I did one effort by myself prior to the 6:oo meeting time because I knew I had to be out of the park by 7:00. That one hurt and the legs felt bad. I probably hadn't warmed up enough before I started it.

I shaved a good half minute off my first effort time on the second one, mostly because I could see Dan and Rich 20 meters up the road and they make good carrots (tasty in soup!). That one still hurt but felt better.

Third one I stayed within 10 meters of Dan and Rich until Dan gave a wicked acceleration about 1/2 way up the hill (or perhaps I did a wicked deceleration). About the same time for the third as the second.

I've enjoyed mixing it up for the past few weeks with the varied workouts. And it doesn't hurt to train with a bunch of fast fellas with a friendly competitive spirit.

it was a good week, hill repeats on tuesday, pacelining on wednesday, TT/VO2 Max efforts Thursday. All good turnouts, with at least 6 of us coming out each day.

The TT/VO2 Max efforts turn out to be really tough at the end of a hard week. Still felt the hill repeats from Tuesday, and the legs were very sore/stiff. I have to say these are just long enough to hurt, but not long enough to ever settle into a rhythm.

I have to say, this year there is a very strong group of riders coming out for morning workouts, and looking forward to seeing where everybody goes with the strong base this early in the year.

If you're racing this weekend, remember to take it easy tomorrow. Weather permitting I will be out at 6am for easy endurance laps tomorrow morning. nothing too hard, just to spin the legs out, maybe some sprints thrown in to blow out the cobwebs and get ready for racing on Saturday.

Murray, don't you know Rapha stuff gives you 10 extra watts of power, or that is the subtext I read in their marketing copy.

Jeff, if you miss us at the top of GAP, just ride backwards thru the park and we'll catch up to you.

Take it easy on wednesdays and fridays.not hard at all

A couple of openers is fine of course

Weather permitting I'm going to try and sneak out at 6 Dan.

Nope it is now 11:55pm and I'm wide awake, going to sleep in and dream about biking tomorrow morning. Dan you are a better man than I.

Joe,
You just insist on too much sleep.
Ride, sleep after - kinda like a park race.
That's it, train for the park races by training in the am.
Eric

Anything happening tomorrow? I'll try to be out there early to join the fun.

Yes yes yes. We will be out tomorrow morning, only 30% chance of rain, that means a 70% chance I'll be out at PP for leg searing pain!

Tuesday hill repeats, should be new kinds of pain, so come along and join the pain at 6AM.

any clues about what's being served up for Wednesday mornings hurt?

Wednesday will be a steady group ride. One lap pulls at the front in a 2 man wide paceline. Pace should be about the effort level to do 18mph on the flats = easier uphill, harder on the downhills.

Dan has a power tap, so he will be able to help keep the effort level constant.

Thursday will hurt again.

Eric

A gathering of 6-8 met for a wine & cheese tasting on Tuesday morning, which shall now be known as "chase Joe uphill day". A handful of hill repeats followed, some on the loop, the rest on the small road that cuts across the middle of the park with the shipping containers lining one side.

Last week included an easy two laps to shake out the cobwebs and let the morning coffee kick in, but today this was not to be. Joe & John M. were turning the screws and keeping the pace up. By repeat number 6 I was feeling a bit cross-eyed and getting wobbly. The hurt was capped-off with some slower tempo and recovery laps.

A great morning workout. The legs feel good -- tired but in a comforting way -- a subtle reminder of the morning's efforts. These workouts are a bit of a changeup from the small-ring jumps/sprints we usually do, and a welcome way to keep things fresh.

See you tomorrow, gents.

This Wednesday we can discuss theory and practice of leadouts. We can do a little low speed leadout for prospect for a couple laps to get the feel of what one should look like.

The point of a real leadout is to go just hard enough that others don't want to come around, but and keep the group strung out.

Today we had a good turnout. We did rotating paceline, and what a long leadout would be like starting at the base of the hill and then going through to the line.

The rotating paceline practice is good, and we're getting some good miles in with the group.

