First race of the season - Indoor Time Trial

High blood pressure, rapid heartbeat, dry mouth, constant checking of your gear... these are just a few of the wonderful sensations of RACE DAY! On Saturday the 21st of February we held an indoor Time Trial using Computrainers for Two Wheels Cycling clients at Anytime Fitness in Zionsville, IN. 13 brave souls came in for 10K of pain. The 6.2 mile course is rolling and never gives you the chance to settle and find a steady rhythm. A real test of cycling fitness.

Bill Olds set the early time to beat in the first wave with a 17:05, just a tick under 22mph! James Clary and John Hixon were hot on his heels starting the day off on a high note and putting the pressure on the rest of the field.

The second wave saw Paul Harrington turn himself inside out to better his 08 spring time by a second. His time of 16:44 was the first sub 17 min time of the day and it was going to take a superb effort to best the time.

More times in the 17 min range were the order of the day and Paulie was looking good in his Heineken jersey.

Chris Janak, a regular to the advanced cycling indoor classes for the last year had no idea what to expect since he has only been riding for the last 15 months or so and just got a road bike last summer. After warmup up with some weight work in the gym he got on his Specialized and shot off the start line incredibly fast. Everyone was watching and waiting for him to crack and slow down. The crack never came and he posted a blistering time of 16:26, just shy of 23mph!

The final heat saw Rob Meinzer jump in for another race againt Jay Dunbar and myself. Jay set a new PR for the course registering another sub 17 effort, good for third on the day. Rob stayed within 30 seconds of his earlier time - well done. What about your fearless coach? I snuck in under Chris's time with a 16:05. All in all a great day for everyone and some strong motivation for the spring.

On a side note, Wendell Hyink (http://www.racingforbangladesh.com/) the 63 year old Two Wheels super client and poster child for masters athletes everywhere ran a 16:57 on this course a week before winning his age group at the early season 24 hours of Sebring bike race. Wendell posted 344 miles (a new PR) on a windy day that saw low numbers from the entire field. Wendell also exhibited some incredible sportsmanship by helping fellow racer Larry Ide after a crash at 2AM. Look for lots more from Wendell this year as he chases the UMCA Ultracup series title!

Good Riding - Coach Kevin

Zionsville Indoor Time Trial #1
Name
Time
Chris Janak
16:26
Paul Harrington
16:44
Jay Dunbar
16:53
Bill Olds
17:03
Rob Meinzer
17:05
Brian Robinson
17:09
James Clary
17:17
Rusty Denton
17:22
Paul Schenkel
17:31
John Hixon
17:54
David Norris
18:50
Tim Wiley
21:06
Kevin Koval
16:05

Ultracycling – training for long distance riding

Ultracycling is the extreme end of the distance bicycle racing world with the RAAM (Race Across America) the ultimate challenge. 12 & 24 hour events as well as set distances of 200-500 miles are more common and manageable even for us mere mortals.

With so much information available about training, how to sort the wheat from the chaff to help you ride long distances fast? The Ultracycling world is dominated by riders 40 years of age and up. Go to an event and I guarantee you’ll see some gray hair leaving you in the dust. The speed that these animals can maintain seemingly forever is unbelievable. Just take a look at the results from the recent 24 hours of Sebring: http://www.altavistasports.com/results/2008results/bikesebring24hour021708.html

There is a lot more to training for this type of event than simply piling on the miles. If your goal is to simply stay on the bike for 12 or 24 hours, slap on a gel seat pad and some training wheels and try to stay awake. If you want to ride 200, 300, 400 or more, you need to have some speed along with your endurance. I’m going to share some of my own training for these events over the coming year as well as power data from specific workouts and races.

Winter Training – Averaging 8-9 hours/week does not seem like enough to be able to ride hundreds of miles in February but I managed to get in 309.9 at the Sebring 24 (17:15 in actual ride time, read the race report to hear about my nap) This averaged out to 18MPH in avg. riding speed, better than I had managed at any 12 hr race last year. I was hoping to have an average NP of 140 watts and was just above that.


