For starters, I think this is the longest post title yet.
With that out of the way, let me begin. I got a pretty poor night's rest, and I actually had to work for once, so I sucked it up and drove over to syosset. There wasn't a whole lot to do at work, but it was nice to meet Russell and get a better sense of what the new shop will be like. We drove to the manhasset store to pick up some test bikes for the new bike racks that were being installed, and while I was there I picked up my 14t cog that Steve dropped off. The last piece of the roller racing puzzle. I changed my cog at the end of the day when things got slow, and just sat around to wait for my train.
Race registration started at 7, so I got a 5:22 train from Syosset to get into penn at 6:20. There were three problems with the train ride, though. For starters, there was a justin bieber concert in MSG, so the train was full of screaming fangirls. Second, sitting behind me was the most annoying girl I have ever heard talking on the phone the whole time about how annoying the bieber fans were. Finally, the massive throngs of beiber lovers/haters meant that the train was 10 minutes late getting into Penn.
I headed over to the 2/3 turnstiles, somehow was able to shove myself, my messenger bag, my pump, and my bike through and had to wait 10 minutes for a train. I changed at 14th street, which always involves getting completely lost, finally got on the F downtown after a short stint on the uptown F platform, and got to the Houston/2av stop. Hustling down Houston with my bike over my shoulder, I finally got to the bar at around 5min to 7:30. I gave my bike to Alan to check rollout (on a side note, I used my standard 51x14, which I seem to always neglect to write down) as I filled out the rider release and changed into my Pink Rhino kit. Somehow I managed to drop the elastic part of my heart rate monitor strap in the 15 feet between my bag and the bathroom behind the stage where I changed. I searched and searched, but couldn't find it, so I just went without. I warmed up for a little bit, without doing any really high efforts and figured I was good enough. One thing I realized immediately was that it was realllly hot underneath those lights on the stage. I made sure to sneak some ice from the bar from time to time and otherwise generally hung out in the men's bathroom with the rest of the riders. Eventually I was able to find an outlet to plug in a fan that we found in the bathroom and it was downright tolerable.
For those who were wondering, there were 13 riders registered and 11 riders who actually showed up. For those of you who don't care about backstory, the actual race data will follow:
The evening started with 500m timed seeding. These were done two-up, with only Alan officiating. This just goes to show how awesome he is at officiating things. Most of the time I can't even handle timing one rider. I went up against Sree. He was on the red rollers, I was on the green (I actually took the time to write down the race details this time). I got a good start, spun up quick and eventually I was told I was done. I slowed down, but alan still looked like he was pretty intensely focused on us, so I suddenly got really confused if I screwed up or not. Eventually he yelled "TIME!" and explained that he didn't want to say it when i was done so he could get Sree's time. Fair enough. I completed my seeding in 16.68s, which was the 4th fastest time. Ahead of me was Calan with a 16.3, Diefenbach at 16.39 after flatting three tubulars, and Al with a 16.41.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/248106001
After a short break came the first round. These were done three up. My round consisted of Calan on the red, me on the green, and Joe Masser on the blue rollers. I got a good start, which gave me an early lead, which I tried to barely hold on to. I was waiting for my holder to tell me at any moment that I got passed, but it didn't come. Alan called time and announced that for the first time that he's ever officiated roller racing, there was a round 1 tie. Hooray! History in the making.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/248105999
We all went back into the relative cool of the men's room and after the rest of the first round races, Alan said that the decider for our tie would be a 500m roll-off. Alan gave us a good long warmup, which I was debating may or may not have helped as those lights got real hot real quick. Stopping to get ready for the start, my bike was cocked slightly to the left and Dave - who was my holder this round - leaned me a little to counter, but I didn't like that so much, so I asked him to lean me the other way. Regardless, my start was a little tentative, which meant I didn't get the lead, and Calan won the roll-off. I was on the green rollers again, Calan was on the red.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/248105997
