Just need a goal

Ryder

Just need a goal...

uberwolf

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/04_04/GarciaGhostGoal_468x358.jpg

Ryder

Sweet. Log over!. Got interrupted earlier - have entered the etape and goal is a gold time. Training time is difficult with family and a 70hr per week job. So far... 1 lsd run, a 1hr tempo turbo, an interval turbo session and 2 3hr weekend rides is the plan. After christmas will up the intensity and add in more intervals

Ryder

Had a mixed week...LSD60min run on tuesday, 60 mins on turbo on thurs at tempo, 5 min pieces on turbo on friday and then chickened out on weekend with crap weather and did 2 lsd runs instead. Made up for it today with 100k ride on fixie - gorgeous day in connemara

Ryder

Did 1hr at tempo on the Fixed, knee aching. Have one more long spin planned this week and then will fix up my old trek and retire the fixed. Also got gait analysis done today, seems I'm a pronator and that may account for some of the knee issues

Ryder

Week 1 of training done. Got another 100k of LSD done on thursday and 80k on saturday morning on my first club spin - great fun, dunno why I left it so long to join a club

Ryder

Not a bad week of training so far. 2 LSD runs - have been working on a faster cadence and seems to hurt my knee less.
Got another club run tomorrow and some tempo cycling on sunday.

Also been my first week commuting on a geared bike in 3yrs - much less fun but hurting my knee less. Notice a lot more coasting on the geared bike but have ben keeping the cadence up. Wonder about all that talk about fixies improving cadence and fitness. Definately improve strength but 3yrs after cycling almost always fixed - my natural cadence is still 80 - 90

Ryder

After all my good intentions been neglecting this log already. Had to work all of christmas, so got an average of 3 days a week (2 1 hr turbo and i 1hr run) over the last 2 weeks.
Last weekend, did 1hr on a rowing ergometer at a fairly respectable pace, after 3 months completly away from the sport - impressed at how much of the cycling fitness carries over.
This week was supposed to herald the start of my carmichael plan, but another mental work week means that im gonna shelve it till next week. So far though this low volume and high intensity work is paying off.......ill find out for sure on tourmalet

Greyspoke

Hi Ryder Well done on having the motivation to post a log of your training - I'm totally incapable of sticking to a plan!
I'm curious to know what distance you covered in the hour on the ergo - presumably a concept 2? Though I never quite managed to get into competitive rowing (other than some indoor comps), I've spent a lot of time on those machines and reckon they're probably the best all round pieces of equipment you can get and particularly good as a supplement for cyclists. I used to find that for longer efforts, say 30 mins+, that 2min /500m was a good steady pace and as you got it lower towards 1.50 it was quite a bit harder to maintain. I haven't been on it for a while but with this inhospitable weather perhaps now is the time to start again!

Ryder

[HTML]Hi Ryder Well done on having the motivation to post a log of your training - I'm totally incapable of sticking to a plan!
I'm curious to know what distance you covered in the hour on the ergo - presumably a concept 2? Though I never quite managed to get into competitive rowing (other than some indoor comps), I've spent a lot of time on those machines and reckon they're probably the best all round pieces of equipment you can get and particularly good as a supplement for cyclists. I used to find that for longer efforts, say 30 mins+, that 2min /500m was a good steady pace and as you got it lower towards 1.50 it was quite a bit harder to maintain. I haven't been on it for a while but with this inhospitable weather perhaps now is the time to start again! [/HTML]
Thanks, did about a 2:00 split. Used to row competitivly in college and hated the erg........now using once or twice a year i really miss it - the rowers version of the turbo

For the last 2 weeks been doing 2 1hr tempo turbo sessions, 2 turbo sessions with LT intervals, and 1 swim per week. Been too icy and too scared to get out on a real bike, but will hopefully change that this weekend.
Great to see that the intervals are improving my fitness and I hate doing them, prob another sign that they work.

Lessons learned so far......turbo work really carries over into other exercises - amazed at my swimming fitness when i hadnt swim for a year before christmas. Also caution when getting 1 hr box sets for turbo work...they dont last an hour and usually spend the last 15mins listening to the same 5secs of title misic over and over

Ryder

End of another week....start of a new one. Good week, 2 1hr turbo interval sessions, 1 power interval session in the park and a club ride.

