Flightlessbirds Flaps Forward to 2010 (Cycling)

[flightlessbirds]

Looks like this team thing is working out! Je suis trés excitée! I will have a proper coach! New bike! Female teammates! Team training camp!

Tuesday - Trainer (80 min)
Supposed to be a track night, but my ride was sick so I hopped on the trainer instead. 2 x 20 minute intervals. Couldn't seem to get my heart rate up as high as the first set of these I did. For the second interval it was only 166 on average instead of 171. The effort felt the same though and I used the same gearing and cadence. I guess it is not surprising that the body behaves differently on different days.

[fredrikw]

wow, that's excellent news, congratulations!

looking forward seeing what this coach will do with yout training schedule, and also how yousee it in comparison to Friel's.

[Mr. Cleetus]

That's awesome! Congrats!

[flightlessbirds]

Thanks Fredrik and Mr.C.

looking forward seeing what this coach will do with yout training schedule, and also how yousee it in comparison to Friel's.

Yeah, should be interesting! I feel like Friel has served me well thus far but I am still pretty new and putting all the components of a good training plan together. Hopefully he'll be able to get me closer to that fine line between pushing your limits as much as possible and burning out.

wednesday - Trainer + strength (2 hr total):
Did the pyramid trainer session again (http://www.turbotraining.co.uk/indoor_c ... php?id=225) with the resistance cranked for a good strength workout. Added some extra time at the beginning and end. Followed this up with 10 min abs, pushups and some yoga and stretching. Legs feel nice and worked.

[flightlessbirds]

Met my new coach in person for the first time last night and he sized me up for my new bike. Met his wife who is co-coaching and who is a former Olympian, National champ, competed at a world class level in cycling. She's very nice and I really look forward to riding with her and getting advice from her.
We talked about what I was doing right now and he thought I was going a little hard. Supposed to ride (or ski) six days a week with two, two hour rides but with less intensity. For threshold intervals he only wants me to be doing them for 10 minutes with 10 minute recoveries and do four of those as apposed to the 2 x 20 with 5 minute rest interval.

Friday - Strength (1.5 hr)
15 minute warmup on the treadmill. Haven't run for a while and actually felt really good to do it. Also like the treadmill over the bike for warmups as with the recliner style bikes they have in my school gym you aren't moving your upper body at all.

Leg press (each leg) 2 x 15 @ 18 kg + 1 x 15 @ 27 kg
Lat pulldown 1 x 15 @ 27 kg and 2 x 10 @ 36 kg
Seated pull (hip flexor dealie) on pulley weights 2 x 15 @ 10 kg + 1 x 15 @ 15 kg.
Shoulder press on bozu 3 x 15 @ 20 kg free weights (2 x 10 kg)
10 minute abs - used 4 lb medicine ball for the situps and oblique situps.
5 minute cooldown on rowing machine
lots of stretching after those heavier weights! Nice to know I am making some progress though. Next time I'll try to do all sets at the higher weights I did today.

[fredrikw]

sounds promising. is the 4x10 a buildup to longer intervals, or is that as long as they will be? the early weeks of my training schedule I also did 2-3x10, but gradually increased the length.

New team bike, that's awesome

[flightlessbirds]

sounds promising. is the 4x10 a buildup to longer intervals, or is that as long as they will be? the early weeks of my training schedule I also did 2-3x10, but gradually increased the length.

New team bike, that's awesome

Yup, it's a buildup. Going to try to focus mostly on longer, less intense sessions for the next little while. I say this after kind of hammering way too hard yesterday, haha.

This weekend me 'n the boy rented a little cabin out in the country. It was quite lovely and was situated on a beautiful forested property. Also featured a giant dog named Dood, who was awesome. As any good cycling couple would do on a romantic weekend getaway in mid-February we brought our bikes . The weather was actually supposed to be really nice.

Saturday we wussed out and just rode our trainers indoors for an hour. Said boy worked in a bike shop for a while and we finally took the time for him to attempt to do a setup for me. We dropped my bars (ugh, now there is steer tube sticking up but oh well), tilted my saddle back a bit and moved it forward and slightly up. The new set up felt good on the trainer but I wasn't really used to it so it felt a little funny too. Afterwards we went outside to explore the woods.