After this was another break and then the repechage rounds. These were three rounds of two-ups. I raced against Ron Ferraz, with him on the red and me on the green rollers again. You might notice a theme here on my roller choice. I was able to pull away from Ron and maintain my lead on this round, which put me back into the semis. I think he was happy to be able to hit the bar, and to be honest, I was a little envious. At this point I was also debating eating a gel, specifically whether the boost of energy would be worth the potential for throwing up on the rollers.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/248105992
I think there was another break here and then the semi-finals. There were two of these with Diefenbach vs Chambers vs Calan and my round which was Bobby Lea on blue vs me on green vs Al on red. I got a good start again, which got me the lead, but at around 400m or so, I lost it. I then dug as hard as I could to try to get it back. My holder was shouting in my ear that I was closing the gap and we were almost at the finish. In the end, Alan yelled "TIME!" and I thought for sure I was in second place, but then Alan pointed to me. I was confused as hell as to why he was pointing until it was explained that I took the lead back and won! This took a little bit to register, but when it did, I was the happiest racer alive. A victory dance on the stage, and I went back to the bathroom to cool off. My holder, who sadly I didn't catch the name of, carried my bike off stage for me. He was a really cool guy.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/248105990
After this came the 5/6 finals, the 3/4 finals and then my finals for first and second place. This race was once again between Calan and me. He was on the red (again) and I was on the green (again). Just like in the roll-off, my wheel was cocked to the side a little and I thought about asking if I could spin around again to straighten out, but I didn't. This meant I got a slow start, so I was behind to begin with. I tried my hardest to keep up, almost riding off the rollers in the last 300m or so, but Calan kept pulling away. By the end I basically turned off the gas and accepted my fate. When I got off the rollers, I had a sharp pain on the left side of my upper back and had trouble standing for a few seconds. I think maybe I pulled something trying to pull my bike back into line when I almost rolled off the side. Either way, I was completely satisfied with my second place and couldn't really ask for better. I just hope I gave the final rounds the level of excitement they deserve.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/248105987
After this was the crowd favorite rider award, which went to the only woman racer, Amy, who was able to beat Sree in a best out of three race set. Poor Sree...
I picked up my sweet prizes for second place, took some photos, chatted for a little, got a gin&tonic on the house and then packed up and got ready to head out. After the rest of the racers cleared out, I found my HRM strap on the ground, so that was nice. Al asked if I wanted to get some tacos with him, which I thought was a great idea. I talked to Taliah for a little bit outside while he looked up directions, then we headed out. Between the cold air and my race gear still being on my bike, I thought my legs were going to explode, but the tacos were delicious and the conversation was good, so it was worth it.
I walked back to the subway, where I ended up bumping into Dan and Andy from nyvelocity.com, who put on the event, which was pretty cool. We talked some more, including debating if a rider could do a trackstand on the subway, which I thought about trying but wussed out (next time!), and then got lost walking from the 32st F station to Penn. Eventually I made it, found out I had 40 minutes until my train, so I got a foster's can from the news stand. The train came, I fought off sleep until Syosset, threw my bike in the car and blasted the best bluegrass I had on the trip back home. I finally rolled in at 3am, tired but happy.
Thanks to everybody who put on the roller race, officiated the race, watched the race, raced at the race, sat in the bar next to the race. Thanks to Shane and the rest of Pink Rhino for motivating me. And thanks to Al for the taco suggestion. I'm telling you, he's a classy racer. I'm looking forward to his next season on his new team.
1.12.12
28.11.12
2013.01: Base 1.1 - 11/26 - 12/2
My astute readership might notice two things about this first post of my 2013 season. For starters, I'm trying a new naming convention for the different periods (Base 1.1 instead of Base 1 Week 1). I've decided on this so I can also add the applicable dates without a super long post title. Plus decimal points look cooler.
The second thing is despite saying "Oh yeah, I'm totally going to do more testing this season" in my pre-season goal post, I have completely forgotten to do any kind of testing last week. Whoops.
Sunday: My brother felt better, so we went to lunch today. I don't really remember why I didn't ride earlier in the morning, but I didn't.