My first club ride of the new year...and the first one with a bit of work thrown in (just some intervals). Had been worried for a long time about my size and cycling, 88kg and not much weight to lose, but held my own in the interval sessions. The combination of size and reduced training time worries me going forward but well see.....Gonna use Magnus Backstedt(prob wrong spelling) as inspiration.

Glad I joined a club though, def has given me a renewed focus and my fitness has rocketed on less training time. Am doing higher intensities in less time and cutting out the junk miles (6k cycle commute) on rest days. The ultimate goal this year is the etape, will need to get a long range training plan in place soon.

Ryder

Week up to jan 31st. 2 turbo sessions of 3 12min SS intervals, 1 hr tempo, 3 hr road cycle on sunday and 1 hour on rhe turbo incl 2 X 4 by 2min power intervals.
Time crunched plan ramps up each week and really feeling the effects - am constantly wrecked and sleeping like a dead person. All probably good signs.
Sorry to have missed the club spin - can remeber a time only last year where i would always prefer solo training, but the group ride is really enjoyable and the banter more than makes up for loss of freedom. Glad to see everyone elses logs going so well, inspirational stuff

Ryder

More of the same last week; 2 days of 3 SS 12min pieces, 100k club spin and treshold intervals on sunday. Best week so far with very little knee pain......maybe theres something to stretching afterall

Ryder

Week up to the 14th; 1 day SS 12 mins by 3, 1 day OU intervals, club spin - 100k and 1hr power intervals on sunday.
Not much time wise but feels like a decent weeks work. Feel a lot fitter on less time. Since starting this high intensity plan have become addicted to the turbo. Been giving up a sunday road session to do intervals on the turbo. Partly i suppose because its so time efficient but also because i know i wont get the work done on the road......maybe a bit of honesty on my part.
This week need to set up my sportive list and maybe think of a race

Lumen

Ryder wrote: »

1 day SS 12 mins by 3, 1 day OU intervals, club spin - 100k and 1hr power intervals

What's all that about then? Presume SS=steady state. At what level? What's OU? How do you structure "power intervals"? Are you targetting HR?

Ryder

All based on a carmichael plan. All intervals are built around lactate treshold or above. Am using heart rate as a guide but its not great for these type of sessions because of the lag factor. A powermeter would be much better but am used to the heart rate now

Ryder

Similar to last week....and the week before....and before, 3 days of high intensity intervals and 1 long club spin. Am finding it tough going - great fitness gains at the expense of hating training. All the other years I mixed 1hr running, rowing and weekend cycling, but without a goal. Now a goal has brought me great fitness but the pain of high intensity is affecting my drive - havent skipped a session yet and suppose its a small price to pay. Imminent arrival of a baby means i got loads more turbo to enjoy

Lumen

Ryder wrote: »

the pain of high intensity is affecting my drive

I feel your pain. Good days are good, bad days are just awful.

Ryder

Good last week, but same program as previous. Coming up to the end of my carmichael plan. Havent done any sportives yet but finding 110km group spins okay and am usually at the upper end of group intervals.
Plan on repeating the plan again in the 10 weeks coming up to the etape.in the meantime am planning on 6 weeks of; 2 long 100k ish weekend spins, 1 session of hills and 1/2 turbo sessions trying to extend time at LT K
- so roughly 2 20 min pieces at HR of 160bpm.

Must also look up some sportives in the meantime and some club races

Ryder

Another worthwhile side effect of this training has been the weight loss - now down to 84kg. This was never a training goal as im fairly thin at 87kg and 1.92m height, but was reading some joe friel stuff on training and climbing; gives a ratio of 2 -2.5 weight to height for climbing ability. 2.5 for me is 85 kg. At that ratio he advises seated climbing which im taking on board.
Havent made any huge dietary changes other than cutting down on sweets etc but am eating large volumes of a modified paleo diet

Just to finish this rambling, have put a lot of thought this year into devising training plans. Work and family have pushed me into low volume high intensity training, 6-8hrs per week. A 3 hour club spin at the weekend got me thinking about all the high volume plans, aside from 3 intervals my heart rate in the group was less than 125. Whats the point? However am fully aware that this question may be answered starkly if I fail badly in the etape.....

