Duckin' and Dodgin'

This week has been rough, as expected. I had to wake up early 3 out of the 5 weekdays this week. The kids and Sarah all came down with strep throat. I'm ready for the weekend!

Even though the weather has been crummy, I still got most of my training in. I called it a night early on Wednesday though. I just kind of ran out of gas near the end of my strength workout, and I decided not to finish it or go on and do my intervals. Given everything else going on, it seemed like a bad idea to try to push through it. I did a hard ride on the trainer last night, and everything felt pretty good once I got warmed up.

This weekend should be nice though. Hopefully everyone else gets feeling better, and I don't get sick!

Great Weekend!

I had a great weekend of training. I ended up riding at Stony with Sarah on Saturday. She rode much better than I expected. I did get a little nervous when she said her legs were burning after just a couple minutes of riding. I focused on my riding technique and rode hard in short bursts. Just being in a "non-training" mode helped me relax and I rode really well, and pretty fast!

I hit the dirt roads on Sunday and had a very enjoyable ride. I felt good the whole time, even though some of the roads were totally bombed out. I recovered well and ended up getting a lot of stuff done around the house too!

All of these good vibes make me a little nervous though. Typically, when I start feeling like this, it means that I'm about ready to get sick. The plan is for today to be an off day, and I'll try to get to bed early tonight. This week is shaping up to be busy, so I need to be careful. I saw this line in Joe Friel's blog: "When you're in great shape, you're only one workout away from losing it all."

60 Minutes: Tilford

Nice post from Steve Tilford, as usual, about the "60 Minutes" story last night. I didn't get a chance to watch it, I was putting the kids to bed. Just as well...

Brighton Stage Race - 2011

The 2011 Brighton Stage Race is now in the books. My result wasn't a whole lot better than it was when I last did the race in 2008, but my performance was much better.

I almost didn't go to the race on Saturday. It was raining pretty hard in Waterford, but by the time I got to Brighton, the rain had stopped and it didn't rain the rest of the day. Despite the rain, the trail was in decent shape for the time trial, but it was a little difficult for me to tell which corners would be slippery and which were firm. I rode just OK; I had to run up one hill after my rear tire spun on a wet root and I dabbed one other place when I messed up my line. I ended up off the pace for the Expert field, but I improved my time from 2008 by more than 2 minutes.

The short track race was in a slightly different location than it was for 2008. The grass course was pretty bumpy and soft. I knew that a lot of people would be riding 'cross bikes, but I thought I would be OK on my mountain bike. I was OK, but a 'cross bike probably would have been a better choice. I got off to a good start, but after a lap or so, I couldn't hold the pace and had to back off. After that, people kept gradually coming around me. Like I said, a 'cross bike would have helped, but it was mostly a fitness issue. I'm not sure if it was just a problem with threshold power (kind of a weakness of mine, particularly on a soft bumpy course) or if it was the volume of repeated hard accelerations.

Sarah and the kids came out to watch the short track race. It was cool to hear Cora yelling "Go Dad Go!".


It was rainy and cold again on Sunday, but I figured that since I raced on Saturday, I might as well go on Sunday too. Instead of clearing up though, it kept raining, hard. It was also pretty cold, about 42F by the time my race finished. We decided to shorten the Expert race from 4 laps to 3. For whatever reason, I'd been a bit worried about the distance, so I felt much more confident about doing 3 laps.

I had a decent start for me, and could immediately see that I was going to be competitive in the race. I passed a few guys on the first lap and was riding pretty well. I only had one problem on the first lap, when one of the faster guys bumped me a bit making a pass; that screwed things up for me and the next guy trying to pass.

I felt like I was going really well on the second lap. The trail was getting muddier, but I was riding well. A guy that was following me said, "you're much better than me on the technical stuff"; I don't think anyone's ever said that to me in a race. Definitely a sign of progress. I was passing more guys and had to hold myself back a bit to save something for the last lap. That's when things started going south. My brakes, which I'd noticed were fading a bit, really started to go. By the end of the lap, I could hardly slow down and my front brake was making a metal-on-metal sound. I stopped at the start/finish area, hoping I could just adjust the cable to fix it, but then I saw that the pads were almost completely worn down. I decided not to try to finish the race like that. So, another DNF at the Brighton XC. Unlike 2008 though, I felt really good about how my race was going on Sunday, so I can't get too down about a mechancial problem. I figure there's some karma at work here; a lot of times in a hard race I'll be thinking about getting a flat or something to put me out of my misery. So it figures that when I'm going pretty well, that's when I'll have a problem.

