Upcoming Races I Want to Do

I have not taken 2 weeks off the bike in a few years. Should be refreshing.

Nats and the Past 6 Months

Nationals was a very fun time and you never stop learning. Last year it was muddy but the course was flat. This year it was less muddy as the week went on but the climb to the run-up made things difficult and the downhill gave little recovery since it was very slippery.

I was pretty happy with my placings (23rd, 45th and 20th) and my easiest race was the last one which was the single-speed. The hardest race was the first one which was B's.

Leading up to nationals I had an injury to my calf which had me off the bike for 4 days. I then got a cold that week and won a race the Sunday before nats. I had a sinus infection from the cold and was on antibiotics all through nationals. So, all things considered I managed well.

I tried to really train hard this summer and fall with 2 peaks in mind, the first was the GA single-speed MTB championships in August and then the second was cross nationals. Looking at my PMC below I had the highest training stress I have ever managed. I had a very good summer of riding but should have taken some days off. I think I went something like 6 weeks without a rest day off the bike. The training stress was managable since I could take naps and get good rest.

The MTB races I did this year were great fun. I missed racing MTB since the 90's and I enjoyed the single-speed challenge on top of that. I was able to raise my FTP up to what it normally is around cross season to about 300-315w. My results were pretty good and I managed a few wins on the MTB. I fell short at the ss championships getting 3rd in the XC.

Going into cross season I felt great and in practice was going very well. The training stress was beginning to pay off a bit and throughout the season my CTL fell as it should but remained pretty high overall. Coming into nationals i had a CTL of about 70 which is pretty decent for December.

Now I can relax a little and get ready for the Snake Gap TT and Southern Cross in January.

Heading Off To Nationals

Z-Pack and all. See you on the other side.

Intervals

John Verheul had me doing these today...


8x45 sec (1m rec)-- 3 sets done on my normal interval hill in Roswell in a 1:45 minute ride. I tried to keep the avg interval power above 400w and was able to do that. By the last 4 I was in the 39x25 struggling.

I do love intervals. Very achievable goals.

Today I did some 30-second sub-max intervals and 4 sprints. The sub-max intervals are all out hard for 30 seconds and it is harder than it sounds. Back on the 11th of November I did the same workout and had good legs. My intervals went something like this...

1st--725 w avg, 2nd-680w avg, 3rd-605w avg and 4th-635w avg or 661w avg overall

Today after 4 days off last week for injury and light riding over the weekend I was wondering what they would feel like and what numbers I would get. Besides the first one, they all felt really hard.

1st-715w avg, 2nd-678w avg, 3rd-630w avg, and 4th-615w avg or 660w avg overall

On 11/11 I was at a CTL of 75 and my TSB was 11 and today my CTL was 70 and my TSB was 28.

So while I did not get much better, it does not appear I lost much at least for my 30 second max power. My sprint power was 904w avg for 12 seconds compared to a 901w on 11/11 so same thing there although I did do a nice 962 avg on 11/23.

I feel a bit rusty but hopefully I can maintain for another week and make sure no more parts fall off.