What Counts

I am almost always in complete agreement with PezCyclingNews's Toolbox articles and I always find myself thinking as I read them at work (on coffee break, of course) that I should post about them. Inevitably I forget and a week goes by . . . by the time I remember, it's time for a new Toolbox.

This week's Toolbox is no exception. Read the four (plus the five 'others') ingredients carefully. Aerobic Capacity, Strength, Economy and Anaerobic Energy System. I have observed many a cyclist that seem to key only on Anaerobic Energy to the great detriment of the other three ingredients. And these aren't just willy-nilly riders. Some of them have coaches who prescribe this kind of program. They end up playing a numbers game that, to me, is a bit "instant gratification" and not necessarily prudent or desirable in the long term. I'm not picking specifically on coached riders, but on those that use a system (coach-defined or not) that involves a lot of go-hard to develop the Threshold/Anaerobic/Lactate/Etc system(s).

I am a huge proponent of the long ride. Not quite long steady distance (LSD) but close. The long ride does amazing things for your Aerobic Capacity and your Economy. When it comes to racing, I personally think that Economy is of the utmost importance. You don't have to be the strongest in the race. You just have to have the most energy left when it counts (i.e. when the winning break goes, on that final climb, or, as is most often the case for me, in the sprint). Improving Aerobic Capacity and Economy allow you to come to the line with more reserves than those around you.

I have found that a combination of long rides and consistent riding (six days per week on the bike, even the Monday Night Recovery Ride counts) give the biggest improvements in Aerobic Capacity and Economy and that is what I attribute most of the (admittedly limited in time and discipline) success on the bike.

Sicko

I've been feeling a bit sick for about a week. It's nothing major, mostly just a sore throat and achy joints. I could feel it in the beginning of my ride last Friday and I've decided to take it easy (read: no riding) until I'm fully back to 100%. If that means no riding until Owasco, well, that's fine with me. So long as I'm fresh and ready for Altoona, I'll be happy.

I've found that training while you're sick is, at best, ineffective. You can easily cause more harm than good so it's best not to push it when your body isn't up to it. Would you run your car without any oil in the engine?

Pittsburgh - Punxsutawney Ride

Link to the route is here.

Details to follow . . .

TheJenksster and CapnChaz's Ridiculous Ride

Yesterday CapnChaz and I headed up north to hit some hills . . . I hit the first one hard and was pretty much cooked after that. Oh well.

CapnChaz was looking for some stupid-steep climb he found on this map, including elevation changes, of NJ. We thought we found the right road but apparently we were wrong and just as it started to POUR down rain, we found ourselves descending a gravel road . . . nice! I started to feel like a mountain biker (uh oh).

We got all turned around and decided just to head back home (we were in Long Hill at this point, wayyyy north of Highland Park). We got mildly lost and ended up next to Basking Ridge Country Club. After checking with some passing motorists and Google maps via my phone, we headed back on our way, but not before I went completely head over my bars trying to get on the road from the grass. Feeling more and more like a mountain biker, I suppose. Ouch.

The monsoon began to fade away but we were already soaked through and planned to ride until we saw some roads we recognized. We somehow ended up at King George and made the rather lucky decision to turn right. The rest, as they say, is history.

We left at 6PM and got home at about 8:50PM. It was deserving of its title: Death March Through the Watchung Hills.

Aych-Ee-Double-Hockey-Sticks

It is SO hot. And humid. It was like that yesterday, too. I rode tempo to Rahway, we got there way early. I dropped my bottle of Cytomax. I didn't finish. SO hot. And humid.

No riding today because it is hot as hell.

Without a training ride to do, I feel like I have so much time to do things that I otherwise can't do. Like grocery shopping. Or watching a movie. Or putting away my folded laundry and ironing my shirts (too hot for that, though). How much of this have I gotten done in the hour and a half I've been home? Yeah, none.

I've decided that one win in a season doesn't cut it so unless I've specifically decided or been told to work for someone else, I'm going to stop treating non-priority races like I treat Rahway. That is to say, I won't be doing much Jenksster-style attack-all-the-time-just-to-see-the-looks-of-pain-on-everyone-else's-face kind of racing. Yeah, that kind. I think one of these races (4th of July?), I will sit in the WHOLE race and see how much easier that makes the sprint.

Jumps

I did jumps today. I planned on doing ten but only did five or six. Why? Well on two occasions, I ripped my foot out of my pedal. I'm not sure how I stayed upright but I did somehow.

I did, however, set a new max output by nearly 150 watts, which leads me to believe that the PowerTap is reading things on the high side. Or maybe not. Who knows?

--

Dear Olivia,

This section is for you. It doesn't contain training, racing, or anything cycling-related. When you get back, we (and by we, I mean the three of us, because CapnChaz can beat me up) should go to some openings in New York. Maybe you could point us to one with some less expensive items, maybe starting around $50-$100? Sweet! Art is cool.

