Today was an 'official' training day, I have decided my first race will be Wednesday, so I ran a few training drills today. Two sprint sets and I had thought to do 3 x 3 minute Vo2 intervals but changed it on the road to 4 x 2 minutes Vo2's so as to not go too deep, V02's are basically max power for the 2 minutes keeping the rpm's up to make the heart peak out at maximum as well.
I opted to do the intervals up by one of the canals by Dendermonde and the only way to get there that I am sure of is to skirt the industrial area of Aalst which isn't that nice so I thought I would try and do it 'cross country' keeping away from the city. To my surprise I managed it, unlike yesterday when I went round in circles so I was pleased with that, did my intervals then came back a different way. I must admit coming back I didn't finish up exactly where I had anticipated but I at least finished up somewhere that I knew which must be an improvement.
The sprint sets were OK but not special which was a little disappointing but the V02's were good, power was right up where I expected it and I felt like I could go higher if I had to, save that for racing.
I suspect that I might struggle in the early races because I think I am under raced this year, although I've done some good races I think my racing schedule has been to light. A deliberate decision to avoid the travel so I might pay for it in the first races, I have the power but think that the continuous peak efforts in the style of racing in Belgium will be difficult until my legs get used to it, still thats part of the challenge and I will enjoy the racing anyway.
I know I'm not going as well as the last time I was here when I wasn't out of the 'money' in any race I did (except the champs when I punctured!!!), but if the weather holds, today a very pleasant 24c, light winds, I'm going to enjoy it anyway.
Monday, July 4, 2011
Sunday, July 3, 2011
First day started at last
Hopefully I've got my major 'whoopsy' out of the way. I managed to pack everything except my powerlead adaptor, without which I couldn't charge my PC, my phone my SRM etc. therefore no communications!!!! Duh!
I tried the two big electrical stores in the nearest big town of Aalst without any luck so I fgured I was down to a choice of one location, a major international airport. I remember Brussels and its airport from my working days, difficult to negotiate and crowded, so I knew I wasn't up to that on Saturday while I was short on sleep and jet lagged so I went to bed instead, 11 hours sleep and I certainly felt a lot better. So I went this morning at 8.30 after my breakfast thinking it would be quieter early in the day. The roads where OK, short term airport parking was OK but the airport itself was a zoo! but then July 1st is the start of the holiday season here and it showed.
Airport stores where not in abundant supply but I managed to find a store with a selection of plug adaptors, three of the sort I needed, so I bought two and hightailed it out of there as quickly as I could. At least I am on the 'air' now.
My trip was OK, but then I fly business class to make it as painless as possible but even then they tried to charge me for my bike as excess baggage. Since my baggage allowance was 35kg and I was only 3 kg overweight a short conversation ensued which resulted in commonsense prevailing, no excess charges.
The first day is always tiring, I actually arrived in Schiphol Amsterdam at 6am, I was expecting 7am, fortunately the Hertz desk was open, most of the competition didn't open until later. My car got upgraded to a sporty 6 speed manual box Renault, having spent the last 8 years driving automatic boxes, that certainly gets your attention early in the morning and jet lagged I can tell you but I was soon enjoying using the gear stick and clutch again, not exactly my Porsche Carrera of old but enjoyable nonetheless.
The 2 1/2 hour drive from Amsterdam is easy enough, after stopping off at the big big bike shop in Aalst for a few essentials that were not worth bringing, a stop at the greengrocers, where the lady remembered me from the last trip which was nice, picked up some fruit supplies, finally a stop at the super market for a few healthy snacks and I was ready to check in to my hotel.
Saturday afternoon I was a bit of a zombie, just trying to stay awake. I got all my stuff out of the car, my baggage, bike and my shopping. Unpacked and rebuilt my bike, had a welcome shower and lay on the bed to watch stage one of the tour which was showing on four different channels I think it its entirety, mistake, right from the off I was struggling to stay awake. It had beem my intention to try and stay awake until around 8pm then get a good sleep. I wa asleep before 6pm and finally got up about 6.30am feeling a whole heap better I can tell you.
So after a quick trip to Brussels Zaventem airport I wanted to do 3 hours just turning the legs over. As it was I was feeling quite frisky for the first hour or so and pushed on quite hard, especially up some of the rolling hills, the power numbers where promising I felt. The middle hour I was on road that I didn't know where I was, basically 'winging'it, just when I thought I should resort to the map in my pocket I suddenly realised I was on a road I knew well but going the wrong way! I had managed to ride a complete circle despite trying to ride a straight line. I always consider I have a really good sense of direction but the winding lanes of Belgium really threw me out, hopefully I'll get better as the weeks roll on. The trouble is that I can't remember all the village names, or at least can't remember them in context and frequently the theme of signs that I was following just stopped.
