Sunday, December 10, 2006

Transrockies Week 3 Training

Well, this week I fell short again on the goal of 18 hours of training, but I saw some encouraging gains. Spin class is very good for the heart, and 3 days of outside riding was good. I definitely sucked for bailing on Friday, but at least I was fresh for our big ride on Saturday. Always a possibility of losing a day due to recovery or other reasons, I'm OK with this Thursday off but it makes me realize I need to do more of stretching and PT style exercises to keep the back strong.

I finally got a heart rate monitor, and the Sunday ride revealed that I am riding on average about 15-20 bpm less than normal, meaning that the strong climb in middle ring is due to leg muscles, but I need to start pushing the heart a bit more. Having the heart rate monitor will help me to keep myself from sandbagging my own ride, as it made me realize I am not pushing as hard as I am capable of.

Doug is being really great about changing my nutritional habits during the ride, and it was evident on our long ride as I never was lacking for energy.

Next week is a recovery week of 11 hours, which is 1 hour more than what I did on a training week. It's easy to analyze after the fact how I come up short on hours, but basically I need to work on determination, as even a short day can get me off schedule. Always keep the clothing and equipment ready to ride. I think I will just forego the recovery week, and see if I can increase hours next week regardless. Will take the recovery week next time the schedule brings it that way.

Mon Dec 04 - 1 hour
Evening spin class. Great hard workout. Pushing heavy gears and endurance / hills
Tue Dec 05 - 2.5 hours
Morning ride. Rode to Rattlesnake Lake and back. One hour 13 minutes out, 6 minutes riding around lake, 1 hour 6 minutes return. Out was a slight gain in speed, return lost 6 minutes. Although I had breakfast, was super hungry on the return. Should have stopped for energy bar. Weather was cold but nice. One bridge was slippery due to compacted ice, but rest of trail was in great shape.
Wed Dec 06 - 1 hour
Evening spin class
Thu Dec 07 - Day off. Inflammation in lower back sent me to the chiropractor. Lots of stiffness there, I will need to start stretching that area better.
Fri Dec 08 - Day off for stupid reasons.
Sat Dec 09 - 4.5 hours actual ride time, 5.5 hours total.
Sno Ridge - Millpond - Reinig - North Bend - Teneriffe. Did the climb up Teneriffe for 45 minutes to the overlook around 3000 feet. Doug and I then headed over to Rattlesnake Lake. Realizing we could make a 50 mile day of it, we went up Ironhorse trail for 2.5 miles before turning back. Turned out to be a 49 mile day, with 6200 feet of climbing. Cold and rainy, but we are tough as nails. The last 8 miles I was out of water as I drank 100 ounces along the way, but was fine. Only counting ride time of 4.5 hours, but the extra hour of taking in food and other reasons counts for something as it was more time in the cold and rain. We actually saw a guy and a girl riding up Teneriffe as we were descending. I wonder how far they went, I have a hard time finding people willing to ride up that extremely steep trail.
Sun Dec 10 - 1 hours 9 minutes
Tiger climb to Preston TH, then over to RATT east towers. Middle ring the whole way. Super rainy and cold. Finished at 4:22 PM, 5 minutes after sunset. Actual climb was 55 minutes, descent for 14 minutes, could not descend as quickly as I wanted to due to darkness and much rain in my eyes. I've middle ringed it before to Preston TH, but I was stoked as this is the first time I stayed in middle ring up to the towers.

Total = 10 hours

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey - Ken. I think I know you - remember Herjeu? This is Lucy. How are you? Email me - lucy.fortin@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

Oh - It is not Lucy Herjeu anymore - I'm sure that is no surprise, though.