Log: 30/01/2012

Training Principles - 7:

Individualization, Periodization, Progressive Overload, Balance, Specificity, Reversiblility, Evaluation, Rest-Recuperation-Diet. 

Rest.
"Progress, i.e., improved fitness, cannot be achieved if there is not sufficient time and rest between workouts." Howe


A week in the Vic Alps:

25/01/2011 - Road | Muntanyes

Mt. Hotham (Bright --> Return)..

    Duration:      5:49:23
    Work:          2795 kJ
    TSS:           273.5 (intensity factor 0.803)
    Norm Power:    213
    VI:            1.18
    Pw:HR:          22.24%
    Pa:HR:          -28.42%
    Distance:      115.638 km
    Elevation Gain:        1910 m
    Elevation Loss:       1874 m
    Grade:         0.0 %  (36 m)
        Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           0    584    181     watts
    Heart Rate:      74    168    130     bpm
    Cadence:         19    126    81     rpm
    Speed:           0    76.3    19.5     kph
    Pace             0:47    0:00    3:04     min/km
    Altitude:        316    1858    1115     m
    Crank Torque:    0    69.9    21.8     N-m
    Temperature:     13    36    20.9     Celsius

Top of Hotham, looking toward Falls Creek

What can I say, Hotham is a fantastic climb and the conditions today were nothing short of spectacular. Clear skies and 20c at the summit - virtually no wind..

I rode this climb somewhere close to full gas, but didn't completely turn myself inside out knowing there is a weeks climbing in the Vic Alps ahead.

My time for the actual ascent was 1:30:48 - just short of the sub 1:30 that I was aiming for.

Quick update:- Noticed there are x2 Hotham segments defined at Strava, so depending on which one you define as the "real" Hotham you can apply the appropriate time: Mt Hotham Mount Hotham

Happy with "the" time - it's a challenge pacing yourself over a 1.5 hour uphill ITT, but the lay of the ascent helps the rider to mentally segment the climb into x3 ~10km chunks.

Will be back on this particular road come November (Stratford to Dargo KOM )...

26/01/2011 - Road | Muntanyes
Tawonga Gap Repeats..

Entire workout (146 watts):
    Duration:      4:15:06
    Work:          1747 kJ
    TSS:           149.7 (intensity factor 0.676)
    Norm Power:    179
    VI:            1.23
    Pw:HR:          100%
    Pa:HR:          100%
    Distance:      74.759 km
    Elevation Gain:        1548 m
    Elevation Loss:       1583 m
    Grade:         -0.0 %  (-34 m)
        Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           0    465    146     watts
    Heart Rate:      90    157    130     bpm
    Cadence:         16    123    74     rpm
    Speed:           0    71.7    17.2     kph
    Pace             0:50    0:00    3:29     min/km
    Altitude:        277    851    509     m
    Crank Torque:    0    59.3    19.1     N-m
    Temperature:     12    31    23.2     Celsius

An easier day today - 1x Tawonga-A & 2x Tawonga-B with a coffee at Beauty in the mix.


27/01/2011 - Road | Muntanyes
Mt. Buffalo (Bright --> Return)..

Entire workout (159 watts):
    Duration:      3:29:09
    Work:          1854 kJ
    TSS:           197.3 (intensity factor 0.788)
    Norm Power:    209
    VI:            1.31
    Pw:HR:          23.81%
    Pa:HR:          -28.66%
    Distance:      83.725 km
    Elevation Gain:        1341 m
    Elevation Loss:       1299 m
    Grade:         0.1 %  (44 m)
        Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           0    453    159     watts
    Heart Rate:      60    166    121     bpm
    Cadence:         19    118    81     rpm
    Speed:           0    63.8    23.6     kph
    Pace             0:56    0:00    2:33     min/km
    Altitude:        262    1323    642     m
    Crank Torque:    0    67.6    18.9     N-m
    Temperature:     14    24    18.2     Celsius

I rolled out early and caught the local bunch intending to ride out over Tawonga Gap. Gave my best wishes to Richard Reid for his 200km ITT (Audax Alpine Classic 200) on Sunday. I stayed with the group to the turnoff for the gap, then doubled back to the base of Buffalo - giving me 60 minutes warm-up before commencing the climb.

My legs were not entirely dead, but certainly a little heavy from the previous days of training. Was definitely wise to warm up for the hour, and I still found myself circling at the base (procrastinating) - worrying about whether I had the physical and mental grit to put in a solid 60min TT on this fine morning. Had been 2 years since I had last climbed Buffalo and didn't really recall much about the climb (always/only ever climbed Buffalo at the end of an AAC200 = too delerius to really take it in).

Climb was well paced - false flat was much shorter than I recalled. Theme of the week was now taking shape: I had a vague Idea that I wanted to go sub 60min, my ascent took 1:00:23. Needless to say, I'd like to come back and hit this with fresh legs next time.


28/01/2011 - Road | Muntanyes
Mt. Buffalo - Father/Son..

Ol and I have been training for his Buffalo ascent from early December 2011. Plenty of 1in20 reps for the young fella, and lots of planning/discussion. 

