Missing in action

Firstly, apologies to anyone that's bothered, about changing the blog template again. I've been trying to do a bit of housekeeping on the blog so that I can archive posts into some sort of order using tags and that sot of stuff, and I just didn't like how it all looked; I still don't. But I'm going to have a tinker with it over the next few weeks and hopefully make it easier to read.

Yesterday was a bit of an anticlimax as I had arranged to meet Dale and cycle over to the start of the SCCU 25 tt at Broadbridge Heath on the A24. I have started countless time trials from there in the past 6 years or so and never missed the start of a race. Unfortunately, yesterday I did. The way time trials work, you cannot just slot into another position, well you can if there is another dns, but the clock effectively continues to run from your actual start time. So had I started 5 minutes later, then my time would include that extra 5 minutes. I had 2 upped with Dale all the way there and rather than warmed up, I was more 'worn out' by the time we got there. Dale made his start with 30 seconds to spare. I sat at the HQ and drank tea.

After Dale got back we 2 upped from Broadbridge Heath, with me dragging Dale home. He was pretty wiped out after his 25, posting a 58:xx in the process, so I used it as a chance to get some faster miles in the bank, while Dale freewheeled behind me. This is an unusual occurrence because Dale is an absolute machine. So while not racing, I got a solid 50 miles in which left me tired and achy for the rest of the day. Speaking of achy, my back is not what it used to be. Hopefully, Jamie and I are meeting up for our now annual post DW following paddle, My core was never in as good a condition as when I was paddling ( even though the rest of me was in bits) but maybe a gentle paddle now and again will help me get my core strength back a little.

A lightbulb moment

I did my fourth 20 minute ftp test yesterday as I had felt that some of the Trainerroad sessions were getting easier, which meant that somewhere, my aerobic fitness was improving. It had been the best part of two months since my last test owing to having serious manflu ( a mild cold) when I should have conducted the last one. This one was slightly different on a couple of counts. Firstly, I did the test in my rather cold shed, the thinking being that I would not get so hot as I normally do in my well-insulated kitchen and therefore this might help me push out a couple more watts. I also spend more time upright, rather than down on my aerobars, which is how I had conducted the test before. After listening to the Trainerroad podcast, they advocated that you simply have to try to get as many watts out as possible and if that means being in a more 'road' position instead of a tt one, then that should be the way to go.

The test this time felt much harder, I guess because I am starting to bump against my limiters a little bit, and I had a definite fade in the middle part of the test,  but the result was good. 240 watts, compared to my last test at 230. That's not too bad at all and I can now power a pretty standard domestic lightbulb for an hour (in theory anyway). Along the way, I also improved on my best power averages for 2,3,5,10 and 15 minutes.

So using some back of the envelope mathematics I have done approximately 70 Trainerroad sessions and increased my ftp by 35 watts. So every session is helping me to add 0.5 watts to my ftp. OK, I know it's not as simple as that and that there or other factors in play, but the numbers  work quite nicely and at least for the time being it is pretty motivating to still see the numbers creeping up. 250 watts plus is an obvious target now and my watts/kg is now up to 3.33. This weekend sees me start my first 25m tt of the season. Not a fast course but I am hopeful that with some ok conditions, I should be very near the mark I set last year.

My usual Easter......

spent watching the DW tracker, following a couple of crews with personnel that I either know or have followed via blogs or the DW facebook page. As I write, there is a crew who have paddled the heaviest plastic tub down the course and they are currently holed up at Teddington waiting for the second tide; they have been going for over 30 hours already and will have another 2-3 hours paddling once they get back into the water. I have serious respect for that kind of endurance and downright dogged perseverance. It almost makes me want to do it again. I was in the pub with friends last night and text Jamie to have our usual 'Let's do it next year' conversation. Hmm. We'll see.

Trainerroad continues to be going well. A bit of a quieter week this week after a heavy week and the SCCU SPOCO last week. I am coming to the end of the build plan, so I intend to do another FTP test on Tuesday, followed by the start of the 40km TT plan the week after that. Slightly less volume but I think a lot more hurty. Can't wait.

