Vander's Tour to Canberra

[vander]

Bummer! It's a big drive out there and to jump out of the car to do the hillclimb is tough! I was looking out for you but didn't find you. Saw quite a few LACC guys around, your club had a good representation on both days.

Yea there were lots of LACC riders especially the next day.

Number21 sounds like you had an almost identical day to me but I was happy with the crit race.

I did some FTP efforts yesterday first set (AT) 280W felt pretty easy (284W (AT) 169hr) but on the second set my legs were just a bit stuffed and mentally I just wasnt in the effort was going to do 290W managed 12min (AT) 289W (174hr) really didnt have any reason to bail out but I was really hungry and wanted lunch . Day off and weights today.

So happy to be back into riding properly and starting to feel good and strong on the bike.

[Porridgewog]

Hi mate,did you ride on the Sunday? Was pleased with my effort on the 70 and beat my time from last year. Was loads of crashes and one huge one with a parra guy being airlifted.

[vander]

Hi mate,did you ride on the Sunday? Was pleased with my effort on the 70 and beat my time from last year.

Couldnt stay in Bathurst and do the Sunday ride had to come back to Syd. Its always good to see progress. Big improvement?

Did weights yesterday and wore my HR monitor to see what it was like and it is actually pretty tough on the heart also. I hit 189BPM doing walking lunges. Average for the session was around 130BPM. Surprised at how much your heart works doing weights.

[Porridgewog]

Yeah took four mins of my time but spent 75% on my own chasing guys down. Be nice to find a group to stay in but I was losing it on the climbs ( too big a ass to legs ratio). 10 kg drop would see me right up there on the climbs I think. Funny how you found your hr up inthe gym,mate used his doing Pilates and was shocked how hard he was going too....core stuff does work you so uh think that's why it benefits so much on the bike, You doing oakville sat? I'm entering the hunter wheel festival next month and hopefully the crits on sat and the 100 k on Sunday....

[vander]

I think I may head down to the Hunter also not sure if I can afford the 100km race pretty expensive.

Today I went out for what I thought would be a pretty cruisy group ride for my first 100km in a while it was far from cruisy. Did RNP with the Lidcombe bunch, only 5 of us (of about 60) did the RNP others turned around at waterfall. Ended up being 3:53min at 239W normalised and about 180 average. Just before getting home I had a crack at sprinting cause I need to be able to sprint with dead legs and still was able to push out over 1300W I have no idea how the last 20km I was starting to really feel flat. It is good to see that my base isnt too bad even though I havent done much long stuff in a while. My climbs in the national park were not too bad I only rode tempo but was about to hold 270ish watts for most of them my legs were screaming at me though.

[Burt 'Pigeon Racer' Jones]

only 5 of us (of about 60) did the RNP others turned around at waterfall.

Sounds like the group I was with through the park. Sure there wasn't 6 of us?

[vander]

only 5 of us (of about 60) did the RNP others turned around at waterfall.

Sounds like the group I was with through the park. Sure there wasn't 6 of us?

There was definitely 6 I didnt count myself, im just going to say that was on purpose.

[vander]

Went out for an easy ride with a few sprints. My training partner and I were amped having just done exams ended up with a 1 hour 10min ride with a NP of 265! Avg power was pretty low but a few sprints became many. Set a new 12 sec peak power for 1270W and 30sec of 880W pretty happy with those but I couldnt get over 1400W again. However my legs were pretty sore going out there, looking forward to racing tomorrow hopefully I can put these numbers into action.

[vander]

Raced LACC B grade (AT) SOP.

Race didnt feel too hard avg hr was down at about 170bpm and only felt on the rivet attacking. The race was typical crit. Noone wanted to ever work but noone would let anyone attack. It started quite slow then through the middle there were a flurry of attacks with a number of people having a crack (including myself). I had a couple of attacks trying to go with a few of my mates off the front but noone was giving anyone any distance. At one stage I spent a lap off the front (they let me go a bit) and I sat up a bit for someone to come across to me when they did I picked it up agian but after 1/2 a lap the group was back on our tails. With about 10min to go the attacks eased a bit I think people (including myself) started thinking about saving something for the sprint. When 2 laps to go the pace picked up a little. With 1 lap to go a guy tried to go off the front and wasnt given any more then 1m. He kept the pace really high for the last lap I sat in about 6th wheel. Last corner I was maybe 5th and lost a little pace as someone was on my inside so I couldnt take it as fast as the guys infront of me. A little effort had me back on the wheel I wanted then coming into the final straight I half opened up then tried leaving it quite late to go, one of the guys infront almost cut me off and I lost a little bit there and kicked again but it wasnt enough I rolled over 2nd less than half a wheel from 1st. I think I left the sprint too late as my speed was going up the whole way to the line and about 5m after the line I was infront of the guy that won it. Something to think about next time. Last lap was tough avg speed of just off 46km/h and my avg watts were over 380W. In the sprint I pushed a peak of 1389 and had 1350 for 5sec just short of 1200W for 10sec and over 1000 for 20sec, so I am pretty happy with the numbers.

