What's in a few numbers anyways?

At the beginning of last season I got tested for my VO2 max and power. I was given a few numbers to use for training such as functional threshold power, power zones, heart rate zones, and max heart rate. Pretty cool stuff to use, and good information at the beginning of a relatively serious training period of my life.

This morning - technically two seasons later - I got tested again by a completely different group to see what my VO2 max was. This was a much quicker test and it actually felt easier probably because I now knew what to expect.

The results were pretty nice although I am uncertain of the credibility of the tests. I just didn't get the feeling this test was very important to the people administering the tests.

I do feel good that every number increased 15 to 20% except my heart rate, where my threshold dropped from 185 to 180 ish. It's a sign of two things: getting old and my body adapting to training. I like the training part.

Next: Get tested by TOSH / Max Testa's group at the beginning of next season. I need to experience what test administered by a world class cycling specialty shop feels like.

LOTOJA v2.0

My first attempt at LOTOJA went well, reaching a great time of 9:59:45 despite working to catch the group much of the morning after a team mate flatted early.

This year I had a season goal of 9:40, a 20 minute improvement on my first year, which I felt was attainable but difficult to reach. I posted this goal in our "gym" so I can be reminded twice a week when we strength trained. I trained quite a bit more and more intelligently this year therefore I was feeling pretty confident about my chances. I wanted to win this race as I do for all my A races.

Thanx to the Spider Bait team for setting a high pace, thanx to favorable winds, and thanx to a nice yet cold day, I obliterated my season goal. I finished 206 miles in 9:05:28. Nine hours and five minutes. Crazy.

What's really crazy is that time only yielded me 5th place. Five of us worked together extremely well from the KOM all the way to the finish, and I didn't favor my chances sprinting so I attacked at 2k to go. It was all I had to get 1st place and wasn't successful so 5th place is what I end up with. I still don't have a win. But it feels pretty good to have 6th overall out of a thousand or more entries. We beat the Cat 1s! One person beat the group of five I was in. One. I am now within 3 minutes 44 seconds of the LOTOJA course record. THAT is pretty awesome.

Garmin data

Timing data

Powering up for the finish!

(I have a bunch of catching up to do with this blog...won't be tonight though)

I recently restarted using my PowerTap after it being out of commission since June due to some less than awesome Williams wheel problems. I started training with power and reviewing my output again hoping that I had improved in the last few months. And finally tonight I download my data and find this most awesome graph from a training ride up Trapper's loop two days ago:



That graph shows I beat my personal best 10, 30, and 60 minute power outputs! In one workout! Now we're talking! Maybe this structured training thing works.

Tour de Coalville

First we must settle the name issue. I know it was called Tour de Park City. You have to actually *go* to the place the ride is named from to earn its name. Sorry organizers.

Why did I race?

This was a "B" race for me: if it turned out, great; otherwise use it as a good training day. I can say it was both. It turned out to be a great race but of course I had hopes to earn better results. I am getting quite used to top ten results. I like top ten results. Most importantly, this is all part of the setup for my last "A" race of the season: LOTOJA.

Fitness

Once again I couldn't quite stick with the fast guys. What's nice this time is I have an excuse. Even a good one. Really. "It's by design".

Looking at my heart rate numbers and knowing I didn't stick with the fast guys usually kills me and makes me doubt this whole racing thing, but this time I am fine with it because I am at a relatively low fitness time in my training schedule. Joe Friel has a nice case study blog post on this. I believe Joe Friel. I know Rogers won't get it. Most people won't get it. Maybe someday they will. Or maybe I'm kidding myself and this is just another excuse.

Numbers don't lie. As you can see in the graph (or Garmin Connect) my heart rate never got to zone 5. Apparently I didn't work very hard at all. I felt like I worked pretty hard. My legs were quite unhappy. Maybe I shouldn't have raced at Snowbasin the previous Wednesday. Both events were a good portion of my Build training phase. I'm good with it.

Overall

15th out of 40ish racers. Nothing to be excited about.

Unless I step back and consider the whole race. The team did a great job with this race again. We set an early tempo then Adam went on a crazy 50 mile solo breakaway. Ryan and I did a good job letting Adam get away. As a matter of fact we still believe the pack completely forgot Adam existed. Could have been awesome. Ryan and I did great communicating and reminding each other of our tactics. We actually toyed with the group. Always fun.

Individually I can accept my results. I *should* have stuck with the lead group. I *should* have covered the attack on the climb. I got to within a 50ish feet of them near the top where #444 was able to bridge but I didn't. I *should* have. I actually did a nice job mentally pushing myself up the climb. I improved my mental toughness during this race and that is worth the price of admission for me. There is no way to replicate this race-level effort outside of a race. Those adversaries pushed me well and I was able to keep them close. I'm getting closer to staying right there with them.

I descended well, but I just can't compete with a pack of 12+ guys nor guys heavier than me. Featherweight curse. If only the race ended at the top of the climb.

