Tough Weekend

Well, all I have to say about Saturday's race is that it sucked. I know I have a lot of work to do now ahead of next season. Hopefully I can make the commitment in the off-season and next year to be able to not only stay with the M1/2/3s, but also to compete for victories. That's the plan now, I'm already laying out my 2008 training program.
As for the rest of the weekend, I did the Cream City Century yesterday, starting with my dad and my friend Dave. My dad peeled off and ended up doing the 62 mile route and Dave and I continued on and finished the century. I felt really good throughout and in spite of doing 100 miles I think I actually gained weight. I bet I had a total of 20 cookies, 3 brownies, 3 sandwiches, 2 bananas, 2 oranges, and 5 bottles of Gatorade and 4 bottles of water. Oh yeah, and afterwards I had spaghetti, garlic bread, salad, and a soda. I'm not sure of my calorie expenditure, but I sure did have a large caloric intake. The weather was perfect, there were quite a few riders out there and Dave and I had a good time rolling along on the roads around Waterford, East Troy, Elkhorn, and Whitewater. I thought when I got home that I'd be taking a nap since I was up at 6:00, but I ended up doing some grocery shopping with the family, cooking up some baby back ribs on the grill, and drinking 2 Harps which was a perfect ending to the night. I feel great today and will be taking a rest day on the bike and then will be riding through the rest of the week, with the only semi-competitive ride being the Doc ride on Saturday. Well, that's about it for now....until next time....

Sweat, Sweat, And More Sweat...

Sweating was the order of the day on my ride as the high humidity combined with some intervals made me look like I had a water hook-up attached to my head. The weather finally broke this evening and as soon as I got home from work I jumped on the bike and headed out to Muskego Park. I did two intervals on the way to Muskego Park, 9 minutes each at 92% and then I did one interval at the park. I was already down one water bottle by the time I got to the park as I was completely soaked after about 30 minutes of riding and was not only slamming the water but pouring it over my head, Landis style. It was a bit chilly though and after the 2nd dumping I was starting to feel chilled as I started the ride with just the short sleeve jersey and shorts. The interval at Muskego Park warmed me up pretty quickly though and as I was finishing up my last 2 minutes or so I saw a familiar face going the other way in the park but I had to complete my interval so I kept on going. After I finished my lap I cooled down a bit in the parking lot and around the corner came the other rider and it turns out it was Brandon Krawcyzk. For those that don't know Brandon he is a rider that very shortly will be a rider that everyone in this area at least and maybe even on a regional or national level will be talking about as he has some great natural talent. He kicked butt in the 3's last year and from what I've heard talking to some teammates and other riders that trained with him earlier this year, he's got a lot of potential beyond what he's already accomplished. So anyways, I've heard a lot about Brandon but never met him until tonight and it was a pleasure meeting him, we even got a chance to ride together for about 4 to 5 miles and talk for a little bit......well, he talked, I did a lot of deep breathing trying to keep up. After we separated I did another short loop around the New Berlin area and ended up with 2 hours on the night. I feel really good right now and during my intervals I was really able to ramp up the speed without some of the discomfort that I had even just last week. I think last week my legs were shocked at being put back on the bike and told to go fast but I've acclimatized pretty quickly and the legs at least are nearly back to full power, now if my lungs would just cooperate as my breathing is a little heavier than it used to be. I need to get some more endurance rides in to help build up my aerobic ability again. I could tell that even though I was feeling decent today during my intervals, that 9 minutes was about my max, if I had to go 10 to 11 minutes, my power would have decreased dramatically as I was feeling the acid build up right about the time I was finishing each interval and the lungs were really starting to burn. Soooo, having said that, I think that I'm going to be o.k. on Saturday for my first 1/2/3 Masters race this year and I should be able to hang in the pack. Anything else is out of the question, but I think staying with the pack is definitely doable. Well, tomorrow will be a fairly normal endurance pace ride, Thursday I'll be off work so I'm heading to Burlington to do a group ride with my dad and his friends and I'll make it difficult without dropping them hopefully, and then Friday will be a short ride with a couple of sprints to open the legs for Saturday. Well, that's it for now....until next time........

Visit Brandon here: www.poppedofftheback.blogspot.com

Rain, Rain, and More Rain....

