tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76406400927712887502024-03-20T09:18:59.587-04:00EnduraTechA blog devoted to world of bike racing and endurance sports, with a special emphasis on training with power.Ken Woodrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17292269413611003604noreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7640640092771288750.post-26392307644321898412009-06-30T16:18:00.002-04:002009-06-30T16:32:21.117-04:00Tour of Washington County Stage Race – Cat. 4<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/9GsfGwf0bscrd8FupAdczQ?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_-2SdZmJue3o/SkK7B3nbqoI/AAAAAAAAFS4/jOCAM-4z2aQ/s144/IMG_1835.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/kdwoodrow/2009621TourOfWashingtonCountySR?feat=embedwebsite">2009-6-21 Tour of Washington County SR</a></td></tr></table><br /><br />This was the second running of the Tour of Washington County and the first year that the race was run as a true stage race with a general classification based upon time, rather than points. Overall, the race was a story of attrition. We started the RR on Saturday with 75 guys, but only 50 were given finishing times. Only 49 guys showed up for the TT the next day and only 30 guys finished the crit. I ended up 25th in the RR, 20th in the TT, and 27th in the pack finish of the crit. In GC, I was 20th overall -- an improvement from last year, but not what I was hoping for.<br /><br /><strong>Weather:</strong> Weekend conditions were windy and warm – approximately 80 degrees with high winds from a storm that blew through the area on Saturday morning. We fought a nasty wind throughout the road race. During the TT on Sunday I had to get out of the aero position once to steady the bike after a gusting crosswind. The wind was even a factor in the crit, dictating the best spot to be in the pack during certain legs of the course.<br /><br /><strong>Smithsburg RR.</strong> This race seemed harder than it did last year, when I stayed with the main field until the penultimate hill and rolled in for 26th a few seconds after the finishers. This year the race was converted to a true stage with a time-based general classification. I’m not sure if the new format changed the racing or if the extremely windy conditions made the difference, but the race certainly seemed much harder.<br /><br />I don’t look at my power meter during a road race, except perhaps to take a peek at my HR. But downloading the data later tells the story pretty well. According to my power meter, the race lasted almost exactly two hours – all of which were spent at a normalized power (NP) within a few watts of my functional threshold power (FTP). My 20-min NP was 20 watts beyond my FTP. Despite that effort level, I still missed the field split on lap 5 of 6. Once the split occurred, the group I was in disintegrated and everyone was left more-or-less on their own. I stayed on the gas the best I could and rode mostly solo to the end. Strangely, I was only 3:49 behind the winner despite riding solo for 1.5 laps! I started cramping a little in my calves in lap 3 and was cramping in lap 5 when I was dropped.<br /><br /><table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/sVuwph0wunqnsubitwScsg?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_-2SdZmJue3o/SkK6WnyEViI/AAAAAAAAFCo/s-yf06sty5k/s144/IMG_1681.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/kdwoodrow/2009621TourOfWashingtonCountySR?feat=embedwebsite">2009-6-21 Tour of Washington County SR</a></td></tr></table><br /><br /><strong>Boonsboro TT (20k).</strong> Finished 20th in a time of 30:03, an improvement of more than two minutes over last year’s time. I struggled a bit during the ride and my HR never really came up to threshold until the very end. For some reason I wasn't able to hold my threshold power and I didn’t climb much beyond threshold. I think the problem was lack of freshness and perhaps inadequate recovery from Saturday's RR. Perhaps I should have stayed out of the sun while waiting for Jean to finish! But it was cool to see my teammate, Christian, win the Cat 4 women’s race with a huge margin.<br /><br /><table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/m2d-mjEzfbRY-1tujKsqSQ?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_-2SdZmJue3o/SkK6yN21HbI/AAAAAAAAFOI/hwc8jY0s1j4/s144/IMG_1780.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/kdwoodrow/2009621TourOfWashingtonCountySR?feat=embedwebsite">2009-6-21 Tour of Washington County SR</a></td></tr></table><br /><br /><strong>Williamsport Crit.</strong> Hung on by the skin of my teeth in this crit. Pace was high from the beginning with 3 time-bonus premes up for grabs and some tight GC races going on, including with my two teammates, Tom and Nate. Unfortunately, I was hanging on for dear life the entire race and couldn't do much to help them. I think we shed at least half the field by the end. 28 laps and more than 28 600-watt spikes in power. Ouch.<br /><br /><table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/U4ONeoCUhVvy48kr3qHXQA?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_-2SdZmJue3o/SkNxDbl7vGI/AAAAAAAAFVw/O4rEdNOj1NQ/s144/TrainingPeaks%20WKO%2B%20Athlete%20Edition%206252009%2083944%20AM.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/kdwoodrow/2009621TourOfWashingtonCountySR?feat=embedwebsite">2009-6-21 Tour of Washington County SR</a></td></tr></table>Ken Woodrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17292269413611003604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7640640092771288750.post-15606117485408543672009-04-21T12:56:00.003-04:002009-04-21T13:04:31.687-04:00Bakers Dozen CRP<span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: verdana;">Bakers Dozen CRP</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Scott Thompson and I did the Leesburg Bakers Dozen on Saturday. We finished 9th in a stacked field of 25 Male Duo teams. We had signed up for Geezer Duo (combined age of 80+), but the promoter eliminated our category when a couple of teams dropped out.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">My goal was to push myself as hard as I could without going over the edge and to have a much fun as possible. Racing as a duo team was strange – I only saw Scott at the beginning and end of the race and for less than a minute during lap transitions.</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: verdana;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc5Tjx-P15h3h_5vLOiXbLhn7GbIGlREVVVUZ_W-X5DgdpKhEnE2qG43_U6Ts0eAAEQ1zI-rmzGcDyGW_FDUmL1pC5M1xYJn5VPwd6G4aH0WB_ENk_UIGIYriR9EticYpM4PMBkVj_ZbhC/s1600-h/13767666-IMG_2801.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc5Tjx-P15h3h_5vLOiXbLhn7GbIGlREVVVUZ_W-X5DgdpKhEnE2qG43_U6Ts0eAAEQ1zI-rmzGcDyGW_FDUmL1pC5M1xYJn5VPwd6G4aH0WB_ENk_UIGIYriR9EticYpM4PMBkVj_ZbhC/s320/13767666-IMG_2801.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327190050045930754" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Quick Summary:</span> I managed 10 laps, 6.5 hours ride time, and nearly 70 miles. <br /><br />Now, two days later, my legs are tired, but the lower back, hands, and shoulders are really sore. I snuck in a nap on Saturday but could have used another one on Monday!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold;">Nutrition:</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">I opted for real food for the race – my aim was for “comfort” foods that would satisfy cravings for either salt or sugar. I reasoned that the high exertion levels would suppress my appetite, so rather than struggle to choke down unappetizing conventional “race” foods (gels, Perpetuem, carbo drinks, etc.), I would have some of my favorite foods available.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">JeanBean – the queen of cuisine – prepared everything and fed me during the breaks between laps.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">- GORP (Good Ol’ Raisins and Peanuts, with M&M’s thrown in for good measure).</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">- Turkey and cheese sandwiches on natural whole-wheat bread</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">- Peanut butter & jelly sandwiches</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">- ProBars (400 calories of concentrated natural goodness from Whole Foods)</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">- Small 10 oz. Cokes</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">- Water and Nuun in the Camelbak</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">- Endurolytes and Motrin (a.k.a. Vitamin M)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold;">Lap by lap report:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">First two laps. These may been the quickest, but they're weren't the smoothest. The first one was particularly choppy because I was really trying to "force" it. The flow was a little better the second time, but not much. I ended up doing 10 laps on the day; I think my teammate Scott did 9, for a total of 19. I haven't seen the results, but I guess the winners did 25.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Laps 3 & 4. These were pretty solid. I started to get the course dialed and was picking up some good flow through most sections.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">My laps 5 & 6. These may have been my best laps on the day. I was feeling some twinging cramping during the break, but the legs were great during the laps. I also had the course dialed in and was starting to really experience “flow.” Quickness, not speed, was my mantra.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">After doing double laps, we switched to singles. We were finding that our second lap was a few minutes slower than the first (Scott described it as a “death march”), so we switched to singles to keep the speeds up. It worked, until Scott’s stomach went nuclear on him.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Lap 7. I struggled with an over-full stomach this lap. Feeling low on calories, I ate way too much in the 35 minute break between laps. About 2/3 of the way through I got sideways and I “burped” some air from my front tire, leaving me with about 20 lbs of pressure instead of 30. I was forced to slow down a bit through the turns. Combined with the stomach, this lap was a few minutes off the pace.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">My eighth lap. Much better lap this time. My stomach settled nicely and the legs were pretty good. I didn’t force any of the uphills - I just shifted down a gear or two and kept the momentum going.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Final two laps, both at night. The first lap was at dusk and I crashed hard on a bermed right-hand corner in the second set of woods. I was unhurt, but it killed my rhythm. The second lap really sucked. I stacked it into a rock and bloodied my elbow, and then I crashed in the exact same place as the previous lap, despite slowing down. This time it burped air out of the front tire, again leaving me with no more than 20 lbs of air in the front and forcing me to slow down through all of the corners. I was getting really tired and making stupid little mistakes (and some bigger ones). If I’d gone out again I would have really hurt myself.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">We ended up calling it quits at about 9:20 pm with 19 laps in the bank.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Race Notes:</span><br /><ul><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">Scott’s first lap time of 33 minutes was our fastest on the day. I correctly predicted that he would be 2 to 3 minutes faster than me on average. I hope I made up for it with consistency.