Hi All! Well, another week of hard training is in the books. Today marks the tenth day in a row that I've been pedaling a bike, and every single one of those rides has had a purpose. I can't remember the last time, if ever, that I've ridden my bike that many days consecutively. And it doesn't end today, tomorrow is yet another day in the saddle. Tuesday though, just work, no bike.
This week started out easy, a nice 60-minute spin around my neighborhood in Lake San Marcos. Tuesday was another story. 90-minutes on the trainer, with 5x3-minute max effort intervals. Ouch!!! Those have to hurt more then anything I've ever done on a bike! Wednesday, a nice 2-1/2-hour endurance ride out to the coast on Via De La Valle, then shooting up to Cannon Road in Carlsbad, and back home. Wednesday was a tough day. After the intervals on Tuesday, and the endurance ride on Wednesday, my body was in shock. An episode of "night sweats" Wednesday, causing a lack of sleep, didn't help the cause Thursday, which involved more trainer intervals, this time 6x1-minute max efforts! Again...ouch!
Normally I don't require a lot of pep talk, or massive motivation to get the training done. I just know what I need to do, and do it. But Thursday I found myself in a dark place, not wanting to do anything after work but sleep, and definitely not wanting to do intervals! If it wasn't for my good friends Mark Palmer and John Bailey, I don't know if I would of made it out to the garage for the prescribed workout. Thanks again guys, really appreciate the help!!!
Friday, ahh Friday, a nice, easy, really easy, 90-minute recovery ride! Those kind of rides really take you back to why most of us began riding our bikes in the first place. Enjoying the scenery, taking in the sights, sounds, smells, and just being glad to be alive, and able to be out enjoying the world the best way I know of, from the seat of a bike!
The next day the holiday weekend arrived, and with it another round of pain and suffering. Saturday has meant only one thing in my training schedule lately, and that's the infamous Swamis Ride. I left the house at 7:15, and made my way to Nytro Bikes to meet up with Mark and John, and get a decent warm-up before the brutal pace of the "A" ride was to begin at 8:30. I didn't have the time to ride the long route this week in to Valley Center, I knew I could only take the ride to the church in Escondido, which meant I needed to push it harder then normal because of the shorter workout. Last week, I was able to survive longer then I ever have in the ride, but this week, the heavy training load took its toll on me, that, and going with a small break away heading in to San Elijo town center caused me to slip to the back, and fall off, unable to stay with the lead group heading in to Harmony Grove. Oh well, still managed to get a good amount of work in pacelining with Mark and a couple of other guys to the church.
Today, hill repeats on San Elijo with Mark and John. 4x up San Elijo Road, slow-to-medium cadence, HR zone, high 4's to mid 5's all the way up. So here I sit, showered, strecthed, legs in my new compression socks, (thanks again Mark!), and writing to you all. As hard as today was, I feel great. I'm convinced the last two weeks of extremely hard training is really paying off. This coming week is all about tapering back and keeping the legs ready for the State Championships next Sunday in Bakersfield. I'm sure my fitness will be where it needs to be, I just need to remember to practice patience in the race, not work too much, and line up at the start line confident, knowing I've done my best to be prepared for the event.
Hope you all are enjoying a beautiful holiday weekend in our little slice of paradise here in sunny So Cal! Be safe, and talk to you soon! Until next time...
Hi All! How's the week been? I'm sitting here after another delicious dinner consisting of the usual roasted vegetables, salmon, and a bit of bread. My wife and I have been eating a lot of salads for dinner lately, and I really believe all the cooking at home instead of dining out, has helped improve my performance on the bike significantly.
This weekend on the bike was one of the hardest I've had in terms of a training weekend in quite some time. The week began by taking Monday off as a rest day, then trainer intervals Tuesday (ouch!), a nice 2-1/2 moderately paced ride Wednesday, another rest day Thursday, a 2-hour endurance ride Friday, then the real punishment!