Saturday: I was supposed to go to lunch with the family, but my brother wasn't feeling well, so that got cancelled. Karl was in the area, though, so I met up with him and we did an "easy ride on a hard course". I think that was what Karl's coach had prescribed. Basically we did hills out to northport. My legs were still sore from the rollers, so I wasn't really feeling it, but it was nice to get out.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/248475778
NP/IF/TSS: 204W/1.018/215
Friday: Somewhere deep in the back of my mind I thought I could get up in time for the kreb ride after having gotten home from racing at 3am. That didn't happen, of course, so I slept in and eventually get on the mountain bike around 1pm. I rode for roughly 2 hours and it was just getting dark by the time I got back.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/248105982
NP/IF/TSS: N/A
Thursday: Rolllllller races! Check the race report. Also, I picked up my replacement replacement zipp disc wheel at work. It spins smooth, so that ends that saga.
Wednesday: I wanted to get some riding in, but I wanted to make sure my legs were as fresh as possible for the roller races tomorrow. I aimed for an hour of riding, which took a little creativity by the end of the ride, but I got it done. I did one or two little efforts to open my legs, but really I didn't feel as rested as I had hoped I would.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/247628326
NP/IF/TSS: 154W/0.769/61*
Tuesday: Cold, wet, rainy day. I stayed indoors doing mostly nothing. Eventually I did my last set of spinbatas. I was able to hit 219 rpm despite being on my 16t.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/247471306
Monday: While mondays are typically designated as rest days, I figured I would get a long base ride in since tuesday is supposed to rain. This is exactly what I did. I finally wore my winter jacket, which on the way out I thought might have been a mistake, but turning back into the wind with the setting sun, I was glad to have such warmth. In yaphank, I had to sneak through a LIPA blockade, and I had to skip coffee in middle island as I was running low on daylight. Two people complimented me on my ride, one guy on rocky point road, and a kid on mt sinai-whatever road.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/247140215
NP/IF/TSS: 152W/0.758/172*
*You might notice these values are crazy high because I still need to figure out how to change my CP in my new 2013 training file. EDIT: values have been changed to reflect new CP as of 12/3 of 200W
The second thing is despite saying "Oh yeah, I'm totally going to do more testing this season" in my pre-season goal post, I have completely forgotten to do any kind of testing last week. Whoops.
Sunday: My brother felt better, so we went to lunch today. I don't really remember why I didn't ride earlier in the morning, but I didn't.
Saturday: I was supposed to go to lunch with the family, but my brother wasn't feeling well, so that got cancelled. Karl was in the area, though, so I met up with him and we did an "easy ride on a hard course". I think that was what Karl's coach had prescribed. Basically we did hills out to northport. My legs were still sore from the rollers, so I wasn't really feeling it, but it was nice to get out.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/248475778
NP/IF/TSS: 204W/1.018/215
Friday: Somewhere deep in the back of my mind I thought I could get up in time for the kreb ride after having gotten home from racing at 3am. That didn't happen, of course, so I slept in and eventually get on the mountain bike around 1pm. I rode for roughly 2 hours and it was just getting dark by the time I got back.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/248105982
NP/IF/TSS: N/A
Thursday: Rolllllller races! Check the race report. Also, I picked up my replacement replacement zipp disc wheel at work. It spins smooth, so that ends that saga.
Wednesday: I wanted to get some riding in, but I wanted to make sure my legs were as fresh as possible for the roller races tomorrow. I aimed for an hour of riding, which took a little creativity by the end of the ride, but I got it done. I did one or two little efforts to open my legs, but really I didn't feel as rested as I had hoped I would.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/247628326
NP/IF/TSS: 154W/0.769/61*
Tuesday: Cold, wet, rainy day. I stayed indoors doing mostly nothing. Eventually I did my last set of spinbatas. I was able to hit 219 rpm despite being on my 16t.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/247471306
Monday: While mondays are typically designated as rest days, I figured I would get a long base ride in since tuesday is supposed to rain. This is exactly what I did. I finally wore my winter jacket, which on the way out I thought might have been a mistake, but turning back into the wind with the setting sun, I was glad to have such warmth. In yaphank, I had to sneak through a LIPA blockade, and I had to skip coffee in middle island as I was running low on daylight. Two people complimented me on my ride, one guy on rocky point road, and a kid on mt sinai-whatever road.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/247140215
NP/IF/TSS: 152W/0.758/172*
*You might notice these values are crazy high because I still need to figure out how to change my CP in my new 2013 training file. EDIT: values have been changed to reflect new CP as of 12/3 of 200W
22.11.12
2012.52: 11/19 - 11/25 - End of Season
Well here is the last week of my 2012 season. With these colder temperatures, my motivation is already getting tested, but I think I should be able to train harder than last year.