Lumen

Ryder wrote: »

was reading some joe friel stuff on training and climbing; gives a ratio of 2 -2.5 weight to height for climbing ability. 2.5 for me is 85 kg. At that ratio he advises seated climbing which im taking on board.

For the curious, here's a link

It's "pounds per inch of height" (shudder).

DirkVoodoo

Lumen wrote: »

For the curious, here's a link

It's "pounds per inch of height" (shudder).

What's your ratio? Out of curiosity

Lumen

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

What's your ratio? Out of curiosity

2.13 ish, depending on what I do before I get on the bike. I found out during my bike fitting last week that I've shrunk to 181.something cm.

Ryder

Busy work week and family life meant that I got only 3 day last week, all on the turbo - threshold intervals. Looks like this week might be similar but at least am off the following week so should get some long spins in.
Training progressing well so far but cant shake my knee problem. Been told by 2 physios that its patellar tendonitis. Been stretching my hip loads and it has loosened a lot. Part of the problem is that it dosent really affect my cycling so the motivation to sort it has been low. Just need to get the etape done and then will work on rebuilding that leg

Ryder

Last week as before. Club spin on saturday - loads of hills. Also marked the last week of the carmichael TCTP.
Havent really done any fitness testing so am unsure of any gains other than feeling well and being in the upper third of all club spin. My target weight was 85kg (arbitrarily chosen as the 2.5 ratio kindly linked by Lumen previously) am now at 84kg without any major dieting other than reducing sweets and bread.
The other issue is my knee pain. Had it assessed by a physio a year ago, diagnosed patellar tendonitis. Got a foam roller and it helped but didnt get rid of it. Felt at the time that the assessment wasnt great, not sports orientated. Got it assessed again in the same pratice 1 month ago - same story tight quads etc. Have been paying attention now to hips and hamstrings and are def looser. Anyway wanted a sports assessment so went to a different physio. Very impressed with the assessment. physio thought it was due to too much leg muscle overloading the knee. Also went through running form with me so am looking forward to tying it out next week. Had planned to start hill repeats next week but the too much muscle thing got me thinking so will instead do 2 sessions of 2 X 20 mins at threshold as well as 2 LSD at the weekend

Ryder

Getting a bit lazy with this.....finished the TCTP so have 4 weeks to kill before doing it again. Was on holidays this week but a new baby meant that I didnt get the sufferfest of cycling I had planned.
5 8min hill repeats on monday, 3.5hr hill cycle out to the sallygap and roundwood on wed - fantastic evening, nicer than morning rides, a 2hr fast spin on friday and a club spin on saturday incl 3 20min intervals
Fitness is holding well so far. Need to maintain it, whilst doing low intensity training until mid april, before doing a final 10 week push to the etape

Ryder

Mechanical week....hub broke on my training bike on tuesday, trying to turn across a junction and legs spinning but bike stationary. That evening one of the pedals broke on by good (turbo) bike. Which meant.......new aksium wheelset from cyclesuperstore and Look keo sprint pedals from wiggle.
Training wise got a 10k run on monday and the rest of the week adjusting. Was my first run since seeing the physio. Tried the different posture and it helped a lot. Have been doing a bit of reading on the web and am looking into chi and pose running. Gonna order books from amazon this week.
Club spin on saturday and a fast 2hr spin around old connaught on sunday evening - great spin and lovely evening. Really felt the benefits of the training with an av hr of 144 and most of it spent at around threshold (160). So much easier to hit HR targets than on the turbo

Will be ordering books from amazon this week and hope to get some more training books, more carmichaeel or maybe joe friel. Also need to get a bike bag sorted - 10 days in andalucia in may. Have been looking at the tifosi padded bag for weight reasons

Ryder

Monday - 1hr run, no knee pain just ache along my outside thigh and glutes
Wed - 2 X 20 mins on turbo at treshold with 10min break
Friday - as wed
Sat - club spin, 100k
Sun - solo spin around north dublin before work, 98k

Training is going okay. managing to work around a baby and work, but these are the easy weeks and plan to up the intensity again in may.....so well see. Obviously the fact that ive entered and paid means im locked in but can help but feel that the etape was possibly the wrong goal for me......as part of a club ive learned a lot, found that my size (192cm and 85kg) dosent affect my speed and would love to race.....just cant fit both goals in this year.

