Apr 24, 2013 at 01:52 AM
By "chute" I assume you mean the downhill parallel to Prospect Park S/SW...is there a particular point defined as its exit?
Prospect Park Weekday Morning Training
Apr 24, 2013 at 01:59 AM
No, just define a point. I just know for me from the transition from downhill to flat all the way to upper middle of the uphill is 5 min. I'm trying to get you to find the same for yourself.
Apr 24, 2013 at 02:51 PM
@Patrick: The chute is the narrowed left turn after the downhill. I use the lightposts on the right side after the chute as my markers. The third one is actually an official KCC sprint-workout marker. You'll come to know it well.
Apr 24, 2013 at 02:58 PM
5 of us at GAP this morning, on a still chilly, but superbly clear, bright day. A rider on a mountain bike asked if we'd seen a group of runners go by and we half-jokingly discussed riding mountain bikes for our TT practice. Train heavy, race light.
I got smoked on the first TT (nice job guys - you pushed it hard and held it steady), and had a slightly worse time than last week. My second TT was ever so slightly faster (and I still got smoked), which I attribute to sheer luck, Thierry playing cat and mouse with me, and Joe jumping on my wheel the last 1/2 lap and helping me reenact his Battle for L&C last week where he and another rider rode together off the front.
18:20 6.7 miles, 21.8 mph
13:23 3.4 miles recovery
18:18 6.8 miles, 22.3mph
Apr 24, 2013 at 03:00 PM
i love these updates. please keep them coming. they are like reading the paper over coffee.
Apr 24, 2013 at 03:33 PM
DON"T Draft each other - Ever unless you're doing a different workout as these workouts require you to push yourself.
If you just can't do the workout because you are building fitness, then by all means ask if you can sit on. Then you get a good workout in that way. Plus you learn how a teammate rides and become more confident riding close to them.
If you just can't do the workout because you are building fitness, then by all means ask if you can sit on. Then you get a good workout in that way. Plus you learn how a teammate rides and become more confident riding close to them.
Apr 24, 2013 at 03:46 PM
Eric,
Nobody drafted each other so no worries !!!
Nobody drafted each other so no worries !!!
Apr 24, 2013 at 04:24 PM
I made sure not to get in Thierry's slipstream, and stayed to the right far enough to be out of his way. His legs kept picking up speed while mine burned as he rode too far in front of me for me to keep up. Nice job, sir!
Apr 24, 2013 at 04:29 PM
I was the only one drafting this am, so I could go fast but stay in my endurance numbers.
Apr 24, 2013 at 05:18 PM
You're welcome Bruce, I love the amount of healthy competition we have very early in the morning. The first 2 TT laps were rough, I felt that I had nothing left in the tank. I considered giving up at one point. Once my legs were warmed enough, I felt better and pushed myself to the limit.
Apr 25, 2013 at 02:22 PM
Lo, the most excellent sun so calm and haughty, /The violet and purple morn with just-felt breezes /The gentle soft-born measureless light. . .
52F this morning at 5:30, weather report of rain but dry outside, until I was on my bike, lights blinking happily at the parked cars, and the drizzle swept in sideways on 15mph gusts. So be it. Warm enough for knickers and a bandanna under my helmet - thus is the trade off.
I was at the park early so rode through Center Drive to find a beast of a raccoon scouting out the road. My first thought was fear that he would scratch my bike. Oh, how I am a slave to my equipment, but to the beauty of it more than its function.
6 of us at GAP this morning as we rolled out and, under Jim's keen coaching, practiced a rotating paceline for several laps. It was difficult to maintain formation due to the wind, my own inexperience, and a giant tree parked on a giant flatbed truck parked at the bottom of the giant hill. But we did it along the straightaway, up the hill, down the hill again, past the truck and past more riders peeking out beneath the cover of early morning.
The wind winded me. We cut through Center, broke into two lines of 3 riders and attempted leadouts. We did this twice, alternating rider placement. We got some good exercise but may need a bit more practice. I had a nice ride, got in 28 miles with a top speed of 37, but only because I was drafting and swinging forward.
I'm can't ride tomorrow - see you guys on Saturday.
Apr 25, 2013 at 03:56 PM
You are a poet Bruce.
Murray
Murray
Apr 29, 2013 at 03:14 PM
Week 5:
Tuesday - VO2 Max Day! -- Essentially, efforts between 3 and 8 minutes.
Warm up then do 5 efforts from the bottom of the downhill (or the end of the chute) Choose a starting spot and keep it consistent. Then go all the way to the top of the hill, or mid-point of the hill, or bottom of the hill. It doesn't even matter, just keep track of where you start and stop the interval. Keep those spots consistent as you'll be doing this workout for the next three-four weeks on Tuesdays. You'll want to compare times to see how you're progressing (provided wind and temperature are similar from week to week).
Wednesday - 2x2lap TT day. Work on being consistent for both efforts. If anything make the second effort faster than the first. And when you're finishing the effort, keep that gas on for the last minute (think of the work you've done the last three weeks).
Thursday - group ride working on team work and rotating smoothly. Paceline practice. Finish off the day with a set of lead outs. Make two teams and keep working on that skill!