I am the resurrection

It was the SCUU SPOCO 21 mile TT yesterday. This was the third year on the trot I had ridden this event and it is not an event I have enjoyed. In 2014 I had ridden my TT bike for the first time but I had not really trained at all over the winter, so it was a very rugged and diffivult day out. LAst year was much the same, but compounded by truly awful weather, with the temperature only just above freezing and sleety rain. As a result I rode the Van Nic instead, just to feel a bit more sure-footed on the tricky descents. Both times I rode were decidedly average (1:05:xx and 1:10:xx). So yesterday was all about seeing how far my turbo work in the last 4 months had actually got me.

So, two laps. Half of it a bumpy, twisy, downhill section that has you hanging on for dear-life at times, followed by a long drag uphill back to Bletchingly, with three steep and short climbs that have you down in the granny ring, spinning away. The first lap also includes a long climb right from the start and I really tried to keep a cap on my rpe, knowing what was to come later on. I was overtaking a fair few riders in front of me and managed to keep most of the guys behind me as I approached the first of the climbs. I got held up by traffic here as a car could not get past a couple of riders out on a training ride, so I had to bide my time as I waited to overtake and lost 30 seconds or so. It probably helped as I hit the first climb with my heart rate a bit lower than it otherwise would have been. I still felt pretty rough by the end of the climbs as that is one thing I am most as practiced on, owing to the mainly turbo sessions I have been completing, so I felt that maybe I had gone out too hard on the first lap.

The second lap was much the same, this time with a couple of the fast guys going past me. I decided to aim to be as fast as possible between the hills and then let the hills just take care of themselves, and accept that I would not be that fast up them. I was pretty done in by the end and had the usual dry-heaving in someone's driveway. Sorry.

So after much tea and bread pudding the results came in. 1:00:57, a solid 5 minute pb for the course! And that included the hold-up on the first lap. I am really pleased and shows that a little bit on consistency goes a very long way. Happy days.

Long week

Somehow, and I don't know how, I have managed a pretty big week of training with over 9 hours on the bike, not including commuting. That's made up of five hours on the turbo and the rest was a chaingang session and a slow, hilly ride this morning. I was meant to be riding a club 25tt but I had to cancel it at the last minute,which was pretty stressful and frustrating. So a slow forty miles instead, slogging my way up Leith Hill. I spent the first hour trying too hard and not really enjoying it, being surrounded by packs of fellow mamils. As I turned up Raikes Lane and found myself on my own. My mood improved, but my legs didn't. They were just spent from the ftp work that I had done during the week but hopefully that will stand me in good stead in a few week's time.

The next few weeks are pretty stressy for me at work, so it may be just about maintaining some training time rather than worrying about improvement in power or increasing tss numbers. That said, I'm enjoying the process of using trainerroad and while the first few time trials I will be riding will be about training rather than racing. It will be in the summer when hopefully I will see how far this work has taken me.

I've had a really solid week's training with five sessions all told with the aim of getting a solid three week block of sessions in before my first 25 tt in March. These consisted of three sweetspot trainerroad sessions, a chingang ride with KPRC and then a 50 miler today with Simon. The sweetspot sessions were all fine, if a little dull, being long intervals of between 12-20 minutes at 85% of ftp. The chaingang ride was hard with three of us out for the first time and had me well over threshold for a significant proportion and included the an enormous wood screw leaving the most enormous hole in my tyre on the warm down loop. Lee and Gavin were kind enough to wait while I changed it but the temperature dropped rapidly and obviously that meant I completely ballsed- up getting the new tube in.