Posted By: eragotWednesday will be a steady group ride. One lap pulls at the front in a 2 man wide paceline. Pace should be about the effort level to do 18mph on the flats = easier uphill, harder on the downhills.

Eric

By easier uphill, harder on the downhills, Eric means slower uphill, faster on the downhills (same effort/power all the time). The same power uphill is obtained either by using a larger cog and/or by reducing rpm.

This morning, Jim N, Murray and I did 3 x 1 lap TTs with a lap of endurance in-between. Start/finish was the same as last week: start @ the bottom of the hill, end at the 2nd GAP/Flatbush Av exit sign coming over the top of the hill, so the distance is a bit more than one lap.

Getting better and a little more consistent at metering the throttle on these. No power meter so I've gotta go by RPE, however. First one was a bit quicker than last week. The second was 10 seconds worse than my previous effort. And the third was one second better than the first.

Ouch... no really; I'd take a nap if work wasn't calling

My legs were feeling heavy this morning. Did a reasonably quick first effort but the second two were off that pace by a good 30 seconds or more.

Planning on doing an hour of recovery pace tomorrow morning 6-7 if anyone's interested in joining. Meet GAP @ 6.

Good work men.
You'll reap the rewards soon.

Now that you've had three weeks of steady Tue-Thursday workouts and Weekend racing, its time for a rest week.

Next week's AM workouts are:
Tuesday - ride together, practice leadouts - nothing too too hard
Wed - endurance riding
Thursday - riding together again

You're goal for the week is to recover from the efforts of the last three weeks.

If you haven't been riding or racing on the weekends, you can keep the Tue-Thu schedule going.

Eric

I was out there off the Ragot Reservation doing my own special brand of self-abuse from 5:45-7. If you saw me and I did not say hello, it's because the self-abuse made me blind. Nothing personal.

Self-abuse:
wu
10:00@300w
3:00@275w
3x1:00x2:00 power intervals
blindness
2x3:00x3:00 power intervals
still blind
cd
slowly regain sight, locate lungs that spat out sea-cucumber-style, last seen hustling toward the tree line

So, you'll be fresh for saturday.

As a daisy.

Good ride this morning. Easy-ish paceline for this morning, with Jeff, Rich, Jim, McKay, Eric M, Joe W, and myself. It was good to see all these folks making it out for our morning rides.

We will be out tomorrow doing a little more of this.

Tomorrow, steady group ride - say 18-19mph average for the hour.

Good mellow paceline this morning. Easy again tomorrow and a little lead-out practice.

After you guys left I was following a Brooklyn rider when he ran over a squirrel. Took the last 1/4 of it's tail off, I don't think he even realized! LOL!

I was out there as well (late as usual), moto-pacing off someone going much faster. I'm undecided on whether I train in the morning or do FBF tomorrow.

I got squirreled one time as I was coasting alongside Perlberg as he was running (training for the Placid IM) in Prospect. "P-P-P-PING" off the spokes and he ran back from whence he came. I thought for sure I was going down, but he never made it through the spokes and into the fork, thankfully for us both.

Tuesday is coming up, perhaps wet, so here are your options:
outdoors:
w/u
6x2min, 1min rest
6x1min, 1 min rest
6x30sec, 1min rest (man oh man, make these count so your leadouts get better)
cool down

enjoy the pain. try to be consistent in the power output - don't jump really hard and fade the whole way.

Indoors - do the same


Wed - Easy group ride to recover

Thursday - 3x 1 lap TT's


Repeat the process for 3 weeks.

Eric, is there a rest period between sets or do we go straight from the 2 min efforts to the 1 min to the 30 sec?

All, I'm parenting alone this week so unless I can get grandma to help out I'll be indoors on the trainer. Have fun.

Oh, I'm sorry, you can toss 5 min in between Sets. I want to keep the workout to an hour so you don't have to deal with traffic.

Eric, forgive me if this is a dumb question but are they threshold intervals or VO2max?

really hard, anaerobic threshold (under 3 min)
-eric