E2 (Endurance Ride)

Today I went out for one of my longer endurance rides since very early in the training season. I felt like my endurance has suffered somewhat due to all the racing and lack of the longer rides on Sundays. In general I have been a little burn't out and have lost some ambition to go out and ride. The midseason break and our trip to Kansas City has refreshed my enthusiasm along with upcomming solo races at the 12 hours of Kato.

Ride Summary
Ride Duration: #:##:##
Total Distance: ##.# miles
Average Speed: ##.# mph
Average Power: ### watts
Average Heart Rate: ### bpm

Hill Sprints (KC, Missouri)

Hill Sprints (Maybe!)!

Yesterday we made the trip from Kansas City, MO to Omaha NE to visit the Zoo. That meant another 7+ hours in the car, which translated to two pairs of dead legs this morning (Andrea's and mine).

During the warm-up the legs seemed to feel fine, but they just did not want to be worked hard. I asked Andrea and she noticed the same thing. After about 20 minutes and a couple of decent climbs and the legs felt much better and were ready to go. We worked our way South out of town on Holmes Ave and got into a good rhythm on the climbs. I dropped Andrea on the first climb, but she held strong from that point forward.

The traffic going North on Holmes was fairly heavy so we got off on a side street and found an area with some good hills to hammer up and down. We went up and down a couple of times before heading back towards home. I felt fairly rested so I told Andrea I was going to "stand" on the next few climbs and sprint up them. I was able to "kill" the climbs in my big ring in front and midway on the back cassette. This makes me wonder if I give myself enough time to recover between some of my intervals!

Andrea was riding really strong and was keeping a solid pace on Blue River Road and the remaining climbs on Blue Ride Road.


Ride Summary
Ride Duration: 1:24:33
Total Distance: 22.8 miles
Average Speed: 16.3 mph
Average Heart Rate: 137 bpm
Elevation Gain: 1100 feet

E2 (Endurance)

Andrea and I managed to get up early enough this morning to get in a decent ride around Kansas City. We weren't sure what to expect as far as traffic and road conditions and there are no roads with shoulders to ride on.

It took about 30 minutes to get out of the city far enough for the traffic to subside and most of the traffic was going the opposite direction anyway. Andrea was an animal on the climbs and pushed as hard as I wanted to go (at least for an endurance ride). We did our best to get lost, but there are only so many roads it was actually difficult. We found our way back and stopped at about the 1:45 mark at McDonald's to grab a quick bite to eat and rest for a few minutes before heading the remainder of the way home.

On the way back home Andrea spotted a trail head on the side of Blue River Road and we circled back to check it out. We were pleasantly surprised by a very well groomed and challenging trail. We road the trail for about 25 minutes before it merged back into the road. From what I have read we only rode a small part of the entire trail. If we get time later in the week I think we will go back out and explore it a little bit more.

Ride Summary
Ride Duration: 2:30:23
Total Distance: 35.4 miles
Average Speed: 14.2 mph
Average Power: ### watts
Average Heart Rate: 128 bpm
Elevation Gain: 1580 feet

A2 (Anearobic VO2 Max Intervals)

Hammer Session! (Kansas City, Missouri)

After sitting in the car for 8 hours Friday/Saturday the legs felt a little ooky! I typically go out for a fairly hard workout on Saturday morning, but with the late night of driving getting up was impossible.

I managed to go out for a ride later in the afternoon to map out a few rides for later in the week. I didn't have much time because it was getting close to dinner time so I decided to hit it rather hard. The weather was nice but a little on the warm side 90+ with little to no wind.

The ride started fairly mellow for the first 10 minutes, but there are a few decent climbs and I pushed out of the saddle each time keeping a good pace. It is really nice training where there are some hills because I feel very comfortable climbing. The hills are nothing spectacular, 100+ feet is typical with little flat ground in between. Unless you are following a river you are either going up or down.

The ride was short lasting less than one hour but I must have pushed it fairly hard because as soon as I got back and stopped my body was covered in sweet.

Ride Summary
Ride Duration: 0:57:12
Total Distance: 18.1 miles
Average Speed: 19.0 mph
Average Heart Rate: 162 bpm
Elevation Gain: 860 feet

M3 (Threshold Ride)

Limited Time, Why not Push It!

This morning I had a little less time to complete my workout, because I had left my biking bag at work the night before. Therefore, I got up early, ate a quick breakfast and drove to work to start my ride from there rather than the house.

Because I had limited time I decided to do a threshold ride where I push slightly below LT for 20-40 minutes. Seeing as the races are all over 2 hours (for me at least) I decided to hit it hard for the entire ride. I had somewhat of an short warm-up, hitting it fairly hard only 10 minutes into the ride. The legs felt really good and the slight twinge in my right knee did not seem to be a problem. On the way out I was pushing a slight head wind, but as time goes on and I become a stronger riders the wind is less of a factor. I road the back way to Dassel and heading back on Hwy 15.