Still I got my 3 hours in, the weather was sunny and back in time for the tour TTT so its all good.
I tried the two big electrical stores in the nearest big town of Aalst without any luck so I fgured I was down to a choice of one location, a major international airport. I remember Brussels and its airport from my working days, difficult to negotiate and crowded, so I knew I wasn't up to that on Saturday while I was short on sleep and jet lagged so I went to bed instead, 11 hours sleep and I certainly felt a lot better. So I went this morning at 8.30 after my breakfast thinking it would be quieter early in the day. The roads where OK, short term airport parking was OK but the airport itself was a zoo! but then July 1st is the start of the holiday season here and it showed.
Airport stores where not in abundant supply but I managed to find a store with a selection of plug adaptors, three of the sort I needed, so I bought two and hightailed it out of there as quickly as I could. At least I am on the 'air' now.
My trip was OK, but then I fly business class to make it as painless as possible but even then they tried to charge me for my bike as excess baggage. Since my baggage allowance was 35kg and I was only 3 kg overweight a short conversation ensued which resulted in commonsense prevailing, no excess charges.
The first day is always tiring, I actually arrived in Schiphol Amsterdam at 6am, I was expecting 7am, fortunately the Hertz desk was open, most of the competition didn't open until later. My car got upgraded to a sporty 6 speed manual box Renault, having spent the last 8 years driving automatic boxes, that certainly gets your attention early in the morning and jet lagged I can tell you but I was soon enjoying using the gear stick and clutch again, not exactly my Porsche Carrera of old but enjoyable nonetheless.
The 2 1/2 hour drive from Amsterdam is easy enough, after stopping off at the big big bike shop in Aalst for a few essentials that were not worth bringing, a stop at the greengrocers, where the lady remembered me from the last trip which was nice, picked up some fruit supplies, finally a stop at the super market for a few healthy snacks and I was ready to check in to my hotel.
Saturday afternoon I was a bit of a zombie, just trying to stay awake. I got all my stuff out of the car, my baggage, bike and my shopping. Unpacked and rebuilt my bike, had a welcome shower and lay on the bed to watch stage one of the tour which was showing on four different channels I think it its entirety, mistake, right from the off I was struggling to stay awake. It had beem my intention to try and stay awake until around 8pm then get a good sleep. I wa asleep before 6pm and finally got up about 6.30am feeling a whole heap better I can tell you.
So after a quick trip to Brussels Zaventem airport I wanted to do 3 hours just turning the legs over. As it was I was feeling quite frisky for the first hour or so and pushed on quite hard, especially up some of the rolling hills, the power numbers where promising I felt. The middle hour I was on road that I didn't know where I was, basically 'winging'it, just when I thought I should resort to the map in my pocket I suddenly realised I was on a road I knew well but going the wrong way! I had managed to ride a complete circle despite trying to ride a straight line. I always consider I have a really good sense of direction but the winding lanes of Belgium really threw me out, hopefully I'll get better as the weeks roll on. The trouble is that I can't remember all the village names, or at least can't remember them in context and frequently the theme of signs that I was following just stopped.
Still I got my 3 hours in, the weather was sunny and back in time for the tour TTT so its all good.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
Penultimate days training
Today was V02 intervals, despite being a brilliant sunny day it was very cold, so not wanting to force cold air into my lungs a few days before leaving for my trip and the fact that earlier in the year I decided that I wouldn't do more than two consecutive weeks of quality work without a backing off for a recovery week before pressing on.
Knowing that I would lose two days of riding in the journey it is tempting to keep hammering right up to flight time, however I reason that journey will be hard enough without my body trying to recover from a hard week of training as well, in anycase particularly the last week was very pleasing so no point in pushing over the top now.
So I reduced the workload to 2 x 3 mins, 3 x 2 mins and 4 x 1 mins, upping the power as the interval time reduced and keeping the rpm right up to force up the heart rate, job done and power and heartrate just where I expected them to be. Next week will let me know whether it is good enough!
Tomorrow I will do half a sprint session and on Thursday just a couple of hours easy endurance, hopefully that way I will cruise through the flights on Fri/Sat.
My bike is ready, new chain, new cassette, new cables, new brake blocks and of course new tape. I will ride it the next couple of days to make sure everything is as I expect, then final adjustments, a clean and polish on Thursday before I pull it apart to pack in the hardshell case that although cumbersome in the airport has done a sterling job in getting my bikes through many journeys unscathed, hope this one is the same.
