Categories: Health, Hoodoo 500, Training Log
Enter your password to view comments.

I had a good week of training for the Mt. Tam Double and the Hoodoo 500.  On Wednesday I did a 138 mile ride, my longest ride of the year, and climbed 9,000 feet that day.

It was the most miles biked in a week so far this year and the most feet climbed.

Also looking at the accumulated training on week 12 of my 19 week program, I am ahead of plan and ahead of what I did for training for the Furnace Creek 508.

This coming week will be less since I will be traveling and also want to get some recovery days in.

Categories: Hoodoo 500, Training Log
No Comments »

Tomorrow I WILL NOT BIKE.  Tomorrow I WILL NOT BIKE. I have to keep repeating this to myself because I definitely need a day off.  It has now been 13 consecutive days biking, several days with double workouts, running and biking or two bike rides. During those 13 days I racked up nearly 700 miles. This chart, from my Hoodoo 500 training program shows the miles in each week. I am ahead of my training program and need some recovery.  Tomorrow I WILL NOT BIKE!

Yesterday after a 44 mile ride I was feeling ragged, my right calf muscle was still hurting and now my left ankle started to hurt. I thought I should have taken the day off. Today, after a 85 mile ride I was actually felling fine with no joint or muscle problems like the prior two days.  With that it is easy to start thinking I don’t need any recovery and can keep going. But I will say it one more time, tomorrow I WILL NOT BIKE!

Categories: Training Log
1 Comment »

Unlike the prior few years, I decided to take a longer break from the ultra distance events over the winter. No Death Valley Double, no Solvang Double,  not even a Davis Double. I had already decided no more Devil Mountain Doubles. Although an extended period of lower activity can help prevent burnout, starting in May, I realized I needed to increase my training for the Hoodoo 500 event that is scheduled at the end of August.

Need for a Training Program

Training plans for these type of events are not easily found. In 2007 I attempted to do the Devil Mountain Double for the first time, but that was right after running the Boston Marathon. Although I finished, I realized I needed a cycling specific training plan, so I developed one for the Furnace Creek 508 in 2007 and refined for subsequent major challenges. The older I become, the more I need to have a good training program and need to track my progress against my plan.  It not only helps me to properly prepare but also gives me the confidence to finish and so far I have been able avoid the dreaded DNF (did not finish).

Avoid Junk Miles

I learned from running marathons that you can not just go out and run a bunch of miles and expect to do well.  Although total mileage may be one factor, it is not the only factor and not even the most important factor.  When I studied marathon training I realized that there is something called junk miles, those are the miles that you run just to get your total mileage up.    When training to run a marathon with the hopes of qualifying to run the Boston Marathon, I actually reduced my weekly mileage.  Instead I added in speed work and also the long weekly runs at a faster pace.

Speed Work

Many might think that speed work is of little value when it comes to endurance events but that is due to a lack of understand.  I see many endurance cyclists that ride about the same pace on all their rides and just focus on riding a bunch of miles.  Chris Carmichael wrote in the June 2010 edition of Bicycling Magazine “When you’re an endurance athlete, one key adaptation you want is an increase in the size and number of mitochondria in your muscle cells.  These cellular power plants process fat and carbs into energy, and as their density increase so does the amount of aerobic energy you can send to working muscles … Research shows that spending more than about 60 minutes at at time at a constant intensity doesn’t have much impact on mitrochondrial density.  But the evidence is clear that shorter, harder workouts do have that effect – and hence improve endurance performance – for athletes at all fitness levels.”

This week I did two speed workouts.  On Tuesday I did my standard interval workout, with 7 minutes of riding hard, trying to get my heart rate into the red zone, followed by 3.5 to 4 minutes of easy recovery.  I repeat that 4 or 5 times.

Since this is a circular course it somewhat eliminates the affect of wind on the totals.  This table shows a summary of how I did compared with prior times.  On Tuesday I had rode 84 miles the prior day and ran 6 miles that morning before the interval workout and it shows.

Today I did a very fast paced ride of moderate distance.     After doing a couple mile warmup, I ride a 38 miles course with a combination of flats, hills and rollers, with a total climb of 1500 feet.   I vary my effort along the course, attacking the hills and rollers.   I was able to get my average speed up to 17.5 mph, about as fast as I have ever done this course in a time trail fashion.

The third type of speed workout I will be adding in is hill repeats.  I have a hill that takes about 7 minutes to climb and about half that long to descend.  I do 4 to 5 repeats, climbing as fast as I can, then recover on the descent.  The goal of these type of speed workouts is to increase your lactate threshold so you can go faster in an endurance event.  If you can finish faster, with the same level of effort, it is much easier on your body.

