when it's so warm and sunny outside? Well, for a start, limited time. And otherwise? Well, we'll get to that in a second...
So I've started on spin for the season - hoorah! Or something. I skipped the PG Calibration and decided to just go with last year's setting - I'd soon find out if that was ridiculous or not.
Started out all well and good - couple of HCLRs, then the first BGSS. One or two 'clicks' during that, but no problems. Second BGSS - second stroke on the right leg, and bang - off comes the chain on the outside of the big ring. Set it back up, spin it around a few times under moderate pressure to make sure it's sitting snugly, and try again. Same result. Go through it again and switch back to the left leg leading - same result. Front der appears to be aligned, and unlike last time, I can't detect any wobble in the chainring. This is why I didn't want to go out and do hill sprints - in case this happened. It's not an uncommon occurrence, whether doing uphill sprints or maximum power downhill or flat sprints in 53x12 (once even in 53x14, if my memory serves me correctly) and I've skidded along the road, sitting on the top tube with cleats skidding along the ground at ~60km/hr once too often.
I'm stumped as to the cause - I doubt it's because I'm putting out 2500W. Possibly I'm putting out 1500W at 114kg, but that surely shouldn't be too much if the bike's set up correctly. So presumably it's something in my setup. Might have to book a 'fit' session with Carl when I have some dosh, see if we can work it out.
Anyway, I continued on, doing the PGRSes and the rampup, finishing with HCLRs. Well, one MCLR, anyway. Clearly once again I've lost endurance, but my experience is that that should be back as I progress along with spinning, so I'm not fussed with that.
Stats? I have none. I'd noticed, and then forgotten because I've been doing all of my riding outside and not bothering with cadence, that the battery in my cadence/speed sensor has died. Obviously GPS speed isn't much help indoors on the trainer! I'll get that sorted sooner or later.
Showing posts with label rampup. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rampup. Show all posts
14 April 2012
23 August 2011
Rampups
I think there was a spin session in there somewhere, too. But all I remember is rampups.
:05 2 x 6s HCLR:1
:10 2 x 7s 53x15 RS (20rpm):3
:17 25s 53x16 r/up 5:100, 10:120, 10:140+
:22 25s 53x15 SS
:28 30s 53x15 SS seated
:35 25s HCLR r/up 10:120, 5:140, 10:160+
:40 25s HCLR r/up 10:120, 5:140, 10:160+
Okay, the SSes weren't rampups, but they were killers just the same! I decided to go as all-out as possible rather than measuring my effort, and only managed 20s each time. Disappointing, but I've been feeling the lack of endurance this last few weeks so it might take me a week or two to get it back again!
Otherwise HCLRs were good, up to 190 at the start, and followed that up with 163/73.1 in the efforts from 20RPM. The next rampup was held above 140 for the last 10s, with a max of 145/61.7. The SS efforts, as advertised, didn't quite go the distance, showing a top of only 146/65.6 - so clearly I didn't go absolutely 6-second all-out! Ah well. HCLR ramups I did fine, sprinting the last 10s to get up to 181 to round out the session.
After 6 straight days of training, I'm looking forward to the rest tomorrow!
Brief stats here.
:05 2 x 6s HCLR:1
:10 2 x 7s 53x15 RS (20rpm):3
:17 25s 53x16 r/up 5:100, 10:120, 10:140+
:22 25s 53x15 SS
:28 30s 53x15 SS seated
:35 25s HCLR r/up 10:120, 5:140, 10:160+
:40 25s HCLR r/up 10:120, 5:140, 10:160+
Okay, the SSes weren't rampups, but they were killers just the same! I decided to go as all-out as possible rather than measuring my effort, and only managed 20s each time. Disappointing, but I've been feeling the lack of endurance this last few weeks so it might take me a week or two to get it back again!
Otherwise HCLRs were good, up to 190 at the start, and followed that up with 163/73.1 in the efforts from 20RPM. The next rampup was held above 140 for the last 10s, with a max of 145/61.7. The SS efforts, as advertised, didn't quite go the distance, showing a top of only 146/65.6 - so clearly I didn't go absolutely 6-second all-out! Ah well. HCLR ramups I did fine, sprinting the last 10s to get up to 181 to round out the session.
After 6 straight days of training, I'm looking forward to the rest tomorrow!
Brief stats here.
19 August 2011
Oh that's right...
...I'm a cyclist, not a weightlifter! I'd almost forgotten - it's managed to be 10 days since I've done anything (serious) on the bike! Today was a truncated spin session - enough to get some training in, get the legs moving, without exhausting me given that it's a busy week! So this was the program, modified from this:
:05 2 x 6s HCLR:1
:10 2 x 7s 53x14 RS (20rpm):3
:16 2 x 7s 53x15 RS (80rpm):3
:22 2 x 6s 53x14 SS:3
:28 1 x 25s HCLR r/up 10:120, 5:140, 10: 160+
HCLRs topped out at 189, so nice numbers - that seems to be an upper limit for me at this stage of training. The 53x14 RSs don't have a direct comparison, but I'm happy with those numbers - 146/70.3 consistent across both feels good. The 53x15 RSes were again comparable, with a top of 147/66.4. Seems a bit disappointing again, but it's hard to say. The final SSes showed good improvement with 152/73.3 - just below my best of a couple of weeks ago in 53x15 of 165/73.6. Rounded out with a HCLR rampup with a top of 185, and staying at 180+ for the whole of the final 10 seconds.
Brief stats here.
:05 2 x 6s HCLR:1
:10 2 x 7s 53x14 RS (20rpm):3
:16 2 x 7s 53x15 RS (80rpm):3
:22 2 x 6s 53x14 SS:3
:28 1 x 25s HCLR r/up 10:120, 5:140, 10: 160+
HCLRs topped out at 189, so nice numbers - that seems to be an upper limit for me at this stage of training. The 53x14 RSs don't have a direct comparison, but I'm happy with those numbers - 146/70.3 consistent across both feels good. The 53x15 RSes were again comparable, with a top of 147/66.4. Seems a bit disappointing again, but it's hard to say. The final SSes showed good improvement with 152/73.3 - just below my best of a couple of weeks ago in 53x15 of 165/73.6. Rounded out with a HCLR rampup with a top of 185, and staying at 180+ for the whole of the final 10 seconds.
