two rides at the new FTP... ouch

So Sat & Sun did two rides at the new FTP level... Sufferfest vids again, Revolver, then A Very Dark Place.

Revolver:

this one consists of 15 1 minute full on sprint efforts then 1 minute of recovery. Very ouchy... In my case after the first 5 efforts I knew my legs weren't going to keep it up so I dialed it back 10% effort wise (TrainerRoad has an adjustment so you can dial back the plan if you need to.)

It's a good workout, but rough as you're doing one effort after another.

A Very Dark Place:

More designed for strength/power this is five 4 minute efforts at or above FTP. It's a mix of high cadence and then low cadence with resistance to simulate hills.

I"ve done it before, so at the higher FTP definitely more of a work out. But I didn't have to dial it back was able to get through it and pretty much stick to the power goals.

So in short... yeah I've needed to re-examine my FTP for a while, now these rides feel like work. But still fun I enjoy the music and sarcasm in the vids.

So next phase of indoor cycling...

So last night I finally did a FTP test... a.k.a. Functional threshold power, a measurement (via power meter, or in this case "virtual power" in watts) that is used to set the level of effort for my indoor rides.

http://www.trainerroad.com/career/sceptre1067

Essentailly Trainer Road will adjust the ride based on your FTP, so you have a better idea as to what level of effort you should be at. 

The good news is my FTP is up, now at 194 vs the year old 163. The bad news, workouts will now be harder. 

So the Sufferfest videos will now come with a new level of suffering... woohoo.

Virtual Power - to explain that... I don't have a power meter but, because I have a known brand of stationary trainger (Kurt Kinetic Road Machine) the amound of power can be estimated based on the speed of the rear wheel. Turns out to be fairly close to actual power (w/ in 5% to 10%). So indoors at least I get the advantage of power training w/out the expense of a power meter. The Trainer Road software reads takes care fo the conversion.

Cycling so far in 2015

So first off... completed my first half marathon in beginning of January at Disney World even. Overall didn't prepare enough, so walked a lot of it, but still got out there and did it.

Cycling...

Next goal completed was the Tour of Sufferlandria, nine days of indoor cycling to the Sufferfest (www.thesufferfest.com) videos. Good vids to bike to, somewhat tough (did the 9 days at 90% on Trainer Road). Like the occasional sarcasm to break up the vid and the work out.

So next up... re-test my FTP (functional threshold power) to see where it stands... then several weeks of indoor cycling to prepare for the "season".  

Tue Afternoon Ride

87 degrees F, Cloudy and a 17mph wind out of the south... at least it was cloudy. :-)

Good ride, standard river road route so short... last half into the wind, of course.

Stats -
Dist: 16.24 miles
Time: 0:58:36 (h:mm:ss)
Avg. Speed: 16.63 mph
Max Speed: 28.31 mph
kCal: 758
Avg HR: 140 bpm
Max HR: 152 bpm
In Zone: 0:32:43 (h:mm:ss)

Sun AM ride

So met up with Bjorn for our TCBC "Early Morning Madness" ride... We were the only two that showed up, so another nice ride with Bjorn, except for that flat tire I got on Shepherd road. Mid way down Shepherd (near ) is when my rear wheel sound funny. I pulled off the road in in seconds it went from soft to flat. Then I had to bum an inner tube from Bjorn as the stem of mine was too short... sigh. Sadly I took Bjorn's advice and inspected the tire, finding a couple of small cracks (where stones, etc, could get through.) So deciding discretion over valor we headed home.

Then it got fun... :-) As we were having a good conversation Bjorn forgot we had to make a right hand turn to get to the Nokomis Parkway. So suddenly I am using my arm (shoulder to shoulder) to push him away while hoping neither of us crashed. From now on I'm going to call him McEwen from now on. :-D (http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/photos/2005/tour05/?id=tour053/BOONEN22)

71 degrees out (about 22 C for non-US citizens), overcast, and 63% humidity. Enough to be sticky out...

Stats -
Dist: 21.42 miles
Time: 1:16:22 (h:mm:ss - this is on bike time, not including tire change)
Avg Speed: 16.83 mph
Max Speed: 28.03 mph
kCal: 750
Avg HR: 112 (forgot to stop it during the tire change)
Max HR: 139 (didn't hit any really hard hills...)
In Zone: 0:23:56 (h:mm:ss - I don't really believe in the "zone" anymore...)

Sat Morning Ride

Met up with Bjorn at 6:00 AM and headed out. The plan was a two hour flat ride and then hook up with group to do a two hour hill ride... the reality...

