"If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went" - Will Rogers

Friday, July 31, 2009

Horner To Ride Elk Grove Solo | Cyclingnews.com

Horner To Ride Elk Grove Solo | Cyclingnews.com

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look forward to seeing him out there later today in the Prologue TT after I ride the Charity Prologue TT...

b

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Prologue TT tomorrow afternoon...

Tomorrow afternoon I'm racing the Charity Prologue 4.5 mile TT at the Tour of Elk Grove...it will be fun!

http://tourofelkgrove.com/cm/PDFs/TOEG09coursesmap.pdf

b

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

threshold this...

Tuesday evening:

Once again I set out on my next CompuTrainer workout on the schedule which was an hour & 45 minute ride with 10 by 5 minute threshold efforts with one minute recovers between each interval...an extra interval compare to last weeks session. As I used the CT ergo coaching mode on the system which allows me to control the watts resistance (load) to achieve a proper workout I started off with a progressive warm-up through minute 35 then I went right into my first 5 minute threshold blast followed up by a "short" recovery then right into the next 5 minute interval...repeat 10 of these this time but I remained focused and got through them just fine as usual :-)

At an hour and thirty four minutes into the ride finally came the cool-down portion after the intervals as I spun-out my legs to help recover them which believe it or not actually works.

Average HR for the ride was 120bpm with a max on a interval of 147bpm as my average wattage was 193 & max watts on last interval of ~340...at 1:45:00 and 28.3 miles into my ride my CompuTrainer ride was done for the night! Tonight’s workout was tough challenge as my HR didn’t want to go into my proper threshold zone even when I attempted to push a higher watts resistance but yet my watts average were more that in the threshold zone during the intervals…interesting :-)

b

Tour Of Elk Grove Expects A Full Field | Cyclingnews.com

Tour Of Elk Grove Expects A Full Field Cyclingnews.com

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big news to promote the Tour of Elk Grove event this weekend with lots of Pro's showing up. I'll be racing the Charity Prologue 4.5 mile TT Friday afternoon...

b

still waiting on the announcement...


Alexander Vinokourov has been legally ok to race again since July 24th 2009 so were still waiting on when he will race again and most important on which team?



b

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

still spinning the wheels...

Sunday evening:

Well since it turned out to be a no-run weekend for me again this weekend at the end of a busy day I hoped on the CompuTrainer in the house to get in about an hour ride minimum. I choose a 3D course from the software which was a two times lap of Powerman Alabama as each lap was a semi-hilly 17 miler. I focused just on one lap was this was to be just a longer recovery ride. The ride was pretty uneventful as my legs were still tired from yesterday’s outdoor ride at Verona WI. I watched a couple stages of the 2003 TdF via DVD to keep my mind occupied and focus me towards spinning cadence.

I ended up riding 17 semi-hilly miles in 1:03:52 with a low average HR of a low 96bpm and a max during a half mile 4% climb of 109bpm plus my average wattage was at 121. It was good I got in this ride at least but it does not make up for the weekend of no running for the second weekend in a row…

Monday evening:

Easy recovery ride via the CompuTrainer for 45 minutes on a flat course in which I controlled the wattage load I rode against. I covered 13.9 miles in this time duration with an average HR of 95bpm plus max HR of 101bpm and average wattage of 125. Very simple recovery ride to prep for Tuesdays ride…

b

back dating...

Wednesday evening July 22nd:

After work at home I rode on the Computrainer via the Coached Ergo mode an easy recovery ride of 40:04 for 12.5 miles. Spun a higher cadence to flush out the legs with an average HR of 97bpm with max of only 108bpm plus average ride wattage was at 127. It was a comfortable recovery ride as I battling a summer cold that hit me like bricks later last night while I was walking Obi…

Thursday 7.23 & Friday 7.24:

I have been battling a summer cold since later Tuesday evening so I took both of these days off from any sort of exercising to help my body get a little quicker recovery from this sinus & chest cold…felt guilty the whole time but sometimes you just have to do these things.

b

Monday, July 27, 2009

Vision Quest ride at Verona...