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">T</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">he course reminded me of a cyclocross course. It definitely rewarded smoothness and quickness over brute force. My lap time for my later laps were comparable to my early laps, but my heartrate was 10 beats lower on average.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Judd Milne and Mel Swartz were in a heated race in the Coed Duo category with Terri Spanogle and Jeff Dickey of NCVC. Both teams ended up with 22 laps and Terri & Jeff edged out J & M by only 23 minutes at the end. If weren’t for Judd & Mel having to disrupt their riding schedule to deal with an issue at home, it might been even closer. Judd had his warrior face on every time he went by our tent – but he and Mel still cheered whenever I went by on my laps.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">We received a lot of friendly (and unexpected) Coppi support during the day from Meg, Adrianne, Jon, and George – all of whom came out to cheer, buy food, hang out, and support us. That was seriously cool.</span><br /></li></ul><a style="font-family: verdana;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKNXReyaB9abAbvxaK1bBjlUVVQnZxErIBHdkY1wsxC_dgaLY6J34Ex7eB8z9kUhSROhyoGLnHTenUEubrMMWtt79qdip2vqLJ3ImPmr6OnI8ubgZwqv_ei0uMz-kQ4w80DMuHptKSt1bg/s1600-h/13767667-IMG_2739.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKNXReyaB9abAbvxaK1bBjlUVVQnZxErIBHdkY1wsxC_dgaLY6J34Ex7eB8z9kUhSROhyoGLnHTenUEubrMMWtt79qdip2vqLJ3ImPmr6OnI8ubgZwqv_ei0uMz-kQ4w80DMuHptKSt1bg/s320/13767667-IMG_2739.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327190121069116034" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">More photos </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://picasaweb.google.com/kdwoodrow/2009418LeesburgBakersDozen?feat=directlink">here</a><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span>Ken Woodrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17292269413611003604noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7640640092771288750.post-24187012872601373292009-04-06T09:54:00.004-04:002009-04-06T12:19:05.122-04:00Cherry Blossom 10-Miler<font face="verdana">Finally! Gorgeous weather for a race. After slogging through a marathon in 45 degrees and constant rain, it was great fun to race in bright sun and 55 degrees.<br /><br />This is the first time I've done the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler, although it is viewed as a traditional "right of Spring" for local runners. I now see why. It was huge (13,000 finishers), well-organized, and featured a great course through the monuments and out <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Hains</span> Point. Along with the good weather, the cherry blossoms were at their peak, making <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Hains</span> Point especially beautiful.<br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">JeanBean</span> and I parked the car in Clarendon and took the crowded Metro to the Smithsonian stop. It was a short walk to the start at the base of the Washington Monument. We arrived early enough to wait through the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">porta</span>-john lines and get to the start with plenty of time to spare (unlike our past experiences of being in the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">porta</span>-john when the gun went off).<br /><br />I started in the red wave, right behind the yellow wave of the elites. Each wave started 3 minutes apart. Being at the front portion of the red wave was the perfect place. Despite there being 12,000 runners, I never felt cramped, nor did I have to clip my stride or run laterally to pass people. But we did start faster than I had wanted, mostly because of adrenaline and a slight downhill in the first mile. I ended up doing the first mile in 7:15 instead of my goal pace of 7:45 to 7:50. (My overall goal was to come in under 80 minutes). Oh well - I felt great.<br /><br />During the next few miles I <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">consciously</span> tried to throttle back, but my pace didn't slow that much: 7:21, 7:19: 7:10. I just kept reeling off the sub-7:30 miles, waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop. It never did. I <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">consciously</span> held back until I hit the eastern end of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Hains</span> Point (about mile 7:75) and then started to speed up. I did miles 8 and 9 in 7:08 and the final mile in 6:54. I finished in 1:12 and change (72 minutes), beating my goal by almost 8 minutes. I also accomplished my other goal of running negative splits, a goal I set for myself because I typically go out too fast. I am pretty happy about the race, both in terms of pacing and the result.<br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">JeanBean</span> had a great race too, beating her goal of 80 minutes for a sub-8:00 mile average. Strong!<br /><br /></font>Ken Woodrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17292269413611003604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7640640092771288750.post-2611388616097659252009-03-11T13:52:00.006-04:002009-03-11T14:13:09.509-04:00Napa Valley Marathon – A Coppi Rider’s (?) Perspective<span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >I completed my first marathon on March 1 at the </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.napavalleymarathon.org/">Napa Valley Marathon</a></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >. </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >Training</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >Jean and I started training in December, immediately after the end of ‘cross season. We did our first significant training run in December – a 13-miler in North Carolina with Jean’s brother-in-law Markus. In hindsight, starting in December may have been a little late for a March 1 marathon, but we were both banking on carry-over fitness from the full season of cyclocross. For a training plan, we generally followed an online plan on </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://home.trainingpeaks.com/training-and-nutrition-plans/training-plans/matt-fitzgerald.aspx">TrainingPeaks</a></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" > written by</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://mattfitzgerald.org/"> Matt Fitzgerald</a></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >, a prolific author and contributor to Triathlete, Runners World, and other publications. The plan is based on pace zones that are specific to each runner and is designed to be done with a GPS watch or other pace/distance device.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >We did all of our long training runs together and naturally fell into a comfortable pace. For me, the pace was a little slower than my goal pace, but for Jean, it was slightly quicker. For both of us, though, the pace was within the training zone for longer-distance runs. We did our faster week-day runs separately, with me doing speed work at my threshold pace (close to goal pace for a 10k). By the end of the program, we did four training runs of at least 18 miles plus a 10k and a half-marathon for time. It was kind of cool knowing that each weekly long run was the longest run of my life. Both of us experienced knee pain during our long runs, probably due to patellar tendinitis (runner’s knee). Mine never got worse than a 3 or 4 on a 10-point pain scale, so I kept on training. </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >The Race<br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >The weather forecast in the days leading up to the race was dismal: 45 degrees, rain, and a headwind for the entire route. For once, the weather forecasts were completely accurate. Race day dawned at 7:00 am with steady rain, mild winds, and an air temp of about 45 degrees. The rain would continue to fall throughout the race (and indeed, for the next 3 days of our vacation).</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >I had no idea what to wear. In the end I decided on compression shorts, a Craft sleeveless liner, and a long-sleeve technical shirt. I also wore lightweight gloves, a race belt to hold my GU’s, and a hat. In hindsight, I was probably overdressed, but at least I was not cold. Even though I did look like a complete dork!</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >Based on my experience with my long training runs (three 18-milers and one 20-miler), I expected that my joints would be the weakest link on race day. Surprisingly, the joints never bothered me. Instead, it was my quads that slowed me down.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >I started the race with an "A" goal of 3:30 (8:00 pace) and a "B" goal of 3:45 (8:30 pace). I felt good and fresh at the beginning despite the cold rain, so I started out with the A plan in mind. I held onto the 8:00 average until about mile 20, when the wheels started to come off. </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >Beginning at mile 15, I started feeling serious muscle soreness in my quads. The muscle pain got worse from mile 15 onward. Eventually, I had to slow down. Coming down a slight gradient at mile 21, when I would normally speed up to take advantage of the descent, I was unable to quicken my pace. I also felt both legs starting to go numb. I had to let the two runners I had been chatting with go and I retreated into my pain cave. I basically shifted into autopilot and gutted out the final 6 miles. Somewhere between mile 20 and 21 I accidentally stopped my Garmin, so I don't know how much I slowed down, but I know I was running between and 9:00 and 9:30 for most of the final miles. Although I dropped off my goal pace, the 20 miles I had in the bank at 8:00 or better kept the overall average at 8:30. I ended up passing one of the two girls in the final mile for a strong finish.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >I could barely stand afterwards and was shivering while I wandered around the finish line area looking for JeanBean. We finally found each other and got some hot soup before returning to our B&B for a hot shower. She had a solid race, coming in just a few seconds under 4:00, which had been her "B" goal. My quads were incredibly sore, to the point where I have to back down stairs and pull myself up to get out of chairs. Ouch.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >Now, more than a week later, my legs are still trashed. The acute soreness is gone, but replaced with deep soreness. I still cannot put serious pressure on the pedals, so I’ve been spinning higher cadences to try to flush the badnesss out of the muscles.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >Ever Again?<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Will I do another marathon? That's tough to say. As an athlete, there is always a desire to improve upon a result. You ask yourself: "Could I have met my A goal under better conditions?" "With the value of experience and better training, could I improve enough to qualify for Boston with a 3:20 marathon?" The desire to answer these questions is balanced against the physical toll of the marathon and the time required for training, not to mention the time away from my first love of bike racing. For now, I confidently can say that I won't be doing another marathon this year. As for the future, never say never!</span><br /></span></span>Ken Woodrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17292269413611003604noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7640640092771288750.post-78004940690985923162009-02-11T16:13:00.005-05:002009-02-11T16:29:12.667-05:00How to Find the Sweet Spot<span style="font-weight: bold;">How to Find the Sweet Spot</span><br /><br />No, I’m not talking about finding your partner’s erogenous zone!