This spring I’ve gotten a new job, and starting about 8 weeks ago, a new schedule at work. It takes me a while to get used to a new schedule and now that I’ve had a full rotation of shifts at work, I feel like I’ve gotten a better handle on how well I recover after a 48 hours shift.
I’ve been pushing the limits of what my body can handle so far this season. Last year it always felt like I was right on track, but this year I’ve felt behind, tired, slow, and slightly overweight. I can easily see from my records that I’ve been training less this year, but it has felt that it is the most I can do, both in terms of what my body and schedule will allow.
Last week I had a pretty promising result at the TT, and I was happy to have followed it up with a solid week of training. Prior to this week, it has felt like I can ride all day (3-4 hours) at a moderate pace, but as soon as I start to really up the intensity I would fatigue pretty quickly. I’ve had a very gradual build up this year, and haven’t had much intensity until I started racing last month.
The base period of training consists of mostly long hours at a moderate pace. Towards the end of the base period I incorporated tempo intensity, but was interrupted by my episode of knee pain. This month I moved on to the build period, which has lower hours and increased intensity.
This week I rode hills at threshold, a training crit, and then a long, hard ride with 30 minutes threshold up Magnolia with low rpms (average of 70), and then 60 minutes of tempo up Sugarloaf and Flagstaff. I was glad to see that I could handle the volume and intensity better than I expected.
I’m at work now, so I can’t race at all this weekend. I’m hoping to race Deer Trail next Sunday, but I get off shift at 7am the morning of the race, so there is a chance it won’t come together on race day. I’m not looking at this in too much of a negative light, however.
During the bulk of racing last season, I felt like I was a little flat. My fitness was exceptional and I had quite a few podium finishes, but I never won a race. Last year I raced nearly every weekend, and was almost always looking to the weekend’s race when planning my workouts and predicted fatigue levels. This season I’ll have weeks where I’m not racing (like this week) and can focus on quality workouts.
PMC 2011 through 2012 - Empty data area is racing season 2011
I’m excited to see where this season takes me. I haven’t seen the results I had last year, but there is still plenty of time left. For better or worse, I’ve seen so far that hours matter. Last year I was able to ride more, and it payed off on race day. Of course some racers are more naturally gifted than others, but I believe that anyone can race at a high level if they are able to put in the work required.
In your most recent strava file (Flagstaff, Sugarloaf, etc.), it said your maximum speed was almost 70 mph. I’m sure you can go over 60, but is this correct? Moreover, how do you relax at speeds over 50 mph (one of my issues, only hit 52 mph)? I try to relax, back lowered, a little more weight on front wheel, look way ahead, etc…but above 50 mph still does something to me mentally.
In this case it is a small-ish GPS error. I don’t have ideal tech, so I used my iPhone to record speed/location, and my PowerTap to record speed, HR, and power.
My PowerTap maxed out at 58.7, which is still really fast, In fact it is close to my fastest ‘offical’ speed (recorded with my own downloadable device) of 59.8. Speeds over 60 are not uncommon, and when Lance Armstrong raced the 2009 Giro, there was a very fast descent where JJ Haedo recorded a top speed of 117 kph (72.7 mph!)
It is probably a good thing to be relatively scared at high speed. There is virtually no margin for error or bad luck. In a race, it is all part of the game when the race is at stake (My top recorded speed was in the winning breakaway at the 2011 Dead Dog Road Race). Last week I had a short stretch of 10% grade with a strong, steady tailwind. I probably should have gone slower, since the speed limit is only 35 mph, and a car mis-judged my speed and pulled out in front of me. I’m sure he assumed since I was on a bike I would be going a bit slower. I had plenty of time to slow, but it still took quite a while to reduce my speed by 35 mph to match his.
Most of these very high speeds are hit on long, straight roads, and often tailwinds. A 10 or 20 mph tailwind can make a huge difference. You’ll want a solid handhold on the drops for more stability and braking power. I think racers tolerate so much risk in part because the risk in races is so huge, the risk during training seems small by comparison.