M2 (Cruize Intervals)

Back on the bike finally

After fighting a bad cold for nearly a week and the family deciding they wanted to go to the "Fire Cracker" in Eau Claire, I though I should get back on the bike. Although the body was feeling better I still had occasional "coughing fits" that would last 10-15 minutes. The plan was to go out for a fairly easy ride just to see how the lungs would feel with a few intervals thrown in for fun.

I started by heading into a slight headwind and took it easy for the first 5 - 10 minutes to get the legs warmed up. As I turned to head west, I picked up the pace a little to see how my body would respond. Everything felt pretty good, I was able to breath easily and the legs had plenty of snap in them. I kicked it up a little more and felt comfortable at a HR of 168-174 so continued at that pace hoping to hold it for 20 minutes or so. At the 30 minute mark I turned around and sprinted back up to that pace and continued another 20 minutes on the way back averaging around 21-22 mph with a slight tail wind. I felt fairly good through the entire ride and hammered up the hills pushing the HR into the 180s without much discomfort.

When I got back home I felt good, but immediately stared another coughing session, which lasted for nearly 30 minutes. Later in the night, however, I felt better and was glad that I went out and pushed it fairly hard.

Ride Summary

Duration: 0:55:00

Distance: 18.2 mi

Speed Ave: 19.7 mph

HR Ave: 166 bpm

Race (Buck Hill #6)

As we headed toward the twin cities from Hutchinson the weather looked ominous. A really good storm had rolled through earlier in the day and when Andrea picked me up at 4 there was another line of storms just off to the west and coming our way. Because of the road construction we decided to travel Hwy 7 and take I494 to I35E, which didn't work to well and we arrived too late to get in a pre-ride.

For some reason I was a little lazy at getting to the starting line and initially was lined up way to the left behind a black barrel. I did manage to squeeze in towards the road so I had a clear path to the gravel road. On the start I let the majority of the field go and ended up near the back of the pack entering the single track. I managed to stay on my bike despite the fact that everyone else was walking up the short steep climb, which allowed me to pass a couple of riders as they remounted their bikes. I chose to lay back and recover slightly through the first section of single track. I managed to pass a hand full of riders on the first climb and a couple more on the second climb before entering the single track on the backside. I held a good pace for the second and third laps, but the more aggressive tires were noticeably harder to push. On the third lap I caught up to Matt Nelson and we had a good battle with me gaining on the climbs and Matt charging hard in the single track. Near the end of the race I caught two riders and held there wheel across the front slope. I took the inside line on the last downhill and crossed over to the right at the bottom. I then shifted up slightly and sprinted past the two riders to finish in 27th position.

Day Off

Today I took an unplanned day off. The legs were still a little tired from last nights endurance ride on the trainer. In addition, I had meetings sandwhiched between my lunch hour so I couldn't take an extended lunch for a good training ride. I used that time to catch up on some work tasks that have been lingering.

E2 (Endurance Ride) on Trainer

It is Strange that I would ride on the trainer on such a beautiful day, but I have good reasons. First, I was unwilling to get up early to fit in my ride so that left me with trying to find time in the evening. Andrea was willing to take the girls to their evening softball practice, but I kept the boys home with me to get a little yard work done. Although that gave me time to ride, I would have to stay near home because the boys would be in bed and Andrea wouldn't get back until around 9:00 PM. The second reason is that the trainer gives me a good indication of my power levels so I cam make a comparison to rides earlier in the season.

I set up the trainer in its usual location facing the big screen TV and turned to the last couple of innings of the Twins game. My legs felt good during the warm-up and I quickly ramped it up to 18+ mph. I was surprised at how low my heart rate was considering the speed I was riding, much better than rides a month ago. The first part of the ride I was in the high 18s but worked it up to 19.3 - 19.5 mph later in the ride. At about the 1:30 mark I could tell that the legs were getting a little tired, but I was able to push through to the end at 2 hours. When I got off the legs felt a little tired but not too bad.

Ride Summary
Time: 2:00:00
Ave Speed: 19.0 mph
Ave HR: 151 bpm
Distance: 38 miles

Day Off

As usual Mondays are a day off and time to get some things done around the house. Tonight I was able to replace the sway bar links on the Van (I can now take turns over 20 mph), and cut the grass.

Trail Ride @ Hillside

After the long ride on Saturday and Jordan's B-day parties the past two days, I wasn't very willing to get up early for a ride. I forced myself to get out of bed though, because Andrea didn't have an opportunity to ride Saturday.

We were both moving really slow but managed to get out of the hose by 5:15 AM. As we headed towards Elk River the sky grow noticeably darker and even sprinkled as we headed through Anoka. As we unloaded the bikes and made some final adjustments to tire and suspension pressures, a few more drops began to fall.

