even with all the traveling my training is going really well. it helps that on both of my vacations and stayed very active and was able get in some running and hiking in the northeast and some awesome riding in sonoma. the biggest change that i have made in the phase of training, besides having a solid structure provided by trevor, is sucking it up an hitting a lot of group rides on the road.
I won't lie... in the past I have always been intimidated to hit group rides with roadies. there were many reasons... i wasn't strong/fast enough, fear of crashing and taking others with me, and just knowing it would be really hard. back in the day Jim urged me get in some group rides, so did cody (who just killed it at the Xterra Mountain Cup race!), and now more recently, trevor has done the same.
back in early may i decided it was time to suck it up. i started attending the swami's tuesday/thursday morning group rides and also getting to the Celo Pacific saturday rides when i was around. at first it was hard... and yes i got dropped, but that ended up being a good thing and gave me a lot of motivation. things quickly turned around and i was hanging with stronger riders on the front, taking pulls, almost throwing up in my mouth, and having a lot of fun... maybe too much.
in the 3 months i have been making 1-2 group rides a week and have seen my power number increase dramatically. i havent done an FTP test but the power I am putting out in all my rides from endurance rides to intervals has increased and RPE has decreased at those wattages. the rides are hard and i have seen my HR get up to 197 bpm and power up to 700w (11w/kg)... which are all new highs for me on training rides! I know 700w may not seem like a lot to most people but it's a number i have never hit before. i have seen my max 10 second, 30 second, 1 min, 10 min, 20 min, 30 min, and 60 min power all increase to all new highs just in the last 3 months. i have to think the group riding has A LOT to do with it.
stats from the group section of tuesday's ride... pretty typical.
duration: 1:02
distance: 20.69
work: 639kj
normal power: 246
max pwr: 697
avg pwr: 175
max hr: 197
avg hr: 149
getting to do these rides is like getting to do little races on weekdays. I'm loving it. trevor is now having to keep me from too much group riding and making me stick to the plan.... and i'll listen. it's working.
justin had a good post about some recent testing he did with a power meter... the dude can throw down some watts!
that's it for now. i have the Rim Nordic #2 this weekend... and it's going to be another tough one. the celo team will be in full effect and hopefully we can score enough points to move in the team standings... we are currently in 4th.
that's it. RR to follow.
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7 comments:
yeah dude youre a freakin animal on group rides. that saturday celo ride a few weeks ago still sends shivers down my back too!
cool beans man! i've been thinking along the same lines lately...just got done talking to justin about it on our ride. group rides trash me like no other so you'll probably find me taggin' along on some celo rides down the road.
Looks like I'll have to find a group to ride with. Been meaning to, but I work a tues to sat schedule and most of the big group rides are on Saturday's in my area. Will have to find one on Sunday's though.
Good luck this weekend! I bet the quality training you've been getting in all these amazing places is going to pay off big time. Hopefully Beth will be playing Sherpa for you!! Unless she's racing again too? Who knows with you guys haha. Have fun.
So true! I can honestly say I felt the strongest on the bike last year when I started going to the swami ride and trying to keep up w/ Keevin and Sean on all my rides.
Hope to join you soon on some of these and looking forward to the RR! KILL IT!!
Awesome the training is working!!
Dude...700W? Um that is HUGE!
It's so fantastic to see the progress you're making and hear about how you're pushing yourself to take some chances w/groups, etc. It's one of the best ways we can really get better.
Keep it UP!
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