So 67 (19.4 C) degrees out warmed up to 77 (25 C) with just over 50% humidity... it's summer in MN. We headed over to Minnehaha Park. Went north on Minnehaha Ave to the round about and then to the Ave back south... all the way to the Mendota Bridge (so through Fort Snelling, etc.) On the other side of the river we got on Old Hwy 13 and then on to the bike trail headed east. Turned around at Lillydale (I think) and reversed our route. From there we went all the way back to West River Road to the Greenway and too that west to Louisiana (Bjorn will have to confirm... forget how far west...) Then u-turned back to Nicollet where we were supposed to hook up with the other group. But... They never showed (waited 20 minutes or so, sigh.) So took Greenway back to West River Road to Minnehaha Park and then back home.

Good flat ride, though the 20 min. break was odd... At the end tried to ramp up the speed on a straight away but didn't have the legs to keep up with Bjorn when he passed me.

Stats -
Dist - 44.2 miles
Time - 2:40:26 (h:mm:ss)
Avg Speed - 16.53 mph (feel pretty good about that.)
Max Speed - 31.18 mph
kCal - 2106
Avg HR - 147 (need to exercise more...)
Max HR - 168 (while serving as Bjorn's 'lead out' man, yeah that's it.)
In Zone - 0:36:32 (h:mm:ss) (zone, what zone)

Tomorrow... early morning hill ride.

Sat. Afternoon Ride & Movie Review

First the ride -
77 degrees out, clear, light wind (seemed mostly out of the south...) Nice ride overall. From my house headed towards Lake Nokomis, then down Minnehaha, and over to the River Road. Took West River Road to Franklin, crossed over the Mississippi and took the East River Road down to Ford Prkwy. Then home from there. On the way home I took 60th Street so I could get a clear view of the C.F. that is Hwy 62, due to 35W being closed this weekend. :-)

Stats
Dist: 17.86 miles
Time: 1:04:04 (h:mm:ss)
Avg. Speed: 16.73 mph (I'm slow. :-( )
Max Speed: 26.72 mph
kCal Burned: 867
Avg HR: 143
Max HR: 158
In Zone: 0:30:01 (h:mm:ss)

Movie Review -
Twilight Samurai (a.k.a. Tasogare Seibei) - came out in 2002
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0351817/
Seibei Iguchi is a low ranking samurai in a small clan in 19th century Japan. After the death of his wife he finds himself in debt and caring for his two young daughters and senile mother. To the consternation of his peers he cares more about his family then he does his appearance and going out to drink with the other samurai of his clan. While trying to struggle on in life, the head of the clan taps him to carry out a mission to kill another samurai.

Overall this is a wonderful, and sad film. We follow the life of a man who just wants to care for his family. Who even admits to a close friend that if it came down to it he would prefer to be a farmer over a samurai. The final scene where he is having a conversation with the man he suppose to kill is wonderful.

Its kinda a classic everyday man struggles and tries to adapt to the changing world around him. Iguchi, you quickly discover, isn't a wimp, but just wants to have a decent life and care for his daugters. (hmm... nope no identification there. :-) )

Side benefit... there are two choreographed fight scenes and both are done very well. From showing distinct fighting styles to being well filmed. Like the other scenes in the movie very little goes to waste visually. It all creates a wonderful tapestry along with a great script and great acting.

Highly recommended and available on Netflix (as soon as I mail my copy back :-) ).

Sunday Morning ride as a TCBC "ride leader"

According to the bike comp... did 40.36 miles this am at 14.79 mph average.. slow but then again I suck on hills. Weather was nice, started around 50 degrees and warmed up a little bit. Overall a good ride.

Fun thing is it just wasn't Bjorn and I. Another TCBC member showed up so there were three of us. He tried to get us into a good rotation, but since Bjorn and I mostly ride with each other we didn't catch on right away (c'est la vie). He and Bjorn did the extra 5 mile loop, but I decided to skip it. The legs were just dying on the hills. As it was I was quite slow on Smith, Sibley/13 and Ohio. Ended up walking up Summit (got about midway up before the knees decided to inform me I should stop.)

Here's the route at MapMyRide: http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/mn/minneapolis/883124213854090246 Mileage is off as Map My Ride can be a real pain to use... plus I rode to and from the start so that adds about 6 miles.

