Training Log Archive: Dangerman

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/34198552
A pleasant 7am start with some rain was far better than 6am and freezing temperatures of last week. We set off and I made my decision to go with the 'fast' group today. It was really the 'crazy' group as they were intending on doing 4 big climbs. My goal today was to stay in touch with the main group.

First hill was Kalamunda Rd (after ridgehill rd though) and boy was it long. It just kept going and the grade kept changing too. It made it difficult to find a pace/intensity that worked. I stayed with the main group until about halfway and talked myself into keeping to my own pace when they surged a bit. Finished about 150m back which wasn't too bad at all I thought.

Next was what the group call "Chookenburg". It's like Gooseberry Hill Rd, only steeper. Yes, steeper. Upto 24% gradient and it was a killer. I managed to be in front on the way into the climb due to some confusion caused when 3 groups intermingled down Mundaring Weir Rd. As I had checked the climb out earlier using google maps, I knew what I was in for. I maintained my pace and noticed that the main group was a fair way back....

As I turned onto the main climb, it hit me. Lowest gear, HR in z5, breathing uncontrolled doing all of 11km/h. Almost had a mental breakdown going up that hill. I literally had nothing left to give as I mashed the pedals any which way just to maintain some forward momentum. One rider passed me, slowly, swerving a bit just like me. Another did the same and spurred me on however it didn't make me go any quicker. Right on the line, one more passed me. However, that meant that I got 4th and scored some (my first) KOM points!

It also robbed me of energy as I had spent lots of time in z5 battling up the hill trying to stay in front of the chasing pack. So when the observatory climb came, I put in a respectable effort but faded badly, recovered and finished reasonably strongly in the top 3rd of the spread out bunch. The Observatory climb just kept going. The gradient wasn't bad, but it was just enough to sap your speed as soon as you eased off.

Shite, 1 more climb to go and we are out the back of Pickering Brook. I hope I have enough left. The last climb was into Kalamunda on a road that ran kinda parallel to Mundaring Weir rd. It was shorter too, I was told. Those maths geniuses out there will read that to mean steeper too.

I broke away early on the decent. It was wet so the others didn't chase. That is until 2 girls chased and caught me. This was good as they were quicker than me on the flat and we were extending out lead over the pack.

The T junction came, the climb kicked and because I was ready with my gears, I had a handy lead of 50m! Right, lets go. I spun away standing on the pedals and managed about 5minutes of that before I popped and got swallowed by the leaders. Managed to make it to the top ahead of 1 of the girls that joined my break.

Coffee, chat, drink, eat, drink some more. I recognised one of the girls on the ride and said hello. She didn't remember me at all. Funny that, we actually went out for a few months. I must not have made much of an impression!

The "we'll take it easy on the way back" pace was somewhere around 40km/h again. I was holding on for dear life here. Somehow, I managed to protect myself and make it back with the main group.

In bed now, hurting. What a ride.

3 x hip flexors: ouch
3 x hamstrings: less painful
3 x quads: easier finally
3 x abductors

6 x 40s single leg stands.
Why?
Couldn't sleep as I over did it again on coffee during the ride. While lying in bed bored out of my brain, I googled how to improve my glute something or other. Single leg stands was the recommendation.

Why Glutes?
At running, Ian mentioned that my right knee splays out.
On the ride, my ex-girlfriend, the one that doesn't remember me(!) mentioned that my right knee splays out and I am probably losing power because of it.

Strangely, I am now motivated to actually fix it.

Event: WA Sprint Championships
 

3 x hip flexors: ouch
3 x hamstrings: ouch
3 x quads: quiver

Hmmmm
Housemate doesn't seem to be taking the situation seriously.
I don't want to be a Dad by telling him what to do, but at the same time, if I can help it, I would like to avoid him being without a place to live.
So I gave him a few hints yesterday:
"I've called the real estate agent. They are looking for replacement tenants. If you don't decide before she finds a new tenant, then you'll have to move out."
Response:
"yeah, I'm not really sure what I want to do. I've seen a few places and I like this place and yeah, lifestyle, you know."
Maybe my hint wasn't strong enough?

Ohh the pain!

Drove the City Beach and rode south from there with the intention of doing 20x(20s@100%+20s@50%)
Managed 12 before I gave up.
My legs didn't feel good from the get go and even after a warm up they were seizing if I pushed too hard.

Causes?
Recovery: Monday's and Wednesday's rides were hard sessions with some pretty high intensity.
Stress: told my housemate he needs to move out, told my landlord I am breaking my lease, trying to figure out where the hell I am going to put my spare furniture.
Sleep: 12:30 bed time with 6am wake up.

C • On the Move... 6

3 x hip flexors: ouch
3 x hamstrings: ouch
3 x quads: quiver

Drills and stuff on tired and empty legs. Definite rest day tomorrow even if it isn't raining.

3 x hip flexors: ouch
3 x hamstrings: ouch
3 x quads: quiver

I missed Tuesday's session due to work so managed to get out early today and make up for it.

A pyramid session today.
10 strokes hard then 50 easy.
20 hard 50 easy
up to 90 hard then back down to 10.

Check out my pretty graph:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/33905692

I am pretty clever sometimes.

