4 weeks of training in the books

First day of the training I felt there was no way I could achieve 500 hours in a year. I actually feel pretty good about the plan and am starting to think it is attainable.

The plan breaks down into weeks of targeted effort, and for this first 4 weeks it was expected to be 12 hours a week for 3 weeks and 4 hours a week for the recovery week, totalling 40 hours of effort. I reached 36:28. The plan also says to do your best and not worry if you don't make all your workouts, therefore I am not worried.

As scientific as this plan is, there is a over training or burnout clause that is based on one's feel. My legs were dead by the middle of the third week so I only got 9:30 in that week instead of 12. I feel good about stopping, and I feel ok that I worked out so much during the first 3 weeks. I don't believe I have ever worked out as often and as regularly as this plan is needing me to.

I am a believer of this plan. I think periodization makes perfect sense at the workout, week, month, and the year levels. Excited to see the results on race days.

The annual training plan

Joe Friel's blog has a great series of articles to help one prepare an annual training plan. Part of the plan involves setting goals and training objectives as previously discussed. The part of the annual training plan that frightens me is the Annual Hours.

Annual hours can be calculated by adding 10 to 15% to the previous year's hours. Another calculation can be to multiply normal weekly hours of training by 40. Lastly a chart is supplied to help plan the hours needed based on the longest race planned to participate in. Given that I have set a goal to participate in LOTOJA again my longest race is expected to be over nine hours, which means the minimum I should train to "finish the race", not to compete, is 500 hours.

The way I see it others are likely using this method to train therefore this may be the reason I am not able to compete at high levels. That's why the guy's book is called "The Cyclist's Training Bible" not "Another training book".

Now for some perspective. I bike a lot. People around me, whether they are fitness nuts or not say that I bike a lot. I ride more than some and less than some on my race team. In 2009 I logged 239 hours on the bike. I need to double that number.

I need to become much more vigilant at logging my training off the bike, whether it's hiking, cross-country skiing, strength training, or whatever. Hell I need to log walks with the dog if I want to have a chance at this number.

500 hours annually is 12 hours a week. I spent one hour every day this week on the bike or strength training, and walked the dog once for 30 minutes. That leaves me with 6:30 of exercise to do over the weekend. I wish the weather allowed for a nice easy 100 miler in a nice quiet area.

Let's get serious.

At the end of the last season I realized I needed to either step up or get out of the racing scene because I am not thrilled with mediocrity. I decided to get serious.

I am committing to the Joe Friel Annual Training Plan approach with a little sprinkle of public humiliation. Here are my goals along with training objectives. You are welcome to use these against me anytime.

Season Goals:
1 Complete LOTOJA in 9:40
2 Complete an endurance mountain bike race (Park City Point 2 Point, 12 hours of Sundance)
3 Achieve 5 top 10 finishes in individual events

Training Objectives:
1 Average 400w for 5 minutes by July 1 (muscular endurance)
2 Average 700w for 30 seconds by May 15 (power / sprinting)
3 Train 4+ days per week by April 1

Bonus time

The last four weeks have been bonus time for outdoor riding and plenty of us have taken advantage of it. I even got to ride to work every day last week just for an excuse to use my new bike lights. I mean, I was working on world peace by reducing carbon dioxide production.

Saturday, November 7th

Spectacular day. Seven of us planned on showing up for some mountain biking therapy at the Draper Hang Gliding park, yet only four made it. Ryan got the "least likely to finish" award after the chain off his borrowed bike broke within the first 1/2 mile. We repaired it by removing a link but pressing the pin into the link caused it to warp a little. That repair lasted 1/4 to 1/2 mile so we repaired it again, the pin warped the outer link again, so Ryan headed back to his car quite disappointed to miss out on a ride.

Eventually Elton, Steve, and I got going on the Bonneville Shoreline Draper trail toward Corner Canyon, and quickly found the evil tunnel that barely failed to kill two of us although succeeded in wounding Elton's rear tube. We put a little air in and kept going until the road crossing a bit later where the tube got changed.

