So here we go, back to training again. And it was a bit of a horrible session really, but I coped better than I thought given my lack of training this week:
:05 2 x 6s HCLR:1 (39x23 : 46")
:10 2 x 7s PG+12 (107") SS (R,L):4
:18 2 x 8s PG RS(80) (93") seated:3
:24 24s PG RS(80) (93") r/up seated 8:100, 8:130, 8:max
:31 30s PGSS (93") seated unpaced
:38 21s PG+8 (99") RS (60) r/up 7:100, 7:130, 7:max
There was supposed to be a couple of HCLRs on the end of that, but I didn't last that long.
107" SSes were very good, especially given the layoff. 147/75.1 starting with the right, followed by 143 (or 159?)/75.8 on the left - happy with those!
93" RSes were also satisfying, hitting 157/71 and then ?/69.4 - almost high enough that I'd be resetting my PG again if it was recalibration time!
Then came the awful bits - the capacity work. The first 24 second effort wasn't too bad, ramping up over 130, hitting a top of about 138 and holding it fairly well the whole way through.
The next effort, 30 seconds unpaced (that is, going hard (if not quite a 100% sprint) from the beginning and holding it as long as possible) didn't quite last the distance - in fact, it lasted pretty much about 24 seconds! I held the speed up pretty well though, over 60km/hr for about the first 18 seconds or so, then fighting it down to about 55km/hr to 24ish seconds before grinding to a halt a couple of seconds later!
One last effort, 21 second rampup, I managed the distance though not the cadence targets - it was more like 100/110/129(max) and the last 7 second effort was rather peaky, rather than hitting and sustaining. And then I was done - I stayed there, trying to get myself in a state to be able to do the closing 10s HCLRs, but just couldn't manage it. If it weren't my first session back, I'd've pushed myself, but not this time. Next spin I'll complete!
29 October 2011
27 October 2011
Lifestyle Periodisation
It's what happens when life just says: "Look, mate, you're just not going to train this week. Remember on Monday, when you had a couple of hours but were still recovering from Sunday? And Wednesday, when you felt guilty about 'wasting' time at the gym when the house was still a mess? Well, guess what? That was all the time you had this week, my friend."
I did one 20km ride on Tuesday, home from school dropoff, in which I at least included a few hill sprints and one 'flying 200', as it were. And now my daughter's sick and I can't even take time away from her (except now, at 9pm - I'm sure I would jump on the trainer now if I wanted it bad enough, even though I got 2 hours sleep last night) to do 45 minutes because she's so miserable.
Next week, theoretically, would be a taper for SSS Round 2. But I'm not sure it's possible to taper down from a week of nothing. So here's the plan. Fri: 1/2 Spin. Sat: Spin. Sun: DISC. Mon: Gym. Tues: Recovery. Wed: Spin. Thurs: 20km road ride. Fri: Recovery. Sat: 'Sharpen'. Sun: Race.
I did one 20km ride on Tuesday, home from school dropoff, in which I at least included a few hill sprints and one 'flying 200', as it were. And now my daughter's sick and I can't even take time away from her (except now, at 9pm - I'm sure I would jump on the trainer now if I wanted it bad enough, even though I got 2 hours sleep last night) to do 45 minutes because she's so miserable.
Next week, theoretically, would be a taper for SSS Round 2. But I'm not sure it's possible to taper down from a week of nothing. So here's the plan. Fri: 1/2 Spin. Sat: Spin. Sun: DISC. Mon: Gym. Tues: Recovery. Wed: Spin. Thurs: 20km road ride. Fri: Recovery. Sat: 'Sharpen'. Sun: Race.
23 October 2011
BBN Numero the One for Summer
So, I may have turned up a trifle late. Again. Again I had an excuse - my daughter's school Spring Fair. And it should all be over now. Probably Maybe.
Anyway, did a couple of 1/4 lap powerjumps on my own on 86" as warmup. Not bad, hit a top of 46.5, over 77m as opposed to the 62.5 of DISC. Next up I went up to 99" against Chris Dann for a 3/4lap powerjump - a good 230m or so. I was on the inside, jumping from 35km/hr or so, hit a top of 54.5 some 30m from the line, and crossed at about 52.6 after pulling away from Chris through turn 3.
