be riding as much as possible and as close a possible to 95% FTP. The idea is to build as much TSS (if you're into that sort of thing) and to arrive at the races with the biggest possible engine. When racing starts I'll race as much as I can and let that take care of it's self.

Train according to how you feel. My legs don't know what day of the week it is and they don't understand training plans. Sometimes they fell good and sometimes they don't. The training plan says you should rest on Monday, do intervals on Tuesday, do a 5 hour ride at the weekend and take every 4th week off. A plan like this is snake-oil sold by some coaches to justify their fee and make it appear that they've cracked the inexact science of training. In the non-racing period (that's now) I'm riding 4 or 5 times a week on a regular week and the intensity changes depending on how I feel. I'll often be aiming for intervals at 95% FTP. On Tuesday this might be 2x20 minutes in a two hour ride. After 20 minutes of steady warm-up (no real science behind the warm up or the length of it, it's just long enough to get to some decent roads) I start the interval and try to ride at what feels like the right power, but I don't look at the meter until a few minutes in. If after a few minutes I look and see it's on target, I carry on as planned. If the power is less than I was aiming for, say 88%, I don't worry that the power is lower than expected I just adapt the interval to suit. Depending on how I feel I might ride at 88% for 2 x 20 or an hour rather than try and push myself to do the full 95%. Sometimes when I'm feeling good I look at the numbers and see I'm doing much high wattage than expected. On these days I do an FTP test trying to get the highest power possible over 20 minutes. The next day if I can ride and feel like riding I'll follow the same principal. Maybe settling for 2x20 at 90% or 90 minutes at 85% if that feels good.If I feel crap I don't ride. If I'm really keen I might do it again the following day, because...

There's nothing wrong in riding three hard days in a row. I think it's a great way to train and I often do Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with some variation of long intervals based on how I feel. Then rest on Friday and Saturday. For example I might do 2x20 @95% on Tuesday, 90 @ 80% on Wednesday and 2x20 @ 90% on Thursday. The book says you should take a rest day after an interval day, but this seems like a missed opportunity written to err on the side of caution because that book has to fit everybody. Consequently it probably benefits nobody.

A little training most days is better than trying to kill yourself at the weekend. I very rarely ride to point I have to crawl home and die. I used to try and flog myself every ride thinking this is where the improvement would be made. But I now think it's much better to ride hard and be able to go again the next day than need to take days off to recover. For me this means avoiding going into the red in group rides (or doing intervals too near FTP). Going above FTP for very long is really toxic and takes longer to recover meaning you can't train properly again for a few days. Ultimately leading to slower progress. If there's only time to ride at the weekend however, training one degree from death is probably the way to go.

Adapt training for indoors. If the weather's bad or I have little time, I get on the turbo. In years gone by I've done three hour Zone 2 rides on the turbo because that's what I had been told to do outside. That is madness and a shortcut to burnout. An hour on the turbo is enough to get some quality training done. For some reason I find it hard to hit the same power on the turbo that I can on the road so I let the power be a few per cent lower if that's what feels right. I do this a lot: warm up, 10 @ 95%, 5 @ 70 % and repeat x 4. That probably does as much to build the engine as 3 hours spinning but without the risk of going nuts.

Keep it in perspective and maintain balance. No one except me and maybe one or two sympathetic (pitying?) others give a shit about how I've increased my FTP by x% in six weeks! Or how I was flying on that last ride! I'm not getting paid to ride and nothing changes if I ride well or stink. More importantly I realise I can't prioritize this hobby over real life. I'm taking it all a bit less seriously and enjoying it more as a result. I notice people aren't quite so quick to glaze over in my company too.

And in general...

Group rides are fun. As well as the bloodbath that is Beauval I've been riding with the guys from Walvis-Vedett. I've been really enjoying the long rides into Flanders, advocaat and coffee on the Bosberg and the realisation that I'll never be first on a 2 minute berg. I'm slowly learning to deal with the cobbles too.

SRAM is tip top. I fitted SRAM Force to my bike after totalling another another pair of Ultegra shifters. I really like it. It's cheaper, lighter and works as well as anything else. I could probably get away with the cheaper Rival and not notice any difference.

Belgian bike shops never fail to surprise. That is, if you take a bike in for a one problem you will leave with three new problems. That's value! In this, the cycling homeland, I expected quality bike shops in every town, but no luck so far.

And that's it. I'll probably add to the list, but those are the important bits. I now realise that training is simple. I guess they wouldn't sell many books or training plans if they said...

"1. Get stronger by riding and pushing yourself aerobically as much you can/like/want. 2. Race."

But really that's all it is. The upshot is that I'm training fewer hours, enjoying it more, feeling less wasted and putting out more power than before.

Have a good 2012.

Beauval

2011-04-18T09:33:00.001+01:00

This is not a race, but with an average speed of over 40kph, echelons across the road and the breakaways, it feels like one.

No one seems to know why it's called Beauval but it's been running for more many years, with Eddy Merckx and Lucien Van Impe apparently being former patrons. It's a ride for racers and there are often pros from Quickstep and Omega Pharma Lotto turning up to ensure that it's never easy.

I've done a couple of these rides now. I'm using them to do things I wouldn't normally do in races, like attack when the pace is high, take long pulls on the front, sprint longer out of the corners (not onto, but past the wheel in front) and generally make things difficult for myself.

It's been really good for me to identify weaknesses and the odd strength. There's some guys that could probably ride me of their wheel on the flat. I'm quite light at 67Kg so it might just be there's not much I can do about it. I have to work really hard to pull at 40+kph, I don't really watch the power meter during the ride, but I'd guess I'm 110-130% FTP. Some can pull at that speed for much longer than me, and maybe under FTP.

I've always known that I'm not so good at sprinting out of corners, going anaerobic, then holding race pace on the straight. I don't seem to recover very well after the sprint. There's plenty of opportunity to improve that here though. I'm going into the corners as 6th or so wheel, sprinting out of corners and then trying to go straight to the front to do a pull.

On the plus side, the longer the ride goes on the stronger I feel, at least relative to others. In training I don't have a big peak power sprint, but I seem to be able deliver it at the end of a hard ride. I imagine this is the payoff of the long L2 rides. I somehow managed to get fifth in the hotly contested final sprint, without really being sure where the finish was! No points, no applause, but there's big kudos in doing well here.

The problem I have now is, that this ride seems to cover all the demands of racing to the point that I'm not really sure what I should be doing with the rest of my training time. Hills are missing, so I know I need to address that in training. Another issue is that I enjoy this ride so much that the enthusiasm is masking some of the fatigue. I write this the day after beasting myself without any feeling of tiredness or soreness at all. I'm taking an easy day today regardless.