Tired, So Tired

Ronde van Mullica was awesome! We had a five-car caravan heading down there and the course is great (it's flat, very flat, mostly). The best part about the 3/4 race was that people were civilized at the start. There wasn't any of that go hard, go hard, go hard right off the bat (we had 47 miles still to cover) and it was quite a gentlemanly pace with some light conversation and good laughs.

After about five or six minutes, I went to the front to set tempo. Mostly, it was to warm up but it was also to discourage attacks and give Mark an armchair ride. For about ten or twelve minutes, I sat on the front, spinning the cranks, well within my limit, not burning matches. It wasn't a blistering pace, but it was fast enough that it was single file for six or so guys until the arrowhead formed. That was soooo awesome and encouraging to see.

Despite the not-so-great result we produced, I had a great time. I did have a momentary lapse in concentration and allowed a five-man break to get too much time on us before getting back on the front to ride tempo and keep it reasonable, but I suppose I can't be controlling the race the entire time . . . just most of the time. Since I didn't have to worry about saving my energy for the sprint (other than to lead Mark out) and every serious attack I'd make would get an immediate response, I took a lot of pleasure in simply controlling the front by riding just fast enough to discourage any further break attempts. So much fun.

The P/1/2/3 went off as predicted: a large break (really almost half the field, including all the big guns) went at about four miles in. I saw it, knew it was THE move and said to myself, "No way." The second race was purely for training purposes to get the mileage up. I ended up pulling the plug after the fourth lap (of six) since my knee started to bother me and I was getting quite tired.

All in all, a GREAT day of racing. I'm really looking forward to Rocky Hill as another opportunity to work for someone else and control the race as it should be!

On The Subject of Music

I recently rediscovered the awesomeness that is "the only station that matters, 90.5 WBER" and have been listening to it at work. The station is a school- and community-supported effort that has been broadcasting to the elitist music snobs of the Greater Rochester Area since 1985. It's completely independent of all the ClearChannel/CBS craptastic stations you find dominating the radio. They play one of the most eclectic mixes of songs I've ever come across. You'll start off listening to soft indie pining, then get slammed with some screamo only to be followed up by some electronica/techno. The song sequence is almost as entertaining as the songs themselves. Their webpage is rather uninformative but you can access the streaming broadcast through it. I also permanently have the yes.com playlist for WBER open. Only problem is that they play some really off-the-wall stuff and the playlist can only recognize 2/3rds of the stuff, at most.

I also had the pleasure of meeting Chris Kiehne, my recently wedded friend Koops' cousin, who has a few CDs and random tracks of his own. Check out his myspace page to get a sampling of his style.

--

I rode my velocipede today and it was awful. I did some really fun and hard intervals yesterday with Todd and really felt it today. Plus I've lacked a bit of sleep recently . . . and by posting this, I'm depriving myself of even more much-needed rest. Oh well.

Yesterday after Todd went home, I very nearly got crashed by an inconsiderate and completely oblivious asshole on the road going across the canal at first bridge (is that Van Cleef?). The asshole wasn't behind the wheel of a car, wasn't jogging along the side of the road, nay, the asshole wasn't even human! Some bird decided to swoop down out of the trees right in front of me and as I flailed about trying to ward it off, I almost ate it. Stupid birds.

Philly

Rode to Philly today with Don. The following things were great:

-The weather
-The ride
-The comments from the peanut gallery
-The post-ride rugelach
-The race
-The drive home conversation (especially the logo we decided on for RU-branded Cannondales)

The following things were not great:

-The Calhoun St bridge from Trenton, NJ to Morrisville, PA
-The flat tire
-'ello, guvnah!

JJ Haedo is all kinds of fast (in the US, at least). T-Mobile absolutely screwed up the leadout. Eisel was deposited at the right point (~120m to the line) however the pace was WAY too slow.

I screamed at Myerson with 6 to go in a remote section of the park and he perked his head up and looked around like a prairie dog emerging from its hole. Good times. Great oldies. 93BBF.

Boring Weekend

No racing this weekend for me. Only endurance/tempo training rides to the tune of 245km. Next weekend is Turkey Hill (if Todd takes my offer) and Colts Neck. I will try to remember to keep those races in mind this week during training but I've been feeling quite frisky lately and have had a mind to attack.

The only cure for itchy feet is to give them a scratch . . . or Tough Actin' Tinactin(TM).

Nothing to Say

After 7.5 hours of riding between Saturday and today, I have nothing to say except, "foooooooood."

Recovery

Today is a day off. Thursdays will remain a day off for the entirety of the season. Mondays will transition from passive recovery (i.e. doing nothing) to active recovery (i.e. hooray Monday night circus loops with the weeemens!!!!) possibly starting as early as next week.

I was thinking I'd not do any racing until April -- or March 31st at the earliest. However, I committed to Craig to being a Cat 3 by Somerville, so I'm thinking maybe I will do a few of the Branch Brook Spring Series races. They're only about 15 miles early on Saturday morning. I can always do a long group ride afterwards.

