january training plan received from coach

michael196

After an absense off the bike for a good 8 years and returning to the bike last may 2010, this year i thought lets get a coach to get me into race form for road races 2011

Following an absense from road biking for 8 years, with an occasional MTB dabble, I hired a bike on holiday last march 2010. first day i struggled with 20 miles. Persevered every day and at the end of the 2 week holiday, i hit 70 miles in my daily spin.

back off holidays. i bought my first ever new racer, in may, and turned to the etapes and club tours; ( sky ride) W200, Castlecomer 100, Leinster loop, Swords sportive, SKT, just to get back into the sport of cycling over the summer. Started heading out with the racing section of the club towards august and september.

A disastrous attempt at league racing followed, whereby i resolved to have a coach for road racing for 2011. Mostly because in sportives and etapes, performance was good, but something was wrong when it came to league racing.

coach signed up in november, and this january, the power testing was started followed by the first month (january) training programme designed by the coach: outlining and including intensive training, was recieved.

I am based in the south east, and hopfully will update this log as i go along. if u wish to follow..... or would like to know further details.......

cantalach

I think this type of thread usually goes in the Training Logs sub-forum. I'm sure a moderator can move it in there for you if that's appropriate.

Oh and best of luck with the training programme!

Lumen

How much power? Come on, out with the ruler.

billy.fish

Lumen wrote: »

How much power? Come on, out with the ruler.

Meterstick in my case

Raam

What kinda plan did you get?

Beasty

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACnqI1l4I9s

michael196

Lumen wrote: »

How much power? Come on, out with the ruler.

u show me urs !!! not as much as I would have liked.....

Beasty

michael196 wrote: »

u show me urs !!!

His has already been thoroughly exposed across the world-wide web...;)

Lumen

michael196 wrote: »

u show me urs !!! not as much as I would have liked.....

Yeah, there are about a million stats in my training logs already. I'd post more but I don't want to break the internet.

In the middle of 2010 my FTP was about 270W @ 68kg. This equates to "cat 4 packfill".

levitronix

Two weeks till my next test , fingers crossed im banking on a few more watts:rolleyes:

michael196

Lumen wrote: »

Yeah, there are about a million stats in my training logs already. I'd post more but I don't want to break the internet.

In the middle of 2010 my FTP was about 270W @ 68kg. This equates to "cat 4 packfill".

yep Lumen I saw your stuff.

michael196

First up, I am just under 14 st in weight,

resting heart of 47,
42 years old,


I stopped in the power test at 270watts , more out of not being there mentally, due to a cold, and first time on a turbo set up. found it hard to get the resistance to push power. heart went up to 190 I think. mismatch 9 speed power hub with a ten speed rear derailer.

2 x 15 intervals were subsequenlty prescribed as interval starters . went out to do this , thinking should be ok, but had major difficulties hiting the interval on a particular road. ( national route, flatish, hard shoulder)

two days later, different road, rolly with a bit of an incline, and with some nutrition on board, I began to hit the intervals and got a 1 x 15 . not the steadiest trace on the garmin for cadence and heart, but there or there abouts 15 minutes of interval.

then on the same trip on a flat road back to town I hit the second 1x15 and help it for almost 20 minutes. Delighted I was, thinking maybe at last I had a shot at the leagues again.

the last time i hit those figures was castlecomer sportive in october and sportives in june.

so contining the remainder of the plan for january, getting back in those trips i missed through weather, and hoping to build on the interval training.

michael196

michael196 wrote: »

First up, I am just under 14 st in weight,




the last time i hit those figures was castlecomer sportive in october and sportives in june.

QUOTE]

what I mean is the part of the sportive that goes nuts thinking its a race, and bombs it off the front , meanwhile muggins chasing down.....

michael196

What a day for kites !!!; looking out the back it looks calm ish, not much tree movements, : so I am think maybe i shouldnt have been so lazy and gone with the lads .....

out the front:: the door opens while being blasted into the hallway, the palm tree things next door look like a tornado report from CNN in the bahamas.... the car shuddering as it shook around with wind,

we are on top of a hill here.

so i close the door and wait for inspiration to arrive .....

now i hear that heavy rain sound of rain against the front door.....

michael196

the following sunday: the sun came back, and a club tour of 100km in 3 hours shook down the cobwebs.

just about hung in, and took a push at one stage !!! difference between dropping and surviving:rolleyes::o.