Still base training, I suppose.

2011-03-20T08:59:00.000Z

I have no right to feel as good as I do now. I meant every word of the previous post, but most of it is no longer true. I'm doing many more hours than I said I would, but I'm still only riding when I feel good and really motivated.

Since mid February I've been training really well and putting in more hours than I had planned. I think the key to this has been that I'm recovering really well and feeling fresh for every ride. My easy rides have been done on my tourer with a tiny gear, that means I'm barely pushing the pedals. The last 6 weeks have looked alot like this:

Monday - 1 hour easy/off
Tuesday - 3 hours Zone 2 with 2x20 @ Threshold
Wednesday - 1 hour easy
Thursday - 3 hours Zones 1 and 2 with short sprints
Friday - 1 hour easy
Saturday - 4-5 hours with a 2-3 hour fast group ride in the middle.
Sunday - whatever I feel like - or can get away with.

It's still base triaining I suppose, but funnerTM. I'm aware of the risk of overtraining, but even with the current training load I feel could be doing more. I'm taking 4-6 days really easy every 4 weeks and doing no specific high intensity stuff yet. So while I feel good and have the time I'm making the most of it.

The threshold rides have become much more enjoyable since a new road was openned that allows me to do a flat a 10 minute circuit uninterrupted . I'm able to regularly reach power that I just can't sustain on the turbo.

I'm doing the short sprints because I think it's that kind of power that is my biggest weakness. I'm doing about 12 x 12-15 seconds all out, and I'll do longer sprints in a month or so.

The group rides are either with some friends who know no fear on the cobbles, or with the 'Beauval' chain gang that tears through Flanders at 40kph. Both allow me to get some fast miles in and have fun.
Yesterday I did 140k around Oudenaarde/Waregem averaging 3.1 watts/kilo and still felt far too good at the finish.

I'm going to carry on with this training until mid April when I'm going to start looking at more race specific training and do a few Belgian races to work on the top end speed. I was racing this time last year, but I'm in no rush to get in to it this year.

A long winter

2011-02-23T11:09:00.001Z

The snow and ice have gone (for now) but the thermometre still says zero degrees.

I've still been training and maybe I'm a little fresher for the enforced confinement that the bad weather has brought with it. For most of the winter I've been doing my long zone 2 rides on a fat tyred steel touring bike. The heavy duty seals on the hubs mean you have to pedal to go downhill so it's an efficient workout. I 've done at least on long ride a week of around 4-5.5 hours just spinning and going a little further from home to keep it interesting. With the touring bike and fat tyres I can go anywhere so if a road turns into mud/cobble/field I can keep going.

This has meant I've been able to keep the road bike and powertap on the turbo for more focused workouts. I've set it up int the garage with a TV and fan, so I can just get on and ride with no fuss. I've done shorter intervals at threshold and longer ones just below. I've also mixed it up with some workouts focusing on pushing a really big gear at a low cadence. When things were really bad outside I 've done 3 hours in zone 2 while watching a DVD boxset. I also did some 2 hour rides with some long L3 intervals when I realised that I really don't enjoy watching '24' that much.

Recently I've been doing two interval workouts and two longer rides of between 3-4 hours when the weather is ok. One long ride might start on the turbo with some long intervals below threshold before heading out to finish the ride in zone 2. The other long ride is usually a group ride.

I reckon I'm not going to start racing until mid May at the earliest and maybe not really go at it full bore until June. I'm in no rush to bring in the real intensity, but there's a chaingang type ride about 20k from my house that ridden by a lot of the pro's that I'll use to build speed. Kevin Seeldreyers is a regular apparently. It's a flat 60k at race speed and I plan to do that once or twice a week from April. When I can hack that I know I'll be ready to pin a number on.

And to top it all I'm going to Mallorca (isn't everybody) for a week of climbing and sun in early April.

Whatever I'm doing I'm going to back off if I'm tired. I'm happy to ride easy or not at all if I'm sore or tired and I've been doing much better when I'm doing intervals as a result. Some weeks I've done as little as 8 hours and rarely over 12. I'm longer a slave to graphs or the though that others might be training more. This is paying off already as I did a FTP test a few weeks ago and it's up to 4.07 w/kg.

No news is not good news

2010-11-02T08:32:00.001Z

I haven't updated this blog in a while, because I couldn't be bothered. I had enough of bike racing sometime in mid-July but mananged to push on until August becoming more and more tired, stressed and frankly a bit shit.

I became a slave to a training plan that I grew to have little faith in. I started working with coach who works with the Belgian Team and who I hoped would help make the most of the season. After a couple of months of 16-20 hours a week of Zone 2 riding I got quite tired and started fantasizing that I would crash and be able to take some time off. It went against everything I felt was right. Lots of long slow rides in the weeks leading up to my target races. Nothing near race intensity at all. I questioned the plan a few times, but was convinced to stick with it. The advice following any problem (such as feeling like I couldn't react to changes of pace like I could earlier in the year) were met with with advice that I should increase my mileage! I turned up to my big races feeling wiped out and hating it. I got some ok results, but nothing like I know I could have had I done my own thing. I'm not sure why I stuck with it so long. Lesson learned.

I took a few weeks off. I went out on the bike when I fel like it, which wasn't that often. I ran and rowed a bit and ate pastries. In October I felt like I wanted to train again and I've been out regularly doing the kind of rides tha the coach would have approved of: Long rides in mostly HR zone 2, but I go out for a fast group ride once in a while to stick it to the locals on the hills. I want to do better in the Belgian races next year and race a bit in the UK too.

So a naff season in all, but I did get some sexy wheels.

Easton EC90 Aero, with Vittoria Corsa EVO CX tubs. The only reason I'll be training this winter is to ride these next year.

The Ardennes

2010-06-21T11:24:00.001+01:00

This weekend I was in the Ardennes. This is the south-east area of Belgium that is where the Belgian pros go to get their hill fix. Whereas the north is mostly flat or rolling, this part of the country has lumps in abundance.
I started my ride in Spa, which is the destination of the second stage of this year's Tour de France.

My ride took in some parts of that stage, aswell as parts of the Fleche Wallonne, and Liege-Bastogne-Liege routes. The plan was to do 2 rides: a 4-5 hour ride in zone 2, hitting all the climbs at just below FTP, and a 3 hour ride the next day mostly in zone 2.

