Pat

The Next Step

Leadville was the last event I had scheduled for 2009 and now that it’s over the question is, “where does my training go from here, what’s my next step?”

Over the last couple of weeks I had a chance to sit down and reflect on 2009 and do some goal setting for 2010. I really enjoyed my focused bike training for the State TT and felt I made great progress. My training for Leadville was less focused and I floundered a bit. I’d like to take that same focused, power based, training I had for the TT and turn it towards being a competitive Cat4 Road bike racer and maybe even start picking up some upgrade points by the end of the 2010 season.  Of course, if I have the training time available, I want to go back to Leadville and kick some butt there too!  The problem is, training for the 2010 season here in Utah won’t really start till December and that’s 13 weeks away, so what do I do in the interim?

I mentioned in my Leadville postmortem that I had been reading Chris Carmichael’s new book “The Time Crunched Cyclist”. It’s a great book for cyclists like me who find themselves on extremely tight schedules, but still want to ride competitively. The book has an eight week power based training program that is designed to bring you to peak fitness for 4 to 8 weeks of racing. According to the book, the program increased the CTS athletes Threshold Power by more than 10% over the eight week program and they were able to maintain that fitness for several weeks of racing. If the program works for me, that would be exactly what I’m looking for. But, before I base my whole 2010 season on a training program, it’s probably a good idea to make sure it will actually work for me.

So, there’s my next eight weeks. In the next couple of days I’ll do some testing to establish a baseline and figure out my current power levels. While I won’t post the training plan, that belongs to Chris Carmichael and CTS, I’ll try and post my weekly progress along with my before and after power numbers.

Train Hard and Smart,

Pat

Leadville- Looking Back, Looking forward

It's been a week since Leadville and I think it's important to look back at the race and what I could have done different on the day, along with how my training should change in order to have a better race next year.

Looking Back-

-Position- I talked about this in my last blog, but I think the number one thing I could have done to improve my race day is better positioning in the pack at the start. Having a little open trail in front of me and not being stuck in a three wide pack could have made a huge difference in my day. It's not a mistake I'll make again.

-Equipment Maintenance and Setup- The bike I rode was a great choice for Leadville (Giant NRS) it climbed and descended well and maybe the only better choice would have been a Hardtail 29er. However, both the bike setup (handlebar height & cockpit length) and brakes fluid hadn't been changed since 2001. I'm a very different rider than I was back then and getting a professional fit could have made a long day on the bike a little more comfortable and a lot more efficient. As far as the brakes go, I should have had the fluid changed and I knew it. On the descent from Columbine I overheated both the front and rear brakes, fortunately not both at the same time. It ended up making a really fast enjoyable descent, quite slow and nerve racking. Because I was so late getting to Twin lakes the first time neither of these things really effected my day. But, If I had gotten there 15-20 minutes earlier, either of these mistakes really had the potential to mess things up.

Looking Forward-

-Base Training- The biggest training change I can make is to build a base in the winter. This year my training was focused on The Utah State Time Trial which only lasted 45 minutes or so and didn't require any real base building.

-Ride Off road- I need to spend more time on the Mountain Bike stating earlier in the year. This year I only spent 22 hours and 175 miles on my mountain bike, 8 hours and 65 miles of that were race day! Time on the mountain bike is the only ways to hone the handling skills I need to ride smoothly off road.

-Strength Training- I need to do some upper body and core strength training. Building a big engine with a power based training plan is great for riding up big hills, but you still need the upper body and core strength to get by the technical sections of the trail smoothly.

-Loose weight and Improve Functional Threshold- It's no mistake that my friend Thor was able to ride around the pack and get clear up front. He was able to use his power and handling skills (see the previous points) to get clear of the mire and overcome the mistake we made in positioning at the start. To improve my power to weight ratio from 2.7w/kg (watts per kilo) to Thor's 3.7w/kg is, at very least, a two year proposition. But, I do have 10kg that I can loose (in the off season) and if I can improve my Threshold by another 10% by next year I'll be close to 3.4w/kg, which is a great start.

Now all I have to do is put together a training plan that will address all those points....

...And of course do the training! Stay tuned, that's next.

Train Hard and Smart

Pat

Leadville Trail 100- an alternate viewpoint

Saturday was the Leadville Trail 100 Mountain Bike Race and all I can say is “WOW”! 1400+ dripping wet, mud covered, grunting, grinning and exhausted Mountain Bikers all pedaling their hearts out.

Three days ago I knew exactly what I was going to write here and how I felt about my Leadville result, but now I'm not so sure.  You see, I DNF-ed and I was OK with that....at first.  Let me give a quick race report and some power numbers and then I can explain my uneasiness with how I feel about the result.

My buddy Thor (yeah that's the name on his birth certificate) and I decided to do this race as a “just finish under 12 hours” type of ride. Thor is a Cat 3 racer from Colorado who also started training with a PowerTap this year (and collecting upgrade points to move up to Cat 2).  His background is in 24 hour solo Mountain Bike racing and he's done a number of 100+mi MTB races, so he has all the tools to really do well in Leadville.