Saturday morning:

Woke-up super early to drive up towards Madison, WI to ride out of Verona with the support training ride put together my Vision Quest (Robbie Ventura’s company) as I rode in their event last month also on the IM WI bike course. This month they had about 65 riders signed up for the event and many of them were training for IM WI in later September. They had 4 different abilities groups as I mistakenly signed up to ride with the competitive grouping of about 10 riders as one of the guys I rode with last month was in this group also. Also they informed us of several sections of chip gravel & seal sections that were new since the previous month…nice!

So at the 8am roll out these riders were wide open throttle within feet of leaving the parking lot as my friend Paul and I realized these guys provide no warm-up time. The first hill climb was only a half mile into this 41.7 loop and they flew up this grinder hill. At the top of the hill Paul and I just let them go ahead and rode on at our own pace individually. He dropped back by mile one as I could always see off in the distance the group of fast riders. I pushed onwards solo as stubborn as I am until about mile ten when the large grouping of advanced riders slowly caught me from behind. I let the group of about twenty riders go by me as I hooked up on the back of the peloton style grouping to help recovery my HR and body for the remaining mileage. At about mile twelve is the first bigger climbing hill as I dropped off the back since I slightly shredded my legs from the earlier solo efforts. After that was done I was always able to re-gain the group on the longer downhills when at about mile 15 we hit the 1st of many chip gravel & seal sections on the IM WI bike course. Ever since my nightmare, wheel destroying training ride last summer on the Steelhead course I’m now very cautious on these gravelly roadways. After a mile of this I re-gained the group about a mile afterwards on the proper roadways as this would go on for several times throughout the remainder of this loop ride.

The quick rest stop is just around mile 23 but literally 500 feet before this on the two lane county road with gravel shoulders I saw a bunch of cars stopped in the gravel in both directions with numerous bikers stopped also. As we all rode close to this situation some Vision Quests coaches informed us the ambulance was called and to continue to the rest area. As I slowly rode by I could see it was one of the riders from the fast group, he was being attended as his face was all bloody as he was lying in the shoulder gravel. He was conscious, arms moving as the coaches had him staying relaxed till the EMT arrived just seconds later. Our group re-organized at the rest stop and headed out to finish off the loop after seeing this situation. No one knows what happened; did he crash because his wheel went in the gravel at speed or did a car force him into the gravel or worst did a car hit him? To this moment no one knows what happened…

As we started back out on the county roads to start on the second portion of the loop I hung around with the group as we all worked paceline single file before heading off on the last vehicle traveled back county roads. At one point we have a great rolling stretch that follows an active gravel pit quarry where I went off the front speedily in my TT positioning to hammer this section. The roadway eventually curves around the lake before setting up for a nice gradual climb of about a half mile. At the base of this climb I let the group catch me as I rode up the hill at my own tempo pace as my hamstrings were screaming at me at this point but I still rode the hill in my threshold zone. After that hill there’s only really one more really tough hill so since it was only about a quarter mile long and close to the end of the ride I stomped on the pedals just before it climbed upwards and pushed an the low end of my VO2 max while I climbed this hill. The rest of the ride I rode at pretty much cool-down level.

Once we got back to the Fireman’s park start point since I was only riding one loop I weighted myself back in and lost one pound only & signed out. The ride distance for the loop with a couple gravel road detours came in at 41.7 miles in 2:04:47 with an average HR of 141bpm and max during that last hill climb of 162bpm. For my HR charts I rode this distance in a higher level endurance zone burn with multiple times riding within my threshold zone and even VO2 zone.
My average watts for the ride duration came in at 208 with a max wattage at 932 during the stomp grind going up the last hill climb.

I wasn’t exhausted or beat up after this nice ride which is a positive indicator of my certain cycling abilities towards my A cycling race at the 40k team relay at the Chicago triathlon on August 30th 2009. Plus now I’m more comfortable just incase in the future I do eventually end up racing IM WI ;-)

b

Saturday, July 25, 2009

IM WI course


Up at Verona, WI this morning to ride with Vision Quest the IM WI bike course...

Friday, July 24, 2009

Mont Ventoux today...