Brief stats here.
09 August 2011
Is rampup, is evil!
:05 2 x 6s HCLR:1
:10 2 x 7s PG+12 SS L,R:3
:16 2 x 8s PG+8 RS (80, seated):3
:22 2 x 7s PG+8 SS (L,R, seated):3
:28 2 x 8s PG RS (90, seated):3
:34 2 x 7s PG+12 SS L,R:3
:40 30s PG-4 RS r/up 10:110, 10:130, 10:max
Such was the plan, anyway. However, as presaged last week, I decided to make up my own training plan (because I'm a super-advanced bike-God, that's why!) and went with PG+17.6 and PG+11 rather than PG+11 and PG+5.2, or PG+11 and PG+11 as I did last week. Did I pay for it? You bet!
HCLRs were good, up to 189 this time, and then it was straight down in to the business of strength work. Standing starts on 53x14 gave results of 145/69.3, which is pretty good - lower revs, but comparable speed. The +11 RSes were a bit low, only getting up to 146/65.2. The +11 SSes, same as last week, were also a little lower with a peak of 70.6, perhaps from fatigue already. The PGRSes, from 90 rather than 80, only got up to 64.4, lower than the +11RSes! The final +17.6 SSes however gave similar numbers to the start of the session, with a top of 143/68.7.
As for the evil, evil rampup? Well, it was evil. I was absolutely tanked by this time, and couldn't even make it up to 130RPM; hell, even getting up to 80ish RPM to begin the effort was nearly too much for me! A top of 124/47.3 is so bad it's only worth mentioning to point out how bad it is.
So, perhaps we could say that in overreaching myself, I overreached myself, and should have stuck with the +11/+11 setup of last week. On the other hand, I'm still alive and able to walk without significant assistance.
Thursday? Weights for me. Thank Druw I don't have to lift them at 145RPM...
:10 2 x 7s PG+12 SS L,R:3
:16 2 x 8s PG+8 RS (80, seated):3
:22 2 x 7s PG+8 SS (L,R, seated):3
:28 2 x 8s PG RS (90, seated):3
:34 2 x 7s PG+12 SS L,R:3
:40 30s PG-4 RS r/up 10:110, 10:130, 10:max
Such was the plan, anyway. However, as presaged last week, I decided to make up my own training plan (because I'm a super-advanced bike-God, that's why!) and went with PG+17.6 and PG+11 rather than PG+11 and PG+5.2, or PG+11 and PG+11 as I did last week. Did I pay for it? You bet!
HCLRs were good, up to 189 this time, and then it was straight down in to the business of strength work. Standing starts on 53x14 gave results of 145/69.3, which is pretty good - lower revs, but comparable speed. The +11 RSes were a bit low, only getting up to 146/65.2. The +11 SSes, same as last week, were also a little lower with a peak of 70.6, perhaps from fatigue already. The PGRSes, from 90 rather than 80, only got up to 64.4, lower than the +11RSes! The final +17.6 SSes however gave similar numbers to the start of the session, with a top of 143/68.7.
As for the evil, evil rampup? Well, it was evil. I was absolutely tanked by this time, and couldn't even make it up to 130RPM; hell, even getting up to 80ish RPM to begin the effort was nearly too much for me! A top of 124/47.3 is so bad it's only worth mentioning to point out how bad it is.
So, perhaps we could say that in overreaching myself, I overreached myself, and should have stuck with the +11/+11 setup of last week. On the other hand, I'm still alive and able to walk without significant assistance.
Thursday? Weights for me. Thank Druw I don't have to lift them at 145RPM...
04 August 2011
Stimp stimp stimp
Perhaps one day I'll get a bit more creative with my titles. Anyway, today was a repeat of Tuesday, and the results were a bit of a repeat too!
I didn't quite match the high of Tuesday in the SSes, but was more consistent, varying from 155/69.6 - 163/72.6, getting faster each time. The intervening RSes were also about 1km/hr slower, but the PGRSs were higher, both the seated variants giving a return of 69.3km/hr. Then to finish, the HCLR rampup was about identical!
Not much to be excited about, perhaps, but given that Thursday numbers tend to be a little down, I was happy with the result; perhaps the greater emphasis on strength, with only one longer effort (and only 20s at that) made recovery a bit easier.
Brief stats here.
I didn't quite match the high of Tuesday in the SSes, but was more consistent, varying from 155/69.6 - 163/72.6, getting faster each time. The intervening RSes were also about 1km/hr slower, but the PGRSs were higher, both the seated variants giving a return of 69.3km/hr. Then to finish, the HCLR rampup was about identical!
Not much to be excited about, perhaps, but given that Thursday numbers tend to be a little down, I was happy with the result; perhaps the greater emphasis on strength, with only one longer effort (and only 20s at that) made recovery a bit easier.
Brief stats here.
02 August 2011
Stomp stomp stomp stomp
:05 2 x 6s HCLR:1
:10 2 x 7s PG+12" SS:3
:16 2 x 8s PG+8" RS (40, seated):3
:22 2 x 7s PG+8" SS:3
:28 2 x 6s PG RS (80):3
:34 2 x 7s PG RS (80,seated):3
:40 1 x 20s HCLR r/up 5: 120, 5:140, 10: 160+
Well that was a fun session! I do like my strength work - even if I can't do it as well at home as at BBN. One caveat to the above - I did all PG+11, not PG+12/8. Why? Well, I have PG, PG+3.5, PG+5.2 and PG+11. And then PG+17.6. Though now that I sit down and think about it, why do -1 and +3 when you could be doing +5.6 and +3? What doesn't make you vomit makes you stronger...
