What I did to prepare for Sebring 2017 ---today

[LarryOz]

Larry, those power meter shovels are the bomb. Be careful. Shoveling snow is hard work. Don't over do.

Too late for that!
And so much for recovery week!
Spent 90 minutes shoveling yesterday, and another 90 minutes today after already doing a 90 minute ride early this morning! Argh.
Wonder what TSS I earned for shoveling up a 15% grade for 90 minutes!
Good thing tomorrow only calls for 30 minutes of riding -

Today was Brasstown - Nice easy 0.68 IF (180watts) avg for 90 minutes. Barely breathing - but I was freezing because it was 40 degrees in my garage! Turned the fan on to simulate Sebring 2015!

This is about 1/3 of what I did.

 

[super slim]

Larry, I hope you have RWD or 4WD, as a Front Wheel Drive, would just spin its tyres with any snow on that driveway!

 

[ratz]

Yesterday was day 2 of rest week with day 1 being the usual day off. Because I'm sort of mean; I front loaded the rest week with a 90 minute effort. Day 2 is usually a 60 minute hard effort. On the more general training front the first day of riding on a rest week is usually the worst; a lot of people go woohoo rest week everything will be easy. Reality is that by Saturday or Sunday the end of the rest week you get to the woohoo stage. In most cast day 1 and 2 of this "easy" week usually feel really hard.

The starter effort here is Brasstown; 90 minutes of mostly easy riding with a little tempo. The temptation on this ride is that because the legs are tired you'll be tempted to jump on and start grinding away at an "easy" 80-85rpms, that's a mistake. If you do that it hurt as the legs feel supper heavy; since there's no shock warm-up on this one you won't get full muscle recruitment and the ones that join in will be very fatigued from the previous week. You have to make a very conscious mental choice to ramp up the rpms to 90-95 rpms. An easy solution to this is to do some quick 10 seconds sprinting at 110 rpm, 2 or 3 times, this is usually enough to wake up the larger muscle and start to recruit a more over all leg effort; then settle in for 90 minutes of just steady state work at what would be equivalent to road cruising efforts.

This is heavy leg problem is good practice for dealing with the side effects of tapering at race time so it make sense to pay attention to how each rider reacts to the down turn.


Also spoke to Quarq yesterday about the status of the Collectors for the race; and did more research on shipping options for future events. Need to figure out if hauling a trainer south will also be justified. Going to be in the car or 3 days leading up to race day and that's far from optimal.

 

[DavidCH]

Did the 30 minutes well ... It was a bit more. Oh well. Did lots of stretching too. That felt better than the ride.

As cold as it might be, I did see a few of the trees up close and they almost looked as though they were budding.

 

[1happyreader]

Need to figure out if hauling a trainer south will also be justified. Going to be in the car or 3 days leading up to race day and that's far from optimal.

If you are driving Nashville - Chattanooga - Atlanta, Please note: Atlanta traffic is great between midnight and 4 am.
There is a little bump between Nashville and Chattanooga called Monteagle,TN = 4 miles of 6% downhill that I just never did like. 4+ in rain or fog. Maybe Califonia Jason would be right at home.

A newer less stress/traffic route :
Memphis - Birmingham - Montgomery - Dothan,GA (rt 231) to I10
Memphis 240east exit 21(Lamar - Birmingham) becomes I22.
I22 - I65 ramps are completed.
Montgomery take I85 North (Atlanta) avoiding rt80.
Exit 9 (271 Taylor road) to rt231 south.
Dothan bypass has become mainstreet. Follow signs to Pannama city to help spot rt231 south signs.
Stay on rt231 until you hit I10 east (Do NOT go thru Marianna,FL)
later,,, bye

 

[LarryOz]

The starter effort here is Brasstown; 90 minutes of mostly easy riding with a little tempo. The temptation on this ride is that because the legs are tired you'll be tempted to jump on and start grinding away at an "easy" 80-85rpms, that's a mistake. If you do that it hurt as the legs feel supper heavy; since there's no shock warm-up on this one you won't get full muscle recruitment and the ones that join in will be very fatigued from the previous week. You have to make a very conscious mental choice to ramp up the rpms to 90-95 rpms. An easy solution to this is to do some quick 10 seconds sprinting at 110 rpm, 2 or 3 times, this is usually enough to wake up the larger muscle and start to recruit a more over all leg effort; then settle in for 90 minutes of just steady state work at what would be equivalent to road cruising efforts.

I wish I would have got this "note" on Sunday - I did this ride on Monday - avg cadence was 80 - which is "way" low for me. Might have partly been because it was 40 degrees in my garage too. I just did not want to pedal fast at all. It still felt pretty relaxing and not hard though. Today's (Hawk Mountain) was slightly harder, as I did 2 hours at 0.76 IF, with average pulse of 132.

 

[ratz]

Wednesday ride as Larry noted hardly makes it worth getting dressed as it's only 30 minutes.
So to add some benefits I decided to at least get warmed up from it. So (1) no water (2) no fan (3) Target Cadence of 115 (4) Little Ring (36Tx19T) the whole way.

That made it a little more entertaining; I'm sure the zwift avatar looked funny to everyone as I pass them spinning at 115rpm

 

[DavidCH]

Well not too long to go before I can sleep properly. Seems like I am juggling a lot of balls in the air and opened up the wallet a bit just to upgrade on a few things. So it's going to be titanium this that and the other.

Probably another pound lighter. The thing on my mind at the moment, if I chug down 14 fluid ounces of fluid at the start would I just need to carry half a litre (but I bet I would be dying for a pee).