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As in past years I have followed the Tour de France over the past couple decades in awe of the incredible cyclists that tackle the challenges that are thrown at them for 21 stages in the month of July...well tomorrows stage 21 is gonna be the icing on the cake stage for this 2009 TdF race...the race to see whom will win the awesome stage which includes the "brutal" climb up Mont Ventoux!
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Be sure to DVR this stage if your not able to watch it live on TV because its one you cannot miss from this years event!
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It seems like just yesterday that Marco Pantani & Lance Armstrong battled each other to the finishline along with this moonscape atmosphere in 2000...
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Brian


always recovering...

Monday morning :

Very easy recovery spin on the Computrainer device in the house via the Coaching Ergo training software I can control the about of wattage I am training at in 10 watt increments. The ride was quite un-eventful as I kept my HR in the very low zone 5 lever for full benefit of this ez, easy, recovery day…was a 45 minute spin for 13.5 miles, average HR at 96bpm & max HR at 108bpm plus average wattage at 119.

Tuesday evening:

I set out on my next CompuTrainer workout on the schedule which was an hour & 45 minute ride with 10 by 5 minute threshold efforts with one minute recovers between each interval...an extra interval compare to last weeks session. As I used the CT ergo coaching mode on the system which allows me to control the watts resistance to acheive a proper workout I started off with a progressive warm-up through minute 35 then I went right into my first 5 minute threshold blast followed up by a "shorty"recovery then right into the next 5 minute interval...repeat 10 of these this time but I remained focused and got through them just fine :-)

At an hour and thirty five minutes into the ride finally came the cool-down portion after the intervals as I spun-out my legs to help recover them which believe it or not actually works.

Average HR for the ride was 121bpm with a max on a inteval of 149bpm as my average wattage was 194 & max watts on last interval of 387...at 1:45:00 and 28.1 miles into my ride my CompuTrainer ride was done for the night! These workouts are tough but pay strong dividends come race day :-)

b

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Beanzie...

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Sunday morning July 19th 2009:

Decided a couple days earlier I needed a change of pace on my weekend long training rides so I drove out to Dekalb, IL bright & early to participate in a very organized touring ride known as "Biking with Beanzie". K & I rode in this cycling event last year as part of our half IM training which we liked so I was up for the trip to participate once again. They offer various marked distances that you can ride; 23, 46, 64, and 101 Mile Routes for which I choose the 46 mile option which fit closest to my specific training routine perfectly. My training ride scheduled for the day was a two hour ride with a warm-up then 2 times twenty minutes threshold intervals with anywhere from 7 to 10 minute recovery between the two of them then a cool-down portion of the ride. After a very brief registration I was on the road by 7:10am via the county roads just west of Dekalb.

After a proper warm-up I started my first 20 minute interval just at about mile 9 of the ride as I needed to make sure there was enough county roads that would me to ride at threshold for that timeframe without having to stop. All went very well on the first interval as I road focused on the TT position for the duration along with other variables. My recovery was determined as my HR was recovered by 8 minutes as I turned around on the county road for my second 20 minute interval. I pushed this one slightly higher in my threshold HR zone as my turnaround point was at 10 minutes into this interval. After the second interval the rest of the ride was more of an endurance burn zone ride with an additional 5 minute threshold & 1 minute threshold burst thrown in at later in the ride time to test my recovery and legs from the earlier intervals. After the core of the ride I rode about the last 20 minutes of the ride in a cool-down mode.

My total ride distance on the Ridley Dean was at 52.1 miles in a time of 2:35:11 with an average HR of 128 and max HR during the second 20 minute interval at 157bpm as my average watts were 207 and max watts of 776 during an acceleration. On this ride I felt great from start to end which is a good indicator of all my focused bike training is starting to show benefits to my abilities. Besides the miles I log on the CompuTrainer at home the Ridley is absolutely a fantastic bike to ride and I smile more & more each time I get on the bike to ride it :-)

b


Wednesday, July 22, 2009

the chain catcher has arrived...

