You know it's training

You know it's 'training', when

- you spend two hours on the windtrainer doing intervals that hurt (what sane person would otherwise do that?),
- you check your rest heart rate first thing in the morning - religiously,
- you ice your legs after a ride and live in your compression tights again,
- your hamstrings niggle and you still ride for three hours because your training program says so,
- you think in four week blocks and
- you start looking forward to every forth week.

It's rest week this week!

With not much 'on the bike' training, especially no two hour sessions on the windtrainer or rollers, I managed to get a gym session in. Two weeks ago, after the Club Criterium Championship, I spoke with Donna about gym work and when she offered me to come over and train in her gym in the basement of her house with her once a week, I didn't need to be asked twice. So last night, after work, I jumped on my bike and rode over to her place, trained with her for an hour and rode back home. It was dark and cold on my way home and I was riding through residential neighbourhoods that had different dinner smells coming from every house. I was starving so when I rolled up in front of our house, there was also the smell of garlic and vegetables coming from the kitchen and I was very grateful that Alberto had dinner ready.

Alberto makes it look so easy

I was climbing next to Alberto, or was he climbing next to me? We were chatting, or was he chatting while I was searching for a 27 teeth sprocket? He danced up the road a bit and then waited for me, pulled in right behind me when the occasional car approached and passed encouragement and advice.

It was a beautiful afternoon, once we left the suburban Friday afternoon traffic behind and started the tree-lined ascent to McAfees lookout. The six kilometers of 7-9% gradient, broken up by a few short descents, are ideal for strength intervals and I thought in the earlier part that a new best time was possible but I faded in the second part and missed it by over a minute. Once at McAfees we decided to keep going at an easier pace because my training plan said two and a half hours and Alberto needed more kilometers, too.

I said to Alberto that watching Contador and the Schlecks in the Tour de France climb steep mountain roads is inspiring. They make it look so easy. When you sit comfortably in front of TV you just think "I can do this!" and then you are on your bike and you hit the steep gradient and feel the pain and you try and increase your speed a fraction and it hurts more and you look down and you are crawling at 11 km/h and you all of the sudden appreciate even more, what these guys are doing.

We stopped briefly at Jolly's lookout to pull on some knee warmers. The sun was about to set and the descent was chilly. I followed Alberto's lines through the corners, thinking of another man: Cancellara - chasing the bunch down the hill. And I didn't brake and I apexed the corners and I wasn't scared of crashing.

It was dark and freezing by the time we reached the bottom but it was only a short 40 minute ride home. I was drafting on Alberto's wheel, imagining myself somewhere in France and then was brought back to reality from this perfect "watching the Tour" inspired ride somewhat rudely when a car full of young Aussie hoons with a provisional license plate shouted abuse out of their car window.

We arrived at home right on time for the six o'clock highlights of the previous stage on SBS.

Relationship between cadence and power output

After this week's strength interval session on the windtrainer I was wondering: What's the relationship between power output and cadence? Maybe someone can help me understand this?

The parameters for the strength intervals were:
- 50-60 rpm cadence
- 80-90% of my maximum heart rate.

Last week I did 3 x 6 minutes with five minutes rest between intervals. This week I had to increase the length of the intervals to seven minutes with also five minutes recovery. In setting three on my windtrainer I choose my 53-12 gearing for all intervals.

I expected to see the power output slightly below last week's power, simply because the intervals were somewhat longer. The heart rate was marginally higher and so was cadence. I assume that pushing the same gear (same resistance) for longer and at a higher cadence means that I was slightly stronger in comparison to last week. Would this be correct? But why was the power lower when I was spinning faster? I would have thought that spinning the same gear faster requires more power rather then less?

And does it mean that I was holding back and that I could have chosen a gear that would have given me a higher resistance?

Oh, by the way: I did the full two hours as per training program, not one second less!

3 x 6 minutes strength intervals on 14th July 2009

3 x 7 minutes strength intervals on 22nd July 2009

hungry

We were enjoying the sun at McAfees lookout. It was after 8 AM but the sun didn't have a lot of strengths. Starting an hour later than usual had been a good idea.