I think we were both looking for an excuse to turn around and go back to bed, but at this point it would be a waste. We entered onto the trail and road the first section fairly clean despite the fact it is littered with roots. A little further down the trail there is section with an uphill berm. As I watched from behind, Andrea went up, stalled and proceeded to fall over. Andrea was a little discus ted, but we soon laughed about it and hoped it wasn't a sing of things to come. I shouldn't have been worried, because Andrea soon kicked it into high gear, riding sections faster than she ever has before. Mid way through the lap I could tell that she was going to have a fast lap time and we finished in 48:41, besting her fastest time by nearly 3 minutes.

We discussed a few things back at the parking lot and headed out for another lap this time turned a sub 48 minute lap. Great job Andrea! At the speeds we are riding know I carry enough momentum through the turns to work on picking lines and body position.

E2 (Endurance Ride)

Fun ride to the cities on a beautiful day.

Ride Account

Race (Buck Hill #5)

Being that it is Thursday, I should be completely recovered from the long hard race the previous Sunday at Afton Alps. The legs felt fairly good and the previous workouts did not leave them very tired.

We arrived at Buck later than anticipated after weaving our way towards the cities due to endless road construction. I didn't have enough time to go out for a lap warm-up, not that I would have anyway because of the heat. A couple of spins around the start/finish area and a couple of short climbs were all I needed to feel ready for the race. For some reason I just wasn't too enthused about the race tonight. I wanted to test a few things out as far as bike set-up goes, but I was in no mood to put myself in any pain

I lined up in the third row at the start and got a decent jump, holding the person in fronts wheel. part way up the service road, however, a couple of riders to my left got tangled up and brought a decent size group to the ground. I managed to avoid the incident, but my eagerness to push through the pack disappeared. After the crest of the hill the trail heads back down into the dirt parking lot before entering a sandy climb at the base of the single track. By this time there was a long line of riders slowly pushing their bikes up the sandy double track section. The game plan now was to ride conservatively for the first lap, passing riders when necessary, then kick up the pace for the remainder of the race trying to pass as many riders on the climbs as possible. Well, I was able to do the first part by riding conservatively, but I was generally lazy the remainder of the race when it came to pushing myself. I was able to pass people effectively on the climbs, but on the relatively flat sections I didn't do a very good job pursuing people in front of me. At the end of lap 3 Cory Gross passed by me and I did nothing to respond. I could see that he was pushing hard to catch up to the riders in front of me. As I started lap 4 I finally got into the race and made a conscious effort to push hard for the remainder of the race. I was amazed at how fast I could ride some of the sections, especially traversing across the ski slopes. I pushed hard the remainder of the lap and started to lap a few adv women and rec men. For some reason I managed to miss the finish line chute and it cost me at least 30 seconds at the end of the race.

Not to bad considering the effort I put into it. One thing that I did notice was my tires skating all over the place. I have been running Hutchinson Pythons, which I like because they roll really well, but they are horrible in the turns especially if there is any sand over hard pack. I have ordered a new set of Kenda Karmas that should arrive by next Thursdays race and I will give them a try

Race Results

E2 (Endurance Ride)

Today I went out for an endurance ride over lunch to get used to the heat. Although it wasn't particularly hot it is much warmer than most of my previous training rides in the early morning hours, I think I saw 84 F on a business sign.

The wind was blowing fairly good when I got on the bike so I decided to head East on 7 so it would only be slightly into the wind, most of it coming across from my right. I took it fairly easy for the first 10 minutes or so because the legs felt a little sluggish from the hard race on Sunday. Things started to come around and I performed a few lazy standing sprints every 10 minutes or so for at least a 1 minute duration. I would then back it back down to the previous pace to recover. I think I performed 4 or 5 of these and then held a high E2 pace for the remainder of the ride.

At about the 55 minute mark I stopped at a golf course on 7 and filled up the water bottle before heading back towards Hutchinson. The wind was no slightly at my back and I was averaging 21-23 mph most of the time. As I headed back towards home I could tell that I was starting to get a little tired because it took extra effort to keep a good pace. I will need to bring something to eat for these rides otherwise they will be somewhat counter productive.

Good ride, the legs are a little tired but not to bad.

Summary

Race (MNSCS #3 Afton Avalanche)

Today's race was a good experience. That is not to say it was a fun experience, but it was good to ride at race intensity in the heat. I realize now that I need to restructure my training to include some longer and intense rides during the hot times of the day. Previously many of my rides have taken place early in the morning when it is still relatively cool out. In general I started out too hard and had to back it way down to even consider finishing the race which I was able to do.

Race Report

Race Results

Race (Buck Hill #4)

No race or training today! After the dissapointing ride on Wednesday I have decided to give the body some rest and see how things shake out.

E2 (Endurance Ride)

I should have stayed in bed!

