16th July 2009

Peak - Week 23 - Block 7

08:00am - Wakeup

• 4 Hours sleep
• Sleep quailty 5
• No heart rates measured
• Mood 8
• No weight measured

Out with Meg last night and a late night. Really tired this morning, legs feeling like lead weights after yesterdays ride into work. Hove Park tomorrow might be a little adventurous but will use it for training, might even be able to pick up some points if there aren't many numbers. Its forecast horrendous rain/wind...

Mick is organising a training ride tonight, if I'm feeling better I'll pop along to test the legs for tomorrow.

07:00pm - Workout - 1Hr 30 Mins EM with x2 CR

Wasn't feeling great but decided to head out anyway to Hove Lagoon to meet the guys for a ride. Myself, Claire and Dan rode out to Worthing for a few CR's on the back of the Bostal. Didn't feel too bad considering and did a big ring and high cadence CR. Powered home with a storm snapping at our heels. Definately lost the edge after the crash at Thruxton and a week or so off the bike.

15th July 2009

Peak - Week 24 - Block 7

06:30am - Wakeup

• 6.5 Hours sleep
• Sleep quality 7
• Heart Rate 47 / ?
• Mood 8
• Weight not measured

07:00am - Workout - 1 Hr 30 Mins EM - 24 Miles

Rode into work this morning with Jo on the Trek. All good after the crash, just need to replace the bar tape. Legs feeling ok though can still feel the effects of Sunday. Will be feeling strong again in a couple of days hopefully enough for Hove Park on Friday.

1st July 2009

Peak - Week 23 - Block 6

07:00am - Wakeup

• 7.5 Hours sleep
• Sleep quality 7
• Heart rates 54 / 68
• Mood 6
• No weight measured

Properly tired this morning after last nights race. Need a couple more hours sleep. Will see how I feel this afternoon before deciding to go to Portsmouth or not.

06:00pm - Workout - 1 Hour EM - 18 Miles

Decided against Portsmouth, feeling tired all day. Rode out onto the sea front and hard up Maderia Drive, Wilson Avenue and Old Shoreham road. Feeling strong but fatigued. Dropped into the track for a while to see the guys.

9th June 2009

Specialisation - Week 20 - Block 5

06:45am - Wakeup

• 8 Hours sleep
• Sleep quality 7
• Heart rate 49 / ?
• Mood 8
• Weight not measured

Feeling good again this morning, rested and slept well. Starting to turn my thoughts to other racing plans this weekend as there are two 4th Cat races. First is Saturday afternoon at Hillingdon and the second on Sunday at Thruxton. Am planning on riding both.

05:30pm - Workout - 40 Miles EM - 2 Hours 15 Mins

Crawley > Haywards Heath > Warninglid > Smalldole > Shoreham > Brighton

Longer ride home tonight with Mick. Legs feeling good again. Thinking confidently about Lewes, would like to get some more prime points to hopefully keep my position on the GC for the 2nd race. Will drive up there tomorrow night to reccy the route in the rain/damp. Want to guage how far the finish line is from the roundabout should I launch a last lap attack. Powering out of the roundabout worked well last week but need to improve position in the bunch.

Hillingdon on Saturday sounds like a good oppourtunity to get some BC points. From now on am going to ride much more aggresively and attack when feeling good.

8th June 2009

Specialisation - Week 20 - Block 5

08:00am - Wakeup

• 9 Hours sleep
• Sleep quality 8
• Heart rate 46 / ?
• Mood 8
• No weight measured

Feeling surprisingly good today, legs ok and feel recovered, heart rate looking good.

05:30pm - Workout - 30 Miles EM - 1 Hr 45 Mins

Crawley > Haywards Heath > Brighton Commute

Rode home via Haywards heath to meet Mick. Back home up Devil's Dyke. Felt good, strong on the Dyke.