<br /><br />As the graphic below illustrates, sweet spot training refers to a steady-state effort level that balances gains in fitness with fatigue. At higher effort levels, fatigue accumulates more quickly and requires more recovery, thereby preventing you from achieving an equal effort level the next day. Sweet spot workouts, in contrast, can be repeated two or three times per week without overloading yourself.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN-rQZ49zeDA0PH0Q5mYf_oN1CK8gF7r78qH-hDn7Z65cRHWJjhdNxwQukWkQFgwbxLd1iLE-5ZpQtYLApxK0PUhyphenhyphentU7ybjKsiNQ3Ox1O6qISHO5cuKbzDx0t1ErYjxjGvTMWLSXRIL2Y8/s1600-h/Sweetspot+Graphic.bmp"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 177px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN-rQZ49zeDA0PH0Q5mYf_oN1CK8gF7r78qH-hDn7Z65cRHWJjhdNxwQukWkQFgwbxLd1iLE-5ZpQtYLApxK0PUhyphenhyphentU7ybjKsiNQ3Ox1O6qISHO5cuKbzDx0t1ErYjxjGvTMWLSXRIL2Y8/s320/Sweetspot+Graphic.bmp" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301654638252401154" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Graphic courtesy of A. Coggan.</span><br /><br />It is important to remember that your sweet spot is defined by your functional threshold power (FTP). FTP is – by definition – the average power you can sustain for a one-hour effort.<br /><br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic;"> The sweet spot is an effort level between 75 and 90 percent of your FTP.</blockquote><br />Therefore, your sweet spot is relative to you – and to your fitness at a particular point in time. As your FTP goes up over the course of the season, your sweet spot will go up as well. So, if your current FTP is 290 watts, your sweet spot would fall between 220 watts and 261 watts.<br /><br />If you’re not using a power meter, or haven’t yet determined your FTP, then the sweet spot can generally be described as a tempo or high tempo effort. In HR terms, it falls between zones 3 and 4 on a 5-zone scale. If you do the efforts at the high end of the range, they will be uncomfortable but not unbearable.<br /><br />The ubiquitous “2 x 20 minute” workout is specifically targeted at the sweet spot. By breaking the effort into chunks, with a short (less than 5 minute) recovery in between, you avoid boredom and still achieve a high-quality workout.<br /><br />More on sweet spot training can be found in Allen & Coggan’s book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Training-Racing-Power-Meter-Hunter/dp/1931382794/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234387416&sr=8-1">T</a><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Training-Racing-Power-Meter-Hunter/dp/1931382794/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234387416&sr=8-1">raining and Racing With a Powermeter</a> and on the <a href="http://home.trainingpeaks.com/">TrainingPeaks</a> website.Ken Woodrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17292269413611003604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7640640092771288750.post-1702717355789437272009-01-15T14:27:00.004-05:002009-01-15T16:05:32.577-05:00Training the Brain<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrmTBUXUIfsTlPTEUFxPlp8SFSrlnwKozsuvh7q6bcME8RtRc9mHRIxaXryq3JbeOYtIJDIShHkDGHgGaEfCrTPKh7ax0njNLMVKMD2_h8Cueu_CRsmZGAoZUnUncffM6SjJXYhlYDIoOT/s1600-h/brain-763982.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 319px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrmTBUXUIfsTlPTEUFxPlp8SFSrlnwKozsuvh7q6bcME8RtRc9mHRIxaXryq3JbeOYtIJDIShHkDGHgGaEfCrTPKh7ax0njNLMVKMD2_h8Cueu_CRsmZGAoZUnUncffM6SjJXYhlYDIoOT/s320/brain-763982.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291629155641227666" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Training the Brain</span><br />I’ve been following a fascinating series of posts on the <a href="http://www.sportsscientists.com/">Science of Sport blog</a> regarding the question of <a href="http://www.sportsscientists.com/2009/01/mind-vs-matter.html">“mind vs. matter”</a> – specifically, whether physiology or psychology is the key difference between good and great athletes.<br /><br />The basic point made by the authors is that “the brain is ultimately in control of exercise, and that fatigue, or the decision to slow down during exercise is not taken because the muscles are failing, but rather because the brain is regulating the degree of muscle activation so that we are protected from physiological harm.”<br /><br />This should not be oversimplified to mean that you can “will” yourself to a better performance than you can manage physiologically. Instead, it means the opposite: that your mind can hinder you from performing up to your physiological potential.<br /><br />The key to putting this hypothesis to work is by training both the brain and body simultaneously, or “Brain Training,” as <a href="http://mattfitzgerald.org/blog/">Matt Fitzgerald</a> puts it.<br /><br />I’ll excerpt a key section of the blog here:<br /><br /> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Linking in training - mental and psychological factors are forged in training</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> And then very importantly, perhaps most crucially of all, is that your mental approach to racing, your confidence, your belief, are not simply mental tricks. This is not about just hypnotizing yourself into running faster, into suffering a little more. It's an approach to training. Once again, in the words of Jamie from yesterday's post:</span> <span style="font-style: italic;"> </span> <span style="font-style: italic;"> "Training responses are initiated, determined, and dictated by the brain. Without attention to the control of thought processes...or attention to the encoding of exact movement patterns, many athletes will be trained inappropriately."</span> <span style="font-style: italic;"> </span> <span style="font-style: italic;"> So the point is, training is an act of physiology, but it's also an act of psychology, and it's in training that the thought patterns, the elusive concept of mental strength, the belief and the ability to regulate pace, are laid down.</span> <span style="font-style: italic;"> </span> <span style="font-style: italic;"> So let me end with another bit of information about Bannister and Landy. Roger Bannister would go on to become a decorated neuroscientist - he was studying medicine when he ran his 4-minute mile, and specialized in understanding the very organ that may have provided his edge - the brain. Part of his training included a session of 10 x 400 m repeats, run at race pace (59 seconds), with a 1:30 recovery. He was preparing his brain, and his body, and his mind (for the brain is not simply a mind - it's an organ of physiology!), for the effort it would take. Of course, I can't account for Landy's training, but Bannister's career focused on understanding the physiology of the brain. I dare say he did the same in his training. The result? 3:59.4, and a place in history.</span><br /><br />The “burst” workouts that I’ve been doing recently are a great example of “brain” training. They involve steady-state riding at tempo wattage (just below threshold) with frequent “bursts” to power at or above threshold, followed immediately by recovery to the previous wattage. Physiologically, this trains you the same way that riding at threshold would. Psychologically, however, it trains you to go hard without blowing up and convinces you that you can recover from a hard effort while still maintaining a strong pace. These workouts are very race-specific, because they mimic the types of efforts that you must use to go with surges during races. If you keep doing these workouts, eventually you’ll be able to maintain a higher base wattage AND go harder during each burst. Best of all, they will begin to SEEM easier – which is the sign that you have successfully trained your brain and your body.Ken Woodrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17292269413611003604noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7640640092771288750.post-34238732211066121372008-12-11T18:16:00.006-05:002008-12-12T12:26:18.077-05:00Mid-Race Fade - Comments & DiscussionMy tendency to fade mid-race this season raises a few questions worthy of discussion. <br /><ol><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Did I mis-manage my pre-race nutrition?</span> This is a question raised by an <a href="http://www.jbvcoaching.com/">experienced coach</a> after reading my blog entry. It is an interesting insight, particularly because we typically do not think that there is any risk of "bonking" in a 'cross race that is only 45 minutes long. But 'cross racing places demands on your body that are vastly disproportionate to the length of the race. Just think of the energy used in pre-riding the course (particularly if you arrive at 8 a.m. or earlier for a 10 a.m. race), preparing your gear, staying warm in cold or wet weather, and in warming up for the race itself. On some mornings I would eat as early as 5:30 a.m. before driving to the race and then not eat at all in the hours leading up to the race. That was undoubtedly a mistake. Was it the cause of my fade? Probably not the only cause, but certainly a contributing factor.<br /></li><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Was it a strategic error to start really hard?</span> Is it better to start conservatively and attempt to ride through the field during the race, or start fast and risk blowing up? I tend to favor the latter approach for several reasons: (1) People are closer together at the beginning, so you can make up places more quickly; (2) starting fast puts you in front of most crash-induced traffic jams; (3) everyone else will start fast and fade some, so the key is to fade less than them. The fast start brings the risk, however, that you'll blow up and be passed by dozens of racers, all of which will become hard to re-pass as the race goes on and gets strung out.<br /></li><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Did my training over-emphasize VO2max and under-emphasize threshold power?</span> I think the answer is certainly "yes." I alluded to this in my previous post in my off-hand comment about doing only two laps of our 5-minute practice course. Early in the 'cross season I was pretty diligent in doing threshold intervals on the 'cross bike, including a couple of good rides out the C&O Canal Towpath. But as the season went on, I more often defaulted to using our Wednesday 'cross practice as my main workout of the week. These practices, while good for many things, cannot be considered threshold training. I should add that, by relying on cross practices, I was not exactly following the advice of my coach! If I had been more diligent in following his weekly plans, I very likely would have preserved more of my threshold power during the season. Next year, I'll make it a priority to keep up with some longer threshold rides and I'll encourage my teammates to vary our efforts at 'cross practice.<br /></li></ol>Ken Woodrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17292269413611003604noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7640640092771288750.post-59578007236289389832008-12-09T11:33:00.005-05:002008-12-09T11:59:41.486-05:00Reflections on 2008 Cyclocross Season<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS7p5mmpndyzCwm7PpCQ04gU1gEZ7bnrsl5MwExZgmLW7LH7JMhv7e6lnGLmY4FG8GO3BTd9wL54KKHxerFfsUIzDS248ukOOGwWB7csCXt6htXcxEJhD-Gs3bfn0Hrf1XE6enw9Clvxfn/s1600-h/Tri-pod'ing+it+through+the+off-camber_1.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS7p5mmpndyzCwm7PpCQ04gU1gEZ7bnrsl5MwExZgmLW7LH7JMhv7e6lnGLmY4FG8GO3BTd9wL54KKHxerFfsUIzDS248ukOOGwWB7csCXt6htXcxEJhD-Gs3bfn0Hrf1XE6enw9Clvxfn/s320/Tri-pod'ing+it+through+the+off-camber_1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277830736385398850" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPfvbflqB8YQpIXE8yQXLjdu1PKcFvdgmSOtHoRRMeLlnTchnemt27EpC_DUCWI8dToMNeTwbdHs8UjyFfa-w6iY0GiAA-7lc8rOGQRJPXJEOFyJoZuEyQQ-6hrL9C6tcag2PTNU5vdmvZ/s1600-h/3091237594_6dd000064e_b.