Brewery to Cagle Road

Photo on Cagle Road courtesy of Gary

Jesse                   Edgar

Gary

 Ride with GPS Data
Garmin Connect Ride Data
Summary
Moving Time: 4:32:51
Distance: 79.8 miles
Avg Moving Speed 17.5 mph
Elevation Gain: 2,769 ft

Group:   Gary, Edgar and me
Goal: Enjoy riding with friends

The Ride: An awesome end to a rough start. Well it started rough because, though I woke up at 4 am, I was goofing around on the computer and lost track of time. Thankfully Gary and Edgar waited on my arrival at the brewery, but I felt all out of sorts and mentally had to pull it together because we were planning on an eighty mile ride.

I am not sure what time we actually rolled out. There was enough visibility to ride safely, but still a fair amount of fog that at least kept it cool until about 9:30. About 10 the sun was out and the rest of ride had perfect weather.

With just the three of we all had our share of training time and even when I was drafting behind Gary or Edgar I still felt like they were making me work hard to keep up. It did not seem long before we were at our turning point to come back and the ride back seemed rather fast as well even though we were approaching the five hour mark.It seems true that time flies when you are having fun. It was a great ride with just the three of us. Great day for a number of reasons.

Nutrition Intake During and after the Course: ~52 oz. of water with Hammer Perpetuem, BCAA's, Gluatamine ~26 oz. water with BCAA's, Gluatamine (1) Cliff bar (1) Honey Stinger Waffle (1) 40 gram Whey protein post ride recovery drink .

The Weather: Heavy fog to Sunny, Start @ 54 degrees, End @ 77 degrees, slight breeze.

Bike: LOOK 585, Garmin 800, Powertap SL+

Overall Power Data:
 Entire workout (130 watts):
    Duration:      4:37:36 (5:13:43)
    Work:          2165 kJ
    TSS:           299.1 (intensity factor 0.804)
    Norm Power:    165
    VI:            1.27
    Distance:      79.791 mi
    Elevation Gain:        2026 ft
    Elevation Loss:       2049 ft
    Grade:         -0.0 %  (-21 ft)
        Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           0    774    130     watts
    Cadence:         9    246    83     rpm
    Speed:           0    32.4    17.3     mph
    Pace             1:51    0:00    3:28     min/mi
    Altitude:        661    909    757     ft
    Crank Torque:    0    1752    141     lb-in
    Temperature:     53.6    86    66.9     Fahrenheit

Comet - Tempo

Ride with GPS Data
Garmin Connect Data
Goal: Tempo Effort for 2 x 60 minutes.

Ride Notes: Not a bad effort considering the amount of people out on the path and the amount of times I had to slow down or stop.

Nutrition: 48 oz water, BCAA's, Glutamine, (1) Honey Stinger

Weather: Partly cloudy 77, mild wind speed with some head wind and some tail wind

Training Summary:
Total Distance: 40.58 Miles
Total Moving Time: 2:19:04
Total Avg. Moving Speed: 17.5
Total TSS: 145.5 (0.79 IF)

Interval Power Summary
Interval 1:
    Duration:      1:08:23
    Work:          650 kJ
    TSS:           82.3 (intensity factor 0.853)
    Norm Power:    175
    VI:            1.1
    Distance:      20.286 mi
    Elevation Gain:        398 ft
    Elevation Loss:       293 ft
    Grade:         0.1 %  (102 ft)
        Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           0    630    159     watts
    Cadence:         15    218    77     rpm
    Speed:           0    26.6    17.8     mph
    Pace             2:15    0:00    3:22     min/mi
    Altitude:        852    1031    947     ft
    Crank Torque:    0    1441    180     lb-in
    Temperature:     64.4    71.6    68.0     Fahrenheit


Interval 2:
    Duration:      1:05:04 (1:11:12)
    Work:          530 kJ
    TSS:           56.7 (intensity factor 0.723)
    Norm Power:    148
    VI:            1.09
    Distance:      18.582 mi
    Elevation Gain:        236 ft
    Elevation Loss:       291 ft
    Grade:         -0.1 %  (-62 ft)
        Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           0    424    136     watts
    Cadence:         17    191    75     rpm
    Speed:           0    28.1    17.2     mph
    Pace             2:08    0:00    3:29     min/mi
    Altitude:        906    1051    982     ft
    Crank Torque:    0    907    159     lb-in
    Temperature:     68    77    71.6     Fahrenheit