Knowing that I would lose two days of riding in the journey it is tempting to keep hammering right up to flight time, however I reason that journey will be hard enough without my body trying to recover from a hard week of training as well, in anycase particularly the last week was very pleasing so no point in pushing over the top now.
So I reduced the workload to 2 x 3 mins, 3 x 2 mins and 4 x 1 mins, upping the power as the interval time reduced and keeping the rpm right up to force up the heart rate, job done and power and heartrate just where I expected them to be. Next week will let me know whether it is good enough!
Tomorrow I will do half a sprint session and on Thursday just a couple of hours easy endurance, hopefully that way I will cruise through the flights on Fri/Sat.
My bike is ready, new chain, new cassette, new cables, new brake blocks and of course new tape. I will ride it the next couple of days to make sure everything is as I expect, then final adjustments, a clean and polish on Thursday before I pull it apart to pack in the hardshell case that although cumbersome in the airport has done a sterling job in getting my bikes through many journeys unscathed, hope this one is the same.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
One week to go
Well technically 5 days actually.
Had some scary news from my pal Tommy, we're the same age and race a lot together in both age group and graded racing. If you thought about a couple of blokes our age you would think we're as fit as they come, results would generally back up that view. However Tommy told me that he had a heart attack after his race last weekend, not a super serious attack, but a heart attack nonetheless. Scary stuff and I hope that Tommy can come back to racing soon.
This week has been really good from the training perspective. A full on sprint session on Tuesday. An easy endurance day on Wednesday where my legs felt like putty. a V02 day on Thursday, 3 x 3 mins, 4 x 2 mins and 5 x 1 mins, which was probably my best session since before Easter, hit all the power numbers except the last where I was 3! watts off and really worked the heart rate. A day of threshold intervals on Saturday which saw me 15 watts up on last week. Level 6, 60 second hill sprints on Sunday on a 6% climb, steepest towards the top, sprinting as hard as I could over the top for the conveniently placed road sign. I was going to do 8 repeats but since I threw up after 7 repeats I decided that was enough for the day.
So I'll take Monday off, train on Tuesday and Wednesday, with a recovery day on Thursday then packing the bike etc. I fly to Amsterdam on Friday. Whoo Hoo!!!!
Had some scary news from my pal Tommy, we're the same age and race a lot together in both age group and graded racing. If you thought about a couple of blokes our age you would think we're as fit as they come, results would generally back up that view. However Tommy told me that he had a heart attack after his race last weekend, not a super serious attack, but a heart attack nonetheless. Scary stuff and I hope that Tommy can come back to racing soon.
This week has been really good from the training perspective. A full on sprint session on Tuesday. An easy endurance day on Wednesday where my legs felt like putty. a V02 day on Thursday, 3 x 3 mins, 4 x 2 mins and 5 x 1 mins, which was probably my best session since before Easter, hit all the power numbers except the last where I was 3! watts off and really worked the heart rate. A day of threshold intervals on Saturday which saw me 15 watts up on last week. Level 6, 60 second hill sprints on Sunday on a 6% climb, steepest towards the top, sprinting as hard as I could over the top for the conveniently placed road sign. I was going to do 8 repeats but since I threw up after 7 repeats I decided that was enough for the day.
So I'll take Monday off, train on Tuesday and Wednesday, with a recovery day on Thursday then packing the bike etc. I fly to Amsterdam on Friday. Whoo Hoo!!!!
Thursday, June 16, 2011
JUNE 16TH
Well the Queen's Birthday weekend Tour didn't quite go as well as past years. Partly I think because I hadn't raced over the last 3 weeks, race tempo and efforts are always different, partly because the quality of the entry this year was significantly higher than recent years both in quality and ages! It unfortunately meant that I was giving away a lot of years! to a very strong field.
So one third place was all I managed so not a total right off and in the process of launching a counter attack I managed my highest power output since the day after the ICF worlds where I was convinced I was a medallist until I punctured with 15km to go, the next day I got angry and powered it up in a sprint. The weekend gave me a power figure pretty close so I take that as a positive.
The last two weeks training is going to consist of mostly 'quality' sessions, my base is strong, I feel I just need to get those high power V02 efforts and some sprinting underway, maybe a couple of sessions of 90 second hill sprints. All very painful but I think necessary at this point with only two weeks to go.
So one third place was all I managed so not a total right off and in the process of launching a counter attack I managed my highest power output since the day after the ICF worlds where I was convinced I was a medallist until I punctured with 15km to go, the next day I got angry and powered it up in a sprint. The weekend gave me a power figure pretty close so I take that as a positive.