Anyway, happy with the effort tonight, and the numbers hold up well too - the first SS was a bit low, at only 144/63.6, but the rest were higher - because I sat down earlier, at around 115-120RPM or so. I managed 159/71.2, which I was happy with, but I was determined to go higher - and I did, with 165/73.6! Always nice to challenge yourself successfully. Still need to translate that to the track more effectively though... the PGRSs were good, up to a high of 68.1 - cadence numbers are a bit dodgy, but the calculated figure for that speed and gear is up around 170, so we'll go with that!
After that a nice easy mad-all-out-sprint with no resistance for mid-180s, just as I'd recorded at the start of the evening. I'm tempted to try my luck in 39x23 on Thursday rather than 39x25, because I seem to go slightly faster with slightly higher resistance - it's a hypothesis to test, at any rate!
Brief stats here.
:10 2 x 7s PG+12" SS:3
:16 2 x 8s PG+8" RS (40, seated):3
:22 2 x 7s PG+8" SS:3
:28 2 x 6s PG RS (80):3
:34 2 x 7s PG RS (80,seated):3
:40 1 x 20s HCLR r/up 5: 120, 5:140, 10: 160+
Well that was a fun session! I do like my strength work - even if I can't do it as well at home as at BBN. One caveat to the above - I did all PG+11, not PG+12/8. Why? Well, I have PG, PG+3.5, PG+5.2 and PG+11. And then PG+17.6. Though now that I sit down and think about it, why do -1 and +3 when you could be doing +5.6 and +3? What doesn't make you vomit makes you stronger...
Anyway, happy with the effort tonight, and the numbers hold up well too - the first SS was a bit low, at only 144/63.6, but the rest were higher - because I sat down earlier, at around 115-120RPM or so. I managed 159/71.2, which I was happy with, but I was determined to go higher - and I did, with 165/73.6! Always nice to challenge yourself successfully. Still need to translate that to the track more effectively though... the PGRSs were good, up to a high of 68.1 - cadence numbers are a bit dodgy, but the calculated figure for that speed and gear is up around 170, so we'll go with that!
After that a nice easy mad-all-out-sprint with no resistance for mid-180s, just as I'd recorded at the start of the evening. I'm tempted to try my luck in 39x23 on Thursday rather than 39x25, because I seem to go slightly faster with slightly higher resistance - it's a hypothesis to test, at any rate!
Brief stats here.
29 July 2011
Ti-red
Felt tired today - I think my recovery from Tuesday was sub-optimal, as I was starving on Wednesday and have felt a little lethargic. Trying to make up for that in eating today! I've also spent much of the week trying to get my speedplay cleats off my shoes, and have had to resort to trying to drill the screws out. Even that's taking some time! In the meantime I did the session today with two screws out at the back, and still it felt secure through the standing starts. If I don't get them out tomorrow, I may have to do Sundays DISC session in runners and flatties...
Anyway, numbers weren't too too bad in most areas despite tiredness - the first standing start was back down to the levels of the previous week, with a best of 142/64.4. The other seated standing starts (as it were) were more similar, one or two RPM down on Tuesday, topping out at 159/71.2. The RS was slightly higher, with a best of 159/66.3. The PGRS was also the same, while the final HCLR was about 10RPM lower in the final 'sprint'. So overall a solid session, and possibly an indication that the standing results from Tuesday were slightly anomalous - or possibly, an indication of what I can do when I get it right! The numbers continue, overall, to go up...
Brief stats here.
Anyway, numbers weren't too too bad in most areas despite tiredness - the first standing start was back down to the levels of the previous week, with a best of 142/64.4. The other seated standing starts (as it were) were more similar, one or two RPM down on Tuesday, topping out at 159/71.2. The RS was slightly higher, with a best of 159/66.3. The PGRS was also the same, while the final HCLR was about 10RPM lower in the final 'sprint'. So overall a solid session, and possibly an indication that the standing results from Tuesday were slightly anomalous - or possibly, an indication of what I can do when I get it right! The numbers continue, overall, to go up...
Brief stats here.
26 July 2011
Monster Mash
:05 2 x 6s HCLR:1
:10 2 x 6s PG+12" SS:3
:16 2 x 8s PG+12" SS seated:3
:22 2 x 6s PG+6" RS (60rpm):3
:28 2 x 7s PG+12" SS seated:3
:34 25s PG RS(80)
:42 1 x 35s HCLR r/up 10:110, 10:135, 15:max
A fairly similar program to last week, lots of strength work involving standing starts. I was quite happy with the session today, which felt generally stronger and more focussed than even the session at Blackburn.
Numbers were good - up to 154/68.5 for the first PG+12 SS, compared to a best of 146/65.2 last week. The PG+6 RS gave a high of 158/65.8 compared to 153/64.4 last week. Again, the seated SSs were higher than the standing versions, probably because of needing to sit down on my trainer due to stability issues and just plain getting to higher cadences, and the lighter flywheel meaning I just don't have to push as hard to get going. A top of 161/72.6 was pleasing, though.
The 25s PGRS effort I wasn't entirely sure what to do, so I just did it as a 5,10,10 rampup and hit a top of 138. HCLR rampup was good, just went all-out in the last ten seconds and hit, apparently, 195 - I wasn't looking at the time, and it seems like potentially a spike though garmin and golden cheetah both agree. At any rate, it was at least 184 which is what I hit in the warmup, so nice to hit those levels again at the end.
Brief stats here.
:10 2 x 6s PG+12" SS:3
:16 2 x 8s PG+12" SS seated:3
:22 2 x 6s PG+6" RS (60rpm):3
:28 2 x 7s PG+12" SS seated:3
:34 25s PG RS(80)
:42 1 x 35s HCLR r/up 10:110, 10:135, 15:max
A fairly similar program to last week, lots of strength work involving standing starts. I was quite happy with the session today, which felt generally stronger and more focussed than even the session at Blackburn.
Numbers were good - up to 154/68.5 for the first PG+12 SS, compared to a best of 146/65.2 last week. The PG+6 RS gave a high of 158/65.8 compared to 153/64.4 last week. Again, the seated SSs were higher than the standing versions, probably because of needing to sit down on my trainer due to stability issues and just plain getting to higher cadences, and the lighter flywheel meaning I just don't have to push as hard to get going. A top of 161/72.6 was pleasing, though.