Looking for Fitness

Ah, it's been a long time since I've posted. The past couple weeks have really been a mixed bag...

Since the race at Pontiac Lake, I've been trying to get a handle on where my fitness is. The strange thing about the race was that while I felt kind of bad, I went about as fast as I did at the XC race last August. Without the bonk, I might have even been faster.

My training so far this year has been a mix of longer relatively easy rides and very short intervals (20s to 1.5 minutes). I haven't done much hard work at longer durations. So, I set about trying to do that a bit over the last two weeks.

The week following Pontiac Lake was really a good week of training for me. The weather kept me inside one night, and I did an interval session on the trainer (the Spinervals "No Slackers" DVD). That's one I do somewhat frequently during 'cross season, and it went surprisingly well.

That weekend I rode at Brighton to start getting ready for the stage race. It took me a bit longer than normal to get warmed up, but once I got going, I rode really well. I did a dirt road ride with the Rhinos on that Sunday, and I also felt really good.

This past week wasn't so good. For the first time this year, my knee felt a little funny (from mowing the lawn of all things!), so I had to back off the training a bit. Family stuff shortened some other planned training sessions during the week, and I didn't ride particularly well over the weekend. I went back to Brighton on Saturday; in addition to screwing up my nutrition for the ride, I also fell (going uphill!) and scraped up the knee that had been bothering me. The knee seemed OK for Sunday, but I bailed on my ride at PLRA after one lap because my back was bothering me (also strange, because lately, my back has been feeling basically perfect).

Oh well, you win some and you lose some. I was more careful about not twisting my knee while mowing this weekend, and my knee seems OK this time. The plan is to take it a bit easy this week and then do the stage race at Brighton this weekend!

Pontiac Lake TT

I raced the Pontiac Lake TT on Saturday. It was actually the first time I've done the TT. When I first started racing mountain bikes, I was too intimidated to race at Pontiac Lake at all. Once I felt comfortable enough to race out there, it seemed like I was always hurt in the Spring or had just barely started training. Anyway, things fell into place this year and I raced.

I rode my bike to and from the race, since I live so close to the trail (about a 20 minute ride). Really not a big deal, but it seemed kind of hardcore. It was also a nice warmup.

The race itself was a bit strange for me. I got off to a good start and pushed pretty hard for a while before I settled in. From the technical riding standpoint, the race went really well. I was confident and relaxed; I didn't make any major bobbles. My fitness seemed really off though, it seemed like I couldn't quite do what I wanted. My seated pedaling didn't feel very strong, and I was uncomfortable standing and pedaling. My legs felt pretty tight by the end.

I did make a few mistakes though. One was that I didn't take in enough calories in the first part of the race. As a result, I bonked with about 15-20 minutes to go... not fun. It was also warmer than I expected, and I was really wishing I'd worn a short sleeve jersey instead of a long sleeved one. The bonking definitely influenced my time; the jersey probably didn't too much.

In the end I was a little disappointed with my lap times. Yes, the trail was a little muddy in spots, but it really wasn't too bad and it shouldn't have slowed me down much.


It's taken a little while, but I've come up with a good list of things to work on to improve my performance for my next race. My next race is in 3 weeks and is one of my favorites, the Brighton Stage Race!

Break...

Wow, it's been a busy few weeks. We took a nice trip to Georgia for a week. I brought my 'cross bike and rode 4 days. I kept the knee-warmers on for all but one ride, but it was nice to be out riding in the warmth. The highlight was a ride through the mountains near Dahlonega.

I'm definitely not used to climbing for so long. The first big climb took me about 45 minutes, with a little relief partway up. The second one was steeper, but shorter, and took about half an hour. The descent back down was stupid fun though... I feel bad for people that don't ride (or do something else) that is so much fun.