An early start this morning to meet Simon and the plan was to go out and ride most of the G25/47 route which we will be racing on in two weeks' time. As we headed out to the A 29 and down to Broadbridge Heath, all was good and we were clipping along at a really good tempo effort and I have to say Iwas feeling really strong in the cold and windy conditions.  When we got back on to the A24 for the last five miles of the tt course I just ran out of gas and Simon pulled away effortlessly into the strengthening headwind, so I took the decision to knock it back, rather than going into the red to try to stay with him. It is dawning on me that I am getting older, and whether I like it or not I need to rest more and these relatively big weeks will take their toll. I can't keep burning my matches all the time.

First race of the season

As a way of getting me off the turbo and back into the real world I entered the Kingston Wheelers' Gil Jessop Sporting 14, a 14 mile (obviously) sporting time trial over two laps in Ripley. I find these sporting courses pretty tough; I have never ridden one that has made me think afterwards that I had really nailed it, usually because in the early season I have not laid a decent enough aerobic base during the winter. With my trainerroad sessions I have been hoping to remedy this and this was going to be my first test of this.

I decided on the argon with full deep section wheels as it was not a particularly steep course or climb. The roads were wet from a good soaking the night before but the morning was pretty dry. I just didn't feel on it on the first lap. My legs just felt heavy and The were well alight after just a few minutes' riding. Maybe a lack of a proper warm up or just not enough actual road riding on hills? Whatever it was, it was a rude introduction to the racing season, especially when my minute man caught me after only half a lap. The second lap was slightly better and I was really pushing hard over the last mile on the downhill section. A long 37, which on this course was decidedly average.

Over the next couple of days I started to feel more rough as a cold developed, which meant my week off for half term only saw me ride 3 times and feeling rough each time. The highlight was 40 miles out with Simon which included an ascent of Pebble Hill in Reigate, which left me absolutely in bits. I really hate that hill; I guess I should ride it a lot more.

I think I am now finally over my cold and I am going to attempt to get 3 really good weeks in before the next Sporting TT, focussing on sweetspot and threshold work. My other main focus is weight loss, with me currently at 73kgs I am a good 2kgs overweight and ideally, I should aim to get down below 70 kgs. I'm cutting out the rubbish, reducing my carbs, eating more fruit, drinking more water and upping my protein. Sounds simple, but I like a bag of crisps and a chocolate bar, so I think this is going to be tough.

Suffering

Where can I buy one?

A tough couple of weeks since my last post, with a bit of cold which left me feeling quite lethargic. I did the wise thing and kicked back a bit but last Sunday I went out with Simon and Dale for my first outdoor training ride in quite a while. The good was that I did a solid 60 miles, but I was left trailing in the boys' wake. IO had got up at 5:30am to be on the road by 6, so by the time I met them I already had and hour under my belt, but I just wasn't on it. Dale is super fast and Simon has been getting some solid miles in and I just was not able to keep up for most of it. I felt some relief when I turned off to head back home while they got their heads down and rode off to Worthing.

This week has been a little better. My trainerroad sessions are back on track and yesterday I had a particularly good 2 hour session that saw me hitting some really good numbers again, but this had the consequence of my legs being pretty battered for today's steady ride. I did a slow 40 miles with  lot of time spent in the small ring (I know it shouldn't make any difference, but it does, to my ego at least).

 I really could have done with one of those hidden motors that now seem to be finding their way into the pro peleton. I have to say, I share most people's incredulity at this. Drug doping to improve one's athletic ability seems almost acceptable. My take on it is that cycling is often about suffering. Even when it's going well, it is still bloody hard work. It's fairly rare that it ever feels easy, therefore I think one can argue that even if you are smacked up to your eyeballs on EPO, it is still going to hurt. This whole motor doping thing seems just, well, lazy! I mean properly bone-idle. I can't be bothered to pedal anymore, I think I'll use the motor.

Without the means, desire or inclination to cheat (in anyway, I might hasten to add) I am just going to have to continue to hurt in the good old fashioned way.