Dist: 40.36 miles
Time: 2:43:38 (h:mm:ss)
Avg. Speed: 14.79 mph
Max Speed: 29.79 mph
kcal: 1497
Avg HR: 120
Max HR: 143
In Zone: 0:50:48 (h:mm:ss)

Thursday ride - 3/7

Did the river road route including lock & dam #1... bit of a head wind on the way back helped kill my avg mph.
On the upside was running anywhere from 17 to 19 mph avg on river road. On the leg of Minnehaha Ave I was able to keep the speed at 24 to 25 mph, so that felt good... then I hit the wind out of the west... sigh.

Weather
71 degrees F
Mostly Sunny
Winds out of the west averaging 12 mph with 18 mph gusts... and of course I head west at the end of the ride.

Stats
Dist: 16.76 miles
Time: 1:01:04 (h:mm:ss)
Avg Speed: 16.47 mph
Max Speed: 28.03 mph
Kcal: 779
Avg HR: 139
Max HR: 152
In Zone: 00:41:31

Sat afternoon ride...

Well after bailing out on Bjorn and the 30 mile ride this am (cause I was lazy)...

Got out for a shorter ride on the River Road route that Bjorn and I do on various weekday mornings.

Good weather 63 degrees Fahrenheit with winds out of the North at 8 mph. So not too bad... some sun. Overall a good ride. Still suck on minor hills... need to work on that a lot. But HR is in a good range and I think my cadence is up, will need to test that.

Stats:
Dist - 15.61 miles
Time - 0:55:18 (h:mm:ss)
Avg. Speed - 16.94 mph
Max. Speed - 28.03 mph
kCal - 725
Avg HR - 137 bpm
Max HR - 155 bpm
In Zone - 0:26:56 (h:mm:ss)

wed commute

Rode the bike to and from work on Wednesday...
Good weather. The morning was clear, light breeze and in the 40s. Choose the wrong jacket, so got a tad warm.

Afternoon was low 60s, with a 13 mph wind out of the SE, which is of course the direction I have to go to get home. Oh and the route home is more uphill, but enough with excuses...


Ride to Work -
Dist: 10.26 miles
Time: 0:37:56 (h:mm:ss)
Avg Speed: 16.24 mph
Max Speed: 25.53 mph
kCal Burned: 465
Avg HR: 135 bpm
Max HR: 151 bpm
In Zone: 0:32:03 (h:mm:ss)

Ride back Home -
Dist: 10.5 miles
Time: 0:41:43 (h:mm:ss)
Avg Speed: 15.12 mph
Max Speed: 29.26 mph
kCal Burned: 556
Avg HR: 135 bpm
Max HR: 153 bpm
In Zone: 0:29:06 (h:mm:ss)

Finally rode outside today...

Went for a ride in the afternoon. Temp was around 55 degrees Fahrenheit with winds out of the east at 9 mph.

Overall a good ride... Did one of the short loops Bjorn and I normally do for our morning rides. Speed on the flats varied from 16 to 18 mph depending on whether or not I was heading into the wind. Average speed took a hit mainly due to me sucking at hills, slowing down for stop signs and lights on Minnehaha, and then the last block or so going down the alleyway at lest then 10 mph.

But felt pretty good.

Stats:
Dist: 15.71 miles
Time: 0:59:02 (h:mm:ss)
Avg Speed: 15.97 mph
Max Speed: 30.05 mph

Spin class on Sat. morning

Showed up before 7:00 AM. Got on the spin bike by 7:00 ish. First hour and a half (or a tad more) was at our own pace (no class, just show up, ride and watch the TdF where Lance gets his fifth win.)

Then short break and 2 hour class with instructors.

Uff and Daa.

Thighs are sore... mostly did my own thing as the instructors did things that either a) don't pertain to outdoor riding or b) are actually bad for you.

No heart data as my hr monitor picked up Bjorn's data and not mine.
Generally ran a 120 to 140 range with some minor spikes.

Overall a good experience mostly kept my reistance equal to road or better, but did start cramping near the end. Most likely an issue with bike fit, my fitness, etc.

Coach Troy Torture Fest

a.k.a. haven't done squat since saturday and don't have much time today...

So did one of the 30 min workouts on the DVD that came with my Kurt Kinetic Road Machine (http://www.kurtkinetic.com/ - great product.) This was the second work out focusing on anaerobic threshold.

so after warm up 5 reps of
90 on at big ring/15
90 off at small ring/15

One rep of
90 on at big ring/13
90 off at small ring/15

One rep of
90 on at big ring/13
90 off at small ring/15

then a 2 minute rest followed by
1 min big ring/19
1 min big ring/15
1 min big ring/12

Cool down...

uff da. short but intense... yay endorphins.

more training...