The 25s PGRS effort I wasn't entirely sure what to do, so I just did it as a 5,10,10 rampup and hit a top of 138. HCLR rampup was good, just went all-out in the last ten seconds and hit, apparently, 195 - I wasn't looking at the time, and it seems like potentially a spike though garmin and golden cheetah both agree. At any rate, it was at least 184 which is what I hit in the warmup, so nice to hit those levels again at the end.
Brief stats here.
22 July 2011
Vaguely interesting...
So, how'd the repeat go then? Well, what can I say - it was vaguely interesting, but no surprises - yellow figures are today's, obviously:
6s HCLR - 201 ... 180
6sHCLR - 198 ... 183
7s PG+12 SS#1 – 134/59.7 ... 146/65.2
7s PG+12 SS#2 – 128/57 ... 139/60.9
8s PG+6 RS#1 – 147/61.4 ... 152/63.3
8s PG+6 RS#2 – ?/? ... 153/64.4
12s PG RS#1 – 145/57 ... 146/57.6
12s PG RS#2 – 143/56.2 ... 151/59.4
8s BGSS (L) - 111/61.8 ... 118/66.9
8s BGSS (R) – 112/62.4 ... 130/72.2
35s PG RS R/up – 132/51.8 ... 136/53.6
35s HCLR r/up - -/- ... 172
See what I mean? About as expected, in the sense that the numbers from today were consistently higher, more so in the standing start versus the rolling start. But look at the BGSSs - the difference between the first and second effort today is much greater than the difference between the first efforts Tuesday and today. The main change I made was in the transition from pushing hard to start off the effort to pedalling as fast and as smoothly as possible - the first I really just kept stomping. Both times I sat down after about 6 seconds, because it was getting too unstable to stand - unlike the KKRM, which didn't move too much, mine moved nearly a foot forward during the standing starts. Clearly I'm unweighting the rear wheel too much (as evidenced in DISC sessions) but that's a tough one to fix. I'm trying though.
I was about as rooted today, but didn't feel sick - I'm thinking diet is more the key there, though the extra power output presumably required to get the larger flywheel on the KKRM going could have played some role. I've been 20-30g carb the last two days, and will be ~30 again today, cramming them in after the session in an attempt to aid recovery - weights tomorrow and then DISC on Sunday. Want to make sure I get maximum value out of those sessions!
6s HCLR - 201 ... 180
6sHCLR - 198 ... 183
7s PG+12 SS#1 – 134/59.7 ... 146/65.2
7s PG+12 SS#2 – 128/57 ... 139/60.9
8s PG+6 RS#1 – 147/61.4 ... 152/63.3
8s PG+6 RS#2 – ?/? ... 153/64.4
12s PG RS#1 – 145/57 ... 146/57.6
12s PG RS#2 – 143/56.2 ... 151/59.4
8s BGSS (L) - 111/61.8 ... 118/66.9
8s BGSS (R) – 112/62.4 ... 130/72.2
35s PG RS R/up – 132/51.8 ... 136/53.6
35s HCLR r/up - -/- ... 172
See what I mean? About as expected, in the sense that the numbers from today were consistently higher, more so in the standing start versus the rolling start. But look at the BGSSs - the difference between the first and second effort today is much greater than the difference between the first efforts Tuesday and today. The main change I made was in the transition from pushing hard to start off the effort to pedalling as fast and as smoothly as possible - the first I really just kept stomping. Both times I sat down after about 6 seconds, because it was getting too unstable to stand - unlike the KKRM, which didn't move too much, mine moved nearly a foot forward during the standing starts. Clearly I'm unweighting the rear wheel too much (as evidenced in DISC sessions) but that's a tough one to fix. I'm trying though.
I was about as rooted today, but didn't feel sick - I'm thinking diet is more the key there, though the extra power output presumably required to get the larger flywheel on the KKRM going could have played some role. I've been 20-30g carb the last two days, and will be ~30 again today, cramming them in after the session in an attempt to aid recovery - weights tomorrow and then DISC on Sunday. Want to make sure I get maximum value out of those sessions!
20 July 2011
Seldom Bucket
Well, finally, after all of my bravado, a bucket (or was that toilet?) was required after tonight's spin. Or, rather, during. Twice! Was it that hard? Was it the effect of being in a room with lots of other panting sweaty people? Was it the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine? Or, perhaps, was it the large bowl of ice cream I'd had an hour and a half earlier as a final hurrah to carbs and which was decidedly less pleasant on the way back up? It's hard to say, though Thursday's repeat back at home should give an indication.
:00 E1
:05 2 x 6s HCLR:1
:10 2 x 7s PG+12 SS:3
:16 2 x 8s PG+6 RS (60, seated):3
:22 2 x 12s PG RS (80, seated):4
:30 2 x 8s BGSS (L,R):3
:36 35s PG RS R/up, 10:100, 10:135, 15:max
:44 35s HCLR r/up 10:100, 10:135, 15:max
A little housekeeping first - we didn't quite keep to those times precisely. Towards the end of the first SS my bike fell off the trainer because the plastic end cap of my skewer broke off! When that happened, the speed sensor must have been knocked slightly because my speed readings from that point were erratic, and have been calculated from gear/cadence - the cadence reading was fine, despite the odd random spike. I was a minute late getting back from the toilet for the first BGSS, and so did it on my own and in my frazzled state only did 6 seconds, not 8. And I didn't make it for the final HCLR rampup, just finishing with a 10s HCLR instead. Finally, the difference in the trainers was notable, but perhaps not quite as much as I expected. Definitely harder to get going, definitely easier to keep going. I'll reserve further judgement until I do the session again on Thursday.
So all that said, how was it? Well, I was pretty happy really. There were extraneous issues as listed above, and I was slightly nervy getting out of the saddle for the first SS because I wasn't sure how the KKRM would behave. Still, I ended up with satisfactory numbers - the officially recorded value for the first HCLR was 201, but I saw 208 briefly and held above 200 for the last 2-3 seconds of the effort, so happy to have broken that barrier - though I suspect it's more the difference in trainers than a sudden increase in my ability over 1 week!