We made it to Corner Canyon, climbed up Clark's trail, went up Jacob's ladder, then bombed down Jacob's followed by Ghost Falls. What an absolute blast! On the Bonneville Shoreline Trail on the return trip Elton got another flat to give us a breather. Finally we realized Elton earned the "most unlucky ride" award once we returned and could not find the key to is brand new Acura MDX with a programmable fob valued at $160 replacement cost.

Sunday November 1st

What was originally planned as a Saturday mountain bike ride ended up a 50 mile Sunday road ride on Wasatch and Sego Lily, as I feared the precipitation at the end of the week would cause us to damage trails.

This was a pretty nice ride where the group (Jerry, Adam, Stephen, Chris, Elton, Liam) remained together the majority of the time, the pace was friendly, and no mechanical failures occurred. Unfortunately the group splintered during the top portion of the Sego Lily climb causing two riders to miss a turn, causing me to feel bad and turn around to go get them, and ultimately providing a time trial training opportunity for me.

Saturday October 24th

A decent autumn day allowed us to get together at Liberty Park and ride across the valley to Butterfield canyon. We were supposed to pick up Stephen on the way but had trouble finding him therefore Brent got in his truck, found Stephen, and met back up with the group at the base of Butterfield. Meanwhile Liam decided he had enough and headed back to the start.

After the pure joy that is Butterfield canyon we stopped at a gas station in Herriman, Riverton, or some town down that way. After much deliberation some of us decided to continue with the planned route toward Wasatch Blvd and others decided to head to Brent's house. The people crazy enough to continue (Travis, Adam, me) got punished with some rain, a ridiculous downpour causing us to go for cover in a Subway, followed by more rain, and finishing up with a little rain. Surprisingly it was still quite enjoyable, possibly because we were in bonus time for the season.

Saturday October 17th

Mormon trail was the site for the mountain biking therapy session that day. Reaching the trailhead is part of the challenge for this ride; the trailhead is five or so miles up a dirt road behind the Jeremy Ranch area.

The start of the ride was a serious water crossing, and the rest of the trail was more moist than I expected yielding a slippery ride. Elton, Steve P, Steve S, Jeremy were the riders which was a nicely matched group.

Though slippery, the downhill was awesome. The climb is a nice consistent grind as well, with enough flatter sections to catch one's breath. Overall it was a nice recovery ride after 24 hours of Moab.

24 hours of Moab: check

I will start with the summary: An event to remember. A must-do. No need to read the rest of my babbling.

In the past few years I have been mentally preparing to put the 24 hours of Moab on my list of races to participate in. Surprise! I got the opportunity this year.

I learned this was a big party with approximately 4000 people meeting up at the Behind the rocks trail in the desert south of Moab. Caterers show up, armies of porta-potties are dropped off, showers are trucked in, vendors arrive to provide last minute gear and sell you the latest and greatest, and a bunch of crazy people show up to bike all day and night.

The best adjective I know of to explain the course is treacherous. This is a rough trail. If it's not rough, it's super fast. And in between are pockets of sand to keep you on your toes. The first 6 miles are a climb, where the second mile is just nuts. The rock garden is relentless in its attempt to rob you of traction. It provides no good route. It beats the hell out of you. Every lap.

After miles of getting beat by rock gardens of all flavors - once you see mile marker 6 - you get a breather in the form of a double track with some sand in it for good measure. Time to grab some food. Then a cool section of slickrock, some more technical stuff, and another break around mile 8.5. Another good food spot. I actually got in an aero position a few laps here, felt good.

Mile 11 ish starts the last climb. This starts as a dirt road, turns into another rock garden with sand, turns to seriously deep sand, dumps into a slickrock, back on the sandy road, and finally crest for a killer downhill back to the start. The downhill has one spot with the potential to send your body into orbit and a few deep sandy sections to make sure you're balanced properly.

As you reach the transition / start line you start passing people going the wrong way, kids running across the course, people walking around trying to get hit, and various other non-racers that just don't get what's happening.