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPfvbflqB8YQpIXE8yQXLjdu1PKcFvdgmSOtHoRRMeLlnTchnemt27EpC_DUCWI8dToMNeTwbdHs8UjyFfa-w6iY0GiAA-7lc8rOGQRJPXJEOFyJoZuEyQQ-6hrL9C6tcag2PTNU5vdmvZ/s320/3091237594_6dd000064e_b.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277830641318812066" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Reflections on 2008 Cyclocross Season</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Successes</span><br /><ul><li>JeanBean: Perhaps the most fun I had all season was watching Jean race. She’s fearless through the corners and a relentless competitor. She won several races and upgraded from Cat 4 to Cat 3, and then rode well in the Elite races. She’ll be a podium finisher in the Elites next year if she follows her current trajectory!</li></ul><ul><li>Got the bikes dialed in. Both the pit bike and the race bike performed well this year. I also managed to dial in Jean’s bike pretty well. Jean had NO significant mechanical issues this season, and I suffered only two, neither of which were race-ending. Admittedly, we missed both local mud races this year because were out of town (Lilypons and Taneytown).</li></ul><ul><li>Learned more about gluing and maintaining tubular tires. My new favorite tire is the Challenge Fango. I even was paid (in Belgian beer, of course) to glue tires for friends.</li></ul><ul><li>Learned to dial in air pressure. I’m still fine-tuning pressure and learning to ride on less, but this year I seemed to find a sweet spot for many races.</li></ul><ul><li>Had GREAT starts in almost every race, despite starting most of my races from the third row. With a few exceptions, I worked my way into the top 10 to 15 by the end of the first lap, usually within striking distance of the leaders. But see BIG FADE, below.</li></ul><ul><li>Technical skills increased a lot this year – rode cleanly 95% of the time in every race. Only one crash, if you can believe it, and no injuries of significance.</li></ul><ul><li>Dialed in the pre-race prep. This is a big one. With two racers, 3 bikes, spare wheels, a trainer, and other paraphernalia, it is quite a chore to get out the door, much less make it to the races with enough time to prepare properly. But this year we really dialed it in, making the pre-race time much less stressful than before.</li></ul><ul><li>Friends. The ‘cross scene just keeps getting more fun as our circle of ‘cross-addicted friends increases. A two-day trip racing trip to Wisconsin, two racing days in Richmond, a full plate of local races, plus hosting friends from Pittsburgh and Virginia Beach made for a fun few months.<br /></li></ul><ul><li>Successful Tacchino Ciclocross. Putting on the Tacchino was exhausting, but it brought together our team and deepened our friendships within the community. Receiving complements from racers on the course and from the officials on the race-day organization was especially gratifying.</li></ul><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Problems</span><br /><ul><li>BIG FADE in mid-race in nearly every race this season. In many races I’d be running in the top 10 after the first lap and would subsequently fade to the 20's. I’m still puzzling it out, but likely causes are a lack of endurance fitness as well as chronic low-back pain, perhaps related to my bike-fit. Or maybe we just need to do more than two laps of our 5-minute practice course at a time during ‘cross practice . . . .</li></ul><ul><li>Inadequate fitness base (Chronic Training Load or CTL) coming into ‘cross season. By early September, I felt like I needed a break, but this was precisely when I needed to be raising my CTL coming into cross season. In hindsight, I think I tried to hold too high a level for the entire road season and ended up a little burned out at the end, which made it impossible to hit ‘cross season with enough training in the bank.</li></ul>Ken Woodrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17292269413611003604noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7640640092771288750.post-39569083701050465742008-11-14T16:23:00.006-05:002008-11-14T16:55:39.874-05:00Tacchino Ciclocross Announces New Sponsors!Come on out to the <a href="http://www.squadracoppi.com/RR_tacchino.html" target="_blank">Tacchino Ciclocross</a> race in Leesburg, VA on Sunday November 23! The annual race, part of the MABRACross Series, promises a new “fast and hard” course, BBQ that induces nirvana, and an Italian guy running around in a turkey suit. Fun is a given under those conditions, so come out and enjoy the last weekend before your in-laws and drama-inducing aunt Kathy arrive. <p>Ida Lee Park is a great venue for families and we of course will have a Lil’ Belgians race. There's a great playground right next to the registration pavilion to keep the kids busy after their race. And if the weather is less than optimal, the park has a really nice recreation center with showers and a hot tub that you can warm up in for a small fee. If the hot tub doesn’t warm you up, Big Buddha BBQ’s brisket sandwiches and pulled pork sandwiches will.</p> <p>We’ve also got some great prizes lined up for those that are <em>in it to win it,</em> thanks to our lovely sponsors. <a href="http://www.rdcnet.com/" target="_blank">Resource Dynamics Corporation</a> is sponsoring the Elite Men and Women’s races which both have $600 purses, paid out six places deep. Prizes for the other categories are sponsored by:</p> <ul><li><a href="http://contebikes.com/page.cfm?pageID=614" target="_blank">Conte’s Bicycles</a> in Arlington: The Squadra’s local bike shop of choice and sponsor. Hands down, the best mechanics in the area and the best selection of bikes.</li><li><a href="http://www.settebellorestaurant.com/" target="_blank">Sette Bello</a>: which graciously hosts the Squadra’s monthly team dinner, has great food and fantastic service.</li><li><a href="http://www.javashack.com/" target="_blank">Java Shack</a>: where the Squadra starts and ends most of our rides. This locally owed coffee shop (aka “The Shack”) serves up fair trade, organic coffee in eco-friendly cups. Stop in and pick up a pound of the Costa Rican beans–they brew a great cup of espresso.</li><li><a href="http://www.sheilamoon.com/" target="_blank">Sheila Moon</a>: the Coppi women are big fans of her cycling clothes, especially the beanies and arm/leg warmers.</li><li><a href="http://www.hammernutrition.com/" target="_blank">Hammer Nutrition</a>: which produces some of the most popular fuels and supplements for athletes–without any artificial colors or sweeteners.</li><li><a href="http://cxmagazine.com/" target="_blank">CX Magazine</a>: every ‘crossers bathroom magazine of choice (or coffee table magazine if you’ve got space for furniture amongst your bikes.)</li><li><a href="http://www.faccialuna.com/" target="_blank">Faccia Luna</a>: another great local Arlington restaurant.</li></ul> <p>Other sponsors include: <a href="http://www.glaceau.com/" target="_blank">Glaceau</a> (makers of VitaminWater and SmartWater) which will be providing refreshments to racers and <a href="http://www.fastsigns.com/" target="_blank">FastSigns</a> (for your all signs, banners and other graphics needs).</p>In addition to the traditional prizes, we'll be offering some crazy mid-race primes, including some Belgian beer for Masters categories and the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to pick from the <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.baumarth.de/.../Wurstkoffer/wurstkoffer.html">Suitcase of Sausage</a>.<br /><p>For those of you who are curious about the new course or might want to pre-ride it this weekend, here's a JPG showing a preliminary version of the course. We very likely will change the prologue start to be closer to registration, but otherwise this is close to the final course.<br /></p><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLU1E5byoyuGxwXyQhs7Ws7M-AeWS41qxHtPJqir-uPxqcPcbRsYzIEnm5Ea_TRuF3PGAmNDYLG2qvFARkBTbjvAWRofo-eAtk2KeUWDRtGIRbtv_uNz6Qt4_sZpa_IuWQO6gE5apcaScx/s1600-h/2008-11-11+Tacchino+Course_MARKED.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 210px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLU1E5byoyuGxwXyQhs7Ws7M-AeWS41qxHtPJqir-uPxqcPcbRsYzIEnm5Ea_TRuF3PGAmNDYLG2qvFARkBTbjvAWRofo-eAtk2KeUWDRtGIRbtv_uNz6Qt4_sZpa_IuWQO6gE5apcaScx/s320/2008-11-11+Tacchino+Course_MARKED.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5268628215823141026" border="0" /></a></p><p>We’re hoping to get over 300 racers registered, so Hup! Hup! your way over to <a href="http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=7288" target="_blank">BikeReg</a> if you haven’t already and support local racing!</p>Ken Woodrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17292269413611003604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7640640092771288750.post-83995614539183940562008-10-16T16:40:00.004-04:002008-10-17T13:36:02.678-04:00Richmond Festival of Cross<div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUv4mkRvQxa1Bcm8AGhJixgAJjFT-F4fjSziWGCylSqPY0oDlPgJpt7uE1CNmq7LlTD3_px6FsJsvfc8KTlkt_BDhEw36Kof6b8r0GoQICnfhVwMtw-R0XjuT0AgwNChLt9NEDlmIhc6Cn/s1600-h/IMG_0787.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257890626611345938" style="" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUv4mkRvQxa1Bcm8AGhJixgAJjFT-F4fjSziWGCylSqPY0oDlPgJpt7uE1CNmq7LlTD3_px6FsJsvfc8KTlkt_BDhEw36Kof6b8r0GoQICnfhVwMtw-R0XjuT0AgwNChLt9NEDlmIhc6Cn/s200/IMG_0787.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div><br />Jean and I went down to Richmond for the 2-day omnium event at the <a href="http://www.altiuscyclingteam.com/page1.aspx">Richmond Festival of Cross</a>. We had a great time and strongly recommend it to you guys for next year. The fields were much smaller than what we're used to in the MABRA and MAC, but races were spirited and full of "Hupitude." The races were structured as a 2-day omnium consisting of races at two venues and a one-lap time trial on Saturday’s course.<br /><br />The Venues<br /><br />- The Chimborazo Park venue was fantastic. Lots of elevation change and a great mixture of grass, pavement, dirt, stairs, and long stretches of real cobblestones -- all with a great view of the James River and downtown Richmond.<br /><br />- The Bryan Park venue was unlike any 'cross race I've done: flat, fast, and not terribly technical, kind of like a road crit with a few dirt and grass sections and two sets of barriers. I did the entire race in my 48-tooth big ring and actually spent the road sections drafting other riders (at least until I popped from the lead group).<br /><br />- The Omnium consisted of two races plus a one-lap time trial of Saturday's course. Each event was weighted evenly, so it really paid to race all three and do well in the TT. Unfortunately, prizes went only one deep for the omnium and 3 deep for each of the races.<br /><br />The Races<br /><br />- I signed up for the 35+ Omnium. Unlike MABRA, VACX still uses the old-school A, B, and C designations. Masters, however, get their own category. We had about 21 guys in the 35+ group and a smaller group of 45+ guys that started one minute later. I had a decent start and slotted into the top 5 for the first two laps. That's when I started to fade -- losing several spots until I found a second wind and made back a spot or two to finish 6th. Technically and mechanically it was a smooth race.