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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

My Polar heart rate monitor software allows you to setup what it calls sport zones.  The default is 5 zones all based on maximum heart rate, with the maximum intensity zone defined as 90-100% of maximum heart rate, hard intensity zone of 80-90% of maximum heart rate, and so forth.  With a maximum heart rate of 180 bpm, that would give me a range in the maximum intensity of 180 x 0.9 = 162.  On a recent 95 miles race, with 9,500 feet of climbing I used my Polar HRM and had reset to use the defaults.  But the 7 hours during the race showed 2 full hours in that red zone.  Since this red zone should be above your Lactate Threshold, it indicated that such a range was too wide.

One heart rate zone calcualtor that is more sophisticated because it also uses your resting heart rate.  You calculate the difference between your resting heart rate and maximum heart rate.  For me that is 180-45 = 135.  Now instead of using just 90% of maximum heart rate, you use 90% of that difference plus your resting heart rate (0.9 x 135 + 45 = 167).  That small change from using 162 and 167 results in a reduction of time in that recent race from 2 full hours down to 45 minutes.  Use this handy calculator to use this approach for your own zones.

Today I needed to take my bike into the shop to have the steerer tube slightly cut because when the Trek Store built up with the new frame, they didn’t cut it quite enough so the LBS needed to add a spacer on the top of the stem.  I thought this would be a good chance to do a time trial up Suncest.  All my other times up that hill were part of a long ride, including the recent Warriors race.  It took me 21:15 to make the climb, more than two minutes faster than my previous best.  I was in the “red zone” for 16:30, or most of the climb.  I had an average heart rate of 166 during the climb with a maximum of 176.  That indicates two things.  One that my maximum heart rate is indeed close to 180 and that using 167-180 bpm as the “red zone” is about right.  Below is the heart rate curve from the Suncrest time trial.

The Spanish dollar (also known as the piece of eight, the real de a ocho or the eight-real coin) is a silver coin, worth eight reales.  But I think of pieces of eight as a way to piece together a ride from our Utah home using 8 different climbs and at least 8,000 feet of climbing and 80 miles.

Today I did another Pieces of Eight ride and it was my first big ride on my new bike (at least a new frame) and one of my last big training ride before the 1000 Warriors race in one week.  I wanted to get in a ride that went up Snowbird, the final climb on the race.  The race is 95 miles, but the last 50 has most all of the climbing.  I decided to ask Anne to drive me up to the bottom of the Alpine Loop so I could ride the last half of the route since I wanted to focus on climbing.  I started to ride at 8:41 am and it was still a bit cool but I started right out with a climb so it was fine.  It took me 1 hour and 2 minutes to reach the summit, better than my long ride last Monday and more then 2 minutes faster than the 300 Warriors race last year.  But on the race I had already ridden 45 miles to get to the start of today’s ride.  It was then a fast decent down American Fork Canyon.  I was interested in how the new bike would handle.  It handled very well, just as good as my Madone 5.9 frame and probably a bit better.

I followed the route for the 1000 Warriors ride and timed myself going up Suncrest.  Again my time was faster than my race time last week.  I was feeling good as I made my down into the Salt Lake Valley and over to the beginning of the Snowbird climb.  I was worried about this climb because it is so difficult, more than 6 miles with no plateaus to catch your breath.  It is especially brutal at the end of a 95 mile race.  Even though I was only at mile 43 when I started the steep climb, it was still very difficult.  But my climb time was more than 6 minutes faster than my race time from last year.  I am sure most of that was less miles on my legs.

At the summit I turned around to trace the route backwards.  That meant climbing the tough Transverse Ridge.  With over 7,500 of climbing already on my legs it was not a pleasant experience and my time showed it.  At the summit I stopped to get water and gave Anne a call.  Since we have a 50 mile ride tomorrow, with a lot of climbing, I decided I wanted to keep this ride down to 80 miles. If I biked back home, even skipping American Fork Canyon, I would have ended up with 95 miles.  She agreed to meet me at the Bike Peddler, which allowed me to finish riding with 80 miles and 8,840 feet of climbing.

This table shows how my ride today compared with similar rides on the same hills during the past year.   Someday I really need to switch to a compact crank.  Doing these hills with a double crank is getting too tough.

On Tuesday I went on the mountain bike, which is always a tough climb.  But my first chance on the road bike was Wednesday, up Henry Coe.  I was riding toward the front of the pack and decided to take my heart rate up to a high level and see if I could hold it.  Even after taking it over 170 bpm, one rider, Jim W, stayed with me.  I figured that if I could hold that pace long enough he would fall off, which is what happened.  But I was so wasted after that that I had to lower my heart rate to finish the climb.  It was not the best way to set a good time up the hill, but it was a good training exercise.  Here is the heart rate graph.  My total climb time was 6 minutes slower than my best time last year (set during a race), even taking my average heart rate to 163 for the climb.  For each graph below click it to see it enlarged.

The next day was the weekly Metcalf Mauler ride.  This week we went on the tandem and we pushed the pace all the way up the hill.  Our total time was about 1 minute slower than our best time set last year.  Here again is the graph.

On Friday John and Jeff were visiting.  They joined Anne and I, all on single bikes, for a 33 mile ride around the reservoir.  Not much climbing that day and I really needed the rest.

On Saturday, John and I went to join a club ride up Mt. Diablo.  Anne and I had done that same hill on the tandem last April, but this was a chance to see if I could break an hour on my single bike.  As soon as we went by the start point at the South Gate, we picked up the pace.  Soon after that a rider came by us and John jumped on his wheel. I kept focused on my heart rate, knowing that I needed to keep it below 160 in order to be able to keep the pace for a whole hour.  My legs felt trashed from the other days this week of climbing hard.  I was keeping track of my feet per minute climbing rate and after about 40 minutes I realized it was unlikely I would break an hour on the climb.  It was exactly one hour when I reached the bottom of the very steep final narrow road up to the parking lot.  I ended up making the climb in 61:52., about 20 minutes faster than we had done the same climb on the tandem earlier this year.

John was using one of my Polar 625X heart rate monitors so I had a chance to download his data.  I put both graphs together below.  It is remarkable how close we were in terms of heart rate.  Kind of like Father, like Son.  Since John had gone ahead of me his was not quite sure where the top was and had stopped at a parking lot at the bottom of the real step final section, so his actually time would have been closer to 58 minutes.

I think that is enough hard climbing for the week.  I need a day or two to recover.