Sunday I went out for an hour and a half ride (it was gorgeous out). As soon as I was out on the road the new setup felt amazing. I ended up pushing much harder than I should have because it felt great. With the bars lower and the seat forward I feel like a monster in the drops. On downhills I've done a million times I was suddenly going between 5 to 10 km/hr faster pedaling in the big ring. On some uphills I could stay in the drops and power my way over them no problem. I also tried out a few sprints in the drops and damn having the bars lower makes a huge power difference!
Oh and now the knee that used to kind of track in circles while I pedaled tracks straight up and down. I didn't have any calf pain where I usually do after a ride and my knees felt good. Very happy!

[Mr. Cleetus]

sounds like some great changes! Pretty amazing what being in a good position can do. Also sounds like a fun weekend.

[flightlessbirds]

Yeah, I wish I had some way of comparing power before and after the setup change. I feel like the difference would be significant!

Trying to get through another high volume week now while getting a bunch of work done for school and preparing for another show as well.

Tuesday - Trainer (1.5 hr): Not overly exciting and didn't push too hard but did some high cadence work.

Wednesday - Yoga + Trainer (1 + 1.5 hr):
Hour Ashtanga yoga. Did some nice hip stretches which felt so good that I moaned outloud during one .
After school I hopped on the trainer and did 4 x 10 with long (10 minute) recoveries in between on the advice of my coach. The last 10 minute interval felt really good. Heart rate got up nicely to between 166 and 171 for most of the interval where as it was hovering around 160 to 164 for the previous 3.
Still liking the new setup though I can feel that my core needs to adapt to the lower bars.

[flightlessbirds]

Thursday - Trainer (1.5 hr):
Ugh, at this point I was already getting sick of my trainer but the conditions outside were not suitable for even my cross bike. Lots of wet, fresh snow that made the roads really slippery and there were car accidents everywhere this week. Didn't even ride my bike to school most days.
Anyway, didn't do anything special on this workout, which made it extra boring. Just worked through the gears to simulate some hills.

Friday - Gym + trainer (1.5 + .5 hrs):
15 min treadmill
3x10 @ 27 kg each leg press
3 x 10 @ 14 kg each hip flexor seated pull
3 x 15 @ 20 kg shoulder press on bozu ball
10 min abs
3 x 10 one legged squats, each leg
2 x 10 hamstring curls (I always find these really difficult and can never seem to get through too many before my hamstrings feel like they're about to tear.
5 min cooldown on bike at gym then 30 minutes on trainer at home.

Saturday - Ski + trainer (1.5 + 1 hr):
Finally got out on my skis to actually enjoy the snow! It's the end of February and it is the first time it really feels like winter this year. Kinda crazy. Took my skis to the big park a couple blocks from my house and had a great time struggling through the soft, deep snow. Did some exploring of the park, took a break for some sledding and snowball fighting with some friends, and generally had a great time NOT BEING ON MY TRAINER.

Then later I got on my trainer... did an hour. Worked on some high cadence stuff. Working up to spinning as fast as I can and then holding that as long as possible. Makes my HR shoot up so fast! Did five of those.

[fredrikw]

at this rate you're going to hate your trainer more than anything in no time... my suggestion is that if you're going to remain friends with it you need to try to be a little bit more structured in your trainining. decide in advance exactly how the session will look like, instead of just pedaling more or less randomly just to "get on the bike". and make every session hard. 2-3x20 sessions are good fillers, they're almost always relevant and good for you.

[flightlessbirds]

decide in advance exactly how the session will look like, instead of just pedaling more or less randomly just to "get on the bike".

I think you are very right about this. I think planning the week in advance would be helpful for me. Often I get home and feel rushed to get in a trainer ride before some other commitment so I just hop on. It is brutal to do an hour and a half with out a plan.

Hopefully better planning, and also just less trainer will keep me from going crazy.

sunday - xc ski (1.5 hr):

Had a very nice ski. Weather was great and the snow was pretty good in most places. My friend showed me some great trails with lots of fun hills and I definitely got in a great aerobic workout.
Hopefully the snow will stick around for at least a week, but I'm not holding my breath as the forcast calls for plus temperatures all week, sigh. Supposed that is good for riding, but I really would like to get in some more skiing!

Was supposed to get in another hour on Sunday but decided to watch the Canada vs US hockey finals instead. Great game!

[fredrikw]

better cut back on those other commitments then

[flightlessbirds]

better cut back on those other commitments then

Sigh, that is actually quite true. Sick again! Need to stop thinking I can train harder than I have before and still run around doing all this other stuff.

[fredrikw]

sorry to hear that, hope you feel better soon.

yeah, it's hard when you don't allow yourself to rest and recover. unless you want to cut down on the training (which I doubt you want with all the new and exciting stuff happening right now).