Rode Sat, did the Spinervals hill ride again (dvd #24.0). Went well, and I think I was able to up my pace just a tad.

Next up? Signed up for two classes at the YWCA... 5 hour spin classes to be exact. Yup sit on a spin bike for about 5 hours (bio breaks, etc. allowed) and try to simulate a long distance event.

Did it last year, and it seemed to help. I'll try to improve my performance this year.

Mon & Wed rides and other stuff

So short ride monday
5 to 8 min warm up
2 sets of 4 for intervals
then 8 to 10 minute cool down.

Why... off to a sleep study. Got all hooked up and then couple hours of monitoring with out, then with a cpap.
Yup got apnea... cpap stops it.

Wed.
Normal routine
10 min warm up
3 sets of 4 intervals
10 min cool down.

will repeat on friday and maybe go up to 3 sets of 5...

cadence during rests seems to be around 80 to 85 so need to get that highe...

Tues night ride on trainer

Did intervals tonight. 3 sets of 4. The pattern is:
10 min warm up in Big Ring/19 then...

a set is (in the big ring) -
30 seconds - go from 17 to 12 every 5 seconds, last 10 seconds in the 12 (yes that means skipping a gear or two.)
30 seconds - rest in 19
Repeat 4 times for a set.

rest 5 minutes between sets.

then cool down is 10 minutes in big ring/19 again.

So 42 minutes or so total (well did a little longer cool down so stats are...)
Time: 43:18
kCal: 538
Max HR: 158
Avg HR: 139
In Zone: 21:28

at best my cadence was 80 to 82 slowing down to the 70s near the end (in the 19...)

Spinervals - 24 Hilacious

First off I still believe Coach Troy could be Henry Rollins' little brother...

Anyhow... rode the bike last night to Spinvervals DVD that is designed to help on hill climbing... Overall I like the Spinervals DVDs as they mix different types of interval training together so it doesn't get too boring. I've used this DVD before and find that it's a good workout.

The first two sets of climbs are O.K. (big ring / 14 or 13 in back 8 minutes each set.) Because I have a compact crank I try to remember to go one cog up from what the DVD says to get a similar workout. So though the DVD says to do the climbs in the 14 cog I follow the verbal advice from Troy and put it in the 13 cog. Seems to help.

Next up was 3 sets of 3 "rollers". Essentially high cadence while increasing resistance to simulate go over a series of rolling hills. Though it can be tough I like this part the best as you have to keep switching gears, keep the cadence high, etc. I do think the several minute cool down between sets is a bit long, so I'll just try to spin in a higher gear.

Last two sets were to simulate steep grades... this is where having a compact crank kinda hurts me. So even though I have it in the big ring and 12 on back, I just can't get quite enough resistance. Not big deal right now as I'm out of shape, but I'm gonna need to work on that to be able to do hills in the spring and summer. My response for this will be to increase cadence hopefully that will help.

Tonight, back to interval training and the "Smithers' Super Sekrit Plan".

got the training/biking bug... finally

So road twice so far this week (Sun & Tue). Goal is to ride at least 3 times a week. Starting with interval training then we'll start mixing it up. In a month I want to add in running, but we'll take it one step at at time.

So Sun (1/25):
37 minutes...
8 min warm up
3 sets of 3 intervals with 5 min break in between
10 min cool down
kCal: 404
Max HR: 160
Avg HR: 142
In Zone: 17:38

Tue (1/27)
45 min total
10 min warm up
3 sets of 4 intervals with 5 min break in between
10 min cool down
(time discrepancy is because once or twice I was watching the tv more then the clock...)
kCal: 515
Max HR: 156
Avg HR: 133
In Zone: 23:05

Next ride I plan on repeating the 3 sets of 4 ... then increasing it by one rep each or ever other ride. Want to get to a point I can do 3 sets of 10. After that increase my cadence.

Monday night bike ride

Short ride, as I had to do a podcast (http://www.thegeeklife.tv/ , check it out and let me know what y'all think).

so basic 10 min warm up. Some basic intervals (30 sec. of increasing tension, 30 rest. 5 reps, 5 min break, 2 more reps) then 10 min cool down... give our take.

Final tally on the Polar monitor:

Duration: 33:19
kCal: 417
Avg HR: 140
Max HR: 159
In Zone: 14:53

Watched about an episode and half of Cowboy BeBop. Good mix of action with fun plot and characters.