Saturday I left my house around 7:30am to ride down to Nytro to subject myself to the infamous "Swamis" ride. I met up with my friends Mark Palmer and John Bailey (of Bailey Bikes), and the ride rolled out promptly at 8:30. I was feeling good and had hopes of surviving longer in to the ride then I usually do. Typically I get dropped off the lead group coming in to San Elijo town center as the ride turns on to Harmony Grove Road. This time I was able to stay with the ride almost the entire way through Elfin Forest, finally getting dropped at the chicken ranch, due to the extremely difficult pace that John Bailey himself was pushing at the front.
I met back up with Mark and John at the church in Escondido, and we decided to tackle the "long" route, but instead of riding up Lake Wohlford Road we were going to head straight up Valley Center Road. This was the first time I had ever ridden up this road, and I much prefer it over Wohlford because of the shoulder all the way up. I ended up with 68 miles on the day, and a whole lot of work!
As we rolled back in to Escondido, Mark mentioned something about riding together the next day and doing hill repeats! I thought he was joking, but as it turns out he was dead serious. I say that, because after the third repeat up Scripps Poway Parkway, followed by a ride in to Ramona, back down Highland Valley Road, and eventually back to Mark's house in Carmel Valley, I felt pretty close to death! 60- miles for the day, and again, a whole lot of work!
So here I sit, two weeks away from the State Championship RR in Bakersfield, which I'm totally amped to do, and waiting to receive payment come June 6th during the RR for all the work I've been putting in to get ready. I'm just thankful that I enjoy all the training and the process of getting fit to be ready to race, almost as much, or possibly even more then the races themselves.
Hope all is well! Until next time...
Hi All! Not too much new and exciting to report, and I'm a little pinched for time, so this week basically involved some good training rides, one that left me completely drained for two straight days! I took Monday off completely from any activity, (except for work), and decided to go to the gym Tuesday for a core workout. I figured since I have this four week break until the State RR Championship race, I might as well squeeze in some gym workouts.
The workout was good, and the next day I could really feel it in my abs. I also decided the next day, (Wednesday), that I was going to go do hill repeats after work. Not just regular hills repeats, but big-ring repeats. This is something I don't often do, actually something I've only done once before. My hill of choice for repeats for a couple of reasons is San Elijo Road. One, it's close to home, and two, it's length and gradient offer a perfect venue for repeats. I usually throw in one run up Twin Oaks Valley Road, (no exception Wednesday), but have decided it's a little too steep for decent repeats.
Needless to say, I did six runs up San Elijo, (4x in the big-ring), one run up Twin Oaks, and one run up to Double Peak Park. 32 miles total, 5290 feet of climbing, for 2-1/2 hours. I was gassed when I returned home!!! I've never felt so tired after a training ride, or even a race for that matter. The next day was even worse. I still can't quite figure out what caused me to be so fatigued. I'm not sick, my fitness is good. The only thing I could come up with is the fact the repeats were done in the big-ring which is extremely difficult for a skinny guy like me, and my weight has been on the low side lately. My goal with these big-ring repeats is to build much needed power in my legs, something I've always lacked. Hope they work, because they sure wear me out!
Hope all is well, until next time...
Hi All! How are ya'll? I'm good, very, very tired, but good. Just finished racing the San Luis Rey RR, and I'm still alive. I came in to this race with the goal of finishing high, even winning. There was a new category offered this year, a Masters 30+ 4/5, which suits me just fine. Anytime I can get a chance to race with guys more my age, but not Cat ones or twos, I take it. The race was held on the recently modified (as of last season) course in Bonsall, and all though the course is good, I much prefered the old course any day. The new course just doesn't break up the pack enough, making it extremely difficult to move around. Anyhow, on to the race report...
My race started at 7:35am, and as soon as the whistle blew I immediately went to the front not wanting a repeat of last week's Devil's Punchbowl start. Now mind you, I didn't get on the front and work, but rather just soft pedal, while keeping the pace high enough that no one was in a hurry to get around me. Eventually some riders did go around and I told myself to just stay in the top twenty riders of the full seventy five rider field, and I'd be OK.