That's my general memory of the course. My first lap, first turn right out of the tent, my front wheel slides out and I unclip from my pedal, bobble around like an idiot, and nearly crash. Wouldn't be so bad if I didn't pass two solo guys right at the start to get in front of them. End of first lap, coming in to the s-curves before the tent, speed: Mach1, front wheel slides out, and I'm sliding in like I'm stealing home base. I was on a mission to destroy that lap time. I did ok with a time of 1:14 ish. My stats say 1:15:33 but I didn't stop my timer until I got back to our camp. I sped to our camp because my team mates didn't expect me so soon and I had to rush to tell Steve to get going cause the clock was ticking.

I must admit it was a great feeling to exceed every one's expectations to the point they weren't even prepared at the start. Hehe.

Night riding was actually an absolute blast. It very likely has to do with having killer night lights from Cygolite. I'll say it again: It is worth getting the right tool for the job. These lights were the right tool for the job. I am shocked my lap times didn't plummet; there was really only a 10-12 minute difference between day and night.

One of my fondest memories of this race will likely be the fact that there was always someone to catch. It is quite the thrill to work on reeling people in at all times. I didn't count but I swear it felt like my ratio was 70:1 of the people I passed vs. passed me. I had a great time.

Solo riders are super impressive. They are my heros. I had a short conversation with #17 on my last - my fourth - lap at 11:00 am or so. Looking at the stats I believe he was on his 14th. He was cranking up the last climb, just looked dead, and told me he had one more lap to go. I told him he was my hero. All those soloists are. I am pretty certain I saw the same woman solo rider (perhaps #57) on my first and last laps; she was just cranking along, just as happy and polite the last time I saw her as the first.

Another lasting impression: friendliness. The mountain biking crowd is a great group of people. I experienced heaps of politeness, I was cheered on during hard climbs, we were happily given some extra firewood when in need, and the overall vibe was super cool. That's what I'm talking about.

Change of plans

My brand spankin new SRAM Force Double Tap shifter broke on my brand spankin new road bike the day before I was going to ride Teton Pass in Jackson, WY. Not THAT big of a deal, until it takes SRAM three weeks to ship a replacement to the bike shop. Now three weeks later my season is really over whether I wanted it to be or not. No City Creek Bike Sprint for me this year.

I did get a few mountain bike rides in during the three weeks. Including a GREAT 27 mile ride in Park City with excellent company. Then two days ago I enjoyed a good 16-17 miles around Snowbasin.



Then a weird thing happened tonight. I got a phone call from Jack, who I hadn't talked to for probably a year, needing a fourth person to race the 24 hours of Moab. And I'm stupid enough to agree. Looks like we're going to Moab in less than two weeks for some serious dirt fun.

Um, now what?

I've been lost for the last two weeks without cycling goals to keep me focused. I enjoyed my few weeks off although I now feel those should be rest weeks rather than the end of my season.

Here I go writing down my next short term goal: 2009 City creek bike sprint October 10th. I should have a goal of beating last year's time of 26:50 by, say, 10%, which would mean 24:09. So there we have it, I must shave 2:41 minutes off my City Creek time.

I better start climbing again.

1000 warriors

This was it. The 1000 warriors race was the race I trained for all year, my "a" race as they say in the training and coaching world, the race I trained to win. I would be happy with a top 10 finish.

Well that didn't happen. At the finish I was VERY disappointed with my performance. I failed to keep up with the lead group during the Alpine Loop and Suncrest climbs. I just cannot physically push my body to that level of competition. By the time I got to the Little Cottonwood climb I was in 6th position, I bonked, then cracked, then died, then I swear I got passed by every one in Cat 4. Two or three turns before the finish I was lucky enough to catch and pass one person in my Category 4 group which yielded me "last place minus one".

I didn't know I could stay upright at 4-5 mph with a cadence of 40 rpm. Didn't think it was possible.

So those were my original thoughts on the subject. I was dejected. I just cannot compete at this level, whether it is Cat 4 or 5.

