Conconi Testing

I’ve got lots of stats on my blog, and one of the posts with the most number of hits is my page on the Modified Conconi Test that I did. Interestingly, there’s still little good information on this, and I still think Ross’s Maximum Performance for Cyclists is still the best book out there for explaining this process. The tricky thing is finding the deflection point after reviewing the data.

Here’s my HR data. Note that the first deflection point is supposed to be the aerobic threshold and the second is the lactate threshold. Ignore the 4th point, I was messing with the bike which reduced my watts and heart rate.

Heart Rate Data

Then the cadence data; the first bend in the graph can help you identify the aerobic threshold if the above heart rate graph doesn’t help. Around point 10, I started messing with the shifting to maintain my power, thus the changes in cadence.

Cadence Data

And finally the critical power data; when the curve starts to change slope, that’s another pinpoint for lactate threshold. This is the graph I’m hanging my hat on for my heart rate zones.

Critical Power Data

Deflection points in these graphs indicate both the lactate threshold rate and the aerobic threshold rate. However, finding those points is the tricky part.

Here are the heart rate zones I ended up selecting, which are far different (within the zones at least) than my original HR data.

Initial 2010 Heart Rate Zones

Final 2010 Heart Rate Zones

2007 Heart Rate Zone

Interestingly, my maximum heart rate hasn’t changed much. It’s zones 2 – 4 that have really been tweaked, and I can definitely tell. Training in the initial zones was been brutal for me. Enough that I readjusted to the final zones (by interpreting the deflection points differently and paying more attention to the critical power graph). The final zones do feel right…when riding in my prevous HR zones (higher than the 2007 numbers, by the way), it seemed like I was always in zone 4 and easily spiked to zone 5. Now when I’m training, I’m generally in zone 3 and 4, and spikes into zone 5 when doing intervals or hitting a steep hill.

Now that I’m into the high intensity intervals, heart rate doesn’t really matter that much since watts are now my guide, but the HR zones will be important for when I’m riding without the power meter and only have HR as my general guide.

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On the Road Again

Riding around the college with snow capped mountains for the scenery...not bad!

There’s still snow on the ground, but the roads are dry. If you have the right clothing on, you can roll on the road instead of your trainer. It was a great day on Saturday with the temps getting close to 50, so I was ready to go outside!

I got in a nice ride to Baker’s Bridge, up Shalona, then back to Bread. Met Matt at Bread after he’d done a bunch of intervals on Shalona and then we rode around town together for the cool down. Ahhhh….I love our town!

Still sticking to Ross’s plan and am now in the Strength stage. I’m always sore, but I feel like I’m making progress!

In preparation for the High Intensity stage, I’m looking at an iBike for training. Seems like the iSport ($349 wireless)  is all I need since I have the Garmin Edge 305 too. There’s an option to get the iSport GT ($299, wireless) that transfers power data to your Garmin. This seems like the better deal, but something must be up with this…I need to read the website better to figure out what you do/don’t get with the iSport vs the iSport GT.

Any comments on this contraption from anyone??

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Gym Time

Winter is quickly approaching, which means it’s time to get back to the gym for some weight lifting. Defined Fitness offers FooMTB members a discount, so I go there. It’s a convenient location, and they have all the equipment I want to use. Otherwise, it’s pretty nasty. It smells funny, has a suspect clientele, and is run by kids. Boy do I sound old now…

I’m still following Dr. Ross’s workout plan, so I’m in the hypertrophy stage of weight lifting. I need some strength. I think this is where my primary weaknesses were this year with riding. I had to quit hypertrophy early last year. I had the double centuries to ride, and then I really injured something in the right, operated hip. This year I’m lifting safer. Just because I can lift a particular weight doesn’t mean I should. I think I was shooting for maximum pounds rather than good form, so form is my focus this year.

Along with Dr. Ross’s advice, I’m also following a little Hammer Nutrition advice for the weight lifting stage of my training. Hammer puts out a quarterly newsletter, and according to Issue 56, using Whey after workouts and both Whey and REM Caps before sleeping at night can help elevate my human growth hormone (hGH). Whey, when taken before sleep, enhances athletic performance and decreases recovery time (page 18 in the newsletter). The downside? You have to take your shot of Whey with ONLY water, about 4-6 ounces of it. I opt for 4 ounces since I think that straight Whey tastes like ass (of course I’m speaking metaphorically here). The less to drink, the better.

As for the REM Caps, I have a difficult time falling asleep at a decent hour, so I figured, what the heck, I can accomplish two things: fall asleep, improve my hGH. Apparently, these caps have 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) and melatonin to knock you out for the night. I get more REM sleep, giving my body a boost in the stage of sleep where hGH is released (page 26).

Is it working? I don’t know. I’m still pretty tired the next day after lifting. My daily schedule is supposed to be: lift, ride, lift, ride, lift, rest, rest. Riding after a lift day in zone 3-4, shooting for some fat burning, leaves me with some twinges of cramping in the inner thighs, close to the hamstrings. This is exactly where I’ve been cramping after endurance rides this year. Regardless, I’m still giving this a shot.