This mornings ride was absolutely horrible. To start off with I didn't want to get up at 4:30 AM to get on the bike. My body was tired since I did not get to bed early enough the night before. Although the legs didn't feel noticably tired from the simulated starts the night before I could sense they were not quite right. Andrea, however, is just a "machine", and was already dressed and ready to go when I rolled out of bed.

The night before I changed Andrea's HT to 9 speed so Jordan could have her Shimano 8sp trigger shifters, so I went outside to have her take a quick lap around the block to see if everything was working correctly. She pulled back into the driveway and gave me a thumbs up. As she left she told me to go back to bed, I was being slightly grumpy; I should have listened to her. I went back inside, put on the long pants so my legs would stay warm and hopped on the bike at 5:15. As I started out I could feel the heavy legs, but that was not unusual before I get warmed up. I started heading west on Hwy 7 and was pushing a fairly good pace and surprisingly the legs felt fairly good. Even when I made the turn onto 22 and started heading North the legs felt fine. As I turned onto CR 18, however, the wind picked up and I completely died and it was all I could do to just get back home. I cut the ride short and turned on 12 pushing what was now a fairly good headwind. I arrived back at home at 7:00 AM completely toast.

After downloading the data from the Polar it was really funny to compare my results to my wifes.

Summary
Matt
Speed Ave 15.4 mph
HR Ave 141 bpm

Andrea
Speed Ave16.5 mph
HR Ave 138 bpm

Simulated Starts

I think I might have finally found the intensity I need for the starts. Tonight I went out to Stahl's Lake (only local trail in Hutchinson) to practice some starts. In the races so far this year the starts have been my biggest weakness. I just can't seem to get off the line quick enough and keep pace with the front runners (or even mid pack expert riders).

There is a nice section of double track XC ski trail at Stahl's Lake that forms a loop exactly 1 mile in length. The section is almost ideal for starts because it contains a combination of sweeping and tight turns, a few short relatively steep ups and downs, and is a typical length for the prologues.

I make an imaginary line next to a tree and perform a countdown from 10. When I hit GO, I drill it hard for the first 100 m before taking a hard left turn to a downhill section continuing to push it through the climb on the east side of the park. As I crest the top of the hill and head down I crank hard to get enough momentum to clear the next rise and push of the saddle to clear the left hand climb towards the field. This all takes about 45 seconds to a minute before I settle into race pace for the remainder of the loop which lasts a little over 4 minutes. Near the end of the loop the trail raises slightly before exiting out into the gravel parking lot where I push hard to the finish.

Tonight I performed 4 separate starts with a 5 minutes spin on the inner XC trail. The first start was very uncomfortable, with both the legs and lungs screaming after the initial jump. The second felt a little better than the first, but I managed to lower my time slightly by smoothing out a few sections and maintaining momentum up and over the climbs. The third run was much like the second, but will a little less discomfort. I could tell that by the end of the third start I was getting a little tire, but I met up with Andrea in the parking lot and we decided to go out together for one last start. We lined up together and I counted down to GO! Andrea had a little trouble getting started but quickly got back on pace. I pushed as hard as I could through the first section and out into the field but my pace started to slow. I stood up a couple of time to get the legs to turn over and maintain my speed. I finally had that strange feeling in my lungs, it is hard to explain, but the last time I had that feeling was at the start of the Spirit Mountain race last year, which I went on to finish 4th overall. I managed to finish the lap in 4:10 slightly slower than the previous 2 but not bad. Andrea came charging through in 5 minutes, Great Job!

Times
1 4:11
2 4:06
3 4:06
4 4:10

Race (MNSCS #2, Steeple Chase)

I guess you could call this a training ride because shortly into the first set of single track I blew a tire and I was nearly 25 minutes down upon reentering the race.

Full Race Report

Race Results

Preride

Cancelled due to heavy rain.

Enough Said

E1 (Active Recovery)

Despite the late night from the Buck Hill race Jordan and I (more Jordan) were determined to get up and go for a recovery ride in the morning. I woke Jordan up early (5:00 AM) and she kind of rolled over, but once she remembered that we were going riding she quickly shook the sleep from her eyes and jumped out of bed.

The conditions were beautiful, but there was a hint of rain so we didn't want to wait around. I didn't want to get to far from home, but we had an hour so we decided to head down South Grade road and turned on CR 7 toward Menard's. We took a right on Hwy. 15 and headed south for a few miles before turning back to the west. I was impressed at how well Jordan holds a decent speed (typically 12+ mph). As we headed south the sun began to rise over the horizon, just awesome. During the ride Jordan was fairly content to hold a steady pace but occasionally she would sprint up ahead of me coaxing me to follow. I think she managed to push near 18 mph on a couple of occasions. One the way back we passed south grade and turned on Roberts road because we were a couple of minutes ahead of schedule.

The ride lasted nearly 1 hour and it was a good endurance ride for Jordan and a fairly decent recovery ride for myself. We will try to do this again next week.