We then moved on to Flying 200s in pairs, and the first one Chris lead out and took his revenge - I wasn't recovered very well from the powerjump, and after giving myself a bit of space coming out of the jump, just couldn't manage to increase my pace coming around him and basically gave up by turn 4, coasting in behind him, almost coming undone by going underneath him because he slowed coming in to the straight when I expected him to pull away, before remembering that we don't go that way and swinging back up the track. After a bit of rest, I lead out the next one and managed to hold him off, hitting a top of 55.3 and crossing the line, according to my Garmin, at about 28.2km/hr. Amusing things happen on the velodrome with GPS enabled.
Finally it was a 1.5 lap match sprint against Emily, back down to 86". She was (nominally) leading, and watching carefully. I looked for any gaps, thinking about taking an early jump, but was content to leave it later so long as the pace was high enough, and we were tracking about 30 so that was okay. I drew up next to her coming in to turn 1 on the last lap and jumped with the advantage of height. I wasn't quite able to draw past her, though I probably could have dropped down in to the lane by the end of the back straight, but I'm not quite confident about that yet. As it was, after slipping a couple of times up on the blue line, I ran really wide coming out of turn 4 and only just hung on to beat her, hitting a top of just over 55km/hr.
I'm pretty happy with that training, having had a very busy and tiring weekend. Granted, I was training with people who (by Round 1 F200 times) are a bit slower than me, so I could have hit precisely the same numbers and lost each match-up against, say, Nic. But overall it felt pretty good, I was marginally less clueless than in the afore-mentioned Round 1, and I'm feeling happier with not just my jump, but accelerating in the middle of the race, down the back straight and coming out of turn 4. Hopefully Round 2 will be more successful than Round 1...
Anyway, did a couple of 1/4 lap powerjumps on my own on 86" as warmup. Not bad, hit a top of 46.5, over 77m as opposed to the 62.5 of DISC. Next up I went up to 99" against Chris Dann for a 3/4lap powerjump - a good 230m or so. I was on the inside, jumping from 35km/hr or so, hit a top of 54.5 some 30m from the line, and crossed at about 52.6 after pulling away from Chris through turn 3.
We then moved on to Flying 200s in pairs, and the first one Chris lead out and took his revenge - I wasn't recovered very well from the powerjump, and after giving myself a bit of space coming out of the jump, just couldn't manage to increase my pace coming around him and basically gave up by turn 4, coasting in behind him, almost coming undone by going underneath him because he slowed coming in to the straight when I expected him to pull away, before remembering that we don't go that way and swinging back up the track. After a bit of rest, I lead out the next one and managed to hold him off, hitting a top of 55.3 and crossing the line, according to my Garmin, at about 28.2km/hr. Amusing things happen on the velodrome with GPS enabled.
Finally it was a 1.5 lap match sprint against Emily, back down to 86". She was (nominally) leading, and watching carefully. I looked for any gaps, thinking about taking an early jump, but was content to leave it later so long as the pace was high enough, and we were tracking about 30 so that was okay. I drew up next to her coming in to turn 1 on the last lap and jumped with the advantage of height. I wasn't quite able to draw past her, though I probably could have dropped down in to the lane by the end of the back straight, but I'm not quite confident about that yet. As it was, after slipping a couple of times up on the blue line, I ran really wide coming out of turn 4 and only just hung on to beat her, hitting a top of just over 55km/hr.
I'm pretty happy with that training, having had a very busy and tiring weekend. Granted, I was training with people who (by Round 1 F200 times) are a bit slower than me, so I could have hit precisely the same numbers and lost each match-up against, say, Nic. But overall it felt pretty good, I was marginally less clueless than in the afore-mentioned Round 1, and I'm feeling happier with not just my jump, but accelerating in the middle of the race, down the back straight and coming out of turn 4. Hopefully Round 2 will be more successful than Round 1...