1st June 2009

Specialisation - Week 19 - Block 6

10:00am - Wakeup

• 9 Hours sleep
• Sleep quality 6
• No heart rates measured
• Mood 6
• No weight measured

Few drinks last night with Chet. Feeling a bit tired, legs still ache from Saturdays training ride.

03:00pm - Workout - 1 Hour 20 Mins EM - 20 Miles

Took the tricross out onto the South Downs way for a change of scenery. Hacked along from Devils Dyke to the Downs Link then back via Shoreham. Big-ringed most of the climbs on the downs and was hitting 97-98% HR. Average HR 154.

22nd May 2009

Specialisation - Week 17 - Block 5

04:45am - Wakeup

• 7 Hours sleep
• Sleep quality 7
• No heart rate measured
• Mood 7
• Weight 78.1kg

Had a txt late last night from Mick about riding into work this morning so got up early and rode up to meet him. Am really liking these 5:30am rides, little or no traffic, suns out, perfect. Felt good even after last nights beating on the sea front.

05:40am - Workout - 1 Hr 27 Mins EM - 27 Miles

Brighton > Haywards Heath > Crawley - Ave Sp 18.6mph

Rode this morning via the A23 cycle path as Mick was still stuffed from racing Newchapel last night. After leaving him at Haywards Heath station headed up through Balcombe to Handcross and Crawley. Will prob ride home tonight steady with Jo. Tomorrow am planning on riding the Saturday morning training ride before driving back to Wales.

05:15pm - Workout - 1 Hr 45 Mins EM - 34 Miles

Crawley > Haywards Heath > Warninglid > Devils Dyke > Brighton

Rode back with Mick via Warninglid and the Dyke. Felt good on the climbs but took it steady.

21st May 2009

Specialisation - Week 17 - Block 5

07:45am - Wakeup

• 8.5 Hours Sleep
• Sleep quailty 8
• Heart Rate 47 / 65
• Mood 7
• Weight not measured

Tired again this morning but heart rates looking better for recovery. Working in Leeds today and getting the train back to Crawley this afternoon. Should be just enough time to get my kit on and get over to Newchapel for the Surrey League Handicap.

07:45pm - Workout - 1 Hr EM inc x2 25 Min SS

Didn't make it in time to race this evening due a cancelled train from Leeds, Victoria Line closed and finally a road closed about 10 mins from the race start. Mightly pissed off I drove home and went straight out on my Trek for a beasting. Rode 25 mins just over SS heart rate along the sea front, followed by a 10 min EM and another 25 min SS into the wind. Felt strong channelling my frustration into powering into the wind.

18th May 2009

Specialisation - Week 17 - Block 5

04:45am - Wakeup

• 8 Hours sleep
• Sleep quality 7
• Heart rates not measured
• Mood 6
• Weight not measured

Early start today to ride into work with Mick. In bed for 8pm and asleep by 9pm after a tiring weekend. Still gutted about missing Goodwood yesterday, sounds like with the weather being fowl it could have been another good oppourtunity to get some points. This weeks racing includes Dunsfold again tomorrow and a Surrey League race just east of Crawley on Thursday evening. This weekend will be testing out 70 miles or so of the Devil Ride route.

05:40am - Workout - 1 hr 45 Mins EM - 51km

Brighton > Haywards Heath > Crawley commute

Met Mick at the Dyke and rode in via Haywards Heath. Felt good, will make more effort to ride every day for the next few weeks. Depending on work may ride home this evening.

05:00pm - Workout - 1hr 20 Mins EM - 37km

Crawley > Brighton commute

Fast steady ride home tonight into the relentless wind. Felt good and managed a 20mph average for the first 10 miles, dropping to 18mph after the Dyke. Will get a good feast and an early night ready for more beasting at Dunsfold tomorrow. Hopefully this time the groups will be spaced a bit closer!