Sunday: Andy came by so I could help him with his bike. We were hoping it would be a quick fix followed by a nice 3 hour base ride. Things ended up a bit more complicated than we figured, and in the end we only had time for a short mountain bike ride, which I thought was still pretty fun. I felt really smooth by the end of the ride. A lot better than yesterday, where I felt like my depth perception was wayy off. This of course means I've already gone way under my 10 hours per week goal, but Shane and I agreed that it's an average, and we now added one rest week, so the challenge is now 40 hours in 5 weeks. Phew.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/247140227
NP/IF/TSS: N/A
Saturday: It was really windy today, and I was still feeling lazy, so I figured instead of hating everything by facing a wall of wind for a few hours, I hid away into the woods on the monocogo. I tried another black diamond section, which was way too hilly for me and got me completely lost. I managed to make it out of the woods again, though, but somehow I still only logged just over two hours of riding. Who knows how that works. On a side note, I found one of those rubber bracelets on the trail. It said 'secret service' and had a phone number and secretservice.gov on it. It intrigued me, but I just hung it on the trailhead board when I left. Hopefully the rightful owner finds it again. EDIT: Also, I shifted my SPD cleats back about 1cm or so. In the evening I cleaned and retensioned my chain. This wouldn't be big news on any other bike, but I do so little maintenance on the monocogo that I figure it warrants a mention here.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/246377413
NP/IF/TSS: N/A
In the evening I did spinbatas with my regular 16t.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/246446082
Friday: I was definitely feeling tired today. Generally, I would just lounge around in bed all day, but since Shane and I have this challenge going of riding at least 10 hours a week. This gave me the motivation to get out and ride for a little bit. I just went to the regular beaches real slow. On the way back a guy in a panel van passed me way too close, so I chased after him and gave him a piece of my mind. He apologized profusely, which made me feel like a jerk then. Oh well.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/246059465
NP/IF/TSS: 192W/0.832/80
Thursday: Thanksgiving day, which means one thing: Ron's 'Wild Turkey' ride. There was a good group of guys and girl that showed up, with the weather warming up as the day went on. My legs were feeling pretty beat up, but I was still able to keep up fine. My two-year-old KOM for the powerplant climb finally got beat by both Jeremy and me.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/245751884
NP/IF/TSS: 206W/0.890/249
Wednesday: More low resistance spinbatas. These felt harder, and my data seems to reflect that with lower max cadences per interval. Shane and I are also creating training challenges for each other. Details to follow.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/245591530
Tuesday: I switched the track bike to a 49x15 gearing to see how my spinbatas would change. I hit higher cadences, but it seems the slope of my fade was still similar.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/245332880
Monday: I seem to have screwed up my achilles again on my ride yesterday. Rather than make matters worse, I tried my hardest to do nothing all day. In reality, I did ride to take care of a drug screening for that oyster sloop that I volunteer on. In the evening, I did 3x10 squats.