Alberto and Debs at McAfees lookout

Riding back to town for coffee and breakfast had been an equally good idea. We ran into Shane, who joined Debs, Alberto and me at Poppy's Cafe. A great opportunity for me to discuss the club criterium championship with him. Shane said I could race the next morning if my legs felt good. He warned me though that I only started training and that I shouldn't hold my hopes high and that it would only be natural if I didn't go well and that I shouldn't be disappointed. The "Yes, you can race" was all heard. I was hungry to test my legs in a race, the first race back. I ignored the rest.

Alberto's race was a couple of hours before my race so I rode to the criterium circuit to watch him. It was exciting and inspiring to watch his sprint to take out second. Jaman also got second in his age group. Lots of smiles and happy faces.

Alberto in forth wheel here with a few laps still to go

More and more ladies arrived. Women's Masters two (age 35-39), three (age 40-44) and four (age 45-49) categories raced together, separated by different colour numbers, but we were still fighting for the win in our respective age groups. About 12 ladies lined up with only Sharon and me in Masters Two.

Secretly I wanted to beat Donna. Don't get me wrong, I didn't want to beat her in a nasty or mean kind of way. I like Donna, love racing with her and think she is the toughest and most experienced criterium rider and sprinter in the club (at Master's level anyway). It was more in a "put the record straight for last year's club criterium championship" kind of way that I wanted to beat her, aware that it was a silly and stupid thought: here I am, just back in training for one lousy week and wanting to beat Donna ... get real.

And then the race started and Donna immediately went to the front and put the pressure on. I was comfortable following her wheel and when she pulled off I was out in the wind, which didn't feel quite as comfortable. Back on another girl's wheel I recovered just enough for Donna's first attack. There were many to come and it hurt. I wasn't as strong as some of the girls and I had not much acceleration. With all the strength efforts I have been doing recently, I could only wind it up and then sit in a high gear at low cadence. The surges were a challenge. I enjoyed the race immensely because it was so tactical. At some point we lapped Sharon, the other Master Two rider, and it was clear that I would win my age category. I was free to play and have a go at the final sprint against the other girls without having to pay attention to the colour on their back.

Two laps to go and numbers and colours all became one big blur anyway. I was glued to the orange tyre of Donna's Eddy Merckx bike. One moment of hesitation through the last bend and I slipped to forth or fifth wheel, with girls on either side, a position I hate to be in. I moved to the inside of the track to have a clear run. We entered the finishing straight, into the head wind now with 500 meters to go. I had no wheel to protect me from the wind. Donna looked like she was boxed in behind Mel and Suz, who was stuck in the front to lead out the bunch. Maybe 250 meters to go and I thought to myself "I'm out in the wind anyway, I might as well go" and opened up the sprint. I knew it was too far. I glanced back under my armpit. I was surprised to see nobody on my wheel. I kept going. I started hurting. I felt like stuck in slow motion. Then there was the finish right there and I could hear people screaming and yelling and Donna breathing down my neck and I could see her crossing the line from the corner of my eye, less than a bike length ahead of me - only - it wasn't Donna who had pipped me to the line. It was Mel who had won gold in the Masters Three division with Donna winning Masters Four.

Now I am really hungry to race again...

Values

"Racing is how I find out who I am, what my limits are, and how I can overcome them."

Joe Friel on Twitter

I have been thinking about writing this post since Wednesday morning. Shane scheduled those two hour windtrainer sessions for Tuesday nights that include 3 x 6 minutes strength intervals. They are a logistical challenge as much as a mental challenge.

At best I get home from work about 5:45 PM, which usually means I won't finish training until 8:30ish, then shower, cook, eat dinner and try and be in bed by 9:30 PM (that when I fade rapidly). Now, I'm not the most organised nor disciplined person and the pull of the laptop, against better judgement, can sometimes be stronger than the will to get on with my training immediately. Two weeks ago I had done an hour and a half by 9 PM and I was too tired and hungry to finish the full two hours. I told myself that one and a half hours are close enough and that close enough was good enough and climbed off. Now that's telling me a little bit about who I am.