A bump in the (trainer) road

So after being all cock-a-hoop last week about my ftp number rising like a rocket after my last 20 minute test, it should come as no surprise that it would all spectacularly turn to worms this week. Basically, I caught a cold. The rest of family wheezy came down with it and by Monday my throat was sore and eyes were puffy, but to be fair, I was not feeling too bad so thought that I should just man up and get my next session done. This was to be a 90 threshold session with me doing 6 x 10 minutes around my ftp. This is a tough session and with me being under the weather and chasing a new ftp number I simply couldn't keep the cranks turning after the third rep, so I bailed early. The rest of the week I was able to do a couple of easy, low intensity aerobic sessions which didn't stress me too much and this morning I felt good enough to have a crack at a one hour session with 4 x 10 minutes at threshold.

Again, it didn't go to plan. The first rep felt too easy and I was well over the 230 watts required. Second rep was better; still a bit too high, but I felt comfortably extended.

The third rep; Oh. My. Days. I was hanging on, barely, almost from the off. The last 3 minutes felt like 3 years and I was just able to keep it at 230 watts. So it was time to HTFU and get the last one done, but I simply couldn't. By this time my temperature had rising stupidly and even at rest my heart rate was extremely elevated and I simply couldn't get my power up to even 180 watts, let alone 230. I should be disappointed but this is precisely why Trainerroad is proving so useful and this is telling me a few of things. Firstly, I am ill and I need to actually let my body recover a little more before attempting a threshold session. Secondly, this confirms that my muscular endurance needs a lot of work. I can spin a light gear for hours. I can push a relatively high number of watts (for me) for a short period pretty well, but maintaining my watts near ftp for extended periods of time is a real weakness and something I need to focus on when I am back to full fitness. Thirdly, I need to put my ego in check (again) and at least temporarily bring my ftp number down while I build my fitness back up.

Training works

For the last two weeks or so I had felt that the Trainer road sessions were feeling a little easier as I got a little fitter, so it seemed like a good time to do my third functional threshold power test. In November my first test had been 205 watts, with a slight improvement in December at 212 watts, so I was expecting another modest improvement.  So I started the session thinking that I would be looking at a few more watts and maybe I could squeak over 220; imagine my surprise when I was able to bash out 230 watts. In a word; Boom. I suppose I do also have to factor in it being my third go at this session I am obviously becoming more practiced at pacing. but there's no doubt that I am starting to make some really good improvements and with a 25 watt increase in 10 weeks, I have to be pleased.

This now means that my sessions are that little bit harder as I have to adapt to a higher percentage of power across all the sessions and I think the next few weeks are going to be pretty tough. As Greg Lemond once said 'It doesn't get easier, you just get faster.'

The wrong side of 3w/kg

#StormFrank on the Isle of Wight

It's been a bit of a rest week due to a small family break over the New Year. The great thing about making the conscious decision to not do any running for the foreseable future is that I had no compunction about leaving my trainers at home and not worrying about trying to fit a session in. Just lots of very windy (courtesy of Storm Frank) and wet pub walks, fish and chips and quite a few beers. All good. We came back late Friday night so I was able to get up early on Saturday and Sunday and fit in another three hours on the turbo, including my longest ever turbo session at 2hrs 15 minutes. I think that's the really good thing about Trainerroad as it breaks it all up into manageable chunks, so that and with the aid of a couple of Kermode and Mayo film podcasts made the time while away quite quickly. I must be getting soft in my old age as I so glad not to be out in the horrible grey and turbulent weather that we have had recently. It could have been even worse; I could be on the water DW training. (Very pleased that I am not)

Not that I have tested it recently, but my ftp seems to still be gradually creeping up, as some of the sessions from earlier in the plan have been repeated and my normalised power for the sessions is a few watts higher every time and some of the threshold sessions which left me a dribbling mess a couple of weeks ago are not quite as intense now. A sign, I guess, that it is time to test my ftp again soon.