Who's in?

R.P.E.

I rode light on Monday. I did some non-base stuff yesterday. Today, I just wasn't in it. After 20 minutes on the trainer, I was ready to be done.

How did I know I was ready to be done? The PowerTap didn't flash a message up saying, "What's wrong with you, go harder!" or, "Stop. This workout is worthless." No, good ol' fashioned RPE told me that today was just not going to happen as far as riding on the trainer. I banged out 35 minutes and called it quits.

RPE stands for (depending on who the author is) Rating of Perceived Exertion. When my heart rate monitor gave out sometime mid-Spring last year, RPE was my lone training device. It worked out really well. I was in great form when I wanted to be (from mid-July to early September: 1st at Freedom Tour, 10th at 'Toona Circuit race, 2nd at Medford, 2nd at BHOF Labor Day Classic--would've been top-3 at 'Toona Crit and Basking Ridge had I kept the rubber side down). I trained how I felt after laying down about two months of base (real base, the very boring kind). I had a plan, designating certain days for sprint work, some for threshold, others for recovery or endurance. No training aid necessary other than what my body told me.

Then I got a PowerTap. I started becoming a slave to the numbers again. Well that's over and done with. Starting about three weeks ago, I set the PowerTap computer to display Max Power only in the Power field. It freed me from staring at the instantaneous readings, judging where I was at all the time. This is how I plan to continue training for the rest of the year. Sure, I still eagerly plug the computer in and download my data, going over it for about 10 or 15 minutes after each ride. But it's more of a validation tool to indicate that my plan and training via RPE is heading in the right direction.

So, kiddies, the moral of the story is: Don't buy expensive equipment, be it frames, wheels, power meters, whatever. Your body is the best training device you could need.*

*-If, like me, you have money to burn, go ahead and buy all the useless garbage you want.

Color Me Impressed

Nice work RU. NinjaDon and AngryMark have Saturday race coverage. Good result from Chris Redmond today with multiple teammates in tow.

All very inspiring. I can't wait to tear all your legs off in May (kidding--but not really).

Seriously, though, RU's performance and results this weekend really motivated me and got me excited to race again this season, as if I needed more motivation and excitement. A lot of things have lost priority to cycling already (as it should be, of course).

Early season form is coming along well as a result of two 3 hour Saturday rides, the most recent of which I completed yesterday (Washington Ave, come straight back down Morning Glory then down to Coppermine) with a ride average of 199 watts. I had many realizations on this ride. One of which was that power measurement is certainly a good tool but I still believe that RPE is a better way to train. In the same vein, I am really frustrated by the apparent epidemic I've seen on the Rutgers email list. It seems that a few of the 'experienced' riders have been doling out training opinions that I fear the 'inexperienced' riders may be taking as gospel, i.e. L4 and L5 training and tons of it. Apart from the inappropriateness of this type of training for those new to the sport, there is another problem with this "Coggan-style" training approach: it doesn't win you races. Sure, it can make you go fast like Todd, but ask Todd how many races he's won in his whole career in any category (this is left as an exercise for the reader).

As AngryMark has so aptly pointed out (too lazy to get a link), the best way to race your bike is to spend the least amount of energy possible until you absolutely have to. A Category 3, 4 or 5 race generally unfolds thusly: sit in, field sprint. Therefore, if you want to win these races, your training should consist of teaching your body how to cover miles in an efficient way, as if you were sitting in, conserving the most energy. The way to do that is by doing long endurance/tempo rides in your early preparation (pre-season to early season). The benefit of these rides is two-fold: 1) your body learns (or hopefully re-learns) how to burn fat before using glycogen and 2) you learn how to be biomechanically efficient during long efforts in the saddle. Once the season is underway it's good to mix in sprint and supra-threshold work because that is definitely important.

Next time you are doing intervals, ask yourself this question, "How many times in a race I've done have I had to go hard for 5 minutes/10 minutes/20 minutes" or however long your interval may be.

This can all be summed up by: If you want to go fast, train like Todd. If you want to win races, don't.

P.S. Feel free to have as much disdain for my training advice as I most assuredly have for yours.

The Training Plan

Today's ride on the trainer was the worst so far this year (since resuming somewhat serious training in mid-December). My legs just didn't work like they have been the past three weeks or so. They worked just fine on Sunday. I believe this is confirmation that a) the Todd Plan doesn't work or b) work was exhausting today or c) both.

Regardless of the answer, I have decided to do last year's Winter schedule: Base and Base only until the beginning of March. Boring, you say? Yes, you are correct. But we'll see who's shredding the sprints up come April/May and July/August.

This should make many of the participants of the Saturday/Sunday rides much happier as they seemed a bit miffed by my pulls on Sunday. I didn't feel like I was going that hard.

What this change of plan doesn't change is that I want to do some long, long, long rides. Throughout February I'd like to build up to doing at least 7 hours on the weekends (total). None of the riding will be threshold work. As Blogspot is my witness, I will lay a Base.