High cadence, Steady state, tt efforts

I warmed up with a few 115-120 high cadence efforts (power around 170-180), hen 3x1 steady states at 330 and then did three simulated 5k time trials holding 353, 356 and 356. HR was actually pretty under control at 90%. Could push these more and be upper 360's, maybe higher, especially if outside. For now, good enough.

High Cadence, Steady State, TT efforts: the graph

Over Under comments

Finally got outside to do some riding and did Sundays scheduled interval today which makes this the third day in a row for intervals. Tomorrow will be an off day. Todays 5/2/5/2 x3 went 322/345/324/356, 326/350/320/358, 316/342/307/354. Started to lose power on the last set but overall made up for yesterdays inside debacle on the 8 minute steady state with 2 minute accelerations. Truly had nothing after the first effort and ended up doing three less than stellar efforts before calling it quits. Felt better today being outside.

more over unders: the graph

over/under graph

Welcome to the University of Cincinnati Cycling Team

I recently started working with the University of Cincinnati Cycling Team. We're just now in the process of having each member submit information on their previous training and racing experience and will start the coaching January 1. Hope to have about 14 or 15 members set up with their personalized calendars by then so they can get ready for the upcoming season.

Over Unders

Todays efforts were over/unders with the pattern being 5 minutes at steady state/2 minutes at about time trial pace and that pattern repeated twice within each of the four efforts. So, each effort was 14 minutes with the 5-2-5-2 pattern. I took 4 minutes between each of the 5-2-5-2 efforts. The results looked like this: 317/341/311/340 320/34/319/349 316/347/320/349 318/345/318/349 Overall, just about where I wanted to be. If each was about 5 watts higher I'd be a little deeper into the zone but for inside efforts these will work.

Field Test Comments

Did my 2x8 minute field test today inside given the cold weather (under 20 degrees). Last time we did this was in September at the end of the tt season and I held 377 and 381 on SR 52. Todays efforts in the basement were 363 and 370. last winter I held 370 both times so not too far off those numbers and about 3% off Septembers results which were the highest I ever held on the field test. Was shooting for 370 on both today but got off to a slow start on the first effort. Maybe I didn't do as well on the warmup. Interesting that on the first my HR never went above 168 and on the second I was at 172 at the end. Should be able to get those number higher with max being about 181, 182.

Field Test Graph

article on an athlete I work with

http://livingmagazines.com/Hyde_Park_Living/images/1401/Wimberg/Wimberg.htmlThe endurance athletic next door by Peter Wimberg Lynch 1 Imagine a cold, dark winter morning, it’s 4:30 a.m. and you’re up, on purpose. You might be getting some time in on your bike in the basement or hitting the indoor swimming pool or heading out into the cold to run. By 6 a.m. you’re at the gym for the first of your twice weekly strength training sessions with your personal trainer. You’re willing to put in the time because you have triathlons and marathons from spring to fall and your goals are lofty. What motivates someone to do this? Is it the competition, the idea of staying fit or is there more? Jack Lynch, long-time Hyde Park resident and accomplished endurance athlete, maintains the training schedule noted above. Jack took up endurance sports in 1995, when he was asked by a co-worker to participate in the Morgan’s Triathlon. His co-worker thought Jack would do well, given his fitness from playing racquetball. That co-worker apparently knew talent when he saw it. Eighteen years later, at the age of 70, Jack has become a great example of how staying fit will help you defy aging, how dedication to training will bring results and how those early morning training sessions bring friendship and beauty into everyday life. Jack is a native of Louisville, Kentucky where he was a competitive swimmer at Louisville St. Xavier High School. He’s has been married to his wife Kathie for 43 years. They have one son and two daughters. All are married and have provided Jack and Kathie with five grandchildren. Jack is also one of the owners and Executive Vice President at Sporty’s, the 50 year old company in Clermont County that is the worlds largest supplier of all types of aviation products for pilots. When I first became Jack’s personal trainer at the Cincinnati Sports Club several years ago I asked him about his plans for retirement, and his thought was that as long as he’s healthy and loves what he does, why stop? Having the privilege to work with Jack and get to know him, I’ve come to admire that drive and determination. Jacks preferred running competitions include road races from 5k to full marathons. His triathlon experience includes Olympic Distance Events (about 32 miles of swimming, biking and running) to Half Ironman Events (70.3 miles of the same). A typical training week for Jack includes plenty of weight lifting and plyometrics exercises (lots of jumping), riding his bike twice per week from one to three hours, swimming three days per week from 30 to 60 minutes and running four days per week from 30 minutes to two hours. His total time spent training each week is around 14 hours. And this isn’t just training at a moderate pace. His running, biking and swimming are methodically planned to include plenty of efforts that push his power and heart rate just below - and often well above - race pace for predetermined amounts of time. I know - It’s exhausting just thinking about it. Lynch 1 What does this type of dedication bring in the world of endurance sports? Well, Jack won the Eagleman triathlon, which automatically qualified him for the Hawaii Ironman World Championships back in 2010. He’s also won his age bracket three times at the Chicago Triathlon in addition to winning the Muncie Half Ironman and, with it, the opportunity to compete in the World Championship last September. He’s medaled in too many events all over the Midwest to even mention. The really amazing thing about Jack is he still looks at each season as an opportunity to not only win, but get faster and stronger. He wants to push his training, he wants to re-evaluate his position on the bike, he wants to analyze his swim technique and he hones his diet with a sports nutritionist. He wants to try the latest bike equipment and push his strength training a little more each season. When Jack asks himself if his competition is training more, less or the same, he can pretty well rest assured he’s doing more. Jack also will tell you that while competing is great, you have to enjoy the time training also. This means getting outside early in the morning in January for a run in the snow and enjoying the quiet on the streets. It’s about finding the accomplishment in completing that uphill run on the stretch of Erie Avenue from Roslyn to the District Two Police station. Or completing a series of hill climbing repeats in Ault Park on a spring morning as the sun comes up over the pavilion. Or hitting the outdoor pool at 5:30 a.m. during the summer to train with the other master swimmers. Its also about spending time with friends and training partners like Dr. Dick Dammel and making new friends at events around the country. In this edition of Hyde Park Living where we celebrate staying fit, Jack Lynch is a wonderful example of someone who has found how to continually challenge himself while enjoying every moment from training to racing, all the while inspiring others around him to do the same. 179 Fairfield Avenue. Bellevue, KY 41073. (859) 291-1412. © 2014 Community Publications webmaster@livingmagazines.com

