I’m getting back into a training groove and even getting a little taste of heat training this week (only in the 80’s, but warm enough to feel it climbing).
Last week I hit 800 TSS capped off with a 3:45 zwift century at .86 IF. I was feeling pretty good on that ride, but the IF is based on an FTP about 10 watts lower than what I was seeing this time last year. Planning to push the volume up a little more over the next couple weeks and then I’ll be into my build.
Also, bike is now dialed in as I switched to my eagle gearing setup and put some old 40mm gravel tires on it for road training.
More is more. I’m a believer in you gotta do something long and uncomfortable at least twice before race day. From a training perspective, stacking back to back 4-5 hour days is probably equivalent or better, but 5 hour days are routine for me. I start to learn things when I get stretch out past 6.5 or 7 hours. Preferably, this is on gravel.
The first ride resulted in an implosion–I had to get picked up with 20 miles to go. It was the first hot day I was outside and my gut got unhappy with the amount of ride food I was shoving down it (when I’m inside, I tend to eat more “real” food). I didn’t start feeling these effects until I’d been out for over 5 hours. The second ride was a mere 5 days later and went much better. I then went to Mallorca and did 1100 TSS in 6 days. Came back and did that last ride 2 weeks later…unfortunately I got hit by a car 2 days after that and couldn’t race but I felt like the approach I took was reasonable.
The first pic doesn’t do justice to how steep that road was….probably close to 20%. It also illustrates the dangers of the descents….look at the drainage ditch in the right side. Those are in every descent it seems so there is ZERO margin for error!
But the riding is fantastic…all of this is less than a KM away from hotel in Taipei. From packed city streets to remote mountain roads in a snap.
Agree. For me, when I get to 5-6 hour on gravel is when things like bike fit issues or body ache issues or nutrition issues really make themselves know
I’ll do a couple big days at some point. One at least 9-10 hours.
Before that though lots of back to back days on the weekend.
Most of my rides will be on gravel but I might throw at least one road ride in there to give my body a breather.
Another solid week, the broken hand is improving and only hurts on rough roads and bumps (definitely not ready for gravel). Just happy I’m able to start loading up the volume at this point.
I hit 900 TSS this week, but my TSS is getting overstated based on my FTP being set a bit low. I got my first taste of heat training this week when it hit ~90F (felt much hotter) on Thursday, I didn’t even try my last sweet spot interval and just limped home feeling terrible. But today was about 10 degrees cooler and I had legs all day. 5+ hours, 335 TSS, and I knocked out a 60’ interval at .95IF (which felt surprisingly good) after warming up with high Z2 for about 90 minutes. Clearly need to bump up the FTP, but waiting until after next week (my last week of base). 98 days…
I have been struggling to find a rhythm with training. I’m only shooting to do 8-10 hours a week but I luck to get 6 currently. My daughter plays club volleyball and jazz band, so every weekend is all day tournaments or competitions both days. Thankfully this weekend is the end of that, and I can start to add in longer and longer endurance rides.
I used to ride my bike to my daughters’ competitions (the sport / event varied with each girl)…or if it was a fair distance away, either ride there and meet my wife or bring my bike with me and ride home.
Good way to balance out family obligations and training.
Unfortunately, I’m the one driving because my wife works on the weekends now. I will get in, and I have tried to switch to a long ride on Friday nights. Less than ideal, but worth in the short term. I’m going to try to try in incorporate my 25 miles work commute into some training zone 2 rides once the weather is better. Figure it will force me to ride in the morning more and save some cash.
Ordered Uswe outlander pro 2L To potentially use for unbound 200.
I’ve used a evoc hip pack before and it just moves around too much for my likely and I don’t like the big strap. I have a camelbak chase which is okay but has a smaller bladder. I’ll have to compare the camelbak vs Uswe.
The only issue I see about using it for Unbound is the lack of additional storage. Would be nice to store my ShakeDry jacket in my pack if I could vs. in a pocket or in a frame bag.
I also have a CamelBak Chase vest that I am considering using for Unbound…but that is only a 1.5L bladder.
You can shove things in the pocket with the bladder. I put my hand pump in. My favorite part about the USWE pack is that it sits above jersey pockets, so you can still stow and grab stuff from there.
Yep. That’s the challenge. I tend to carry too much. I definitely want to keep light on my back. I do use a frame bag so I can stuff a rain jacket in there or in a jersey pocket.
I have to test out where I want my nutrition. I’ve started wearing cargo bibs so like putting gels in left leg pocket and trash on right leg pocket.
So will definitely be testing both packs on some long rides
I’ll shove stuff into the bladder area sometimes, but another approach I use is taping stuff to the bike frame with gaffer tape. I’ll use that approach for emergency stuff I don’t anticipate needing, so it’s not cluttering up pockets or top tube bag where I need to retrieve things during normal course of riding. A lot of folks use this technique for small stuff like quick links or tire plugs, but I’ll also use it for extra tubes and my mini pump.
I’ve got most of that stuff sorted…I run a storage keg in my third WB cag on the downtube which has a lot of that. Then I’ll have a decent sized seat bag and a bento box on the top tube. Those options will cover most of my storage needs for tubes, CO2, etc.
I think my main issue re: the jacket and putting it into the USWE is that it is one thing to do it to see if it fits / works…it becomes another thing when you have to use it on and off during a race and you don’t really have time to get it “just so” again.
Definitely want to avoid a HB bag if I can for aero reasons.
This happened to me last year with the rain. I had my hip pack with hydration bladder and my rain jacket in there nearly as well. But after I used the jacket and went to put it back in the pack it was a pain getting it back in correctly.
