Intervals To A New Level
I received my latest issue of Bicycling Magazine in the mail yesterday. The only part I've absorbed from the issue was Chris Carmichael's interval workout called Bust A Gut. It's basically like mine but the intervals are based on time (2 minutes) rather than reaching a certain heart rate and then sustaining it for a certain time. I think it works out to longer intervals and more of them. I definitely hurt more, sweat more and felt like I had ridden harder with these changes.
Bust a Gut!
- 6 minute: warmup
- 1 min.: fast pedal, spinning a light gear as fast as you can
- 1 min.: recovery spinning
- 1 min.: fast pedal
- 1 min.: recovery spinning
- 5x2 min. @ max intensity, w/ 2 min. recovery spinning between each
- 6 min. recovery spinning
- 5x2 min. @ max intensity, w/ 2 min. recovery spinning between each
- 8 min. cooldown
- TOTAL TIME: 60 MIN.
Labels: Chris Carmichael, cycling, intervals
Almost Ready To Start
The swelling in the legs has come down. It should after having to sleep with them elevated every night and with the steroids causing a little acid reflux action, my head had to be elevated as well. With the legs and head needing to be elevated, that meant my body was bent in a "V" position for most of the night. The poison oak is working it's way out of the body with little itching now. The high contrast between red and white skin is going back to normal. That's why I didn't even bother going to the pool as it would cause all kinds of stares and unwanted conversations.
So in the meantime, while I'm on my last steroidds to clear this crap out of my body, I've been putting the finishing touches on the next program that'll get me through the half-ironman distance in October. I think I've worked out all the kinks and next week I'll be starting on some more strength training. I read the other day Chris Carmichael's column in Bicycling Magazine where he discusses the PWR (Power-Weight-Ratio) rating and how to calculate it. He also provided some figures where he thought Cat-5 and Cat-3 riders should be and let's leave it at I'm a little short. I should be ok once I get to race weight but that's about fifteen pounds down the road. I should be striving for at least 225 or 250 average watts for 30-60 minutes. Besides looking at the bike numbers, I'm going to be working on swim technique so drills and more drills will be the order of business for June.
Not that there's any blessing to having poison oak but during this time my new Macbook Pro came in which means there's at least three days of downtime for everything else in my life until everything is transferred to the new machine. So Monday the new triathlon training program will start with some seriousness.
Labels: Bicycling Magazine, Cat-5, Chris Carmichael, cycling, PWR rating
Visit to the Weekly Crit
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I stumbled across information on this gem yesterday. There's a local crit run out in East Austin on a car/kart path every Thursday night. All ages and levels of riders. I don't know if I have the legs yet to get out there but I definitely will be out there for the scheduled June events as an observer.
Video #1, Video #2, Video #3
Kenny Hill Autowerks Austin Crits Information
Team Hotel San Jose
AT&T Downtown Austin Crit - June 16
Labels: crit, cycling, Kenny Hill Autoworks
First Run-Far Bike Time Trial of the Season
Official Results
23:02
20.8 mph
It must've been the pre-race meal of chocolate pop-tarts and orange juice with honey that gave me a little extra zoom-zoom tonight. The hill that usually eats my lunch did so tonight but instead of recovering at the top, I pedaled through it. And surprisingly, I had a little left for the hill at the end of the eight-mile course. The quads burned, but not as bad as in the past.
I sat around afterward, people watched, bike watched and determined I definitely had the cheapest bike on the course tonight. I also was the only one out there with hairy legs. I'll get out the razor next week before the triathlon. Salsa Verde passed many a bike hundreds, if not thousands of dollars more expensive. It was also passed by a few expensive bikes with riders in full team kit, disc wheels and aero helmets.
I'm happy with the results. Two miles per hour faster than last year, yet another year older. I can now feel much better about the winter training and that I'm ready for the Capital of Texas Triathlon on Memorial Day. This season was to be about Kaizen and so far it has with new 5K, 10K, and now a bike TT PR.