4x8/2 comments

Pretty consistent power on these: 320/348, 320/350, 320/349 and 321/350. Two hours endurance tomorrow, off on Monday and then a field test on Tuesday.

third day of 4x8/2 steady state to tt

day 2, 4 x 8/2

Day 2 out of 3 of the 4 sets (5 yesterday) of the 8 minute steady state immediately followed by 2 minutes near tt pace. Almost the same as yesterday with 312/348, 316/348, 315/350 and 316/349. Legs were definitely tired today after yesterdays 5 efforts and Wednesday spin/circuit two hour effort.

5 x 8/2 efforts

Hels 300/342, 311/345, 316/345, 315/349 and 311/352. Have these tomorrow and Saturday so I can redeem myself on the steady state portion. Should be 320+. Yesterdays circuit class was an issue with the legs today.

5 x 8/2 steady state/tt effort graph

Indoor Time Trial Comments

Rode a 14:57, 357 avg watts, 167 avg HR, 99 avg cadence. Have to say going into this that I was kind of dreading it. I skipped last February after my slow January ride and I had that still on my mind. Its amazing that something I did 11 months ago was still there but all week I was thinking about it. I really suffered in that ride and didn't have a good result. I went off at a reasonable pace today. Out of the 5 riders in my heat I was 4th a couple minutes in. I knew that if I held my typical power I'd catch the others. I tried to hold a steady 350 and never looked at HR until near the end. I lost my heat to another rider by 1 second. He had buiilt a 250' lead and I almost caught him at the finish, losing by exactly one second. In my age bracket I don't believe any other rider has broken 16 minutes so my 14:47 should hold up. I was happy to see good power at a relatively low HR. My 167 is only 92% of max. At my peak I'll be above 95% of max, or around 172. To be honest, I didn't ride that hard and still rode one of my best times. Its good to get this one in the books and I think next month I can take a few seconds off. Watts/kg around 4.66.

