The first test was a 13.4mi Indoor Time Trial at a local multisport shop in Clifton Park, NY called Revolutionary Velowatts. It was the first time I had visited the shop even though I had heard fantastic things about it multiple times from various competitive athletes in the region. I was not disappointed with the quality of the shop, this place is a triathlete's indoor training paradise! They have several treadmills, an endless pool, 8 CompuTrainer units, and anything an endurance athlete would need for strength training.
Ok, back to the time trial. The course was 13.4mi with some rolling hills, here is a screen shot of the profile.
Since aerodynamics mean nothing in CompuTrainer world this ride was all about Power to Weight ratio (Watts/kg). After the shop set up each athlete's bike we were allowed a short warm-up prior to beginning the race. The 8 of us were situated on a platform facing a big screen TV that displayed each or our names and ride details (power, speed, distance, cadence, % grade, distance ahead, and distance behind), imagine watching a 2D simulated horse race and you will understand what we were all looking at.
I wanted to use this ride as a test to see what, if anything, had changed in the past several months of consistent training. Unfortunately, there really is not a whole lot of exciting things to say about the race itself since there were no tactics or any semblance of actual racing, just a group of guys suffering in silence on a Saturday morning. A few small fans offered poor convective cooling, so after a few minutes of TT effort I quickly became drenched in sweat with puddles forming all around. Once I started suffering I started to close my eyes and entered the pain cave. With nothing to look at but the clock, this race was nearly as challenging mentally as it was physically.
I ended up winning my heat with a time of 37:15, with an average of 318 Watts, with a 20min Max Average of 323W. For reference, my previous FTP test was 20 minutes at 326W. So, intuitively, these numbers tell me that I can produce slightly less power for 37 minutes than I can for 20 minutes, but only 2% less for 85% more time. I'd say that's an acceptable sacrifice in power for the added duration.
Again, I have to commend Revolutionary VeloWatts for being such a superb shop. The quality of everything inside was top notch and Ric (the owner) is running a fantastic operation. I wish I lived closer as I would be in that Endless ool all the time (There's no P in the ool and they want to keep it that way).
Rabbit Ramble 4mi - Saturday, March 30
The following week I entered a local road race in Guilderland, NY. Given the low-key advertising for this event, I figured there would be a small field and maybe I could cherry-pick a win. It was a 4mi Out & Back race and turned out to be the first beautiful spring day in upstate NY. The weather was absolutely perfect, 50deg F and sunny with no wind.
I woke up feeling great after a couple of easy days of training. Again, like before the Indoor TT, I was a little unsure about my training having not done any speed work in the past few months, so this race would be a test to see if LSD training had helped. I left a little late and arrived at the race site only 30 minutes prior to the 10AM start. A longer wait at the registration table and a long line for the bathroom only allowed for a 5 minute warm-up before we had to line up for the start. I guess that's what I get for thinking I can sleep in because it is going to be a small race! It turned out there were almost 200 people there, including some seriously fast runners.
After a short warm-up I got to the start and lined up next to a guy I see out running on the roads with some frequency. We ran by each other the day prior and both gave the cursory the 'hello-fellow-runner' nod that really meant we were trying to figure out which of us is faster...I guess this was the day to find out. My plan was to run my own race with a goal of sub 25:00 (6:15/mi).
The race started off fast with the two guys in orange tanks surging off the front. Without knowing the course profile, I decided to hang back and run the race according to plan, not wanting to blow up later in the race in case there were hills. After half a mile a group formed to work together to pull back two leaders in orange who had about 50m on us, but the gap kept growing. We went through the first mile at 5:50. Uh oh, I thought! At 25sec faster than my goal this early, this was either going to go very well for me or I was going to fall apart soon.
Once the chase group broke apart, a new runner emerged from behind and ran away from me as if I was standing still. Two of us remained in 4th and 5th place for the next mile, pacing off each other for a 6:02 mile split, falling 12s off pace due to a half-mile hill. As we hit the turn-around I was red-lining. Still unsure if I would be able to push this pace for another 2 miles, I concentrated on my form: drive the knees, pump the arms, look like Alistair Brownlee but run at his recovery pace.
Two runners became three as another guy came from behind. Did I start too fast, am I slowing down that much? Am I gassed? These thoughts raced through my mind until I looked ahead 200m to see the aforementioned runner in orange doubled over, above a pile of puke. Maybe the three of us could be competing for 3rd if he can't get back up to speed. He started running slowly but quickly returned to race pace and promptly ran away from our group. Frat boys have nothing on this level of "Puke and Rally."
The three of us went through at 5:58 for mile 3. One mile left in a pack of three, competing for 4th place, despite seeing the guy ahead of us puking half a mile back. I was feeling confident, my HR was about 180bpm but I was under control. Stay cool for another half mile and then see who has the best finish.
The latest addition to the duo pulled away with half a mile left. I thought he was going too early so I held back for a minute. He'll slow in the last quarter when I'll be putting it all on the line, I'll edge him out in the last 50-100m. He gained about 5 seconds on me in that minute. Damn, maybe this guy's kick is for real! Time to drop the hammer. I pulled away from the guy I had run with most of the race and chased after the man ahead. Apparently he had more in the tank because I narrowed the gap to a few seconds but was unable to get any closer. I was flying with 200m left, still feeling strong and delighted that I was well under my 25:00 goal. I crossed the line at 23:44 in 5th place with a closing 4th mile of 5:52, making the average pace 5:56/mi.
I was very pleased with how the race went for how little speed work I had done in training. It seems that week after week of aerobic consistency pays dividends on race day, regardless of how many interval repeats you do on the track.