Numbers:
7s PG+12 SS#1 – 134/59.7
7s PG+12 SS#2 – 128/57
8s PG+6 RS#1 – 147/61.4
12s PG RS#1 – 145/57
12s PG RS#2 – 143/56.2
8s BGSS (L) - 111/61.8
8s BGSS (R) – 112/62.4
35s PG RS R/up – 132/51.8
Note that I didn't even manage 135RPM in the PG rampup! I was well rooted by then. I managed about 30 seconds at a reasonable cadence, and how much of the last 5 seconds you count probably depends upon how generous you're feeling! But cadence rather plummeted. I didn't quite do the second BGSS properly either - I was rolling with 2 seconds to go, suddenly remembered, slammed on the rear brake, tried to get my foot position sorted, and just went at the mark. I've no idea if I was fully stopped or which leg I ended up starting on, but I think it was my left again. Ah well.
:00 E1
:05 2 x 6s HCLR:1
:10 2 x 7s PG+12 SS:3
:16 2 x 8s PG+6 RS (60, seated):3
:22 2 x 12s PG RS (80, seated):4
:30 2 x 8s BGSS (L,R):3
:36 35s PG RS R/up, 10:100, 10:135, 15:max
:44 35s HCLR r/up 10:100, 10:135, 15:max
A little housekeeping first - we didn't quite keep to those times precisely. Towards the end of the first SS my bike fell off the trainer because the plastic end cap of my skewer broke off! When that happened, the speed sensor must have been knocked slightly because my speed readings from that point were erratic, and have been calculated from gear/cadence - the cadence reading was fine, despite the odd random spike. I was a minute late getting back from the toilet for the first BGSS, and so did it on my own and in my frazzled state only did 6 seconds, not 8. And I didn't make it for the final HCLR rampup, just finishing with a 10s HCLR instead. Finally, the difference in the trainers was notable, but perhaps not quite as much as I expected. Definitely harder to get going, definitely easier to keep going. I'll reserve further judgement until I do the session again on Thursday.
So all that said, how was it? Well, I was pretty happy really. There were extraneous issues as listed above, and I was slightly nervy getting out of the saddle for the first SS because I wasn't sure how the KKRM would behave. Still, I ended up with satisfactory numbers - the officially recorded value for the first HCLR was 201, but I saw 208 briefly and held above 200 for the last 2-3 seconds of the effort, so happy to have broken that barrier - though I suspect it's more the difference in trainers than a sudden increase in my ability over 1 week!
Numbers:
7s PG+12 SS#1 – 134/59.7
7s PG+12 SS#2 – 128/57
8s PG+6 RS#1 – 147/61.4
12s PG RS#1 – 145/57
12s PG RS#2 – 143/56.2
8s BGSS (L) - 111/61.8
8s BGSS (R) – 112/62.4
35s PG RS R/up – 132/51.8
Note that I didn't even manage 135RPM in the PG rampup! I was well rooted by then. I managed about 30 seconds at a reasonable cadence, and how much of the last 5 seconds you count probably depends upon how generous you're feeling! But cadence rather plummeted. I didn't quite do the second BGSS properly either - I was rolling with 2 seconds to go, suddenly remembered, slammed on the rear brake, tried to get my foot position sorted, and just went at the mark. I've no idea if I was fully stopped or which leg I ended up starting on, but I think it was my left again. Ah well.
12 July 2011
Bucket? Who needs a bucket?
This was supposed to be a bucket session, but it felt okay to me - I could even walk afterwards! Well, shortlyish afterwards, anyway. Perhaps I didn't go hard enough...
:00 E1
:05 2 x 6s HCLR:1
:10 2 x 7s PG+8" SS L,R:3
:16 2 x 6s PG+8" RS (40):3
:25 20s RG SS (race leg)
:32 20s RG RS (80) (10s reverse splits)
:39 30s PG+4" RS (10s reverse splits)
:45 1 x 35s HCLR R/up (10, 10, 15) 100, 130, 150+
HCLRs were a bit better - 184 and 180 (Garmin reckons 201, but I'm quite sure that's not right!) The PG standing and rolling starts were good - best of 164 for the right-leg standing start, and 156/158 otherwise - last one was only 150 because my left foot pulled out of the pedal after about 5 seconds - not something I want to happen on a track bike! I'll have a good look at it before Friday, might just need adjusting.
The RG (53x14 versus 53x15) SS felt good - again, pulled out of the pedal after a few seconds, but slotted back in and kept going up to 25s to compensate - hit a high of 153 and slowly decayed, but still above 130RPM by the end of the 25 seconds, so happy with that. The 20s RS reverse split I had to guess at an effort level, and so worked up to between 115 and 120 for the first 10s, then above 130 for the second 10s. I managed that okay, but felt that I probably could have aimed a bit higher - perhaps I should try for ~125 and then ~135 for Thursday's session.
The 30s PG reverse split thingie I decided to try to continually increase effort, rather than trying to hold a level - so I went for 100 increasing to 110ish, then increasing to 120ish, then basically sprinting as hard as possible to as high as possible for the last 10s - as opposed to jumping as hard as possible and then holding. That saw me hit 146, which I'm pretty happy with. Jumping and holding is probably more race relevant, but continually pushing higher to muscle collapse is probably better training. But I still didn't need a bucket!
HCLR rampup again for the third segment I just tried to sprint as hard as possible, and got up to 174 and was possibly slightly smoother - it's hard to tell. With the lack of resistance, around 130 is almost the hardest point, because I end up bouncing around a bit if I don't make a big effort not to. After that, I probably bounce around just as much, but I'm working too hard to notice!
Overall a good session. Some good numbers (including 3 of 70km/hr+) and felt good even in the longer efforts - of course, none of them were 40s, which helps! Brief stats here.