Since the move to Belgium I've had to re-think my plan for the year. I'm not able to compete regularly, but I have lot's of time to train. The revised plan sees me trying to hit a peak towards the end of July when I return to the UK for 3 weeks of racing. In order to hit that peak maximizing my potential I've just finished a block of aerobic development. The last 6 weeks have been full of 3-5 hours rides in zone 2 on consecutive days with a cadence of 90-105 RPM, many 1-2 hour rides in zone 1 and the odd race to keep it interesting. Averaging around 16 hours/week. In the last couple of weeks I've been doing some work at FTP with some nifty intervals designed to push FTP higher. Typically I'd do a 3 hour zone 2 ride with a block of intervals like this:

1 Minute @ 107% FTP
1 Minute @ 85% FTP
6 Minute @ 100% FTP
4 Minute recovery, and repeat x 6

The first minute gets the heart rate into the zone quicker and encourages the body to recover while working at threshold for the last part of the interval. The ride in the Ardennes was a continuation of this threshold developement.

It was great to be in a different part of the country and ride through the towns featured in some of the races named above. Spa, Stavelot, Trois Ponts, Cote de Stockeu, Cote de Wanne and Mont Theux. On route I could see names painted on the road offering encouragement to local hero 'PHiL' (Gilbert) and 'ALLEZ FABiAN' (Cancellara). The ride was 120k and took 4.5 hours. In all it was 3000m of climbing, but I felt good throughout and arrived home with all the food I'd taken still uneaten.

The next day I went out before breakfast. It was a cold, wet and windy start, and the ride took alot more balls to finish that the one the previous day. The bad weather had come as a suprise and it was hard to enjoy this ride with numb hands and feet. Over three hours later I got back for breakfast and ate my body weight in the world's best pastries. An indulgence I'd promised myself an hour into the morning's ride.

It was a great weekend that has continued my aerobic conditioning nicely. This week will be more of the same, with a recovery ride Monday, 4.5 hours in zone 2 on Tuesday, 3 hours with intervals at Threshold on Wednesday. After that I'll have a couple of easy days to recover for a week of racing in the UK. Originally I'd planned to do the Ras de Cymru, a 5 day stage race in Wales. But I'm no longer doing that so I'll just have fun racing whenever I feel like it for that week, with recovery rides inbetween.

Sterrebeek

2010-06-14T09:24:00.002+01:00

This race was a short ride from my home. I'd been training well, putting in between 16-18 hours a week so felt a little tired, but I also felt good.

The race start was typically jovial, with loud music, a bbq and plenty of beer. I had a good warm up on the way out and was looking forward to the race. Even I looked happy...

It started fast, but I felt good. On the flats I felt ok, on the hills I made up places while recovering. Great! I'd been a bit coy in previous races, probably because of a lack of confidence. In this race I'd decided to be a more agressive. I was ruthlessly holding my place in the bunch, and I think it was a change in mindset that had me in the top third of the bunch.

There's alot of sprinting in Belgian races. Every corner, hill or attack means an all out sprint to respond and stay with in the mix. It's more intense than most of the 1 hour crits back in the UK, with the added bonus that it's at least 100k! The bunch rides single file most of the time, each rider clinging on to the wheel in front. It makes staying near the front more important than ever. Within minutes I was passing riders who were struggling and the first split happened. I was elated to be in the front group. I felt good and settled into the race. Then I got a puncture at 50km/h and dropped out of the front group with the second coming by shortly after. With the race so stretched out, the support vehicles were a long time coming and the race had long since gone.

I had an unattractive and petulant few seconds.

I was gutted, but rode home thinking that I'm making progress. When I got home I heard the news that some friends had suffered a nasty crash in the Etape de la Defonce, in Wales. It put my bad luck into perspective as news that the team time trial had prematurely ended with two riders going down - one being knock unconcious and another dislocating a shoulder. Nasty stuff. I'm hoping they recover quickly and they're back riding soon.

The day after the race I went back to Sterrebeek and rode 8 laps of the course at race pace. I went all out on the climbs, held FTP on the flats and recovered on the descents. I even faked a winning dash for the line on every lap.

Willebringen - Grote Prijs Freddy Kestens

2010-05-26T09:57:00.002+01:00

My first kermesse in Belgium took place on the hottest day of the year so far.

I misunderstood the Flemmish pre race information and arrived 3 hours before the start a little high on caffeine and energy drink. The race HQ was in a cafe situated on the circuit. When I arrived at midday for the 3pm start, I had just a few witbier drinkers for company. The safety barriers at the side of the road were the only sign that I was in the right place.

It was exceptionally hot. All of my rides in recent weeks have been done in the early morning with arm warmers and a gilet a mainstay. I started my warm up. The 30 degrees heat was unexpected and I drank more energy drink to stay cool. I thought the race was to start at 1pm and it was at this time that other riders started to arrive. It was then I found out about the later start time. I was all psyched, primed and ready to roll, but realised I still had 2 hours to go!

I bought a bottle of water and waited in the cafe. I watched more teams arrive and started to feel a little out of my depth. I had to keep reminding myself that I was there for the training and experience and making it to the start line was my goal for the day. I signed on and was given a race number for me and one for my bike. I had no pins as these are usually provided in the UK. I scrounged a couple from other riders. Everyone else had purpose built race number holders that were attached to the bikes. I blagged some cable ties from the guy setting up the PA. I started to encounter some rolled eyes and the feeling that I was standing out a bit.

I went for a light spin a few times just to stay loose and to keep some nervous energy at bay. Just before the start I did another few higher intensity efforts and I took my place on the line.

Looking around I could see the quality of the field. Most of the riders looked like they were born to be competitive cyclists. Small upper body and waists with exagerrated thighs and calves. The race was an open event. Open to Elites, under 23s (younger eiltes!) and Amateurs (moi). I had seen the result sheet from the last race and noticed that of the 90 riders named there were 10 under 23's and just 3 amateurs!

The start/finish area was busy with people at the roadside resting on the safety barriers. Out of the PA Europop spewed, broken every minute or so with announcements. There was a party atmosphere as villagers sat on fold up chairs drinking local brews.

The commissaire said a few words and started the race. Within the first kilometre the pace was high. The field was tight, with riders going faster and closer than I've experienced before. Straight on for a 5 mins with the wind on our backs. We whirred through a village with cafes at either side of the road full with quaffing spectators. Hard right turn, sprint, hard left, hill. At the bottom of the first climb I noticed I was almost the last rider! I hadn't felt like I was loosing places at all but I clearly had. I put in some effort to make my way to mid pack by the top of the climb. There was no shelter from the heat and my heart rate rose above what I would expect from the effort. After the hill the pace picked up as the road went flat and straight. Into the wind, big gear, holding on. The race became strung out with 90 riders in tight single file. The race used both sides of the road allowing corners to be taken at speed. Left, twisting descent. The next section was a series of techicnal bends. Still strung out we snaked through tight turns with no margin for error. A couple of teams were working at the front and despite trying to hold my place I seemed to be loosing position. Right, sprint, left, sprint, right, sprint, tight left, sprint over rough ground. I took in what drink I could as the road straightened. I had done this part of the circuit on the ride to the start. It was a 4-6% climb that I had thought would offer a chance to move up. The speed picked up again. Up, up, hanging on over the bridge, right and down. As we headed downhill back into Willebringen I realised I had made the first selection. Already riders were sitting up. The heat and speed claiming victims early on. There were a few moments respite with the wind following as we crossed the start line. The race bunched up again with the tailwind benefitting the backmarkers. 1 lap, 13km, 43km/h, 6 more to go.