<br /><br />- After recovering, and after meeting up with George, who had come down for the B race, I got a wild hare and decided to sign up for the B's. The field was much bigger, about 41 guys. I had a decent start and slotted into the top 10. The speeds were higher than the 35+ race the field was a little out-of-control going through the opening grass turns, but things settled down mid-lap. My legs were cooked from the earlier race and I allowed George and a few other guys to come by. On the second lap I clocked a cobblestone with my rear tire and was convinced I’d flatted [I’m calling it a “mental flat”]. I attempted a bike change in the “pit,” but I had neglected to check the air pressure on the pit bike before the race (my Grifo’s tend to leak air rather quickly). So I tossed the pit bike and jumped back on the A bike, losing several more spots. During the next lap Jean pumped up the pit bike tires and I took it the next time around to finish the race. By the end I was 22nd and completely wasted from the heat, adrenaline, and constant elevation change of the course.<br /><br />- Less than 30 minutes later, I did the one-lap time trial. All those laps on the course really helped here: I rode cleanly and gutted out a 6:20 lap, good enough for 3rd place in the Masters.<br /><br />- Sunday’s race was completely different. I had a great start on the road, making the turn onto the gravel in 3rd place. I got crossed up with a guy in an early turn and had to close a 20 foot gap but came back out onto the road sitting on the back of a five-person lead group. Somewhere in lap 2 or 3 I made a small mistake and lost contact with the lead group. Losing contact was trouble, because the road sections were long enough that drafting was critical for a few minutes recovery. Scott T. did well to hang with that lead group after I popped off. After that, I started my now-common fade and lost several spots. I made two or three back in the waning laps and finished 8th on the day, good enough for <a href="http://www.bikereg.com/Results/2008/10/11-Richmond-Festival-of-Cross.asp">4th overall</a> in the omnium.<br /><br />I strongly recommend going down to Richmond for these races. They were low-key events but the races were hard-fought and fast. We especially need more ladies to race, because Jean’s A field had only 3 riders each day – not enough for her second-place finishes to qualify for upgrade points. But she did win some $$ – enough to fund a fantastic dinner at small Italian restaurant on VCU’s campus downtown.<br /><br />Links to some great pics <a href="http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/store.aspx?p=35548">here</a> and <a href="http://www.demoncats.com/">here</a>.<br /></div></div>Ken Woodrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17292269413611003604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7640640092771288750.post-5235956556935676952008-10-14T11:01:00.003-04:002008-10-14T11:18:37.703-04:00Squeal Like a Pig<span style="font-weight: bold;">Getting Rid of Brake Squeal and Chatter From My TRP EuroX Brakes</span><br /><br />I wanted to share my two week odyssey to get rid of excessive squeal from my 2007 TRP EuroX brakes on my carbon rims. The 2007 TRP EuroX brakes do not have any kind of toe-in adjustment. [Note: the newer magnesium models do]. On my old bike, this was not a problem because I was running aluminum rims and the brakes did not squeal or chatter. This year, however, I have a new "A" bike set up with carbon rims (older model Zipp 340 wheels). With these wheels, the squealing on the rear brake is simply unbearable and the fork chatter was harrowing.<br /><br />I tried a variety of fixes: <br /><br />- Bending the arms of the brake shoes to create toe-in (clamp the shoe in a vise and grip the arm with a open-end wrench)<br /><br />- Replacing stock cork carbon-specific pads with yellow SwissStop pads. SwissStops can be used with both carbon and aluminum rims, as long as you’re careful to remove any aluminum shavings from the pad before using them with carbon rims.<br /><br />- Increasing the <a href="http://sheldonbrown.com/cantilever-geometry.html">yoke angle</a> (by raising the straddle cable carrier), but at the price of decreased mechanical advantage. <br /><br />Finally, I replaced the brake shoes with <a href="http://www.velo-orange.com/voadbrsh.html">after-market shoes</a> from <a href="http://www.velo-orange.com/">Velo-Orange</a> with adjustable toe-in. With these you need to adjust the toe-in first and then install the shoe into the brake arm. This turned out to be the magic bullet. I was able to dramatically increase the toe-in with these shoes and completely eliminate both squeal and chatter, even under hard braking conditions. <br /><br />With renewed confidence in my brakes, I’m able to carry more speed into turns and hit the brakes at the last possible minute, rather than scrubbing speed all the way up to the turn. My speed through technical sections has increased noticeably as a result.<br /><br />- I also ran across this <a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/Adjusting-Cantilever-Brakes/">helpful video</a> on adjusting cantilever brakes. A little simplistic, but one helpful tip was to wrap a rubber band around the back of the brake pad in order to adjust toe-in. <br />I know everyone says that "brakes are overrated, because they just slow you down," but in 'cross, better braking = more speed.Ken Woodrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17292269413611003604noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7640640092771288750.post-49885542039042321422008-10-01T14:56:00.004-04:002008-10-01T15:52:43.387-04:00Cool Stuff on the Interweb!I've run across some really cool cyclocross-related stuff recently on the amazing Interweb.<br /><br />First up are some great video sites with excellent cyclocross and bike racing video content:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.cyclofile.com/">www.cyclofile.com</a> (hat tip to <a href="http://www.teamleer.com/">Tim Johnson</a> for this link)<br /><a href="http://www.vimeo.com/videos/search:cyclocross">www.vimeo.com</a> (Great HD content here)<br /><a href="http://www.crosstube.net/">www.crosstube.net</a><br /><br />Google, in honor of its <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/2001-search-odyssey.html">10th anniversary</a>, put up a vintage <a href="http://www.google.com/search2001.html">search index from 2001</a>, complete with archived web pages from the same timeframe (at least to the extent possible). A quick search on<a href="http://www.google.com/search2001/search?hl=en&q=cyclocross&btnG=Google+Search"> cyclocross</a> turned up some real gems:<br /><br />Napa Valley Velo's <a href="http://members.aol.com/napavelo/mud.htm">Index of Mud</a><br />(who knew that mud was classified into 8 different categories?)<br /><br />The registration site for the <a href="http://members.aol.com/slimenundgrossen/natnotes.htm">2001 USCF Cyclocross Nationals</a> in Overland Park, Kansas.<br /><br />The <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20020607140250/www.uci.ch/english/cyclo_cross/rankings/rankings_2001_02/index.htm">2001 UCI Cyclocross Rankings</a><br /><br />I'm sure there's a ton of other cool stuff out there - so check it out!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRB6BNuRbIs_CoTMnsZA6BbDIfGyQ83EpX4gJu50K-DAw5TaikdR77yh-XTrLy-5ixM7sV5eklKlRwnKxAc3MRDW3PeH8ohO2gJMHG14BHjIg3NILXimTqKGxDHK7QJvzfuog_09KP98Pa/s1600-h/wellsPaigeXXXJohnson.jpg"><br /></a>Ken Woodrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17292269413611003604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7640640092771288750.post-58015507061012476742008-09-11T15:45:00.004-04:002008-09-11T16:19:51.652-04:00Victim of Anticipatory Regulation<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.baltobikeclub.org/uploads/images/6oGS-ERw8KJhdfFG_EVJPw/CWCProfile2008.bmp"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.baltobikeclub.org/uploads/images/6oGS-ERw8KJhdfFG_EVJPw/CWCProfile2008.bmp" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><p class="MsoNormal">Last Sunday during the <a href="http://www.baltobikeclub.org/index.pl/cwc">Civil War Century</a>, I was eagerly anticipating a certain climb that I remembered from riding the event 2 years ago.<span style=""> </span>The climb was relatively long (10 minutes or more) on an open two-lane road with wide shoulders at a steady gradient of less than 8 percent.<span style=""> </span>I remembered it as a great climb for testing purposes, in that you could pace yourself without regard to changing gradients or other distractions.<span style=""> </span>You could also see up the climb far enough to target riders to pick off as you climbed.<span style=""> </span>Basically, I was planning on hitting the climb as hard as I could to test myself, hoping to get a solid 20-minute effort out of it.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>With this in mind, I hit the base of the climb hard.<span style=""> </span>The gradient was not as steep as I remembered, so I found myself in the big chainring rolling comfortably at 315 to 340 watts.<span style=""> </span>Probably too high for a 20-minute effort, but the pace felt manageable.<span style=""> </span>Mentally, I was prepared for a 20-minute effort at this pace.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">But the course designers played a trick on me – about 5 minutes into the climb, the route turned off the main road and went up a steeper, more narrow climb to the left.<span style=""> </span>I had to slow down for the turn due to oncoming car traffic and then attempt to recalibrate my effort for a steeper climb of unknown duration.<span style=""> </span>Needless to say, my pacing strategy was thrown for a loop.<span style=""> </span>I stayed on the gas, but my power dropped a few times as the road leveled off and then resumed at the same or steeper gradient.<span style=""> </span>Dealing with the steeper gradients wrecked my carefully calibrated effort and took me over the edge, forcing me to back off more than I wanted.<span style=""> </span>Eventually I could see the end of the climb and a host of riders clumped together.<span style=""> </span>Summoning a final burst of energy I picked up the pace and rode past everyone by the summit.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Given the variability of the terrain, the gap between average and normalized power was fairly wide.<span style=""> </span>NP was a solid (but not great) 304 watts for the 20-minute effort.<span style=""> </span>I was hoping for something above 315-320.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The climb is perfect illustration of a concept I’ve been reading about recently: <a href="http://www.sportsscientists.com/2008/05/fatigue-and-exercise-part-i-b.html">anticipatory regulation</a>.<span style=""> </span>In a <a href="http://mattfitzgerald.org/blog/?p=127">nutshell</a>, anticipatory regulation is a model for explaining the onset of fatigue in endurance sports.<span style=""> </span>According to the model, the brain regulates the distribution of effort during exercise by continuously calculating the maximum level of muscle activation that can be sustained until the anticipated end of the task without harming yourself.<span style=""> </span>In an event of known duration, it allows for an “endspurt” of higher effort – that sprint at the end of race or that extra burst of energy at the top of the climb.<span style=""> </span>According to the theory, your mind automatically slows you down before you harm yourself, regardless of whether your muscles could have continued working at the same rate.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Anticipatory regulation is one of two competing <a href="http://www.sportsscientists.com/2008/05/fatigue-and-exercise-part-i-b.html">theories of fatigue</a>, the other being peripheral fatigue.<span style=""> </span>Peripheral fatigue is a totally involuntary and is the function of biological processes in the working muscles.<span style=""> </span>A distinction can be drawn between prudent self-pacing from experience (voluntary), vs. anticipatory regulation (partially voluntary) and peripheral fatigue (involuntary).