The pack pretty much stayed together throughout the flats, and even as we began to head up the climb the first time. After being a little too far back at the first turn-around on the course, I decided that I didn't want that to happen at the turn-around at the start/finish area. I pedaled hard and shot to the front, allowing myself to be the first rider around the turn-around, not too worried about the effort it took, knowing that we had a descent that I could recover on immediately afterwards.
As we reached the flats for the second time, two riders attacked hard and managed to open up a gap on the field. I was a little too far back at this point to respond, but to be honest, I don't think I would of that early in the race, (we still had approximately 28 miles left). At that point, I worked my way up to the front again, and watched as the two riders slowly began building their lead on the field. None of us in the pack were interested in chasing them, it was even said out loud that there's no way they're going to stay away, especially in the winds that were beginning to pick up.
We rounded the first turn-around, and headed back towards the climb. As we were riding back to the climb along the flats, some guys were getting anxious, and wanted to start chasing the break away. I told myself to stay near the front, but don't work. I didn't think the two riders were that far up the road, expecting to see them around every corner. As we approached the climb, still not having seen the two riders, I began to get anxious myself, and thought there was a good chance that if I drilled it up the climb, we'd surely catch them.
I went to the front of the pack and really "put it to the pedals". The climb itself was about three miles long, I decided to take the lead after the first mile, and pulled the entire field up the last two miles of the climb, reaching the turn-around first again, and much to my disbelief, still not seeing the two-rider break away! Crap! All that work for nothing! I told myself to relax, that I could recover on the descent, but knowing that I had burned a lot of matches with that big effort.
As we made our way on to the flats for the last time, we still hadn't seen the break away, and riders were really beginning to get anxious. Several attempts were made to form some kind of chase, and for the most part, there was some organization. I just kept myself near the front, close to the front, but not on it. A few guys were beginning to get upset at me because of this, and ultimately I decided that I might as well take a couple of pulls, keeping them short, and not too hard.
The third time up the climb, I positioned myself near the front, not sure how my legs were going to respond after the earlier effort up it. I managed to stay near the front for quite awhile, but ultimately about a 1/4 of a mile from the finish line, the pack began to swarm around me and pass by. I tried to respond, but my legs were screaming at me. The pack, or what was left of it opened up a small gap on me, I looked back and saw that there was no one else behind me who was threat, so I dug deep and fought my way back on to the wheels of the pack with about 400 meters left.
At this point, the pack was spread across the entire road, and guys were beginning to bounce off each other, yelling loudly, fighting for last second positions. This looked like an all to familiar "crit" finish to me, and as bad as my legs felt, and thinking there was no way I had enough punch left to fight my way through that mob, I sat up and watched the field sprint to the line.
28th on the day.
The break stuck.
I checked my computer clock, and saw that we finished the race at 9:30am, just like I thought. The Cat 4 race was scheduled to begin at 10:15am. Why not? After all, what better way to cap off a four-week racing block then to completely destroy myself!!! I paid my $10, got my number, went to the car, ate a Clif Bar, drank a Coke, and began riding around to keep the legs loose. Sure didn't need a big warm-up!
The race was fairly uneventful, except for a crash that resulted from a rider two ahead of me, who for a long time prior to the crash, couldn't seem to hold his line, frequently crossing the center line, and for some unknown reason, locking his brakes up causing me to do the same, resulting in a rider slamming in to the back of my bike, and judging by the horrible sound, resulting in a big crash behind me! I knew that guy was going to cause something bad to happen! I came out OK, some slight marks on my frame, and a bent derailleur hanger. I could never get to the front because of the large field size and tired legs, but I did manage to finish three of the four laps, getting 90 race miles for the day! As I made my way up the climb for the sixth time, I rode past two "MASI" riders who were suffering badly, and overheard their conversation. Rider one: "Why do we do this?" Rider two: "Because. You can't replicate this shit!" Amen! Next up, the State RR Championships, June 6th. Hope I learned something over the last four weeks! Hope all is well! Until next time...
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