Weekly and Accumulated Training

I plot out my training program, showing my actual values against my plan and also compared with training for some similar events.  I track the longest weekly ride, weekly climbing, weekly total miles, accumulate miles and accumulated climbing over the training program.  These are some of the charts.  After 6 weeks into the training plan I am on track but the tough training is yet ahead.

Categories: Hoodoo 500, Training Log
No Comments »

While most cyclists might dread the hills, I seem to be the opposite. When I am with a fast group of guys I can barely hang on, especially if there is a headwind.  Once we reach the hill, my heart rate will actually go down and I may even go ahead of much of the pack.

In trying to understand why this is the case, I have calculated the power requirements.  If I had a power meter, I guess I could measure it directly, but calculating it will work fine.  I am short and relatively lightweight.  I would like to compare myself  to a bigger guy, say someone who is 6 ft. 2 in. tall and weighs 200 lbs, compared with my 5 ft. 6 in. and 140 lbs.  I have run the power required on different situations and put them in a table below.  I will assume a 20 lb. bike in both cases.

To make the comparison easier to follow, let’s assume both riders can climb a 10% grade at the same rate, and that rate is their maximum power output.  If we calculate the power required for each rider to accomplish this, we can then see how much reserve power is left for different scenarios.  If we are riding together on a flat road, with no wind, at 23 mph, I need to put out 91% of my maximum power output, while Mr. Big only needs to use 73%.  If we now have a 15 mph headwind and travel at 15 mph, I have to increase my power to 96% of my maximum, and am dying trying to keep up.  Mr. Big only needs to go to 79%.  We know that human physiology is not linear and the closer one gets to their maximum ability the harder it becomes to achieve even a small increase in output.

Of course we could look at things a bit different.  Using the above table, let’s say both riders, traveling at 15 mph with a 15 mph headwind (on Malech) are putting out 95% of their maximum capacity when they hit the hill with a 10% grade.  In that case I would be able to climb at 8 mph by putting out 100%, while the big guy will have to drop his speed because his 100% would be 315 watts which means he can only climb the hill at 6.7 mph.  If the hill is Metcalf, which averages a 10% grade, that means I can reach the top in 13:20 (about my PR) but Mr. Big will need 16 minutes.

Now you know why I hate flats and love the hills.

Categories: Training Log
2 Comments »

After a few days of wonderful weather, the temperatures had turned to the cooler side and there was some threat of rain.  So this morning we decided to go for a run instead of bike.  The original plan was to go 6 miles, but after 4 miles into the run, Anne thought she might want to do 8, so that is what we did.  I still felt like I needed some more exercise.  Since the weather was now a bit warmer and no rain yet, it sounded like a good chance to do my interval training.

When I would train for marathons, I liked to do weekly speed work, either a tempo run or intervals.  While I might do quarter mile repeats when getting ready for a 10K distance race, for the marathon I found mile repeats worked well for me.  I could only do about 4 of them, since that meant 4 miles running well over my lactate threshold.

For cycling I patterned a similar workout.  Since it took me about 6:45 to 7:00 minutes to run the mile repeats, I duplicated that with 7 minutes flat out on the bike, followed by an easy 4 minutes.  I choose a relatively flat course that included a couple miles of warm-up from our house and then a straight shot, with no need for stop signs or traffic lights during each of the 7 minute intervals.  The blue sections on the map are the intervals done at speed and the red sections the recovery portions.  From the map it would as if I could fit in a 5th interval at the end, but there are too many stop lights and I am way too tired to try a 5th one.  It seems as if all I can do is ride the 4.5 miles back home.

You can see the four intervals, followed by the recovery period from this heart rate curve.  I tried to get into Zone 5 on each interval (for myself that means 167 bpm or higher), sometime I was able to do except for the 4th interval where the 8 mile run and the prior 3 intervals were finally taking their toll.  At some point your legs and can’t push the heart as much as the heart can deliver.   I have my Garmin Edge 500 setup to show the heart rate zone I am in, which works well for this type of workout.

Using a circular course allows me to average the 4 segments so as to somewhat cancel the effect of the wind.  This allows a comparison between different dates.  I have kept this table at the bottom to show those.  With the 8 mile run before, I was not able to quite do the same average speed.  There was also a strong headwind on some sections, a penalty you never quite get back on the other sections.   Since this is for training, the actual speed is not as important as getting my heart rate up sufficient to exceed my lactate threshold, with a short recovery and then a repeat.  This is the best way to improve one’s lactate threshold.

Categories: Speed Workout
No Comments »

I have a course where I do interval training on the bike and have kept track of some of the past training. We were headed out on the tandem for a ride today and Anne said she could not be gone too long. That was the clue to do a speed workout so we rode the tandem and did the same interval training I have done before on my single bike. I was anxious to see how the times would be on the tandem. The intervals consist of four segments of 7 minutes, at maximum speed, followed by about 3.5 minutes of recovery.