Sunday: Andy came by so I could help him with his bike. We were hoping it would be a quick fix followed by a nice 3 hour base ride. Things ended up a bit more complicated than we figured, and in the end we only had time for a short mountain bike ride, which I thought was still pretty fun. I felt really smooth by the end of the ride. A lot better than yesterday, where I felt like my depth perception was wayy off. This of course means I've already gone way under my 10 hours per week goal, but Shane and I agreed that it's an average, and we now added one rest week, so the challenge is now 40 hours in 5 weeks. Phew.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/247140227
NP/IF/TSS: N/A
Saturday: It was really windy today, and I was still feeling lazy, so I figured instead of hating everything by facing a wall of wind for a few hours, I hid away into the woods on the monocogo. I tried another black diamond section, which was way too hilly for me and got me completely lost. I managed to make it out of the woods again, though, but somehow I still only logged just over two hours of riding. Who knows how that works. On a side note, I found one of those rubber bracelets on the trail. It said 'secret service' and had a phone number and secretservice.gov on it. It intrigued me, but I just hung it on the trailhead board when I left. Hopefully the rightful owner finds it again. EDIT: Also, I shifted my SPD cleats back about 1cm or so. In the evening I cleaned and retensioned my chain. This wouldn't be big news on any other bike, but I do so little maintenance on the monocogo that I figure it warrants a mention here.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/246377413
NP/IF/TSS: N/A
In the evening I did spinbatas with my regular 16t.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/246446082
Friday: I was definitely feeling tired today. Generally, I would just lounge around in bed all day, but since Shane and I have this challenge going of riding at least 10 hours a week. This gave me the motivation to get out and ride for a little bit. I just went to the regular beaches real slow. On the way back a guy in a panel van passed me way too close, so I chased after him and gave him a piece of my mind. He apologized profusely, which made me feel like a jerk then. Oh well.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/246059465
NP/IF/TSS: 192W/0.832/80
Thursday: Thanksgiving day, which means one thing: Ron's 'Wild Turkey' ride. There was a good group of guys and girl that showed up, with the weather warming up as the day went on. My legs were feeling pretty beat up, but I was still able to keep up fine. My two-year-old KOM for the powerplant climb finally got beat by both Jeremy and me.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/245751884
NP/IF/TSS: 206W/0.890/249
Wednesday: More low resistance spinbatas. These felt harder, and my data seems to reflect that with lower max cadences per interval. Shane and I are also creating training challenges for each other. Details to follow.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/245591530
Tuesday: I switched the track bike to a 49x15 gearing to see how my spinbatas would change. I hit higher cadences, but it seems the slope of my fade was still similar.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/245332880
Monday: I seem to have screwed up my achilles again on my ride yesterday. Rather than make matters worse, I tried my hardest to do nothing all day. In reality, I did ride to take care of a drug screening for that oyster sloop that I volunteer on. In the evening, I did 3x10 squats.
14.11.12
2012.51: 11/12 - 11/18
I was hoping to do supercross cup this week, but it has been postponed.
Sunday: Tried for a good, long ride. It was pretty good, and pretty long. I overslept Trevor's, so I just went out at noon or so to follow some selected sections of the route. I had a good headwind on the way out, so by the time I turned around by North street I was starting to bonk. I ate my gel and told myself that I would stop at the deli to get something else to eat. Well, I felt good by the yaphank deli, so I kept going and even gave the mill road hill a dig. Then I bonked hard again, stopped at the stony brook 7-11, pigged out on candy bars, rode home, ate more food. Oh well. EDIT: in the evening I re-cabled my cross bike and rewrapped the bars.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/244668918
NP/IF/TSS: 161W/0.698/180
Saturday: spinbatas. I was running late to go to the bar, so my warm-up and -down were shorter than normal.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/244297324
Friday: I got called to help downrig the oyster sloop that I've been volunteering on. Between that and raking, I felt tore up at night, so I skipped my spinbatas that I was planning on doing. I think it was today that I did some pushups and 3x30 transverse planks.
Thursday: rest day. no riding. raked leaves. now I'm achy.
Wednesday: I aimed for a long road ride, but it was cold and my bed was warm, so I woke up late instead. I finally got out on the monocogo to check out the east setauket trails. There were still a bunch of trees down on the north side of the far east section, and a couple of sections with standing water and mud. I forgot it rained recently.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/243388000
NP/IF/TSS: N/A
In the evening I did spinbatas.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/243439990
Tuesday: While it's now technically wednesday, I'll call my spinbata workout a tuesday night workout. My plan for this week is to do two back to back spin workouts with one day's rest between. So it'll be spin, spin, rest, spin, spin. On the plus side, I nearly finished all my tabata intervals tonight. I just gave up early on the last one because I almost fell off the rollers. Congrats to me.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/243183731
Monday: Rode fixed gear bikes with Dan. Maybe like 30 miles, give or take. We checked out this new coffee shop that his friend started. I was planning on also doing spinbatas tonight, but I went to the bar instead.