Duration: 16:07:41 (18:13:02)
Work: 7199 kJ
TSS: 747.5 (intensity factor 0.684)
Norm Power: 144
VI: 1.15
Pw:HR: 6.44%
Pa:HR: -2.77%
Distance: 291.227 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 637 125 watts
Heart Rate: 83 248 133 bpm
Cadence: 29 141 90 rpm
Speed: 0 29.5 18.0 mph
Pace 2:02 0:00 3:20 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 277 46 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 951 121 lb-in

You have to ride fast for short distances if you want to ride fast for longer periods of time. Think about that for just a second, If you find it hard to hold 20 mph for a while on a training ride, riding a century in under 5 hours is going to require one heck of a tailwind. Knowing this I spent most of the winter working on quality intervals from 20 sec max sprints to 10 min FTP range work (TT pace). Not making to time to ride lots of “base miles” as everyone would think, the last few years of steady riding were my base. 2-3 interval workouts a week with the vast majority of these teaching indoor cycling classes to my advanced disciples. This was a huge benefit in keeping my intensity higher than I would have with solo training.

In summary, I have been able to increase my FTP over the late summer high even though I am still only hovering around 220 watts. Aero positioning and pedaling efficiency cannot be overlooked at these longer distances as I am sure lots of people reading this are not averaging 18mph with 140 watts. Increasing my Spinscan #’s on the computrainer to around 80 has given me some free speed and allows me to stay fresh when I have to push on a climb.

If you are not doing any interval work, start today and you will get faster. Next post I will share a few of my favorite workouts as I get ready for Calvin’s Challenge 12 hour ride in May.

Good riding – Coach Kevin

The Coach and his Trainer

Teaching indoor cycling (aka "Spinning") classes keeps me around weight equipment most of the year. Chatting with a friend at a club last week brought about a very surprised look when I mentioned I was working with a Personal Trainer to keep me on a strength building program. "Can't you do that stuff yourself?" was her question to me. Of course I can, it is simply a matter of desire. Knowing what to do is only a small part of it. I am working with a trainer for the same reasons people hire us to work with them.

• Motivation - There is really nothing better than having somebody plan your workout and help keep you on track. Take the brain out of the equation.
• New Heights - Taking you out of your comfort zone is what a good coach/trainer will make sure you do to realize gains. It is easy to forego the last rep/set if you are training alone.
• Schedule - Everyone is busy, knowing when and what you are going to be doing turns it into an easy to check off "appointment" with yourself.
• Results - The coach/trainer needs to get results from you to keep more business coming their way. If you are not seeing results, you have someone to help you figure out why and change things up a bit.

There are certainly a bunch more reasons but my favorite is the fact that it simply makes things a bit more focused and fun. I still follow my own training plan using trainingpeaks and WKO+, just like we do with our clients. The added strength focus with the trainer is addressing some weak areas and allowing me to focus more on my cycling this winter. I know I'll be pushing new wattage highs very soon and flying in 2008.

The Cycling Off Season

If you live anywhere near me then the days are getting quite short and the wind is beginning to kick up while the temperatures drop. Sure the leaves are pretty and the occasional sunny day feels warm, but it's getting harder and harder to find a good time to ride.

Just this weekend we bagged a 50 mile ride because of cold, wet, rainy roads. Today as I look out my office window I can see my bike on top of my car waiting to be ridden. Just behind it, the trees are bent sideways in a 27mph wind from the South West. (hrrrm... If I could just get somebody to drive me about 40 miles south of here...)

So what are your plans for this off season? You could:

• let your saddle sores heal up
• see how big you can get your waistline by 2008
• start trying to break in that new couch while watching the latest Greys Anatomy
  

Or, you could be productive even if you aren't out braving the elements. Here is my plan:

• teach 2 spinning classes per week
• do 2 short interval workouts on the trainer (60 minutes at most)
• get 1 long ride outside each week (30-40 miles)

I also have some things I'm going to work on off the bike that I usually don't have time to do.

• set cycling goals for 2008
• work more on my blog!
• plan a cycling vacation
• tune up all of my bikes (including my wife and kids)
  

So what are you going to do!? Post your comments and let us know.

Check out Bike Snobs post about off season training.