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.

Log: 27/11/2011

Training Principles - 6:

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

Reversibility.
"Just as fitness gains (adaptations) occur at a certain rate in response to training, so too does
the loss of fitness follow a predictable time course in response to inactivity or a reduced training load. 
This must be accounted for upon a return to training after injury or illness, during the transition to the off-season, and when tapering/peaking, which is defined as strategic manipulation of training variables to enhance or accentuate supercompensation and produce peak performance for selected events. " Howe 


26/11/2011 - Road | Muntanyes

Kinglake..

    Duration:      4:52:17
    Work:          2449 kJ
    TSS:           321.9 (intensity factor 0.854)
    Norm Power:    226
    VI:            1.48
    Pw:HR:          4.56%
    Pa:HR:          10.42%
    Distance:      107.519 km
    Elevation Gain:        1534 m
    Elevation Loss:       1549 m
    Grade:         -0.0 %  (-14 m)
        Min    Max    Avg
    Altitude:        58    574    194     m
    Crank Torque:    0    117    16.8     N-m
    Temperature:     10    16    12.5     Celsius

No real rain to speak of after the deluge the previous evening. Very wet roads and high humidity/drizzle saw us hit the bottom of the KL climb pretty waterlogged from the hips down - but it wasn't really cold, so no real fuss. Just the one KL ascent this morning, it was a spirited effort, and happy to have sustained ~4.45 watts/kilo for the duration (this signifies a consolidation of good progress for me). Good to have Power/HR decoupled by <5%, Joe would be pleased..

Perhaps a well executed taper next week might yield a minor performance increase - but for all intensive purposes, the ToB prep is done.. Whew!..

Quick Stats:

    Weeks 15

    Distance 5263km

    Climbing at FTP+ 1467min

    Body Weight -5kg

    Ascent 45794m (actual climbs - not bumps in the road on the way to climbs)

    FTP(20min) +18.7% (from output achievable after Ballarat accident & assc. break)

Log: 09/11/2011

Not a lot of training to date this week. Not how I either expected or wanted it to be..

No major cramps on Saturday but a few good nibbles here and there. When I ride through cramping spasms I get bad DOMS in the days that follow. Makes sense - on one level the muscle is involuntarily contracting, and on another I simultaneously load and stretch the spasming muscle through the length of the pedal stroke. This makes for much tearing of fibres and associated soreness and swelling.

I'm a little distressed at the CTL falling the way it has this week - but realistically, having been operating at CTL ~120 for a while now I have enough in the bank to blow on some needed post race recovery. Training camp this weekend will somewhat balance out the week. I will of course be far better off arriving at camp with good legs rather than sad legs..

Dargo Feed Station 1  (c/o ActionPactPix)

Working in some Vo2 elements now. Build blocks have been all threshold focus to this point.

Q: What was the limiter that saw me off the back on Sat?

A: Veee-Ohh-Tooo.. 

Mind you, Dargo was always a "B" priority race in the sense that all my prep is targeting Bright, so I was always going to hit the start line a somewhat unfinished product.

Having said that - the effort that saw me let the selection go was 5 minutes at 4.92w/kg - a very Vo2 effort for me as we're talking 120% FTP. There's no reason for me to believe that this wouldn't again happen at Bright in a few weeks time - so it's a timely kick in the backside to get on with some Vo2 work..

09/11/2011 - Trainer | Early

AeT/Vo2.

    Duration:      1:01:35
    Work:          634 kJ
    TSS:           56 (intensity factor 0.742)
    Distance:      30.313 km
    Temperature:     22    23    22.5     Celsius

09/11/2011 - Trainer | Evening

AeT/Vo2.

    Duration:      1:05:18
    Work:          697 kJ
    TSS:           68.7 (intensity factor 0.797)
    Norm Power:    215
    VI:            1.21
    Temperature:     22    29    27.4     Celsius

Good to have my legs back. 18min of 110-120% FTP (x2min chunks) mixed into x2 hours of AeT. Strong focus on not letting wattage drop below AeT after the Vo2 efforts thus requiring recovery while still working..

Log: 25/10/2011

24/10/2011 - Foot

A walk today instead of soft ride. It rained - but that was Ok..


25/10/2011 - Track | BBN

Some words from over at Endurance Corner were my motivation today.

..If you have ability in a field then it is straightforward to become good. Good = top 5% performer.

What does it take to become great? In a word, "everything". The transition from good to great requires a complete shift in your approach. We tend to think about what we have to add -- the "extra effort", going the "extra mile", "giving 110%"...

While the extra effort is both material, and essential. People don't breakdown due to the "extra" -- people breakdown because they are unable to strip away the non-essential...

Absent 1-in-ten-million talent, achieving 1-in-ten-thousand results will require a sustained effort that is unreasonable and, possibly, unhealthy. It is unique individuals that can tolerate extreme workloads over the long term (perhaps this is a form of talent?). Most of us can only cope with phases of intense work, primarily when we are young. Medical residents, investment bank trainees, elite military recruits... it's not just athletics where this applies.

Persistence in the face of setback and obstacles - that counts..

What else counts? The capacity to change - in athletics, the key things are:

• Willingness to change geography - to make it easier to do the right work;
• Building the correct peer/training group around one's self - to make it easier to do the right work;
• Tailoring our training approach to perform in races, not training; and
• Continual technical enhancement - to get more speed per unit of work.

