Now I have the first race out of the way and am quite happy with how I went.
Todays start time was 4pm which is a little unusual and a lot inconvenient. Hanging around all morning then scrambling for something to eat in the evening unless I wanted to do hot dogs and frites at the race, which I didn't.
So I messed about all morning only having a journey of around 40 minutes to the race and that was generous although there are an awful lot of road works at the moment. Of course when I came to get the exact details of race location from the WAOD website at about midday, they'd taken it down, Duh!
Of course after a beautiful sunny morning although it was a bit windy, actually a lot windy, as soon as I started loading the car it started raining! It rained for about 10 minutes of my journey then reverted to sunny 22c but still very windy.
Well I remembered the village where the race was being held and as long as you're in the right vicinity its usually not too hard to find the course, then having find the course the nearest bar will probably be the race HQ. Today was I think a community centre or some such, definitely had a bar and plenty of toilet facilities as well which was a bonus.
Signing on is no bother now, it helps that the chief official recognises me, he's always polite but not excatly a smiley type, I guess you know what race referees are like! There was a bit of a discussion, in Flemish so I couldn't contribute since nobody at the officials table at that time speaks any English, but I was pushed up a race from last time. Probably not unreasonable since I did place just about every time out but it will be more difficult this year I'm thinking.
The course started in the village outside the community centre which was the end of the finishing straight. 90 degree right turn from the two lane road onto the main road which was two lanes and two bike lanes, so nice and wide. It was also new hotmix which I loved and a cross tailwind which really started hitting you out of the village about 500m down the road, next turn was a 110 degree right onto the ubiquitous Flanders concrete farm road, 3 metres wide, this was also cross tail wind but more tail, along this for about 1km then a 90 degree right turn onto another concrete farm road, cross head wind but slightly sheltered by an orchard. This particular corner I got wrong every single time and I think this fact may well have been what was progressively chopping people off the back, but more of that later. This stretch was about 500m then a 90 degree left turn, more farm road for about 1500m cross tail and the fastest bit of the lap, then a 90 degree right turn up a little embankment which made a slow corner but needed a big kick out of it into the wind. 200m then a 90 degree right back onto the two lane finishing straight which was actually quite winding but also a block headwind up through the finish where there was some respite from the wind as you came into the village houses but only completley shielded for the last 200m to the finish.
The start was as usual a bit chaotic but we got underway on time. My plan A was to sit in, do nothing and if I felt OK see how I felt in the sprint. Plan B was the same, so was Plan C. I was surprised to see 60/70 starters in the race but that was all good, plenty of wheels to follow.
Well I started at the back with three well thought out plans, by the approach to the second corner I was sprinting up the outside to go through it in 6th, staying in the top 10 for the first 2 laps (of 8). The first lap was very quick and very aggressive, well I thought so anyway, but I was happy enough .
Coming round to the finish straight on lap 2, there were 4 guys that had got away to about 150m lead and were working well, the head of the bunch was rolling through but didn't seem to have any impetus. I rolled through did my turn and the bunch pulled over with me, I freewheeled they freewheeled, shit I thought it was a little early to worry about what I was going to do or not do. I had a drink and soft pedalled the switched into the other gutter and jumped hard, got clear put my head down and chased on my own, of course now the bunch was chasing me, but at that stage I was stronger, forced the gap and bridged up to the front four who promptly sat up when I got there! I did find last time that the riders who are in the WAOD will frequently spoil their own races to seemingly prevent me being in at the finish. Well I don't mean me personally but me the non WAOD Belgian I suppose.
Anyway the race went on, I was a little blown for almost a lap after my efforts to bridge across to the break. Which plan that was part of escapes me for the moment but I'll have a better plan for the next race though, honest.
I won't bore with a blow by blow, but I'll mention a few phases of the race which was aggressive and attacking all the way round but particularly so on the narrow farm roads with the difficult corners. There were stretches if you were in the front section you could echelon, trouble is that 3 riders, 4 if you were prepared to risk falling off the side of the road, so 5 maybe 6 riders driving here put everybody else in the gutter.
The front echelon going hard through the corners made the line stretch and break each time there was a sprint out of a corner and it was sprinting, I popped over 1000 watts several times just chasing wheels, usually out of the corner I mentioned, no matter what line I took I seemed to lose a length or so, jumping out of the corner and sprinting out of the corner invariably created a great hole in the line behind me and I think I was (inadvertently) the cause of great chunks of the race getting chopped!
At one stage about halfway through the race I slipped back a bit far and was horrified when I looked back and there was nobody behind me, we were already down to about 40.
So all the plans were out of the window and I just raced it the best as I could, there didn't seem any point in launching attacks since that seemed to bring a mass reaction but I'm usually good at jumping very quickly across a gap so thats what I did, unfortunately everything I went with was bought back but at least I found some who would work with me.
