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Written by Vince
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Monday, 15 June 2009 16:53 |
My workout on Saturday was a race specific simulation. What does that mean? It means I had a ride of similar length to my "A" race followed by a 30 minute transition run. The ride and run are to be done at "race pace" which for me means riding at 200 watts and running somewhere between a 7:50 and an 8:00 minute mile pace. This type of workout scares me because holding 200 watts for hours on end is TOUGH!
Before owning a powermeter, I would set out on my ride and pace the ride according to how I felt. This basically meant that I would most likely go hard in the beginning and soft in the end. But now that I've switched over to power, I have an honest friend who accompanies me on my rides. To say that my powermeter is an honest friend is an understatement because the powermeter is your "too honest friend". You know... the friend that doesn't have an internal filter and will tell you you're an idiot, you're too weak, you're being overly competitive, or whatever else you don't want to hear.
My powermeter usually doesn't bother me until the end of the ride when my legs are feeling tired. And that's when it starts yelling insults such as: "You're weak!", "Suck it up!", or "Quit being a girl!" I forgot to mention that my powermeter is insensitive towards women... sorry!
Anyway, I got off on a powermeter tangent so I'll get back on track.
My wife and I drove to Patterson, CA where the ride began and set off on our separate routes. My ride began with a long and steady 30 mile climb to the "Junction" which you might remember from one of my previous rides. The majority of the climb is gradual but there are sections which prove to be quite challenging when 200 watts is the ceiling. There were several sections where I burned a few matches but I did my best to contain the ride within my parameters.
Arriving at the Junction, I was in familiar territory. After a long descent into Livermore, CA, I was within 13 miles of our house. A funny thought entered my head... I was thinking that I could ride home, grab the other car and drive back to Patterson. The look on my wife's face when she returned to find both of our cars would be priceless but not worth the cost of ruining a good race simulation so I opted to continue riding.
With all of the time in the world on these long workouts, there are a number of goofy thoughts that pass through my mind. As I was switching through the parameters on the powermeter, I glanced at my cadence. I thought... hmmm... cadence... I wonder how many revolutions there are in a long ride? It turns out there are 32,110 revolutions in a ride of this length at 95 rpms.
At the lunch stop I picked up a wheel-sucker and I didn't even know he was back there. I hate drafters -- especially when they just assume it's ok. He sat on my wheel for about 10 miles which was a blessing and annoying simultaneously. On one hand, I'm fueled by anger and don't have a problem maintaining my wattage, but on the other hand, I am annoyed that a stranger would presume it's ok to suck my wheel. I eventually decided I didn't want him back there and sat up. He then passed me and rode off into the distance. I was quite surprised that someone with that kind of strength would bother to suck my wheel but I guess he just wanted a break.
Working my way back to the other side of the hill, the next 25 miles were basically flat which is actually tougher than climbing but with a slight tailwind, the speeds were in excess of 30 MPH. After 1.5 hours of flat riding, I noticed a rider ahead of me. As I approached the rider, he started to look familiar -- it was Mr. Wheelsucker who apparently was falling apart. I passed him as he was struggling to make it to the aid station. I quickly stopped at the aid station to refill my water bottles when Mr. Wheelsucker arrived and put his bike on the ground. I jumped back on my bike and looked back at Mr. Wheelsucker for the last time and he appeared ready to take a nap under the tree.
I continued flat riding on boring farm roads which proved to be challenging due to a climbing heart rate and a lack of enthusiasm. What can I say? There is zero entertainment with flat roads and nothing around you but dirt fields. I finally arrived at the last aid station and again refilled my bottles and took a brief verbal survey from the volunteers who wanted to know my thoughts on the event, the ride, and the volunteers. I lied and told them I thought everything was great. The truth is -- I only care about the food and that was mediocre including the post event meal.
When I arrived at the finish, I gave my bike to my wife who had been patiently waiting, I threw on my running gear and began my 4 mile transition run which proved to be challenging. My legs were tight and it took me the first mile to find them. Once I did find them, it was difficult to keep on pace. Looking at the power file, I can see why but while I was running I thought this would be a tough run if this were race day. I was hot, my heart rate was high but I knew I could suck it up and finish the 4 miles. However, the thought of being like this on race day had me feeling a little uneasy. But like I said, when I got back to the power file, it was quite obvious this ride was HARD -- much harder than IMLP will be.
When comparing this ride to a similar ride back in May, there were improvements on all fronts and I have a huge amount of confidence going into IMLP. I have no idea what confidence and wattage translate into time but I do know that I am as trained as I'm going to be and I don't think I could've done anymore than I have. So as I like to say, "que sera sera" -- except I just normally say it in English.
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