Rolling in Tempo

Goal: My hope was to complete a 3 hour indoor ride at Tempo (L3).

The Indoor Ride:
My hope and plans for today was an eighty mile ride at the brewery were canceled due to rain and wind. Last week the eighty mile really gave my CTL a nice boost and I ended last week with ten hours of training. This week I was running short on my training time and could not afford to just do a couple of L4 intervals and I did not think I had it in me to try another couple of L4's today. I was right and now that I can look back after training this morning I am sort of glad that the rain interfered with the eighty mile ride. Not for my cycling friends,but for me. I woke up with a headache, which is rare for me and had a rough night of sleep.

After a few tasks around the house I got everything prepared downstairs to attempt this epic indoor training event. Epic for me anyway. I have done two hour indoor sessions before but on those days I was feeling a lot better than I did this morning. I put in new hub batteries for the power meter, set up two fans, got some movies and my ipod ready. I also had a couple gel packs, put on my best pair of cycling shorts because I wanted to eliminate every thing that could pop up as an excuse later in the training session.

The first hour went pretty good. The second hour went pretty quick, but I could tell at the end of the second hour my hips, lower back and hamstrings were ready to call it a day. I started in on the third hour and noticed I was struggling to keep my effort up in the Tempo zone. I got off the bike and tried to stretch, but between how my body was feeling, fading in power output and my head hurting I was ready to call it a day.

I did not make 3 hour plus effort like I had hoped and my TSS did not add up to much, but there was something pretty good about sitting on the e-Motion rollers for over 2 hours. One, it was a constant effort, whereas, out on the road in a typical group ride for two hours there is some coasting and more opportunity to shift around on the bike and even stand up. Sitting on the e-Motion rollers it is not quite as comfortable as riding on the road for real, but still much better than sitting on the trainer. I did stand up on the rollers a couple of times, but unlike standing and coasting on the road the effort has to pick up in order to stand on the rollers or at least I have to maintain effort. I suppose with more experience I will be able to do these type of things. I sure am glad I purchased the e-Motion rollers.

I am fairly content with my training today even though I fell a little short of my goals and well short if we had done the eighty mile ride, but considering how I feel at the moment I am just glad I got something done. Otherwise the CTL would have taken a big tumble.


Nutrition Intake During and after the Course: ~48 oz.of water with BCAA and Glutamine, (2) Hammer gel

The Weather: Rainy, cool and windy outside

Bike & Equipment: Felt F45, Powertap wired, e-Motion rollers, 2 fans and some movies

Power Summary: (Based on Coogan's Levels)
  Level   Minutes       TSS
      1      0.08      0.00
      2      5.86      4.46
      3    135.43    132.49
      4      0.00      0.00
      5      0.00      0.00
      6      0.00      0.00
      7      0.00      0.00

Overall Power Data:
 Entire workout:
    Duration:      2:22:12
    Work:          1280 kJ
    TSS:           134.6 (intensity factor 0.764)
    Norm Power:    153
    VI:            1.01
    Distance:      38.362 mi
        Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           0    238    151     watts
    Speed:           0    20.5    16.2     mph
    Pace             2:56    0:00    3:42     min/mi
    Hub Torque:      0    12    6     lb-in
    Crank Torque:    0    351    178     lb-in