MTB'ing day.

I finally gave the Clark's TT a try. It sure is a strange beast, that mountain biking stuff. Since I've been setting some decent PB's on the road lately, I hoped for a bit better result than 10:43. Well, considering that I go off-road once a year, this being the first time this year and probably only the third ever, I shouldn't complain. Plus it never hurts to be more humble, so I'll start tomorrow.

What I learned is that those isopower efforts that I so like indoors are not something than can easily be transfered to off-road, if at all. I made two attempts with the second being the faster. It made me realize how crucial proper execution and pacing is on such a relentlessly undulating terrain. I was breathing pretty hard, but my legs felt fresh. I think I'm seeing another attempt in my future, but I need more practice. And what a beautiful Indian summer it is for a little cross training.

Bikes for Kids.

For those who couldn't make it, here's a short summary:

Team winner (top 10 riders) - UofU ($1000 scholarship)
Best average time (all riders) - BYU (O.C. Tanner trophy)

Best time: 16:02 (Rob Squire)
My time : 18:02 - good enough for 6th overall and a 31-40 win.
And more.

Oh, and my wife and I went up City Creek on Sunday. Yeah, it was an under 23' PB ride for me. I'm looking forward to this year's race to cap off my season. Norm said he's gonna skip it, so maybe I won't get whipped.

Do this.

Bikes for kids. Come on, it's only 3 miles, it's in Salt Lake valley, and it's this Saturday. Entry fee is tax deductible.

Climber's Cup, etc.

'Twas a fairly successful day. The goal was to be top 5 in Masters. IOW, to get paid. Mission accomplished. My 4th paid enough to cover the entry fee and gas, and then some. And since the top 2 were 45+, I became the M35+ Hillclimb Vice-Champion. Yes, it's a real title and no one will spoil it for me. So there. Congrats to my teammate Scott for taking the trophy.

The plan was to be fairly conservative up the first climb. Considering the length of this time trial I expected to push a bit harder than my FTP, but that never seems to work like that. Except for very short efforts and still can't seem to attain my indoor wattages when climbing. Pacing issues? Altitude? Heat? Dunno. Having started 4th in line I was the first man to the top, and surprisingly I caught 2 of my minute men even before the final climb to the top. I cringed into a ball on the flat/downhill sections trying to save as much energy as possible to save myself for the crucial pushes uphill. As you can see from the graph below, I even coasted at one point. I guess I didn't ease off enough, because later I really couldn't produce the kind of power I expected except at the end when I was just anaerobic.


I don't have any hindsight regrets. When I crossed the line I knew I went as hard as a could on that day. In fact, I could barely breathe. That seemed to be the limitation. My legs felt OK, but my lungs just weren't keeping up. Where you see those dips in power is when I'm easing off to prevent getting a side-stitch, which I could sense lurking in my gut.

On Sunday, I finally went up American Fork canyon with a warm-up over Suncrest. 20 minutes is my new PB up the north side. I think that's pretty good.

More PB's.

OK, so my Tuesday VO2max session didn't go as planned. I had to bail after only three 5 minute intervals. I was encouraged by my new 5 min personal best, so I tried them at higher power. That was a mistake. What I probably should have done was to use the same power but over 6 minutes or so, extending the time spent at VO2max. That's OK. I think last week took a lot out of me.

It may be that I'm a bit slow in accepting the reality of fatigue, but despite Tueday's failures, I felt like doing an all out FTP test the following day. If you don't feel like clicking on the link, I'll just say that it's a 1 hr TT. Now, doing that outdoors presents logistical challenges so I did it on my indoor trainer. I got my industrial strength fan on the highest setting, took the pictures off the walls so they wouldn't get blown off, put my race face on, and proceeded with the masochistic exercise.

It didn't seem as hard as I remembered it. I started out conservatively, but soon found out that I may be stronger than anticipated and kept on accelerating throughout:

It appears that my Functional Threshold Power has improved by some 10 W over last spring, so here's my updated profile:

1 min: 9.5 W/kg
5 min: 6.1 W/kg
60 min: 4.85 W/kg

A true FTP is defined as the best 1 hr power on a well rested day while very motivated. Despite the fact that I had only motivation to go on, it was considerably faster than anything I've done outside, including hillclimbs. I think it may be due to the fact that outdoor rides present a certain additional pacing challenge for me. Besides, since I do a lot of isopower riding indoors, it may simply be that I've just gotten good at riding indoors. Either way it should translate to some good race results... eventually. Shouldn't it?

Just passing along.

http://www.maxvo2themovie.com/

Check it out.

Tough week.

This week I accumulated the most Training Stress Score of my whole season (so far). Saturday was a nice team ride. For the first time in my life I went all the way up Butterfield Canyon. Ouch! Can you tell where the 20% grade section is?


It's been a long time since I was forced to ride at 4 MPH. We started out fairly easy and I didn't press my interval button so I'm not even sure if the chart starts right at the bottom or elsewhere or how long it took. I just know that it hurt.

Sunday was another first. Believe it or not it was the first time this season that I went up Emigration Canyon. Yup, I figured I better get 'er done before it starts snowing. Despite the fatigue from the previous day I was able to set a new 1 min PB as well as a new PB up Emigration, which now stands at a cool 25'16" at a cool 17.9 MPH average. The wind was quite favorable, but it usually is for new PB's anyways. This time I shaved some 2 minutes off my old best despite starting conservatively. My average power was likewise improved over last year. It's also easy to tell (by the amplitude of the power curve) that I pace a lot better when the road goes up.


Oh yeah, on Friday I also set a new PB over 5 minutes. What's with all these PB's?! That 1 month off I took in April/May must've done me some good or something. The only thing that has declined is the sprint. I haven't been doing a lot of those. I'm mostly concentrating on improving sustained aerobic power and doing sprints takes time away from that endeavor. Sprints are fun so I'll be getting back them in the fall during the easy rides. Here's how things stand as of this weekend:

1 min: 9.5 W/kg
5 min: 6.1 W/kg
25 min: 4.7 W/kg (Emigration)

60 min: 4.7 W/kg (tested indoors in March)

At my measly 55 kg of weight those numbers may exaggerate my actual ability, but it's all about improvement and when comparing it to last year (when I weighed 1 kg less), I'm seeing improvement. I guess it's possible to nudge that genetic limit a bit higher after all. :-)