:00 E1
:05 2 x 6s HCLR:1
:10 2 x 7s PG+8" SS L,R:3
:16 2 x 6s PG+8" RS (40):3
:25 20s RG SS (race leg)
:32 20s RG RS (80) (10s reverse splits)
:39 30s PG+4" RS (10s reverse splits)
:45 1 x 35s HCLR R/up (10, 10, 15) 100, 130, 150+
HCLRs were a bit better - 184 and 180 (Garmin reckons 201, but I'm quite sure that's not right!) The PG standing and rolling starts were good - best of 164 for the right-leg standing start, and 156/158 otherwise - last one was only 150 because my left foot pulled out of the pedal after about 5 seconds - not something I want to happen on a track bike! I'll have a good look at it before Friday, might just need adjusting.
The RG (53x14 versus 53x15) SS felt good - again, pulled out of the pedal after a few seconds, but slotted back in and kept going up to 25s to compensate - hit a high of 153 and slowly decayed, but still above 130RPM by the end of the 25 seconds, so happy with that. The 20s RS reverse split I had to guess at an effort level, and so worked up to between 115 and 120 for the first 10s, then above 130 for the second 10s. I managed that okay, but felt that I probably could have aimed a bit higher - perhaps I should try for ~125 and then ~135 for Thursday's session.
The 30s PG reverse split thingie I decided to try to continually increase effort, rather than trying to hold a level - so I went for 100 increasing to 110ish, then increasing to 120ish, then basically sprinting as hard as possible to as high as possible for the last 10s - as opposed to jumping as hard as possible and then holding. That saw me hit 146, which I'm pretty happy with. Jumping and holding is probably more race relevant, but continually pushing higher to muscle collapse is probably better training. But I still didn't need a bucket!
HCLR rampup again for the third segment I just tried to sprint as hard as possible, and got up to 174 and was possibly slightly smoother - it's hard to tell. With the lack of resistance, around 130 is almost the hardest point, because I end up bouncing around a bit if I don't make a big effort not to. After that, I probably bounce around just as much, but I'm working too hard to notice!
Overall a good session. Some good numbers (including 3 of 70km/hr+) and felt good even in the longer efforts - of course, none of them were 40s, which helps! Brief stats here.
08 July 2011
Solitary spin
Just the one this week - I almost managed to make a Tuesday or Wednesday session work so that I could fit both in, but I had a visiting sister who didn't quite fit in with my schedule. I managed to bundle her and two kids off for a shopping trip to at least get the one session in on Thursday. And, writing this on Friday, I'm tempted to do another one, so much fun did I have! And no, that's actually not sarcastic...
:00 E1
:05 2 x 6s HCLR:1
:10 2 x 6s PG+8" RS (60rpm):3
:16 2 x 7s PG+8" RS (50rpm) (seated):3
:22 2 x 6s PG+8" SS:3
:28 2 x 7s PG+8" SS (seated):3
:34 1 x 40s PG RS R/up (10:90, 15:125, 15:max)
:40 1 x 35s HCLR R/up (10:100, 10:130, 15:150+)
HCLRs were disappointing, 181 and 175, and felt rather uncoordinated doing them. Perhaps due to so long in between spin sessions? The PG+8 efforts were all actually PG+11 efforts (what's 3 inches between friends? As the bishop said to the choirgirl. Boom tish.) and felt quite solid - except for the second RS(60RPM) which I got out of the saddle for. And dragged the trainer about 15cm along the floor! Not surprisingly I only got up to 133RPM on that one...
For the standing starts I was really working on the countdown, getting my breathing set and synchronised, treating it as a genuine gate start. The numbers were better than the rolling starts (do I have better strength than power? Better low- than mid-range torque? Or did the extra focus of the standing starts versus rolling make the difference? Dunno!) in the mid-150s, but on the last one I was determined to break 160 and I managed it - 163RPM in 7 seconds in 53x15, ~92". Happy with that. As a demonstration of how comparable that is to actual track performance, I had a top speed of 71.6km/hr and covered about 150m in that 7 seconds. In reality I think I'd be lucky to get to 40km/hr and the 1/4 lap!
The PG rampup was okay - max of only 133, but again I made the 40 seconds. Okay, I may have started to shut down at 39 seconds. I'll be sure to do one more second of work next time. Actually no, scratch that, 41 seconds is just too long! HCLR rampup again I felt uncoordinated, but at least this time I had an excuse, and a top of 161 at the end of that session isn't too bad.
Brief stats here.
:00 E1
:05 2 x 6s HCLR:1
:10 2 x 6s PG+8" RS (60rpm):3
:16 2 x 7s PG+8" RS (50rpm) (seated):3
:22 2 x 6s PG+8" SS:3
:28 2 x 7s PG+8" SS (seated):3
:34 1 x 40s PG RS R/up (10:90, 15:125, 15:max)
:40 1 x 35s HCLR R/up (10:100, 10:130, 15:150+)
HCLRs were disappointing, 181 and 175, and felt rather uncoordinated doing them. Perhaps due to so long in between spin sessions? The PG+8 efforts were all actually PG+11 efforts (what's 3 inches between friends? As the bishop said to the choirgirl. Boom tish.) and felt quite solid - except for the second RS(60RPM) which I got out of the saddle for. And dragged the trainer about 15cm along the floor! Not surprisingly I only got up to 133RPM on that one...
For the standing starts I was really working on the countdown, getting my breathing set and synchronised, treating it as a genuine gate start. The numbers were better than the rolling starts (do I have better strength than power? Better low- than mid-range torque? Or did the extra focus of the standing starts versus rolling make the difference? Dunno!) in the mid-150s, but on the last one I was determined to break 160 and I managed it - 163RPM in 7 seconds in 53x15, ~92". Happy with that. As a demonstration of how comparable that is to actual track performance, I had a top speed of 71.6km/hr and covered about 150m in that 7 seconds. In reality I think I'd be lucky to get to 40km/hr and the 1/4 lap!
The PG rampup was okay - max of only 133, but again I made the 40 seconds. Okay, I may have started to shut down at 39 seconds. I'll be sure to do one more second of work next time. Actually no, scratch that, 41 seconds is just too long! HCLR rampup again I felt uncoordinated, but at least this time I had an excuse, and a top of 161 at the end of that session isn't too bad.
Brief stats here.