It turns out we did very well, averaging 22.2 mph for the 4 sections and I was able to get my heart rate up to 167-171 on each of the legs.  Anne took her heart rate up to 154.   We were back home in no time and still had a good workout.

Categories: Speed Workout
No Comments »

Last post was 3rd time is NOT the charm because I was not able to set a PR on Alpine Loop after setting a new one on two other hills in the same week.  Our stay is drawing to a close so I am anxious to try to get some new best times up some of the local hills here after putting a new compact crank on my bike and after getting a new lighter new frame (under warranty).

About two weeks ago I did the 1000 Warriors race and had terrible cramping on the final climb up Snowbird.  I usually only get to climb this hill after a lot of biking in terms of distance and climbing.  Since Anne needed to return something to a store in Salt Lake I thought this was a good time to do the usual bike route in reverse so I had her drop me off on Wasatch Blvd.

I figured I could set a new best time up Snowbird since I would not have that many miles on my legs before I started.  I am proud to say I was not passed by any other cyclist this time and I passed everyone in sight (an old guy on a recumbent and another ld guy on a mountain bike).  I ended up with a time that was about 8 minutes faster than my prior best time I did on a training ride.

After descending back down I rode the 1000 Warriors route in reverse until I reached the bottom of Transverse Ridge (the north side of Suncrest).  If thought maybe I could set a new PR on this hill also so I took my heart rate up to a rather high level and kept it there for the entire climb.  I was able to take three minutes off my prior best time.

I was feeling rather tired and was tempted to ride back home the flat way.  But after making a brief stop to get some more liquid in me (it was hot in the low 90′s) I decided to stick with my original plan and go up American Fork Canyon, then down the Alpine Loop.  As I started the climb, I was feeling in pretty good shape and decided to give it a go to see if I could sent a 3rd PR for the day, something I have never been able to do before.  I passed a couple of riders I recognized that had the “Ride for a Reason” jersey on.  One joined me for awhile but when I answered his question that it was 3 miles to the summit, he backed off to join his friend.  I was checking the time on the mile markers and about 1.5 miles from the top I knew I would be able to set a new record time.  I ended up taking another 2 minutes off.  So with the 3 new PRs I collectively took 13 minutes off, which I was very happy about.

It was getting a bit cool as I started to descend down the Alpine Loop.  I am sure that the temperature was high enough but after pushing my body so hard on three tough climbs, I guess I should have stopped and rested.  I did decide to take it easy going down.  About 6 miles from home I had a flat on the rear tire.  Normally  would have been frustrated to flat so close to home but I was so happy with my riding that I just took it in stride.

Here is all the data.  You will see that my LT has moved up from my training because I was able to sustain heart rates over 165 bpm for almost an hour.  Before I would have been cooked if I tried that.  My maximum heart rate for the day was 177, so I guess my maximum heart rate is still around 180.  I am not quite sure why I ever let my heart rate go to 177, I guess I got excited near the top of Transverse Ridge with my time.

Here is my heart rate chart. You can see I went into the red zone on many of the climbs, especially on Transverse Ridge.  Click to enlarge.

Categories: Cycling, Training Log
No Comments »

I have been feeling light on the bike lately, setting new PR records up Suncrest and Squaw Peak in the last week. I decided to give it a shot to set a new PR going up the Alpine Loop. Actually I was headed over the mountain, then up Suncrest, before meeting Anne for the regularly scheduled Utah Velo ride. I ended up with a total of 72 miles today, that coupled with going all out yesterday to set a new Squaw Peak PR, I guess I just didn’t have quite enough left on the Alpine Loop. But I did get my best time this year.  I kept my heart rate between 158 and 162 for most of the climb, but did take it into the 170′s for the last 1.5 miles.

Categories: Cycling, Training Log
1 Comment »

After I finished putting the mountain bike gearing on Anne’s bike, I headed out on my bike with the new compact crank I installed yesterday to climb Squaw Peak.  That is a hill of about 1,700 feet of climbing that is less than 5 miles from our Utah home.  With a total of 4.3 miles distance, the grade is not too bad, except at the top, where it gets well in excess of 10%.  I was able to set a new PR.  The compact crank was not really a factor during most of the climb since I had a couple of gears left, but at the top I went to the lowest gear and was able to keep up the cadence to a reasonable level compared with my double crank where this portion was a “grind it out” job.  I kept my heart rate in the 158-162 range for most of the climb, but let it go into the 170′s during the last half mile.

Categories: Speed Workout
No Comments »