Mt Buffalo (to the Gap):

Distance	18.5 km
Avg Grade	5.4%
Elev Gain	1,004 meters

Glorious early morning sunshine

Entire workout (81 watts):
    Duration:      4:07:29
    Work:          925 kJ
    TSS:           46.3 (intensity factor 0.388)
    Norm Power:    103
    VI:            1.26
    Pw:HR:          42.23%
    Pa:HR:          -122.27%
    Distance:      42.013 km
    Elevation Gain:        1096 m
    Elevation Loss:       1049 m
    Grade:         0.1 %  (46 m)
        Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           0    456    81     watts
    Heart Rate:      87    181    142     bpm
    Cadence:         19    113    50     rpm
    Speed:           0    50    9.8     kph
    Pace             1:12    0:00    6:09     min/km
    Altitude:        307    1345    909     m
    Crank Torque:    0    56.4    15.8     N-m
    Temperature:     18    29    22.7     Celsius

3/4 to the saddle..

Finally the big day had come, & it was another gorgeous morning in the beautiful Vic Alps.
I was really hoping that Oliver would successfully complete the climb - after such a long build up I didn't want to see the lad disappointed and potentially discouraged.

Our training had been based around higher intensity climbing in Melbourne (Dandenongs) - threshold work in ~30min blocks - this equated to Ol holding ~125-130 watts by my PM, and a HR of ~175-180bpm.

For the Buffalo climb I paced Ol at 100 watts, with a HR of 145-150, and we broke this work down into 2km blocks - resting in between - eating, drinking, chatting, and taking in the awesome vistas.

The climb itself took about 2 & 3/4 hours - but the time really flew, we were having a ball. At the Chalet there was some celebration, more sight seeing and resting.

At the Summit!!

A huge congratulations to Ol - a big accomplishment for a 10yo, and so glad that what eventuated was a great adventure, and not an epic struggle :)
A great lesson illustrating to the young man that with planning, diligence and consistency you can achieve even the most daunting of goals.

Ol plans to keep training and racing for the coming year - and may aim to complete the ride again next year, this time from Bright & return.

One of my fave mountain top vistas, from the Chalet lookout..

29/01/2011 - Road | Muntanyes
Audax Alpine Classic - 140 (Bright --> Mt. Beauty&Return, Bright --> Mt. Buffalo&Return)..

Entire workout (146 watts):
    Duration:      7:08:44
    Work:          3024 kJ
    TSS:           295.1 (intensity factor 0.721)
    Norm Power:    191
    VI:            1.31
    Pw:HR:          -0.5%
    Pa:HR:          11.63%
    Distance:      140.473 km
    Elevation Gain:        2583 m
    Elevation Loss:       2502 m
    Grade:         0.1 %  (83 m)
        Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           0    651    146     watts
    Heart Rate:      50    172    111     bpm
    Cadence:         18    126    74     rpm
    Speed:           0    62.2    19.2     kph
    Pace             0:58    0:00    3:08     min/km
    Altitude:        348    1531    779     m
    Crank Torque:    0    74.7    19.0     N-m
    Temperature:     16    36    24.4     Celsius
 

A nice roll around the Alpine Classic 140 course with some friends.

For fun I attacked Tawonga-B hoping for a sub 25min, could only manage 25:25.
I lost concentration a little in the middle section, but all up it was a solid effort on some fairly tired legs.

Lap 2 (Tawonga-B):
    Duration:      25:25
    Work:          434 kJ
    TSS:           49.4 (intensity factor 1.076)
    Norm Power:    285
    VI:            1.01
    Pw:HR:          9.61%
    Pa:HR:          8.22%
    Distance:      7.569 km
    Elevation Gain:        470 m
    Elevation Loss:       0 m
    Grade:         6.2 %  (472 m)
        Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           0    440    283     watts
    Heart Rate:      120    172    164     bpm
    Cadence:         49    101    82     rpm
    Speed:           8.8    28.1    17.1     kph
    Pace             2:08    6:49    3:30     min/km
    Altitude:        506    978    745     m
    Crank Torque:    0    52.3    33.1     N-m
    Temperature:     24    25    24.2     Celsius

21/01/2011 - Road | Muntanyes
Tawonga Gap Repeats..

Sullivan's Lookout

Entire workout (168 watts):
    Duration:      2:26:42
    Work:          1315 kJ
    TSS:           116.1 (intensity factor 0.737)
    Norm Power:    195
    VI:            1.16
    Pw:HR:          -8.54%
    Pa:HR:          -7.82%
    Distance:      53.839 km
    Elevation Gain:        1002 m
    Elevation Loss:       1048 m
    Grade:         -0.1 %  (-44 m)
        Min    Max    Avg
    Power:           0    386    168     watts
    Heart Rate:      60    148    117     bpm
    Cadence:         21    161    81     rpm
    Speed:           0    60.8    21.6     kph
    Pace             0:59    0:00    2:46     min/km
    Altitude:        330    901    599     m
    Crank Torque:    0    55.4    20.3     N-m
    Temperature:     11    20    13.8     Celsius


Rested on Monday, today some more climbing, but zone3 work to keep the engine running while facilitating some further unloading.
Heavy fog in Bright on depart. At the top of Tawonga Gap the low lying fog was being blown up the mountain and out off the Kiewa Valley side - absolutely beautiful morning..

Fog at top of Tawonga..

6 Days of riding: 530km horizontal, 10,600m vertical. Great start to build block leading into Autumn racing.