Thanks go to Run-Far Racing Services for providing the timing service. It was even owner Raul's 40th birthday tonight and he was out there with the riders. Very cool.
Labels: cycling, Run-Far, time trial
Personal Bike TT Done
My own bike time trial ridden on the Run-Far course is done and I'm a little disappointed. The time was the best so far but didn't break 20 mph. As the swim improved so much with so little swimming and so did the run with so little running over the winter, I thought sure the bike would be the most improved. I spent most of my time in the weight room and on the trainer. But as my post last week pointed out, changes are slow to come. It may be another year before I realize 20 mph on that course. There's an actual TT next Tuesday so we'll see if the time hits 20mph.
I warmed up on the veloway for about 2 laps (6.2 miles) and the wildflowers were incredible. The cacti were blooming, and I counted about ten different variety of wildflower. Cardinals flying past and bunnies running in the distance. It's definitely still spring.
Labels: cacti, cycling, time trial, TT, veloway, wildflower
Run-Far Time Trials On For Another Year
Last night's event was cancelled with the storms that rolled through but it's good news that Run-Far Racing Services and the time trials are back for another season.
Labels: cycling, Run-Far, time trial
Wheel Trade-Out
I'm making a change to
Salsa Verde. I never was very comfortable with the Spinergy back wheel (noise) and although I have the spokes and hardware to match the front's Shimano WH-540, it's time to make a change. I arrived on the eBay cycling page and noticed a wheel set with one minute to go. I clicked on it, read the description and clicked a bid of $125.00 as that was the amount I paid for the current two wheels on Salsa Verde.
I refreshed the page and Bing-Bang-Bong, cha-cha-ching, I won the auction. So now Salsa Verde will be outfitted with a slightly used pair of Rolf Vector 700C Clinchers for the same price I paid for the other two wheels.
Labels: cycling, eBay, Rolf vector, Salsa Verde, wheel
No Puking Allowed
Already through the first week of the Triathlete Magazine program and four of the seven days had modifications. I'm fine with it. It's either be fine with it or be OCD and stress the whole thing. Flexibility is the only way to get through the week and get everything done. The only difference for next week looks like an increase to the run by a few miles and maybe the bike as well.
Week Totals:Swim 2K :45, Bike 85M 5:00, Run 15M 2:34, Gym 2:00
TOTAL HOURS = 10:30
TOTAL MILES = 101
The weather was great Friday with a little wind but sunny and cool. I cut the swim for the day and
Da Fish met me at Town Lake for a five-mile run at 135HR. Nothing fancy, just getting the base miles in. We went over and checked out the Austin High School track afterwards and did some 100-yard strides. The legs were feeling good.
I took it easy on Saturday with just some strength training. Sunday, I started on the trainer with five miles when my best friend from Houston called (the original cycling guru and coach). I told him I didn't have anyone to ride with here in Austin and that I may need to look into some group rides. I rode another five miles when my neighbor called. He looks and rides like Erik Zabel. His riding buddies had allergies so he needed somebody to ride with. What timing!
Salsa Verde had some problems the last time I went out with Neighbor Zabel and his buddies. Like three bearings missing in the back wheel. This time I wanted to make sure I kept up... even if I puked in the end. Two blocks out from the house Salsa Verde started making the same grinding noises. Not sounding good but riding ok. So far so good. We got to the veloway, did a couple of laps and so far so good. 20, 21, 22 mph no problem yet. We took off for the MoPac loop. The Mopac loop is eight miles of highway feeder that sees very little traffic and has a six-foot shoulder for a comfort zone between you and the cagers. It's also located right off the veloway.
