Mid Season Recap

Beem Awhile since I posted a bike related blog...or any for that matter.  This season I made a decision to focus on Mountain Bike racing vs road racing.  There were a few reasons why i chose to do this but mostly I just enjoy riding in the woods more.  Surprisingly, I find XC Mountain bike racing more demanding.  There is less strategy in XC Mountain biking than road racing but a bigger demand on fitness, strength and endurance.  In Road racing the fastest doesn't  always win...team tactics..drafting..etc tend to "level the playing field".  Conversely in XC Mtn Bike racing the fittest fastest usually wins.

I entered the XC season in pretty strong form.  I had a successful XC Short track season with 2 wins and never finished off the podium.  My main goals for the XC season where 1. upgrade to Cat 1, 2. podium in the North Carolina XC Championships, qualify for XC National Championships.

So far i have only achieved 1 of the goals, but I remain undeterred.  I was able to upgrade to a Cat 1 in 3 races.  I competed in 3 of the Southern Classic MTB Southern Classic Series races as a Cat 2.

Killer 3 at the Knott in Sumter, SC 2nd.

Dark Mountain XC- 1st,

 Race to The River (SC State Championships) 1st.

Unfortunately I was unable to compete in the NC State XC Championships as I had surgery to remove a Malignant skin cancer tumor on my shoulder and broken ribs suffered in a training crash.

I did some other competitive MTB races that helped round out a good busy early season.

A group of The Total Cyclist MTB Team competed in the 6 Hours of Warrior Creek.  I raced with Mike Schaffer in the 40+ duo category and we where able to pull of a  2nd place to a strong team from Boone, NC

I also competed in a fun event out at the  U.S. National White Water Center called Tuckfest, a weekend long festival of outdoor competitions from trail races, MTN Biking races, white water challenges etc.  I raced in the King of Goat Hill, K.O.G.H Challenge..a 3 lap race that incorporates all the hardest climbs at the WWC...result another win.  If you haven't been out to the USNWC you need to!  It is one of the gems in the Charlotte area.

All in all its been a very good season for me.  We all have challenges...isnt that life in general?  Mine have been mostly health related.  Its how you choose to let those challenges affect you that defines your character.  You can choose to use them as excuses or internalize them and make it motivation.  I choose persistence....its what I know and a gift from my Mom. (miss her everyday).

Peace, Luv and single track

Back To BASE-ICS

you need to build a big base to reach high

In a previous post I mentioned stepping up and hiring a coach.  If you are serious about the sport you compete in hiring a coach is one of the best performance improvements you can make and its money well spent.  There are many benefits to hiring a coach, accountability, experience, motivation to name a few.   Anyone can read a book or pay for a training plan but nothing can replace the the personal interaction, experience and motivation that a coach can provide.  For me its more about the accountability.  While I believe myself to be at the higher end of the self motivation scale, having someone to answer to is the kick in the tail I need as an athlete. So what does hiring a coach have to do with BASICS?  When I first sat down with my Total Cyclist  coach,Jackie Crowell jackiecrowell@wordpress.com and analyzed my data there was a huge glaring component missing form my training, BASE miles.  I had none!  all my riding was done at Tempo, Lactate Threshold, VO2 Max, Anaerobic Capacity and Neuromuscular Power…huh? in layman's terms too hard!  BASE miles are done in Zone 2 or Endurance.  The above terminology is used when training with a power meter. a power meter measures in watts (energy) the effort it takes you to propel the bike, it is a more accurate calculation than using heart rate.  The training zones (in the chart below) are based off of LT or FTP otherwise known as  Lactate Threshold. LT is determined with a power test.