Last Tuesday I got home just after six and I could hear Alberto on the rollers, already pedalling away on the back veranda. I was determined and knew what I had to do! If it was a duathlon, it would have been the world's fastest transition: from office suit to training gear in ten minutes.

But did I really know what I had to do?

I warmed up for 20 minutes while chatting with Alberto about our days, then suffered through my 3 x 6 minutes strength intervals and kept spinning my legs long after Alberto had already enjoyed a warm shower and had started cooking dinner. Just my iPod and me, going nowhere, staring out into the black garden - it was as boring as it sounds. An hour and forty – that’s what I had managed when Alberto had dinner ready. An hour and forty, that’s what I had secretly aimed for, closer than last week and close enough. But good enough?

Wednesday morning, I was entering my training data into my spreadsheet for Shane, when I happened to look at my program. What? Crap? Really? 3 x 7 minutes strength efforts?

Not close enough and not good enough and I had to tell Shane and I felt embarrassed for paying so little attention to detail. Reading my training program properly would be a good start, I thought to myself! I'm not beating myself up over it but I do feel annoyed – annoyed enough to wanting to try harder. Close enough is not good enough!

I’m not going to be a world champion and I’m not a professional cyclist, who gets paid to ride, so the 20 minutes on the wind trainer won’t make a huge difference in my training progression but they do make a difference in who I am and what my values are. Sticking to the program might not make me a stronger cyclist but it might make me a better person.

Spot the differences!

Before

After

The pump

This morning I pumped my tyres. "So what?" you might think. It might not be a big deal for you but I hate pumping my tyres and since I've got the threaded valves (why doesn't anybody produce tyres with short smooth valves?) it's an even more dreaded task.

Usually the brass thing gets stuck on the valve and I can't count the number of times I smashed my fingers in the spokes when I finally manage to pull it off. I've also been unlucky enough to rip the valve out and you want to cover your ears and be nowhere near when that happens.

Or I slide the brass thing onto the valve ever so lightly to avoid hurting myself later in the process or having to purchase new tubes and then you can hear the whistling sound of air escaping and you can't tell if any air is going into the tube at all because the gauge needle dances up and down.

The pump is the most dreaded piece of equipment and I avoid touching it. I thought up excuses and it got to a stage where my tyre pressure dropped to 75 psi but I rather suffered the consequences of increased rolling resistance than admitted my embarrassing secret. “Hi, my name is Groover and I'm a pump phobic... “

Is there help out there for people like me?

Number crunching

What a busy day I had yesterday! The alarm went off at 5:20 am. Alberto's phone signalled that a message had arrived. The ride was off because of the rain. Rain - huh? Indeed, the roads were wet and the weather website showed increasing showers all over Brisbane. Glad the message came before I was ready to roll out the door. When I woke up the second time, it was 8 am and the sun was shining. Another text message arrived, this time from Daniel wanting to get out for a ride. I declined because I had scheduled the repeat of the screwed up tests from last week. Daniel didn't mind tagging along so it was great to have company.

Test One: 3 km time trial

We rolled down to the criterium circuit, which is a short seven kilometres warm up ride. Daniel stayed behind me during the test so I wouldn't take any draft from him. It was very windy again but not as gusty as last week. I paced a lot more evenly and the result was much better than last week.

• Average speed: 35.8 km/h
• Average power: 217 watts
• Time: 0:05:02 minutes
• Average heart rate: 170 bpm (90% of max)

Test two: 2 km hill climb

As soon as I got my breath back, we headed over to Mt Coot-tha, 19 km across northern suburbs to the other side of Brisbane. On the climb my legs started burning immediately and I didn't feel as strong as last week. I stopped the clock at 11:43 minutes and had to fight the content of my stomach back down after the sprint to the line.

I thought, my best time from last year was something around the 11:30 minute mark but I can't find it in my records. The hill repeats I did on Coot-tha last year (as late as November 2008, less than four weeks before the Tour of Bright!!!) were all between 12 and 13 minutes with the best time 12:04 minutes.

