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A very easy day today – just one hour in the main set and that at an easy effort of 171 watts.

The reason for this is that next week is test week.

The last workout I did was easy. This one was not. There were five 20 second intervals in the warm up, the first of which I hit hard without regard to what I should have been doing. I did 375 watts for 20 seconds. The next four were at the required effort. The main set is what nailed me. It called for five two minute intervals at or near my critical power. My heart rate climbed into the 160 beats per minute range. These worked me hard but I did them all.

Today was a very busy day. After work, I attended the Northwest Tandem Rally planning meeting until 8:30 pm. That meant I got on the trainer at 9:30 pm. It was late in the evening, but the workout was not difficult, an easy warm up without intervals and then four easy intervals in the main set. My heart rate reached only 150 beats per minute.

Today, the work out called for long intervals in the main set. They were hard, but I was diligent and finished them.

My Winter Cycling Training Programed called for a 2 and 1/2 long indoor trainer ride, or I could do a long ride outdoors. Since this was a rare rainless weekend in Oregon, so I choose the long ride outside.

And to challenge myself, I decided to ride 200 kilometer Randonneurs USA Permanent, but not just any Perm, but the one I broke my leg on two years ago. I also decided to ride it alone as I intended to hit it hard and fast for as long as I could. This was a training ride after all.

The route starts in Hillsboro, west of Portland and north of where I live. It was an hour’s drive to the starting location. I drove through lots of cold, freezing fog but in Hillsboro the fog had lifted into low clouds. It was still cold as I started the ride.

I wore all of my winter cycling clothing – two base layers (one long sleeve), a long sleeve jersey and then a neoprene cycling jacket I call the “super soaker” because it does not breath. The sweat just runs down the sleeves. I wore two layers on my legs along with my winter cycling shoes. None the less, I was cold before I started, but the four layers kept me warm during the ride.

Elevation

The route was a simple out and back – Hillsboro to Dallas and back with a stop in Dayton each direction.

As you can see, the route is mostly flat with a few minor hills. After a few warm up miles riding out of Hillsboro, I increased my effort and rode very hard all of the way to Dayton, a “control” where I had to stop and have my RUSA card signed. Along the way, I came upon the only other bicycle rider I saw during the day. Too bad I had set my mind to ride hard as I passed and dropped him. After Dayton, the route is very flat until Perrydate. From there all of the way to Dallas are some nasty rolling hills.

Power

Heart Rate

I did very well on the first leg to Dayton – my average speed with 17.7 miles per hour, my average power was 158 watts and my average heart rate was 132 beats per minute. Leaving Dayton, I attempted to keep the same effort, but I did drop just bit. The last leg back to Hillsboro is where I really suffered. My power dropped, but my heart rate remained the same. To be honest, I was very glad to see the end of the ride.

Let’s do some intense intervals!

This workout was hard. After the warm up, it called for fifteen intervals of 30 seconds at 281 watts. I managed to do them, but near the end, I could not do the required 183 watts during my ‘rest’ 30 seconds.

A rather easy day on the trainer.

The workout called for 45 minutes of effort split into three repetitions of 15 minutes consisting of 5 minutes of a modified stair step efforts – five minutes at 195 watts, five minutes at 183 watts and five minutes at 207 watts. I had no trouble holding these efforts.

Another hard day on the trainer.

Today’s workout called for some serious efforts. The warm up intervals were doable, but the main set intervals were very, very hard. The workout called for one minute efforts at 115% or 313 watts, then one minute at 191 watts. I could barely do the intervals, but I met the requested efforts on all five intervals. My lowest average wattage was 316 walls, barely over the 313, but over. However, to do this I could not maintain the requested “recovery efforts” As you can see, each of my rest recovery efforts was lower than the preceding one.

My cold is still with me, and I do believe that this is cause of my having to work so hard.

Well, at least for the first race – the Jack Frost Time Trial.

Last year I finished 21 of 29 folk in my category – Male 50-59. My time was 33:59 with a speed of 21.89. With the training have am doing, I hope to cut two minutes off of my time for a speed of 23.25 mph.

That is something to work for.

Some would say that two hours on the power crank trainer is crazy. I have to agree.

Today’s workout was hard, very hard. Perhaps the fact that I was up til 2:00 am and only got 6 hours of sleep had something to do with it. At least, that is what I’m going to blame.

As soon as I started the workout, I knew I was in trouble. After the warm up, the workout called for two hours of riding, starting with 30 minutes at 65% and increasing my effort by 5% every 30 minutes. Today, I found that working at 65% was hard when it should have been easy. 80% was sheer torture. At the end of the main set, I was done, very done, stick a fork in me done, “He’s dead, Jim” done.

For the record, the first 30 minute interval called 159 watts and I did 163 watts. The second interval call for 171 watts, I did 180 watts. The third interval called for 183 watts and I did 186. The final interval called for 195 watts and I did 191. I was on track on the last interval, but I could not hold the effort and slowed in the last ten minutes.

I am very happy that tomorrow is a rest day.