The training thread: How was yours? (today/yesterday/etc)

[toolonglegs]

Nice ride Vander!... do you actually have a power meter ? .... if so then take that and not Strava's guestimate.
Strava has got a lot better on climbing lately though ... 4000m seems like a huge amount of climbing to me...too much.
Me...too bloody cold...MUST GET ON HOME TRAINER...no ride for 12 days

Today -20C with wind chill even before getting on a bike .

[vander]

Yea first ride on my powermeter today which is why im having a nice fiddle with it. Cant wait for my TT with it tomorrow.

I did do 12 categorised climbs but they were mostly 4 with some 3s no big ones.

[ft_critical]

Yea first ride on my powermeter today which is why im having a nice fiddle with it. Cant wait for my TT with it tomorrow.

I did do 12 categorised climbs but they were mostly 4 with some 3s no big ones.

Hey Vander, I am not sure how other forum members feel, but...

I would be happy to follow your progress, all inclusive, under a Vander does Canberra thread or something. To be honest I am pretty facinated with what you are doing and how you are going about it. I think given that it is pretty much total commitment, it warrants a dedicated thread. Why don't you put it in the road biking forum? And, based on the level of dedication to date, I will paint your name on the road.

[foo on patrol]

Don't tell him that Ft! You'll give him a big head and ego and stuff all his good work up.

Have always said....you only get out of the sport, what you put into it and that's what's happening here.

Foo

[toolonglegs]

Well he is certainly motivated!... how long you been riding Vander ?...4 or 5 months ?. Take it were you can when you are young!.
I have a mate in Sydney, turns 30 this week so you guys will be seeing him out at Waratah's soon... I reckon he could of gone far,I started riding with him when he was 16 or 17...but he works too bloody much. Bit late now but would have been nice to see him throw everything at it 10 years ago Vander style... I think he regrets it a bit too maybe .

[toolonglegs]

Well I ended up joining 4 others for 45km's today...first ride in 12 days was always going to hurt. Wife reckoned I would be back in 10 minutes...well I showed her didn't I .
Bloody windy (30kmph constant and gusts to 55kmph) and bloody cold -8c in the sun standing still.
Took 30 minutes to get dressed ( plus about 10 heat sachets ) and 30 minutes after ride to thaw out... just started getting it in big toes and forefingers near the end... my problem was the "equipment"... got quite painful, sock next time .
Anyway they smashed me...unfit again!.

[vander]

Hey Vander, I am not sure how other forum members feel, but...

I would be happy to follow your progress, all inclusive, under a Vander does Canberra thread or something. To be honest I am pretty facinated with what you are doing and how you are going about it. I think given that it is pretty much total commitment, it warrants a dedicated thread. Why don't you put it in the road biking forum? And, based on the level of dedication to date, I will paint your name on the road.

A tad embarrassed by this comment.
I will have to think about it as while I have a bit of time at the moment I will be pressed for time as soon as uni goes back so I dont know if I will be able to keep it up posting often in detail.
@TLL: It has been almost 6 months I bought my bike on the 13th of August so next weekend will be my 6 month anniversary. Motivation is high but its easy to have high motivation when you are PBing pretty much week in week out. Got exactly 3 months (13 weeks) till Canberra at the moment and really Canberra is coming faster then I would like.

Actually as an after thought I will start a thread now as a place to put all my thoughts and see what people say.

[jules21]

Bloody windy (30kmph constant and gusts to 55kmph) and bloody cold -8c in the sun standing still.

and all this time i thought it was france's strong anti-doping laws that was the reason they don't win anything, now i know better

also good luck vander - give it heaps while you're young. wish i was more committed back then, i think i'm more motivated now pushing 40.

[twizzle]

First serious hit-out today... started coughing within ten minutes of getting off the bike. Looks like the asthma is here to stay.

30.10km in 57:01, 308W average, 31.7kph.

[ft_critical]

First serious hit-out today... started coughing within ten minutes of getting off the bike. Looks like the asthma is here to stay.

30.10km in 57:01, 308W average, 31.7kph.

This probably won't help but, just in case. We discussed this before in another thread; on very cold mornings on a first up climb, I get a terrible cough at max exertion. I use a piece of my daughters stocking cut down as a mask. Never cough wearing it. I only seem to need it for that first segment.
I think the theory is it moistens? warms the air before it hits my lungs.

Like I say probably not relevant but..

[toolonglegs]

Some of my fellow A graders were clocking up 130+ rides on the weekend (strava spy)... I just can't comprehend 4 hrs plus in this weather!. Town water is starting to freeze for the first time ever!. Wish I could go to Spain !.
Twiz have you done an asthma test?... On some of my cyclocross races I was coughing bad for ten minutes afterwards as well ( pursuiters cough) ... Took my asthma meds for the first time in a couple of years and no cough. Then the two races I had at the start of this year I didn't bother and cough started to come back. The only thing that stopped it was warming down ( funny term in the minus temps!) for 10 minutes.... Stopping dead after an hour effort would set me off.

[toolonglegs]

Yesterday I did 47km ...socks down the pants made a big difference .
Today... is the same temp but I can't face the washing!... home trainer hell about to begin, hardest part is picking the right movie!.