...and unfortunately that meant that I didn't get to ride as much as wanted today. I watched the radar most of the morning and when I saw a break in the precipitation I decided to head out and get in as much riding as I could before the rains came down again. Well, unfortunately the rain didn't hold out long as I got about 40 minutes from home and then it started coming down again, not too heavy, but heavy enough to make me decide to turn around and go home. So basically I got in over an hour but no where near what I wanted to do today, and it doesn't look like I'll get in a lot of riding tomorrow either. I may have to resort to riding the trainer tomorrow, which sucks to do in August, but with my first and only 1/2/3 race on Saturday, I have to get in a bit of riding before then. I'm really out of shape right now but I did do the Drop The Doc ride yesterday and had no problem hanging in with the group and I actually feel really good today, no soreness or anything. Next Saturday will be faster than the 24.5 mph average we did yesterday so I'm not really putting much credo in to how I felt yesterday because that won't mean much for the race. Either way, I feel I'm in good enough shape anyways to hang with the group next week, even if it is at the back, I'd be happy with that in my first race in 8 weeks. Well, it's getting late, time for bed....until next time.......

Coming Along.....

So far the training is coming along just fine, I'm super motivated and last night was another difficult ride as I did a race simulation of 50 minutes after a 15 minute warm-up. Basically I picked a route around my neighborhood that was of similar profile to next Saturday's WCA race and did that at a speed as close to race pace that I could maintain. My course was a bit longer, 1.55 miles, and it was difficult as I had one good 60ft. hill in the route and near the end I was struggling a bit to maintain my speed. I could tell that my lack of long distance aerobic work was showing as I couldn't have maintained any sort of speed for much longer than I did, 50 minutes was basically my max time limit. I think that overall I was not a whole lot off of what I was 8-10 weeks ago but I can't maintain my speed for nearly as long, that's the major difference. Power-wise I think I'm o.k., I can big ring anything short of a super steep grade and last night I was maintaining speeds around 30 on the flats, 21 on the hill. Well, until the end, then my hill climb was around 17 the last 2 laps, I was dying. So, I guess that's my hope for next Saturday, maybe I won't die until the end and then maybe adrenaline will carry me over the hill the last two laps, last night I had nothing to push me. The plan for training is that I'm skipping riding tonight, which has been my plan since last week as I have a b-day party to go to, and then I resume again tomorrow. Tomorrow will be a 2.5 hour ride because that's all the daylight I'll have, and then Saturday morning I will do the Drop The Doc ride assuming it isn't raining like they are saying it's supposed to. Sunday will be a 3 to 3.5 hour ride and then I'll ride Monday through Friday ahead of Saturday's race. Basically I'll work on some speedwork and hill sprints the first 2 days next week and then just do a few normal rides on Thursday and Friday. Well, that's about it for now, until next time.....

Intervals?? WTF??

Whose idea was it to do intervals last night? Oh wait, it was mine, that's just crazy. So after only 4 straight days of riding I decided that I must be in good enough shape to do intervals last night on my 5th ride. I started by doing SteadyStates at 92% and as I got in to a rhythm I thought that I was doing alright and that maybe I didn't lose that much fitness after all those weeks of sitting on my ass. Well, it only took about 2 minutes of doing what was going to be a 7-minute interval to realize that I was sucking as bad as Britney Spears' parenting skills. I had the frothy-mouthed look of a rabid dog after about 5 minutes and by the 7th minute I was in a lactic haze that had me contemplating the argument of whether I'd rather eat myself out of a vat of hot wings, barbecued ribs, or pizza......the ribs won out. That was rep number one.....The second rep started after a short 3.5 minute break as I was doing 2-to-1 intervals..... I took off with a gusto thinking to myself "What Would Jesus Do?", he would start this interval with a sprint, I will too.....I promptly threw up in my mouth. "ok, maybe I'll just start slow and build up to speed"......7 minutes later I was down to just my socks because my mind said it was too muggy to be wearing these stupid biking clothes.....well, not really, but I had to convince myself to keep all my clothes on as I sweated buckets. Rep number two...finito. Max HR - 265, no lie. As I started rep number 3 I thought, this is it, let's finish strong, and to help me keep up the pace 2 riders turned on to my road from a side road just as I passed the intersection and I knew that they would probably start a little paceline to try to reel me in. Ok then, I'll just pick it up and blow them away...they have no clue...I'm a freakin' racer, I shave my legs dangit, I ride with the vengeance of someone who sits in a cubicle all day...they don't know who they are messing with. I crank it up and settle in, but they seem to be gaining, unbelievable. Alright, crank it up more. Look back under my arm to be discreet, they are still gaining....What the hell!!?? Is that freakin' Lance and Levi behind me, maybe it's a couple of Pros up for the USPRO crit that are taking a long ride from Downers Grove....maybe it's Andy and Scott, yeah, that's gotta be it cause these two are flying.....it's on like Donkey Kong now. Head down, deep breathing, in through my nose, out through my mouth, HR is 305 now, no problem. Shiiite, I can hear the sound of their bikes now...getting closer, great now I hear their shallow breathing right behind me....crap, getting passed.....don't look, save some pride, hold your breath so it looks like you aren't working, maybe they'll just go right by......What? They want to say hello....why is she smiling like that? Is he riding a single speed? Is that a basket???? "Yeah, ma'am, it is a nice day to get some groceries with your bike". "Oh, you're cooking a special dinner for your 50th wedding anniversary tonight, greaaaat". "Ok then, yes I will enjoy the rest of my ride...." I throw up in my mouth again. HR is 410. 3rd and final interval done....average speed for all 3 intervals....15.6mph. You all better watch out next Saturday, here I come.......
The preceding was a dramatization based on actual events, some facts have been changed to make the story more enjoyable. I fibbed on some of the stats to convey the difficulty of my intervals, obviously I can't go 15.6 mph quite yet...the rest is all true. Until next time...........

