Spin Ups and Single Leg Drills

A late training ride tonight. It was a busy evening with Taylor having girls scouts and Me spending time with Devon and Wyatt getting their bikes ready to ride. I wasn't sure I wanted to get on the ride tonight because my legs were still tired from Monday nights intervals and endurance ride. Despite the fact that I missed the ride on Sunday, I could squeeze in all the scheduled rides this week. With tonight's ride complete that I still might make it.

The way I have been doing the spin ups and single leg drills this year they are more of a recovery ride than a workout. By lowering the resistance and concentrating on form I get the intended benefit without risking over training during the week. I got on the bike at 9:15 PM and started with a 10 minute warm up. It felt good to spin some of the crud out of the legs before starting the single leg drills. I alternated 35 second with one leg then 25 seconds with both than went to the other leg. The SLDs took 20 minuets and then I changed to spin ups were I ramped up to a maximum cadence over 30 second and then maintained that cadence for 45 seconds. I started a new spin up every 5 minutes and finished at the 1 hour mark. The legs feel better today than yesterday so it was beneficial to do the workout. Endurance work tonight that should indicate how the legs are doing.

F2 Hilly Indurance

I missed Sundays F2 ride and have been missing a fair amount of the endurance rides this season. Therefore, I will try to squeeze in a longer ride tonight. I added 15 seconds to each interval making them 1:45 in length but will start each successive interval every 5 minutes meaning the rest period is reduce by 15 seconds. The goal is also to maintain 350 watts for each of the intervals

The intervals went fairly well, but the intensity was a little to high for the added interval length. I struggled through the 8th interval so 8 it is. The warm up and the intervals took about an hour and the remaining 1 hour I maintained a good endurance pace at approx 200 watts. The legs felt fairly good, but I could tell they were worked. Walking up the stairs a little while later I could feel the muscles tightening up. Not sure what the remainder of the training week will entail, but I would like to try to get all the workouts in.

Long Endurance Rid

The weather did not cooperate today with the snow overnight Saturday and temps hovering in the low 20s with little sun most of the day. Andrea and I had hoped to get out for a long 3 hour ride on the hills towards Afton.

I will now need to find a way to work in a longer ride early this week so I keep the base going. So far I have been a litle behind on the long rides; it is hard to find the time to fit them in on Sunday (or any day for that matter). Part of the problem is the fact that Andrea and I have to share the trainer so we can't ride at the same time.

Hopefully the weather will warm up soon and we can start biking together again.

Happy Training.

E2 (Endurance Ride)

For some reason I pulled the short straw and got to get up early to train. I wasn't that bad, however, because today's ride is a relatively short 1 hour endurance ride. To stay consistent with the last couple of weeks I chose to push the pace towards the upper end of the E2 range.

The legs felt dead and stiff this morning. I don't know if it was because it was morning or something else. Either way after 3 or 4 minutes they started to feel better as I gradually ramped up the speed. At the 10 minute mark I was at cruising speed. At the 30 min mark I dropped into my 42/12 gear and held a pace in the low 19s for the next 10 minutes before changing back into 42/13.

Legs felt good and strong and it was only during the 10 min section that I could feel any burning in the quads.

Ride Summary
Ride Duration: 1:00:00
Gearing 42/13
Total Distance: ##.# miles
Average Speed: 18.1 mph
Average Power: ### watts
Average Heart Rate: 1##

S1, S2 (Spin Ups and Single Leg Drills)

I chose to give my legs an extra half day to recover from the 5 hour block of training over the weekend and I think it was a good choice. Although I never like getting up any earlier than necessary for a ride, the extra rest was needed.

I changed the order of the ride so that the single leg drills were before the spin-ups. I think doing the SLDs when the legs are fresh makes more sense. Also, finishing with the spin ups will train the legs to spin when they are fatigued in addition to better training the muscles to fire at the correct time. During the SLDs the legs felt good and on Andreas advice I added an additional 1 minute spin between each right/left set. I did the single leg drills for 20 minutes and then started the spin ups. I did 6 spin ups and finished the ride with a 10 minute E2 before spinning for a couple of minutes.

E2 (Endurance Ride)

I was not feeling 100% today, but I managed to complete the designated 3 hour endurance ride. I am not sure if I have a cold comming on or what, but my head was a little plugged up and I felt a little worn down despite getting plenty of sleep.

On the bike, the legs felt a little sluggish at first, therefor, I kept the speed a little lower during the warm up to "feel" things out. After the 10 min warm-up I settled into a decent pace in the low 17s. I knew the ride was going to seem like a long time and at the 1 hour mark I was ready to be done. It was not that the legs felt bad, but rather I was just bored. I put in Star Wars and watched it with Wyatt for the first two hours of the ride, but it didn't help too much. I thought about quitting at the two hour mark and forced myself to 2.5 hours. At that time Andrea provided additional encouragement buy stating that we might not be able to get in our long rides next weekend because of Wyatts birthday. I did manage to complete the entire 3 hour ride, but I will not say that it wasn't difficult.

After the ride I grabbed some lunch and soaked the legs in the tub for a while.

Ride Summary
Ride Duration: 3:0:20
Gearing 42/14
Total Distance: 53.5 miles
Average Speed: 17.8 mph
Average Power: 204 watts
Average Heart Rate: 149

E2 (Endurance Ride)

Felt good, the legs felt fully recovered and the ride went fairly quick.

Ride Summary
Ride Duration: 2:0:00
Gearing 42/14
Total Distance: 35.0 miles
Average Speed: 17.5 mph
Average Power: 197 watts
Average Heart Rate: 154