Time: 53:07
Speed: 40.3km/h
Power: 230 Avg (310NP)
HR: 172 Avg (202max which is a new max HR)

Happy with the race well on my way back.

[toolonglegs]

so I am pretty happy with the numbers

So you should be.

[foo on patrol]

Good day for you Vander!

Maybe practise some double kicks in your training. Not everyone can do it but you may just be one of the lucky ones.

Foo

[vander]

Good day for you Vander!

Maybe practise some double kicks in your training. Not everyone can do it but you may just be one of the lucky ones.

Foo

Yea I feel as though I can do it fine. Possibly something to try out in training though its more a peak type thing. How would you suggest doing it? 10sec sprint 5sec in the saddle then 10sec again?

BTW on the was home I sprinted for a Strava segment and still did about 1300W peak and about 1100W for 15 sec

[foo on patrol]

You sort of get yourself to 3/4 pace and jump out for a couple of secs and sit and drive it real hard from there. If you don't have the ability to do it, you will
go backwards, when you get out of the saddle. This is the difference between the can and can't.

Foo

[vander]

My sprinting is currently going to a new level. LACC group ride this morning. Set new peak powers from 6.5 seconds all the way out to 20 something in a sprint. 6.5 being at 1360W (AT) 15sec still was 1294W then still 1200W at 20sec. Really happy with that. Just need to get the peak up a bit more with my peak only being 1426W today considering I can hold 60W less then that for 15sec I should be able to get that higher.
All in all good ride 2.5 hours (AT) 31km/h avg power of 178W normalised being 274. My avg HR was a little more than expected at 154 but it didnt quite feel that hard, we did smash out to kurnell with a rolling paceline that demolished the group down to just 5 of us (I think) averaging just short of 44km/h for the 6.6km.

Loving it at the moment feeling stronger and stronger every week. Next week is easy with some testing in there finishing it off with the Calga TT on Sun.

Also I cant do Base type stuff this week was 13 hours and 945TSS!

[Strange Rover]

Also I cant do Base type stuff this week was 13 hours and 945TSS!

I wouldnt stress too much about doing or not doing base...I honestly dont think you have it in you anyway As long as you are getting faster and more importantly having fun then all good.

The only thing I really think you should keep an eye on is your weekly total load...keep your weekly total load under control...which will keep your CTL growth under control...which should hopefully prevent you from digging yourself into a hole again. I think if you do overtrain/overreach again you, like last time, wont see it comming, you will just wake up one morning and feel like crap again.

If you wanted to run some numbers then you next week total load = 7 x (CTL + 6 x ramp)

So if your CTL at the moment is 80 say and you want to ramp at 5TSS/day per week then your goal weekly load is
7x (80 + 6x5) = 770TSS for the week.

You may be able to ramp harder, you may have to ramp slower (me - I carnt handle much more than 3 or so). If you do work yourself out an upper load limit then it at least gives you something to work around...and if you get close to that number or go way over it then you should really have a close look at how you feel and decide whether or not to have a few slower days or whatever...

I get the feeling, at the moment, you are just riding heaps, riding fast and having lots of fun and the only thing that is limiting your load is whether or not you are still breaking PBs. If you are still breaking PBs then everything is good and you push harder and harder. The thing is, you will keep breaking PBs right up to the point of overdoing it again like last time...so IMO you really need something else to limit how much and how hard you ride.

Something to think about anyway.

Sam

[vander]

Thanks for all the info Sam. While I dont have set numbers at the moment I am trying not to push it too hard. This and having an easy week every 4-5 weeks should help keep it under control. However I am loving riding at the moment and I am just riding fast cause I am enjoying it and its coming pretty easy. I am also trying to race once a week (for experience mostly) which helps push it right up. I do agree I need to monitor it. I was only aiming for about 800 this week its just more luck that has put me above that however coming into a rest week im not too worried.

I am not actually too worried about PBs I am just breaking them (which is a good sign) in the races and on the group rides. I am listening to my body and taking easy days at the slightest sign of fatigue, however so far there is none. I hope it doesnt creep up on me like you say.

[vander]

Towing cars barefoot was probably not the best idea.



Hmm hope I can still ride on it.