14th May 2009

Specialisation - Week 16 - Block 4

07:00am - Wakeup

• 9 Hours sleep
• Sleep quality 8
• Heart Rate 47 / ?
• Mood 7
• Weight not measured

Really sleepy this morning, felt like I could sleep another 4-5 hours. Legs ok though, no aches or pains. Heart rate coming down steadily though didn't have time to measure standing this morning as I was late. Looking forward to Hove Park tomorrow night, am eating, resting and drinking plenty in preparation. God knows what the weather is going to do...

Might pop down there tonight for a couple of laps to get to grips with the course.

06:00pm - Workout - 1 Hour 30 Mins EM + x3 PI + 10 Min SS

Rode up to Hove Park for a recon of tomorrow nights course. Took the first 2 laps at full speed to get a judge on where to and not to push it. 3-4 laps afterwards to recover followed by a final PI lap. Had a couple more easy recovery laps before heading down to the sea front. The climb is going to be interesting, a series of tight bends lead into it at the base, followed by a long off camber left swinging round to the final section before the top. Taking it at speed is going to require some deft handling.

On the sea front EM pace to the Marina, then a 10 min SS back into the headwind as far as Adeliade Crescent. The PI's around Hove Park hurt a lot, came home and crashed out for a while before a feast at the Shakespeares.

8th May 2009

Specialisation - Week 7 - Block 4

06:30am - Wakeup

• 7.5 Hours Sleep
• Sleep quality 8
• Mood 7
• Heart Rate 46 / 67
• Weight not measured

Ravenous hunger last night, had 2 dinners. Felt a little dehydrated this morning but feeling good about getting out on the bike again. Riding into work with Jo this morning and home again tonight on a slightly longer route.

07:00am - Workout - 1 Hour 30 Mins EM - 37km

Brighton > Crawley commute - Ave HR 151

First proper outing on the bike in a month. Felt better than I expected, had a few maximal efforts on the climbs. Felt relatively good at 175-180 heart rate, maybe my max is higher? Hit 185 on the Warninglid climb going at max in the big ring. Recovery seemed to still be quite quick. Generally happy with the ride, though can still feel the position isn't still quite right.

05:45pm - Workout - 1 Hour 30 Mins FM - 37km

Crawley > Brighton Commute - Ave HR 148

Felt great riding home, dropped the bar angle about an inch which made a big difference to the feel and control of the bike. Just wanted to let rip!

26th March 2009

Specialization - Week 9 - Block 3

06:45am - Wakeup

• 7 hours sleep
• Sleep quality 8
• Heart rate 53 / 67
• Weight not measured
• Mood 8
• Core Exercises 10 x 30sec

Feel proper tired this morning, legs a bit stiff from last nights intervals. Maybe I'm not getting enough calories in. Resting heart rate was highest for a while.

07:00am - Workout - 1Hr 20Min EM - 37Km

Brighton > Crawley Commute

Endurance miles commute to work on the Trek. Was a tough ride, really felt it this morning. Saddle not quite as bad as on the trainer but still far far from perfect. Didn't feel particularily comfortable at any point, just wanted to get it over with. Could just be tired.

27.6kmh / 17.1mph Ave speed

Heart Rate Ave 146 / Max 165

06:00pm - Workout - 1Hr 20Min EM - 41Km

Crawley > Brighton Commute

Through frustration altered the position again. Matched it back to the setup from the last good turbo session, angled the saddle nose down slightly and to the left slightly. Definate improvement on the ride, not much discomfort. Will have to do a proper test after being off the bike a 4-5 days. After Poland.

Came home via A23 cyclepath, then up through the Withdean estate (good climb) and back down Dyke Road. Was flying for nearly all the ride, totally different to this mornings slog.

29.5kmh / 18.3mph Ave speed

Heart Rate Ave 149 / Max 165

12th March 2009

Preparation - Week 7 - Block 2

07:00am - Wakeup

• 7.5 hours sleep
• Sleep quality - 8
• Heart Rate 51 / 73
• No weight measured
• Mood - 7

Heart rates up a little this morning but not enough to consider skipping the interval today. Will ride to work instead of using the turbo, meeting the club tonight in the Farm after work.