Indoor Time Trial Graph

CTS article on sweating

Chris Carmichael Blog: Does Sweating More Mean You’re More Fit? Posted on March 28, 2011 by CTS Chris, I’m relatively new to triathlon and to serious training. Over the past several months I’ve been making steady progress, and recently I’ve noticed that I’ve started sweating more. The conditions (temp and humidity) are about the same as they’ve been, but I’m sweating a lot more. Does that mean I’m getting more fit? - Jackie Gallagher, training for my first Ironman! Jackie, The short answer to your question, assuming that the environmental conditions have been roughly constant, is yes. Improving fitness impacts the way your body works in a wide variety of ways, and your sweat response to exercise changes as you become more fit because you’re increasing the workload your body has to be able to handle. Sweat is one of your body’s primary means of preventing your core temperature from rising to dangerous levels. During exercise, the majority of the calories you burn actually generate heat instead of powering forward motion (sorry, but that’s just the way it is). In fact, on the bike you are only about 20-25% efficient, meaning 75% of the energy you produce becomes heat. That heat has to be dissipated, so your body dilates blood vessels near the skin to carry some of that heat away from your core to areas where cooler air flowing over the skin can carry away some of the heat. Sweat makes the cooling process work even better, because as sweat evaporates off your skin it takes a lot of heat with it. As you become more fit, you are able to work harder. You generate more power on the bike and maintain a faster pace on the run and in the water. But the ability to work harder also means you have the ability to generate a lot of heat in a very short period of time. You also have the endurance to sustain exercise longer, meaning you have the capacity to generate heat for a longer period of time. Your body has to adapt to these demands in order to keep your core temperature stable. Here are a couple of ways it does that: You start sweating sooner: Your body’s sweat response gets quicker as you gain fitness. This means you’ll see sweat appearing on your skin sooner after you start exercising than you did when you were a novice. These days, when you start warming up your body knows what’s coming next, so it ramps up the cooling process more quickly to stay ahead of the rise in core temperature. Your sweat volume increases: When the house is on fire, you open up the spigots and get as much water on it as you can. For the fire within, we don’t want to extinguish it but we need to control it, and the more sweat you get onto your skin the more likely you are to be able to keep core temperature from rising out of control. So your body becomes better at creating sweat. You lose fewer electrolytes per unit volume: As your body is adapting to sweat more and sooner, it also changes the composition of sweat so that you retain more electrolytes than you used to. You’ll still need to replenish electrolytes during exercise, but this adaptation helps to keep the electrolyte requirement manageable. Fit athletes sweat more because they need to. They generate more heat and have to produce more sweat in order to maximize their evaporative cooling capacity. That means fit athletes have to consume more fluid so you have more to contribute to sweat. But sometimes sweating isn’t enough, or sweat might be enough to keep you moving but you could optimize your performance by helping your body stay cool. That’s where hydration, apparel choices, ice socks/vests, cold sponges, etc. come into play. Here are a couple of things to keep in mind: Hydration is your source for sweat: The better you hydrate – during exercise as well as throughout the day – the more efficient your body will be when it comes to sweat production. Remember, when there’s not enough fluid to go around, your body starts an internal competition for resources, and all systems experience diminished performance. You don’t absorb and digest food as well, your muscles don’t function as well, and you don’t regulate core temperature as well. Evaporative cooling works just as well whether it’s your sweat or bottled/tap water that’s evaporating off your skin. Even if you’re well hydrated, it’s a good idea to dump water over your head and body during training sessions and races in hot weather. You’ll make your body’s job a bit easier by slightly alleviating the demand for sweat. Ice socks work the same way; the ice absorbs heat from your body to melt the ice, and then the water carries away additional heat as it evaporates out of clothing or off your skin. Electrolyte drinks or carbohydrate/electrolyte drinks should be a part of during-exercise nutrition strategy whenever your workouts are going to be longer than 1 hour. For workouts shorter than an hour, electrolyte drinks may still be somewhat helpful, but generally you’ll start short workouts with enough carbohydrates and electrolytes on board to complete a high-quality one-hour session. Chris Carmichael Founder/Head Coach Carmichael Training Systems

8 minute steady state with 2 minute tt x 4 comments

Was supposed to do 5 of these but due to time constraints only did four. Held 320 for 8 minutes and then 349 for 2, took a few minutes off and did 320/350, 319/351 and 315/350. Legs kind of tired from last nights circuit.

8 minute steady state with 2 minute tt x 4

book worth reading...

The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance by David Epstein. Is it about your genes or your environment or a combination of both? Why do people from certain parts of the world excel at certain sports? Can similar excellence be found elsewhere? Can we determine who will be great at a given sport by looking into DNA? Lots of interesting stories on athletes we all know.

Todays PI's

Todays effort consisted of all one minute power intervals separated by one minute within each set and the sets separated by varying times so it was a set of 4 efforts with a minute between with 4 minutes recovery after the set, 4 more with a minute between then a three minute break, 3 efforts separated by a minute with a three minute break, another three separated by one minute with the set having a 2 minute break and then a set of 2 with a minute between. There was a total of 16 one minute efforts. The average power for each was 416, 428, 433, 421, 424, 431, 430, 432, 432, 420, 433, 426, 434, 434, 439, and 441 for an average of 430 for all.

More Power Intervals, the graph

12x1 comments

Did these inside due to the rain. Power averages were 408, 417, 421, 418, 430, 422, 423, 421, 419, 419, 420, 427 for an average of 420. This is 5.45 watts per kg of bodyweight. Have more over the weekend and will to up the average to 425 or 430.

more 12x1 power intervals

5x8 steady states with variable cadence

Interesting workout today with each of the 8 minute efforts broken into 2 minutes at 100 cadence, 2 at 75, 2 at 100 and 2 at 75. Power was pretty consistent regardless of the cadence. I used Riverside Drive from Delta to the Montgomery Inn Boathouse (8 minutes), back and forth. The road is fairly flat. Power was 315 on the low end and upper 330's on the high end.