[foo on patrol]

Towing cars barefoot was probably not the best idea.

You got that right!

Foo

[vander]

Had a testing day today and got frustrated so ended up doing heaps 260TSS day. I was trying to do a 5sec and 1min power. For the 1 min I got almost 620W but it wasnt an ideal as I had a corner to slow down for did another 2 which were not too far off it both over 600 but one was one the same area and the other one I had to come to a stop due to a retard car so none of them ideal, I was hoping for 650W but not too upset with what I got just wish I could of got a proper one. The other one were 5 second ones and I just couldnt perform how I wanted to. I ended up doing 8 sprints this morning mostly over 1300 only a few a bit short with my best 5sec being 1399 peak of 1439 (not too bad but was hoping for more). I find when I really try and push it my back wheel jumps all over the place and surely I am losing a lot of power when it is doing this. On my second session this afternoon I did another 5 sprints again pretty much all of them over 1300W but still couldnt push really big numbers best 5sec being 1386 peak of 1444. Pretty disappointed as I havent ridden the last 2 days I thought I would be stronger for the sprints but evidently not. I think I need to work on my technique a bit I feel like I have more power in my legs.

[foo on patrol]

I find when I really try and push it my back wheel jumps all over the place and surely I am losing a lot of power when it is doing this.

Tell me how or what you're doing here, as in position!

Foo

[vander]

I find when I really try and push it my back wheel jumps all over the place and surely I am losing a lot of power when it is doing this.

Tell me how or what you're doing here, as in position!

Foo

Nothing to it just sprint as hard as I can. I tried moving further back but lost a bit of power when I did though not heaps. Not really sure what position I am in at all.

[foo on patrol]

I meant out of the seat or on it. To me, it sounds like you're to high (not arched enough) and with to much weight on you're bars.

Foo

[vander]

Out of the seat for sure. Yea there is lots of weight on the bars thus why I tried moving back a little.

[vander]

Raced LACC B grade again today and despite not feeling the best came up with a second place again, to the same guy. I felt this race was a lot easier then last week though I didnt do much work as I was trying to hide cause I wasnt feeling great. There were lots of attempts to breakaway but then in the last 10min everyone decided they were sprinters and they sat in. Last few laps were pretty chaotic with people cutting off each other left right and centre but I stayed in the top 3 or 4 to stay out of trouble and felt pretty comfortable up there. I spent half of the last lap into the wind but it wasnt too fast I wasnt willing to drop back or drop any pace but was not forcing it up near the front either. Around the last corner I hit my pedal so came out quite slow and in the wrong gear. I missed the jump when it went and in the sprint I changed gear twice and sprinted for most of it sprinted pretty happy to get within a bike length of winning considering. Numbers were nothing special, all things considered pretty happy with it. Big test TT tomorrow out at calga lets see what I can do. Aiming for 310 AP, hopefully I shake the cold.

Time: 56min
Speed: 40.3
Power: 225 AP 299NP
Peaks were only 5 sec (AT) 1200 and 10 (AT) 1061, the last 30sec (from the corner) I averaged 937W and you can see 2 steps in cadence when I changed gears, when I felt like I was spinning out I was doing 127RPM need to work on that a bit I think. I didnt come over the line smashed just stuffed up the sprint. Happy I still hit 60.5 despite an average sprint.

[vander]

Calga TT. Was tossing up whether to do it or not cause I am fairly chesty and feeling pretty average but when I woke up 5 min before my alarm I thought to myself this is a sign and I wasnt feeling horrible just not great so I went out and did it. I got there did my 15min warm up with a few efforts in these efforts I felt pretty average but kept psyching myself up telling myself I can do it. I though in my current condition a PB would be nice and anything over 300W I would be very happy with, as 310 would of been my goal if I wasnt. While I didnt quite get there I wasnt heaps far off. I was never told that the cone in the middle of the road had been moved so I missed the turn around by a few hundred meters and those few hundred meters were really quite slow. My time wasnt a PB and was a bit outside my PB but given I am sick I wasnt too upset I clocked sub 41min but not by much. If I didnt go past the turn around I probably would of been quite happy with my time.

Last few months avg power (NP)
Feb: 276W (287W)
March: 235W (255W)
May: 281W (286W)

As you can see it is actually my highest average wattage which im really surprised by, wish I wasnt sick to see what I could of really done. You can see how much the overtraining screwed my up, glad im back to probably my best. Also my week which was meant to be the easier week I have still managed to do almost 600TSS with almost 500 in the last few days so maybe I was a bit fatigued also. Only real bad news is my hip is still a bit sore in the TT position still feels like its just tight muscles rubbing so need to get onto the stretching.