It felt good to know that I 'd got through the first lap. I lasted for three. I got dropped on the final corner before the ascent onto Willebringen. I misjudged a left turn, going a bit wide and lost the wheel of the rider in front just as the speed picked up again. I chased hard and burned out.

I know I'm going to have to improve my game if I'm to be even mildly competitive in these Belgian races. I prepared badly and nerves robbed me of energy so I'll use the next race to judge just what needs to be done to improve. I'm hoping it's not quite so hot too. For 3 Euros I'll be trying again and again.

Poor performance aside, the race was great.

Lap 1 (0:18:55.11):

Duration: 18.55
Work: 259 kJ
TSS: 35.7 (intensity factor 1.06)
Norm Power: 283
VI: 1.25
Pw:HR: 1.21%
Pa:HR: 1.39%
Distance: 13.457 km
Elevation Gain: 140 m
Elevation Loss: 146 m
Grade: -0.0 % (-6 m)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 1017 227 watts
Heart Rate: 121 192 180 bpm
Cadence: 48 170 102 rpm
Speed: 6.6 59.2 42.9 kph
Pace 1:01 9:05 1:25 min/km
Altitude: 83 128 113 m
Crank Torque: 0 118.4 20.2 N-m

Making progress

2010-05-21T11:37:00.000+01:00

The Bad...

The first race after the crash was a scary event. I'd lost abit of confidence and felt that I needed to just get this race out of the way. This was made difficult by the weather which added to the pre race jitters. Following a warm up I noticed a huge flint sticking out of the rear tyre. I was having a terrible day!

It was the wettest ride I've ever done. It seemed as though the course was mostly downhill as if designed by M.C. Escher. I soon found that I went out of the back on every descent, lacking the nerve to go all out and remain in the pack. I had to chase hard to get back on on the flats and ascents. Braking was non existent and I soon felt that all things considered I should just sit up.

I decided that my time in the race was limited. I'd either puncture, crash or fatigue. In light of this I thought I might as well get a good workout while I still could and resolved to attack and get off the front at every opportunity. I got off the front about 6 or 7 times just jumping to see if I could. At one point I was away for a few minutes, but the descents were always eating away any advantage. When I got brought back into the bunch I would go again as soon possible. I started to warm a little and gain confidence. I had a lot of fun. 100km of racing in the bag and I've learnt that I can go deep several times and recover.

The good...

Two weeks later I returned to the UK and emptied about a litre of water from my bike in preparation for another race -SERRL Kenardington.

I started working with a Belgian coach about ten days prior to this race. Looking over the last few weeks of training files he suggested I was doing too much high intensity work and prescribed a period of extensive endurance rides. Mostly these are 5 hours in heart rate zones 1 and 2 and with a cadence of around 100rpm. Other rides have been 3 hours or so with 4 x 10 mins @ 80-86% FTP but with a cadence of 100+. There have also been 2 hour recovery rides in zone 1. The idea is he can assess my aerobic development and I get the benefit of topping up my 'base' while using races to work on speed and power. As a result of these miles I'm seeing more and more of Belgium and finding some great routes. It really is a fantastic country if you're a cyclist.
I arrived at the race having already clocked around 17 hours of riding that week. I had reservations about how would perform. I'd had mixed thoughts about being fresh because of the low intensity work, but maybe lacking some power. Then I'd think maybe I'd be fatigues from all those miles.

In truth, I felt really good. Fresh and with a topped up aerobic endurance. The race started and I new I was going to do ok. I soft pedalled my way round the course and all with an improved pedal stroke. I can already feel the effect of the high cadence work of the last couple of weeeks. With the knowledge that I could go deep and recover, I chased down a couple of breakaways from mid pack. This meant dragging everyone with me rather than making the break, but it meant no one was getting away.

Come the last lap I had a mental image of how I wanted the finish to play out. I was going to move to the top ten places on the last climb, moving stying on the right to catch any wheel coming by. About 500m to go I hooked onto the slipstream of a passing rider and stayed third wheel for about 200m without pedalling. I expected another rider to come by, but with 200m the two riders in front me slowed up I jumped and spun for the line.

At the time I though I was first. I saw my wheel cross the line just before a rider on my right who I could sense closing in the last few metres. The transponder timing system disagreed however and placed me 2nd by .03 of a second! I've since seen a photo of just before the finish and it looks like I was second, so I'll accept that for now. The slight annoyance is that I still had more to give and would have given more if I thought I'd needed to. But I'm still chiffed with the result as it shows I'm making progress and was able to contend in a flat sprint despite my relative low weight and max power.

Next...

One of the key factors in working with a local coach was getting help finding races in Belgium. Be careful what you wish for - I'm now racing a Kermis in Willebringen on Sunday. It's an open race and will have some powerful and experienced riders. It also looks to be flat and windy, so not my forte. My plan is to get there and sign on. I'll call that a success. I'll stick with bunch as long as possible and just have fun, banking the miles and using it as training for priority races in the UK where points are on offer. I'm now nearly half way to my 2nd cat license, so if I get enough UK races, I'll meet my years goal.

Big time turbo

2010-04-29T13:37:00.000+01:00

Following the crash I took a few days of for the swelling to go down and for me to feel like riding the bike again. I returned to training last Friday feeling fresh from 4 days off.

As the best training is specific to the demands of the race and because I have plenty of time to train, I'm planning to do more long rides that include intervals with race specific intensity. I'll then take more easy days/days off to allow recovery between rides. As races approach (every 2-3 weeks at the moment) I'll cut the volume and do very specific, high quality workouts.

Because my wrist and hip are still a bit iffy I did the first few rides on the turbo. The first two workouts followed a pattern I felt would help me rebuild the endurance that I feel I might have lost in recent weeks, while building on threshold power and aerobic capacity. Something like this:

3 hours L2, with 2 x 20 minutes @ 95-100% FTP in the first hour, then 6 x 3 minutes @ 115-120% FTP in the second/last hour.

This is hard workout that replicates the TSS and some of the demands of the road races I'm targeting.