The big thing I need to get under control is my diet, as like most people I have hit the calories a bit hard over the last two weeks and my weight has crept up somewhat, but thankfully, nowhere near as bad as it could be. Anyway, there's little point working on improving my power output if my weight is going up too so it is time to 'reset' and get some good eating habits going again. My current power/weight ratio is 2.92 w/kg (in his heyday, if you can call it that, Lance was over 7!). So a first aim is to get that number over 3w/kg. A modest but achievable target.

Small wins and all that.

Last (outdoor) ride of the year

A very grey and windy 50 miles this morning with Simon and Suzie, heading out to Dorking then turning onto the A29 with a detour around the Sporting 10 course. After a pretty hard trainer road session yesterday morning it took a little while for my legs to get loose and fluid, but once they were I was feeling very strong. Not fast, but like a lumpy V twin rather than a single cylinder two stroke.

It ended up being a bit of a mixed ride with rolling lumps rather than out right hills and Simon and I taking it in turns on the front, pushing on over the second half of the G10/42 course as we came back to Dorking. Despite eating my own body weight in meat, potatoes and bread, I have never felt fitter at this time of year, ever. Consistent training works, even when eating boxfuls of mince pies. January 1st will be when I hit the reset switch as far as my eating and diet goes. Until then, one more piece of pie please!

I thought that I would really suffer by not doing  any running at all but it has been a really good release and despite the inordinate amount of food I have consumed over the holidays, my weight has pretty much stayed in check. I think I have always felt that I have needed to run to keep my weight down but the consistent turbo sessions seem to be burning off enough calories, which is good.

So a couple more turbo sessions to see out the year and that's me done for another year. Pretty certain that cycling wise, 2016 is going to be a hell of a lot better than 2015.

Moving on

This year has been, well, meh.

The good has been completing some new events. My first 100 mile tt, my first 12 hour tt, my first go on a track. All that was good fun and has to some extent, made this season worth while. Other than that however, it has all been decidedly average. My speed on a bike has not actually moved forward at all this year with a paltry 4 second improvement over 10 miles and no improvement at all over 25 and 50.  As usual, not enough consistency with a smattering of bad preparation and bad luck has meant that what I have done has kept the status quo.

But, I now feel really good about next year. My recent switch to using Trainerroad with a KK road machine turbo has completely transformed my approach. I have spent the last 7 weeks following the Trainerroad medium volume  sweetspot base plan, hitting most sessions and enjoying them. I do most of my sessions quite late in the evening, after kids have gone to bed and I've watched The Apprentice or Bake-off with Mrs Wheezy, but with most of the Monday to Friday sessions only being an hour long (90 minutes max) I am usually done and dusted by 11pm.

 I have already started to see some improvement, with a small increase in my ftp after 6 weeks (205 up to 212watts), but a big improvement in my pedaling efficiency. When I started on TR I was 'mashing' the pedals at 65-70rpm, whereas now, spinning over at 85-90rpm feels much more normal and comfortable, working all the quadrants of the pedal stroke rather than just the downstroke.

I am just finding it really motivating having structured sessions, with a good mix of steady Z1-2, sweetspot and threshold work and I don't mind it being turbo based at all. It gives me a good excuse to catch up on a few podcasts or a new album or two, while generating the most enormous puddle of sweat. While my face is hardly rising like a rocket, it is moving in the right direction and bearing in mind that this phase is mainly about achieving an aerobic base and not focussing on ftp, I'm a happy man.

So next year, is all about the bike. No running, swimming or triathlon. I would rather be average at one sport than truly mediocre at three. The big goal next year is a sub 60 25 mile to, but I intend to be well under it rather than a 59:59. I'm going to target some fast courses in a bid to get this done rather than the relatively slow ones I have been riding the last couple of years. My other main goal is to move up in the British Best All Round table (BBAR). It takes your average speed and distance over 25, 50, 100 and 12 hr tts. I was 90th this year with a 21.2 mph average, despite an awful 50 mile time posted just after my op, so I should be able to move up and get a 22mph average which will also get me a certificate. (We all like certificates) 😄

So there it is. Just need to keep spinning those pedals this winter.