22 October 2011
Unspun
Well, I was supposed to do some spinning this week, but it didn't quite eventuate. Tuesday and Thursday saw me riding out of and in to the city (and will continue to do so for the next couple of months) at... not quite recovery pace. Well, Tuesday wasn't so bad, an average HR of 140 - right at the top of my recovery zone. Thursday though was 162 - or about 82% of MHR. Average. Highest was 195 - just down from MHR by a few beats. 35% of the ride was above 170bpm. So... not quite recovery. Then I spent hours today putting up a... well, they call it a marquee, but it used to be a circus tent. Wielding a sledgehammer in the rain has never been so much fun! So call it an atypical week. Oh, and it looks like I should add an 'excuses' tag...
19 October 2011
Judas Priest
Well this one was another virtual repeat - everything's been reset!
Squats back to 120, and I made a point of at least starting with a better back position. I didn't keep it that way though, and still the form doesn't seem great. Not really bad, and there was little upper back rounding, for example. But every time I got down near parallel my lower back would round. But I guess at least I'm more aware of it, and it's something I can continue to work on as I take the weight back up.
Bench I did 65kg again, which actually makes three sessions in a row I've successfully done 65kgs. Time to take it up, perhaps?
Powercleans up to 65, and again I felt a nice rhythm - at least, after the first 2 or 3 of the first set. The second and third set went up really cleanly, nice powerful jump and shoulder action, so I'm happy with that.
It should also be noted that since starting lifting (and going low-carb/high protein) I've actually dropped 7kgs or so. Still at least 12kgs to go, but it's heading in the right direction. As noted though, it might make it unlikely that my lifts will increase much over the summer period. But next winter, look out! 2xBW squat, you're mine...
Squats back to 120, and I made a point of at least starting with a better back position. I didn't keep it that way though, and still the form doesn't seem great. Not really bad, and there was little upper back rounding, for example. But every time I got down near parallel my lower back would round. But I guess at least I'm more aware of it, and it's something I can continue to work on as I take the weight back up.
Bench I did 65kg again, which actually makes three sessions in a row I've successfully done 65kgs. Time to take it up, perhaps?
Powercleans up to 65, and again I felt a nice rhythm - at least, after the first 2 or 3 of the first set. The second and third set went up really cleanly, nice powerful jump and shoulder action, so I'm happy with that.
It should also be noted that since starting lifting (and going low-carb/high protein) I've actually dropped 7kgs or so. Still at least 12kgs to go, but it's heading in the right direction. As noted though, it might make it unlikely that my lifts will increase much over the summer period. But next winter, look out! 2xBW squat, you're mine...
16 October 2011
DISC Summer #1 with ABOC
Nice to get back on the track today after lots of spinning and lifting. I was on standby as support for Team Splat!'s Around the Bay epic which left me rather late getting to DISC, and without a partner for powerjumps when he defected to the enduro stream!
Accelerations generally felt a bit soft tonight, especially on 86" but even up on 99". My body just didn't feel right. I hit about 43km/hr in each 1/4 lap powerjump on 86", but felt like I should have been able to get higher.
The next drill was a F150 with a motorpaced entry on 99". I was pretty happy with this despite the sloppy jump, it felt fast and was - an average speed for the 150m of 60.47 with a top of 62.4 after crossing the 200 line at about 59. In fact, even though it was only a 150m effort, my average speed for the 200 (approx!) was still 59.5 - or only just over 12 seconds. Of course, that's with a motorpaced windup and entry, so even though the 150m was unassisted, doesn't quite mean it equates to an actual 12s F200, even at DISC! Still, nice to go fast.
After that, a full F200 though motorpaced the entire way this time. Again my jump was poor, and I came down off the fence too early, but speed was good - crossed the line at about 55, and accelerated all the way, crossing the line at about 61 (and still accelerating!) for an average of 59km/hr, about a 12.2 or so. All I need to do now is to organise a motorbike for my races...
For the first time in ages (well, a month or so) we did a windout, back on 86" (one day I'll get a new chain so I can go down to 82"... one day). Got up to 61.6 on that, which is a pretty decent effort. I don't have my cadence sensor at the moment, but it would have been up around 150 or so.
Finished off the evening with a practice match sprint - again, I didn't have a partner, but this time I formed a group of three with Merv and someone I don't know. Merv took the lead and I was initially at the back, but moved up through the middle, keeping height. Merv jumped from the bottom with about 300m to go while I stayed up the bank, accelerating and watching the other rider behind me. I saw that he wasn't going to come underneath, so I just dropped down around the 200 line a couple of lengths back, accelerated down the back straight and came up beside Merv just before the turn, held him there, then pulled away to win. Which, all respect to Merv, with my speed I should be able to do, though he's a better rider than I am.