Powertap data looks like this:
Duration: 3:00:22

Work: 1985 kJ
TSS: 189 (intensity factor 0.793)
Norm Power: 212
VI: 1.15
Pw:HR: 12.75%
Pa:HR: 14.23%
Distance: 109.249 km
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 547 183 watts
Heart Rate: 83 189 158 bpm
Cadence: 30 139 87 rpm
Speed: 0 60.2 36.3 kph
Crank Torque: 0 52 20.0 N-m

Ignore the stated speed, the turbo skews that figure!

That ride was done on Friday and Sunday followed by 90 mins easy on Monday.

Tuesday I did a 4 hour ride ride that included 8 x 40 second hills at maximum intensity early on. After a few minutes recovery I held L2/3 for the rest of the ride. I also attacked any hill that came my way to test the hip and build my jump and power. Towards the end of the ride I did 2 x 4 minute intervals @ 110-120% FTP. This gave a TSS of 253, which left me feeling a bit wobbly and is more than I expect any race to be.

I took Wednesday off. I needed it!

Today I did another turbo session that I got from the 'Training and Racing with a Powermeter' book. Called 'race winning intervals', I felt this would hopefully be intense enough to illicit a positive training response without leaving me wiped out for Sunday's race.

Each interval starts with 30 seconds all out. Starting out of the saddle and averaging over 200% FTP. Then 3 minutes at 100% FTP followed by a 10 second all out kick for the finish line. Recover and repeat. It was the first time I did this, and it hurt. A big problem I have is dealing with change of pace/power but I think more of this workout in the next few weeks will start to address that. I aimed for 6 intervals, but did 5 knowing that I was still quite fatigued from Tuesday's ride. Still it was 12 minutes at VO2 max and over 3 mintutes anaerobic. TSS 90.

Tomorrow I'll take it easy or off altogether, getting ready for the trip back to Blighty for Sunday's race. I'll do a little tune up on Saturday - and check my brakes!

Finally - Here's great blog by Dan Patten who is also a brit in Belgium - however he's a real bike racer.

Ouch!

2010-04-20T09:31:00.001+01:00

I felt really good on Thursdays chaingang. I returned to the UK in the afternoon and did the chaingang to stretch my legs and to test myslef at race intensity.

I went deep a couple of times doing some big pulls on the front, and I set new Mean Maximal Powers from 5 to 60 minutes. New five mimute MMP of 5W/Kg, which I think is largely down to the VO2 Max intervals I've been doing over the last couple of weeks.

This ride made me feel really good about the race on the following Sunday. Friday I did nothing and Saturday I rode for an our easy with a couple of short efforts at L4 followed by a couple of sprints.

Come the big day, it all went wrong. Before the race time flew and I missed a warm up. As the race went off I was struggling with the fast pace. I felt really uncomfortable but knew that I'd get it together in a few minutes. Just as I settled into the pace and my heart rate came in line with where I thought it should be, I became bugged by an annoying rattle. I carried on distracted, trying to find what was causing the rattle, until I decided I should stop and check what it was. I pulled over and gave the bike a quick check, but couldn't solve it.

I chased hard to get back on tacking little breathers behind stragglers that didn't seem concerned about getting back in the pack. I did 10 minutes at the kind of power I've previoulsy only ever sustained for 5. The plan was to get on at all costs even if it meant it was race over when I was there. I saw the group go over short climb and I was clawing my way back.

I really cranked it up as I saw them approaching a corner hoping the large group would have to take it slower than I could alone. That's when I found out the casue of the rattle. I lightly pulled the brake and leant into the corner but I didn't slow down as expected. I pulled and leant harder but the curb approach rapidly. I went down at speed sliding across the gravelly road. I left a fair bit of epidermis in my wake. The front brake had loosened and was barley attached to the fork.

That was my race over as I had taken the brunt of the fall on my hip. It was instanly painful and quite bloody. I waited on a grass verge for the first aid car - which came and went without stopping! After about 20 minutes and many offers of help from the marshalls, locals and other riders I straighten up the handlebars and crawled 3km back to HQ.

I was sorely disappointed having trained well and come so far to do the race. I knew that there was no way I I'd be riding again for a while, and I write now (Tuesday) unsure whether I'll be riding this week. The hip and wrist are swollen and I think riding would be too painful. A real shame when I was making big improvements in my racing fitness.

I'm not sure what this will mean for the race I was targeting on the May 2nd. If I'm riding again by then I will have missed a lot of training. I will have to decide whether I might be better training at home in Belgium to further my long term developement rather than focus training just for that race, where my chances are now severely dented. I'll know more when the swelling goes down.

Je suis le pavé poulet

2010-04-11T18:45:00.001+01:00

I ventured out twice this week, both times almost laughing aloud as I rode feeling the relief that came with realising that living in Belgium is about as good as it gets for a cyclist. I had hangups about many apsects of riding in a foreign country - not having having a clue where I am and being on the other side of the road were the big two. But riding here couldn't be easier, there are cycle lanes everywhere. Not the crappy 'roads to nowhere' like in London, but fantastic roads for cyclists that are intuitive to use. The first ride I just rode for a couple of hours out to the Foret de Soigne which I had seen on a map and noticed a lot of green space.

I followed a cycle lane all the way there, with a few tree lined kilometres completely seperated from traffic. The fun started as I hit the first patch of pavé on a 10% descent. I'm a little bit of a down hill wuss on smooth tarmac, so the cobbles really spooked me! These were not smooth twee pedestrianised shopping centre cobbles, but snarling grizzly Belgian cobbles. A bit like this but less even...

I have nice little cobbles outside my house that are fun, make me feel Belgian and give me a cheap thrill as I roll. But I had no stomach for this variety on my super-rigid Cervelo with lots of air in the tyres. I buckaroo'd down the hill for a minute or so. The rest of the ride was just a mooch about, getting familiar with the area.

Encouraged by how easy it was the first time I wanted to get a longer ride in at endurance pace. I found a route on bikely.com that started near where I live, uploaded it to the Garmin and set out. I've never used the Garmin for navigation before, but it was great and meant I got out for an 80k ride in virgin territory without worrying about getting lost or finding myself on a busy A road.

I ran the tyres at 10% less pressure, but never really hit any cobbles that caused problems. The common perception is that Belgium is flat, and while there's no mountains or really big climbs in my region, it's anything but flat. It very 'rolling', lots of short sharp ups and downs that I hope will develope my ablilty to change pace/effort quickly.

This ride was just an opportunity to maintain some endurance and find out where I might be able to do specific efforts in training. My focused training has been done indoors on the turbo. Lot's of turbo!

I've been doing the obligatory longer L4 threshold intervals at 95% FTP and L5 VO2 Max intervals at 110-120% FTP. The L5 intervals seem to be getting easier to do so I'll be making these longer next week.