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Ever since late October 2008 when we had the chance to meet Kristin Armstrong - Team USA TT Gold Medalist in Beijjing 2008 at our friends running/tri-shop locally were she talked about many topics including this little device she had custom made for her Olympic TT bike I have kept this product filed away in my memory banks for future reference...below is my blog entry from the day we met Kristin Armstrong:
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I rec'd my chain catcher this week as I will install it on the Ridley Dean before the weekend. I push SRAM Red chainrings on the TT bike of 54t & 39t which is a big steg between 'rings. A little ounce of prevention can go a long way in race time especially :-)
b



to the beach...

Friday evening July 17th 2009:

Easy recovery spin on the CompuTrainer device in the house the Coach Ergo training software so I can control the about of wattage I am training at in 10 watt increments. The ride was quite un-eventful as I kept my average HR at 95bpm in the ultra low zone 5 level for full benefit of this easy, recovery day plus average wattage was at 125…a quick 41:04 minute spin for 12 miles!

Saturday July 18th 2009:

Absolutely no exercise today unless you call hanging out at North Ave Beach on Lake Michigan exercise as K & I watch our niece play in a volleyball tournament all day.

K got in her CARA long 17 mile run for the weekend where as I drove down with Obi to be at the courts to meet up with everyone by 7:30am…slacker Brian as it’s a no run weekend for me then ;-)

b

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

thats better...

Thursday evening 07.16.09:

After the disappointing CT ride attempt earlier in the day I was planning on getting out with the Village Cycle Sport group this evening for some mile intervals plus basic mileage but Mother Nature would foil that plan yet again with a nasty t-storm system rolling through our region just as I got out of the office at 6pm…go figure!

So home I went to ride the old cannondale on the CompuTrainer for an easy 50 minute recovery ride in the house. Easy spin with an average cadence of 95rpm plus average HR of 103bpm and max of 117bpm. While working on spinning out my tired legs my average wattage was at 130.
Felt much better after this evening easy spin…


b

should have slept in...

Thursday morning 07.16.09:

Woke-up early this morning so I was on my CompuTrainer just at 5am to get in my required VO2 workout for the day in before I left for work. 75 minutes of total ride time is what I got in for this intense ride for 19 miles total but the VO2 portions where the focus point of this training ride.

As usual I did a progressive warm-up to get the body going for the opening 30 minutes then I started my first of 5 by 4 minutes each VO2 intervals with 3 minute recovery sections between each one. On the first 5 minute VO2 interval I could sense my body &legs wanted nothing to do with this workout at all. My max HR values were absolutely no where near where they need to get at to do this workout properly. After they were completed I had some time to properly cool-down my heart & legs from these efforts.

My average HR from the ride was low at 108bpm which is in the zone 5 for me and my max HR was at 140bpm during the second interval. My heart & body was still recovering from the previous 5 days of workouts even with yesterdays complete rest day. My average wattage was decent for the ride at 164 but that’s slightly low for me and my max wattage on the last interval came in at 351 but my HR would not go higher…

b

Monday, July 20, 2009

brake pad review v.1...

Just a quick note on the new brake pads I put on the R. Dean this past Friday. I rode a solo 52 miler yesterday and these yellow SwissStop yellow pabs worked absolutely awesome on my bike...their sooooooooooo much better than the Zipp brake pads on put on the bike in the springtime!

Now it actually feels like I have brakes that want to work on the Dean...this is important as this next Saturday I go back to Verona Wisconsin to ride the IM Wisc bike course once again for great training in the rolling hills of SW Wisconsin!

b
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Thursday, July 16, 2009

intervals then rest...

Tuesday evening:

Threshold workout tonight via the bike on the CompuTrainer in the home. Tonight it was 9 by 5 minutes each threshold portion with a one minute recovery in between each one of them. After my usual progressive warm-up at the 40 minute mark I started the first interval until I completed all 9 of them as I was able to get my HR progressively higher on each one of them. After that I spun at about 95rpm to flush out my noodled legs.

I got in 28.3 miles in one hour and forty five minutes of riding the CompuTrainer with an average HR of 120bpm and a max HR on the last interval in the last minute of it at 152bpm. My average wattage for the night was a nice level of 182 and a max wattage hit on that same last interval of 360.