I find it tough to front up to the velo on fatigued legs and coerce 50min quality SST out of them. When I have accrued >300TSS on Sunday, my Tuesday legs are still not rearing to go. I find 92-93% FTP pretty tolerable. Any faster and the legs start to scream - trying to suppress 50 minutes of screaming is mentally fatiguing.

Ol & I at Sun Tour Presentation - spotted on SBS Cycling Central  :)

    Duration:      1:29:33
    Work:          978 kJ
    TSS:           106 (intensity factor 0.845)
    VI:            1.21
    Pw:HR:          6.4%
    Pa:HR:          -5.75%
    Distance:      42.866 km
    Temperature:     16    22    18.3     Celsius

Log: 27/09/2011

Detraining (in brief):

There are a number of studies out there that have demonstrated the immediacy of detraining upon cessation of training. Detraining occurs as quickly as 3 days after training ends and within 1-3 weeks, performance can be expected to drop by 25-30%.

The mechanisms behind these fitness losses are equally interesting: In just one week of training, athletes can lose 50% of additional mitochondria produced during 5 weeks of training. Once lost, up to 4 weeks of additional training are needed to regain this mitochondria (Olbrecht, 2000). This 4:1 rule is pretty commonly touted among coaches and seems well supported by the literature.

Similarly, glycogen stores rapidly decrease upon cessation of training, with losses of 40-60% to be expected following 4 weeks of de-training (Wilmore and Costill, 1999). This has direct implications on the athlete’s work tolerance upon resuming training. Even following 1 week of de-training, the athlete will often not reach pre-break training volume until 1 month or more of training resumption. (These words are courtesy of Alan Couzens).


Progress (in brief):

In relation to the above, where used as a rough guide - I should take in the order of 8+ weeks (well, a minimum of 8 weeks) to regain lost fitness. I'm 6 weeks along that journey at present - and interestingly the average output in watts over threshold intervals for each given week has climbed by 2% week on week.

Note - week 1 there was no threshold work, week 2 serves as the baseline, so really it's a measured increase of 2% per week over the last 4 weeks. Average is based on ~two hours of accumulated threshold work within each week. To be more specific - only time during threshold specific intervals contribute - each of these contributing intervals is of a minimum 20min duration.

If the trend continues, then I will have regained the approximated 12-15% loss in another 2-3 weeks. I don't know if this will pan out - as experience has shown that as I get closer to previous performance ceilings, the gains get harder to yield.. Time will tell :)


Back to the Log:

Joe tweeted yesterday "In order to do really hard workouts you must first do really easy workouts. Balance is the key to training."


CTL has still been climbing fairly aggressively and am starting to feel it. Am just at the precipice of where CTL ramp will start to plateau given the average TSS/d sustained week on week. CTL currently 110 and will bring it up to 120 over the next four weeks. The ramp will tail off to +2 CTL per week soon so I hope to be generally a little more fresh and better able to smack down sessions as designed..

Saturday track racing resumes in 2 weeks - can't wait. Timing for the L5+ work (of which there will be plenty) is good, so it fits into the overall scheme of things. Downside is Blacky velo will now be regularly inhabited with ppl holding track dedicated training sessions - sprint or whatever, which means I'll no longer have free reign... Harsh. Really going to have to just get up early and avoid any clashes - which will beat the heat too, so is not all bad..

Club just reported that 130k has been allocated by the council to go toward track repairs, and that work will likely commence post summer.

Should have my Look 595 rebuilt this week. Have really settled into setup of Giant so will need to set up fit of Look to be as close to Giant as possible - at least to start with..

26/09/2011 - Trainer

Super easy 20min on trainer. TSB is way low after last week.


27/09/2011 - Road | Velo

2x20 scheduled for today. Got 5 min into 1st 20 and knew I was flailing around in a pit of fatigue. I generally start the 1st 20 at FTP to gauge where I'm at on the day and then adjust from there. Today I had bad feelings in the legs and decided to wind it back to 92%. Rode out the interval at 92% and then ditched the velo - headed for the road and tapped out the remainder of the session at AeT. Plan says Mid-Week Muntanyes tomorrow - sacrifice intensity today for better quality tomorrow..

Perspective

Disappointing not to have finished Melbourne to Ballarat.

Other mid-season goals obliterated:
Not able to race the Victorian Masters Road Champs the following weekend (major focus).

Missed last rounds (4 & 5) of the Blackburn Cycling Club/Kelly Coaching/Bikes DeVer Endurance Aggregate Series. I was holding an equal 3rd place overall and wanted to consolidate or better this position moving into round 4. Round 3 was very tight in the points race, which was for that round held over 80 laps. My major contender on the night (that was just pipping me in the sprints up to lap 70) faded badly in the last 6-7 laps, and I very nearly lapped him (extra 20 points). I couldn't quite catch this time but I placed 2nd overall (B grade) for the round. I was determined to come back for round 4 and get up for the win. The points race was to be an extra 20 laps (100) in round 4, and I felt I stood a good chance for the win this time with the extra distance to play with.. I haven't gone back to look at the overall since I have missed the last rounds, but safe to say I'm definitely out of the race so to speak.

So there was a week off the bike to heal from Ballarat incident. Week back on the bike limping around with cactus shoulder. Week off the bike with a virus. "Aaargh", form gone. Back to building some base..