Sunday: Tried for a good, long ride. It was pretty good, and pretty long. I overslept Trevor's, so I just went out at noon or so to follow some selected sections of the route. I had a good headwind on the way out, so by the time I turned around by North street I was starting to bonk. I ate my gel and told myself that I would stop at the deli to get something else to eat. Well, I felt good by the yaphank deli, so I kept going and even gave the mill road hill a dig. Then I bonked hard again, stopped at the stony brook 7-11, pigged out on candy bars, rode home, ate more food. Oh well. EDIT: in the evening I re-cabled my cross bike and rewrapped the bars.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/244668918
NP/IF/TSS: 161W/0.698/180
Saturday: spinbatas. I was running late to go to the bar, so my warm-up and -down were shorter than normal.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/244297324
Friday: I got called to help downrig the oyster sloop that I've been volunteering on. Between that and raking, I felt tore up at night, so I skipped my spinbatas that I was planning on doing. I think it was today that I did some pushups and 3x30 transverse planks.
Thursday: rest day. no riding. raked leaves. now I'm achy.
Wednesday: I aimed for a long road ride, but it was cold and my bed was warm, so I woke up late instead. I finally got out on the monocogo to check out the east setauket trails. There were still a bunch of trees down on the north side of the far east section, and a couple of sections with standing water and mud. I forgot it rained recently.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/243388000
NP/IF/TSS: N/A
In the evening I did spinbatas.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/243439990
Tuesday: While it's now technically wednesday, I'll call my spinbata workout a tuesday night workout. My plan for this week is to do two back to back spin workouts with one day's rest between. So it'll be spin, spin, rest, spin, spin. On the plus side, I nearly finished all my tabata intervals tonight. I just gave up early on the last one because I almost fell off the rollers. Congrats to me.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/243183731
Monday: Rode fixed gear bikes with Dan. Maybe like 30 miles, give or take. We checked out this new coffee shop that his friend started. I was planning on also doing spinbatas tonight, but I went to the bar instead.
7.11.12
2013: A Look Ahead
My start for next season is rapidly approaching, so let's break down my goals for next year:
1. Sub 1:15 kilo
2. Win Opening Weekend and/or States
3. Race Pro-Am (Upgrade to Cat 2)
These are some pretty steep goals this year, but I don't think they're unattainable. Right now my motivation levels are much higher than last year, so hopefully this will help me keep up higher training levels. In addition, I'm planning on placing a greater emphasis on proper rest, nutrition and most importantly testing. I'd like to start incorporating rest week testing including a graded test and a kilo to ensure I'm headed in the right direction. I'm also going to try to complete more interval sessions and incorporate high geared hill climbing instead of weight lifting. Off the bike, I'll still keep up with my core work, and throw some plyos in for good measure.
As for A races, same as always, opening weekend and states. The big thing is instead of top 5 or even top 3, I'd like to actually all-out win. With the help of the team and my training changes, I think this will not be too hard to do.
1. Sub 1:15 kilo
2. Win Opening Weekend and/or States
3. Race Pro-Am (Upgrade to Cat 2)
These are some pretty steep goals this year, but I don't think they're unattainable. Right now my motivation levels are much higher than last year, so hopefully this will help me keep up higher training levels. In addition, I'm planning on placing a greater emphasis on proper rest, nutrition and most importantly testing. I'd like to start incorporating rest week testing including a graded test and a kilo to ensure I'm headed in the right direction. I'm also going to try to complete more interval sessions and incorporate high geared hill climbing instead of weight lifting. Off the bike, I'll still keep up with my core work, and throw some plyos in for good measure.
As for A races, same as always, opening weekend and states. The big thing is instead of top 5 or even top 3, I'd like to actually all-out win. With the help of the team and my training changes, I think this will not be too hard to do.