So I got gapped at the top of the climb. I got caught by two Masters 35+ racers on the descent. Then the three of us got caught by a large group of Category 4 racers. Then pretty much tempo to the finish with a few failed attack attempts. I tried a final attack at mile 145 but just didn't have what it took to gap the group. I responded pretty well to the final sprint which I believe earned me 4th place out of the second group, probably thanx to a weird finish with a bunch of unexpected turns.

Two years

The first time I raced this event was a completely different story. This year I performed as a racer. Feels good.

1 season goal shattered

When I started my training season I set goals to achieve. I reached and surpassed my desire to earn 5 top 10 finishes. As a matter of fact only two of the twelve races I entered this year are outside the top ten.

Last year's results: Out of 12 races I reached 3 top 10s, excluding team events. This is going in the right direction. Structured training appears to work.

Low expectations yield good results

Results wise my best two races of the year have been "training races". In April I raced Tax Day Circuit race in Idaho and earned a third place. Today I also earned a third place at the Utah state mountain biking championship at Solitude.

The races I have planned and trained for have left me with 8th and 6th place results. What's wrong with this picture?

High Uintas results

Stage 1 - road race

As I previously mentioned I was physically ready for this race. I was on. For 24.5 miles apparently. I still cannot believe how strong some of those racers are. I felt excellent for the first 20 miles, to the point that went to the back of the pack to warn my team member that I planned on dishing out some pain at mile 25. Then the pain came without any of my help. Then "the pain" did what they planned on doing which is to weed out the weak, myself included. At mile 24 there is a serious increase in pitch, which I handled but redlined me, then came a flatter section that I needed to recover in. Unfortunately the group decided to recover for approximately 1.5 seconds then proceeded to punish the flat section. That was it for me. I seriously felt a switch shut my body off. My legs, lungs, heart just turned off and the 10ish people behind me went around me and left. Until that point I was feeling quite comfortable in the top 5-10 of the group. Pop.


My body made me recover so I took a 1/2 mile or so to get myself out of zone 5 and started pacing myself for recovery. After a little while things started working again so I stepped up the pace. I passed the 28 mile feed zone pretty annoyed but feeling ok, then crested the KOM, then started a great descent.

I don't remember if I passed number 305 or if he caught up to me on the descent, but I know I caught up to 311 and another non-cat 4 person. The four of us descended together although the rest of the group just wasnt' up to par, just weren't as crazy as I am downhill.

Then came the flats and the winds. I am *not* the guy to ride with in the wind, yet only 305 was equal or better than me in the flats. The other two were nearly useless. At mile 60 number 305 decided he had enough of our pace and attacked. Nice attack I must say. He waited until I was pulling the group, waited for a significant incline, and sprinted up it. I tried to follow, knowing the other two were too weak, and couldn't since I had been up front doing work. Number 305 had a 15 mile TT to finish. I wasn't worried actually, if he could hold 15 miles in that wind by himself he deserved it.

Now we're down to two of us: me and number 311. The fourth member got popped when 305 attacked, never saw him again. 311 tries to help but can't do much, and by the time mile 69 comes along I start feeling like we need to reel in 305. We're running out of time. 311 does a good job stepping up, and I step up the pace, and we catch 305 with 1-2 miles to go. Then he sucks our wheel, recovers, and outsprints me like I'm standing still. Note to self: learn to sprint. 311 had told me he wasn't going to contest the sprint since I towed him for 40ish miles. That is sportsmanship.

Stage 2 - time trial

As noted earlier I am not the guy for the flats or the winds therefore individual time trials are not so good for me. I am improving though and was able to pull out a 24.1 mph average. 10th place out of 16. My hope was to mitigate my losses and I only slipped one position on the GC after the time trial, which, if I was to lose to someone it may as well be my team mate Ryan. Good enough.

I am told that a TT bike can improve my speed by 3 mph, so I just need to spend money and I will automatically beat everyone. Sweeeeeet.

Stage 3 - criterium

The criterium was fun but tough. I actually enjoy that course quite a bit.

I was marking 311 the whole time since he had to gain a few seconds on me to take away my 6th place in the GC. He went away from the pack a few laps from the end so I just had to stay ahead of him. I wasn't going to contest for 5th place since that position was occupied by a team mate.

I stuck with the lead group until the final lap then just decided to shut it off when I noticed 311 was nowhere near. I saw Liam on the side of the road pedaling slowly and akwardly. He had attacked at 2 laps to go, was gone, and had a chain problem. He had the race. That really sucks.

Overall

I earned a 6th place overall. I don't know if it is counted as 6th out of 45+ since that many did the road race or 6th out of 16 since that many started the third event, but either way it's decent. Top 5 would have been better but Ryan deserves it due to his superior TT skills.

A good race developed between 4th and 7th places, and we created some friendships out of the deal. Decent weekend of racing. Yes, it was THAT hard on me.