Training Log, February 17, 2010

Threshold day today on Mount Lemmon, followed up by a few more hours of endurance. No tears today, so that was good.

 

It's been warming up a lot here this week, and it was a warm, sunny day in the mid-70's. We were definitely feeling the heat a bit as the went on.

 

Play by play: we me in town and rode out to Lemmon, so we had about an hour in before we got there. I somehow bent one of the teeth on my big chainring, so I only had a little ring for the day. Not really an issue going up the mountain, but it was a small issue trying to do tempo on a false flat later in the ride.

We did the same 5 minute tempo warm up as we approached the base of the mountain. I felt pretty good, and was looking forward to the threshold work. Last week I planned 1 x 20 but only managed 15 minutes. This week I originally planned 2 x 20, but after coming up short last week I was unsure of what to expect.

 

In the end, I opted to pay less attention to the powermeter and more attention to my perceived exertion, and maintaining a steady effort. I was riding with Toby Marzot, Logan Loader, and Garmin-Transitions and New Hampshire homeboy Kirk Carlsen. Kirk was riding with a week old broken collarbone and shoulder from Tour of Qatar, and while he could barely hold the bars, he was still pedaling damn hard. I had to let all of them go about 1/2 way through the block, but then all the boys save Toby started to fade, and I was able to hold my steady effort for the full 20 minutes, at the same power I did 15 and blew last week.

 

When you do work on Lemmon, the altitude is potentially a factor if you continue to climb as opposed to recovering on the descent and doing your intervals in the same spot. We opted to continue to climb (for 10 minutes, at a very slow pace), so our second 20-minute block started at 4500 feet. I expected lower power at the same heart rate response, so again I knew it was best to rely on my perceived exertion. I know what threshold feels like, and I was going to let the power land where it landed. I'd look after to see how it went.

 

I settled in more quickly on the second block, riding again in the low 300's. There are a few short downhills in the middle of this section, but I also pulled out 7 minutes in the middle where I was only at 295 or so. I tried to rally for the final 5 minutes, but we came up on some construction in the road, and just pulled the pin there at almost 19 minutes, and only 296 normalized. A little low, but as I've mentioned repeatedly, my goal right now is to increase the volume of work I'm doing, at whatever power I can get it done. Next block I'll really focus on bring the power for the blocks up. Gotta start somewhere, and my goal races aren't until mid-April and onward.

 

Descended, stopped for lunch #1, rolled easy for a while, tried to do some 30-minute pulls on a 15-minute 3-man rotation, with varied success. It was a little tough with no big chainring, as I was sitting straight up and down and nearly spinning out the small ring on some of the downhills. Store stop #2 at 5 hours in, and mostly easy home, still trying to stay in the 200-225 range.

 

All in all, a pretty big day, considering the combination of intensity and duration.

 

Data below. Enjoy.

 

 Tempo warm up:

Duration:   5:30

Work:       89 kJ

TSS:       6.7 (intensity factor 0.857)

Norm Power: 270

VI:         0.99

Pw:HR:       2.51%

Pa:HR:       3.06%

Distance:   1.912 mi

Min Max Avg

Power:       202 325 272 watts

Heart Rate:   130 156 150 bpm

Cadence:     81 136 99 rpm

Speed:       14.9 27.1 20.8 mph

Pace         2:13 4:02 2:53 min/mi

Crank Torque: 146 312 234 lb-in

 

Threshold 1:

Duration:   20:08

Work:       374 kJ

TSS:       32.6 (intensity factor 0.985)

Norm Power: 310

VI:         1

Pw:HR:       8.17%

Pa:HR:       8.05%

Distance:   4.626 mi

Min Max Avg

Power:       194 498 310 watts

Heart Rate:   129 175 169 bpm

Cadence:     64 127 90 rpm

Speed:       9.8 18.4 13.7 mph

Pace         3:16 6:07 4:22 min/mi

Crank Torque: 178 601 291 lb-in

 

Threshold 2:

Duration:   18:56

Work:       333 kJ

TSS:       27.9 (intensity factor 0.941)

Norm Power: 296

VI:         1.01

Pw:HR:       5.31%

Pa:HR:       -9.01%

Distance:   4.164 mi

Min Max Avg

Power:       0 378 293 watts

Heart Rate:   129 181 173 bpm

Cadence:     63 112 86 rpm

Speed:       8.7 28.5 13.2 mph

Pace         2:06 6:54 4:33 min/mi

Crank Torque: 0 411 289 lb-in

 

Pull:

Duration:   29:14

Work:       402 kJ

TSS:       26.5 (intensity factor 0.737)

Norm Power: 232

VI:         1.01

Pw:HR:       -2.53%

Pa:HR:       9.07%

Distance:   10.023 mi

Min Max Avg

Power:       0 538 229 watts

Heart Rate:   154 169 163 bpm

Cadence:     64 150 92 rpm

Speed:       9.8 36.8 20.5 mph

Pace         1:38 6:09 2:56 min/mi

Crank Torque: 0 575 215 lb-in

 

Pull:

Duration:   15:00

Work:       186 kJ

TSS:       10.9 (intensity factor 0.66)

Norm Power: 208

VI:         1

Pw:HR:       0.38%

Pa:HR:       1.44%

Distance:   5.845 mi

Min Max Avg

Power:       0 379 208 watts

Heart Rate:   125 165 155 bpm

Cadence:     63 121 94 rpm

Speed:       18.4 26.7 23.3 mph

Pace         2:15 3:16 2:34 min/mi

Crank Torque: 0 489 187 lb-in

 

Entire workout (164 watts):

Duration:   6:55:32

Work:       4101 kJ

TSS:       295.5 (intensity factor 0.654)

Norm Power: 206

VI:         1.25

Pw:HR:       0.73%

Pa:HR:       -0.88%

Distance:   122.871 mi

Min Max Avg

Power:       0 538 164 watts

Heart Rate:   61 181 138 bpm

Cadence:     30 206 86 rpm

Speed:       2.2 43.2 18.0 mph

Pace         1:23 26:49 3:20 min/mi

Crank Torque: 0 882 161 lb-in

 

Peak 20min (310 watts):

Duration:   20:00

Work:       372 kJ

TSS:       32.4 (intensity factor 0.986)

Norm Power: 311

VI:         1

Pw:HR:       8.22%

Pa:HR:       7.93%

Distance:   4.599 mi

Min Max Avg

Power:       194 498 310 watts

Heart Rate:   130 175 169 bpm

Cadence:     67 127 91 rpm

Speed:       10.4 18.4 13.8 mph

Pace         3:16 5:47 4:22 min/mi

Crank Torque: 178 601 291 lb-in