The last two weeks training is going to consist of mostly 'quality' sessions, my base is strong, I feel I just need to get those high power V02 efforts and some sprinting underway, maybe a couple of sessions of 90 second hill sprints. All very painful but I think necessary at this point with only two weeks to go.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
June 5th
I've clearly been a bit remiss with the frequency of my posts over that last month or so!
However a quick recap of the training and racing. Having moved from 'Base' to 'Build' then to a combination of 'Build and 'phase', I'm moving pretty much into pure 'Race' phase stuff now to try and bring out some speed to lay on top of the endurance base I have built since last December. It was very rewarding to note that after just one pure sprint session I had added to 50 watts to my peak power from that session, of course I now have to work on pushing another that 100 watts and stretching the power out over say 12 seconds.
The racing has gone very well, after the first 'Open' event where I struggled a bit I really managed to step it up and although my bunch never seemed to get up, which I put down to the handicapping, I was pretty pleased to still be up there at the end pushing as hard as I could. Maryborough went OK, won the State Road championships by being as aggressive as I possibly could but I paid for it over the next couple of days in the TT and the criterium, I was pretty legless. I did bounce back for the Cec Cripps on the Monday riding strongly but again we weren't able to get up (or get caught).
National Championships in Adelaide was OK, my head wasn't really 'on' properly for the TT so I could have been better, the road race finished at the top of a very 'Ray unfriendly' climb with 9% ramps and was blocked at the finish of the criterium by a rider more interested in seeing me slowed than winning himself, I did briefly think about riding through him but decided I wanted to go to Belgium more! So a collection of bronze medals was my reward for that long boring drive but I guess that was more than most and I already know my sprinting is better.
I've picked up a bit of a cold this week so I've throttled back quite a bit, I know I've got a huge base so a few days off of the bike isn't going to cripple me so a few days rest and recovery its going to be this week.
However a quick recap of the training and racing. Having moved from 'Base' to 'Build' then to a combination of 'Build and 'phase', I'm moving pretty much into pure 'Race' phase stuff now to try and bring out some speed to lay on top of the endurance base I have built since last December. It was very rewarding to note that after just one pure sprint session I had added to 50 watts to my peak power from that session, of course I now have to work on pushing another that 100 watts and stretching the power out over say 12 seconds.
The racing has gone very well, after the first 'Open' event where I struggled a bit I really managed to step it up and although my bunch never seemed to get up, which I put down to the handicapping, I was pretty pleased to still be up there at the end pushing as hard as I could. Maryborough went OK, won the State Road championships by being as aggressive as I possibly could but I paid for it over the next couple of days in the TT and the criterium, I was pretty legless. I did bounce back for the Cec Cripps on the Monday riding strongly but again we weren't able to get up (or get caught).
National Championships in Adelaide was OK, my head wasn't really 'on' properly for the TT so I could have been better, the road race finished at the top of a very 'Ray unfriendly' climb with 9% ramps and was blocked at the finish of the criterium by a rider more interested in seeing me slowed than winning himself, I did briefly think about riding through him but decided I wanted to go to Belgium more! So a collection of bronze medals was my reward for that long boring drive but I guess that was more than most and I already know my sprinting is better.
I've picked up a bit of a cold this week so I've throttled back quite a bit, I know I've got a huge base so a few days off of the bike isn't going to cripple me so a few days rest and recovery its going to be this week.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
April 8th
Two solid weeks training completed, the last of the "build" phase and I am now moving into a pretty busy racing phase. I'd like to ride well and get some results but to be honest its still all about being as good as I can be to go to Belgium on July 1st.
So far I'm really pleased, a few down days with a little bit of a cold following some of the changeable weather we've experienced over the lasy week or so but nothing to worry about.
I have some ITT's coming up and I'd like to do some specific training for those, I'm far from a great time trialist but when I can focus on the power meter I'm a lot better but I think I tend to be too conservative and have power left at the end when I shouldn't! Hence the need for specific training, but I don't think I have enough time to be honest with the racing that's coming up, those sessions are pretty hard and take a few days to get over properly.
With so many aspects of training to work on its some times difficult for me to schedule enough sessions to create the adaption that the body needs to go through, I probably won't work on my sprint until the last 3/4 weeks before I leave for Belgium, my sprint worked really well the last time I was there so it seems sensible to repeat that formula.
So far I'm really pleased, a few down days with a little bit of a cold following some of the changeable weather we've experienced over the lasy week or so but nothing to worry about.
