I have made it a mission of mine to earn as much cycling related 'garb' as possible.
Amongst my collection I have a 'green jersey - esq Mark Cavendish balloon man' and an Eric Zarbel signed PMU foam hand.
Anyways that all pales to my aim to get a podium SKODA Yeti (a 3ft massive toy). I met a real big one today.
Amongst my collection I have a 'green jersey - esq Mark Cavendish balloon man' and an Eric Zarbel signed PMU foam hand.
Anyways that all pales to my aim to get a podium SKODA Yeti (a 3ft massive toy). I met a real big one today.
I saw this video ages ago and its a good race.Then I saw @crossjunkie's had written on his blog about womens raceing and reposted the video on his blog (http://crossjunkie.blogspot.com/). So I've been watching it, over and over and over again.
Firstly I like how Vos in the first lap sprints super hard from the front. Now that's how you start a race.
Secondly Vos comes out of the long descent onto the muddy climb and makes it look flat, while her competitors behind are already grinding away.
Vos, Kuppenagel and Ferrier-Bruneau then just solidly smash away and smash each other until they start to crack.
Made mistakes on laps 1-3 by running the short sharp climbs when I could have ridden them.
I was riding them in the second half of the race but that was too late.
The leaders were always just 30 seconds away. I saw them at exactly the same place and junctions where the course doubled back every single lap.
I rode a 44t and I couldn't get enough speed. I think my smashing around on a road bike means I need to upgrade to a 46t.
I was consistent lap after lap and finished 3rd. But I think I should have been with Nikki and Delia, trying to at least challenge for 2nd. Need to improve my fitness on smashing into the wind.
From the Garmin data, I wasted lap 1. I let people get infront of me and slow me down, my heart rate never really trips above 180 not like the other laps. I should have been pushing through and taking risks, getting past these guys who think they are strong but can't handle a bit of twisty singletrack. Go head butt a tree.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/113650792
I couldn't be bothered to faff about with finding a new stem mount. The answer is celotape.
It works ok until its rains and it kind of miss figures the display. I thought I'd ridden for 33 minutes but it was actually 13.
I went on a 2-3hr ride because I like cycling and I also later in the day was going to BBQ/house warming. It could not be missed, my life wouldn't be fun!
The other thing is - me knowing me, I must eat everything and pour 35ml-40ml measures of rum with my coca cola.
I just don't have control. But I'm not sorry either.
So, I go for a ride.
I have been structuring my rides to hopefully get the most out of them. Sometimes I ride the same roads and climbs again and again, it can get tedious. As I'm an inner city kid, it means I have less routes.
So to get over the tedium, I've got little goals to work to. Stops me slipping into a low heart rate, doing junk miles. This way I see it as putting a brick in the wall I'm building. Then it isn't a chore, it has a reason and can be evaluated.
In order to improve muscular speed and neuromuscular pathways I found a steady long climb, stayed in the big chain ring. Sometime during the climb, did a 20-second acceleration at fastest pace without interruption and without shifting gears. (Represented by the arrows).
The Anaerobic Stuff
To work on my bodies ability to deal with and clear lactate and get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
In cross or a crit an attack might last half a lap (cross) or couple of laps (crit). Lets say 3 minutes.
So I did 3 efforts at riding right up there in that uncomfortable place. Heart rate zone 4 and alittle bit zone 5. (Green circles)
5 minute recovery if possible.
To conclude
The 3 minutes efforts need to be closer. Didn't get my gearing right for first sprint, too easy. I will repeat part of the course so I can do more 3 min efforts and 3 more sprints.
I'm writing this down, here, because I need a diary I can look at when I'm anywhere. This is a good as place as anyway.
The other thing is - me knowing me, I must eat everything and pour 35ml-40ml measures of rum with my coca cola.
I just don't have control. But I'm not sorry either.
So, I go for a ride.
I have been structuring my rides to hopefully get the most out of them. Sometimes I ride the same roads and climbs again and again, it can get tedious. As I'm an inner city kid, it means I have less routes.
So to get over the tedium, I've got little goals to work to. Stops me slipping into a low heart rate, doing junk miles. This way I see it as putting a brick in the wall I'm building. Then it isn't a chore, it has a reason and can be evaluated.
The ride
Strength is the ability of the muscle to exert force at a specified pace and varies for different muscle actions. To strengthen the force that muscles can exert, slow-heavy loads are needed. Explosive power is high angular velocity at the point of impact, resulting in the immediate application of torque to accelerate. In order to improve muscular speed and neuromuscular pathways I found a steady long climb, stayed in the big chain ring. Sometime during the climb, did a 20-second acceleration at fastest pace without interruption and without shifting gears. (Represented by the arrows).
The Anaerobic Stuff
To work on my bodies ability to deal with and clear lactate and get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
In cross or a crit an attack might last half a lap (cross) or couple of laps (crit). Lets say 3 minutes.
So I did 3 efforts at riding right up there in that uncomfortable place. Heart rate zone 4 and alittle bit zone 5. (Green circles)
5 minute recovery if possible.
To conclude
The 3 minutes efforts need to be closer. Didn't get my gearing right for first sprint, too easy. I will repeat part of the course so I can do more 3 min efforts and 3 more sprints.
I'm writing this down, here, because I need a diary I can look at when I'm anywhere. This is a good as place as anyway.
Jersey: something from Rapha
Contents (L-R):
Helmet peak - for bright sun or rain
Spoon - in case I meet Eddy Merckxx on a road made of porridge
Micro Pump
Analogue Stopwatch - techincally I wear this around my neck for accurate timekeeping
Inner Tube
Medium Goats Cheese Pasty - for sustainance on the climbs
This session is designed to keep your LT & AT & VO2max sharp. It also helps the cyclist break away quickly and settle into a fast rhythm. I've based this on something I read in Simon Burneys CX book, I need to make sure I have a solid base. Otherwise top end work and performance will soon crumble mid season.
I've got little time sometimes, so I've been doing a 20minute trail run in the morning with 5x 20second sprints uphill (as per slipppy CX climb).
After work - Warm up ride to Regants Park (10mins) then 3x 8minutes 95-104% Threshold. Currently 177-180bpm.
The park is roughly a 7-8 minute lap (for me). I did 5 minutes recovery. It is good as if you just look up the road, rather than watch the clock you can concentrate on keeping the right tempo.
I've got little time sometimes, so I've been doing a 20minute trail run in the morning with 5x 20second sprints uphill (as per slipppy CX climb).
After work - Warm up ride to Regants Park (10mins) then 3x 8minutes 95-104% Threshold. Currently 177-180bpm.
The park is roughly a 7-8 minute lap (for me). I did 5 minutes recovery. It is good as if you just look up the road, rather than watch the clock you can concentrate on keeping the right tempo.
Recycled Tea Light Holder, $13; Elsewares.com