Ride Summary
Ride Duration: 1:29:02
Total Distance: ##.# miles
Average Speed: 20.3 mph
Average Power: ### watts
Average Heart Rate: ### bpm
Elevation Gain: #### feet

E2 (Endurance)

It was actually nice to get up this morning for a ride. Although I was not exactly thrilled to get out of bed at 4:30 AM, I at least felt like I had a decent nights sleep.

Andrea and I were on the bikes by 5:00 and started fairly easy. It was actually quite cool, 54 F, this morning and it took a little while for the legs to warm up. We took the Loose Line trail to Hwy 15 and pushed it a little up the hill. We rode side by side for a little while before I took the lead for a while. It was nice riding together since most of the time we ride separately. At the 45 minute mark we turned around heading south back towards Hutchinson. We mostly rode side by side, which puts me in the lower range for an E2 and the upper range for Andrea. That was fine by me, however, because my legs were still a little sore from Sunday.

The ride went well, but I was scheduled for a 2 hour ride and this was a little short. I might try to get out over lunch for another ride to make up the difference. We have a 3 week break before the next race, so it is a good time to build up the volume again.

Ride Summary
Ride Duration: 1:29:01
Total Distance: 24.8 miles
Average Speed: 16.7 mph
Average Heart Rate: 135 bpm
Elevation Gain: ### feet

Preride

We arrived at Mt. Kato a little after 10:00 AM because we knew it was going to be a hot one. I got the kids bikes down and let them ride around in the parking lot while I got ready to go out with Taylor on the preride.

After the preride with Taylor I needed to check out some some of the new sections that they added to the Expert/Comp course for this year. I kept a moderate pace up the "Kato Climb" and rolled through the single track on top and ripped through the downhill sections. As my fitness keeps improving the hills keep getting smaller and smaller. The new sections "Ridge Line" and "Quick Release" were fairly technical and fun with a lot of roots and tricky turns. I was a little tentative down "Quick Release" but it is a section you have to fully commit to or you can get really messed up. You need to make the turn, pick a line (any line), and let the bike go.

The lap time was about 28 minutes and I felt pretty good afterwards.

Fractured Rib (Again)

Last weekend during the WORS race in Eau Claire I crashed on my second lap, landing on my lower back. It felt like someone had taken a 2x4 across my back, knocking the wind out of me. I laid there for a minutes trying to get my wind back and evaluate if anything was broken. Although my back was really sore, I was able to get back on the bike and finish the race. I was actually surprised that I didn't brake anything.

Well, I was wrong. After cleaning up a few things in the basement including lifting a heavy bin to the top of the storage shelf, I know now that I have a fractured rib. Normal body movements don't seem to bother me much, but I sneezed a couple of times and the pain was enough to make me nearly pass out. It doesn't hurt to breath deeply, but if I breath in and hold it, it hurts like crazy. I have taken Ibuprofen and Tylenol and it doesn't even take the edge off the pain.

Surprisingly riding the bike doesn't seem to bother it very much, even going over bumps seems fine. The problem is if I need to twist my lower body to the right

I don't think I will be riding this weekend. I am really disappointed, because I have just recovered from a cold and am feeling good.

A2 (Anearobic VO2 Max Intervals)

A beautiful night for a little pain

I realized Wednesday that I have fractured another rib and feeling kind of down because the chances are slim that I will race on Sunday

Schedule
0 - 20 min warm up
0:20 - 0:24 Interval #1
0:24 - 0:28 Recovery
0:28 - 0:32 Interval #2
0:32 - 0:36 Recovery
0:36 - 0:40 Interval #3
0:40 - 0:44 Recovery
0:44 - 0:48 Interval #4
0:48 - 0:52 Recovery
0:52 - 0:56 Interval #5
0:56 - 1:00 Recovery
1:00 - 1:10 E2

The legs felt good and I was able to push a strong E2 ride following the intervals. I will keep tracking the results and look for steady improvements.

Group Ride

After having Monday off and a race coming up this Sunday, I though it would be a good idea to get in a little intensity early in the week. Therefore, I made my way downtown to meet up with the weekly group ride.

Because the 4th fell on a Wednesday our group was small 5 guys with all of the heavy hitters absent. That left me to find a way to generate some intensity with the B group, which wasn't too bad seeing I was riding my mountain bike and the rest of the group had road bikes. The ride started out fairly slow until we worked our way North out of town and I just lazily rode in the back feeling things out. Once we got out of town the pace picked up and I moved to the front to push harder. I pushed hard on any uphill and easily pulled away from the group, but I would slow down each time because I enjoyed riding with them.

The ride went well, but I wish the group would have been a little stronger to push me a little harder. Fun either way.

Ride Summary
Ride Time: 1:45:22
Ave Speed: 17.5 mph
Ave HR: 149 bpm
Distance 30.8 miles