Unfortunately, work has been full-throttle since I've been back and shows no signs of slowing, thus, the lack of blogging.

I have more-or-less kept up with my training, despite the workload. I got out for a ride at Pontiac Lake last Sunday. It was my first trail ride of the season. It ended up being colder and windier than I expected, and it snowed on me a few times. I was pleasantly surprised that I rode well though. For whatever reason (more/better strength training, skills practice), my bike handling was surprisingly good, for me. It seems that my "default" position is stronger and more balanced, and everything just works better from this position. The bike corners better, lands more softly from drops, you name it. I noticed that any little bobbles I had happened when I was out of position and/or sitting too heavily on the saddle.

I rode at Pontiac Lake again last night with some Rhinos. A couple of the fast(er) guys dropped me quickly, but I kept pushing hard. My fitness seems to be a mixed bag so far this year. I feel strong, and I seem to be able to recover from hard efforts (climbs) pretty quickly, but my steady (seated) power doesn't seem so good. Maybe just not enough miles in the legs yet...

My plan is to race the PLRA TT tomorrow. It will be interesting, I still haven't ridden two laps in a row yet this year.

Relaxed Week

I had originally scheduled this week off in my training plan. Even though I've missed so much training time due to my illnesses, I decided to keep this week as off. Sick time is not equivalent to resting time! For the most part, all I did this week was stretch and massage with the foam roller and tennis ball.


Yesterday morning, I took both kids out for a ride in the trailer (one at a time). Cora only lasted about 5 minutes before she was ready to go home. It was Nathan's first ride, and he did great, he was mostly quiet and just looked around. After about 15-20 minutes, I decided not to push my luck and we went home. Maybe there is some potential for some longer rides with him? I'll be back to training this week,


I'm hoping to get a decent amount of riding in, but we'll see...

Barry-Roubaix

I raced Barry-Roubaix on Saturday. I was happy that I was even able to show up to the race not-injured and not-sick. I was over my stomach bug from earlier in the week, but since March was kind of a wreck from a training standpoint, I had no idea how I would race.

Dad and I ended up getting to the park a little late, so I didn't get a warmup in. It was cold, in the low 20's, but I ended up dressing just about perfectly. I did have a moment of panic early in the race when my fingers were freezing, but they warmed up after a few miles.

The race started pretty fast, but it should have been manageable. My lack of warmup and lack of training caught up to me though (big shock there...), and I was off the back of the main/front group before we hit the dirt roads.

I actually felt decent on the two-track section. I probably passed more people there than anywhere else. The sand was reasonably firm so it wasn't too difficult to ride through. You just had to watch for a couple of icy spots.

For most of the race, I felt strong on the climbs, and I was able to make up ground there, but I just didn't feel like I had any seated power, so I struggled on the flatter, faster parts. That trend sort of fits with what I've been training though... I just haven't put a lot of time in on the bike yet. My tires were probably also a little too aggressive and a little too soft. The roads were super smooth and fast, you could have just about used a road tire! I won't blame my tires, but I will use something different next year.

By the time we hit the paved roads again near the end of the course, I was pretty gassed. I had even less seated power, and my legs were getting close to cramping on the climbs. I ended up finishing about 10-15 minutes slower than I'd wanted to, but, given how my March went, the race probably went about as well as I could have expected.

In general, I had a good time at the race and I enjoyed the course. Dad raced again and beat his time from last year, despite having the wrong shoes for his pedals. I'm planning to do the race again next year, but I'm starting a list of things I'll do differently...

Sick, Again!!!

Well, March has pretty much been a disaster for my training. I got a good day in on Monday, and then Tuesday I was pretty tired and had a scratchy throat, so I didn't do anything. Very early Wednesday morning my stomach rebelled on me and I was pretty miserable all day. I feel much better today, but my body is still out of whack. My resting heart rate was about 20 bpm higher than normal yesterday and again this morning.

I think I'll try to get on the trainer tonight and ride easy for a little while and see how that goes.
My new best-case plan for Barry-Roubaix is just to go out and ride it and not worry about going fast. I haven't been thinking about the worst-case.


