Where do the weekends go? It is truly amazing how fast they go! Saturday I started the day out right, with a ride with a good friend (Ryan). It was cool (@40 degrees and wet), and believe it or not, I did over dress a bit. I had on some embrocation jersey and a jacket, bottom half I had just leg warmers on. We rode up to Greenbush and then over to Plymouth where we got a quick bite and I stripped off by legwarmers. We were both on a bit of a time crunch so I had to push the pace a bit on the way back. I rode just under 70 miles and was pretty much finished after the ride. No break after I got home though.
As soon as I got changed into some dry clothes I had to go to the store to get some fertilizer for my yard and get that laid down, before more rain moved in. That got finished and then I had to make some Lemon Bars for a block party that we were suppose to have, but was cancelled due to the weather. Which I managed to fail according to my wife's standards. I didn't use the right pan and I laid the crust wrong. WTF! You are welcome by the way! HA HA. They tasted really good and didn't make it through the weekend, so I couldn't have messed it up that bad. So, since our party was cancelled, Tammy and I did some laundry went shopping and watched a movie.
Sunday, I opted to ride in my basement since the weather was very unpleasant. I got started and then my wife joined me 10 minutes later. I didn't ride as long as I wanted to but, it was a good ride. There will be plenty of time to ride in the basement, no need to start by drilling it in the basement yet. After the ride it was time to get ready for the Breweres game. We met at my sister-in-laws place and then went to Cache 22, had lunch and then went to the game. Good game, they won, and then back to my sister-in-law's place to finish watching the Packers. Went home right after the game, ate supper watched a little TV and then bed.
Another weekend come and gone! It was a great weekend, just to short.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Friday, September 23, 2011
On the Rise
My training is going well. This month I have tested different zones to see where I am at strength/weaknesses. For being a Cat. 3 racer all my power zones 5 sec., 1 min., 5 min., and 20 min F.T. the program says that I am a strong Cat. 4 racer. WOW, that is like a kick in the balls, that will put a person into perspective if they/me are feeling strong.
Anyways, I did a 20 min. F.T. (functional threshold) test last night and by the way the last one I did was at the end of March. My training this week lead up to this meaning that Monday was off, Tuesday I did a little warm up for the test and Wed. I did a short workout keeping the legs fresh and ready to work. So, with the prior workouts I didn't have a very good feeling about my test, felt weak or well at least felt that I wasn't going to be as strong as I was in March.
I did my little warm up before doing the test and I still really wasn't feeling it. I am still practicing the pacing of this workout, which can make or break you. The first 5 min. I started 15 watts lower than what I thought I could hold for the whole this. The next 5 min. I ramped it up just a little and did it again the next 5 min. and then the last 5 min. I went even harder all the way to the end time. These workouts are very hard physically and mentally. Wow, that was tough, but WOW I beat my power, new high for me this year.
My power didn't go up a lot, went up 8 watts, but in my mind up is always a good thing. I know it is the end of the year for me and I don't have any races in the near future, so I need to watch myself not to over train at all and give myself a break.
How am I doing this? By using my Training Peaks Software and watching my TSS (train stress score). I am very new at this program and am still learning how to use it and having it make sense to me is even more of a challenge.
So, with this software I download my workout and then I can analyze just about everything in my workout. I compared this FT test to March's and what I did notice was in March I jacked my HR up and held it there. This time it was on the rise the whole way and never maxing out. What does that mean? Not sure, but if I were to guess, I would think I could have gone a little harder. My avg. hr for this time was @ 10 beats lower than March's. My cadence was high this time, which makes sense, because I have been conscious about working on upping my cadence, and my power was up, so all in all, I will call this a win in my training. I am hoping to rise my F.T. through out the winter with out over training and only time will tell how this work out for me.
Anyways, I did a 20 min. F.T. (functional threshold) test last night and by the way the last one I did was at the end of March. My training this week lead up to this meaning that Monday was off, Tuesday I did a little warm up for the test and Wed. I did a short workout keeping the legs fresh and ready to work. So, with the prior workouts I didn't have a very good feeling about my test, felt weak or well at least felt that I wasn't going to be as strong as I was in March.
I did my little warm up before doing the test and I still really wasn't feeling it. I am still practicing the pacing of this workout, which can make or break you. The first 5 min. I started 15 watts lower than what I thought I could hold for the whole this. The next 5 min. I ramped it up just a little and did it again the next 5 min. and then the last 5 min. I went even harder all the way to the end time. These workouts are very hard physically and mentally. Wow, that was tough, but WOW I beat my power, new high for me this year.
My power didn't go up a lot, went up 8 watts, but in my mind up is always a good thing. I know it is the end of the year for me and I don't have any races in the near future, so I need to watch myself not to over train at all and give myself a break.
How am I doing this? By using my Training Peaks Software and watching my TSS (train stress score). I am very new at this program and am still learning how to use it and having it make sense to me is even more of a challenge.
So, with this software I download my workout and then I can analyze just about everything in my workout. I compared this FT test to March's and what I did notice was in March I jacked my HR up and held it there. This time it was on the rise the whole way and never maxing out. What does that mean? Not sure, but if I were to guess, I would think I could have gone a little harder. My avg. hr for this time was @ 10 beats lower than March's. My cadence was high this time, which makes sense, because I have been conscious about working on upping my cadence, and my power was up, so all in all, I will call this a win in my training. I am hoping to rise my F.T. through out the winter with out over training and only time will tell how this work out for me.
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