First annual snot rocket ride

First brick workout of the year. This is a weekend of firsts...first outdoor ride, first brick and first race (tomorrow).

I decided to do the Belleville ride I did last year on March 10th, although it would be more aptly named the New Glarus ride since I ride through Belleville on my way to New Glarus and then home. New Glarus is Wisconsin's Little Switzerland. It's a fun town to ride through on a long ride.

When I left the house the temperature was about 35 degrees and I think it may have dropped a bit on my ride because it was frosty out there. So I've decided to rename this ride the Snot Rocket Ride. I will do this ride every year in the middle of March and leave a 50 mile trail of frozen snot.




Like last year, this ride tore me apart. It was rough out there. It was good on the way out. The temperature was good and I had a tailwind. I wasn't working that hard, and my average speed when I hit Belleville was 20 mph. I didn't check my speed in New Glarus, but I'm guessing it was around 19. I stopped briefly at the park in New Glarus to eat a Clif bar and bundle up a bit more. The wind was getting cold and I needed to put my headband on to keep my ears warm. My skull cap doesn't do a great job covering my ears.

This is when things got ugly. I had a headwind most of the way back from New Glarus, and it was a cold, cold wind. The hills didn't get to me like they did last year (well, not as much as last year), but the temperature did. I was having a hard time staying focused and I was dreaming of a hot shower. By the time I got home my average speed had dropped to 17 and I couldn't feel my fingers or toes. But no hot shower for me. Not yet....

I had a short run scheduled for today, so I figured I may as well do that right after my ride to save time and get my first brick workout in. I was so cold when I got home I did not want to go back out. It took me a little while to get changed into my running gear and then I ran my hands under warm water for a few minutes to get the feeling back because they were hurtin. Then I threw on my new Zoots, and headed out.

My legs were spent from the ride so the run was a little rough. Plus, I quickly discovered I didn't do a good job with my nutrition on the bike. After ten minutes of running, I was no longer dreaming of a hot shower. I was dreaming of Little Ceasars.

The Zoots were good, but the back of the shoe feels a little weird. I think they'll be good for short races because you can get into them so fast, but I wasn't as impressed as I was hoping to be. They're light and comfortable enough (I wore wool socks so I don't know what they're like barefoot yet), but the back of the shoe is really tall and feels a little goofy. Plus they don't have a lot of support so they won't be good for long races. Maybe I just need a little more time to get used to them.

My expectations for the Shamrock Shuffle tomorrow have lowered to nothing. My legs are trashed right now. I'm not used to long outdoor rides with hills and wind followed by a 30 minute run. Just think about how sore I'm going to be after the Ironman. Compared to that, this workout was nothing.

Here's the cycling data from MotionBased, easily the slowest website on the web. I need a new website to upload GPS data to.


Here's the run data...




While I was waiting for the temp to warm up this morning, I came across this picture. He didn't even let go of the umbrella...

First outdoor ride of 08

There it is...my first outdoor ride of the year. Maybe someday I'll get a digital camera so I can post real pictures instead of crappy screenshots of Google Earth or MotionBased (below).

Last year I rode a little outside in January and February, but I didn't really start riding outdoors until March 10. Considering how horrible this winter was, I didn't think I'd get an outdoor ride in until April. But the weather has finally taken a turn for the better.

So this year I get my first ride in on March 14th...not bad. Only 4 days later than last year. On my first ride last year, I rode 50 miles to Belleville and back on a Saturday morning. The temperature was in the low 50s and I remember the ride was hillier than I thought it was going to be and I was pretty tired when I got home.

For some reason, I haven't really had the cycling bug yet this year. Bike-o-rama got me a little fired up, but not as much as I'd hoped. Maybe it's because everything is still covered in snow, ice, sand and salt. The last 2 days have been in the 50s and the snow is finally starting to melt and the grass is starting to show in a few spots. A few of my co-workers went for a lunch ride today and we talked about it for a while when they got back (Dennis hasn't been on the trainer much this winter and he hit a heartrate zone we didn't even know existed on the lunch ride - good stuff). Then I overheard some more of my co-workers talking about the weather changing and how we'll be able to ride outdoors soon. Then, at about 4:00, I checked the weather and it was 49 degrees and sunny. I stepped outside, and it felt really warm (when winter is as cold as this one has been, 49 degrees feels really, really warm). All of a sudden, I felt the need to ride outdoors...immediately. Spring fever. I love it.

