Posts Tagged ‘Training’

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The Trouble Blender

Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011

Putting yesterday’s blog philosophy into action, I enjoyed a great finish to the day. While it is true that the draw of the bicycle can at times cause some conflict, it is still a tool that used properly can have a very positive influence on your life. I rediscovered that truth in my basement.

My day in the office was pretty rough. I was dealing with a PR issue and had slipped up and it rightfully got me into a bit of hot water. At the same time there was another miss-communication with another department that I had to iron out. On top of that I learned that I had misfiled my taxes since 2008 and I was going to have to go back and amend them. That would mean even more expense during an already tight month. It was enough to have me running screaming from the office!

Well, I didn’t run. However, I did leave a tad early just to get out and clear my head. Where did I go? I went to see my trouble blender.

In my basement – known as the Low Cadence Lair – I have an office that doubles as my bicycle cave. On one end of the office is my computer, files, and other such “officy” stuff. At the other side I have my bicycles hanging — a Giant Trance X2, my converted SE Bikes Draft fixie, the nimble Giant TCR Advanced, and my latest addition; the Felt AR. Beneath the bikes I keep my trainer and exercise mat. Ah, my selection of blenders.

I picked the AR and attached it to the trainer. I’ll be honest, I was feeling pretty sorry for myself. Still, I had told Jim that I was going to recommit myself to getting back to the best form I could and I needed to get back on it.

Today he was having me do “finishing efforts.” I was supposed to do these on the road, but this was not something I wanted to do on a cold, rainy day. The way it works is you find a location where you have around a mile to put out a solid effort. After warming up, you launch into a breakaway effort — not an all out sprint, but close. After 10 seconds or so, you settle back into the seat, and in my case, you hold a 300+ watts effort until you reach a predetermined mark that serves as your finish line.

Hmmmm, so, how do you do this on the trainer? I set a time as my finish line. I figured I would be running about 25 mph at a 300 – 400 watts effort. That would mean that I would cover a mile at a little over two minutes.

Having figured all that out I started warming up. It felt good. My hip and knee that had been bothering me seemed to miraculously be healed. After 25 minutes of warming up, I launched into the first of my efforts. As I turned past the first minute (overcooking it a bit at 400 watts), things started to get a bit harder. My breathing picked up and I knew my heart rate was climbing. Something started welling up inside of me.

It was the troubles of the day. I focused on them. I took each one and threw it into the blender being powered by my burning legs. The blender responded shredding them into tiny pieces in my mind.

Now for a seven minute rest before the next effort. I found I wasn’t dwelling on the issues of my day so much. Suddenly my focus was more on the next effort I was going to have to produce.

Again, I attacked and once more felt the effort begin to sap my strength. I looked down to see the wattage fall closer to 300 watts. Time to throw some more troubles into the blender. Phil Leggett would be saying that I was “turning my legs with anger.”

I continued the process several more times and as I completed my workout for the day a smile crossed my face. The troubles of the day were pureed. No, they didn’t disappear, but the physical exertion gave me an outlet to release the frustrations and I was now in a better frame of mind to deal with them.

The bicycle can’t make your troubles go away. It can help get you to the point where you are better able to deal the problems. So, don’t let issues of your day keep you off the bike. Get on and start blending.

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Pull of two worlds

Tuesday, February 1st, 2011

The blog is back. I’ve taken a month off. It was time to hold off until the enjoyment returned. I set as the publish date February 1st. I knew it was time when several times in the week before I wanted to post something, but had to wait. So, here we go for 2011!

I had reached the point where I resented the bicycle. Some things had changed in my life which opened up new opportunities, but also added to my responsibilities. It got to the point that I would walk down in the basement and see the bike on the trainer and the resentment began to rise up inside. The bicycle was something getting in the way, not something that was freeing.

An example: For many of my acquaintances who ride, the bicycle plays a larger role in their lives. Many of their social connections come from the bike. For me it is different. Most of my social connections come from other areas of my life. It is like living in two worlds.

In one world people ask you why you ride your bike all the time. In the other world people wonder why you don’t ride your bike more. To be really good in one world means you have to make sacrifices in the other. Normally what ends up happening is you fall somewhere in between.

On Sundays I want to go to church. I teach Sunday school at 9:30 AM and then attend morning service at 10:30 AM. My family then leaves the church in Greer and drives to the in-laws over in the Augusta Road area. The family (including my wife’s mom and dad, my family, and my wife’s two siblings and their families) all comes together for lunch. Sometimes, I will head out on the bike for an hour after we eat to take in Cleveland Park or the Swamp Rabbit trail. Then it is back to Suber Road Baptist Church for the 5:00 PM service.

At 1:00 PM the POA Cycling Team’s group ride leaves from Furman. If I rush out of the church parking lot and gulp down something from a fast food joint, I can probably make it for the start of the ride. However, it is typically a four hour ride. So, I have to turn around almost as we get warmed up so I can make it back to go with my family to the evening service. Believe me, I REALLY want to ride with the guys. The thing is, I want to be there for my family and church family more.

That is just one example of other conflicts that arise. It is never a choice between a good or a bad thing. That would be easy. It seems to be more of a relative question. It also seems that the pressure always comes in one world when things are going very well in the other. The dreaded times are when I’m having struggles in both worlds.

That is where I found myself over the last month. The responsibilities mount in one world during a time when I’m supposed to be devoting time to prepare to succeed in the other one. Something has to give and what gave was the bicycle.

I know that all sounds negative, but just as I’ve started this blog again, I’m starting anew in giving myself the best chance possible in the bicycle world. The only difference is that my expectations are not the same. The bicycle must be an aid in releasing pressure — not a cause of it. I’m committed to give my best for my training, but am not going to be guilt ridden if I can’t do everything.

I’ll toe the line this season for the fun of it. I’ll see the bicycle for what it truly is — a way for me to improve myself physically and to broaden my relationships beyond my own world into another. You can join me for the journey here at Low Cadence.

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Revelations of a closer look

Tuesday, October 12th, 2010

Looking back at the data from last Saturday’s race, I notice something that when combined with my memories of the event leads me to conclude that my problems in the race were not due entirely to me not being in shape. I don’t know if I made this adjustment whether it would have kept me in the race, but I’m certain that if I could just learn this one skill I would be better able to compete in the Masters 35+ criterium field.

What stuck out to me was my heart rate as I came out of the chicane at the bottom of the course. The field comes into the first turn making a sharp turn to the left. After only a few yards, the field has to make an even sharper right hand turn. That second turn begins an ascent to the finish line. So, you have two things working against you at that point: 1) you have to accelerate out of the turn, and 2) you have to do this up a climb.

Within the first three laps of the race, I was hitting a heart rate of 184 bpm. We were accelerating out of the turn at around 28 mph. This was the time when I was fighting within the field to stay in position. I remember clearly that I was “catching back on” nearly every lap.

So, what could I change to make me more effective? I’ll illustrate by going toward the end of the short period I was in the field. I had been lapped and was sitting on the tail end of the line of riders. However, at this point I was not hitting 180 bpm and was still accelerating out of the second turn at nearly 30 mph. What was the difference?

The difference was that I was on the wheel of an experienced racer. I watched as he did everything he could to stay glued to the wheel in front of him. He didn’t need to work as hard accelerating out of the turn because he worked hard to keep his momentum through the turns and allowed the rider in front of him to create a draft. When there is no gap created, there is no gap to close. No gap to close means less effort to stay with the field.

Racing is really an exercise in intelligence and skill. You don’t have to be the strongest rider out there to win. You have to be the smartest — and a little luck never hurts either. Training is for getting yourself to be as strong as you can be, but it takes getting out there and racing to build your mental toughness and acumen. Knowing the abilities and limits of your equipment and then having the mental toughness to take that equipment to the edge brings that intelligence and skill together.

This will be my focus in 2011. I’m going to do my best to be in shape for the new season, but my focus and measure of my success in the season is going to be learning the skills and mental awareness to race smart. If I learn and pull the mental and physical together, I know I can be a help to my teammates. A great thing is that I have awesome teammates from which to learn!

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Frustration turns to peace

Monday, October 4th, 2010

I met with my coach, Jim Cunningham, on Friday. We talked a bit about the 2010 Ride for Mike and then the discussion turned to the future. I’ll be honest, I really hadn’t thought much about the future. Everything was focused on the “Ride”, but I told him, “I want to race next weekend.” His eyes grew wide, “Really?”

It didn’t seem that strange of a statement to me. It has always been my plan to get back out there as soon as I could — not for the purpose of winning anything, but to prove that the accident didn’t take me out. Jim was glad for the drive, but was surprised because of the timing.

“I thought you would just wrap things up and come back in the spring,” he told me. “Of course, I’m glad to see you are getting back out there.” He continued, “There are some who have told me, ‘Oh, he’ll not be back.’” I looked at him with a quizzical look. It never crossed my mind that I wouldn’t come back.

“Well,” he told me later in the conversation, “we don’t have much time before next weekend. There really isn’t much we can do between now and then.” He then laid out my plan for the next day. “It would be best for you to face the shock of race speeds now than wait until race day.”

A beautiful morning!

Pickens County, South Carolina

So, I headed out into Pickens County. I was supposed to ride 30 minutes ramping up to a rating of perceived exertion of 6 to 8. Then I would ride easy for 3 minutes before launching into an hour at 6 to 8 RPE with 1 minute bursts at 8 – 9 RPE every 5 minutes. Once I finished this hour, I was supposed to finish out another hour at 3 to 4 RPE.

Well, things went well for those first 30 minutes. I even made it through the first three 1 minute bursts. However, at that time I completely blew up. I was turning as hard as I could, but my legs felt like tree trunks. The lactic acid was building up in my legs and the thought of continuing in that feeling for another 30 plus minutes just seemed impossible.

I let up. My heart was not into suffering right then. To train effectively, you have to have a heart to suffer. You need to glory in it. You have to seek it because you know that it will help you go faster later.

Instead, I let up and set the town of Pickens as my target. At this point, I still had 6 or so miles to go to get there. I slowed to start looking around a bit. It was a beautiful day. Of course, I was still kicking myself for not finishing the workout.

I rode into downtown Pickens and realized I had never been to the town before though I have been all around it. I even had the idea to stop at a coffee shop, but couldn’t find one. So, I turned around and headed down Highway 8 towards Pumpkintown.

It wasn’t until then that I got it through my head to stop bashing myself for the earlier failure. “Look,” I told myself. “It is a beautiful morning. You should be happy to be alive and able to do this thing you love. Don’t be a child about this.” It still took a little bit, but finally I stopped thinking about anything but what I was seeing around me.

Had I been able to spend more time I would would have loved to explore some of the roads that branched off to left or right. It truly was a beautiful morning. Instead of going on to Pumpkintown, I took the turn to Dascusville and saw some of the most beautiful landscapes. The air was crystal clear and the colors were vibrant.

Indeed, it was good to be alive.

By the time I was heading toward home on Hunts Bridge Road, I was in a peaceful frame of mind. How thankful I am to live in a place like Greenville County. We really do have much to be thankful for as cyclists. There are other places with the type of terrain that we have, but here there is an element of belonging.

A peaceful ride in the country.

Northern Greenville County, South Carlina

As I turned onto the Swamp Rabbit Trail to finish my last miles to home I had a feeling of peace. Sure, I’ll race this coming Saturday. I’ll probably get spit out the back, but that isn’t the important thing. The important thing is that I am back. I’m back to experience the joys of riding and I’ll be able to show that my accident won’t keep me from racing.

I’ll let tomorrow worry about itself. I’m just thankful to be here today.

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Dear Bicycle

Wednesday, December 16th, 2009

Dear Bicycle,

You’ve been good to me. There was a time when I was pretty listless physically and mentally. It was because I had begun living a sedentary lifestyle. You helped me bring a little balance back into that portion of my life. However, it is time for us to have a talk.

The joy of the wind on my bald head, the thrill of crossing a finish line on a solo breakaway, the exhilaration that comes from suffering and then overcoming — these are the things that brought me beyond merely riding around the block to attempting bigger and better things. Caught up in it all I set my sights on even larger accomplishments ahead of me. Like a junky after a fix, it takes longer and longer draws to get the high.

You are just a bicycle.

I’ve enjoyed the new doors you have opened for me. Please don’t think I am ungrateful. I am thankful and wouldn’t trade the experiences and relationships I’ve enjoyed.

However, I had friends before you. I had experiences that I enjoyed and shared with people I love. These new doors shouldn’t mean I have to shut the doors on the old ones.

You’re just carbon, rubber, and metal.

I’m giving up 8 to 12 hours of my week for you. I know, for some who ride your kin that is nothing! For others who have not known what you’ve given me that might seem excessive. I have to let you know, though, that is all I am going to be able to give you.

I think I’m paying enough as I spin going nowhere in my basement while my children are being read their bedtime stories upstairs. I know this training is the medicine I’m taking to make me stronger and it will pay off. It is something I do gladly. However, it is all I can give you. There are some fun things we could do together that just aren’t going to happen. The Beautiful Redhead and the Things Three are just too important.

You have no soul — you can only give what I bring to you.

What about Thing Two? Have I gotten caught up in hoping he will find his way onto one of your kind? What if he doesn’t want to ride a bike? Yes, I know one of the reasons why I started riding was so I would be in shape enough to keep up with him as a teenager when I’m in my 40s. What if I find that I have to do something else to spend time with him?

So, don’t look at me like that when I tell you that I can’t take you out. I’m giving you enough. For some people, it may not be enough. For other people, they may still think it is too much. But it is really just between you and me. I’ve found my limit.

Don’t worry, we’ll have a long relationship. I’m not going to just hang you up. You’ve given me too much to deserve that. Really, this year I’m giving you a good shot at getting us both into some of those bigger and better things. After that, though, our relationship is going to have to mature beyond the infatuation of the winner’s high.

You’ve been good to me, Bicycle. But it is time for me to grow up and realize that you’re got to be a small part of my life. A part – a part I enjoy – but just a part. I think we can do it and be better for it.

Sincerely.

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The planets have realigned

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009

Late last evening I looked out my front door to find a small box that had been delivered by UPS. I instantly knew what it was, but as I opened the door to grab it I hoped it wasn’t a Christmas present ordered by the Beautiful Redhead for one of the Things Three. Ah, joy, it was what I thought it was… my refurbished Garmin Edge 705!

I’m really thankful that John James has let me use his PowerTap for about three weeks now. Frankly, I think he has enjoyed not having the computer connected to him when he’s riding. I’m glad to get him back on the ball-and-chain.

Me? I’ve been out of sorts because my Garmin busted right as I was starting a serious attempt at training with power. That is why John’s generosity was so important. Thankfully I didn’t miss a single session.

Still, it was weird using a system that I didn’t understand. It took me a while to feel comfortable with the PowerTap computer. I was always afraid that I would clear it when I went to set an interval. It was also very different from large display Garmin.

As soon as I got the box open, I cranked up the computer and configured it. Then it was down to the office where my Giant with its Quarq CinQo was sitting in the trainer. I popped the 705 into its mount and then spinned the crank. Nothing happened at first so I started to go through the 705 settings to rescan. Before I could get there the alert popped up that the powermeter had been found!

Hurrah!

Today I’ll swap out the PowerTap rear wheel with my own and return the PowerTap wheels, wires, and head to John. Things will now be back to normal. Sure, it is a small thing, but when you are starting out on something new — something you are not sure of — it is good to have something comfortable be part of the process.

I do have to say that after using the PowerTap, I am very happy with the Garmin display. With eight possible configurable panels on the display (and a possible 16 with a simple switch)  it is very easy to have as much or as little information as you desire. That is going to be nice!

On the PowerTap I would have to scroll through the selections in order to see the cadence and the time elapsed. Since one of the things Jim is working with me is my cadence (yes, it is too low) I need to be able to keep an eye on it. At the same time, I need to keep an eye on the time elapsed for my intervals. The PowerTap head made that a challenge.

My Garmin screen will be configured with three display panels: 1) watts, 2) time, and 3) cadence.  On the second display that you can access by tapping the joy stick will have other information such as time of day, average watts, average cadence, etc.  Not only that, but a single push of a button will start my intervals.

Once again I find myself very pleased with the CinQo-Garmin combination. It isn’t that the PowerTap did not do the job. The data I received was not noticeably different. However, the ease of use and configurability of the former wins out in my experience.

Finally, once again, a big thank you to John James and Sunshine Cycle Shop. They have been taking care of me for over ten years now and I know they have my back. They can have yours too!

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Posted in Review, Training | 2 Comments »

Where do we go from here?

Thursday, November 5th, 2009

First, let me inform you that I am pretty sore. The time in the gym introduced me to muscles I haven’t used like that in years. It is that good kind of sore though. It is the sign of good things to come. In the interest of that future, I am putting up some charts today at the beginning of my training. Let’s see how things change six months from now.

Power Profile - November 4, 2009

Click the image to enlarge

The first chart is my Power Profile. You’ve seen this before. Here is what it looked like back in April 2009. I’ve certainly made some progress from that earlier profile.  My question is, can I make that much of a gain in six months? Probably not, but it will be interesting to find out.

Click the image to enlarge

Click the image to enlarge

The second chart is my power and heart rate readings from my recent Functional Threshold Power test. As you can see the power line is all over the place.  This is partially due to the fact that I was doing the test on rolling terrain. Next time I think I’m going to do my test going up the water shed.

The numbers boil down to a FTP number of 287 watts. My functional threshold heart rate appears to be 180 bpm. Now, I don’t know exactly what that means yet. In my personal opinion, I think the watts are low.  I would like to be up in the 300s. As for the heart rate, can you work and adjust that or is that just a part of your physiology? These are things I’m going to want to find out.

We’ll worry about that later. For now, I’m just excited that my training plan has me having some fun on my mountain bike tonight. I haven’t been night riding since last November. It’s going to be fun.  I’ll be heading out there to Paris Mountain State Park around 6 PM. Anyone want to ride?

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Seconds Per Pound

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

I am somewhat of a data weenie.  Now, probably not as bad as Boyd Johnson, but I do like pouring over my power files and ride data.  This interest got me thinking of my ride up Paris Mountain the other day.

There are two ways to go faster up the mountain.  1) increase power and 2) decrease weight.  Of course, the more weight you have to pull up the mountain, the more power you will need to do it.  The less amount of weight, the less power you need to reach a goal.

Taking the power out of the picture and just looking at time and weight, I came up with my Seconds Per Pound ratio for my personal best time.  Basically, at 170 pounds, it took me 4.09 seconds per pound to make it to the top in 11 minutes and 35 seconds.

So, right off the bat, that tells me that by losing 5 pounds, I should be able to turn out the same average power (346 watts in this case) and reach the top in 11 minutes and 15 seconds.  Of course, the SPP goes out the window unless I maintain that same power.

What I need to do is build a formula that incorporates 1) weight, 2) power, and 3) time.  I can then change the variables to see what would happen if say I lost five pounds and increased my average wattage by 10 watts.  Then it is just a matter of finding out how to put that data into practice.

I’m just a tad under 6’2″.  I weigh in on average around 170.  Sometimes I dip down to 168 and when I’m really fat, I might reach 175.  Mostly, I’m between 168 and 172.

It wasn’t always that way.  In junior high I was 5’11″ and weighed 145.  I was a stick!  Even in college I was 6’1″ and 155.

I remember one summer working at a camp located on a ridge above Lake Jocassee.  I was a cook.  One of my fellow cooks was quite the exercise nut.  We would do over 150 push ups each night and a number of pull ups.  I would then run each day to a water fall near by.  Then on the weekends, I would run down to Lake Jocassee and back.

It took me nearly the whole summer to be able to run all the way down and all the way back up.  However, I did it.  Did I mention I was a cook?  Well, by the end of that summer I was a pretty hard 165 pounds.  I thought I was a big dude!

What that tells me is that I probably have some weight to give.  Before I started riding again in 2006, I had reached 180 pounds.  Much of the 170 I now carry is the muscle I have built up in my legs (= where my power comes from).  There is one spot I think I definitely have some to give.  It’s that hardest spot to lose – my, as Steve Sperry would say, “budda belly.”

So, could a 2010 goal be a five pound weight loss along with some increase in power for the end result of a sub-eleven minute personal best up Paris Mountain?  I’ll find out what my new coach has to say about it.  Sure is a tempting target!

8 days left to help me raise $5000.
$1115 raised so far to fight cancer.
Give to my fight today!

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See, I do listen

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

Last week I got some good advice from readers of LowCadence.com and some friends on Facebook.  What was that advice? “Chill, man.”

One reader and rider who has been at this thing for a long time gave the command, “REST!!!”  It is something I find hard to do.  However, I decided to take them up on it.

I’ve talked about this before, but it is a recurring issue for me.  The fact is, I feel that I don’t get much time to ride.  The result of that feeling is that I go pretty hard most every time I do ride.  My thought process is, “I don’t need a period of rest on the bike because I get the rest on the many off days that I get.”

There comes a time when you need to ease it up for days in succession.  A week of taking it easy allows for more recovery when the days are strung together.  My normal approach might make me feel a little better in the short term, but over time I’m going to wear down.

So, this week I’ve decided to take it easy.  Unlike last week where I was forced off the bike due to sickness, this week I’ll stay on the bike but not ride hard.  We’ll see how that plays out.

Last night I took a very easy spin in the rain.  Part of me didn’t want to do it, but the good news is that most of me did.  So, I threw on my rain jacket and headed out.

It was invigorating!  The rain wasn’t unpleasant at all.  The temperature was perfect for riding in the rain.  It wasn’t so cool that I got chilled, but it wasn’t so warm that I started sweating too much in my gear.  Of course, my Specialized SL rain jacket is awesome!

Traffic was extremely thin as I neared downtown Greenville.  However, to avoid any traffic that was around, I headed off onto the paths in Cleveland Park and followed it along the Reedy River until I reached the end of the downtown portion of the Swamp Rabbit trail.  I was 30 minutes into the ride at that point and turned around to head home.

After stopping for a moment to admire the Reedy River falls from the Liberty Bridge, I followed some paths that would lead me up to Main Street.  The downtown area was quiet.  That’s a rainy, Monday night for you.  However, it did allow me to leisurely roll down the street taking a closer look at the many businesses along the way.

Then it was off to Chick Springs Road as I continued to avoid the major streets.  Once I got there I discovered that the road was closed and I had to take a detour.  This gave me a chance to head into some neighborhoods I don’t believe I have ever been in.

Certainly, I was riding on streets I had never been on.  It is a large neighborhood area between Chick Springs and Rutherford Road.  It was one of those instances where I was lost, but I knew where I was – at least generally speaking.  I just kept meandering through the residential streets in the general direction of home.

After an hour and fifteen minutes of easy spinning I arrived back home.  Mentally, it was exactly what I needed.  Physically, I felt pretty good.  The only negative was that my bike was an absolute mess!  Riding through those residential streets and ally ways put me through much more road debris and dirt.

Still, no complaints from me!  Thanks all you who gave me the advice to slow down.  I’ll do my best to keep it up this week.  My guess is by the end of it, I’ll be raring to get the speed up.

10 days left to help me raise $5000.
$1115 raised so far to fight cancer.
Give to my fight today!