However after giving it some time I realize racing 94 miles while climbing 13,000 feet [advertized, 9491 per Garmin] in 5 hours 26 minutes is not too shabby. It is an accomplishment and a serious improvement over last year. Whether or not I can compete is not as relevant now.

Then the results come out and I earned a 10th place finish out of 26 competitors. 20 minutes back from the winner.

Full race data available on Garmin Connect. It's not pretty.

Here's a graph displaying the evil climbs and their effect on my speed and heart.

August is here

I am finally gaining confidence in my climbing again. My new road bike's lowest gear of 39 x 26 is taking some getting used to.

Just in time for the excitement of the big races. First the ULCER team time trial followed by the peak of my season at 1000 warriors. Maybe I'll still be fit for Sanpete too. Should be brutal.

I am spending a lot of time in the mountains all over the place, sometimes on my new Trek Fuel Ex 9.8 mountain bike but mostly on the road bike. It has been nice to get back in the rhythm of the SuperSeries and ride with the team to get that much more incentive to ride hard.

Glens Ferry, ID

Check out a great little road ride while passing through this part of the world. Start from the west side of town and travel east through town ending up on Pasadina Basin road. Follow that road until you drop into what I can only imagine being Pasadina Basin. Loop around the small valley and return to town yielding a nice ride just under 20 miles with a little bit of climbing to keep you honest.

I really couldn't take a picture that did the little valley justice. The road from town drops into this valley that is approximately 1 mile in circumference, surrounded by hills to keep it hidden. I believe there are two ways in and out of the valley, one from the north where I came from and one road heading east. This is a nicely secluded area and the prettiest country ride I have taken in a long time.

Whistler

Absolutely. You have likely read or heard this before: If you ride a mountain bike go to Whistler!

The cross country trails are awesome, weaving all over a bunch of forest, ups and downs, and some man-made bridges to help out when a trail just isn't feasible. As awesome as the cross country trails are, the vibe is all about downhill riding. Two rental outfits wouldn't let me take their XC bike up on the chairlift at Whislter. Let me quantify this: I could have rented a Trek Fuel EX 5.5 but not taken it up the chairlift. I rented a Specialized HardRock and they wouldn't let me take it up, telling me the bike would return destroyed.

Anyways I wasn't interested in killer downhill terrain as much as cross country. We rode Cut yer bars in the morning and I rode all over the Lost Lake area in the afternoon including a few miles up and down Confortably Numb...which started out great but turned too rough to enjoy while riding it backwards on a hardtail rental bike. My favorite ride may just be Pinocchio's furniture. Hours of pure therapy!

Whistler village is gorgeous as expected, similar to the other resort towns we've visited. We splurged by dining at Araxi and were treated to a live show on the concourse. Excellent dining experience.

Oh, and did you know there are a few Olympic venues in and near Whistler?

North of Vancouver

Cypress Mountain

We left Burnaby Caribou RV on our way to Whistler, thinking we could partake into some sweet mountain biking at Cypress Mountain. I had read that Cypress hosted a bunch of great trails. I was wrong.

On the way to the ski resort parking lot we spotted up to 100 roadies enjoying the climb, and we did notice some mountain bikers parked at the top, but there were definitely no trail maps, no bike rentals, and no chairlifts running for the summer. We walked around the Olympic venue parking lot then Vanessa took advantage of the nice few miles of downhill while I drove back down with Yukon. I took a 3-5 minute wrong turn and Vanessa had caught up with us at the bottom. Fast downhill.

Squamish

We drove into Squamish for a break. What can I say? If you are a rock climber this is a place you need to visit. The town didn't feel like much of a rock climbing place though; it seemed like a just another little town. We could have spent days here enjoying all the outdoor options available but as usual I was too focused on the final destination of Whistler.

Vancouver - Stanley park

First let me inform you that Stanley Park was named after Lord Stanley, the same Lord Stanley as the Stanley cup. If you don't know about the Stanley cup you need to go away now.