Friday - openers.
Sat / Sun - race and ride!
Apr 30, 2013 at 01:11 AM
Thanks for the schedule, Coach!
Week 5, can you believe it? Makes me think it may actually start to warm up one of these days.
I've got an early morning reporting for Jury Duty, so I'm going to have to take off earlier than usual, but I'll be at GAP at 6.
Apr 30, 2013 at 09:05 AM
Nope, won't be able to make it out this morning, but would like to hear how it went.
Apr 30, 2013 at 02:06 PM
I woke up, saw that Ironman was out this morning, and went back to sleep. Indoor trainer tonight "simulating" today's workout.Bruce van-Schalkwyk said:Nope, won't be able to make it out this morning, but would like to hear how it went.
Apr 30, 2013 at 03:04 PM
Only 3 of us out this morning. Thierry, Kayt, and myself. Those efforts hurt.
On the 3rd or 4th interval a group flew by us on the decent and had a good distance on us through the chute so we pretended that was the race winning break going away up the road and we had to bridge. We caught them at the finish line and blew by for the win. That was fun and the fastest effort of the morning (though only by about 5 seconds). .
Apr 30, 2013 at 03:50 PM
I'll be out tomorrow for the fun. I'll just be drafting off you chumps, but I'll try to be more inspirational than my usual barking, badgering, and hectoring.
Apr 30, 2013 at 07:49 PM
Ill be out around 645 @gap doing a long sweetspot session if anyone is looking for it.
Apr 30, 2013 at 08:10 PM
I should be out 530pm ish.
Apr 30, 2013 at 08:17 PM
@ashleyB and @danielhubbard....i think you meant to post in Prospect Park Weekday Riding
not being a nazi. was just looking to find out who i might see in the park later and didn't think i'd have to look in the "morning" thread to discover who was riding in the evening 
Apr 30, 2013 at 09:37 PM
@Brendan - Ashley has been doing 6:45 a.m. so you can probably smear him off your to-kill list.
Apr 30, 2013 at 09:44 PM
Apr 30, 2013 at 09:50 PM
I have an early morning in the office tomorrow, so I should be out there with the 6am crew.
Apr 30, 2013 at 10:12 PM
645am sweetspot for an hour or more tomorrow morning I meant.
Apr 30, 2013 at 11:34 PM
mr. white: there is only one way off the to-kill list...
May 01, 2013 at 08:30 PM
6am - 4 of us out there. Ironman Bruce was missing (jury duty?).
Bad news: I pulled a Schleck and dropped my chain on set1/lap2 uphill. Foggy brain took me a while to get it back on. Rode with greasy fingers rest of the morning. Bleh.
Good news: Since 2 weeks ago, I've improved 40 and 50 seconds per respective sets! If I can keep improving at this rate, by the end of the season I'll be able to time travel (whoa that's heavy, Doc).
Set 1 - Combined 18:53
Lap1 - 9:20
Lap2 - 9:33
Set 2 - Combined 18:51
Lap 1 - 9:34
Lap 2 - 9:17
So just starting using the Garmin. Strava's interface seems slicker than the Garmin connect one. Any others out there that you guys use?
Also, judging from this site, MHR seems about on target. I hit a MHR of 179 this morning and 185 during one of the races this weekend.
Analytics are fun!
Bad news: I pulled a Schleck and dropped my chain on set1/lap2 uphill. Foggy brain took me a while to get it back on. Rode with greasy fingers rest of the morning. Bleh.
Good news: Since 2 weeks ago, I've improved 40 and 50 seconds per respective sets! If I can keep improving at this rate, by the end of the season I'll be able to time travel (whoa that's heavy, Doc).
Set 1 - Combined 18:53
Lap1 - 9:20
Lap2 - 9:33
Set 2 - Combined 18:51
Lap 1 - 9:34
Lap 2 - 9:17
So just starting using the Garmin. Strava's interface seems slicker than the Garmin connect one. Any others out there that you guys use?
Also, judging from this site, MHR seems about on target. I hit a MHR of 179 this morning and 185 during one of the races this weekend.
Analytics are fun!
May 01, 2013 at 10:09 PM
Nice numbers - good for you. It's great to see times start getting cut down like that, to know that the training is working.
Don't like to announce it, but I've got a cold that feels like an elephant is sitting on my frontal cortex. I beat my time on Alpine by 23 seconds on Sunday (which I set last July), and started feeling chilled on the ride home. First in 5 weeks that I've missed these rides, so don't feel too bad about not being out at 5:30am, but would have preferred that I took the time off to have fun. I'll be right as rain next week, but think I'm going to have to bow out of the Orchard crit on Sunday.
Keep up the training, David, and keep the torch going at the GAP. I'll join you soon.
May 01, 2013 at 11:17 PM
Nice work David. Don't put much weight in that MHR stuff - most of it is thoroughly debunked nonsense. What matters is *your* MHR and *your* HR at threshold.
May 02, 2013 at 02:58 AM
Thanks Bruce, Jules. And coach Ragot. I can probably be working harder, but even with inherent laziness the training has been very effective.
See you cats in the morning.