•               Level 1 Active Recovery = < 55% of LT

•               Level 2 Endurance = 56-75% of LT

•               Level 3 Tempo = 76-90% of LT

•               Level 4 Lactate Threshold = 91-105% of LT

•               Level 5 VO2 Max = 106-120% of LT

•               Level 6 Anaerobic Capacity = 121-150% of LT

•               Level 7 Neuromuscular Power = maximum effort

Going into this off season I knew there would be a lot of BASE miles. So what is BASE.  “Base training is the foundation upon which everything else rests,” says Danny­ Suter, USA Cycling Level 2 coach and founder of the Boulder Performance ­Network. When you build endurance, eventually you can get more out of higher-­intensity riding and a heavier training load. “Riders who go straight into speed work can get fast on the bike,” says Hunter Allen, coauthor of Training and Racing with a Power Meter. “But they won’t have aerobic endurance, so their fitness lasts just a few weeks before they slow down.” 

When you ride for two or more hours (or less for new riders) at a steady pace—a typical base ride—your body responds with changes that allow you to use more oxygen and burn more fat as fuel, says coach Joe Friel, author of The Cyclist’s Training Bible. For starters, these rides build more ­capillaries, the tiny blood vessels that deliver oxygen-rich blood to your muscles. Your mitochondria—the parts of your cells that produce energy—also multiply and enlarge. And you churn out more enzymes that help turn stored fuel into energy. The result: You can ride faster and longer. 

Most of my off season riding has consisted of long slower rides with 1 or 2 harder rides mixed in each week.  Coming into the Christmas Holiday Jackie and I had discussed a BIG BASE week. The week of Christmas is slow at work and I wasn't planning on traveling so it made sense.  My Training week is Monday to Sunday so for this example it was 12/23-12/29.  My training plan for the week was 16 Hours on the bike, the majority of which was to be in Zone 2.    I totaled 17hrs 10min, 290 miles, and 8900 kilojoules for the week. For reference my biggest week for the year till then was 13hrs, 235miles and 6500kilojoules and that was in June. Last December I rode a total of 250 miles.

  

Even though it was a slower week at work it is still challenging to get that amount of riding in. Add the shorter days and an unusually cold week and its tough.  Monday is my rest day.  Long rides of 3 plus hrs where planned for Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. with harder shorter rides on Tuesday and Thursday.  Tuesday my friend and Pro Triathlete Jenny Leiser was nice enough to give me company and play mouse to my cat for the short intervals I had to complete. (Cat-N-Mouse is a fun way to get through intervals…1 or more riders ease up the rode as you ease off and when a large enough gap is created you chase em down).  It can take a bit of coordination to get the timing and distance down but it makes for a fun workout.  The ride started out chilly but warmed up by the end. The intervals where  4 short  12 sec Form Sprints starting at 5mph.  It was a nice ride and day.  Wednesday was Christmas and a small group of intrepid  friends had planned a ride followed by brunch at one of their homes.  We started out at 9 am and it was down right cold I think 23 degrees.   I had every piece of warm gear I own on and was still numb. We could only make it just over an hour.  We coldly road back and had a great brunch.  Since I still had 2 hours to get in I went back out at 2pm and finished the rest of my workout which consisted of  3X10min Tempo intervals(zone 3) with 10 min recovery in zone 2.  The rest of the ride was in Zone 1-2.  Thursday was an easy 1-1.5 hour recovery ride in zone 1/2.   Friday's ride was a bit more challenging because of work.  My plan had me doing 3 hrs, luckily work pretty much went dead after lunch so I was able to break away at around 2pm.  This was a solo ride all in zone 2.  Friday had warmed up a bit so it wasn't to uncomfortable on the bike.  Even had a nice coffee stop in Mount Holly. Saturday and Sunday where each 3.5hrs in zone 2.  I was able to ride outdoors for all but Sundays ride which was done at Total Cyclist Mid-Town training center.  It was a Real Course Video CompuTrainer  ride http://www.computrainer.com/rm_inc/IRCVideos.htm if you are unfamiliar with a CompuTrainer it is much more interactive than just sitting on a trainer (you can shift gears as the computer adjusts the resistance based on the terrain in the video you are watching, but its still really hard to get through 3.5 hours on a trainer

Getting the work done!

Hope you enjoy, and thanks for reading

Cheers Slip

Ride to not From!