Felt tired before the ride but I was re-energized after the ride…

Wednesday:

Scheduled recovery day from any sort of exercising except for a long walk after work with Kristen & Obi :-)

b

new pads...

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...just came in! the Zipp pads on the Ridley Dean were just as bad unfortunately as the stock OEM pads that came on the Deans brakes...hopefully these are better and alot less noise!
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b


recovery spin...

Monday evening:

Rode the old TT/Tri-bike on the CompuTrainer after work for a 10 mile recovery ride. Choose the Coaching mode and an easy, slightly hilly 10 mile beginner course to keep a low HR with a cadence of 90rpm. My average HR for this recovery ride was super low at 97bpm with a max towards the end on a half mile incline of 5% to 120bpm. Total ride time was 35:35...

My legs were and still are very tired from Sundays longer training run!

b

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

once a week run...

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Sunday morning:


Headed up to Barrington Hills to get in my long run bright & early this Sunday morning as I was looking to run at least 15 miles today plus the fact that I haven’t run since the Fourth of July. I actually starting running at about 6:10am since my mileage was going to be long than the typical loop here of 10.6 miles. The morning started out bright & cool out so this I greatly appreciated also but the sun warmed things up within the last 4 miles. Also since there is no place to get water on this rural county road region I wore my larger Salomon Twin Bottle Trail Belt for proper hydration & nutrition over the LSD mid-distance run.


It’s an awesome fuel belt but do to the weight of the hydration & 5oz electrolyte it get’s heavy feeling really quickly on the run which I knew so I didn’t expect any quick mile times over this run duration. I ended up getting in 15.2 hilly miles completed in 2:21:42 with an average HR of 124bpm and max HR duration a climb at 149bpm. The run felt ok especially on heavily trained cycling legs on the days prior to this but I really have noticed a big drop-off in running speed as I have specifically focus on bike training since May 2009 but that’s ok as I knew this was going to happen when I made this decision to focus on biking.


Next scheduled run will be next Sunday :-)


b

saturday time...

Saturday morning:

I planned on going up to southeastern Wisconsin to get in my proper Saturday morning bike ride but after checking the weather online for that region and the strong threat of rain/t-storms I altered my plans to stay home to ride on the CompuTrainer which Obi was very happy to see as K left early morning to pace her CARA marathon training group. So after a 10 minute CT calibration spin to warm-up the back tire I was ready to start my 2 hour training bike ride indoors.

The first 35 minutes were my typical progressive warm-up then at that time I jumped into my 1st five minute interval at cycling threshold portion with a one minute recovery session after that…I did my scheduled 10 intervals of this pattern which when added up 50 minutes of threshold level riding to continue working on bumping up my wattage and LT levels. After these were completed I had enough cool-down time to flushout my legs after that session and to get in my total of 2 hours ride time. But still after I got off the bike my legs were like cooked noodles…

I got in 35.9 miles in that time frame which is an average speed of 17.9mph as my average HR was at 124bpm and a max HR on my last interval at 155bpm plus my average wattage for the ride duration was at 179.

After the ride Obi & I went for a 2.5 mile walk as we waited for K to return from the lakefront. Then we all headed out to the dog park for a lot more hiking, zipping around for Obi and of course he played plenty of fetching especially the tennis ball in the lake at the dog park…he loves water!

b

Monday, July 13, 2009

what to do with them???

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Just a picture of what I have figured out to do with my Thermolyte tabs while on a longer ride when I need to consume them easily & quickly...started do this electrolyte tab set-up while training for Steelhead Half IM last summer!
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It's pretty easy to set-up...drop a tab or two in a sandwich bag corner, twist the tabs three times then cut the baggie above the twist...next use some electric tape to attach the tab baggy to either a shifter and/or brake cable housing close to your handlebar or aerobar set-up...repeat this per the about of electrolyte tabs you need for the distance your riding and no more worries about fumbling thru a bento box or jersey pockets while at race speed ;-)
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Just thought I'd share this little convenience tip for bike rides...
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b


friday night biking...