Stanley Park houses the Vancouver Aquarium, which we visited, which was a good time. I learned a bunch of interesting things and saw some of nature's wonders such as a 3 week old beluga whale playing with a one year old. Of other significant note is that Vancouver, BC is home to quite the array of tropical creatures. It was surprising to learn the vegetation and sea life of British Columbia is similar to the Amazon or other rain forests.

After concluding our time at the aquarium we took the road bikes around Stanley park which is a 9-ish mile peninsula. This was a fun, relaxing time on the bikes just cruising along taking in the sea air and more sights.


And to add to our Seattle parking nightmare we got slapped with a $105 fine for having 1/4 of the truck's rear tire in another parking stall. Ridiculous. How can a $105 fine exist for a $10 all day parking spot?

Vancouver - Mass transit on Canada day

Today we spent $9.00 each on an all day pass to all the mass transit available in Vancouver. This allowed us to jump on the SkyTrain and SeaBus to travel from Burnaby to North Vancouver for five hours of tourism with thousands of our best buddies celebrating Canada day. Here are some of the cool sights.

City from Science World




Go Canucks!




Canada day in North Vancouver




Gastown

Vancouver - my first road ride

Went for a little ride east of our RV park although I planned on doing the Burnaby Mountain ride I found on Motionbased. This ride was mostly urban riding with a gem or two in the Port Coquitlam area, but it was entertaining to discover new places such as the bridge pictured here. I did not get any real training in, just loosening up the legs and getting rid of some energy.

Adventures on the way to Vancouver

- Drive to Bend, Oregon. Long drive, similar to other drives in and out of the deserts.

- Trek mountain bike demo. Rode the killer Fuel Ex 9.9 and Gary Fisher HiFi Pro. Gorgeous forest trails. Could spend many days in Bend.

- Spend the night north of Bend, Oregon. At one point I decided to turn on a skinny logging road which climbed steeply for what felt like forever. We were committed as there was nowhere to turn around. We finally came up to a dirt road, decided to back into the dirt road to turn around and go back down, then, well, just stayed there at the top of the world. Beautiful scenery, extremely dense forest, not one person all night.

- Ride in Tacoma, Washington. This began as a lovely ride on the shorelines of Dash Point down to the Port of Tacoma where I came upon a bridge with a metal grated surface. Not interested in riding on that, so I'll just hop up to the sidewalk and cause myself a pinch flat. Duh. Repair flat, get going again and find myself on the road we had previously been with the coolest - ok, maybe the most ominous - road sign I have seen: 25% grade! I HAVE to try that!

Half way up the grade my chain breaks. This isn't fun anymore. Two mechanicals in just a few miles means it's time to head back. On the way back I find myself at the end of a road with a "right turn only" sign, follow that road for awhile, realize it is following a river and there is no way to cross it for a few miles, look on my GPS and find no reasonable way to cross it for quite awhile, and decide to turn around.

Now it's really time to get back...so I get to a point where I can retrace my steps and find I rode on a one-way street on the way there. K, I'll just ride the wrong way on this one-way road for a moment and cross the first chance I get. That was nerve-racking. Mental note: don't do that again.

The climb back to Dash Point was awesome. The ride turned out good although very urban.

- Space needle in Seattle, Washington. Cool views, misleading parking lot owned by crooks (Impark) that feel they need a few hundred dollars for me to park my rv. Wrong.

- Border crossing. The most dreaded part of the trip. Took 5 minutes. We were nervous for no reason.

- Vancouver! More stories to come.

Time trial analysis

I am excited about time trials because they are all about consistency and improvements are easy to see. Even though I ended up near last place at the High Uintas time trial I think the numbers look pretty good and they show improvements over Tour of the Depot.

I like the overall picture due to the consistent heart rate, cadence, and power. I read that the idea is to finish stronger than start. I feel the graphs show a stronger finish, granted the second half of the course is easier.

My average power is up from my Tour of the Depot results as well, meaning I can produce more power for a sustained period of timme. This is good.

I achieved more power with a lower heart rate. Awesome. I am throwing away the 210-244 bpm values because my true max is 202.