Week Totals
Time: 9:09:26
Distance: 144 miles
TSS: 624
Kj: 4786

Rose Pedal Metric - Cycling With Friends

Ride with GPS Data
Garmin Connect Data
Summary
Moving Time: 3:37:21
Distance: 61.5 miles
Avg Moving Speed 17.0 mph
Elevation Gain: 3,120 ft

Group:   Jamie, Chuck, Diane, Jack, Edgar and me
Goal: Enjoy riding with friends

The Ride: Typically we would have been out on the annual BBC (Beautiful Backroads Century), but instead a few of us were content to miss the massive crowd and have a little quiet time out on the rural roads of north Cherokee County. I typically do not like rolling hill courses and was not that excited about the route, but I did look forward to riding with friends and I have to say that I am glad I joined this small group instead of picking something solo. I am not sure what else I can say except this was an excellent day to be out with this group.

Edgar and Jack provided plenty of spirited pace and times of cutting up, but at the same time the ride did not seem that rushed to me. At times I felt like I was getting in some solid training moments, but at other times I was able to chat with Diane, Jamie and Chuck. Everyone had their moments of kicking up the pace, but nothing overly stressful. The friendship I have with this group helps smooth out the discomfort of the rolling hills.

The start was a little cool and it is odd to see people wearing jackets, arm warmers and base layers when the temperature was near triple digits just a couple weeks ago. The season is definitely changing, but hopefully we will get a few weeks of this type of weather to enjoy the transition and cooler days before it turns cold.

Nutrition Intake During and after the Course: ~26 oz. of water with Hammer Perpetuem, BCAA's, Gluatamine ~20 oz. water with BCAA's, Gluatamine (1) Hammer gel (1) Honey Stinger Waffle (1) 40 gram Whey protein post ride recovery drink .

The Weather: Partly cloudy, Start @ 55 degrees, End @ 75 degrees, slight breeze.

Bike: LOOK 585, Garmin 800, Powertap SL+, Contour GPS camera

Overall Power Data:
Entire workout (134 watts):
    Duration:      3:43:20 (3:53:44)
    Work:          1790 kJ
    TSS:           265.9 (intensity factor 0.846)
    Norm Power:    173
    VI:            1.3
    Distance:      61.49 mi
    Elevation Gain:        2533 ft
    Elevation Loss:       2516 ft
    Grade:         0.0 %  (15 ft)
        Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           0    619    134     watts
    Cadence:         7    206    78     rpm
    Speed:           0    39.8    16.5     mph
    Pace             1:31    0:00    3:38     min/mi
    Altitude:        1006    1307    1189     ft
    Crank Torque:    0    1542    152     lb-in
    Temperature:     55.4    75.2    63.6     Fahrenheit

Brewery to Cagle Road

Garmin Connect Data
Ride With GPS Data
Summary
Moving Time: 4:03:21
Distance: 69.31 miles
Avg Moving Speed 17.1 mph
Elevation Gain: 2,329 ft

Solo:  
Goal: L3 +/- with long block of effort

The Ride: By a feeling of instinct sometimes a choice has to be made and my instinct this morning was to stick with my favorite route instead of joining my friends on their routes. But as I went along I really believe I made the best choice for me. I had some really good training this week and not only were my legs a little fatigued, but I kind of tweaked my right quadriceps while training Thursday evening. That made me a bit skittish for doing a hilly route so I went with my gut feeling to stay with my favorite flatter course. I experienced some considerable discomfort through my right hip and leg at random times throughout the ride, but nothing too great that it ruined the day. Plus I just felt too tired to try to hang with the group if the pace was brisk.

The starting temperature was at 51 degrees F and coming from two months of upper 90 degree days that felt a little chilly. I started with just short sleeves and shorts because I knew both me and the temperature would warm up quickly.

It is kind of neat to go out on a solo ride with no music and no one to keep you company and yet have a really enjoyable ride. Biggest thing for me since my brain does not like to keep quite is to stay focused on the task at hand which is keeping at a solid pace and/or keep my wattage up. This is something I am learning to do on these solo rides is stay focused for a greater amount of time. Once my minds starts drifting the speed and power start dropping. This is true also for my weekday indoor training.