</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Problems arise with the anticipatory regulation, however, when the anticipated effort turns out not to be true – when the hill is longer than you thought or the amount of time required to maintain the effort is greater.<span style=""> </span>This situation is what separates the theory of anticipatory regulation from voluntary pacing strategy.<span style=""> </span>According to the theory, the mental regulation of effort is partially involuntary and happens at a subconscious level.<span style=""> </span>When confronted with an effort of unknown duration, your body automatically backs off to a sustainable level.<span style=""> </span>While certain physiological barriers remain (maximum safe core temperature, etc.), the primary effect of incorrect distance/time feedback <a href="http://mattfitzgerald.org/blog/?p=127">is on your perceived exertion rather than your performance.</a><span style=""> </span>In other words, you won’t be able to ride or run faster, but your misery level will increase or decline according to the feedback.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Could I have stuck with my ambitious pace had the route not been changed?<span style=""> </span>I don’t know, but I do know that it would have been less miserable!</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span><i style=""><o:p></o:p></i></p>Ken Woodrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17292269413611003604noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7640640092771288750.post-82452113455887367742008-07-18T15:50:00.003-04:002008-07-18T15:54:27.326-04:00Race To Train, Or Train To Race?I’d like to throw this out for discussion. What is better: race often, because racing is the best training, or race rarely, and specifically train for each race to get a result? Is there a happy medium between these two points? I realize that your answer will depend to a great extent on whether your personal life situation allows you to race frequently, but assuming that it does, which side of the spectrum do you advocate and why?<br /><br />On a similar note: when is it appropriate to "train through" a race? Or is this really an <a href="http://enduratech.blogspot.com/2007/09/pre-excusing-time-honored-tradition.html">[pre]-excuse</a> for poor performance?<br /><br />As <a href="http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2008/07/old-whine-new-bottle-embracing.html">BikeSnobNYC</a> puts it:<br /><br /><blockquote>Despite the fact we're still in the middle of the Tour, the fact is that road racing season's basically over anyway. The astute rider has already written it off and begun focusing his or her attention on cyclocross. The key to a successful racing season is to always live a minimum of four months in the future, mentally-speaking. That way you can dismiss your poor performances as simple preparation. Sure, you may not get anywhere near the front of the pack in a road race this summer, but you're just trying to get some intense mileage in so you'll be ready for cyclocross season. Poor mountain bike racing is even easier to rationalize--you're just doing that to improve your bike-handling. And of course once 'cross season does begin, you're still under no pressure to get results because, really, you're just doing it to maintain your form during the off-season. With the right attitude, you can surf an entire year of racing like a great big wave of mediocrity. Winning is for dopers and sandbaggers.</blockquote><br />Without discounting the few remaining road races this season, I’m already thinking about my approach for next season. Please share your thoughts in the comments.Ken Woodrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17292269413611003604noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7640640092771288750.post-34330236484294887952008-04-21T14:16:00.002-04:002008-04-21T14:24:23.119-04:00Kinetic Half-Iron Triathlon RelayOn Saturday, I took a little break from road racing to do a 56-mile time trial as part of a half-iron triathlon relay team. The race was the <a href="http://www.setupevents.com/?fuseaction=event_detail&eventID=912">Kinetic Half-Iron Triathlon</a>, held at Lake Anna State Park near Fredericksburg, VA. Jean did this race last year as part of her build-up to the Louisville Ironman, but this year she was the “sponsor” of our relay team. <br /><br />“Jean’s Boys” consisted of David Glover (swim), me (bike leg), and Rob Bell (run).<br /><br />It was a blast, and our team took first place among 8 relay teams. <br /><br />I was pretty nervous at the start of this event, even though it was strictly for fun. I’ve never done a time trial longer than 25 miles, and I had not ridden any of the course. <a href="http://www.davidglover.net/">David Glover</a>, Jean’s <a href="http://enduranceworks.net/">triathlon coach</a>, took fourth place overall last year and assured me that the course was mostly flat with a few big chainring hills.<br /><br />How did it go? Pretty well. The legs felt good the whole time. I really had to hold back for most of the ride. Toward the end of the first lap I had a couple cramping type twinges, but I sucked down some endurolytes and the cramps stayed away. My basic strategy was to hold 75 to 80% of my threshold power on the flat, but push hard on any hills. I focused on riding the rolling hills with momentum by gathering speed on the descents and pushing a larger-than-usual gear at the base of the climb to hold onto the speed gained from the descent, then shifting down a gear at a time to keep the cadence in the sweet spot up the climb. This technique worked like a charm on every sequence of hills. I went ahead and let the power drift up on the climbs (beyond any specific target), reasoning that time gained on the uphills is worth more than time gained on the flats.<br /><br />Credit for this hill-climbing technique goes to the <a href="http://www.unholyrouleur-jim.blogspot.com/">Unholy Rouleur</a>, who recently wrote about the “<a href="http://unholyrouleur-jim.blogspot.com/2008/04/fat-guys-zen-of-hillclimbing.html">Fat Guy’s Zen of Hillclimbing</a>.”<br /><br />Looking at the power data, I'd say that the effort was paced almost perfectly. The peak 60 minutes was at the beginning, when I was passing tons of people, but the peak 10 minutes occurred an hour and 37 minutes into the ride. NP for the ride was 262 watts (IF of .87). Cadence was perfectly distributed as well, with the bulk of the time between 90-100 rpms and virtually no time below 80. My HR stayed between 155-165 bpm the entire race, until the final 2 miles, where I let it go to up to and beyond my threshold (168). In hindsight, I suspect I could have gone a little harder on the flats, but I was right to be conservative, given that I had never ridden the course and had never ridden a TT of this duration.<br /><br />Some numbers:<br /><br />Among the relays, our team was ranked first in swim, bike, and run -- for a sub-five hour finish.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.setupevents.com/files/KH_Relays.html">Relay Results</a><br /><br />My bike <a href="http://www.setupevents.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=event_results&id=890&orderby=Rank12">split</a> of 2:31:04 would have been good enough for 13th place overall, out of 288 total participants.<br /><br />Here are Jean’s <a href="http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8IcNnLRu5aNac">pictures</a> from the event.<br /><br />Official pictures will eventually be <a href="http://www.birdseyeview.net/">here</a>.<br /><br />A special shoutout goes to fellow Squadra Coppi member, Adrianne Kroepsch, who <a href="http://www.setupevents.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=event_results&id=891">WON</a> the women’s event overall with an incredible time of 4:52:05 – breaking the significant 5-hour barrier.<br /><br />She completed the bike in 2:39:06, a time that would have beat most men. Her run was even better: 1:33:54, which equates to a sub-7:15 mile pace. She was ranked first in the run among women and second in the bike. <br /><br />She is READY for Ironman Brazil.Ken Woodrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17292269413611003604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7640640092771288750.post-33921799130827400822008-03-31T15:25:00.001-04:002008-03-31T15:46:46.199-04:00Jeff Cup 2008 - A Coppi Rider's PerspectiveI was more nervous going into this race than I have been in a long time. It was my first road race of the season and likely the first race of the year for most of the 120 other guys in the Cat 4 field. My training had been going well and I was more fit than I have been in the last two seasons, so I was putting some serious pressure on myself to perform well. Finally, my driving companions for the trip to Charlottesville, Jean and Lindsey, were admittedly nervous for their race.<br /> Despite the nerves, the massive field was well-behaved and pretty safe for the most part. I was on the brakes more than necessary at first, but eventually became more comfortable and was able to move forward within the field without difficulty. The first lap went by so quickly that I lost track of where we were, and asked Jason whether we’d gone up the hill. About that time I saw the 1k sign, so it was obvious that we’d passed the hill long ago. I guess I jammed up it with the rest of field without recognizing it as the “big” hill. <br /> The second lap was more of the same. There were some small attempts at breaks, but nothing got more than a few meters gap. Joaquin caused some pain by jamming it up the hill on the second lap. I hit 1100 watts – my highest wattage of the race – in the first five seconds of the climb, re-accelerating after slowing down for the turn at the base of the hill. If you can carry your speed into that turn, like Joaquin did, you can save a match and put the hurt on the field.<br /> I started getting these little cramping spasms in my quads during the third lap. I’m sure I was dehydrated and underfed. I just hoped that the race would end before I succumbed to full lockup. Other than that, the third lap went by smoothly and I was able to move up on the hill without much effort.<br /> The final lap was faster and a little more nervous. The race had not been hard enough to seriously shrink the field (75 finishers were given the same time out of 99 starters). So a lot guys had pent-up energy to burn, but no one was willing to risk trying to get away. The final lap also featured some scary moments with no fewer than 4 cars barely pulled off the road and a rider down on the side of the ride covered in a blanket and a moto-ref, on foot, frantically waving for us to slow down. Not what you want to see a few miles before the finish. Miraculously, the field rolled through these obstacles without mishap. I managed to move into the top 20 before the final turn into the finishing road (the turn is about 1 mile before the finish), along with all of the Coppi boys. But we all paid the price of having to re-accelerate coming out of the turn. It was basically a power-eating drag race from the turn – trying to find wheels, accelerate around exploding riders, and find a way to continue accelerating to the line. I’m still trying analyze where I went wrong, but my current thinking is that I used most of my remaining matches getting back up to speed after the turn and was never able to latch onto a good wheel to carry me forward. Once I was in the wind, I ran out of steam and became one of the exploding riders that everyone had to pass. I probably lost 20 spots by the time the line finally came.