In better news, today is Cora's third birthday! It's hard to believe that she's three already, but it's also hard to remember what things were like before she was born.

Solid Weekend

Well, the week started off a little rough. I didn't get feeling halfway decent until Wednesday. I did a couple strength workouts later in the week, but I was very conservative with my riding. Just some very short, very easy rides on Wednesday and Thursday.

Yesterday, I hit the dirt roads from Pontiac Lake to Davisburg. Temperatures were in the low 40's, so it was reasonably pleasant. I felt pretty strong early on, but I could tell that I haven't been riding much. My back started getting tired and sore about 2/3rds of the way through, and it was pretty sore by the time I finished. The ride didn't leave me feeling particularly confident about Barry-Roubaix. I came home, stretched and massaged with the foam roller and tennis ball, and my back seemed back to normal.

Today, I did mostly the same route, but I went farther to give an extra half hour of riding. This time, I stretched beforehand, and it seemed to help quite a bit. I could feel my back getting a little tired, but it never got to the point of bothering me. I felt much better for the first half of the ride today than I did yesterday (despite it being significantly colder today!). I started fading a bit after my turnaround point, but it wasn't too bad. I had a headwind coming home, so that was part of it. The wind blowing off the still mostly-frozen Pontiac Lake was really cold!

So, after today, I have some confidence that I should do OK at Barry-Roubaix next week. The extra week of recovering from my cold will probably help me more than anything else.

Rough Weekend

Ugh... I had a rough week and weekend. I got good workouts in on Monday and Tuesday. I rode Wednesday night, but I felt pretty bad on the bike. Thursday I felt sick, and so did the rest of the family. Friday I seemed better, but everyone else was worse. Then I was a little worse on Saturday. Today, I feel worse, but everyone else seems to be getting better. Hopefully that means I'll be feeling better tomorrow.

I got my mountain bike mostly put back together today, but that's about all I did. No interesting new parts this year, I just cleaned and replaced the normal wear items (chain, cables, etc).

Barry-Roubaix is only two weeks away... hopefully I can ride soon.

2011 Baseline Testing

I did some baseline testing for this year over the weekend.

My strength test was actually the second of the year (the first was here). I made good progress over the last test:

- Deadlift: I made an increase over my last test, but I'm still not quite to the level 1 target.
- Chinup: I added 1 chinup to my max, still at level 1.
- Turkish Getup: Actually did it this time around since I've been practicing the movement. Only about a third of the way to the level 1 weight though.
- 1-leg Squat: This one was a nice surprise. On my previous test, I got stuck at the bottom of the squat. This time, I didn't get stuck and was able to hit the level 1 target (5 reps). I hadn't been specifically training this exercise, so I was pretty happy to be able to do it! Next step... add weight.
- Pushup: Still at level 1. Level 2 is to do 12 pushups with hands on a suspension trainer. This is tough to do! My hands want to spread out as I get to the bottom.

So, I'm up to 3 out of 5 tests at level 1, and I'm making good progress on the exercises that aren't there yet.

The other testing I did was on the bike. There are two power levels (measured, as always, with my trusty, not-so-accurate-but-hopefully-repeatable Kintec Power Computer) I wanted to track this year: critical power at 5 minutes and at 30 minutes. For both tests, I didn't really feel great. I still have some lingering symptoms in my throat from my cold, but, aside from being annoying, it's not obviously affecting me.

I did the CP5 test first. I did it right after my strength testing, which may not have been a great idea, I don't know. I've only done this test twice ever. My memory was that it was a really hard test, and it didn't disappoint. I did fairly well compared to where I want to end up this year, about 13% away. I think that isn't so bad for early March.

I did the CP30 test the next day. Still had my throat thing going on, but it was a little better than Saturday. I'd been watching the kids all day, so I was ready for a little suffering on the bike. I didn't feel particularly good for the test, but I got through it and my pacing seemed OK. My result wasn't what I'd hoped for. It actually wasn't too far from where I've been other years at this time, but I'd hoped to see some improvement.

Spring Fever

I'm not the only one itching for better weather...