Had also missed the turbo....enjoy the chance to watch tv guilt free.

Still some niggling knee pain. Toying with the idea of a bike fit (70e) and also speedplays (100+e) for float. But the fact that my foot angulation appears neutral when resting and my pain initially started with running is keeping me from blowing more money at the moment

Ryder

Monday; 1hr run
Tue; 2 to 20min pieces, 8min break on turbo
Thurs; as tue
Sat; 110k. rochestown-passage-carrigaline-minane bridge-roberts cove-nohoval-kinsale-old head and home
Sun; 100k. cork-kinsale-innishannon-ovens-cork
Great weekend. Beautiful down around kinsale, must give up cycling and do more windsurfing. The sunday spin was especially good. Fast cycle on the main roads and dual carriage way. Not as dangerous as i alway thought. Much more fun, and less hilly than the carrigaline route to kinsale
Am working next weekend. From then on back into full interval TCTP training midweek as well as gradually increasing the weekend spins

Ryder

Had been having left knee issues for about a year now.....first running and then on the bike. Couldnt work it out. Read everything there was to read, have studied anatomy and physiology, all to little avail......until i got my fcuking act together.
On a bored evening last week, sat on the kitchen table and looked at my foot rotation, always assumed they were neutral. My left is slightly internally rotated. So what? Always use mtb SPDs - they have float. Wrong. Apparently none, so bought a cheap pair of Looks and 9 degree inserts - big improvement.
Was at a loose end again on sunday so decedided to check out saddle height. Worked it out using the .883, 1.09 of inseam and heels on pedals 'formulae' all gave me broadly the same seat height (give or take 1cm) of 82cm from the BB, had been 87cm. Tried this on my monday commute and tue turbo sessions. Made a big improvement - no lateral knee pain or buttock pain, just some slight twinges in the anterior knee when pushing hard

Really hope this sorts things. Have been really complacent this year about stretches and injury prevention etc and am paying the price. Spent the first half of my training holding back.....hope it gets better

niceonetom

Glad you're getting to the root of your knee issues Ryder.

I'd just point out that 5cm is quite a big jump in saddle height to do all in one go. A lot of bike fitters say you're better off moving to a new (better) position incrementally over a few days/weeks to avoid loading muscles and ligaments in an unfamiliar way and thereby causing a new injury. If you've already got knee issues I'd be careful about doing long or intense sessions until you've gotten used to the new pedal action, especially if you're riding fixed gear.

short circuit

Your saddle height could indeed be wrong ... but it would be extremely extremely rare that it was 5cm above recommended height. Indeed, it is said that getting saddle height wrong on the high side is usually difficult ..

By the way, make sure you move the saddle back as dropping it would have invariably moved it well forward.

Ryder

Thanks....read somewhere that mercx always carried a spanner so that he could constantly adjust his saddle - maybe that the answer. Anyway, good advice...going to move the saddle up 2cm this evening as the niggle is still there and I may be too low now.
Had also read thats its ?impossible to go too high but my left hip and back pain seem to disagree. We shall see

Ryder

Just a housekeeping note....moved saddle up and down from 82cm last weekend. Less than 82 def wont work. Currently set at 83 and saddle set so that knee is just behind spindle....so far so good

Ryder

Again...2 days of 2 X 20min pieces.
Missed sats club spin so did 105k arround Blessington and over the sally gap. New route through vicarstown....nice roads and fast. Total calories 3120, better than my usual club av of 2800. Met another cyclist out for a spin. We were at a similar level so ended up doing a route together - great fun...must be one of the unique aspects of cycling as a sport; the potential for camaraderie and independance at the same time
Sunday.....family stuff all day. Escaped at 1600 for a 3hr spin up to Kippure - to continue the emotional theme.....stunning evening. Had kippure to myself at 1900hrs. Spent 10mins taking in the views; not a believer in mixing business and pleasure and usually hammer through a training session, but life is short and views like that were too good to miss. Promise not to do it again though.....