At the moment with my long rides I am downing about 14 fluid ounces. Just make sure I have a bit of salt the night before.

I am still on the ketogenic diet... So still playing with ideas.

 

[JOSEPHWEISSERT]

(but I bet I would be dying for a pee).

Condom catheter.

 

[Zzzorse]

Where have you been, Batman?

 

[JOSEPHWEISSERT]

Where have you been, Batman?

Training, working, and building a new bat cave.

 

[DavidCH]

Condom catheter

Not sure about this... just don't let me be the guy in front... LOL

Joking apart... looking at the weather ... the half litre option isn't going to be feasible with 20c at 10 am. Perhaps I could steal someone else's bottle as I go along.

 

[CruzLike]

The catheter is an area of experimentation this year. I have a few on the shelf waiting for a dress rehearsal. I need to pickup some hose at the hardware store.

David: You can go 100 miles on a .5 litre? You must be water efficient. I need to carry 5 large water bottles. Unless we can talk our support into pit stop along the way.

 

[DavidCH]

The catheter is an area of experimentation this year. I have a few on the shelf waiting for a dress rehearsal. I need to pickup some hose at the hardware store.

David: You can go 100 miles on a .5 litre? You must be water efficient. I need to carry 5 large water bottles. Unless we can talk our support into pit stop along the way.

We have to toss a token half way... we could have a secret stash of water somewhere near the 'emmmm big tree'. Here with the crap temperature I have to keep peddling to keep warm, if my heart rate is 140 or less I don't sweat buckets. As soon as the temperature gets past 16c, hydration for me becomes a bigger issue. On race day I expect my heart rate to beat a bit faster. So perhaps I need to think supply... perhaps even a jettison button to get rid of unwanted water...

I don't want a load of sugary drinks but I don't want to just have a dose of salts either.

Little difficult to judge. If I follow @ratz training program I don't get any big rides in until the moment I arrive in Florida. Jet lagged... I am not sure if I want to ride for 240mins. Might do Mount Blackburn (mimic) next Sunday and do the Mount Drum on the Monday after I arrive in Florida at the weekend.

So where did you get the catheter from , CVS?

 

[RojoRacing]

We have to toss a token half way... we could have a secret stash of water somewhere near the 'emmmm big tree'. Here with the crap temperature I have to keep peddling to keep warm, if my heart rate is 140 or less I don't sweat buckets. As soon as the temperature gets past 16c, hydration for me becomes a bigger issue. On race day I expect my heart rate to beat a bit faster. So perhaps I need to think supply... perhaps even a jettison button to get rid of unwanted water...

I don't want a load of sugary drinks but I don't want to just have a dose of salts either.

Little difficult to judge. If I follow @ratz training program I don't get any big rides in until the moment I arrive in Florida. Jet lagged... I am not sure if I want to ride for 240mins. Might do Mount Blackburn (mimic) next Sunday and do the Mount Drum on the Monday after I arrive in Florida at the weekend.

So where did you get the catheter from , CVS?

https://www.exmed.net/p-3768-bard-r...-external-condom-catheter-style-2-pop-on.aspx

 

[DavidCH]

https://www.exmed.net/p-3768-bard-r...-external-condom-catheter-style-2-pop-on.aspx

Is this for real???? If you used this, I guess you would give your cranks a dose of salts???

 

[DavidCH]

Well I guess you could spin with one foot, whilst the other is doing the honor

 

[CruzLike]

I picked mine up on Ebay. Place where I get all my health needs satisfied. $13 for 3 to my door. Don't buy the used ones, even though they are cheaper. Rojo's link looks less expensive. Didn't look at the shipping cost. I did notice that you can buy a case of 100. That would last me a while.

 

[JOSEPHWEISSERT]

Never stop to pee again.
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http://www.blowoutmedical.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=MEN6400_ea

KND8884731900_ea
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[ratz]

Rest week comes to an end. Preliminary block results shows a 11 watt FTP increase since my planned December layoff. Legs have recovered. Recovery week only cost me 2 CTL fitness points. That's about as dialed in as I every get it; we will chalk that one down as a success. It's good to be rested as next week ride list is a going to be a system shock with 4 rides > .79 intensity and 10 hours bike time. Monday is the dread low RPM strength work.

Looks like I'll be going to Sebring and riding about 5 lbs heavy, but it's a flat race so now is not the time to drop the weight and loose the power. I'll just claim the weight is from new muscle.

Had one major breath through this week. I might be odd but I absolutely hate heart rate straps. I have always used them but, but being barrel chested they have always interfered with my breathing comfortably. I have to wear them very tight to get a reliable reading and I always wreck the straps in 6 months and the elastic starts to fail. So I finally relented and picked up a Scosche Rhythm+ HR sensor. This little marvel goes on your arm. Outstanding success I can still have my HR data and breath freely, just sitting on the trainer is so much more comfortable. The only draw back is it's optical so it burns through the battery which is re-chargable in 6 hours. Don't care it's that much better I'll deal with it. For Sebring when it dies it dies and I'll hand it off for someone to charge it for a few laps.

Meanwhile it's time it's time to order up the the last of the inclement weather gear that PluckyBlond doesn't currently have. The basement will be getting the gear table setup as I start to pile up everything that we could take and then reducing that to the bare minimum that I will take. We know reached the oh crap departure date is going to be here before you know it. The extra complication is that at sub zero F temperatures there will be no staging of gear in the garage. (After not having ridden off the trainer since November, here's hoping we re-acclimate quickly when we get to FL).

Tested the Quark Qollectors tonight fairly simple a couple more rides and I'll have those figured out.