I was at work on Wednesday when I got a few urgent messages on my phone. It transpired that Frank, our timekeeper and until recently, our secretary at Kingston Phoenix had been in an accident while cycling to meet some other members of the club that morning. I won't go into specifics, but he is alive, which is a testament to his fitness and the many thousands of miles of cycling that has kept him fit and healthy all his life. He has been very seriously injured and it has shocked all of us who know him, as he has been a District timekeeper for many years and has many friends within the time trialling community. If you TT in the London South District, you know Frank. If Frank can have such an accident then anyone can, and after the recent other scares I and other friends have had, it has just reinforced the feelings of vulnerability I currently have. We have all been in shock since it happened and we can only hope and pray for Frank's recovery, which will be long.
On a much more mundane matter, my performance also took a big dip last week. After my joint pbs over 10 miles in the previous weeks, I was looking forward to consolidating my training. I had been bulking out my trainerroad sessions with some longer commute rides home, usually about one hour. What I didn't realise was that I was burning the candle at both ends and was over-training. The first indication was last Monday's threshold session, which I had done a few weeks before. I felt really uncomfortable and when I downloaded the session I was 10 watts down on the last time I had done it. I didn't really cotton-on at the time, but this was the first indication that I was not right. A few hours later I had a scratchy throat and raised temperature, my usual indicator that I am overreaching.
So Wednesday evening's tt came around and while I was not particularly in the mood for it, what with the news about Frank and the fact that it was miserably cold, I felt pretty strong, as I set out on the first leg. By the turn at Beare Green, I was still feeling ok, but not as strong as two week's before and as I headed for the finish it all started to unravel. The final hill at South Holmwood, which I had utterly nailed before now felt like the North face of the Eiger. There was no staying on the tt bars this time; instead I was sat up spinning furiously with burning quads. Dave, who I had beaten by 40 odd seconds before went past me and took and 15 out of me. My final time was 23:56. Last year that would have been grand but to be over a minute slower than my previous time, and almost two minutes slower than Dale, after being only 20 seconds behind him showed how far I had fallen. I have taken the second half of the week off as I try to get back on track.
So, no more late nights, no more unnecessary commute rides, and rest. I'm still learning
Tuesday 31 May 2016
Sunday 15 May 2016
PBing for fun
This week was a double header, with a Wednesday club 10 on the Holmwood course and then the SCCU 10 yesterday on the faster G10/57 course. Wednesday was almost cancelled with torrential rain earlier in the day, but my faith in the met office was restored as they predicted accurately that the rain would clear from about 3pm. What I didn't know, with my limited meteorological knowledge was that with a passing thunderstorm, high humidity and a damp road would provide almost perfect tt conditions. In fact as I sat in the car park at the start, the trees were not moving at all, with the wind dropping to nothing. So perfect conditions, feeling great. Time to go after my best 10 time of 23:41, set two years ago.
It was a rubbish 10 for me. We didn't have a pusher off, which is very unusual, and of course it took me a few seconds to get clipped in. I over-compensated and as I went up the first rise I was pushing far too hard. Two miles later a tractor pulled out in front of me on a downhill stretch just before the first roundabout and with other traffic around I had to slow up, which left me carrying a lot less speed up the next rise. It was all feeling like very hard work but I regrouped at the turn and tried to refocus as the A24 dropped back down to Beare Green. My quads were absolutely screaming and I was 'mashing' on the pedals far too hard. As I hit the last half mile I had two riders in front and I used thee guys as a target, catching one of them before the end. I felt I had completely blown it. Despite it just being a small club 10, I had gone for it too hard and I just didn't feel very fast. Bah.
So I waited for Frank, our timekeeper, to come back to the carpark to give us our times and I was thinking I might just have squeaked to a new pb. I had to blink and triple-check when I looked for my time. 22:47!! 54 seconds faster than my previous best and on a slower course. To say I was stunned was an understatement. As you can imagine, I was a happy chappy. I was beaten into second place by Dale who rode a 22:04, which was a great ride.
It was a couple of days of easy one hour rides on the way home from work before getting the tt bike out again for Saturday morning's SCCU 10; the same event and course where I set my pb in 2014. The weather was no where near as good with the temperature a very cool 9 degrees and a stiff northerly wind of about 10-15mph, so far from ideal. My plan here though was to just ride it better and engage more of my pedal stroke when compared to Wednesday's effort. I thought it might be possible to do a low 24 in these conditions.
it was a much better ride from me. I controlled my effort and paced it well and I was lucky, not having to slow down on any of the ten or so roundabouts that I had to negotiate. I have found this course pretty hard to ride in the past with a nasty climb right at the start but I felt really strong throughout. As I crossed the line and stopped to unclip my helmet and have my usual dry heave by the side of the road, I knew that it was my best ever 10. Not my fastest, but I felt that I could not have paced it any better. So I spun gently back to the HQ, got changed and had a look at the results board. Unbelievably, my time was exactly the same as Wednesday, 22:47!! The really pleasing thing from my point of view was that Dale beat me again, but he was slower and only 19 seconds ahead. I have never been that close to him before and I think it shows how well I paced it and how far my training has brought me. It is still very early in the season. One of my main goals for this season was to go sub 23. Well I have done that, and I believe that on the right course, on the right day, sub 22 is possible. Blimey. Maybe I am becoming a proper tester.