next night or so out for an evening spin around rathmore east in kildare/ wicklow, frozen roads put a damper on an enthusiastic spin... never checked the weather forecast.

noticed freezing air temps, and thick fog, heading towards blessington on N81, as the road passes close to the lake.

today, in work, decided to head to sally gap, guys advised it would be frozen, so I thought Slieve Maan, shay elliott memorial. quick look at the map and headed off only to end up on the wicklow gap !!! :eek::eek: .....through hollywood.....

michael196

bit of interval today after the frost dissappeared. intervals took an hour. noted faster warm ups occurring today. then turned into an endurance spin afterwards . All good. Plan to get back to wicklow over the weekend.

michael196

second power test was about 2 weeks ago, following a rest week .

this time 300 W was achieved, and I genuinely felt quite unable to speak afterwards but as I kept saying to the coach, there was more in me, just not delivering it on the turbo / power hub / gears set up.

Coach telling me , you wont be able to walk down a stairs tomorrow, as I gasped out the reply : ''I....(gasp) ...live .....(gasp) .. in ..... a bungalow !!''.

In the following days, new Shimano R133 race shoes were fitted: A task I usually dislike given how long it took to get the last shoes correctly postioned.


In 2010 I had specialized MTB shoes, and looking in shops in May,, the selection was not great. I was eagar to keep going on the racing bike for all the sportives in 2010, so ''the shoe change '' was delayed untill end of season. Finally in november the shoes were selected however it was January before they arrived. and finally fitted in February.

One or two spins out to position the shoes, and while currently not perfectly fitted and aligned , they are performing well so far. Further adjustment is required.

Straight away there was a difference in power transmission between the Shimano race shoe and the specialised MTB shoe that I had been using.


A spin out in a very blustery sunday morning a few weeks back , saw me blown off the back at Ardfinnan Hill, Knocklofty, Clonmel, Co Tipp, in a bad way.

the coach 'got thick for 10 minutes' when he realsied I was gone with out saying anything, a post mortem was summonsed immediatly, through text and email !!!

Over eating at breakfast and the night before causing bloating and nausea meant no real power available for the hill. a hill that I knew like the back of my hand. Reason for the over eat was that the distance for the sunday spin was ramping up from 100, so additional food was required.

Struggled onto my brothers house in Clonmel Co Tipp to pick up water and began to recover after that. Completed 90 km that day in the end.

Since Ardfinnan, there was a three day training block, Friday : a spin 80km up into Wicklow mountain: Hollywood to Wicklow gap to Laragh ( hippy cafe) to Glenmalure, Aughavanagh SLieve Mann, and back to Hollywood.

Next day back to Wexford for a saturday club spin out from Wexford to Waterford, began to hit interval heart rates during the spin, and eventually turned around to complete about 80 km.

Following day, sunday up to Carrick for a spin , expecting not to make it around : Carrick-Clonmel-Dungarvan- Coast Road- Kilmacthomas- Carrick

Never been on the Kilmacthomas to carrick road before, and hope not to be there untill the road is fixed again !! Coast Road. I was familiar with some of it but not all of it. Tough time along there, wanted to abort but the lads told me we were about to crest over the hills so I hung in.

Finally I aborted out on the kilmacthomas to carrick road, only about 1.5 miles from carrick. didnt realise I was so close.

From not expecting to finsih to competing 275 KM in three days, happy enough.


For the next power test, shoes will be aligned / adjusted. THe next power test will probably be after a 2 week holiday ......

michael196

end of february, local pre season training in inch co wexford ( so he trains in carrick / clonmel, kildare / wicklow / dublin , waterford / tipperary and wexford !!! ).

arrived down from dublin, 10:20 pulling into carpark for start at 10:30: last minute decision to go, leaving dublin at 09:20 ish, rapid sign in, and off we go,

oooohhhh....as usual on the front, pace setting up, a4 group of about 6. Orwell rider encourages us to wrok together...wham bam massive cramping both legs same time.... aborting ....continued the circuit anyhow,60K

following week, friday some interval trainng, 80K, saturday, rode wexford to clonmel, 125K head wind the whole way, party the saturday night before a drive back to wexford in the early hours. and then back into inch for the sunday morning. 440 K was completed before riding inch. arriving into inch at 10:20 for the 10:30 start and in thought how could i get this wrong again.

group of 8 a4 set out, and a group of 25+ a3. no cramping this time, all good, we lost 2 x a4 within 8 km, down to 6, a4.

pushed around , felt very strong, kept on front for 80% of the time i lasted. pushed, pushed, pushed, hitting 54 kmph on one slope downwards. lead car overtaking me at about 13 km told me the a3 had arrived and looking around to see only a few a3 and not the whole 25 bunch. I saw some a3 stringing in behind our dissolved a4 group.