Friday evening:

Rode the old Cannondale TT/Tri-bike on the CompuTrainer after work for a 10 mile recovery ride. Choose the Coaching mode and an easy, slightly hilly 10 mile beginner course to keep a low HR with a cadence of 90rpm. My average HR for this recovery ride was at 101bpm with a max towards the end on a half mile incline of 5% to 131bpm. Total time was at 35:59...

Good ride to get ready for Saturday!

b

back at it...

Thursday evening:

As I was feeling better from the cold & fever I had fought off over the last few days after work I headed over for some recovery cycling with the biking group over at Village Cycle Sports in Elk Grove Village. Large turnout once again for the mile intervals as the weather was good for biking this July evening. Also I was testing out some new specific cycling road shoes that I recently bought new for a steal via ebay – Specialized BG S-Works road shoe.

I took the ride easier this week as this is a bike training recovery week from Monday through Friday then back to normal training levels starting once again on Saturday. I rode the first 5 miles at a warm-up pace to see how my body & legs were going this evening then after that I stayed back of the main group about 300 feet each time they went into a mile interval session. On the recovery mile I would ride with the group benefiting from the group drafting as it brought down my HR nice and low. I pushed about 4 of the mile intervals with mild efforts as I focused on initial acceleration to get up to speed quickly and hold in there.

Total ride time was 1:08:39 for 21.7 miles which is an average speed of 18.9mph then a max during an interval push of 30.8mph. My average HR was at 125bpm and a max of 157bpm plus my average wattage was 178 for the ride duration and a max of 877 watts during an initial acceleration. Btw...the new shoes are awesome...no heal lift what-so-ever!

Great return to riding this evening!

b

days of rest and recovery...

Tuesday:

Schedule recovery day from any sort of training...

Wednesday:

Un-planned day of rest as I broke a fever last night...recovery day for health reasons...

b

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Obi chillin'...


after playing some fetch.

Friday, July 10, 2009

quick note...

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Rode the VCS mile repeats last night in the new road cycling shoes are they are absolutely fantastic! Much, much more stable than my tri-shoes which I thought were great...now I can get all my power through the pedals, cranks, etc much more efficiently...absolutely no heal lift in the slightest bit...can't wait to use the new shoes via the Dean in a TT and/or hill climbing senerio also!
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b


Thursday, July 9, 2009

shoes...

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got some new "proper"road cycling shoes for an absolute steal on ebay! These road shoes fit like a perfect glove so my power transfer while riding/racing the Dean will be 100% from here on out...no heal lift what-so-ever which is the biggest problem I have with my tri-shoes (that fit right too)...now all my watt's will be transfered to the rear wheel :-)
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b


Tuesday, July 7, 2009

signed up for my favorite trail marathon this morning...


This is fantastic, challenging trail marathon which I really enjoyed racing in last December. I pass along the link to the website of this great race and registration information:

http://www.dinoseries.com/marathon.html

This morning I signed up for the marathon I have been waiting for all year for registration to open up online - The Tecumseh Trail Marathon near Bloomington, Indiana.

I know Kristen is strongly considering running this race (to get that Indiana Marathon Medal). If you have any questions please feel free to drop me a note
:-)

Brian

the day after...

Sunday mid-morning:

After a long fourth of July day I slept in this morning to start my indoor ride much later than usual at about 10am. Since I slept half the day away I choose to stay home and ride my 2 hour bike ride on the Computrainer as I didn’t feel like leaving the homestead today. My weekend long ride was identical to last weekends ride; w/u then 2 by 20 minute threshold sessions with a 10 minute recovery between the two.

After a 45 minute progressive warm-up while watching a DVD of the opening stages of the 2003 Tour de France for motivation I went right into my first 20 minute interval at this marker time. I was able to complete this with a decent HR range of intensity via the Computrainer by controlling the computer resistance load settings. A ten minute recovery was more than enough to re-energize, hydrate and gel up for the next session. The second 20 minute interval was done with the same amount of perceived effort plus a little more in the final 5 minutes of it. After all that was completed I spun-down the last 25 minutes to cool-down my body & mine.

