Pat

Time for a rest week

I hadn't planned this to be a rest week but sometimes your body decides it's time to rest weather you like it or not. The original plan was to put in some long days in the saddle at a moderate effort, culminating with the “Tour of Park City” super-century on Aug 1^st. After three weeks of big miles, I'd taper off the effort in the two weeks leading up to the Leadville 100 and be rested for race day.

The three weeks on, one week off cycle is simple and straight forward. And it works fairly well for people who work “normal” predictable schedules. My work schedule on the other hand can be sporadic. Some weeks I may be away from home as much as six days in a row, others I may have a string of five or six days off. So models that don't take into account varying work stress (extensive travel and time on an airplane) don't tend to work for me. Traditionally, I've always had to watch for subtle and sometimes illusive signs of “over-training” or burnout.

With a powermeter the signs you need a rest week are much more objective. I'd been doing my long rides at 80 to 85% of my functional threshold or 185 to 200 watts. Last week I put in just under 15 hours with a “norm” power of 185 watts (much of it above 8000 ft). On Wednesday I did a 3:15 ride where I held 180 watts and then Thursday 3:15 at 170 watts. While my perceived effort was still high, my ability to push my goal wattage was falling off steeply. Shaaa-zam! It's time for some rest and recovery. The nice thing is, while in the past I may have been temped to just keep pushing..now I can look at the data and say “lets enjoy a day with the family”, guilt free.

So after some recovery time, the plan from here on in remains similar. I've been splitting my time between my Mtn. bike and Road bike, enjoying the local single-track thoroughly. The PowerTap on the Mtn. Bike has been really helpful keeping my intensity in check as I have a tendency to go either very hard or very easy when I'm off road. And all of the little mechanical issues with my Mtn. Bike have been sorted out along with most of my handling skills starting to come back. So with one more week of big training my body should come around just in time for Leadville.

Next week, the “Tour of Park City” super-century, 170mi

Sounds like fun!

Train Hard and Smart,

Pat

A Happy Birthday

Last week I turned 42, not a milestone birthday by any means, but a big enough event to justify getting my new toy/tool (maybe a little of both). After training with power for the last six months, and seeing huge improvements in my Time Trialing and power, I knew I couldn't go back to just training with heart rate when it came time to get on my Mountain Bike. So after getting my wife's OK, I started shopping for a Mountain Bike PowerTap hub. I was able to just buy the hub and save a little money by using the computer head and accessories I already had. A local bike shop built the hub into a new tubeless rim for me and a few days before my birthday I had my new toy/tool.

So what's it like? Well, the data is very different form the data I'd get from a road bike. In fact, I can see why so many mountain bikers do 70-80% of their training on road bikes. A full 1/3 of my time on the mountain bike is spent at or below 20 watts (coasting) and when the power comes on it goes high! This doesn't come as a complete surprise as I have read all the articles I could get my hands on from Melanie McQuaid and Fascat Coaching on the Saris website. But, I can see how hard it is to maintain a consistent power when you're off road, especially on single-track. I'm also especially conscious about not looking down at the power-meter while trying to navigate some tight turns! The benefit of having a PowerTap on board is the ability to analyze your power requirements, after the ride, so you can go train those systems. And while many people take what they find on their Mountain Bike and try and transfer that over to a road bike, I do have access to venues that can provide long protracted climbs (ski hills) and long endurance rides (rail to trails) where I'll be doing most of my training. After being off my Mountain Bike for so long I really need the time in the saddle if I'm going to ride the Leadville 100 and my new PowerTap Disc Mountain Bike wheel lets me do that.

Train Hard and Smart,

Pat