I've also being trying replicate the demands of 2-3 hour road races, by doing long turbo rides at around 80% FTP (tempo) and jumping out of the saddle trying to reach and hold 200-300% power for 20 seconds every 3 minutes. This, I hope, will help me learn to change pace, chase break aways and exit corners better in longer road races such as my next two on the 18th April and 2nd May.

Bonjour de Belgium!

2010-04-04T19:00:00.000+01:00

I've been busy lately so I haven't had as much time as I'd like to do the things I like.

I've been in Brussels for a week now and haven't yet been out on the bike. It's partly down to lack of time due to getting things straight following the move, but mostly because I don't know where to go that isn't inner city Brussels. My goal for next week is to finally venture out - Foret de Soignes looks like it might be a good place to start.

In the week before leaving London I did as much riding as I could, building a lot of fitness and with it, fatigue. This meant I could take this first week in Belgium easy to recover, coinciding with the little training time available. I've done a few really easy - <55% FTP - rides that lasted about an hour, a 3 hour endurance ride and today I did some VO2 Max intervals feeling fresher than I can remember. All of this on the turbo.

When the dust has settled following the move, I should have more time than ever to train. Finding some routes will be key, but I'm not adverse to putting the time in on the turbo - in fact since getting the powermeter I'm actually enjoying it. My focus for the next 4 weeks is going to be on two races in the UK - these are SERRL races on 18th April and 2nd May.

I'm not expecting much in the way of a result from either race, with no racing between no and then, but I'll be training to do well in the race on the 2nd May specifically. The cost of the Eurostar tickets will be enough to spur me on when I'm thinking I haven't got the legs to make the break! With fewer races available to me I'm going to make every one count.

So the next four week block will be about that race on the 2nd May - the next three weeks building some form with a bit of a taper in the fourth week. Yet to plan this specifically, but I know I have the legs to finish with the bunch so I'll try and focus on workouts to to help me make a break and also to contest a sprint.

It feels quite good to have a specific goal to work towards as the riding so far has been general fitness building and all races have been done with a lot of fatigue.

Back on track

2010-03-16T19:39:00.000Z

Last monday I got a bug, of which the effects have only just cleared. The vomiting on Monday followed by extreme lethargy on Tuesday and Wednesday means I had a far from ideal week of training leading up to my first long road race on the Sunday. A really frustrating week.

The Surrey League race at Dunsfold had me feeling nervous even before I got ill, but I had no legitimate excuse for not doing the race on the day. As it turned out I did ok, and although my legs felt heavy I managed to cause a bit of trouble by going hard a couple of minutes from the finish and getting a headstart on the sprinters to claim 13th. It's my only tactic at the moment because I know my sprint needs work. I don't have much of a jump or the power to win over 200m, but I feel I can deliver a strong 2-3 minutes that might just mean I can avoid a sprint.

After the race I took stock and felt quite pleased with myself. The big concern was getting dropped, but I felt comfortable enough that I didn't have to worry about that after a few minutes. Considering the illness, poor preperation and the fact it was my first race over 40k (it was 85k) I'm really pleased with 13th. I can't wait to do it again.

This week things are back on track. I did a couple of very easy hours yesterday. Longer than needed for a recovery ride, but I was riding my new Cervelo for the first time. And very nice it is too!

Today I rode that same stead up and down the hill in Greenwich Park. As sprinting is a big limiter for me at the moment I decided to work on it by the hill at around 120 - 130% FTP then going 'all out' for the last 100m. This emulates the power demands of the last 2 minutes of virtually every race I've done this season and I hope this type of workout will help me develope a stronger finish. I'm writing this with sore legs that are evidence that training is back on track.

San Fairy Ann 2 - Excuses excuses.

2010-03-07T09:01:00.003Z

That was really tough. I haven't struggled so much in a race before.

It was another windy afternoon at Hog Hill with a field of around 50 riders. From the start I found the pace a bit hard going, with every ascent of the hill taking me right to the edge.
There was another early breakaway, and I saw it go, but I knew that trying to go with it would finish me off. So I stayed in the pack working a little to bring it back, but like last week whoever came to the front seemed reluctant to work.
I mooched about a bit mid-pack for most of the race trying to keep out of the wind. Trying to save some effort, I would start some of the climbs near the front and let a few people come past, but I couldn't shake the feeling that I was barely hanging on.

I got into to a couple breaks that formed because of the wind, I'd come through to keep the pace constant and to force the gap, then pull off and let someone come through, but they wouldn't! So both breaks got swallowed up. Theses efforts cost me later on.

On the last lap, I tried to keep near the front, but kept finding myself exposed to the wind which I didn't feel strong enough to push through. On the bottom straight I was second wheel behind a guy that was keeping a good pace and he strung out the pack. On the climb I jumped him, and had about 5 metres in first place, but my legs just cramped and I lost spirit as others came past at a speed I just couldn't react to.
I pushed on up the climb and crossed the line 12th overall and 9th out of the pack. A big disappointment compared to my expectations before the race.

The excuses? Althought I can't say I would have done any better in different with the following excuses, I'll air them anyway.
- I didn't sleep at all the night before the race because my daughter was awake being sick!
- I punctured on the way to the race and had three large cuts in my front tyre. Although time was already tight I had to find/buy/fit a new tyre and then ride tempo with my club mates to make the start of the race. Stress up - energy down.
- I've had a busy and stressful week with preparations for the move. Excuses, excuses.

I didn't take the powertap wheel as I wanted to try out my racier wheels to see what difference they might make. They made diddly squat difference. In my mind, saving 200 gram of rotational weight should have been an advantage, but in hindsight I wish I had the powertap data to look at both during and after the race.

All I have is the heart rate data which tells me I spent 40 minutes at or above my threshold heart rate, and 15 minutes at VO2 Max. Not very different to the week before, and a good workout if not a great result.

'New Country = New Bike', as the saying goes.

2010-03-04T20:32:00.000Z

Ok, there's no saying like that.

It's been mooted for the past few weeks, but it is now confirmed that I'll be moving to Belgium in the next few weeks. The move is for at least two years.

I'm not really sure how moving to cycling's heartland will affect my racing. I've been doing a bit of research and it appears they have just two categories: 'Elite with contract' and 'Elite without contract'. I don't see me lasting long in a race of either category. I go anaerobic just thinking about it.

I plan to come back to the UK regularly enough to race and reach my goal of making 2nd Cat in 2010. To this end I started thinking about bringing a bike back on the Eurostar. I looked into buying a bike box, to transport my bike between Belgium and the UK, but the price for one with adquate protection was hard to swallow. I'd sooner put the money towards another bike that could take the rough treatment of travel.