5.11.12
2012.50: 11/5 - 11/11
Sunday: With the weather so nice lately, I decided to go out for a short recovery ride. My achilles was bugging me a little bit, so I mostly kept it light, but I did throw in three good efforts, and got two KOMs out of it. At the top of the sand street climb, I had a squirrel bounce off my front wheel, then off my shoe, then off my back wheel and back into the bushes.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/242507646
NP/IF/TSS: 178W/0.773/83
Saturday: Karl was interested in going for a ride down to babylon bikes. I had thought he said long, slow distance ride, which sounded great. It ended up as long, steady distance, which was still fun, but a lot harder than I was planning on. On the way out, we saw a group of SBRA riders going the opposite direction. Speaking of the SBRA, some lady asked if we were SBRA members at the train station, but didn't elaborate further when we said "no". shrug. Oh, I also wore my R1's today. They felt great. My knee was tracking a lot better with them, but I was getting some discomfort on the outside of my leg just above knee level. By that tendon thing.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/242020938
NP/IF/TSS: 172W/0.746/183
In the evening I did some more spinbatas. They were particularly half-assed, with a lot of 15/15 intervals instead of the 20/10.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/242507660
NP/IF/TSS: N/A
Friday: Had my face drilled off at the dentist. Luckily, he was running over a half hour late, so I went to the Kreb for a while before-hand. I talked to Gregory for a while. He gave me some solutions to look at for my impending tendinitis. In the evening I set up my new shoes that I picked up from Roadworx (Colorado, you lucky bastards!). Fizik R1's. Hell yeah. No riding, though. Mostly just sulking around the house with my tail between my legs.
Thursday: Day two of spinbatas. They felt less painful than last time, so that's good. I pointed my aft-facing bow fan (I make no apologies for the nautical terminology I throw into this blog) a little bit lower so it wasn't blowing wind straight in my face, which I think helped with being able to breathe in a halfway useful manner. I was able to complete maybe 5 of the intervals fully this time? It's an improvement!
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/241534598
NP/IF/TSS: N/A
Wednesday: No riding. Did some transverse planks 1x50 and some pushups.
Tuesday: Started up my spinbatas again as there's a roller race at the end of the month. Doing this caused me to realize a few things. First, I don't remember at all what gear i used to use for roller work. I stuck with a 49x16 as i figured it would be nice and light, but I'm wondering if I used to put my 15 on. Second, I'm having knee tracking issues again. Riding the rollers no-handed really shows this. I also feel tension on my hip by the joint, the back inside of my knee, and I feel like I want to rotate my foot ankle-in. Also, my achilles is starting to feel sore approximately 2 hours after training. Third, I suck at these spinbata things. I compared how I felt this time vs the last time I did them and both occasions my main thought was 'holy crap, my throat is burning from this cold, dry air'. I'll have to figure out what to do about this leg issue. EDIT: I also did 3x10 squats
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/240993386
NP/IF/TSS:
Monday: No riding.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/242507646
NP/IF/TSS: 178W/0.773/83
Saturday: Karl was interested in going for a ride down to babylon bikes. I had thought he said long, slow distance ride, which sounded great. It ended up as long, steady distance, which was still fun, but a lot harder than I was planning on. On the way out, we saw a group of SBRA riders going the opposite direction. Speaking of the SBRA, some lady asked if we were SBRA members at the train station, but didn't elaborate further when we said "no". shrug. Oh, I also wore my R1's today. They felt great. My knee was tracking a lot better with them, but I was getting some discomfort on the outside of my leg just above knee level. By that tendon thing.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/242020938
NP/IF/TSS: 172W/0.746/183
In the evening I did some more spinbatas. They were particularly half-assed, with a lot of 15/15 intervals instead of the 20/10.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/242507660
NP/IF/TSS: N/A
Friday: Had my face drilled off at the dentist. Luckily, he was running over a half hour late, so I went to the Kreb for a while before-hand. I talked to Gregory for a while. He gave me some solutions to look at for my impending tendinitis. In the evening I set up my new shoes that I picked up from Roadworx (Colorado, you lucky bastards!). Fizik R1's. Hell yeah. No riding, though. Mostly just sulking around the house with my tail between my legs.