It was a rubbish 10 for me. We didn't have a pusher off, which is very unusual, and of course it took me a few seconds to get clipped in. I over-compensated and as I went up the first rise I was pushing far too hard. Two miles later a tractor pulled out in front of me on a downhill stretch just before the first roundabout and with other traffic around I had to slow up, which left me carrying a lot less speed up the next rise. It was all feeling like very hard work but I regrouped at the turn and tried to refocus as the A24 dropped back down to Beare Green. My quads were absolutely screaming and I was 'mashing' on the pedals far too hard. As I hit the last half mile I had two riders in front and I used thee guys as a target, catching one of them before the end. I felt I had completely blown it. Despite it just being a small club 10, I had gone for it too hard and I just didn't feel very fast. Bah.
So I waited for Frank, our timekeeper, to come back to the carpark to give us our times and I was thinking I might just have squeaked to a new pb. I had to blink and triple-check when I looked for my time. 22:47!! 54 seconds faster than my previous best and on a slower course. To say I was stunned was an understatement. As you can imagine, I was a happy chappy. I was beaten into second place by Dale who rode a 22:04, which was a great ride.
It was a couple of days of easy one hour rides on the way home from work before getting the tt bike out again for Saturday morning's SCCU 10; the same event and course where I set my pb in 2014. The weather was no where near as good with the temperature a very cool 9 degrees and a stiff northerly wind of about 10-15mph, so far from ideal. My plan here though was to just ride it better and engage more of my pedal stroke when compared to Wednesday's effort. I thought it might be possible to do a low 24 in these conditions.
it was a much better ride from me. I controlled my effort and paced it well and I was lucky, not having to slow down on any of the ten or so roundabouts that I had to negotiate. I have found this course pretty hard to ride in the past with a nasty climb right at the start but I felt really strong throughout. As I crossed the line and stopped to unclip my helmet and have my usual dry heave by the side of the road, I knew that it was my best ever 10. Not my fastest, but I felt that I could not have paced it any better. So I spun gently back to the HQ, got changed and had a look at the results board. Unbelievably, my time was exactly the same as Wednesday, 22:47!! The really pleasing thing from my point of view was that Dale beat me again, but he was slower and only 19 seconds ahead. I have never been that close to him before and I think it shows how well I paced it and how far my training has brought me. It is still very early in the season. One of my main goals for this season was to go sub 23. Well I have done that, and I believe that on the right course, on the right day, sub 22 is possible. Blimey. Maybe I am becoming a proper tester.
Monday 2 May 2016
Driven to distraction
Last Sunday was the SCCU SPOCO 25m tt. Four laps on a lumpyish, bumpy and gravelly course, so not particularly fast. I think only one rider went under the hour, with Dale coming very close and getting second place. It was a small field that started but I came 12th, and helped KPRC to a second placed team prize. I won a bottle of wine.
I managed to have another consistent week, mainly on the turbo with a long ride yesterday around the hills. My ftp continues to gradually creep up and on Saturday I had a really good session of 4x10 minutes at ftp. I had ridden this same session just ten days before and I had another 5 watt increase, but this time I stayed aero for the whole session. In the last two weeks I have also started doing to odd session before work, getting up at 5:15am, doing my hour on the turbo, then getting ready. I am not really a morning person so doing a hard session that early in the morning seemed like a bad idea, but it has been manageable and means I am not doing these sessions so late at night. I am also doing these sessions in a fasted state which should help with fat burning, so the theory goes. I have switched to the Trainerroad Low Volume 40km TT plan, which only specifies 3 sessions per week. Basically, one VO2 max session, one sweetspot and one endurance session. The plan is to get these ones done then anything else on top is a bonus, like a longer commute ride home or a long weekend ride.
I think another week or so and I'll test my ftp again. I am gradually closing in on 250 watts and I should invest the same effort in dropping some kilograms but I am finding it hard to do. I seem to be resolutely stuck at 72kgs, but to be honest, this is just a hobby and I like eating, so I am not going to worry about it too much.
My main distraction at the moment is my inability to find the reason for a constant creaking on my Van Nic. New bottom bracket, tightened chainring bolts, checked pedals, sprocket and jockey wheels. It is driving me nuts. Sometimes it is there; sometimes not. I am starting to lose the will to live.
I managed to have another consistent week, mainly on the turbo with a long ride yesterday around the hills. My ftp continues to gradually creep up and on Saturday I had a really good session of 4x10 minutes at ftp. I had ridden this same session just ten days before and I had another 5 watt increase, but this time I stayed aero for the whole session. In the last two weeks I have also started doing to odd session before work, getting up at 5:15am, doing my hour on the turbo, then getting ready. I am not really a morning person so doing a hard session that early in the morning seemed like a bad idea, but it has been manageable and means I am not doing these sessions so late at night. I am also doing these sessions in a fasted state which should help with fat burning, so the theory goes. I have switched to the Trainerroad Low Volume 40km TT plan, which only specifies 3 sessions per week. Basically, one VO2 max session, one sweetspot and one endurance session. The plan is to get these ones done then anything else on top is a bonus, like a longer commute ride home or a long weekend ride.
I think another week or so and I'll test my ftp again. I am gradually closing in on 250 watts and I should invest the same effort in dropping some kilograms but I am finding it hard to do. I seem to be resolutely stuck at 72kgs, but to be honest, this is just a hobby and I like eating, so I am not going to worry about it too much.
My main distraction at the moment is my inability to find the reason for a constant creaking on my Van Nic. New bottom bracket, tightened chainring bolts, checked pedals, sprocket and jockey wheels. It is driving me nuts. Sometimes it is there; sometimes not. I am starting to lose the will to live.
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