<br /> Bottom line: 39th in field of 75 finishers, 99 starters.Ken Woodrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17292269413611003604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7640640092771288750.post-21710448701361583612008-03-28T12:31:00.003-04:002008-03-28T12:39:34.333-04:00Tubular Tire Follow-UpCall me a hide-bound traditionalist, but I am big fan of tubular tires for racing. After a half-season of ‘cross on clinchers, I switched to tubulars and will never go back. For the road, I’ve always been a tubular man and will likely stay that way. <br /><br />My experience gluing tubulars for ‘cross, however, has completely changed the way I glue my road tubulars. Flatting one of my tubular race wheels in February and discovering that it had been held on by a woefully inadequate quantity of 3M Fastak, further convinced me to re-glue my race wheels this year. <br /><br />I recently <a href="http://bissellteammechanic.blogspot.com/2008/03/tubular-wheel-glue.html">posted</a> a question about tubular tires on the blog of Ben Oliver, chief race mechanic of Team Bissell. Ben’s blog is a great first-hand report of the “best practices” of pro race mechanic, done in a cool Q&A format.<br /><br />I asked him:<span style="font-style: italic;"> What type of glue do you use, and how do you remove excess glue from the braking surface of carbon rims? I’m just looking for some “best practices” among pro mechanics.</span><br /><br />His <a href="http://bissellteammechanic.blogspot.com/2008/03/tubular-wheel-glue.html">answer</a> was comprehensive and really helpful. Best of all, he pointed me to one of the few (maybe only) independent scientific <a href="http://engr.ku.edu/%7Ekuktl/">studies</a> on the performance of tubular glue on carbon rims.<br /><br />[The relevant section of the study is found in Part 7 in the online bicycle research articles]<br /><br />The bottom line? Vittoria Mastik One. That’s nice to hear, especially since it’s consistent with my own research and with the practices of the best mechanic in the DC area, Greg Thomas over at <a href="http://contebikes.com/page.cfm?PageID=363">Conte’s in Arlington</a>.<br /><br />In gluing up my race wheels for this year, I followed the same practices described in my <a href="http://enduratech.blogspot.com/2007/12/tubular-tires-for-cross-more-than.html">earlier post about gluing ‘cross tubulars</a>. If its’ good enough for ‘cross, with low pressures and lots of shear forces, it’s more than good for road riding, where the tire is held onto the rim predominantly by air pressure.<br /><br />Drop me a note in the comments, and I’ll send you a copy of the tubular tire study.Ken Woodrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17292269413611003604noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7640640092771288750.post-75400428647336772772008-03-05T14:20:00.001-05:002008-03-05T14:22:51.123-05:00Stick of Dynamite! Stick of Dynamite!<a href="http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-243-297--12348-1-1-2,00.html"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Stick of Dynamite! Stick of Dynamite!</span><br /> </a><br />This is what <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petraeus">General Petraeus</a> yells to exhort his colleagues to push harder during exercise. I like it – it would definitely light a stick under my a$$ if someone yelled that at me during a ‘cross race. Or it might just make me slow down and give them a “WTF” look. <br /><br />The <a href="http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-243-297--12348-1-1-2,00.html">Runner's World interview</a> of General Petraeus is pretty motivational, particularly the way he looks at athletic competition as a test for certain character traits, including perseverance, resilience, flexibility, and general toughness.Ken Woodrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17292269413611003604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7640640092771288750.post-53131434960038216862008-03-05T14:18:00.002-05:002008-03-05T14:20:01.384-05:00Sex With An ElectrocardiogramFrom <a href="http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2008/03/taking-stand-cycling-and-politics.html">BSNYC on Training With Power<br /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Training With Power</span><br /><br />In case you didn’t know, training with power is all the rage. In fact, Joe Friel likens getting a power meter to a person with weak eyesight donning his first pair of glasses. Of course, the reality is that riding with a power meter is more like having sex with an electrocardiogram, in that it takes the fun out of the whole enterprise and buffets you with data you don’t really need. Physical sensation will guide you through your ride the same way it guides you through sex, and if you can’t do either without electronics it’s possible you have a problem that technology by itself may be insufficient to address.<br /><br />“Sex with an electrocardiogram.” Priceless.Ken Woodrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17292269413611003604noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7640640092771288750.post-81201458773276163242008-03-05T13:42:00.002-05:002008-03-05T13:50:00.554-05:00The 80 Kilo ClubI’ve never thought of myself as a big guy. All through high school, college, and law school I thought of myself as skinny, even scrawny – although I stand 6' 3" and weigh ~ 82 kilos. It wasn’t until I started racing bikes that I discovered that I am a big guy, at least by the standards of most successful bike racers and endurance athletes. My relative size became even more apparent when I started training with power. Suddenly everything is expressed in terms of watts/kg – such as the benchmarks for a rider’s VO2max power and functional threshold power in the <a href="http://www.cyclingpeakssoftware.com/images/powerprofile_v4.gif">power profile chart</a>. Clearly, the higher your power/weight ratio is, the better you’ll be at climbing. But the chart neglects an important point for us bigger riders – that on the flats, it’s your power-to-drag ratio that’s much more important. Overcoming air resistance is critical on the flats (and, for that matter, any time you’re going more than about 15 mph), so anytime you can increase your power relative to your coefficient of drag, you’ll have an advantage over a smaller rider with less power relative to their frontal area. And because the differences in frontal area between smaller and larger riders is less than their relative differences in weight, it is possible for a large rider to crush a smaller rider in a headwind or crosswind situation. Just ask Tom Danielson or local rider Bryan Vaughan (who <a href="http://bryanvaughan.blogspot.com/2008/03/tradezone-3-good-day-out.html">complains</a> about little guys not providing any significant draft in a breakaway).<br /><br />Given the reality of my situation, I thought it would be fun to start compiling a list of riders - pro and local amateurs - who belong to The 80 Kilo Club. Maybe this list will inspire you big guys to increase that power, get more aero, and crush the little guys. Feel free to add to the list in the comments!<br /><br />European Pros:<br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnus_B%C3%A4ckstedt">Magnus Backstedt</a> (94 kg)<br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boonen">Tom Boonen</a> (82 kg)<br /><br />Domestic Pros:<br /><a href="http://www.velonews.com/bio/detail/70237">Tom Zirbel</a> (88 kg)<br /><br />Local Hardmen:<br /><a href="http://bryanvaughan.blogspot.com/">Bryan Vaughan</a> (86kg)<br /><a href="http://unholyrouleur-jim.blogspot.com/">The Unholy Rouleur</a>Ken Woodrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17292269413611003604noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7640640092771288750.post-70841615475671811072008-01-29T12:12:00.000-05:002008-01-29T16:29:23.079-05:00Endurance Exercise - Does it makes us older, or younger?These two articles seem to contradict one-another.<br /><br />The first, by <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/">Mark Sisson</a>, was published on Slowtwitch.com. It suggests that aerobic endurance exercise (running, cycling, triathlon) accelerates aging, as opposed to intense anaerobic exercise (weight lifting, sprinting), which allegedly slows down the aging process.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.slowtwitch.com/Features/Mark_Sisson_says_training_is_no_guarantee_of_health._4.html">Training Is No Guarantee of Health<br /></a><br />The second appeared on the front page of today's Washington Post.<br /><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/28/AR2008012801873.html"><br />Exercise Slows Down Aging</a><br /><br />It reports on a study of 2,400 British twins, the results of which suggest that exercise slows down the aging process, and that the more you exercise the younger your cells appear.<br /><br />I'm inclined to believe the King's College study over Sisson's half-baked theories, but that could just be me wanting to justify my lifestyle.<br /><br />What do you think?<br /><br />P.S. -- I won't get into Sisson's provactive <a href="http://www.slowtwitch.com/Features/Mark_Sisson_says_training_is_no_guarantee_of_health._4.html">statements</a> regarding <a href="http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/testosterone-therapy/MC00030">testosterone therapy</a>, or its implications for amateur age-group athletes.<br /><br />Addendum: I recently ran across a more comprehensive article on exercise and aging, courtesy of Havard Men's Health Watch.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.hmiworld.org/hmi/issues/Jan_Feb_2006/around_exercise.html">Exercise and aging: Can you walk away from Father Time?</a><br /><br />The bottom line is that endurance exercise, resistance exercise, flexibility training, and balance exercises all play a roll in staving off many of the effects of aging. <br /><br />Remember: 40 is the new 30, and, as Mark Twain put it:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.</span> ~Mark TwainKen Woodrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17292269413611003604noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7640640092771288750.post-61969921059546054512007-12-14T11:23:00.000-05:002007-12-14T20:39:10.450-05:00'Cross Power<div>There's an interesting article in this month's <a href="http://www.roadmagazine.net/">Road magazine</a> by <a href="http://www.peakscoachinggroup.com/">Hunter Allen</a> on the power demands of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">cyclocross</span>. (Sorry, I couldn't find an online link to the article). He quite correctly observes that 'cross is all about "<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">microbursts</span>" of high power followed by very short recoveries -- you're either hard on the gas or coasting. He recommends a couple of specific workouts, including one absolutely brutal workout he calls "30 Cubed." It's 30 seconds ON at 150% of FTP, 30 seconds OFF, and 30 seconds running for 10 minutes, rest and repeat. I guess you'd do it on a big grass field or a short circuit. Maybe incorporate a barrier into the "run" portion. If you can survive an hour of that workout, even incorporating recovery between sets, you'll be ready for 'cross season.<br /><br /><a href="http://teamhealthfx.com/blogs/dave_harris/archive/2007/12/14/3280.aspx">Dave Harris</a>, endurance racer extraordinaire, has some profound insights from his 7 years of power data. A couple of observations struck home for me. First, years of endurance training will generate a pretty strong base. If you've been riding and competing for years, there really is no need to build a "base" of long, slow distance mileage in the winter. Unless you missed time due to an injury, you already have a significant base. Even in the winter, therefore, the emphasis should be on quality rather than quantity.