I have some ITT's coming up and I'd like to do some specific training for those, I'm far from a great time trialist but when I can focus on the power meter I'm a lot better but I think I tend to be too conservative and have power left at the end when I shouldn't! Hence the need for specific training, but I don't think I have enough time to be honest with the racing that's coming up, those sessions are pretty hard and take a few days to get over properly.
With so many aspects of training to work on its some times difficult for me to schedule enough sessions to create the adaption that the body needs to go through, I probably won't work on my sprint until the last 3/4 weeks before I leave for Belgium, my sprint worked really well the last time I was there so it seems sensible to repeat that formula.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
March 30th
Logistics for my trip are just about sorted. Flights booked, hotel booked, rental car booked, doesn't leave too much to on the organisation front except the things that I can't do until much nearer the departure date like preparing my bike, packing etc.
Training has been going well, I'm just coming to the end of "Build" after which I will switch to some race specific stuff for the final push so to speak. There are a couple of mini peaks in the next couple of months, for Maryborough at Easter which is always good racing in a concentrated period and the Australian Titles in Adelaide in May and probably the Benalla Tour in June. Loose plan is to back off a little after each of these events then put in a hard week or two with the aim of lifting the form to be really good in July when I will be in Belgium.
I've now had 2 or 3 races and whilst they have all been hard in different ways I've been reasonably pleased with how I've gone in the race. Rochester was frustrating in failing to get up by around 200 metres! and Warrnambool since I broke my back wheel with about 5k to go and whilst I am under no illusions that I would have won that race with Scratch already "up', I did feel pretty good and that I would have been in the money. Oh well plenty of races to go yet.
Training has been going well, I'm just coming to the end of "Build" after which I will switch to some race specific stuff for the final push so to speak. There are a couple of mini peaks in the next couple of months, for Maryborough at Easter which is always good racing in a concentrated period and the Australian Titles in Adelaide in May and probably the Benalla Tour in June. Loose plan is to back off a little after each of these events then put in a hard week or two with the aim of lifting the form to be really good in July when I will be in Belgium.
I've now had 2 or 3 races and whilst they have all been hard in different ways I've been reasonably pleased with how I've gone in the race. Rochester was frustrating in failing to get up by around 200 metres! and Warrnambool since I broke my back wheel with about 5k to go and whilst I am under no illusions that I would have won that race with Scratch already "up', I did feel pretty good and that I would have been in the money. Oh well plenty of races to go yet.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
11th March 2011
After a few disrupted weeks due to entertaining overseas visitors I feel I'm back on track and moving forwards. Of course how I move in races will be the acid test and I have to admit my second race didn't leave me feeling as happy as the first but interestingly my last 20 minutes of the race, after I got shook out, was actually my best power output over 1 minute, 5 minutes, 10 minutes. So the analysis that I made was that I'm still shy of the 'peaky efforts but the basics are pretty solid.
On the strength of that I've entered the next series of Open events up until and including Easter, hopefully some more racing will bring me on a bit more.
In the meantime I'm continuing with a block of 'build', which is a mix of continued threshold intervals and shorter (far) more intense intervals and some 'form' sprints. Form sprints are not at full gas but concentrate on getting the power down whilst maintaining 'form' and style, probably no more than 90% and without the explosive jump at the start. Which is good for me since I don't have what you would call a 'jump' anyway!
So I think I'm still on track to not make a fool of myself in Belgium and to that end the racing calendar for Vets in Belgium has been published for the 2011 season. I'm getting excited already, remembering the courses that I rode well and the few that I felt didn't suit me, wondering which race to choose on the (many) days where I have multiple choices. In truth I will go with a plan but vary it day by day depending on how I feel, the weather etc etc.
On the strength of that I've entered the next series of Open events up until and including Easter, hopefully some more racing will bring me on a bit more.
In the meantime I'm continuing with a block of 'build', which is a mix of continued threshold intervals and shorter (far) more intense intervals and some 'form' sprints. Form sprints are not at full gas but concentrate on getting the power down whilst maintaining 'form' and style, probably no more than 90% and without the explosive jump at the start. Which is good for me since I don't have what you would call a 'jump' anyway!
So I think I'm still on track to not make a fool of myself in Belgium and to that end the racing calendar for Vets in Belgium has been published for the 2011 season. I'm getting excited already, remembering the courses that I rode well and the few that I felt didn't suit me, wondering which race to choose on the (many) days where I have multiple choices. In truth I will go with a plan but vary it day by day depending on how I feel, the weather etc etc.
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