My plan was to ride the trainer tonight, but I figured if I hurried home after work and got on my bike right away I could sneak in a one hour ride before the sun went down and the temperature dropped. I had to scramble to get ready since I wasn't prepared to ride outside, but I managed to get out the door by about 5:30.

What a rude awakening this ride was. I've been hitting the trainer pretty hard this winter - and quite a few of those rides have been 40+ miles - so I figured an easy one hour ride would be...well...easy. I forgot how much tougher it can be outdoors. You get this false sense of fitness on the trainer. Sure, you have to pedal the whole time and you don't get any breaks at stoplights and you don't get to coast downhill, but you don't have to deal with hills or wind or rough roads. Almost all of my riding on the trainer has been steady state intervals. I haven't really trained for those spikes in power and heart rate you get when climbing or riding into a strong headwind.

I didn't go all out tonight, but I didn't make this as easy as I should have either. I got a little excited being outdoors and decided to push the pace a little more than I had planned. I thought the roads were going to be horrible, but they weren't that bad. A pleasant surprise. I thought I was going to feel strong and fast after all the miles on the trainer (about 1,250) this winter, but I didn't. An unpleasant surprise. I never really felt that good. My legs hurt on the climbs and riding into the wind. I've been training mostly in an aerobic HR zone, so every time my heart rate climbed above 80% of max I struggled. I thought I was in better cycling shape than I am.

Even though the ride didn't go as I expected, it was a lot more fun than being on the trainer. Time goes so much faster outdoors. I've got my work cut out for me, but that's okay. There's still plenty of training time left. The weekend forecast is looking pretty good so I might get out for another ride or two this weekend and see if I can improve my bikejournal ranking of 4267 (in addition to my spreadsheet and trainingpeaks, I log my miles on bikejournal.com - only because that's where I started logging them so all of the miles I've ever ridden are logged there - logging miles is a bit of an obsession for me - it's a sickness - I need help).

I have a 2.5 hour ride scheduled for Sunday, but I'm thinking I might do that ride tomorrow instead. Maybe I'll ride out to Belleville and back like I did last year. I really enjoyed that ride.

Cheri's even thinking of bringing her bike up this weekend so she can get in a ride on Sunday. I'm thinking if I do my long ride tomorrow, I can do the Shamrock Shuffle on Sunday (5K) and then go for an easy ride with Cheri (it won't be as easy as it should be though because she never lets me get off easy - she likes to attack when she sees I'm tired - yeah, that's the way she rolls).

Spring is in the air. I'm fired up.

It's Official. It's Spring!

Every March, one of the local bike shops in Madison throws a huge sale at the Alliant Energy Center called Bike-o-Rama. I don't know why, but I feel compelled to go every year. There's something about the large number of people excited about cycling that gets me fired up for spring. So I go knowing that I won't buy anything (I've been there 3 times and spent more on parking than I have on bike stuff).

We went on Sunday, so the place was picked clean already, which is okay because Cheri and I weren't planning on buying anything anyway. I just wanted to go to be around the enthusiasm and see if there were any killer deals I should take advantage of. Nothing. Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining. But working in the bike industry really takes the fun out of these sales.

So we decided to head over to Erik's Bike Shop to check out the Cannondales. We talked to one of the sales reps for a while, which was fun because he was very helpful, knowledgeable and enthusiastic. He talked to Cheri for a while about women's specific road bikes, and now she wants to get a new bike. She was going to wait for next year, but after flipping through the Cannondale catalog she found a bike she really wants and the price is great.

I'm happy she's going to upgrade because I think she'll be much happier with dura-ace components and then I won't have to adjust her derailluers as often. And I think this is a good time to buy a bike. The cost of raw materials in China is going up quite a bit and I think the price of bikes is going to be going up in the next few years.

Here's a picture of the bike she wants:



Except she wants this color:





It's official. Spring is here.... http://www.madison.com/tct/mad/breaking_news/276097

Thanks, Mayor Dave.

New Zoots

My new shoes arrived today. Yep, bright yellow. Not because I like yellow - I don't - but because that's the only color they come in.

I needed a new pair of race shoes because the ones I've been using have a ton of miles on them and they're, well, a little nasty. Zoot just came out with a line of shoes designed for triathlons so I figured I'd give em a try. What makes them so special, you ask?