01 July 2011
Second verse, same as the first...
Same spin program today, and it felt better. Actually, I noticed after the last one that I did actually feel fresher, livelier - once I'd recovered. Today, I felt it almost as soon as I came off the bike! Quite odd. The session itself felt better, though statistically there wasn't much in it really.
The main difference is that I made it all the way through the 40-sec effort, and felt okay. my max cadence was lower, but at 138 it wasn't too disgraceful. Otherwise all of the RS efforts were a few RPM higher than last time, and more consistent - results of 160/160 rather than 159/154. Not too much more to report otherwise, but subjectively, I was much happier with today's spin.
Brief stats here.
The main difference is that I made it all the way through the 40-sec effort, and felt okay. my max cadence was lower, but at 138 it wasn't too disgraceful. Otherwise all of the RS efforts were a few RPM higher than last time, and more consistent - results of 160/160 rather than 159/154. Not too much more to report otherwise, but subjectively, I was much happier with today's spin.
Brief stats here.
23 June 2011
Spin the black turtle!
Don't blame me, blame... well, me. This is one time it'd be handy to have a ghost-written blog.
Anyway, won't bother with the program, it was the same as Tuesday - except that this time, I did it in the right gears! Huzzah! There's hope for the boy yet.
Okay, I'll admit, I only did a 30 second PG rampup rather than 40 second, but at least that idiocy was due to end-of-session brain-fog rather than cool, calculated brainlessness. And I did it all-out, not at 40-second pace and just stopped after 30 seconds - I did it at precisely the level of suffering such that 32 seconds was out of the question. Which is kinda the way it's meant to be - so long as you can remember.
The HCLR rampup was interesting - it was 30 seconds, sure, but it was more MCLR, only getting up to 151RPM. Which just goes to show that my neural pathways weren't only cognitively shot by then!
Oh, it also goes to show that this track training malarky must be paying off, since a few months ago 120RPM would have been... well, not quite astounding, but still notable.
Other stats of note... well, all the PG+ efforts were ~150, except for one which slacked off to 146, the PG were slightly higher, and the other HCLRs were just slightly under 180, indicating that perhaps my neural pathways had roadworks right from the beginning.
Slightly more detailed brief stats here.
Anyway, won't bother with the program, it was the same as Tuesday - except that this time, I did it in the right gears! Huzzah! There's hope for the boy yet.
Okay, I'll admit, I only did a 30 second PG rampup rather than 40 second, but at least that idiocy was due to end-of-session brain-fog rather than cool, calculated brainlessness. And I did it all-out, not at 40-second pace and just stopped after 30 seconds - I did it at precisely the level of suffering such that 32 seconds was out of the question. Which is kinda the way it's meant to be - so long as you can remember.
The HCLR rampup was interesting - it was 30 seconds, sure, but it was more MCLR, only getting up to 151RPM. Which just goes to show that my neural pathways weren't only cognitively shot by then!
Oh, it also goes to show that this track training malarky must be paying off, since a few months ago 120RPM would have been... well, not quite astounding, but still notable.
Other stats of note... well, all the PG+ efforts were ~150, except for one which slacked off to 146, the PG were slightly higher, and the other HCLRs were just slightly under 180, indicating that perhaps my neural pathways had roadworks right from the beginning.
Slightly more detailed brief stats here.
21 June 2011
Spin and grind.
:00 E1
:05 2 x 5s HCLR:1
:10 2 x 7s PG+4" RS (80rpm):3
:16 2 x 8s PG+4" RS (80rpm) (seated):3
:22 2 x 7s PG+4" RS (60rpm):3
:28 2 x 8s PG RS (80 rpm) (seated):3
:34 1 x 40s PGRS R/up (10:100, 15:130, 15:max)
:40 1 x 30s HCLR R/up (10:100, 10:120, 10:150+)
I had a bit of a problem this week. Yes, you're right, this is not unusual. And yes, you're right, I shouldn't be allowed near any bike with an allen key in my hand. Anyway.
My first 'problem' was whether or not to stick with 53x17 as my PG, or jump up to 53x16 since I've recorded over 160RPM in 53x16. I figured in the end to stick with 53x17, as I've only just gotten there and we're doing PG+ efforts anyway.
The second problem was that when I jumped on the bike today, it started skipping in 53x17, jumping from that to 53x16 just for the fun of it. Then maybe back again. Yes, a simple adjustment (probably) but I've grown sick of 'simple' adjustments in spin sessions, so figured I'd just call 53x16 my PG after all, and go to 53x15 for the PG+4" efforts - that is, most of them. Even though 53/17 is 81.9", 39/12 is 85.4", 53/16 is 87.1" and 53/15 is 92.9". That is, instead of doing PG and PG+4 efforts, I was doing PG+5.2 and PG+11 efforts. Erm. Then, to make matters worse (and I've done the calculations to back this up) I did the PGRS 40s effort - the one that I did last time on 81.9" and almost survived to tell the tale - in 53/15. 92.9". I am, in fact, an idiot. A numby, even. And no, I didn't last 40 seconds.
Aside from all that, an observation of note is that I get no momentum assistance from my trainer - I stop pedalling, and even on the lowest resistance setting the back wheel stops after a few revolutions. This makes the long RS efforts much more difficult than they otherwise would be, because I have to expend a fair amount of energy (especially when I'm turning 11 more inches than I should be) to get to 80RPM just to start the exercise. Good training for a kilo, perhaps, but not quite what I'm aiming for. If I can get my gears precisely tuned such that I can trust them to go bang in to the right gear (and trust my fatigued brain to count the number of clicks) then I should be able to alleviate this to an extent by getting 80RPM in an easy gear and throw it in to the target gear at the last second. But then I'll be starting the effort not with 20 seconds of grinding in my legs already, but with a sudden deceleration instead.
Brief stats here.