<br /><br />The second observation is that you need to leave some "headroom" above your chronic training load (<a href="http://www.cyclingpeakssoftware.com/power411/performancemanager.asp"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">CTL</span></a>) to allow for training adaptation. Because the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">cyclocross</span> season involves racing nearly every weekend, your <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">CTL</span> will drop throughout the season. My plan for next year is to build my <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">CTL</span> to a really high level by when the season starts. But it may be necessary to leave some "headroom" in the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">CTL</span> for cross-specific training adaptation. Moreover, I suspect that the makeup of the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">CTL</span> in the months leading into 'cross season is important. I came into this season with a relatively high <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">CTL</span>, but most of it came from long group rides and centuries (such as the <a href="http://enduratech.blogspot.com/2007/09/bridge-to-bridge-challenge-september-16.html">Bridge to Bridge Challenge</a>). As a result, I had great endurance, but not much "snap" in my first races. It took a few weeks of doing 'cross specific workouts before I started to come around. Next year I'll need to <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">incorporate</span> some more cross-specific work into my build up for 'cross, such as specific <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">VO</span>2max-level efforts and micro-intervals.</div><br /><div></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSa3eqW8Cdc4T1dssXxMFAcgovHUgjHV1hIHELu10iVvQNy3yPIob7iME_JiHzjIVoeYMZpCklLxutQE3eCIhyphenhyphenbw7wfnK0XxTMX-Hq2sWvqN9rPk41kE3HmKyIuIyb-KEPf8AHBejExYoD/s1600-h/PMC+12.14.07.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5144006872002084850" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSa3eqW8Cdc4T1dssXxMFAcgovHUgjHV1hIHELu10iVvQNy3yPIob7iME_JiHzjIVoeYMZpCklLxutQE3eCIhyphenhyphenbw7wfnK0XxTMX-Hq2sWvqN9rPk41kE3HmKyIuIyb-KEPf8AHBejExYoD/s200/PMC+12.14.07.jpg" border="0" /></a>The attached PMC chart shows that I already have solid base, as represented by the blue area. My CTL (dark blue line) is not at the highest point of the season, especially since I've essentially been "de-training" throughout the 'cross season, but it is high relative to last winter and to when I was <a href="http://enduratech.blogspot.com/2007/06/much-progress-four-weeks-from-breaking.html">injured</a> at the end of May. Bottom line? I have a good base, no I need to concentrate on enhancing the areas that need it most for the upcoming road season.<br /><div></div>Ken Woodrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17292269413611003604noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7640640092771288750.post-34723975021729605432007-12-12T10:12:00.000-05:002007-12-12T10:28:48.355-05:00Do you believe in innertube karma?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1P6efI47aL4RMHzAlw3203RAMO_UDJqkmf1ryCVA6eXoerRQMaVMKrkP5xyuyqR7flbsvcdSPYrVuTPsNmOjNsXzRaPUNefhgQEGrwr7IIhuQHnfSjxOChjRpV7iscLeSlYM6m3B6bIWf/s1600-h/karma_purple.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1P6efI47aL4RMHzAlw3203RAMO_UDJqkmf1ryCVA6eXoerRQMaVMKrkP5xyuyqR7flbsvcdSPYrVuTPsNmOjNsXzRaPUNefhgQEGrwr7IIhuQHnfSjxOChjRpV7iscLeSlYM6m3B6bIWf/s200/karma_purple.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5143108621834490690" /></a><br />On my 45-minute commute this morning, I offered help to a cyclist in the midst of changing a flat. Unless I'm in a hurry, or unless I know I cannot offer assistance, I usually ask the rider "do you have what you need?" Nine times out of ten they respond "yeah," and I'm on my way. But this morning the guy sort of says "uh, no," so I stop to help. It turns out he mistakenly purchased two 650c tubes for his 700c wheels. I give him my only tube and go on my way. <br /><br />Of course, not 10 minutes later, I flat. Without a patch kit or extra tube, I'm effectively stranded. But then another guy comes along and offers assistance. I gratefully take a tube from him. While I'm installing it, a teammate comes by and I tell him my story. He loans me a quick patch and helps me inflate the tire, and we're off. With the patch kit, I should be able to limp home tonight even if I flat again.<br /><br />So -- do you believe in innertube <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karma">karma</a>? Will there always be an extra tube for everyone in the cosmic tube universe? I didn't immunize myself from getting a flat by giving away a tube, but I did find another person willing to help. Hopefully the good karma will continue on the way home.Ken Woodrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17292269413611003604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7640640092771288750.post-57061687858850547912007-12-10T10:05:00.000-05:002007-12-14T20:44:03.582-05:00Tubular Tires for ‘Cross – More Than A Placebo Effect!After pinch flatting my clincher tires in four ‘cross races this season, including a double flat at DCCX and flats during two different laps of the Tacchino, I finally took the plunge and bought a set of tubular wheels. I went the inexpensive route and bought a set of hand-built “Nimbus Cross” wheels from Excel Sports in Boulder, CO. The wheels are a solid combination of 14/15 gauge spokes, Mavic Reflex rims, and Ultegra hubs. Not the lightest wheels in the world, but quite strong and completely serviceable. Because Cyclocrossworld was completely sold out of 32cm Dugasts, I went with the excellent <a href="http://cyclocrossworld.stores.yahoo.net/gommagcrostu.html">Challenge Grifo</a> 32cm tires, front and rear.<br /><br />One of the things that has kept me from joining the tubular camp is the dread of gluing on the tires. After Peter rolled a tubular at Charm City and after hearing multiple stories of rolled tubulars, I wanted to do it right. I did some searching on the glorious Interweb and turned up a variety of sites with advice on gluing tubulars for cyclocross. Unlike road tubulars, which are held onto the rim (in part) by tire pressure, ‘cross tubies rely almost entirely upon the glue.<br /><br />One of the best sites I found for advice was the <a href="http://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=101">Park Tool site</a>. It offered very similar <a href="http://www.cyclocrossworld.com/Tech.cfm?Action=Edit&MenuKey=3&theKey=46&ShowDisabled=0">advice</a> to Cyclocrossworld.com. I basically followed their recommendations: 2 complete coats of Vittoria Mastik One, spread evenly on the base tape and rim with an acid brush, each left to dry overnight. Then a final coat on both the tire and rim before mounting the tire.<br /><br />I took care to spread the glue to the edges of the rim using my truing stand to hold the rim. I partially inflated the tire to make spreading the glue easier. Don’t let any of the web sites fool you – mounting the tire is difficult. The key to doing it successfully is to pre-stretch the tire, either on a spare rim or with your knees, before attempting to mount it. I tried mounting it while wearing latex gloves, but the gloves stuck to the glue leaving pieces of latex stuck between the tire and rim. After removing the gloves (and the latex shreds) I used my bare hands. Finally, after applying some brute strength and using a twisting motion, I was able to seat the tire on the rim. After getting the tire seated on the rim, I found it difficult to center the tire on the rim because the glue had already started to set up and bond. I’m not sure how to avoid this problem, but I was able to move the tire slightly using a lot of hand strength.<br /><br />I found the gluing process quite Zen-like and relaxing. I felt like I was participating in some timeless ritual steeped in the hoary old tradition of years of European cyclocross. Or maybe I was just getting high from the glue fumes . . . .<br /><br />After letting the tires set overnight, I did my first race on them at the <a href="http://enduratech.blogspot.com/2007/11/jean-wins-gold-at-va-state-cross-champs.html">VA Cyclocross Champs</a> at Mt. Trashmore in Virginia Beach. The tubulars were fantastic. At 40lbs pressure they hooked up in the dry grass and let me carry more speed into the turns that I’d been able to on my clinchers in similar conditions. I found that riding anything less than 30 lbs of pressure caused the sidewalls to collapse, making the tires too squirmy for most situations. In muddy conditions, like this <a href="http://enduratech.blogspot.com/2007/12/rockburn-cross-fitting-end-to-excellent.html">past weekend</a>, I ran them between 35 and 40lbs. I could have used a few less pounds in the front perhaps, but I still managed to stay upright. The bottom line is that, for me, tubulars are worth the extra time and effort.Ken Woodrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17292269413611003604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7640640092771288750.post-10209648452485845842007-12-09T20:20:00.000-05:002007-12-14T20:44:21.995-05:00Rockburn Cross - A Fitting End To An Excellent Cross SeasonFinally a cold, wet, and muddy 'cross race. Ironic that the first "mudder" of the year is the final race of the year! I decided to race the Cat 4's in an effort to get more points toward my Cat 3 'cross upgrade. It was the largest field of the day with more than 50 starters.<br /><br />The course was muddy and slippery with some woodsy singletrack, gravel, and a little pavement. Laps were more than 10 minutes long, which is a little too long IMO. But despite the length, I really liked the course, especially the way that it looped back to the start/finish area like a four-leaved clover, not like an <a href="http://www.mabra.org/article.php?did=532&scid=59">endoplasmic reticulum</a>. I lined up on the front row (no callups for Cat 4s) and got the hole shot going into the prologue loop. Being in front was the bomb - I slowed just as much as necessary to get through the turns upright, forcing everyone behind me to slow even more. I stayed in front for nearly 1/4 of the 10-minute long lap by staying upright in the slop and hitting the gas hard whenever I could pedal. I stayed in the lead until a DCMTB guy (Loren McWethy) passed me. By then the frontrunners had separated themselves from the pack and it was easier to keep track of riders. I stayed with Loren for awhile and then Alex Driscoll blows by us both on a single-speed. He would go on to win. Eventually, Matt Hennessy from Team BBC gets up to me and passes me. I narrowly beat him last weekend at Capital Cross, so I knew he was a good wheel. I kept him in sight for the remaining two laps of the race but I was never able to get back on terms with him. During the third lap my shifting began to act up, refusing to stay in gear. I nursed it along by shifting into my largest cog and then down shifting into the gear I wanted. It seemed to work and got me to the finish. Late in the third lap another guy caught me and passed me. But I dug deep and re-passed him over the barriers and managed to hold him off until the end. I ended up in 4th place out of 50+ starters, earning a few more points toward my Cat 3 cyclocross upgrade.<br /><br />I managed to stay upright the entire race, although I rode the corners like a small child. With better cornering I likely could have finished better, although everyone seemed to have trouble out there. We actually did a podium ceremony after the race and I had my first podium experience. Kind of cool. I won a gift certificate to some bison meat company. Bizarre swag at these 'cross races. <br /><br />JeanBean rode well - also getting the hole shot - but blowing it in the first turn of the prologue to put herself near DFL. She recovered throughout the race to finish 4th in a large field of 17. Kind of fitting that we both finish on the podium - a great way to end the 'cross season!Ken Woodrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17292269413611003604noreply@blogger.com1