A tyre on my car has a slow leak from a screw (hard to come by in other ways) that I ran over ages ago. What to do? A repair costs around $45 and that is pretty close to what a new tyre costs for my little car!

Well, how about I remove the valve and squirt in some slime, the same stuff we use for tubless MTB tyres?

I arrive at the petrol station, feeling pretty smug. I let the tyre down completely and remove the valve. I so want someone to come up to me and ask what the hell I am doing as I sure have a good answer for them.

I squirt the slime in and my smug smile increases. I replace the valve into the valve stem and smile a bit more. I then rise to get the pump which I had parked right next to. See, I'm a thinker.

I approach the pump and my smile, well, it fades not knowing whether the sign saying "out of order" is funny or aggravating. Best laid plans hey?

C • Genius 4

Yeehaa! Finally I crack the 30km/h barrier to work.

Got up late today and decided, right, today's the day for an assault on the PB to work. It will double as my interval session as it will undoubtedly be just as hard and I will get to work quicker too.

I did cheat a bit though. I didn't start my Garmin until I had finished drinking my milk breaky while riding through Joondalup. It took about 1km off the total distance and removed 2 sets of lights from the route.

I also started off too quick and roasted myself pretty early on with cold legs. They came back near Whitfords though and lasted until Glendalough. From there on in, it was a knife edge balancing act trying to push just a fraction less than would cause them to seize. Even managed to time my recovery well enough to really power up the bridge over Vincent street.

Coming into town, I had 31.7. From previous experience, I thought that I needed about 2km up my sleeve to deal with town. Luckily, 2 favourable light changes and a concerted effort everywhere else left me with a respectable and above 30km/h average :-)

3 x hip flexors: ouch
3 x hamstrings: ouch
3 x quads: quiver

Ride home tonight was more in line with Monday night's plan of spinning and not pushing too much. There was a big chainring exclusion zone set up which didn't really make much of a difference. I just changed gears more often.

I also resisted the temptation to stand up on the pedals. I find that I have plenty of strength and staying power when I stand but when I sit, my legs tired more quickly. So I'm trying to address this imbalance.

Crossing Whitfords Ave, the avg speed was 28.4km/h. Once again, I saw red (figuratively speaking this time) and tried to push the last section home to get 29. Got up to 28.8 but then a hill slowed me down and sapped my legs off energy. I spun my way home after getting off the freeway bike path.

3 x hip flexors: ouch
3 x hamstrings: ouch
insufficient kahuna's to try the quad stretch.
3 x quads
Still hurt though and I could feel my hammy's twitching for a cramp but, luckily, no cramp came....

My legs are so sore. Well, not sore, they feel like they are buzzing and a little sore. I really think I absolutely thrashed them yesterday to within an inch of their life.
Actually, I think that after the week off and the ride on Saturday, maybe I engineered a peak of some sort? I just felt so strong and despite the soreness during the ride home, I could still push a fair bit.
If this is what performance a peak produces, I want more of that!

3x5min@90%+10min@easy

Turned out more like 3 min @ 95-100% and the 10 minutes was done at a decent pace, maybe a notch below solid and 3 above pansy.

Oh, and then there was a 10min threshold effort as I tried to shake loose a commuter. Great motivator he was. I wanted to thank him but I think he turned off at Leederville.

Hey, maybe I have some straight line ability:
rep 1: 5min@34.5km/h
rep 2: 5min@27.1km/h including stopping for lights at greenwood and negotiating the station and detours
rep 3: 5min@34.9km/h
Hammer fest near town trying to drop the commuter: 8min@32km/h including crossing cedric intersection and hutton street intersection.

3 x hip flexors: ouch
3 x hamstrings: ouch
insufficient kahuna's to try the quad stretch.

3 x hip flexors: ouch
3 x hamstrings: ouch

Started out as an easy rolling/ spinning ride home along the coast. Weird thing was, without a wind and barely pressing the pedals, I was maintaining 32+. That put a smile on my face and I blissfully floated up the coast spinning away.

Near Scaraborough, I noticed a red flashing light ahead. After some (ok - lots) internal contemplation, I said no, no need to chase. Thing is, it was getting closer ever so slowly even without me trying harder. Or so I thought.

Once I caught up to the rider, I realised I had upped the pace somewhat. And I realised that my lights must be low on battery as they were blinking. Ay-Ups don't blink when they get low, do they?

No they don't. We now had 3 commuters belting up the coast. The one that I caught (No 1) noticed me and then gradually increased the intensity. I liked him straight away. That's the move that you pull when you think you have heaps in reserve. You increase the pace gradually until the guys behind are struggling and then ride away.

I, however, managed to hold on although the straights were hard work. I also noticed that he didn't like hills. He would hammer it on the way up and then rest at the top. Chuckle. At the top of the next hill, after his surge I pulled out and took the lead.

No 2 followed, blinking away. That was a little annoying. Anyhow, I started to fade a bit as the straights were hard work again. He overtook me, stayed there for about 2 minutes and then pulled off, huffing and puffing!

I rode home the rest of the way with a big smile on my face. Me, competitive? Never.

Needless to say, the legs are ultra sore now and a Tuesday Group Ride is out of the question.