• Average speed: 11.9 km/h (average gradient is around 7-8%)
• Average power: 220 watts
• Time: 0:11:43 minutes
• Average heart rate: 166 bpm
• Power to weight ratio: 3.9 watts/kg

No more number crunching and graphs now for the next three months. The power data indicates that I have left the Glandular Fever well and truly behind me and I can confidently start focussing on new goals. The Tour of Bright might actually be a possibility.

After scrambled eggs at the Garage and a quick stop at the 2xu shop, we rode home. 55 km in the legs and happy, I cleaned the house, went shopping and whipped up a three course meal for our dinner with friends. Oh, I also managed to watch the Tour de France highlights on SBS in between putting the desert in the oven and almost burning the main course ...

... starting off where I left six months ago ...

When my heart rate was hovering between 80 and 90 percent of my maximum heart rate for six minutes at a time and my fingers were throwing the gear shifter, down cog by cog, in search of a hard enough gear that provided the required resistance to make my quads burn, I knew I was back into training.

Shane, a good friend who is gaining his coach qualification, had scheduled a two hour session on the wind trainer for Tuesday night because I had begged him, pleaded, not to make me get up at 4:30 AM, just yet. Last Sunday, when I received the training program for the next four weeks, I was excited - no early starts. When I got home from the office after 6 PM Tuesday night, I regretted it. Two hours on the wind trainer, I don't remember ever having attempted this or ever having lasted that long. An hour, yes, maybe an hour and a half, but two full hours? I was wondering whether leaving my cosy bed at 4:30 AM in sub 15 degrees Celsius temperatures to ride in the dark on the road was the less painful alternative. But I can hardly go back now and make him change the program, can't I? And I see the benefit of these strength session: 3 x 6 minutes at 80-90% of my maximum heart rate and at 50-60 rpm cadence with five minutes recovery inbetween made my legs burn alright.

Last night I spun my legs on the rollers for an hour with five short sprints. Sprinting on the rollers was something new and so was sliding my hands to the drops. Amazing how much I was wobbling while sprinting. It ended up being more of an exercise in bike handling than an exercise in going fast. Next I have to learn to drink from my water bottle while riding on the rollers. Baby steps for some, giant leaps for me, and I now choose rollers over indoor trainers any time when a year ago I wouldn't even have considered riding on rollers.

Rest day today and tomorrow I'll repeat the messed up test from last week.

Alberto giving one of the Samford Valley locals a hand with a Bogey (as observed on my last leisurely Sunday afternoon ride before training commenced).

Testing times

From right to left: Scott, Daniel, Shaun, Alberto, Shane and I enjoying our coffees at Poppy's after an early morning ride yesterday.

The westerly winds were blowing all night. The alarm went off at 5:30 AM - time for test number two. It was 12 C in the house. I could hear the cold and dry desert air howling in the roof and whistling in the window seals. It's the type of gusty wind that rips into you, through your skin and deep into your bones. It makes you freeze from the inside. I pulled the doona tighter around me and went back to sleep.

The next time I woke up it was 8 AM and the sun was up. I didn't hear the wind blowing anymore but it was even colder now. The cat snuggled up to my bed-warm body. He was cold, too.

Over coffee I turned my thoughts to the task at hand: a three kilometre time trial and a two kilometre hill climb, back to back. For the time trial I had chosen the Nundah criterium circuit but there were races on until about 10 AM so there was no point rushing. For the hill climb the steep side of Mt Coot-tha was ideal with its 2.3 km and an average gradient of about 7%.

My legs had felt fresh the day before so I was keen to get the tests done. I felt very determined to also tackle the negative thoughts after Wednesday night's time trial . At 9:30 AM I rugged up and rode down to the track. A couple of warm-up laps and it became clear that the pacing would be a challenge, with a strong head wind blowing stiff into my face on the long finishing straight and the tail wind pushing me through the S-bends on the other side of this 1.2 km long oval.

I had hoped for 220 Watts average power output for this short distance but it was almost impossible for me to keep the power up through the S-bends with the wind pushing from behind. The graph clearly shows how my cadence and speed went up while power and torque drop as soon as I turned out of the head wind. The good thing was that it was over so quickly that I had no time for any negative thoughts.