This was also my first ride with the Garmin Edge 800. I received it yesterday afternoon so I still need to get accustomed to navigating around the different screens and I need to get those various screen displays set up how I would like to view them, but overall I do like it. The Garmin 705 sure has been a very solid device through all seasons and even hard down pours and it has helped me find my way home more than once. I can only hope this 800 will be just as solid over the years.


Nutrition Intake During and after the Course: ~40 oz. of water with Hammer Perpetuem, BCAA's, Gluatamine (2) Hammer gel (1) Cliff Bar (3) Endurolytes (1) small bottle of Powerade (1) 40 gram Whey protein post ride recovery drink .

The Weather: Sunny, Start @ 51 degrees, End @ 91 degrees, slight breeze on the return.

Bike: LOOK 585, Garmin 800, Powertap SL+

Overall Power Data:
Entire workout (131 watts):
    Duration:      4:10:28 (4:28:21)
    Work:          1970 kJ
    TSS:           236.8 (intensity factor 0.755)
    Norm Power:    155
    VI:            1.18
    Distance:      69.291 mi
    Elevation Gain:        1709 ft
    Elevation Loss:       1732 ft
    Grade:         -0.0 %  (-18 ft)
        Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           0    537    131     watts
    Cadence:         8    225    76     rpm
    Speed:           0    31.1    16.7     mph
    Pace             1:56    0:00    3:35     min/mi
    Altitude:        668    935    768     ft
    Crank Torque:    0    1763    152     lb-in
    Temperature:     50    91.4    66.6     Fahrenheit

Fall Into Place

As we approach the fall months and the cooler weather starts to move in, I am thinking ahead to my indoor training sessions, but then again I train indoors for the most part year round.

It was not too long ago that someone wrote to me with the thought that I only ride or train on the weekend, which is the way it appears if I am only known by a brief view of this blog. I typically only write about my outdoor training and recreational rides, but most of what I do that I call my meat and potatoes of training occurs during the weekday.

Since 2008 I started becoming interested in improving as a cyclist and mainly that came about from joining up with a great group of cycling friends that are above my level. In order for me to keep up and enjoy riding with them for the duration I needed to really improve. I was fortunate to have received some really solid advice concerning training principles and how they impact the metabolic adaptations or in other simple words how to improve my aerobic conditioning and endurance. In order to fine tune training it was explained how valuable training with a power meter can be and being that I am a former competitive weight lifter it suited me to follow training data and set goals accordingly.

The three biggest items are (briefly explained):

• Consistency
• Submaximal Work
• Sustained Duration

Consistency - this was one of the best attributes in my former competitive activity. I believe if there was any attribute that helped me to win the most was training consistently over many years. I rarely took a break and when I did it was a scheduled break. On occasions I did have injuries, but even then I trained around the injury until it was healed.

Submaximal Work - I was told of the benefit of training at 90 - 91% of my functional threshold. This type of training may go back to Lydiard, who believed in training just under one's threshold for intervals would help accelerate aerobic conditioning better than doing traditional LSD (Long Slow Distance) type of training. That type of training takes massive amounts of volume and required time. Most of us working class folk do not have that ample amount of time.

Sustained Duration - I was told to work in blocks greater than 15 minutes and actually better than 20 minute blocks of time in order to push endurance and aerobic conditioning.

So here is how my training appears through a typical week when work or life does not interfere.
This is only my cycling training. I am not listing my weight lifting schedule, which Monday through Friday year round.

Monday - Off
Tuesday - 3 x 20 min. @ 91 to 95% FT
Wednesday - 1 x 60 min. @ 90% FT
Thursday - 3 x 20 min. @ 91 to 95% FT
Friday - Off
Saturday - 3.5 to 7 hour rides (warmer months), 3 to 4 hour rides (cold months)
Sunday - 2 x 60 min. intervals @ 80% FT

I go to two church services on Sunday and sometimes I go to family gatherings as well. So I don't always get to train on Sunday.

Well there it is in a nutshell. It is not a great schedule, but I am a working class kind of guy with a wife and household chores so that is about the best I can do. It may not take me to race level conditioning, but since I am not racing my only hope is that I can improve enough that I will not get dropped on a lively local group ride.

References:
Arthur Lydiard's Athletic Training
The Road Cyclist's Guide to Training by Power by Charles Howe