So in that 2 hour training session I covered 34 miles with an average wattage reading of 168. My average HR during the ride was at 125bpm with a max HR towards the end of the second interval at 149bpm.

Glad that was over with as I could then relax the rest of the day!

Monday:

Complete rest day from any exercising as this is the start of a recovery week from cycling training till Saturday.

b

Monday, July 6, 2009

4th of July 10k Race note...

Saturday morning:

K and I headed up to Barrington Hills for our annual 10k hilly race with our friend Bridget whom lives close to the start/finish line area. This is the 4th year now we have done this great 10k race as we know this region well from our longing training runs in this area. Kristen was going to run with Bridget today as I determined the day before I was just going to cruise this run for some training base conditioning plus my legs were completely trashed still race morning. With the lack of proper running speedwork training specifically I didn’t go into this event with any PR expectations. This year I didn’t even warm-up before the event as the weather was cold, damp and drizzling throughout the whole early morning.

As the race started I used the first two miles as warm-up to see how my body was working and I adjusted from there through the finish line. I cruised the race throwing in a couple surges after mile three to test my legs & body but I couldn’t sustain the effort longer than a quarter mile. So after a couple of these attempts I found a good pace for my current running abilities and at about mile 5 I decided to push myself no matter what my body was telling me was hurting. The last 2ths of the race I always think about it like a two hundred meter repeat which always gives me a good kick through the finish line.

I ended up with a 10k finish time of 49:51 which is a mile pace of 8:03. My average HR was at 141bpm plus I maxed out my HR at the finish line at 164bpm. Normally I have run this hilly race in the 45 minute zone so you can see by my result just how much my cycling specific training these last six weeks has affected my running speed…but its something I can accept ;-)

Bridget had a great PR race as Kristen ran with her the whole way! Great job ladies :-)

b

and it continues...

Thursday morning:

Woke-up super early for me this morning so I was on my CompuTrainer just before 5am to get in my required VO2 workout for the day in before I left for work. 90 minutes of total ride time is what I got in for this intense ride for 26 miles total but the VO2 portions where the focus point of this training ride.

As usual I did a progressive warm-up to get the body going for the opening 40 minutes then I started my first of 5 by 4 minutes each VO2 intervals with 3 minute recovery sections between each one. By the 5th one my legs were getting tired but I pushed through it to actually record my max HR in the closing minute of this last interval. After there were completed I had enough time to properly cool-down my heart & legs from these efforts.

My average HR from the ride was lower at 116bpm which is in the zone 4 for me and my max HR was at 153bpm during that last interval. One thing I have noticed that while using the CompuTrainer is that I’m not able to get the high biking HR for myself like when I ride outdoors…if I had done these outdoors my HR would be 8 to 10bpm more…just a little fact I would share with you ;-)

the other thing is by the time I got to work my legs were like noodles!

Friday morning:


Since K and I had Friday off from work for the Fourth of July weekend we headed down to the lakefront for a mid-distance run with friends. K paced a lot of CARA runners that wanted to run on this day also as I ran solo for my down week training run. I noticed that there were a lot of people exercising this morning at 6:30am so the path was busy with exercises of all types. On very tired legs and body I slogged though an 11.1 miler in 1:39:03 with an average HR of 126bpm and max HR of 142bpm.

The best part of the morning was breakfast afterwards with friends :-)

b

Peep's at Thursday evenings GTG in ChiTown...


Kristen, Jillian and Mike

Thursday, July 2, 2009

threshold stuff...

Tuesday evening:

I set out on my next CompuTrainer workout on the schedule which was an hour & 45 minute ride with 9 by 5 minute threshold efforts with one minute recovers between each interval...an extra interval compare to last weeks session. As I used the CT ergo coaching mode on the system which allows me to control the watts resistance to acheive a proper workout I started off with a progressive warm-up through minute 40 then I went right into my first 5 minute threshold blast followed up by a "shorty"recovery then right into the next 5 minute interval...repeat 9 of these this time but I remained focused and got through them just fine :-)

At about the an hour and thirty three minutes into the ride finally came the cool-down portion after the intervals as I spun-out my legs to help recover them which believe it or not actually works. Average HR for the ride was 116bpm with a max on a inteval of 151bpm...at 1:51:06 my CompuTrainer ride was done for the night! Glad that one was over with :-)

Wednesday:

Complete rest & recovery day from any sort of exercising as this has become my rest day of lately!