They don't have any seams on the inside so you can run with no socks without tearing up your feet. They also have a quick lace system so you don't have to tie them, just give the elastic laces a tug and you're good to go. The back of the shoe is taller than most so you have more shoe to grab to put them on quickly in transition. They also have holes in the bottom so water will drain so your shoes don't fill with water...good for those of us who have a hard time taking water from someone while running and actually getting some of it in our mouths. Best of all, they're super light. I can't wait to get out and take them for a test drive. I'll wait for the snow to melt first.

I did try them on and walk around my apartment a little to see how they feel, and they're great. Very light and comfy. I think they're going to be a great race shoe, but they don't have much support so I don't think I'll be wearing them for the Ironman. Transition times aren't as important in an Ironman so I don't mind taking the time to put on socks and tie my shoes, so I think I'll probably stick with my regular shoes for IM.

I learned something new this winter: you can get a tan in February in Wisconsin. It takes time, but it can be done. I've been running at lunch with a stocking cap on, and Dennis (co-worker) noticed that I have developed a tan line in the middle of my forehead from my cap. Since then I've run a few more times and the tan line has gotten worse. The top of my forehead is bright white, and the middle down is slightly tan. I look ridiculous.

This week is recovery week so I don't have much training to do. I'll probably do about 9 hours vs the 18 hours I did last week. I've gotten so used to training a few hours a day 9 hours a week feels easy now. That's crazy because 9 hours is still a lot of training.

Recovery week is also test week, so I have to do a threshold test tonight on the trainer. The whole ride should take about an hour, and the actual threshold test is only 20 minutes...but that's 20 minutes all out and that hurts. Plus, I now have higher expectations than I did before so I'm all set up for disappointment. Good times.

Intervals

I've been a runner off and on for most of my life, and the one thing my running has always lacked was discipline. I like short, fast runs and I've never really bothered to put in a decent amount of base miles....and that's why I always get hurt running (hence the torn tendon, which is now healed so I can stop complaining about it).

This year has been different, and I'm really proud of the discipline I've showed with my running. Since returning from my knee injury in late December I've run 230 miles, and I haven't run faster than an 8:30 pace until Sunday. I figured I had a decent base built and it was finally time to start working in some intervals and working on my speed. I planned a one hour run with a few short intervals at a fast, but manageable pace - meaning a pace that should get me back into the swing of running fast without, you know, tearing a tendon. Nothing too brutal.

Here was the plan:

Warm up = 15 minutes
Main set = repeat 3 times
- 5 minutes 7:00-7:30 pace
- 5 minutes 9:00-9:30 pace
Cool down = 15 minutes

I was in Janesville for the weekend, and since they don't plow the bike path and you can't count on people to shovel their sidewalks, I had to run on the road. There's still a ton of ice left from the ice storm, so I headed down E. Milwaukee to Cty A. I knew the traffic would be heavy but there wouldn't be much ice. I couldn't risk slipping on ice while doing intervals. Dealing with all the cars wasn't fun, but I had clear roads to run on and that was a nice change of pace.




In the first set I felt a little sluggish and I could tell I haven't pushed the pace in a long time. I've gotten used to long, slow runs (and I've learned to enjoy them). I managed a very uncomfortable 7:22 pace. The second set felt a little better and I finished with a 7:00 pace. The third set was the best. My legs felt good and I finished the set climbing a hill that had about 90 feet of elevation gain over .4 miles. My average pace was 6:59, but my normalized pace (according to Training Peaks) was a 6:22 average so that was nice to see. That was an encouraging set for sure. I can't wait until my next interval run. A few weeks of intervals and it's time to start hill training. I can't wait.

Overall the run went pretty smooth, except for me forgetting when I was supposed to turn around and head home. I was so focused on the intervals I ran way too long on Cty A before I realized I needed to turn around. I had programmed the workout into my watch, so it stopped recording my run at the one hour mark (7 miles), but I still had about a mile left to run before I made it home. I'm really anal about recording my workouts, so I was a little frustrated about that. But overall it was good.

Cheri recently decided that she's going to train for the Madison Half Marathon at the end of May, which I'm planning on doing instead of the Florida Half Ironman, so I'm excited about that. We can train together. I hope she's as excited about running hills as I am.

Levi wins again.

I was happy to see Levi win the Tour of California again, especially after hearing the news about Team Astana being left out of the Tour de France. If you think he should be allowed to ride, you can go to www.letleviride.com and sign his petition. So far he has over 40,000 signatures. I was number 17,000 something.