Somehow I managed to convince myself that I'd need a new, robust, and non-carbon-fibre bike for travelling between places. I looked at a few bikes including a Cannondale CAAD9 Ultegra, which I think is sexy, but I was put off by the compact chainset. In the end I went for a Cervelo S1:

I don't think it's the nicest looking bike by some distance, but it ticks a lot of boxes: its aluminium, stiff and fast. It's super aero too. I was at Dever Cycles today to discuss options having used their online bike builder tool to get some idea of price and play around with spec. I went for Shimano Ultegra 6700 which is what I have on my Giant TCR Advanced. Although I have FSA bits on the Giant I chose 3T Ergonova bars and a 3T arx Stem. They have similar dimensions to the FSA bits but were cheaper without any noticable compromise. Again, like the Giant I went with a Fizik Arione saddle and bartape. I can't wait to race it.

The plan is to leave a bike in the UK when I'm racing regularly in the summer, so I didn't get any wheels as I'll be bringing those back on the train.

While at the Dever Cycles I had a chat with Maurice Burton about racing in Belgium. It was great to hear about it first hand and I welcomed his offer to contact a friend who lives in Belgium for some advice.

The bike should be ready next week. As far as the move to Belgium goes, it'll be the only thing that is!

And the riding? March sees the introduction of serious training at threshold, so following a three hour (and two falls due to black ice) endurance ride on monday with a few jumps, I did 4 x 10 minute right at FTP on the turbo on Tuesday. Ideally I would have done this on the road with slightly longer intervals, but I couldn't be sure the ice had melted.

Wednesday I did not do much, and today I rode to Dever Cycles and back then did some 5 x 3 minute intervals at 120% FTP on the turbo. This is the first time I did workout like this and I didn't do the 5th interval due to fatigue. I was really annoyed with myself but I realised later that I had initially meant to do each effort at 110-115 % FTP. Not sure where the 120% came from. Oops.

Next up: San Fairy Ann 2!

San Fairy Ann 1

2010-03-01T15:07:00.004Z

I raced as planned at Hog Hill on Saturday. It was to be my first proper race as a 3rd Cat. Below is a picture of me suffering early on. Check out the race face! You can see Mark Brown, also of Dulwich Paragon, just in front.

The first couple of laps were a bit of a shock - it was windy and much faster than expected. I really lost enthusiasm as we hit the hill for the third time. I think I was carrying a bit of fatigue from the Thursday test. About lap 10 (of 20) I started to feel stronger and get a feel for where I might take shelter from the wind and where I could move up the field without useing much energy.

A really brave attack was made by the eventual winners while I was mid pack. No one seemed too bothered about chasing, so I spent a few laps on the front getting frustrated trying to encourage people to come by and do some work to chase the breakaway. No help came, and assuming the pack wouldn't chase me either I slowly pulled away into the wind.

After I got away I managed to stay away for the last three laps. I crossed the line in fifth quite pleased with the result.

The powermeter proved really valuable in measuring the effort of the laps I was on my own. I was happy to stay at about an average 110% FTP for each lap, then go for broke on the final climb.

Below, the Normalized Power of 282 Watts suggests that my FTP might be a bit higher (5-6%) than my recent test indicated. But the difference isn't enough for me to adjust my training zones yet.

Duration: 1:06:51

Work: 928 kJ
TSS: 124.3 (intensity factor 1.056)
Norm Power: 282
VI: 1.22
Pw:HR: -6.24%
Pa:HR: 4.94%
Distance: 40.329 km
Elevation Gain: 1083 m
Elevation Loss: 1081 m
Grade: 0.0 % (2 m)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 767 231 watts
Heart Rate: 115 194 179 bpm
Cadence: 45 206 96 rpm
Speed: 17.2 59.7 36.2 kph
Pace 1:00 3:29 1:39 min/km
Altitude: 40 71 52 m
Crank Torque: 0 96.4 23.7 N-m

I'm still far from 'race fit', and this was the first anaerobic workout of the year. Next week I'll take my race wheels and do without the power measuring just to see if I can do any better. It'll be good to gauge my effort on feel alone.

FTP Test

2010-02-25T15:54:00.000Z

Today I did my monthly FTP test. I follow the protocol from the book Training and Racing With A Power Meter which is essentially about putting out as much power as you can for 20 mins.

It hurts alot, and doing it indoors on the turbo - whilst being the best way to get an uninterrupted 20 minute effort - just adds to the pain. The last 3 minutes were hell and it would have been easy to stop. In the last minute I went all out to squeeze every last drop of effort.

The difficult bit is pacing it so that you just last the 20 mins. Doing it by feel alone it's easy to overcook it and the power fades towards the end given an innacurate result. I rode monitoring the average power and tried to keep it to 103% of my last FTP test. This was in keeping with what I though my new FTP should be and I just managed to keep holding the power at that figure. I couldn't do anymore.

This gives me a new FTP of 4 W/Kg which is a solid improvement over last month 3.91 W/Kg. I'm happy with that and it's in roughly where I feel my FTP is when out on the road or racing.

During the session I listened to a classic 80's metal album that I've only just revisited. Yngwie Malmsteen - Odyssey. Suitably rocking.

Rest week

2010-02-23T11:41:00.001Z

This is the fourth week of this block of training. The previous three weeks have ramped up in volume and I raised the intensity a touch. Last week was 400km/14 hours and a weekly TSS of 756.

I've taken two days off from riding and today I did 2 hours (and a bit) at endurance intensity. I did it on the handlebar drops to improve my strength and pedalling economy in that position. I did a few small ring sprints too.

In these easier rides, where I'm not trying too hard to stay in a narrow power zone, my mind wanders. Today I was thinking about an alternative glossary of cycling terms;

Periodized Training Plan - Riding a bike once a month to avoid the dark side of the woman in your life.
Altitude Training - Turbo training in the loft conversion.

Anyway, I'll probably do an hour easy if anything at all tomorrow then Thursday I'll do a FTP test to determine the power levels for the next four weeks of training.

Duration: 2:08:20 (2:13:50)

Work: 1069 kJ
TSS: 101.9 (intensity factor 0.69)
Norm Power: 180
VI: 1.29
Pw:HR: 4.83%
Pa:HR: -5.93%
Distance: 54.374 km
Elevation Gain: 1043 m
Elevation Loss: 1077 m
Grade: -0.1 % (-35 m)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 918 139 watts
Heart Rate: 90 183 137 bpm
Cadence: 30 206 85 rpm
Speed: 0 54.9 25.4 kph
Pace 1:06 0:00 2:22 min/km
Altitude: 12 179 83 m
Crank Torque: 0 140.7 16.4 N-m

Change of plan

2010-02-21T09:03:00.002Z

I didn't race after all. The sleet and snow was forecast for around the time I'd be riding home from the race so I decided to continue racking up some miles. This is what I should have been doing anyway.

