This Biking Thing Hurts
So here's the biking recap on the weekend. For non-biking posts from the weekend look here for beer, Clinton, poop, and grief.
I never made a conscious decision to go from tempo/threshold to the beginning of the high-end work. As a reminder, here is the general structure of the high-end part of the year:
Wednesday through Friday are off days. On the weekends, if it rains or if I have very limited time I'll swap out a day with another high-end trainer session. Ross says to do 4 straight high-end days. I have no doubt that would be a very fast way to get in race shape. I also have no doubt I would quit biking if that were all I did. Saturday/Sunday are the fun days, and Monday/Tuesday are the pain cherry on top.
So I'm out of my plan which means I'm not sure how to play the rest of the week. Right now I've done 3 high-end sessions in the last 5 days as well as a race pace ride of just under 2 hours yesterday. Of all 4 rides, yesterday on the road hurt quite a bit. I did some stuff around the swamp but also hit the hills on the edges which was where the pain was involved. In all, I climbed 5 significant hills and on 3 of them, there was someone ahead of me. On each of those 3 I pressed hard and passed the person in front because I saw them as prey. One guy tried to keep up but he only hung on for 30 seconds then blew up. I pressed pretty hard and was reminded what it feels like to go at race pace again.
Here's the thing. This shit hurts. The trainer sessions are pointed and well-defined, and you bang out what you're supposed to bang out. It hurts but it's a very structured and relatively short thing. On the ride yesterday, it's more free form and you just press press press everything because as soon as you let up in a race you've thrown in the towel.
So I'm stacking up the high-end stress right now. As I said it wasn't a conscious decision I just got sick of 90 minute trainer sessions. The high-end stuff hurts but you can do the whole session, including warm up and cool down, in an hour. So that limits your time in the dungeon.
That's it for now. I'm thinking to take the next 2 days off, then back on the last 2 days of the week and get a few hours of the road in Saturday. Then once we get to Taiwan I have no idea what's going to happen.
I never made a conscious decision to go from tempo/threshold to the beginning of the high-end work. As a reminder, here is the general structure of the high-end part of the year:
- Saturday - mountain biking
- Sunday - road tempo, 2-3 hours
- Monday - high-end Ross trainer intervals
- Tuesday - high-end Ross trainer intervals
Wednesday through Friday are off days. On the weekends, if it rains or if I have very limited time I'll swap out a day with another high-end trainer session. Ross says to do 4 straight high-end days. I have no doubt that would be a very fast way to get in race shape. I also have no doubt I would quit biking if that were all I did. Saturday/Sunday are the fun days, and Monday/Tuesday are the pain cherry on top.
So I'm out of my plan which means I'm not sure how to play the rest of the week. Right now I've done 3 high-end sessions in the last 5 days as well as a race pace ride of just under 2 hours yesterday. Of all 4 rides, yesterday on the road hurt quite a bit. I did some stuff around the swamp but also hit the hills on the edges which was where the pain was involved. In all, I climbed 5 significant hills and on 3 of them, there was someone ahead of me. On each of those 3 I pressed hard and passed the person in front because I saw them as prey. One guy tried to keep up but he only hung on for 30 seconds then blew up. I pressed pretty hard and was reminded what it feels like to go at race pace again.
Here's the thing. This shit hurts. The trainer sessions are pointed and well-defined, and you bang out what you're supposed to bang out. It hurts but it's a very structured and relatively short thing. On the ride yesterday, it's more free form and you just press press press everything because as soon as you let up in a race you've thrown in the towel.
So I'm stacking up the high-end stress right now. As I said it wasn't a conscious decision I just got sick of 90 minute trainer sessions. The high-end stuff hurts but you can do the whole session, including warm up and cool down, in an hour. So that limits your time in the dungeon.
That's it for now. I'm thinking to take the next 2 days off, then back on the last 2 days of the week and get a few hours of the road in Saturday. Then once we get to Taiwan I have no idea what's going to happen.
Labels: bike, block training, training
2 Comments:
At 7:25 AM,
Anonymous said…
Dude, I think you're nuts. But no wonder it hurt since you're crapping your brains out.
At 7:49 AM,
Anonymous said…
Damn straight it hurts.
I went out late Saturday morning on my geared road bike, first ride (apart from the trainer) on that bike since October 28.
I rode 45 minutes to the bike shop in Atlantic Highlands to hook up with two teammates, and then we headed into the hills of Middletown and Holmdel, a set loop which I've done several times this winter on my fixed gear.
The first climb I stuck with my plan of staying in the saddle and spinning an easier gear at a higher cadence. It was immediately clear that the high-end power part of my fitness is compromised right now, as that climb HURT in ways that hitting it out of the saddle in a bigger gear has not.
This scenario was repeated on several more upgrades over the course of the next 2 hours or so.
So I feel your pain.
I assumed I'd be in this place training-wise now. I have eight weeks to work on this element before mtb race season really kicks in. Wahoo.
-ChrisG
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