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recovery spin...

Monday morning :

Easy recovery spin on the Computrainer device in the house on a chosen 10 mile flat TT course where via the training software I can control the about of wattage I am training at in 10 watt increments. The ride was quite un-eventful as I kept my HR in the lower zone 5 lever for full benefit of this ez, easy, recovery day…about a 43 minute spin!

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Vino will be back soon!!!


Yes...gotta love the nature of Alexander Vinokourov...this is why I have always admired him as a Professional cyclist! ProCycling needs you back Vino!!!




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Wednesday, July 1, 2009

and actually a run for the day...

Sunday morning June 28th 2009:

K and I went up to Barrington Hills early morning to get in our needed long distance for the week. The day before K ran as usual as a pace leader at the lakefront for the CARA training group towards Chicago so she ran 10 miles on that day. I had a strong biking workout the day before in southern Wisconsin so both of us were tired this morning but we got out there to get in a decent hilly run.

I ran the opening two miles with Kristen then we ran at our own individual pace as she was going to run about 10 miles as I was going to run 14 miles. For me it was 7 days since I last got in a proper run as I been bike so much this last month so I didn’t expect to much from myself, just enough to get the LSD hilly run in the books. I chugged along the whole way getting in 14 miles 2:08:13 which a 9:09 mile pace with my average HR coming in at 126bpm and a max HR during a hill climb of 146bpm. As I returned to the car K finished up about ten minutes after me but it turns out she ran 13 miles for the day…she logged a lot of running miles this weekend!

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Spanish Legends Analyse Astana Ahead Of Tour | Cyclingnews.com

great note and thoughts about Team Astana for the upcoming TdF by one of my early cycling heroes - Miguel Indurain

Spanish Legends Analyse Astana Ahead Of Tour Cyclingnews.com

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more biking...

Friday morning June 26th 2009:

Easy recovery spin on the CompuTrainer device in the house on a chosen 10 mile flat TT course where via the training software I can control the amount of wattage I am training at in 10 watt increments in the Coaching Ergo mode. The ride was quite un-eventful as I kept my HR in the lower zone 5 lever for full benefit of this easy, recovery day…a 40:45 minute spin!

Saturday morning June 27th 2009:

Long ride was scheduled for the day of a ~two hour duration with two interval sessions of twenty minutes each at threshold levels with a ten minute recovery between each.

So I headed up to southern Wisconsin up to the Bong Recreation area because I know this region well from the cycling TT I do plus it really the only place I know of where I can properly get in a specific workout ride of this nature without stopping in the rolling farm hill roads of theis region.

After a nice progessive warm-up ride on the county roads at minute 50 I started my first 20 minute threshold interval. The effort was as as much as my body would allow me to give on this day as I rolled along focused on this longer interval. After that one was finished I rode and easier paced 10 minute recovery segment rehydrating and taking gel for the next session. At one hour and twenty minutes into the ride I started my second 20 minute threshold interval focusing even harder on this effort...when it was done I gave it my all.

The rest of the ride was recovery & cool-down time to make my total ride time of 2:16:02 with a very nice average pace of 20.1mph with an average HR 128bpm plus a max HR during effort at 147bpm...total mileage covered was 45.6 miles.

I noticed three things during this ride...

1.) My legs & body were very fatigued.

2.) Even though I was giving 110% effort during the 20 minute threshold sessions I noticed after the ride my HR was getting no where near where it should have been.

3.) Even with these variables I rode a quicker average mph pace overall and didn't feel any more taxed than normal both during & after the ride (maybe my cycling conditioning is getting better :-))

My Polar HR chart from the workout:
http://www.twodogzdesign.com/cycle09/062709.JPG

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