The gun went off at 6:30 and three minutes later Thor and I crossed the Start line at about 2mph. It was frustratingly slow! The first few miles of the race are on a paved road and it was very much like working your way to the front of a crit. Thor and I moved up a 100 riders or so before the road turned to double track and we were stuck riding 3 wide with no way to move up. At 6 miles or so the first real climb started and it was a mess! The rain had made the normally hard packed road soft and the rocks slick, people were falling right and left causing pile ups because there was nowhere to go.  Some riders decided to just walk their bikes along the side of the trail and stay out of the mayhem. Thor has awesome bike handling skills and was able to ride on the side of the trail and bypass the mire I was stuck in. He ended up waiting at the 11mi aid station for 15 minutes, but realized riding together was no longer an option and turned his sights towards a 9 hour finish. When I got to the aid station things started to thin out but the descent was almost as frustrating as the climb as I repeatedly got stuck behind riders on hard-tails who were descending “cautiously” and by now I was starting to worry about when I would get to the bottom of the climb to Columbine Mine.

I reached the bottom of Pipeline at 2:53 into the ride and in 1095 place. Thor on the other hand had passed 500+ riders (532^nd place) and was a full 30 minutes ahead of me at that point. Up to that point, despite being stuck in traffic, my power had been right on target, 180w (norm).  It took me just over an hour to go from the bottom of Pipeline to the Twin Lakes rest stop, just making the 4:00 cutoff time. But, by that time my race was finished.  My ability to make power had dropped significantly, just as it had in the Tour de Park City. The only difference being, I wasn't bonking (I don't think) I was happy, well fueled, my heart rate was normal, I just couldn't make more than 150w and that wasn't going to cut it in Leadville.  I've been reading Chris Carmichael's new book “The Time Crunched Cyclist” and his assertion is that training 6 hours per week can take you far, but the limit to your endurance is at about 3 hours.  This makes sense to me as on both my ultra long rides I died at 3 to 3.5 hours.  The difference being in the TdePC 140-150w could get me up the 6% grade to Bald Mtn. but not up the 9%, 3000ft climb to Columbine.  So I rode when I could and walked when I couldn't and I made it to the 12,700ft summit of the climb. I knew when I got back to the Twin Lakes aide station they would take my chip. But as long as I still had it, I was going to keep going. A little after 8 hours into the race I got back to Twin Lakes and gave up my chip.

At first, I was OK with the DNF. My inability to finish under the cutoff time was simply a factor of my limited ability to train. It wasn't a reflection on me or my giving up.  I had trained as much and as hard as I could and had gone till they made me stop. I was content with the result. Then after a few days reflection, I started to wonder what would have happened if we had arrived earlier and started further forward in the pack? If I had arrived at Twin Lakes at 3:30 my whole day would have changed.  Even pushing my bike up the climb I could have made the cutoff time easily and then finished the race sub 12 hours, certainly sub 13. Or am I kidding myself?  Who knows?  I do know I'll be back! Maybe next year, maybe after the girls are in school and my training time opens up a little.  But I'll be back!

How did Thor do? 9:45! He ended up 263^rd overall, passing close to 1000 riders.  If he had started closer to the front I have no doubt he would have been sub 9 hours. Oh and by the way, to get to Thor's power to weight ratio I need to increase my threshold by 50 watts and loose 10kg, something to shoot for if I want to finish sub 9 hours next time.

 

Train Hard and Smart

Pat

One Last Hurrah

Once again all the training is done, Leadville is a week away and no matter how much I want to go out a put in a bunch of last chance miles, it wont help. Since my training changed from focusing on the State TT to putting in long miles for Leadville, eight weeks ago, I've racked up 59+ hrs and 900+ miles. Admittedly, that's not as much as I would have liked, but probably more than enough to do the job.

Last week I finished off my training with the Tour de Park City. It's a 175mi ride from Park City, Utah to Evenston, Wyoming and back via Bald Mountain. The total climb is +/- 8000ft with the peak being 10,759 at the 125 mile point. It's no Leadville, but it's an epic ride in it's own right. I was interested to see how my body reacted to the long hours in the saddle and what kind of power I was able to hold for a 10+ hour ride. Unfortunately, I neglected my food intake and only took in about 300 calories in the first 4 hours (it was cold and I didn't drink my bottles, yeah I know...). By the time I started getting calories in it was too late, I was doomed to a very long day of suffering through a bonk. During the 50 mile climb from Evenston to the top of Bald Mtn. I thought of every possible rational for getting in the sag-wagon and in fact questioned why on earth I had paid someone to let me suffer this way! But in the end, I'm a cyclist and I just kept turning the pedals over till I got to the summit. And what a glorious descent down mirror lake Hwy!

In the end I did get some good information. I know, no matter what happens at Leadville, I can do the distance (I do plan on eating though). I did find that for the first 4 hours of the ride, pre-bonk, I was averaging right around 175w and even when I was suffering my worst I could put out 140-150w. My “norm” power ended up being 157w for 11:17 which I'm really quite happy with. Over the next couple of days I'll take the data I got from this ride and put together a pacing, and eating, strategy for next weekend.

That's it for now.

Train Hard and Smart (and don't forget to eat!)

Pat