How about that ride by Tom Zirbel on stage 7? That was impressive, even though Hincappie tore Zirbel's lead apart in a matter of seconds on the final lap. Staying out front for as long as he did was incredible, but what was even more impressive was how he managed to hang with Hincappie's group after being caught. I was sure he was done when they caught him, but he hung on and stayed with them through the finish line. I was really hoping he could mount another attack and take the stage win because he definitely deserved it, but it was a stellar ride nonetheless. Here's a pic:




Watching the Tour of California last week has me fired up for spring and cycling and warm weather and training outside and it couldn't come at a better time because this is a heavy week of training. Lots of long rides on the trainer so it's definitely a week when I'm going to need some motivation. Plus, I've got a tough ride planned for Wednesday...it's Spinervals Time Trialapalooza day again. Gotta get ready for the final indoor TT March 8.

I can't wait to ride outside, but I've accepted that it's going to be a while. We still have a ton of snow that needs to melt, but even if that were to go away overnight (which we all know it won't) the roads still won't be safe. There is a ton of sand and salt on the roads and I've never seen so many potholes. It's amazing how torn up the roads are this year from all the plowing and cold temps. It's like a mine field. I'm gonna have to play it safe and stay indoors for a while, which isn't the worst thing because the trainer definitely makes doing intervals easier. That's one good thing about it.

While I'm on the subject of cycling, what's the deal with the mustaches at the Tour of California?

TT

Levi's ride at the Solvang TT was inspiring. Check out the look of determination on his face. He was focused and he showed that killer instinct I thought he lacked a little last year. You could tell he really wanted that win. Hopefully, they'll let Team Astana back in the Tour and Levi can ride this momentum to a Tour victory.

Yesterday, was the 3rd indoor TT at SBR. I've been putting in a lot of time on the trainer the past 5 weeks, but I haven't tested myself at all so I didn't feel like I gained much fitness. I knew my endurance had gotten better, but it didn't feel like my power had increased. In fact, I've felt like I've been in a bit of a rut lately, just going through the motions without making gains.

I did the first TT in 16:36 and the second in 16:20 so I was really hoping to break the 16 minute mark yesterday. If I couldn't crack 16 minutes, I figured if I could come close then maybe I could beat that mark in the final TT in 2 weeks.

I showed up pretty early and got in a really good warm up. Then I hopped off my trainer for about 5 - 10 minutes while the first heat finished up so I could cool down a bit. SBR isn't very big so it can get pretty hot when you have a group of cyclists on trainers. When they got my group set up on the computrainers, they entered my weight wrong in the system. They didn't get all of my previous weight deleted so I was in the system at just over 2000 lbs. Once the heat started, I was barely working and doing more than 30 mph. Then the trainer added a ton of pressure and I came to a dead stop. They stopped the TT, figured out the problem and got us ready for another go. It didn't really affect me, but the guy next to me didn't realize they stopped the race right away so he put in a good 2 or 3 minutes of work before stopping. After the race, he told me he thinks that may have affected him a bit because he didn't beat his previous time. That sucks that his race was affected by a false start, but he still rode very well and won the heat with a time of 15:31.

I tried to keep my power really steady and my cadence higher than last time. I was at 85 in the second TT and I wanted a cadence of closer to 90 on this one to see how that might affect my ride and fatigue level. I think the higher cadence worked because I never felt a serious burn or fatigue in my legs. It turned out to be a good ride for me and I finished in 15:39, 40 seconds better than the last race. I'm happy with that time, but I'll need to repeat it before I believe it. That's a pretty big increase and I'm not convinced the trainer was calibrated correctly. Typically, my powertap shows my average watts and average speed a little higher than the computrainer. This time, the average speed was higher, but the watts was lower. I think my time may be correct, but I think the computrainer was giving me the wrong wattage info (I'm hoping anyway because I'm quite happy with that time). The computrainer had me finish with an average of 327, up from 292 last time. There is no way I made that big of an increase. My powertap showed 310, up from 295 so that's believable. There's another one in 2 weeks so I'll have to try and repeat this performance and then I'll know the time was correct.

After the TT, Cheri and I went for a run on the bike path. It's still covered in snow and ice, but it was 30 degrees and sunny so it was a nice day to run (yeah, that's how freaking cold it's been this winter). The birds were chirping and people were walking dogs. It almost felt like spring....almost. We did 4.5 miles and Cheri ran really well. Overall, her average pace was faster than last time and we ran further this time. It looks like her base training is paying off. Once spring comes and she steps up her training, I think she's going to make some good gains and have a good year.

Here's a picture of one of the Team Jelly Belly riders from the Solvang TT: