Power Data Gone Wrong

Well, turns out I’m not quitting cycling after all.

So, this week was almost a blow out to my self-esteem and any hopes I had for being a great cyclist – well…maybe not quite that bad, but it was a pretty serious and pitiful beginning of the week.  It all started after my time trial on Sunday.  I felt like I had gone hard – really hard – and I felt like it was probably my hardest effort of the season so far (for an extended period of time).  But when I loaded all my data, my power seemed a lot lower than I expected.  I was a little bummed, but I figured maybe I had just felt tired from Sublimity.

So, there was a rest day on Monday.  Completely off the bike.  My legs and body felt a little tired, and the recovery day was good.  Then, I got on my bike Tuesday.  My scheduled workout was to do 4-5 hill repeats (5-6% grade) at CP30 – getting in about a 7-8 minute climb each time.  I’m thinking, okay, this will be challenging, but not to hard because I ride at CP30 quite often.  Well, I start them, and the first one goes well, but it’s really hard – a lot harder than I thought to keep it at the Watts that I’m supposed to.  I start again, and its even harder and my legs are screaming.  I end up doing 4 of them, thinking that I’m going to fall over on the last one, and then I continue my way up Fox Hollow to meet Lisa who was doing intervals at the top.

The rest of the ride includes me doing 2 more intervals at the top, neither of which I could really get up to the watts that I wanted, and then trying to do one over Briggs and then again over Gimple (Lisa was in a climbing mood).  By the end of the ride, my legs are just beat, and I’m wondering why it’s hurting to even be pushing 120 watts.  It was a very discouraging ride.

So, yesterday (Wednesday) was supposed to be a recovery ride, mostly in Zone 1.  I got on the trainer because it was miserable outside.  My legs were feeling a little tired, before I started riding, so I was thinking I was really glad that it was a recovery day.  Well, I start riding and it burns my legs to even ride at 100 watts.  I try to average 120 which is well at the lower part of my Zone 1 – and it’s hurting.  I am about ready to give up.  I almost start crying because I think my legs are done for.  I’m mad. No, not mad…furious…distraught…wondering what in the hell I have done to my body.  But, I keep riding for 2 more hours – My average watts for the entire ride were 102 and my legs felt like they had been ran through a roller.

I decided maybe I’m low on iron – which I think is the case anyway – because I’ve had issues with that in the past,  so I eat a hamburger last night and I take my iron supplement that I have been slacking on taking.  This morning my legs feel better.  I meet some other folks from the UO team to go out to the crit course for some interval practice.  I decided I would just do what I could and try not to get frustrated.  Well….on the way out there I decided to compare my powertap data with someone elses…just on the flats, riding along in the same gear.  Well, Will and I almost weigh exactly the same.  We got going the same pace and his power was saying 340 and mine was saying 205 – So, I finally realize that the little blinking signal on the left hand corner of my monitor really does mean that the battery is going out – and that maybe it’s not collecting the correct data.

Once we get out to the crit course I recalibrate my PowerTap and start again.  It seems to do better, but then it starts jumping up and down and at one point when I’m going all out it says I’m only doing 125 watts – so I am FINALLY convinced that this whole week my powertap has not been giving me the correct data because of the low batteries.  I am sooooooo relieved!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  it also made me realize that I probably was putting out a lot more Watts on my TT on Sunday than I realized – and also that my recovery ride yesterday was probably not so much of a recovery ride and it’s no wonder that my legs were screaming bloody murder!

So, its off to the store to get some new batteries!  Hopefully the rest of the week’s data will be more accurate and I won’t have to cry myself to sleep at night.

PS My “average watts” for today’s ride after doing 3 sets of CP12/6 intervals and 3 all out sprints was 98 watts.  Yeah, I think it’s a little off.

Jack Frost TT, OH YEAH!

2 blogs in one day?  You got that right!  You are the lucky reader who gets to enjoy 2 race updates in one day!  In my humble opinion, you couldn’t ask for a better day!

Sunday was the Jack Frost TT.   It was a lot of fun and made me realize how much I LOVE flat ground.     It was my first time racing my TT bike – so I was really excited, and a little nervous that I wasn’t going to be able to turn around at the turnaround point.   (It’s a lot different turning on my TT bike than my regular bike).

I got all dressed up in my amazing sleek all black  fuzzy skin suit and hit the road flyin’.  I immediately passed my 30 second girl within the first 3 minutes. Not too bad – so I kept going. The way out seemed way too easy to be averaging 26 mph and so I’m figuring that I’m going to have a headwind when I turn around.

Well, there was no 1 minute person because she didn’t show – but they always have a time gap where she would have been – then about 8 minutes in, I see my 1 minute 30 second person. COOL! So, I keep riding hard – at this point I’m starting to worry if I’m going too hard because I’m passing people – Anyway, I pass my 1 minute 30 second person. Unfortunately, there was no 2 minute person, because I think it would have made me ride harder

The turn around went smoothly, but with my lack of great vision and no contacts, I couldn’t really tell what was going on with the cones at the turn around point, so I ended up slowing down a little sooner than I wanted to.  But the actual turn around went smoothly, so that was good.  And yes, there was a headwind. Slowed me down to about 21-22 mph. The way back was hard – really hard – As usual I could and should have gone harder at the 1 K – but Its just going to take a while for me to trust that 1K is actually not that long

At the 200 K I was all out – and actually wishing I had one more gear.  I think I’m going to have to invest in an 11 for my TT bike.  (I’m just that beastly) hahhahahaha

Anyway, so I felt like I did really well…but we didn’t wait around for results.  Chris felt like he did really well also – but didn’t know for sure how well cause there are some fast guys out there.  So, finally at around 10 pm last night the results came in.  I WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yeahah!  And Chris got 2nd – YEAHAH!  So, we both had a very successful race!  I like TT-ing.  It’s awesome!

After looking at my powerdata (I rode with my powertap wheel cause I wanted to use this race as a test to get some numbers) – I didn’t even break any peak records – which means, yes, I could have gone faster – maybe not yesterday – but at some other point in time – I could have gone harder because I’ve done it before.  Oh well – my power was steady and contstant and looked really good over all.  I actually had the watts information covered up while I was racing and just went by speed.  I think its better for me to do it that way because I think I’d freak myself out if I saw how much/little I was pushing.

Anyway, sorry to bore you with the numbers.  Everything went well, and it makes me excited to kick some more butt at TT’s this year!

Sublime

I thought I knew the definition of sublime.  When I heard the word sublime I think of things like – paradise, serenity, amazingness (in a good way)…you know, things like that…well, after racing the Sublime Sublimity race, I thought I’d take a look in the dictionary.  So, here’s what I found.

Sub.lime [suh-blahym]

adj.

1. elevated or lofty in thought, language, etc.

2. impressing the mind with a sense of grandeur or power; inspiring awe, veneration, etc.

3. supreme or outstanding;

4. complete, absolute, utter: ie sublime stupidity

5. archaic: raised high, high up.

So, it looks like the name of the course quite accurately describes the terrain of the course in general.  All that high up stuff makes me realize why there were so many hills, and all that stuff about complete, absolute, and utter - yeah, it was completely insane, absolutely ridiculous and utterly painful.  And it definately impressed my mind with a sense of grandeur and power (or lack thereof).

Anyway, here’s what went down for me at Sublime Sublimity 2009.

The Sublime Sublimity Road Race is hilly and impossible to race if your brakes are flat against your rim. I was feeling pretty good.   We began the race and immediately, even in the neutral roll out, it felt like my legs were telling me something different. I felt like we were racing even in the roll out. My heart rate skyrocketed and I started to panic a little. I’m trying to figure out why it all the sudden feels like I’m pushing 200 + watts when we aren’t even going fast yet. So, I start to investigate my bike. By this time the race has begun – and we hit the first roller (steep hill). I’m trying to see if my brake is rubbing – in the mean time it feels like I’m pushing over 300 watts now and trying to keep up with the pack. I say something to Jessi who is in the back with me about my wheel and before we know it, we’re gapped off. She sees that my brake is indeed flat against my wheel – and so I start to try to fix it, while chasing, putting out more energy than I should be – and then Jessi tries to chase back on. I can’t hold on to her wheel because it’s too hard for me to pedal and I can’t push my brake console over – so I finally get off my bike as I see the pack continue up the hill at a brisk pace. Jessi goes on ahead at this point to try to catch back on.

Brake fixed – I’m back on my bike and the chase begins. I’m all out for a while – and I catch Jessi who unfortunately couldn’t make it back to the pack. (It was a horrible time to get gapped off because of the hillage that occured for the next 1/2 of the lap.) So, then my legs were screaming at me and my heart rate was sky high as we tried to chase back on. Jessi pulled me for quite a while till I could actually breath again – and we started taking turns. We could see the follow car for almost the entire time, which was frustrating because we knew they were so close (at least the chase group was – I believe a break had formed off the front already at this point). So, we kept going hard. I started feeling really weird – like chills down my spine – feeling nauseous and my left quad started to twitch – like it was going to cramp. We could see the tail end of the chase group as we turned to come up the hill on the final stretch before you start the lap again – At this point I know that I’m not going to even be able to finish the race. My cramping leg would not let me go up the hills at all – I was still feeling really weird (dehydration – as it occured to me later  – was the cause of all this ruckus). Anyway, so, at this point, my goal was to get Jessi back to the chase group so she could finish the race with a group. So, once we saw the tail end of the pack – we were revived a little. Jessi took a major hard pull and then I went all out and she grabbed on. Suddenly 100 meters later there they were – and Jessi joined up with about 6 other women – and it was perfect timing too, because right when I pulled off my quad seized up so bad I couldn’t even get off my bike.

So, that was the end of my race! It was fun getting to ride with Jessi and I really think that we were successful in that we worked well together to catch the chase group!

I’d like to think that if I hadn’t had the problem with my brake in the beginning that I would have been able to finish the race, but I also wonder because I was feeling severely dehydrated – lesson learned – go pee before you start being a follow car in the morning races – that way you can still drink water during the 4 hours that you are in the car.

So, that’s my story.  Oh and Chris schooled the 1/2 field in the final sprint for 2nd place.  It was awesome!

It has begun!!!!!!!!!!

So, the racing season is upon us.  I didn’t know whether or not to be excited – well, I was excited until I got this horrendous cold that I’m still struggling with.  Last Sunday I came down with a cold in my chest.  It moved around – going a little to my head, and now has settled in my lungs.  I keep coughing and coughing – and I keep spitting disgusting globs of stuff out of my mouth – and it doesn’t seem to be going away – But I think it is now – I’ve coughed less this morning than I did yesterday morning.

Anyway, yesterday, Sunday February 15, 2009, was Cherry Pie Road Race; the first race of the season.  Everyone was excited (except for me) – because I didn’t decide to race it until about 15 before the race actually started.

So I raced  – with a cough – which probably isn’t the smartest thing to do – but I just couldn’t stand NOT racing.  I mean, I had 5 other team mates there – of course I’m going to want to race!  So, we line up – it’s a small field but mostly made up of 3’s which is good for upgrade points.  It’s a typical women’s race.  Everyone’s chatting a little – it’s an okay pace, but not fast; no attacks.  Eventually this gets boring and we decide that we need to tire some people out, so we start sending people off the front.  This was fun.  At this point my legs are feeling really good, but my lungs not so much.  I wasn’t coughing too badly though, so that was good.

The race continued on – same old, same old.  Well, there’s one significant hill in the middle of the race.  It’s the same hill that we have to finish on.  So, Lisa and Jackie go hard up the hill.  And I try to keep up.  There’s 1 other Cat 3 that made it up with them, and then one that caught up to me as we crested the hill.  We look back and there is a huge break – and I’m in it!!!!!!!  So, we forge ahead full speed.  So, there are 3 of us (TAI) and 2 of them.  And that’s pretty much what it turned into.  The 2 girls from the other team wouldn’t work at all – which I guess they could do because we had 3 people from our team – and you can’t exactly make people join in your pace line – as we figured out pretty quickly.  So, the next 20 miles consisted of us trying to attack the other 2 girls while trying not to tire me out too much.  We didn’t succeed.  Eventually we found out we were over 6 minutes ahead of the pack – so we sat up a little before the finishing hill.

Around mile 47 I could feel my cold medication wearing off.  I started coughing more, and my body started feeling achey.  I knew that I wouldn’t have what I had the first time getting over that hill.  On the way up the first part before the finishing hill we blocked the rode – and that was fun. But, then there was the hill.  Lisa took off because she’s a beast and loves the short hellish hillish sprints.  I tried to stay on her wheel but I didn’t have much left in my legs.  The fact that I couldn’t really get oxygen into my lungs at this point didn’t help either – then the other 2  Cat 3’s passed me, so I knew I was doomed for 3rd.  I just sat up and rode the rest of the way in.

Overall, despite some drama in the break  – it was a good race and I really found out what team mates are for.  Pam and Jessi did an awesome job in the pack not helping the chase which was excellent – and Lisa and Jackie were beasts and pulled me (and the 2 other women) the whole second half of the race.  It’s going to be an awesome season, and I’m on my way to my Cat II upgrade!!!!

I’ll be adding pictures to my pictures page along the way – the one I added today was stolen from Doug (Lisa’s husband) who was our professional photographer at the race yesterday!  Thanks Doug!

And Please check out other’s reports from Cherry Pie Race.  I’m sure Kennett, Chris, Larry and others will have reports soon!

Grrr…give me food…grr…

So, i realized when I woke up to my stomach growling at 7 am this morning that for the 3rd day in a row, I have been waking up incredibly hungry.  Then, I also realized that for this entire week I have been having dreams about food.  2 nights ago, i had a dream that a whole bunch of people were at a get together and someone had brought Sweet Life deserts – and I couldn’t decide what to eat, and finally I chose a tartlette, but then someone else had gotten the Cheesecake – and I saw them eating it and my mouth was just watering.

Then, last night I had a dream that I was at a family get together and all my cousins and everyone where there – and everyone had brought mounds of food and it was a whole buffet line full  – like 6 tables worth of food.  And there was every kind of vegetable there you could imagine – brussel sprouts, asparagus (the asparagus was really good), carrots, peas, everything!  I only got to one side of the table and my plate was full.  I only remember eating the asparagus, because then I woke up to my stomach growling.

I’m not exactly sure that I’m going to be able to cure this ailment – especially because I even have a healthy snack to quench my hunger a little before bed time.  I guess it is good that its getting me up early, because I really don’t like sleeping in all that much – but then comes my other problem…

7 am rolls around and there is still frost on the roofs and the ground, or there’s massive fog.  I could brave it and just dress warm and go ride, but then what would I have to do in the afternoon?  So far my 7 am mornings have consisted of coffee, cereal, and whatever else I eat – some times this includes English muffins with Nutella (mmmm).  And then I read Harry Potter.

Lately, I have been working on my Latte making skills.  Take a look at what I concocted today.  Yes, that is all foam on the top – not whipped cream.  That’s what I’m proud of.

My Amazing Foamage

So, now that I’ve mastered the foam, I am onto making designs.  Tomorrow I will be making my first attempt at any sort of foam design.  I find its better to not try for a specific design – and just be happy with whatever comes out – kind of like looking at clouds – if you look hard enough you’ll always find an elephant.

Anyway, now I’m off to ride my TT bike with Chris.  Wish my lower parts good luck – seeing as how my saddle is the most uncomfortable thing on this planet!

Rest days are awesome!

So, this last week was pretty swell. It was week 1 of my Base 3 period.  I was able to get in all my hours dispite working a little more than I usually do, so that was great!  I have been doing a few higher intensity workouts such as tempo intervalls and hill climbing – and I feel pretty good.  This saturday I went out with the UO team and we pre-rode the UO race course.  I felt good on the ride and wasn’t really tired after we got back from the 4 hour ride, so I went a little longer doing some more tempo.  That tired me out – so I went home.

Well, Sunday came around and I was feeling a bit groggy in the head, and I felt like I may be getting sick.  I also woke up to Frost on the roofs of the houses outside my window – so decided not to brave it.  But…the sun later in the day got the best of me, and I was feeling a little better, so I went out with Chris, Mike, and Derek.  We decided to do Brownsville.  We were headed up the hill (backwards from the way I usually go), and I realized that my legs were just screaming.  I thought to myself – “man, my heartrate must be sky high, but it really doesn’t seem like I should be hurting this bad pushing only 230 watts.”  Then I looked down, and yes, I was only pushing 230-250 watts, and my heart rate was only 155.  This is low for me for going up a hill at that power.  So, I decided to amp it up and see how my HR would respond.  Well, I amped it up to 280-300 watts, and my legs screamed some more, and my HR went up…but only to 160-163.  AHHH!!!  This was not good.  No matter how hard I tried my HR wouldn’t go up, and my legs just kept screaming at me.

So, that was that.  At 2 hours it felt like 4 hours and at 3 hours it felt like 10.  My average HR for the entire ride was only 135 – which shoud have seemed like I was on a recovery ride for 4 hours – but no, my legs felt like they had been on a tempo ride for 7 hours.  So, I officially decided as I was shoving my face full of burrito and protein drink after my ride that I was tired.  It was definately the end of a hard week, and my body was telling me so.

So, today is a rest day, and I’m loving it.  This next week will be harder, and I’m excited.  Cherry Pie is coming close and everyone is pumped.  You’d think it was the biggest race of the season, the way everyone is talking about it.  Heck, I’m just excited to ride a course that I haven’t spent the last 3 months of my life on!