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40 year-old Junior

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009

Yesterday I visited with Jim Cunningham.  Jim is a Greenville area coach who has been helping cyclists perform better since 2002.  He can also be found mixing it up in our group rides and races – doing quite well at the later, I might add.  I guess I was just wondering what he could do for me.

I zipped up my power files from November until now and sent them over.  Jim analyzed them with his WKO+ and had everything ready for me when I arrived.  It was also helpful that Jim had seen me riding in some of the races in the area so he was able to add that to his understanding of my current status.

So, what did I learn?  I learned some things that encouraged.  I learned some things that discouraged me.  Mainly, I learned (and this is what I was wanted to know) that I can be a lot better.

We discussed my approach to training — which is I have no approach.  That is not good because it means that my fitness is basically built by riding my bike.  What is wrong with that?  It means that you ride to a certain level and then, well, you level off.  That is exactly what I have felt happening to me.  I have plateaued and can’t seem to improve.  That tends to send me heading south mentally.

By bringing in structured training I can push myself beyond what it takes just to stay with the guys.  I have to get beyond that level if I want to finish ahead of the guys.  This explains why at the end of races or hard group rides I don’t have the stamina left to seal the deal.

We also discussed my power numbers in the form of a power profile.  This shows my strengths and weaknesses.  According to Jim’s analysis, I fall into the mid to upper range of power typically put out by a Category 3 rider.  He used a watts per kilogram number to create the profile.

5 sec. = 16.70 / 1 min. = 8.28 / 5 min. 4.81 / functional threshold = 3.73

It was the “functional threshold” that threw Jim a bit.  My numbers show that I should be an “all rounder.”  This typically is viewed on the graph as basically a straight line across the four pieces of data listed above.  The problem for me is that that the first three show up pretty much as a straight line, but then the FT dips down.

We talked about why this might be.  We came to the conclusion that it is two things.  1) I typically am not riding enough – rides with sustained efforts longer than an hour – to build higher numbers.  In other words, not enough data is being collected to get a proper average.  So, most likely, my functional threshold is higher than the chart displays.  However… 2) The fact that I am not training would show up most here in this area.  So, while my FT is probably higher than the chart shows, it is also probably lower than it should or could be.

All that was sort of discouraging.  It wasn’t surprising because I kind of figured out where I stood.  However, there was plenty to be positive about.

What I really wanted to know was the answer to this question… “Do I have the natural tools and potential to improve enough to see a noticeable change in my results?”  What Jim said was that the numbers suggest solid Category 3 capability.  That is where the discouraging data turns into positive thoughts – I have made it to that level without any type of structured training.

Jim encouraged me by saying that he wouldn’t even have to coach me in order for me to see improvement.  “I could just give you a simple plan to go out and do 3 X 20′s and you would see yourself get better.”  Of course, there is more to it than just the physical side.  Notice that I have category 3 capability, but I have amassed very few category 4 points over the season.  It is because racing is more than just being able to turn the pedals fast.

I call myself the 40 year-old junior.  Actually, there are junior racers with more experience than I have!  The truth is, I’ve started this whole business a bit late in my life – as far as cyclists go.  I may be more experienced in life than a lot of the guys I’m racing in category 4, but I’m not more experienced with the nuances of racing.  If I want to improve, it is going to take a combination of training my body and my mind.

So, the conclusion of the meeting yesterday is this… Do I want to make the committment to train to see the improvement?  It will certainly change my approach to cycling.  I’ll lose out on some of the group aspect of the sport as I train according to a schedule given to me.  However, that is offset by better participation when I do find myself with a group.

I’m considering it.  Of course, a coach has to understand the pressures and committments of life off the bike.  One of the first things Jim and I would do is sit down and discuss my priorities and where the bicycle falls on that list.  That then would determine the amount and type of training.  The results on the bike would then be proportional (to a degree) with that priority.

Whatever the case, I’ll be keeping you informed here at LowCadence.com.  Any testimonials out there of riders who have found that coaching has helped you?  I’d love to hear about them.

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