Riding And Feeling Alright

I've been riding the last few days, 4 straight to be exact and have felt pretty darn good. Considering that I rode only like 6 times in the last month before this past week, I'm happy to have done 4 rides in a row. I'll be riding every day this week except for Thursday, and will ride every day next week up until the Chiro Crit on the 25th. I guess for now the plan is to do the race, but that could change. I changed my mind after jumping on the bike for 2-2.5 hours the last 4 days and although I didn't really try any crazy repeated hard efforts I was still able to average 20mph for the most part by myself, although yesterday was a little windy and I could tell I was getting tired so I turned it down a notch and averaged only 18.6. Tonight I'll be doing about 2 hours again but I'll take it easy as I'm planning on doing intervals tomorrow and Wednesday so I want to be rested up. I know that the anaerobic stuff will be hard to get back in two weeks but I don't really have a choice so I'll do as much as I can up until the race and will just have to suffer with whatever shape I'm in by then. I'm going to do SteadyState type intervals this week and then next week I'll do some SpeedIntervals and PowerIntervals. Obviously two weeks of intervals will do nothing to help get me in shape for the race, but it's better than not doing any at all. After the Chiro race on the 25th, the plan is to then keep training and do the Fort Atkinson Wisport race on the 8th of September. It's a 100K race, and I'm sure there will be a lot of fast guys there, should be a good challenge. I'll also be doing at least one century, the Cream City ride, and maybe one or two more centuries on my own in the next month or so just to get the miles in. Let's see, what else, oh, I've dropped 5 lbs. of the weight I gained this past month, I went from 178 to 188 in a month, but I'm now down to a consistent 183 after cutting back on the food the past two weeks and getting back to being active around the house and on the bike. I'm guessing I can be back down to 178 by the time the Fort race rolls around. Other than that, my boss is back to work after 3 weeks, so I'm no longer feeling the stress of handling everything at work, which is obviously a huge burden off my shoulders, I was happier today than anytime in the last 3 weeks. Well, that's it for now....until next time......

Rec Rider

That's me right now, just a rec rider....if that. I haven't touched the bike in about 9 or 10 days and only rode 6 times in the previous two weeks before that. I've gained 10lbs at least, so yeah, right now I'm about as fast as a rec rider. I guess I just lost the motivation after the State Crit Championship, partially because I knew I wasn't doing SuperWeek and also because the next WCA race isn't until August 25th, a whole 8 weeks from the previous WCA race. I figured I'd use some of that time to cut back on training to get things done around the house, go to Brewer games, eat brats and drink beer. Well I did all that and cut back SO much on training that I didn't train at all. Now with the next race 3 weeks away I'm doubting that I will be doing it since I still haven't found the motivation to train as of yet. It would be my first race in the Masters 1/2/3 category and I would instantly get popped off the back if I did the race in the shape I am in now. I guess in the back of my mind I've already resigned myself to the fact that I might as well just be getting ready for next year since this year is pretty much over for me. I'm sure I haven't lost motivation to quit cycling completely but obviously something just isn't striking me right now that would make riding my bike appealing on any given night. I get home after a long day at work and it just seems like the last thing I want to do so I usually eat and lay down. Somehow, somewhere I need to find that motivation again. Not sure how though.....oh well. I certainly ain't feeling sorry for myself, I've been able to get a lot done around the house, I've become pretty proficient at my other hobby, playing electric guitar, and I've also been able to spend some quality time with the family before they go back to school (both the wife and the kid). Other than that, our team ran the WI State TT and that went off without a hitch, everyone on the team did a great job helping out, and as much work as it was I don't think I'd mind doing it again next year, but we'll see, I may change my mind yet. Anyways, that's it for now, not sure if anyone is reading this anymore........until next time....