I open the cabinet where the Cholula lives and did not immediately see it. I looked for, I don't know, 75 to 80 seconds, at least before dropping an F-bomb.
Where's the effin cholu ...
and then I saw it. My tone changed and I said, sweetly, "Oh, there you are," happy as can be.
This week I learned a couple of things.
- Learn from your experiences and adjust
- Stick to the plan
Clear?
This week was supposed to start off with a fitness assessment, an FTP test. The tests come after a recovery week, an easy weekend and a day off. The past few times I've done this I just couldn't complete the test. My body just wouldn't respond. So, the past few times, I'd abort the test and try again the next day or perhaps the day after that. The retest would go smoothly.
This round went just like the others. I set out to do a 20 minute effort, but only got around 8:30 done before I just couldn't do anymore. I rested a bit and tried again. Same thing happened. Between the two efforts I was trashed. The next day I was having some nerve issues (from my back injury, causes random cramps), and was tired from these tests. Instead of listening to my body and taking an easy ride, I decided to try an FTP test again. It went worse, even though I was more conservative.
Even so, I was able to use the first eight minute effort to come up with an FTP of 370 watts. That's a lot of juice, but I really think it's too low for my current level of fitness. But, I'll roll with it until the next test comes around in a month.
The following day, Thursday, was my first day back at work after winter break and a "sweet spot" interval workout in the afternoon, which followed the early morning session at the gym. Three intervals, ten minutes each at 310 watts average, separated by four minute rest intervals. They were hard, but appropriately so. So I know for sure that 370 isn't too high. But, I was so shot from the previous two FTP tests that I feel my performance that day and on the easy ride Friday suffered. So, adjust the plan based on experience, then stick to it!
Saturday I rode my first Shootout, the Early Version. I called it the Old Man variety and was corrected ... there aren't many old men in it, I was told. It's just earlier than the Big Boy Shootout.
Anyhow, I went and wanted to push myself, a lot. I wanted to blow up, recover, blow up and recover and repeat that throughout the day. I did just that. I went off of the front, frequently, chased down breakaways, tried to win the sprints even though I'd been working hard all day, and had a great time doing it all.
I took some video of the day with my GoPro.
I took some video of the day with my GoPro.
Sunday I went for the first long endurance ride. It was right at 4.5 hours and I managed to stay in zone 2 pretty consistently throughout the day.
In all, I had a successful week of training and my nutrition was spot-on as well. I'm not sure how much weight I'll have lost, but I'm focusing on strength and letting the weight take care of itself. I'm heavier than other riders, even when I'm thin. But I'm strong, so I'll play to the hand I'm dealt!
 |
| The chalk taped to the whiskey ... the KOM Kill List in the background |
See, I created a KOM Kill List ... wrote it out on my chalk board. The KOMs I wish to reclaim are written in white chalk and when I take one back, I cross it out in red. My friend Cedric has many of these KOMs and does not like when I take them back. He often will go out immediately and try to get them back. Sometimes he's successful.
So, he gave me a bottle of whiskey yesterday. Taped to the bottle of whiskey is a brand new piece of white chalk. "You're going to need it," he said. That of course means that he's going to get a lot of KOMs from me, so I'll need to do a lot of writing on my board.
As fun as Strava-battles are, especially with Cedric, I have to stick to my training plan. I cannot go out and wreck myself and then ruin the subsequent days of training so that I can get the pleasure of using the red chalk.
Until next time...and thanks for reading.
A 370w FTP! That is astounding, yes you are riding a bit heavy right now but you know how to suffer. If you have the opportunity to race often enough I suspect you'll be able to upgrade to Cat 3 by 2018. Almost all of the crits you'll do are flat with the exception being the Gila crit, but you'll be fine as it's pretty similar to the riding down there in Rio Rico.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kyle. I want to race a lot this year, it's just so fun. Plus, it's interesting to see how much you can make of whatever genetic make-up we have, right? That makes me tick anyway.
DeleteRegarding weight ... I think I can get to around 180 lbs without sacrificing power. I also think I have room to grow my FTP, but both are unknown as this is new territory for me in both realms. How do you know when you found your balance between weight/power, or have you?
DeleteI think finding that balance is rather tricky, as cyclist we tend to think the smaller the better which is probably mostly true but can be taken too far. The goal isn't to lose weight, the goal is to be faster. So I think you have to consider both the short term and the long term when thinking about losing a large amount of weight while racing.
DeleteIn the short term you don't want to be at such a calorie deficit that your body goes into starvation mode. If you are cutting too many calories for too long your body will start to change your hormone balance and reduce your resting metabolism. You'll stop losing weight, stop making power gains AND you'll feel like shit on and off the bike. So that's no fun and counterproductive.
Over the long term I think just about every cyclist probably performs better with a body fat percentage that is less than 20%. Ideally I think most of us non-pros probably do better in the 10-15% range but that could take a couple years to achieve without decimating your performance in the mean time.
I found a good book on weight and endurance sports by Matt Fitzgerald called "Racing Weight" which lays things out in a fairly straight forward way, including ideal macro-nutrient ratios. One cavaet I have is that I feel that for those times of year when you are not racing and doing more Base training and weight lose I think some of the carbs should be replaced with fat/protein to increase satiate and prevent muscle loss (unless you are specifically trying to lose muscle weight as well). I also think that Refeed Days (a muscle builder concept) should be included in times of prolonged weight loss that way you keep the body from going into starvation mode.
I think you've hit the nail on the head. It's not the lightest weight, but the fastest weight (muscle is heavy). Even watts to kilos can be misleading.
DeleteEver listen to the podcast TrainerRoad where they interview "Thor?" (Pete Morris). He talks about knowing and then playing to your strengths and how he learned it the hard way.
He said he lost a bunch of weight and he could climb better, but not as fast as the real climbers. But, he lost all of the things he was really good at in doing so. End result, he went from awesome at one thing and okay at others, to just okay at everything.
I haven't listed to the trainer road podcast but that definitely mirrors my thoughts. Unless you have a dream of being a pure climber w/kg isn't the be all end all. Depending on the course and conditions it can be very effective to apply a large number of watts to a flat or downhill section which smaller guys simply can't sustain.
DeleteYep, 370w dag!! Well, I know whose wheel to follow. Come race season you're gonna have to follow Bob Rolls keys to success:https://youtu.be/G7KeDgR_krw
ReplyDeleteThanks for the video Jimmy! :D
ReplyDelete