Coming round to the bell there were 6 riders away by 10/15 seconds and the gap seemed to be holding as nobody wanted to commit to the chase, compromising their sprint. As we came into the home straight with about 2km to go I attacked and just went for it, I didn't see the point of saving a sprint for seventh, I got clear and to within 50m of the break then got caught by a group of 8 charging hard with about 600m to go, just caught the back and was really just hanging on when we caught the front group whom I assume had slowed with nobody willing to drive the sprint so we slowed, another 3/4 riders managed latch on the back.
Then we were sprinting, I wasn't going to and in anycase you can't sprint from that far back, but I did anyway and managed to overtake a few to finish tenth, so in the 'money', although nobody would retire on the winnings.
Given that I haven't raced for a month I feel pretty pleased with the first outing I know I can improve from there with a couple of more races. However more importantly I really really enjoyed the race it was everything I came for, fast and aggresive, technical,just loads of fun, can't wait for the next one although tomorrow will be a recovery day.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Recovery Day
What a beautiful day, 28c, sunny, light breezes, perfect for a cruise along the Scheldte bike path watching the big canal boats and enjoying the sun.
I'm into the swing of riding on Belgian roads now, as long as they see you 99.99% of motorists are going to give way when the should, theres always going to be one idiot and the trick is to try and ensure that they see you. The bigger danger is the elderly ladies on their daily shopping trip either on their bikes or on foot, they can be a bit oblivious of whats going on around them. They load their bikes up with so much shopping they can be a bit wobbly as well, taking up a lot of space on the bike path. It seems to me the trick is not to surprise them and your fine.
Mind you I'm not sure I should be the one disparaging the elderly!
My legs felt pretty sluggish today to be honest but sprints on top of V02 intervals will do that to you, certainly does to me. After I backed it off right into active recovery range and got the legs spinning it was much better.
I expect my body will be in for a shock tomorrow, after all I haven't raced for a month but I think my condition is good so hopefully it will be just a matter of getting hardened by a couple of races.
I've settled into my laundry routine right from the beginning, keeping on top of it every day saves the misery of that one big day to deal with. My Sard Wonder soap works a treat as as long as the weather cooperates everything is dried out the same day.
I have about 40 minutes to travel to my race tomorrow, I can do most of it on the freeway - its easier that way even if a little longer. Slightly odd start time of 4pm as well but I assume thats so the youngest guys will get up at about 7.30pm just when the party is getting going. The crowd will probably be a bit raucus by that stage!
I haven't raced in this particular village before but its going to be flat, possibly open out in the country so wind could be a factor and if the course is winding I better get my cornering skills up to par quickly. I'm actually pretty good at all that but we get 'protected' a bit too much in Oz and I can't think of a recent race with real corners where a skillful rider could make a difference. I guess its safer that way but personally a more technical course suits me well.
The start time gives me plenty of time to get my stuff together tomorrow morning, clean and tune my bike and not get bored with the waiting. I will miss the tour stage though, no doubt I'll find a replay of at least the highlights later on.
I'm into the swing of riding on Belgian roads now, as long as they see you 99.99% of motorists are going to give way when the should, theres always going to be one idiot and the trick is to try and ensure that they see you. The bigger danger is the elderly ladies on their daily shopping trip either on their bikes or on foot, they can be a bit oblivious of whats going on around them. They load their bikes up with so much shopping they can be a bit wobbly as well, taking up a lot of space on the bike path. It seems to me the trick is not to surprise them and your fine.
Mind you I'm not sure I should be the one disparaging the elderly!
My legs felt pretty sluggish today to be honest but sprints on top of V02 intervals will do that to you, certainly does to me. After I backed it off right into active recovery range and got the legs spinning it was much better.
I expect my body will be in for a shock tomorrow, after all I haven't raced for a month but I think my condition is good so hopefully it will be just a matter of getting hardened by a couple of races.
I've settled into my laundry routine right from the beginning, keeping on top of it every day saves the misery of that one big day to deal with. My Sard Wonder soap works a treat as as long as the weather cooperates everything is dried out the same day.
I have about 40 minutes to travel to my race tomorrow, I can do most of it on the freeway - its easier that way even if a little longer. Slightly odd start time of 4pm as well but I assume thats so the youngest guys will get up at about 7.30pm just when the party is getting going. The crowd will probably be a bit raucus by that stage!
I haven't raced in this particular village before but its going to be flat, possibly open out in the country so wind could be a factor and if the course is winding I better get my cornering skills up to par quickly. I'm actually pretty good at all that but we get 'protected' a bit too much in Oz and I can't think of a recent race with real corners where a skillful rider could make a difference. I guess its safer that way but personally a more technical course suits me well.
The start time gives me plenty of time to get my stuff together tomorrow morning, clean and tune my bike and not get bored with the waiting. I will miss the tour stage though, no doubt I'll find a replay of at least the highlights later on.
Monday, July 4, 2011
Training day
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.
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.
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.
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