Banned!

I have a couple lingering cold symptoms that seem to be slow in going away, but I'm otherwise back to normal. I did my normal training on Monday night and last night and everything seems good.

I moved into a new set of mobility drills, which included the squat-to-stand exercise. This was one that I suspected was involved with my knee injury last Spring. I didn't notice anything while I was doing it, but later, my knee was slightly achey again. So, that one is now forever banned (unless I can figure out what I'm doing wrong, but I'm hesitant to even try). It's a little strange, because I can do other deep squatting-type exercises with no problem. Anyway, the knee seems fine today, so it should be OK, but I'll pay extra attention to it and be cautious over the next few days.

I'm planning on doing some on-the-bike testing later this week. It's always interesting to compare the results to previous tests, but I'm especially curious this year since my training has been so different. It's too bad I was sick last week, no doubt that will skew these results down, but I should still be able to get a pretty good feel for where I am.

Spring?

When I took Suzie out this morning, it seemed kind of warm, I could hear birds singing... seemed like Spring was in the air! (Even though we got another inch or so of new snow last night.)

I seem to be pretty much over my cold. Just a few minor lingering symptoms, but I otherwise basically feel good. I've done some light workouts the past couple days and have felt fine.

Another month to go before Barry-Roubaix!

Cold Progress

I'm making progress on the cold. I felt quite a bit better yesterday, but still not 100%. I did my planned Strength workout and I felt fine, no unusual weakness or anything. I seem about the same today, which isn't ideal, but I didn't get any worse. It felt good to do something again...

Sick

I ended up getting my workouts in Tuesday through Thursday this week. I wasn't feeling perfect, but I felt good during my workouts and I didn't seem to be getting any worse.

Friday morning though, I felt kind of bad, and it continued for the rest of the day and into today. So, now everyone in the family is sick. How fun...

More Output / Input

I did another 1.5 hours on the trainer Sunday. I was feeling pretty good and I pushed a little harder than I have been on other rides. It was probably more of a "tempo" ride than steady endurance. Anyway, I felt pretty good about it; then, I plotted my output/input numbers.

So, even though I set my best average power and speed numbers for the year, my heart rate was also much higher. The net effect was that it drove my ratio way down. Does it matter? Not really, but it made me think about how the ride has to be to use this kind of chart. Basically, I think you either have to try to hit the same HR every time, and see what happens to your power, or hit the same power every time, and see if you can do it at a lower HR.

I skipped my workout yesterday. I was tired and I'd felt a little sick all day. I'm still not feeling perfect today, but we'll see how I'm doing tonight.

Snowy Trail Ride

I went over to Lake Orion High School on Saturday to ride the trails. The school has been trying to keep them clear to help promote some races being held there. The trails are a mix of paths through the fields around the school and trails through the woods.

As of Friday night, someone had posted that the trails were 95% rideable. So, Saturday morning, I prepped my singlespeed for the ride. I oiled the brake cables so that they wouldn't freeze (a tip from Icebike ), and I decided to put my clipless pedals on the bike, since the trail was supposed to be almost all rideable.

As it turned out, it was a pretty windy morning, and most of the trails in the fields were drifted over with about 6 inches of snow. Unrideable by me; so they required lots of pushing. The trails in the woods were clear and awesome though! I had a great time being back out on my mountain bike.

Even though a snowmobile had gone over here, the snow was still deep enough I couldn't ride it...

I learned a couple things though... since I was off the bike pushing so much, the clipless pedals and shoes were basically worthless. It didn't take too long before the pedals were packed with snow and ice and I couldn't clip in any more. Also, the velcro on my shoes got packed up with snow, and so it was also pretty worthless.

Cornering in the snow made me use all of my Gene skills. If I didn't look through the corner, lean the bike, and really weight my outside pedal, I'd feel like I was going to blow right through the corner. So, it was good skills practice.

It looks like we're going to have a little bit of a warmup this week. Probably not so good for more trail riding, but maybe it will mean I can get out on the roads a little. We'll see...

In the woods, the snow on the "groomed" trail wasn't even an inch deep. It was fast and fun!