Accelerations generally felt a bit soft tonight, especially on 86" but even up on 99". My body just didn't feel right. I hit about 43km/hr in each 1/4 lap powerjump on 86", but felt like I should have been able to get higher.
The next drill was a F150 with a motorpaced entry on 99". I was pretty happy with this despite the sloppy jump, it felt fast and was - an average speed for the 150m of 60.47 with a top of 62.4 after crossing the 200 line at about 59. In fact, even though it was only a 150m effort, my average speed for the 200 (approx!) was still 59.5 - or only just over 12 seconds. Of course, that's with a motorpaced windup and entry, so even though the 150m was unassisted, doesn't quite mean it equates to an actual 12s F200, even at DISC! Still, nice to go fast.
After that, a full F200 though motorpaced the entire way this time. Again my jump was poor, and I came down off the fence too early, but speed was good - crossed the line at about 55, and accelerated all the way, crossing the line at about 61 (and still accelerating!) for an average of 59km/hr, about a 12.2 or so. All I need to do now is to organise a motorbike for my races...
For the first time in ages (well, a month or so) we did a windout, back on 86" (one day I'll get a new chain so I can go down to 82"... one day). Got up to 61.6 on that, which is a pretty decent effort. I don't have my cadence sensor at the moment, but it would have been up around 150 or so.
Finished off the evening with a practice match sprint - again, I didn't have a partner, but this time I formed a group of three with Merv and someone I don't know. Merv took the lead and I was initially at the back, but moved up through the middle, keeping height. Merv jumped from the bottom with about 300m to go while I stayed up the bank, accelerating and watching the other rider behind me. I saw that he wasn't going to come underneath, so I just dropped down around the 200 line a couple of lengths back, accelerated down the back straight and came up beside Merv just before the turn, held him there, then pulled away to win. Which, all respect to Merv, with my speed I should be able to do, though he's a better rider than I am.
14 October 2011
What band plays the music of one man collapsing?
That was the story of my weights session today - one man collapsing. My theory about bar position seemed to be largely confirmed, but it was hard to test as I didn't get past 3 reps in any set, even after deloading to 120kg for the last set. I had no physical or mental drive to really push the weight; somewhere between lack of sleep and lack of adequate nutrition the drive I'd had on Wednesday was gone.
That specific issue aside, I learned enough to decide to reset my squat on the basis of form - the issue I have with getting the right set in the lower back is too significant to fix at the limit of my ability, and while I'm pretty sure I could keep on lifting heavier even with poor form, eventually I'll injure myself.
Press was okay, though just 2 sets at 55kg; the weight was heavy but manageable, but again, just no drive.
Deadlift I decided to set the bar at 160kg just to see what it felt like. The first attempt I aborted, but the second attempt went up fine, no hitching and it felt smooth. I set up for a third, but just as I started to pull I decided that there was no point in attempting a perfect set of deadlifts given how I was feeling. Interestingly, watching the video, I aborted the first attempt because I swung the weight out quite a way (a good 10-15cm) as I lifted it up. The second, successful, attempt swung out a little, but barely an inch or so.
So an awful session, but still points of useful information came out of it.
That specific issue aside, I learned enough to decide to reset my squat on the basis of form - the issue I have with getting the right set in the lower back is too significant to fix at the limit of my ability, and while I'm pretty sure I could keep on lifting heavier even with poor form, eventually I'll injure myself.
Press was okay, though just 2 sets at 55kg; the weight was heavy but manageable, but again, just no drive.
Deadlift I decided to set the bar at 160kg just to see what it felt like. The first attempt I aborted, but the second attempt went up fine, no hitching and it felt smooth. I set up for a third, but just as I started to pull I decided that there was no point in attempting a perfect set of deadlifts given how I was feeling. Interestingly, watching the video, I aborted the first attempt because I swung the weight out quite a way (a good 10-15cm) as I lifted it up. The second, successful, attempt swung out a little, but barely an inch or so.
So an awful session, but still points of useful information came out of it.
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