Time trial stats:

• Average power: 200 Watts
• Average speed: 32.11 km/h
• Average heart rate: 167 bpm

I didn't hang around and left straight after the time trial but it took me almost an hour to ride the 19 km to the bottom of the climb. This bitch of a head wind was blowing into my face all the way. I took my time to safe my legs fo the climb as I was keen to set a good time.

But with a head wind blowing even on the climb - as if the gradient wasn't enough - I knew there was no point concentrating on time. I felt strong and no thoughts of quitting entered my mind.

... until I looked down and saw that my Powertap had gone blank. I pressed the buttons to force it to search for the signal. It kept idling and idling all the while I kept climbing and climbing, hoping that it was still recording even though it wasn't displaying anything. I pushed to the top and sprinted up the last steep incline and pressed the time marker when I rolled over the white line that someone had drawn on the road.

Well, as you can see on the graph, the battery in the power hub indeed had decided to die half way through the test. I will have to do this test again next week but I love the numbers it did record before it died. I'm hoping to repeat these kinds of numbers next week.

Mt Coot-tha stats for 0.93 km and 4:13 minutes:

• Average power: 232 watts
• Average speed: 13.31 km/h
• Average heart rate: 160 bpm
• Power to weight ratio: 4.13 watts/kg

I just got home from the bike shop where they replaced the batteries in the hub. My bike is good to go again but I might give my legs a couple of days rest.

Handbrake

Test One
Temperature: 18C
Wind trainer setting: 3

Click on graphs to enlarge.

10 minutes warm up with two one-minute sprints
30 minute time trial
10 minutes cool down

First ten minutes
I was feeling good and highly motivated. Every time I looked down, I saw power outputs in the 180ies and 190ies, which was very encouraging. Five minutes in and I started hurting. My legs were fresh and firing but my heart felt like it was jumping out of my chest and my breathing was heavy. Eight minutes and I felt like puking. I just concentrated on the ten minute marker so I wouldn't miss pressing those buttons. I tried not to think beyond.

The next twenty minutes
Once I had hit those two buttons to mark the first ten minutes, I knew it was going to be a long painful stretch to get to 30 minutes. Twenty insanely long minutes and my head instantly went into uncooperative mode: "It's ok to have a low power output. You've been sick. Nobody will know that you didn't give it your all." I was hurting badly. My head was spinning and I felt like throwing up. My legs were still feeling fine but my fitness wasn't allowing them do give more. I was dripping sweat and a puddle started appearing underneath the bike. The 13 minute mark (23 on the graph since it includes the warm up) and I was thinking of giving up. "Shit, not even half way, yet! I can't do this. Why am I hurting myself like this? Just climb off the bike and forget about it. It's not that important." I was riding with a fricking handbrake pulled in my head. I tried not to listen, covered the Powertap with my towel and started concentrating on my pedal stroke. Pushing down the pedal stroke, pulling up the pedal stroke - making as even circles as possible - listening to Ministry of Music on my iPod - an agonising eternity. The last two minutes were the longest and when I hit the 30 minute marker, my head was spinning and I had to swallow hard not to vomit. I had left it all there, not on the road but right there on our back terrace, just like Buttsy would have wanted me to do.

Power (yellow bars) and heart rate (red bars) distribution over the entire 50 minutes.

Average power stats:

• Entire 30 min time trail: 174 Watts
• First ten minutes: 182 Watts
• Last twenty minutes: 170 Watts

To put this in perspective: When I did the same test last June, my average power output was 161 Watts. My friend Debs told me, that, to win a state or national title at elite level, I would need to put out between 250 and 300 Watts in a time trial.

I was mindful of not starting out to hard but I still did. Correct pacing in time trials will have to be a focus point in my training. And if I could just learn to take that mental handbrake off and - if not enjoy - but at least mentally support what I'm doing instead of sabotaging myself.

It wasn't fun and I am not looking forward to do this again anytime soon. Oh, there is another equally painful test scheduled for Saturday! Well ... I better start worrying about that one when it's time to hurt.