Ryder

Has been good to read back over this log....so going to give this its own entry.
My goals at the beginning of this log, and throughout my 3yr cycling career, didnt include racing......but joining a club kinda sucked me in. Work, family etc kept me busy, but last night I was free and raced....
Heading out on the long trip to Brittas I had no expectations. Its been almost 11yrs since I have last been in a race of any type (i won my last rowing race, so was a nice note to end my career on). I never really thought of myself as a racer and reading the forum here for the last 3yrs led me to expect to be dropped early. Cycling out with my clubmates I was given good advice and pursuaded to race semilimit. Suddenly i started to feel anxious and excited again and just really wanted to race. Theres something about pushing yourself against others that no sportive can ever match.
To the start....bit of confusion about semilimit but eventually we were off. The start was slow and gentle but a clear dry evening meant that the pace quickly ramped up to 41kph. HR at 150 and in the middle of the group I was loving the easy speed. The first few ks were a bit hairy with riders jockeying from all sides, oncomming traffic and riders pulling out without checking. Concious of safety i kept in the main bunch and started to get passed - started to feel comfortable and jockeyed myself. I was racing.
The speed was unbelievable but sheltered in the bunch i was feeling strong. Due to my hesitancy i kept getting hemmed into the left verge so kept losing position as people passed. Pretty soon one lap was done, one to go. Still feeling strong i knew i wasnt going to get dropped and deceided to push a little. Accelerated along the side to the front of the bunch and was in second position with about 5k to go. Another rider leapfrogged out on his own but was soon consumed by the bunch, but again i got hemmed in to the left and with about 500m to go ther was a wave of riders passing so ened up finnishing at the tail end of the winning bunch.
Ride distance 25k, av speed 38kph. Learned a lot in that race especially about position and getting hemmed in. Felt i had a bit more to give which is also nice. Felt i did okay tactically as i always drafted and was able to wheelsuck passing riders towards the end to improve my position...almost like surfing a wave. Anyway loved my first race. Dunno when ill get a chance to race again but def feel that the last 6 months of training were worth it irrespective of the forthcomming etape.

Ryder

.....not a great week...
Monday working
Tuesday - planned to repeat the TCTP 8min fitness tests. Did, but got quite a low av HR (156). Think it was due to being overtired so will repeat this week.
Wed. Wrecked. Off
Thurs. Racing. Report as above but was exhausted afterwards. Slept poorly and woke up 3 times with leg cramps
Friday - 80K to sally gap
Saturday - 80k to kippure. Felt strong and passed loads of other cyclists. Nice ego boost.
Sunday family day.

This week am going to repeat the fitness tests, have a bike fit booked and will also try to make the league race. Working all weekend to no long spins. With around 8 weeks to go and allowing for a 2 week taper am going to start the TCTP after next weekend. One difficulty is that most of my overload comes from working 80hrs plus a week so may cut out some of the long weekend spims in favour of more intervals. Know from past experience that I have the stamina to do a long 200k ish cycle on the back of low volume.

Ryder

Did my second, and last for this season, TCTP test this evening. felt I was tired last week and the figures were out as a result.
even with a day off yesterday felt tired this evening, but did a much better warm up incl 2 X 1min at max intensity.......
Anyway av HR for 8mins was 173 for the first and 172 for the second.

Think it was the better warm up this evening that gave the better result. Think the intervals at max prepare you to reach a high intensity - must do this in future before all the turbo sessions

Ryder

Second league race. 56k, av 40kph.
Went much better, deceided after my last race that I was going to try more and try and push from the front.....and maybe even break away. dont think i can sprint well so will never get results by hiding until the finish.

Did a lot of turns at the front and felt I contributed a lot more. Werent many contributing at the front so any breakaway was short lived. Felt the race went well. Did a lot of turns and tired myself, dropped back and then had to hang on.....recover, go again...repeat, repeat. Tactically was cateful to stay on the outside so didnt get boxed in.