:05 2 x 5s HCLR:1
:10 2 x 7s PG+4" RS (80rpm):3
:16 2 x 8s PG+4" RS (80rpm) (seated):3
:22 2 x 7s PG+4" RS (60rpm):3
:28 2 x 8s PG RS (80 rpm) (seated):3
:34 1 x 40s PGRS R/up (10:100, 15:130, 15:max)
:40 1 x 30s HCLR R/up (10:100, 10:120, 10:150+)
I had a bit of a problem this week. Yes, you're right, this is not unusual. And yes, you're right, I shouldn't be allowed near any bike with an allen key in my hand. Anyway.
My first 'problem' was whether or not to stick with 53x17 as my PG, or jump up to 53x16 since I've recorded over 160RPM in 53x16. I figured in the end to stick with 53x17, as I've only just gotten there and we're doing PG+ efforts anyway.
The second problem was that when I jumped on the bike today, it started skipping in 53x17, jumping from that to 53x16 just for the fun of it. Then maybe back again. Yes, a simple adjustment (probably) but I've grown sick of 'simple' adjustments in spin sessions, so figured I'd just call 53x16 my PG after all, and go to 53x15 for the PG+4" efforts - that is, most of them. Even though 53/17 is 81.9", 39/12 is 85.4", 53/16 is 87.1" and 53/15 is 92.9". That is, instead of doing PG and PG+4 efforts, I was doing PG+5.2 and PG+11 efforts. Erm. Then, to make matters worse (and I've done the calculations to back this up) I did the PGRS 40s effort - the one that I did last time on 81.9" and almost survived to tell the tale - in 53/15. 92.9". I am, in fact, an idiot. A numby, even. And no, I didn't last 40 seconds.
Aside from all that, an observation of note is that I get no momentum assistance from my trainer - I stop pedalling, and even on the lowest resistance setting the back wheel stops after a few revolutions. This makes the long RS efforts much more difficult than they otherwise would be, because I have to expend a fair amount of energy (especially when I'm turning 11 more inches than I should be) to get to 80RPM just to start the exercise. Good training for a kilo, perhaps, but not quite what I'm aiming for. If I can get my gears precisely tuned such that I can trust them to go bang in to the right gear (and trust my fatigued brain to count the number of clicks) then I should be able to alleviate this to an extent by getting 80RPM in an easy gear and throw it in to the target gear at the last second. But then I'll be starting the effort not with 20 seconds of grinding in my legs already, but with a sudden deceleration instead.
Brief stats here.
19 June 2011
DISC Ses... I mean, Spin at Home
I had intended to go to DISC tonight, but family needs won out, so I decided to do a re-run of the Spin session from last week - this time, actually on the trainer rather than by a river!
:00 E1
:05 2x5s HCLR
:10 2x8s 53x17 RS(80):3
:16 2x10s 39x12 RS(80):3
:22 2x12s 39x12 SS(seated/L,R):4
:30 2x6s 53x16 SS(seated/L,R):3
:36 1x40s 53x17 SS r/up (10:100, 15:130, 15:max)
:42 1x10s HCLR
Surprisingly enough, the results weren't even remotely similar! HCLRs gave 180 apiece, and the next two rolling starts gave 157/158 and 153/152. More interesting were the standing starts, which I did on my PG+3.5 and PG+5.2, respectively. Both times I cleared 160RPM, with 160/161 and 156/160 respectively. So that, perhaps, is an indication that I am, indeed, getting stronger!
Then came the horrible bit, the 40 second PG ramp-up. Again, I can't claim to have done it perfectly, because there's no way I can work that hard and keep my cadence constant. I was determined, though, to last the 40 seconds, and that I did manage. It was a bit touch and go - there's a bit of a divot in my graph where I drop from 126RPM down to 118 - but then I kicked it back up to my maximum of 134, held it there for probably 6-7 seconds, dropped down to 125ish over the next few, before collapsing in a wobbly heap on the bike.
I backed up with a final HCLR of 174 - a bit down perhaps, but frankly I'm amazed I managed to do it at all.
Main win for the session? Not talking myself out of being able to do the 40s rampup. Coming up to it I found myself thinking that I couldn't possibly push all the way through, that it was too long, that I'd quit 5, 10 seconds early, or I'd only get up to a maximum of 120 or some such. But I pushed through, poured sweat on the floor, scared the neighbours with my grunting, and got the motherfucker done. Yeah. I'm real bad-arse (somehow that doesn't sound quite as 'right' as 'bad-ass'. Oh well.)
Brief stats here.
:00 E1
:05 2x5s HCLR
:10 2x8s 53x17 RS(80):3
:16 2x10s 39x12 RS(80):3
:22 2x12s 39x12 SS(seated/L,R):4
:30 2x6s 53x16 SS(seated/L,R):3
:36 1x40s 53x17 SS r/up (10:100, 15:130, 15:max)
:42 1x10s HCLR
Surprisingly enough, the results weren't even remotely similar! HCLRs gave 180 apiece, and the next two rolling starts gave 157/158 and 153/152. More interesting were the standing starts, which I did on my PG+3.5 and PG+5.2, respectively. Both times I cleared 160RPM, with 160/161 and 156/160 respectively. So that, perhaps, is an indication that I am, indeed, getting stronger!
Then came the horrible bit, the 40 second PG ramp-up. Again, I can't claim to have done it perfectly, because there's no way I can work that hard and keep my cadence constant. I was determined, though, to last the 40 seconds, and that I did manage. It was a bit touch and go - there's a bit of a divot in my graph where I drop from 126RPM down to 118 - but then I kicked it back up to my maximum of 134, held it there for probably 6-7 seconds, dropped down to 125ish over the next few, before collapsing in a wobbly heap on the bike.
I backed up with a final HCLR of 174 - a bit down perhaps, but frankly I'm amazed I managed to do it at all.
Main win for the session? Not talking myself out of being able to do the 40s rampup. Coming up to it I found myself thinking that I couldn't possibly push all the way through, that it was too long, that I'd quit 5, 10 seconds early, or I'd only get up to a maximum of 120 or some such. But I pushed through, poured sweat on the floor, scared the neighbours with my grunting, and got the motherfucker done. Yeah. I'm real bad-arse (somehow that doesn't sound quite as 'right' as 'bad-ass'. Oh well.)
Brief stats here.
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