07:30am - Workout - 1Hr 18Min EM inc x3 15Min SS

Trek with Rovals, weather overcast with north west headwind.

Great ride into work this morning. Split the SS intervals as follows:

• SS #1 - A27 Roundabout to Shaves Wood Lane
• SS #2 - A272 to base of Handcross Hill
• SS #3 - Base of Handcross Hill to Gleneagles court

Kept EM heart rate limit to 151 and SS limit to 159-161. Time checks for the ride:

• 30 mins - Shaves Wood Lane I think, maybe a bit further.
• 45 mins - A272
• 1 hour - 100m up Handcross Hill
• 1 hour 15 mins - Welcome to Crawley sign

Stats

• Average HR 151
• Average Speed 28.8Km/h
• Distance 38Km
• Duration 1Hr 18Mins
  

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26th February 2009

Preparation - Week 5 - Block 2

08:15am - Wakeup

• 8.5 hours sleep
  
• Sleep quality - 8
  
• Heart Rate 48 / 76
• No weight measured
• Mood - 8

Legs still feel a little tight this morning, probably shouldn't have spent the evening blasting around Brighton flat out on the single speed...

07:40pm - 1Hr 40Min EM with x8 15Sec S

First Stomp session. Fitted new Selle Italia Gel Flow Flite to the trek before the workout and double checked all measurements as per cyclefit. Looks a bit weird but worked great, only had to adjust position on the saddle twice during the whole workout. Could this be the one.....?

Enjoyed the stomps, really hammered it on the last one hitting 917W. Last 40 minutes felt the most comfortable, but then I was bobbling around 140-145 bpm. Session worked well spending a couple of minutes to recover after stomp then back up to 95-100rpm.

Time	Int	Power	Stomp	RPM	HR	Max	KM/H
10Min	Warmup inc x5 30Sec FP
10Min	EM & 15Sec S 1	279	719	102	143	152	39.6
10Min	EM & 15Sec S 2	270	688	100	145	160	39.0
10Min	EM & 15Sec S 3	253	663	99	147	163	38.2
10Min	EM & 15Sec S 4	246	830	97	150	173	37.5
10Min	EM & 15Sec S 5	241	826	93	146	163	37.2
10Min	EM & 15Sec S 6	250	797	96	147	164	37.7
10Min	EM & 15Sec S 7	237	781	94	145	163	37.1
10Min	EM & 15Sec S 8	219	917	92	144	166	36
10Min	Warmdown
		249	778	97	146	163	38

Felt tired at work today but in a good mood, looking forward to the workout during the day. Is that weird? Contemplating doing an easy ride into work in the morning with Jo, Chris and Craig. Will see how the legs feel.

24th February 2009

Preparation - Week 5 - Block 2

08:30am - Wakeup

• 8.5 hours sleep
  
• Heart Rate 48 / 77
• Weight 76.3kg

Needed the extra hour in bed this morning. Legs still feeling it, definately need to get into the pool today! Dehyrdated.

07:40pm - 1Hr 40Min EM with x3 15Min SS

Really tough workout tonight. Stupidly hadn't checked my saddle after adjusting it for racing at the weekend so rode the first hour with it slightly angled upwards. Pressure caused me to stop the workout to investigate. Managed to complete the workout but in a lot more discomfort than usual (repositioning can be seen by the spikes on the results). After sorting the saddle was able to concentrate and breath. Wasn't able to sustain high efforts due to the discomfort from the saddle.