I’m sleeping better!!

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Summer Time

Things have been busy lately with both work and riding. Summer seems like it should be slow and lazy, but in reality, it’s all about getting as much done as you possibly can in 3 months. The “slow and lazy” really doesn’t come until Fall.

Matt and I had our 15th anniversary this past week! Can you believe that? 15 years! It doesn’t really seem that long to me. Time keeps racing by me at an increasingly pounding pace. I can’t seem to get my hands around it.

Work has been busy, and I’ll have some “exciting” trips to TX, AL, LA and MS coming up…hmmmmm, I wonder who I pissed off to get sent to such places in the middle of Summer.

Riding, I’ve had some big gains and some setbacks as well. Matt kept telling me this would be the recovery year, but I kept thinking I’d be “peaking” about this time from a training aspect. Matt was right as usual. The main setback has been some hip pain that keeps me from pushing too hard on any significant set of consecutive days. That means that high intensity training is good for 2 days, but the 3rd is a weak attempt at best. To offset this, I’ve been combining high intensity (HIT) with lipolysis (LIPO) or mitochondria (MITO) workouts. Dr. Ross says this is good, and I’m training my body for endurance and power at the same time by doing this. I just don’t reap those super power benefits I’d get if I were doing straight HIT.

So, folks have been searching high and low for that Ross book Matt has used and I’m using as well. Seems the book is now out of print, but a new edition will be coming soon! I’ll probably want to get that one too. This has proven to be one of the most useful, readable training books I’ve ever read.

Despite the fact that I’ve been about mediocre at best with respect to my riding this year, I’ve managed to make a pretty good dent in the race and tour series this year. Take a look at my 2007 Races page to see.

My next big event will be the 24 Hours in the Sage race. I’m riding duo with my new Big Wheel Racing teammate, Lyn! Neither of us has ever attempted anything like this, but fellow female teammates Jen and Lisa have done this and tell us it’s “fun”! So, August 18-19, here I come! I’ll be wiping myself out during that weekend so that the following week in TX for work won’t be that bad. I’ll be so numb from the race, it will be nice to kick back and do software appraisals all week….not!

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Blue Tram Tower–Almost Conquered!!

Well, the first challenge up to the Blue Sandia Tram Tower has been knocked off my list. It’s the first steep, sandy face you have to climb. I’ve never been able to make it, but today?? Me, the Moots and my Kenda Karmas made it up. In fact, we were doing so well, we decided to continue –nonstop– to the last switchback. It wasn’t until the 2nd set of white waterbars that I had to get off the bike. Here’s my first description of this bad boy. The only thing I now need to conquer here is the last switchback. I gotta make it to the tower!!!

I’ve also got another accomplishment associated with this climb. I’ve cut a significant amount of time off this. Back in March when I first started riding this, it took me about 20 minutes to do this puppy. This time it only took me about 14. I forgot to check as I got to the top part, but I think that’s about right! I’m pretty stocked. It’s good to feel this when you don’t think you’ve been making any riding progress.

Matt has me trying out some morning rides, so this morning and yesterday morning, I was up at 5 AM. Matt, of course, had already been up since around 4 AM. Don’t know how he does it! Well, when the sun comes up at a little after 6 AM, we’re out the door. This moring was high intensity with not one, but TWO climbs up to the Tram Tower. After that, another fast/hard push to the water tower, and then back home, coming up and returning on Dan’s trail. That ride I can do in about 1 hr, 10 min. Yesterday was another high intensity ride with 1 failed attempt up to the Blue Tram Tower and then 4 fast/hard pushes to the water tower. That one took about 1 hr, 15 min. It’s the perfect ride, just a little over an hour on an empty stomach…minus the coffee to get me going. I guess these things do wonders for losing weight and getting in shape…we shall see.

I must admit, it’s nice to get the workout out of the way in the morning. Then I can chill at night. Oh, and if the monsoons come, let them come. I’ll have already completed the ride for the day and won’t get rained out. I’ve got the Sandia Peak Challenge coming up. As long as I’m not last, I’ll be happy with what I get.

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Sandia Crest Ride

I decided to ride road this morning from the house to Sandia Crest and then back home again. My ending destination is “visible” from our house, but the ride is very indirect. I headed south on Tramway toward Cedar Crest. Look how close the start and end points are, then you get the picture.

 

So, the ride started out beautifully. As I approached the Tree Springs parking lot, I saw some people standing on the opposite side of the road. Turns out there was a bear down there finding lots of greenery for brunch.

This was a pretty cool thing to see so close. The bear looked right up at us, then continued to do his own thing. Guess we looked harmless enough and would have been way too much work to chase since we were up a steep hill.

 

I continued the ride to the top and got some shots before getting some water, hitting the portapotty and then heading back home.