I planned to do 3-4 hours, tacking hills at threshold. I headed out into Kent via Cudham Lane to start the ride with a nice 15 minute block at threshold. I like the long steady ascent of Cudham Lane, it makes it easy to sit right at 100-105 % FTP with a cadence of around 80 RPM. I'll be doing this climb alot more in the coming weeks. It's also part of the Club Time Trial so I might give that a go later in the year. Here's the data from that first climb:

From there I headed south staying between 70-75% MHR where possible. I did a few shorter climbs at threshold including Ide Hill and Polhill to get around 45 mins of total time at threshold. I also attacked a few small hills with sprints in the small chainring. These were done holding back on power as they are just to practice my jump and form. However I noticed later that I had set a new max power of 1000w for 1 second, and 934w for 5 seconds. These are low compared to a real sprinter, but I'm happy that I could put out those watts at sub-maximal effort and without focusing any training on sprinting.

Early in the ride I passed group of three cyclists who ignored my wave. Just seconds later, down the road they had come from I went sliding across a sheet of ice that covered the entire road. I can't imagine why they didn't think to let me know what was coming up. It was unmissable and they would have had to walk across it like I did. Could have been messy.

I have a bit of a cold coming on, but next week is a rest week so I'll be resting with maximum intesity!

Duration: 3:59:07 (4:04:57)
Work: 2257 kJ
TSS: 227.1 (intensity factor 0.755)
Norm Power: 196
VI: 1.25
Pw:HR: 9.02%
Pa:HR: -5.57%
Distance: 104.808 km
Elevation Gain: 1904 m
Elevation Loss: 1917 m
Grade: -0.0 % (-13 m)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 1000 157 watts
Heart Rate: 97 181 146 bpm
Cadence: 30 206 83 rpm
Speed: 0 56.9 26.3 kph
Pace 1:03 0:00 2:17 min/km
Altitude: 12 246 102 m
Crank Torque: 0 137.8 18.5 N-m

Ooops

2010-02-18T13:20:00.002Z

Hog Hill 06/02/10
4th Category only - C+ 40 riders 17 laps

Pos No Name Club
1 97 Kieron Redmond Dulwich Paragon
2 41 Tom Bishop London Phoenix
3 89 Chris Stuart-Leach Beds Road CC
4 92 Mark Brown Dulwich Paragon
5 69 Alex Jump Dulwich Paragon
6 45 Richard Hemsley Crawley Wheelers
7 77 Leo Bonito Beds Roads CC
8 91 Paul Gibb Beds Roads CC
9 93 Chris Blake Dulwich Paragon
10 85 Michael Barnes San Fairy Ann CC J

A win! It was far from expected. Last year I raced maybe 10 times and got no points at all. I got 11th and 12th a couple of times, but nothing in the top ten.
Before the race I told myself that the result wasn't important - this was a reward for all the long rides done over the miserable winter. My goal was tohave fun, finish the race and record it with my Powertap so that I would have a good idea of the level of effort required to do the race when I'm 'race ready'.

During the race I noticed that my heart rate was well down on the last time I raced at Hog Hill about a year ago. I started to think about getting my first points. The race was not very dramatic, a few attempts to get away, but they all failed. On the last lap I jumped a bit before the last climb and nobody came close enough to challenge. I crossed the line first and bewildered. I'd like to share some pictures of my finest hour but I can't find any anywhere!
At risk of sounding immodest, I've never felt so comfortable in a race. Considering I had done no race specific intensity training in months, it took a while for me to understand how I'd managed the win. I can only assume that the aerobic base building had left me with a more efficient 'engine' than some of those riders that had been racing over the winter.

There's still much more to do - the higher intensity training will build my top end speed, sprint and ability to repeatedly go into the red. But, that first race of the year nailed both season goals in one attempt. I won a race and made 3rd cat. I decided to set the new goal of making 2nd cat on 2010. In december this would have seemed silly and unachievable, but after the first race of the season I think it can be done if I continue with the periodized training plan.

For February that means continuing the with long endurance rides, but introducing work at my functional threshold. Yesterday I did 2:45 with three 6.4Km ascents of Cudham lane. I used the powermeter to keep me as close to my Functional Threshold Power as possible. It was a really wholesome workout, I like steady moderately hard efforts like this. The rides go quickly and there's a big TSS at the end of it - (172 - more than a club chaingang and more time spent at FTP). Currently my FTP is 3.91w/kg. I'll be working solidly at this intensity throughout February and beyond, using interval training on the turbo and road along with some early season races.

I think I'll try the E1234 race at Hog Hill this Saturday. It'll be a step up from the last race there in terms of speed and competitiveness, but similarly I'm not going to expect much in the way of a result. My best form is still some way off and I'll be carrying a lot more fatigue from the increased training load of the last few weeks.

Starting over....

2010-02-18T11:36:00.001Z

This first post has a lot of ground to cover. I like details, but in order to bring us up to the present, I'm going to summarise the recent past. I might go over some of the content later in a bit of detail.
I've been cycling regularly for the past 18 months or so. I raced a few times last year - without any succes - and in winter 2009 I decided to get serious and look at ways that I could achieve a couple of goals:

- Win a race.
- Gain enough points for a 3rd Cat racing license.

I wanted to add some structure to my training. In the previous year I didn't really train as much as ride when I felt like it. There was no plan other than ride and hope for improvement. Improvement there was, but being competitive in races seemed a long way off. So I structured and methodical approach was the way forward. I bought a Powermeter and some books by Allen and Coggan and Joe Friel to get me started. While these books sometimes contradict eachother, I was able to get an idea about how I could improve.

The both books are on periodization, and it's this traditional approach to training that I decided to apply to my riding. Nothing revolutionary, just time tested practices with proven results. In effect it meant riding the rest of the winter at steady pace - about 75% of my maximum heart rate. The aim was to steadily ramp up to longer rides of up to 4-5 hours and build a large aerobic base. In addition to this I new I had to increase my ability so spin the pedals at a higher cadence. I also worked to increase strength by riding a single speed bike at least one long ride a week, going over hills at a low cadence. That formed the bulk of my training from December up until a few weeks ago.

I did all this training by measuring heart rate. The more specific work with the powermeter could wait until training intensity increases in the spring (as will the post on how I'll use it), but I have been using the powermeter to test peroidically.

I noticed over time that I had massively increased the amount of power I could put out at 75% MHR. By February the training data showed that I was putting out around 20% more power at that heart rate than when I started the aerobic base training. I took this as evidence of the positive training effect and decide to try my legs out in a pre season race.....