Thursday: Day two of spinbatas. They felt less painful than last time, so that's good. I pointed my aft-facing bow fan (I make no apologies for the nautical terminology I throw into this blog) a little bit lower so it wasn't blowing wind straight in my face, which I think helped with being able to breathe in a halfway useful manner. I was able to complete maybe 5 of the intervals fully this time? It's an improvement!
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/241534598
NP/IF/TSS: N/A
Wednesday: No riding. Did some transverse planks 1x50 and some pushups.
Tuesday: Started up my spinbatas again as there's a roller race at the end of the month. Doing this caused me to realize a few things. First, I don't remember at all what gear i used to use for roller work. I stuck with a 49x16 as i figured it would be nice and light, but I'm wondering if I used to put my 15 on. Second, I'm having knee tracking issues again. Riding the rollers no-handed really shows this. I also feel tension on my hip by the joint, the back inside of my knee, and I feel like I want to rotate my foot ankle-in. Also, my achilles is starting to feel sore approximately 2 hours after training. Third, I suck at these spinbata things. I compared how I felt this time vs the last time I did them and both occasions my main thought was 'holy crap, my throat is burning from this cold, dry air'. I'll have to figure out what to do about this leg issue. EDIT: I also did 3x10 squats
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/240993386
NP/IF/TSS:
Monday: No riding.
4.11.12
2012: A look back
I know I still have a few weeks until my season is officially over. I might even do a couple of cyclocross races during that time. But I'm bored, and I figure I might as well get this season review done and over with. So let's see how my year went.
Here were my goals for the season:
1. 1:15 Kilo - nope
2. Top 5 at Kissena Opening Weekend and State Championships - check
3. Qualify for Elite Track National Championships - sorta
Once again my hope for a sub 1:15 kilo has evaded me. I'll probably give it another try next year. I have succeeded in staying top 5 for both opening weekend and states, despite my best efforts to screw up at opening weekend. Finally, there were no qualifiers for elite nats, so I could have gone and done timed events, but the real spirit of the goal was to get to cat 2 and race all mass-start events. I call this 50%. Could be worse, I suppose.
That said, let's look at some of the highlights:
1st - Lehigh Laps
1st - Labor Day Meet
2nd - NY State Track Championships
3rd - Kingsbridge Armory Velodrome Roller race
4th - Kissena Opening Weekend
I also was able to race Tandemonium at T-town, and I won money at Kissena (opening weekend), Garden State Velodrome (keirin final), and four times at T-town - once each in stagiares, pro/am (combined with stagiares), friday night (tandemonium), and lehigh laps.
Beyond this, the team has really picked up. We got some fast new riders, fast new kits. I'd call this season a success. Thanks, everybody!
Here were my goals for the season:
1. 1:15 Kilo - nope
2. Top 5 at Kissena Opening Weekend and State Championships - check
3. Qualify for Elite Track National Championships - sorta
Once again my hope for a sub 1:15 kilo has evaded me. I'll probably give it another try next year. I have succeeded in staying top 5 for both opening weekend and states, despite my best efforts to screw up at opening weekend. Finally, there were no qualifiers for elite nats, so I could have gone and done timed events, but the real spirit of the goal was to get to cat 2 and race all mass-start events. I call this 50%. Could be worse, I suppose.
That said, let's look at some of the highlights:
1st - Lehigh Laps
1st - Labor Day Meet
2nd - NY State Track Championships
3rd - Kingsbridge Armory Velodrome Roller race
4th - Kissena Opening Weekend
I also was able to race Tandemonium at T-town, and I won money at Kissena (opening weekend), Garden State Velodrome (keirin final), and four times at T-town - once each in stagiares, pro/am (combined with stagiares), friday night (tandemonium), and lehigh laps.
Beyond this, the team has really picked up. We got some fast new riders, fast new kits. I'd call this season a success. Thanks, everybody!
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