Time	Int	Power	RPM	HR	KM/H
10Min	Warmup inc x1 1Min FP & x2 30Sec FP
12Min	EM	288	99	148	40.2
15Min	SS	280	99	152	39.8
12Min	EM	244	94	146	37.6
15Min	SS	249	97	150	37.8
12Min	EM	254	94	145	38.3
15Min	SS	250	94	151	38.1
10Min	Warmdown
		265	97	149	39

17th February 2009

Preparation - Week 4 - Block 1

06:45am - Wake up

• 8 Hours sleep
• Heart Rate 51 / 68
  
• Weight 76.6kg

Slept solid. No aches or pains from last nights turbo session. Large difference in standing heart rate this morning, down 9 bpm on yesterday. Must have been the lingering effects of Cardiff...

Looking forward to tonights session but need to work on concentration. At present can only concentrate for a few minutes to maintain a smooth power and cadence output. Hopefully replacing the saddle with the gel flow will help this.

06:30pm - Turbo Workout / 1Hr 30Min EM / x2 20Min SS

Bike - Trek 53/39 x 12/25

Time	Int	Power	RPM	HR	KM/H
10Min	Warmup inc x3 1Min FP
15Min	EM	270	96	147
20Min	SS	270	91	153
15Min	EM	232	90	148
20Min	SS	255	87	153
10Min	Warmdown
		257	92	149

SS Intensity - Heart rate upper limit 157 (90% of average HR + 4 bpm)
EM Intensity - Heart rate upper limit 154 (88% of average HR)



Fitted the slr gel flow and dropped saddle height 2cm. Made a huge difference to the workout, no problems at all and pedalling technique felt more natural and required almost no concentration. Could focus more on maintaining a smooth output of hr / rpm / watts. Wasn't feeling 100% before the workout so used the 35 yrs + hr limits for this workout.

First 15 min EM and first 20 min SS were very smooth, managed to keep a high cadence without having to adjust position on the bike. During the last interval and after 1 hour averaging 90+ rpm had to sit up and freewheel momentarily 3-4 times to relive pressure (can be seen as spikes on the results). Felt great on the drops for the last 2 intervals - completely different from the last workout where I had to sit up none-handed for long periods.

Power output was down on last weeks EM & SS session, though I imagine this can be explained by using the lower HR upper limits. Still need to work on staying just below interval hr intesity - seem to sit around -5 / -7 bpm from the upper limit.

Looking forward to the fitness test on Saturday and first race Sunday!

Notes
Bike dimensions:

A - 80.5cm - Saddle height (seat top to centre bb)
B - 11.5cm - Top of saddle to centre BB
C - 6cm -Seat height to top of stem
D - 58.5cm - Tip of seat to centre of handlebars

10th February 2009

Preparation - Week 3 - Block 1

07:30am - Wake up

• 8 Hours sleep
• Heart Rate 49 / 78
• Weight 76.3kg

Feel a little dehydrated. Legs ache slightly. Slept well.

07:00pm - Turbo Workout / 1 Hr 20 Min / EM inc x2 15 min SS

Time	Int	Power	RPM	HR	KM/H
10Min	Warmup inc x3 30Sec FP
15Min	EM	295	95	156
15Min	SS	282	93	161
15Min	EM	252	88	156
15Min	SS	271	91	162
10Min	Warmdown
		275	92	158

Notes
First interval session from the new training plan today. Warmup worked well using 30 second 100rpm+ bursts with 30 second gaps. Entering first Steady State period I really wondered whether I'd be able to maintain the intensity, but gradually got used to it over the next 2 intervals. At the end felt I could have continued beyond the pescribed workout. Concentrated on keeping heart rate in zones at expense of power and cadence - both these were fairly erratic in comparison.

Before session Dropped saddle height 5cm. Throughout whole workout had no knee or feet pains whatsoever. Only discomfort was felt on the pubic bone, had to be aliveated by sitting up on the saddle for extended periods. After discussing with Alan it seems my saddle aspect must be wrong. He also suggested replacing the saddle as it would be well worn by now. Will invest in a new Gel Flow tomorrow.