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Time To Get Fit - 2024

I'll be down in LA for work week after next. Thinking I'm gonna try and find time.

Thanks TW!

Mike: Hahaha! I WISH! Plus, you guys are gonna smoke me...which sounds like some fun, actually.
 
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Mike95060 said:
Thanks Robert! That's really helpful. UCSC bike path comes to mind as a good place for a 4 minute all out effort. It's a protected loop to climb. Roll down and repeat. :rip
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How'd it go? It's not obvious to me what structure you did from the laps on your Strava activity.
 
stangmx13 said:
How'd it go? It's not obvious to me what structure you did from the laps on your Strava activity.
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Welp, I definitely got a VO2Max workout out of that ride. :laughing That ride looks sloppy compared to your intervals for sure. It was a rough first attempt to see if the climbs and sections I thought would be good for a 4 minute all out push would work. I think they do. The first big push was up Western drive. There are two strava sections there, "Western Wall:HWY1 To Echo" is about 12% grade and took me 1:25. That flows into the bigger segment "Up Western Dr." That segment tops out a little above the UCSC campus main entrance. The idea was to push up western as hard as I could for the first 4 minute interval then roll down to the base of campus and then use the bike path for 3 more hard efforts. "UC bike path -woodchips to music building" is just about perfect for me to do a 4 minute push. You can see the three little saw tooth segments highlighted in the attached image. Nothing really all that impressive as far as estimated power numbers but, as a proof of concept for a VO2Max training ride i'll call it a win. I was fumbling around with my lap timer a bit and had stuff to do at home so I was limited to about a 2 hr ride. I didn't get quite as much rest between reps up the hill as I would have liked. I also think it will also take some practice to REALLY learn to go all out. I think it's in my nature to hold back and I have to learn how to turn that off to really blast a section as hard as I need too.

I got my first open water swim of the season in on sunday too. 7 weeks till Alcatraz, its go time!
 

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Your's only looks slopping because you were less strict with the lap button. Start and end your intervals wherever. Hit the lap button on your computer to start an interval and hit it again to end it & start your rest. Repeat. Tracking those durations is what's most important IMO. Oh, and it kinda looks like you have an auto 5mi lap that can be disabled.

Learning how to do RPE 10 is definitely a thing. It kind of a cool early gain though. Maybe it's like early gains from weight lifting - nervous system gains, not strength.

Looks like you are going to outgrow "woodchips to music building" on next attempt :thumbup

One thing my coach told me early on was to do the intervals and nothing extra. You get 98% of the adaptation from doing the VO2Max intervals. Adding in an extra effort on the way home because you felt good might get you to 99%. But it also adds a lot of fatigue that reduces your ability to do tomorrow's workout. So it's really not worth doing that extra effort. All my VO2 interval workouts are 1.5-2hrs and easy riding outside the warm-up and intervals. I try to keep my HR around 130bpm for "easy riding".

My vision goes blurry and my blood pounds in my ears when I actually hit RPE 10 on these short intervals. On my long intervals, especially with all the sugar I'm forcing down at the time, I definitely think about :barf
 
Early gains are the best kind :laughing

I like that ride because it's flat and pretty until you turn to go up to campus at western. In theory that should make the warm up out and the cool down on the way home an easy zone 2 cruise. In theory...

Setting PR's while your in zone 2 must be nice! To me that says your training is paying off. :thumbup
 
Mike, what mode are you running for those stats?
 
Mmmm, not sure what you mean. Im using a garmin 255 with a chest strap. I just use the “bike” mode for a road ride. If i use the trainer there is a “bike indoor” mode. I don’t have a power meter on any bike. Any biking power numbers you see from me are estimated based on speed and grade, i think. Im not exactly sure how strava calculates power when you don’t have a power meter. Does that answer your question?
 
The graph and segments are from strava. I do use the paid subscription version. Lots of details on the desk top paid version. Even more if you have a power meter :laughing
 
Which race did you do? How'd it go?

For anyone that doesn't use TrainingPeaks, the star medal icon with "1" means highest-ever power for that duration. 484w is a strong attack in what was probably a long MTB XC race.

The Fuego course looks so amazing. Im coming up next year for sure.

Also, there's just something about tanwall RaceKings :drool:laughing
 
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Slow business day so I left 2 monkeys running the circus and went hiking. Did a short loop in Sibley this morning and a much longer loop in Briones in the afternoon.
 
Thanks Mike. Strava makes sense.
 
stangmx13 said:
Which race did you do? How'd it go?

For anyone that doesn't use TrainingPeaks, the star medal icon with "1" means highest-ever power for that duration. 484w is a strong attack in what was probably a long MTB XC race.

The Fuego course looks so amazing. Im coming up next year for sure.
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Yep, I did the Fuego XC, which was around 21 miles and my finishing time was around 1:50.

I can say that I led the pack of 102 riders up the hill of the Laguna Seca road course. That is where I put down the 484W X 1min effort.

I hope someone took a photo because that was the last of doing good. The intention was to get the hole shot to the dirt single track at the top of the climb, but I think the effort was too hard and the rest of the race as mediocre.

I got 29th in 40-49. Last year I got 9th. Last year I was 146- 150 lb. This year I am quite a bit heavier. So, time to get fit. :laughing



stangmx13 said:
Also, there's just something about tanwall RaceKings :drool:laughing
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Agreed. That is why I paid extra for them.:cool.

They are some of the fastest rolling tires you can get with decent tread.
 
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Killroy1999 said:
Yep, I did the Fuego XC, which was around 21 miles and my finishing time was around 1:50.

I can say that I led the pack of 102 riders up the hill of the Laguna Seca road course. That is where I put down the 484W X 1min effort.

I hope someone took a photo because that was the last of doing good. The intention was to get the hole shot to the dirt single track at the top of the climb, but I think the effort was too hard and the rest of the race as mediocre.

I got 29th in 40-49. Last year I got 9th. Last year I was 146- 150 lb. This year I am quite a bit heavier. So, time to get fit. :laughing

Agreed. That is why I paid extra for them.:cool.

They are some of the fastest rolling tires you can get with decent tread.
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Awesome. I'm sure there are pics. I'll be on the lookout.

Wanna join me for the XL next year?

RaceKings will probably be going on my MTB for Leadville.
 
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