I stayed on front at this stage, remembering what our Orwell friend said the previous week to make the a3 work to catch us, so down with the hammer, knowing i was gonna blow fairly soon, and not thinking in terms of surviving the 60 k race rather thinking lets pressurise at this stage as much as i could, and make the chasers work for it.

I pushed out maxing, no one taking any work on the front from me, on front a good 10k at this stage, looked around, string behind me , then wham , sudden exit to the right, right off the front, and drifted back, hard to jump onto that group, so let them pass, and took up the next group, . a good hundreds of meters of a gap, between the first 2 groups told me that the a4 kept away for almost 1 lap or 20km. Not bad for 6 lads competing with 25 more experienced and stronger lads.


next group was working to catch the first group that I just exited, so not much rest ! but I rested up as much as i could, went around the roundabout, guys shouting to work to catch the first group, i knew i had done my work at that stage, tried to sit in a little, felt recovering, then responded, back up on front, accelerated out, to finally empty the tank, and exit the race just after starting the second lap.

completed the 60K circuit to tally up a 500 K week. coach happy to have put the exit down to overwork, which was fair.

back on bike the following thursday, for interval / endurance, clocking a solo run of 115 K in 4 hours.

next saturday sees summer hill ( dunboyne ) co meath followed by Broadford co limerick the following sunday.

after that an almost month break in march due to ireland wales match in cardiff followed by sunshine holidays, but the bike is booked in the holiday destination, same frame, same size bike for 2 weeks in sunshine, Flat terrain however.

michael196

am away in sunnier climes the past few days, just at the start of annual holidays, experiencing 28 deg C at the moment, here.

I knew bike hire was possible , so i arranged a two week bike hire for the duration of the holiday. I arranged a Scott Speedster 54 cm frame . Today was also a group spin, so off I headed......

4:00 am outa bed, got brekkie and things together, a little disorganised as was too tired night before to prepare. I Knew I had either a 80 K or 120K option for today.

not wishing to bother with a taxi for the 15K transfer, I headed off toward town, to arrive after 40 minutes to the destination of the start.

Good crowd, about 80 I think. 6 am, ready to roll out.


the first 40 K was fine, traffic lights, handy pace. P and water stop, then the 80K tourers turned back as the 120K spin continued. The pace ramped. luckily I was off the bike a few days so was rested. the pace pushed on, and soon the heart was pushing 183 bpm, as i caught a glimpse of the garmin screen.

relativly flat terrain, with flyovers and ramps providing the most hills. next thing two lanky dutch guys came up on the outside and just destroyed the leading bunch. tried as we did , I certainly could not compete. Multinational gathering, english, norweigan, welsh, french, german, dutch.

next stop at 70K. and the group divided into two groups, a steady bunch for the final 50 K and the dutch, who now had 2 visiting pros with them for company.

off they went.

the steady bunch followed on, after a gap. here the peleton took off in sprint and race like, each start accelerating toward a sprint after every 10 K or so then regrouping and off again.

I honestly found this training 'tour' tougher than the 2 x a4 races i have been in ireland so far this year, broadford and Dunboyne.

grouping, up the pace, sprint and then regroup over the final 50 K.

arriving back at the start 120 k in 3 hr 25 ( the first section with stops and lights lowered the overall average figures).

the final 15 K back to t he holiday apartment took 1 hour, I just turned off the garmin after a while. stopped at a bench for a breather. the sun was now well up.

36 average KMPH, 56 max KMPH, 183 heart max,

I cannot remeber te last time getting off a bike in such a shattered state: full energy drinks and maxifuel bars consumed, but at the end zero in the tank.

passing by a KFC on the way i was sorely tempted, but i passed on.


rested now and ready to try again tomorrow , however on my own. two weeks , with a few rests days thrown in, and a mountain session secheduled with thsi group for next friday.

aiming to loose down a few pounds and get some race train in.