The end was difficult, not knowing where the finish was. Pace really jumped up when semiscratch caught us but stayed on without difficulty....even gained a few places towards the end to finish well within the top 20. Happy

Ryder

Excuses, excuses, really poor week
Monday - off
Tuesday - TCTP test
Wed - bike fit booked in cyclesuperstore. Went out to find out that they dont do the type of fit that 'im looking for' crap. 20mins out and back at threshold.
Thurs - race
Friday and weekend - working so no training

Ryder

Better.......
Monday; TCTP 8min X 3
Tue; work
Wed; as monday
Thurs; work
Fri; as monday
Sat; 100k found the wicklow gap by accident from the Blessington side
Sun; 120k, enniskerry, sally gap, laragh, wicklow gap and home.

Sat was a real slog.....why? 30mins into the spin I realised thay after changing my front tyre the sensor was on the opposite side of the wheel so had no data. Also my HRM was giving false readings (200etc). Amazing how demoralising it felt and how dependant on data I am.
The next day, with everything working, with a longer harder spin I felt much more comfortable.

Plans, plans.....aiming to do the kilkenny 200, Mick Byrne and the wicklow 200 as final prep for the etape. Changed my cassette last pm to a 27 from a 25, and after my holiday in spain, will prob get a compact.

Ryder

Another housekeeping note....saddle at 83cm, had moved it back a little fro KOPS to decrease pressure on the patellar tendon.....then got an ache on my buttock and lateral thigh - presume the ITB

Moved the saddle 1cm forward yesterday - much better. Also was careful with my technique, pulling up on the pedals rather than only concentrating on pushing down. Again much better and no aching last night.

A final note, raised my stem aroung 2cm and also flipped it over to get an effective increase of almost 4cm. Bars are still about 10cm below the saddle. Hip and back pain are gone. Am much more intune with the fit now and am making regular 1cm changes as needed. Will still get a formal bike fit done when possible. Read some good advice that bike fit isnt static and changes with age. Obviously im getting older and less flexible and need to stretch a whole lot more - yoga beckones in august!

Ryder

been a weird couple of weeks.......not long to go now, but was getting strangely demotivated. Combination of increasing workload, impending house move and family drastically cut down on my training time over the last 4 weeks. Been putting in about 3 good turbo sessions of 1hrs per week. Anyway got 270k in over this last weekend so am feeling a bit moree positive. Pissing rain on sunday but got decent spin around wicklow.....160k and 1900m climbing.

8ike fit 2 weeks ago. Posted about it on the main page but in short my seat was raised 15mm. Had planned to do the mick byrne the next day, but glad i couldnt......1hr on the turbo the next evening and got a recurrence of my ITB and hamstring injury....lots of core work, gym work and flexibility needed in august

Ryder

Well, the etape is done. Flew back last night and back at work today...so life does go on. All the same though was a fantastic experience. Flew over on friday morning and endured a 5hr bus transfer to my hotel. Being the only 'Irish' among 50 brits didnt really help things, but found them reasonably good company, aside from having to listen to their cycling war stories for 3 days. Was my first experience of a big cycling event and there was a great atmosphere in the hotel on the saturday with everyone assembling/fine tuning bikes, gear etc. Was staying in Pau so had a short cycle into the centre to register and stare at the bikes and gear for sale. Even though it was a huge event, the registration was well run with minimal queuing. Ended up with way too much time on my hands and heard an imaginery gear skipping.....re-set my rear derailleur, couldnt fix it then so ended up queuing up for 2hrs at he mavic service tent. Just as my turn came, I finally got it fixed. Stupid waste of time, but suppose that it at least kept me occupied ( and gave the mavic service guy a good laugh as hed been watching me fix the bike while queuing for the previous 2 hours)

Next morning got up at 0430 to have breakfast....another fantastic experience. 50 guys in a small enough dining room, running around trying to stuff as much calories into their mouths as possible in 15minutes. Then off to the start at 0530hrs. Took the reps advice and didnt bring arm warmers etc. Filled pockets up with gels and 4 spare tubes instead. Spent an hour waiting at the start and was off by 0715. The first 40ish k were rolling, but on good roads so average speed was 38/40k. Didnt have much luck with groups so spent most of the time cycling alone. Found the going relativly easy so pushed on...I still expected a good time/gold medal at this stage. Next came the first col, MB. 9k, with 1k total ascent, the last 2k at 12%. Was far enough up at that point to have missed the enforced walking that others had to do. Made it to the top easily enough. Was a great confidence boost. My first real climb, ever and I had made it. Skipped the first feed station, descended and pushed on to the next col. Again, found the groups quiet poor....maybe I was too picky. Any group travelling slower than me I skipped and any travelling signif faster, I didnt chase because I was afraid of blowing up. All the same, each time that I looked around I found a lot of people drafting off me and werent willing to share the load.