 

 

You can see our home from this pic. Here are the pesky cell phone towers we can see from the house. Nice…

Saw Nate as I was riding back down the Crest. Was going too fast to stop, plus I was freezing! Good grief, I had a jersey, vest, arm warmers and my rain jacket on. Still cold! It was wild to feel the temps change. They got much warmer once I hit the ski area, and by the time I was in Cedar Crest, I was roasting!

Oh, another note if you plan on riding the Crest anytime soon…the “noseeums” are out in full force. Upon leaving from the top, make sure you keep your mouth closed and your eyes barely open. You can handle the bugs pelting you in the face, but catching a mouthful is not so great.

It was a great ride. Got in 70.84 miles, 6254 ft elevation climbing, 5 hrs 47 min, 152 avg HR, 2603 calories burned away.

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Blue Tram Tower

I have a new nemesis, and it isn’t even a person…it’s a big blue tram tower that keeps mocking me as I try to climb up to its location on my bike.

Heading up from the house to the water tower by the Tram used to be my challenge, but I just finished climbing that twice in a row (intervals) in my middle chain ring. So to add to the challenge, I’ve started the attempt to the blue tram tower higher up than the water tower. There’s one steep face on the climb at the beginning that I can’t do, then I can make it non-stop to the last switchback. This switchback is marked by waterbars created with white-colored sandbags that span horizontally across the trail. The first interval up this climb, I made it to the first waterbar. The second time, I got to the second one.

Here’s the deal though…once you get to the waterbars, if you get off your bike, you’re pretty much history. The grade is about 30% based upon my Garmin. What’s nice about this climb is that it is evenly dispersed with what appears to be “flatter” areas where you can recover and then continue on the climb. “Flat” is a relative term when you are climbing, but it is enough to keep you going!

It rained today, and I had to skip the first NM 200K Brevet. I went totally unprepared, clothing wise. We did sag for Nate, who continued until the turnaround point instead. Rain turned to snow in the East Mountains, but cleared soon thereafter with party cloudy skies. Apparently there were 2 finishers, Donnie Cole and some other guy I didn’t meet. Awesome!

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2 Weeks Down…

Wow, am I boring my readers yet? No cool pics, nothing but boring graphs…and all I do is talk about how I’m punishing my body. Doesn’t sound like much to read. Today was a weight day, and I had a little more time than usual to kill, so I tried out some new machines. I usually use a squat sled of sorts for my legs. It looks a little like the image with the woman in it, although the machine I use allows you to adjust the tilt of the back from upright to lying down. I usually do both positions, and that is it for the squats on the legs. There’s a weight stack that makes adjusting weight really easy. However, I was wondering if using the other machines where you stack on the plate weights might be more challenging, so I went over and explored.

I used a Hack Squat today. Normally I lift about 250 doing this on the other machine. Turns out that when I use the Hack Squat, I can only do 200. I found doing this much harder than the other machine. I’ll definitely keep this one up.

I also used the Squat Press today. The difference between the machine I use and the one in the image is that the back of the seat is tilted further back. Normally I lift about 280 doing this on the other machine, and I was able to match the weight evenly here. However, it was more difficult to use this machine as well. I liked this machine as well and will probably continue to use it too.

Since I had more time than normal to spend in the gym, I gave one other squat machine a try. I’m trying to figure out a way to push with my legs at an angle similar to when I stand in the saddle while riding up the steeps. I really couldn’t find anything that great, but this seems to be a decent substitute. The machine I used at the gym actually has me angled at around a 70-75 degree angle from the ground (rough estimate). I can stand such that it’s somewhat like pushing down hard on the pedals, while leaning forward in the neutral position on the handlebars of the road bike. I liked the positioning, and I was able to lift only 180 on this machine. It could have been because I was tired, as this was the very last thing I did before getting down to stretching and taking a shower. One other thing was that this causes a little pain in the upper back, so I’m not sure I’ll continue this one or not. If I do, I probably won’t lift as much.

The overall results? I believe they were better, either that, or my soreness is just building upon itself. My legs are killing me right now, and it’s longer ride day (will probably be 4-5 hours).

So, after the boring weight session, I headed to Einstein’s to meet Carrie for lunch. She’s working in Albuquerque now…at least for a while. That’s a pretty long drive for her, so I hope she finds something back home. However, if she’s in Albuquerque, I’ll have another riding buddy! That would be fun.

Tomorrow is a road ride with Denise. I’ll be trying to stick to the Mitochondrial Biogenesis ride where I’m at HR zones 2-3 for 1.5 hours, then zones 4-5 for 1 hour. This will be a longer ride, but at the very least, I’ll try to get that stuff in. The plans are in the air, but Denise and I will start from the house, head down to the Bosque, and hopefully meet Paige down there for a loop. Then back up to the house to hopefully meet Carrie for some climbing. Not sure what we’ll do, maybe do La Luz, the Tram, Elena, and some neighborhood in between??? Who knows. We’ll play it by ear.

Matt will be off with the crew doing the San Ysidro Dirty Century with some of the crazy enduros. They should have a great time. The weather is supposed to be very nice tomorrow.

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