Everything was fine until the first real hill. It's about a 3-percent grade that keeps going. I always red-line when I hit the thing and slow to about ten mph. Hills are my weakness. I do fine with flats and downhills but hills take their toll on me. I should clarify that statement as short hills I do ok with, it's the long hills where I need some endurance that I'm really bad at. I felt better than in the past though. The strength training paid off over the winter. I still suck, but suck less. I caught my breath and made it past the hill. Grabbed a little Gatorade and onward. On the backside of the first lap I stuck with Neighbor Zabel pretty close. Salsa Verde even got up to 37.7 mph on the backside of loop one. The fastest it had gone before on the same stretch was 30 mph. That's about when Neighbor Zabel said rest up the next half mile, we're going fast on lap number two. Oh great. I thought if I was going to puke this would be the lap that did it.
Neighbor Zabel explained how this lap was going to be different. Since I was ok on the flats and downhills, those would be mine to take the lead and block the wind and push through. He would take the hills and not only that, he would come back and help push me up the hill. I was able to rest on the hill and he would up his mojo to get me up the hill. It took some getting used to, his hand signals, where the wind was coming from and seeing what terrain was coming up but by the second half of the second loop I had it down. No puking but the right hamstring was starting to pull, as were the tendons behind my knees. We decided to cool down for the last two miles and call it a day. It was probably less distance than he wanted for the day. It was just the right amount, given the effort, for me.
Next week my best friend the Original Cycling Guru and Coach comes to town. It's forecasted with rain for both days but we may be able to get a short ride in and who knows, by that time the forecast will be totally different.
Labels: cycling, Erik Zabel, Original Guru and Coach, Salsa Verde
Out of Respect
b.O.b now has the new crankset and it's soooooooo smooth. Getting the existing bottom bracket off proved to be a chore. I ended up taking a hammer and chisel to the thing. Not the brightest idea as my index finger got between the hammer and the chain ring and then proceeded to bleed all over everything for about 30 minutes. The good news is when I went over to the cycling guru's house for a tool, he asked me if I wanted an extra stem he had in the tool drawer. Just a $60 Bontrager Race 4130 stem. Are you kidding me? After a couple hours securing everything, finding the right length of chain and rewrapping the tape on the bars, I took it out for a spin. Sweet as honey and 99.9 percent pure honey at that.
I rode b.O.b. into work this morning and it was awesome! The hills weren't so tough, as I changed the chain ring from a 48T to a 42T. It was a very comfortable ride. The new stem actually put me two inches forward which needed to happen to fit properly to the bike.
So out of respect to the bikes, a.k.a. PSB (Pawn Shop Bike) and b.O.b. (Bucket O' Bolts), they will now be called Salsa Verde and Salsa Roja. There are too many good components on the bikes now to call them by crappy names or acronyms. I passed a roughly 45-year-old guy wearing an Oakland Raiders cap near the Whole Foods Market on the way in and he recognized what a great bike was before him. "Sweet Ride" is what he said. Ya Man, 99.9 percent pure honey! Salsa Roja is one bad-ass beater bike.
Labels: b.O.b., beater bike, commute, cycling, PSB
Meet b.O.b., Bucket O' Bolts
After completing
Pawn Shop Bike, I realized I was going to need another bike as a commuter and for the trainer. Building PSB left quite a few parts on the garage floor and I thought they would make a fine beater bike. I put $10 into an old Schwinn le Tour Chicago 4130 Chromoly frame and $16 into the Shimano single speed 16T sprocket. Ah, and $4.50 into some old-school black cloth tape. All the rest came from spare parts or were gifts.
I tried to keep the styling in the "messenger bike" style, even though it gears with a freewheel and not with a fixed gear. I did put one break in the front and after this morning's commute (14.84 miles), I'll be putting a back brake on as well. People with one front brake must only ride on flat roads. I hit my first downhill this morning and quickly went through the used pads. My next hill wore the front part of my old road shoe through the leather. I was screaming all the way down the hill, not able to stop approaching the cross street, praying an 18-wheeler wasn't coming across the intersection. Luckily it wasn't and luckily I was able to make a fast right turn. I then detoured to the nearest bike shop to get some more brake pads.
Labels: beater bike, cycling, Schwinn