The engine is firing on all cylinders right now. After a recovery week and some unexpected weekend traveling I'm back into focused training. Energy levels are high and workouts are feeling great. Aerobic consistency is king in IM Training. Race day is a mere 16 weeks away!
Ok, back to the time trial. The course was 13.4mi with some rolling hills, here is a screen shot of the profile.
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| With no y-axis scale it is somewhat meaningless, but there were some decent 5-7% hills in there. |
Since aerodynamics mean nothing in CompuTrainer world this ride was all about Power to Weight ratio (Watts/kg). After the shop set up each athlete's bike we were allowed a short warm-up prior to beginning the race. The 8 of us were situated on a platform facing a big screen TV that displayed each or our names and ride details (power, speed, distance, cadence, % grade, distance ahead, and distance behind), imagine watching a 2D simulated horse race and you will understand what we were all looking at.
I wanted to use this ride as a test to see what, if anything, had changed in the past several months of consistent training. Unfortunately, there really is not a whole lot of exciting things to say about the race itself since there were no tactics or any semblance of actual racing, just a group of guys suffering in silence on a Saturday morning. A few small fans offered poor convective cooling, so after a few minutes of TT effort I quickly became drenched in sweat with puddles forming all around. Once I started suffering I started to close my eyes and entered the pain cave. With nothing to look at but the clock, this race was nearly as challenging mentally as it was physically.
I ended up winning my heat with a time of 37:15, with an average of 318 Watts, with a 20min Max Average of 323W. For reference, my previous FTP test was 20 minutes at 326W. So, intuitively, these numbers tell me that I can produce slightly less power for 37 minutes than I can for 20 minutes, but only 2% less for 85% more time. I'd say that's an acceptable sacrifice in power for the added duration.
Again, I have to commend Revolutionary VeloWatts for being such a superb shop. The quality of everything inside was top notch and Ric (the owner) is running a fantastic operation. I wish I lived closer as I would be in that Endless ool all the time (There's no P in the ool and they want to keep it that way).
Rabbit Ramble 4mi - Saturday, March 30
The following week I entered a local road race in Guilderland, NY. Given the low-key advertising for this event, I figured there would be a small field and maybe I could cherry-pick a win. It was a 4mi Out & Back race and turned out to be the first beautiful spring day in upstate NY. The weather was absolutely perfect, 50deg F and sunny with no wind.
I woke up feeling great after a couple of easy days of training. Again, like before the Indoor TT, I was a little unsure about my training having not done any speed work in the past few months, so this race would be a test to see if LSD training had helped. I left a little late and arrived at the race site only 30 minutes prior to the 10AM start. A longer wait at the registration table and a long line for the bathroom only allowed for a 5 minute warm-up before we had to line up for the start. I guess that's what I get for thinking I can sleep in because it is going to be a small race! It turned out there were almost 200 people there, including some seriously fast runners.
After a short warm-up I got to the start and lined up next to a guy I see out running on the roads with some frequency. We ran by each other the day prior and both gave the cursory the 'hello-fellow-runner' nod that really meant we were trying to figure out which of us is faster...I guess this was the day to find out. My plan was to run my own race with a goal of sub 25:00 (6:15/mi).
 |
| In the middle in blue between white shirt and left-most orange tank. Aforementioned fellow runner in orange tank on right |
Once the chase group broke apart, a new runner emerged from behind and ran away from me as if I was standing still. Two of us remained in 4th and 5th place for the next mile, pacing off each other for a 6:02 mile split, falling 12s off pace due to a half-mile hill. As we hit the turn-around I was red-lining. Still unsure if I would be able to push this pace for another 2 miles, I concentrated on my form: drive the knees, pump the arms, look like Alistair Brownlee but run at his recovery pace.
Two runners became three as another guy came from behind. Did I start too fast, am I slowing down that much? Am I gassed? These thoughts raced through my mind until I looked ahead 200m to see the aforementioned runner in orange doubled over, above a pile of puke. Maybe the three of us could be competing for 3rd if he can't get back up to speed. He started running slowly but quickly returned to race pace and promptly ran away from our group. Frat boys have nothing on this level of "Puke and Rally."
The three of us went through at 5:58 for mile 3. One mile left in a pack of three, competing for 4th place, despite seeing the guy ahead of us puking half a mile back. I was feeling confident, my HR was about 180bpm but I was under control. Stay cool for another half mile and then see who has the best finish.
The latest addition to the duo pulled away with half a mile left. I thought he was going too early so I held back for a minute. He'll slow in the last quarter when I'll be putting it all on the line, I'll edge him out in the last 50-100m. He gained about 5 seconds on me in that minute. Damn, maybe this guy's kick is for real! Time to drop the hammer. I pulled away from the guy I had run with most of the race and chased after the man ahead. Apparently he had more in the tank because I narrowed the gap to a few seconds but was unable to get any closer. I was flying with 200m left, still feeling strong and delighted that I was well under my 25:00 goal. I crossed the line at 23:44 in 5th place with a closing 4th mile of 5:52, making the average pace 5:56/mi.
 |
| The closing 10m of the race. 5th place overall. |
I was very pleased with how the race went for how little speed work I had done in training. It seems that week after week of aerobic consistency pays dividends on race day, regardless of how many interval repeats you do on the track.
The engine is firing on all cylinders right now. After a recovery week and some unexpected weekend traveling I'm back into focused training. Energy levels are high and workouts are feeling great. Aerobic consistency is king in IM Training. Race day is a mere 16 weeks away!
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