[GrantMD]

45 kms out to the start of West Head and back. Pitch black and raining for most of the ride but in a perverse way it was quite enjoyable. Feel stronger every time I get on the back

[jules21]

Yesterday I did 47km ...socks down the pants made a big difference .

where were the socks positioned exactly?

home trainer hell about to begin, hardest part is picking the right movie!.

a bit of techno is good

[toolonglegs]

Socks are winter wooly numbers... Just lay them across my lap... Gives me a bit more volume ( any personal volume soon disappears in this weather!) ... I get it in the bum a bit too if I don't rub deep heat in. I don't like wearing two pairs of winter Knicks... Need to get a pair with out chamois to wear on top.
My life savers are the heat sachets. I use the toe ones as they are adhesive on one side. I always have them on my toes. Then I put some in my pockets for emergencies. I put one in my left glove half way and the other went to the groin!... Still I was in pain in the hands when I got back... 40 kmph for the last 10 km's probably didn't help!.
Temps will be up to bearable by next week... But it will start snowing next week as well...won't pull the cx bike to bits just yet!.

[ajmit3]

Did 203 km epic - melb to portsea to melb yesterday . Was a nice ride but was a little too long and fairly boring after the 6 hr mark.. anything over 5 hrs gets a bit much .

[Ken Ho]

Ski-ed some black runs and drank some beer.
Does that count as training ?

[toolonglegs]

Chuffed with yesterday's training... Mainly because I did one of my intervals at nearly 39 kmph for 11 minutes on rolling ground on the most un aerodynamic winter set up.
Ok I need to get that up to closer to 45 in the next 6 months but the main thing was I rode nearly the whole thing with forearms resting on the tops or when my arms ( not my back!) started to suffer I would drop down to the drops.
Long way to go but the stretching and core work is starting to yield results .
New frame should be ready to day... Winter bikes bars are nearly level with saddle... Will be able to start slamming the stem ( in slow increments) ...

[PawPaw]

After 3 rib fractures 13 days ago, today was my 5th day back on the bike. The first few I wrapped a large elastic compression bandage around my chest to support the ribs. When I took my speed above 25, my chest would expand too hard against the bandage, and the pain would go from 2/10 to 7/10, so 25 it was for 30 mins.

For yesterday and today, a physio mobilized the rib joints with the spine, massaged some of the muscles very gently, then applied tape over the top of those that were the most painful, from the vertebrae to the sternum. This has eased pain with movement a lot better than the compression bandage, so I can breathe a lot deeper, and get in and out of car, chairs, bed with less pain.

So speed has gone up to low 30s. I've been riding at Nundah Crit, but today went up to Sandgate, and pushed it on a couple of rises; the deeper breathing was painful. Still can't throw a leg over the saddle, or rotate to look around behind me fully, so am staying off all but the quietest backroads for the time being.

Pre crash, by now I had been aiming for 11:30 on Coot-tha, and holding 40kph for 8 minutes on Nundah Crit. Ah well, maybe I'll do a Lance Armstrong and make a comeback with a remodeled stronger body.

[toolonglegs]

Thursday and Friday were good ... A 40+ kmph mini tt was the icing on the cake...especially considering what I was riding!... Strava competitions are good motivation.
Saturday's club ride was too long and too slow. The last 20 minutes were good but they didn't make up for 3.5 hours of putting along in a group. Taking out the sprints easily though was nice though .
Back to cold and wet today . Oh well can't have it all right.
Next Sunday brings to an end a 22 month drought !!!. Apart from one "guest" appearance last year where I got drop in the 1 st 1/4 of the race... It will be my first proper road race since may 8th 2010.
I have found a flat race to start as I am still a lard arse... Last years results say the average for 78 km's was 45 kmph.... Bloody hope it is raining or I am doomed. Got to start somewhere!.
If it is all to hard I will commence the difficult process of dropping down a grade ... They want me to list my results for the last 5 years ffs!. Regs Regs Regs .

[twizzle]

First race since before Christmas yesterday, 19.something km TT, Avg 360W, NP 362W, not too bad when my FTP is estimated at 363W and the CP number for the time was 375W.

So back in the saddle this morning for a 40km 'weight loss' ride, except I picked up a klingon... eventually dropped him when I ramped it up to 47kph while still sitting up on the hoods. Generally feeling good at them moment, taking echinacea again, hoping I won't get sick for a while. Five weeks to train up for Gunning, so (weather allowing) back to Base.

Also saw some very ordinary riding this morning, with one particular roadie cutting across slip lanes without giving way... he must think that car drivers can read minds or that car drivers just expect this sort of crap behaviour.

[PawPaw]

My mate who had the collapsed lung and I did our first 'rehab ride' together this morning. he has to keep his HR below 130 and I keep my pain levels manageable.
We did a 50k ride from Nundah to Brighton via Wetlands, and came back via Sandgate Rd. My mate was faster through the wetlands probably because he's not had as much pain as me. Today was the first time I've not gone over the Toombul overpass, where there's now 7 signs banning bicycles. We managed ok in low 30s. I had a momentary lapse of concentration thanks to a night of pain and codeine forte, but nothing serious.
I managed to draft a rubbish truck for 100 metres, and hit 50kph, but let it go when overwhelmed by the smell.

[toolonglegs]

Haha... I much prefer drafting tractors... Smell nice and beautiful vision underneath.

[philip]

going up bobbo this morning, going hard, local gpm team dude then flies past.. ON A FIXIE! I did a sub 9 minute climb so wasn't exactly creeping. This dude is going to race in belgium for the next 6 months - just shows some guys are on a different level!

[AScyclist21]

Nice one Phil, still think ive only managed a 10 min bobbin head (if thats the same one). The GPM guys are insanely strong anyway, if you can keep up with them you should be on the team haha.