Finally got to Soleur.. and within 15mins was in serious trouble. Both legs were cramping and I was trying to stretch them out while on the bike. This worked but the the temp kept getting hotter. I was really screwed at this stage...really in trouble. Made it to the top, descended and made my way to Tourmalet. Was more careful to pace myself at this stage ,but the damage was done. 30k of cramping and relative agony on the bike. Eventually came and did Tourmalet in 2hrs...total time about 9.5hrs.

So am I happy.....dunno. This was a 2yr goal, and now its over so am feeling a bit of an anticlimax. Obviously happy that I finished, but would have liked a better time largely because I think im capable of it.
I was woefully underprepared. I really underestimated how tough this event would be. With work and family, my training time was limited to 3/4 turbo sessions a week and 1 long cycle. This isnt enough to prepare for this type of event.....but I dont think i could have put in anymore time into it and certainly, looking back, I gave it all I had on the day.
Will I do it again? yes but maybe in a couple of years when I can put in the time for a real endurance background. I was never in danger of meeting the broomwagon and doing the samething next year dosent seem (now) to be a challenge....but well see. My next goal now is to find a new training goal.....will be in cycling and probably will involve racing as that seems to suit me (despite my size).

Its been a great year...now for 2 weeks off!

Raam

Race around Ireland next year. There's a new goal.

Ryder

this will be my last entry in this log. Having the last 10 days off since the etape has given me time to think about the training year, so thought i'd just outline those thoughts for myself (and others?)......its slow at work today.

the log itself has been really helpful. lots of books advise keeping one and its not hard to see why. even a minimalist log such as this is motivational, and makes you think a bit more about what youre doing. will continue with a log, but with more detail.

'just need a goal' was a bad title, but really fitted this log. have been 'training' without an aim and consequently without a goal for the last 10yrs and therfore made no real improvements. the act of deceiding on the etape led me to join a cycling club, and then to race and was the single biggest influence on my year. so......have an ultimate aim to the year (pretty basic really)

common sense. have been lacking in this.....spent a lot of money and time getting to the etape only to be sorting out my nutrition the day before the race. Got SIS electrolyte drink and gels for the first time the day before and luckily they were tolerated okay....but i could just have easily been puking them up after 1hr. Was focusing only on my fitness without considering the other important aspects. Which leads me neatly to bike fit. Totally neglected this and suffered with a knee injury up until march/april which seriously limited my training. knew the stuff....just didnt think it applied to me. lowering my saddle pretty much improved things overnight. other aspects of fitness were discarded too and my lack of core strength contributed to my problems (the bridge shamed me at my physio assessment)

training. this went well. was limited to an 8hr week and so most of my time was spent on the turbo (without a fan, in a box room) so i have the capacity to hurt myself. I should have given it more thought though...just repeated a 10week plan twice wth a 4 week lsd break in between. It was more than enough to finish the etape comfortably but I should have substituted the lsd ride for hilly/TT interval sessions, and I should have structured the year from january better with core work and more base building. I was also tired. Struggled to make a 150-160HR average on the turbo for 10min intervals, but after 2 weeks of tapering for the etape mu average for the 9hrs was 160-170.
Racing was fine. am happy to finish in the pack and dont want to risk a crash sprinting for the line.

Next. Dunno. This last 10 days has been pretty boring. Was wishing for the last 3 months for this all to end and know have nothing to do. Gonna spend the next 2/3 months doing some pilates and swimming/running to undo some of the damage. also going to invest in a powermeter turbo. HR isnt good enough for interval sessions on the turbo. Goal wise im still thinking.....(would love to do an ironman, but purely just to do one. have no interest in doing random triathalons etc....so dont think tri is really for me). Probably will focus on the racing side of things next year with a foreign sportive thrown in. Anyway....hope to start the new log over the next couple of weeks.

Finaly thanks to everyone for reading/suggestions/encouragement. Reading other trainig logs/advice on the main page has been a really big influence on my training.