g rock's audax attempt

Beasty

G rock wrote: »

(haven't done anything in the past two weeks)

Don't claim to be an endurance expert, but if you haven't been on the bike for 2 weeks I'm not surprised if you were struggling towards the end. Certainly more time on the bike will help. Only riding on 8 days in May will not help the endurance.

Try and get a long ride in every week, with additional shorter rides between.

Perhaps start easing off a week or so before a long ride, but don't stop altogether - keep the legs turning until a couple of days before the ride - so you have retained fitness and gained freshness

G rock

perhaps that's a valid point alright!

in hindsight probably a stupid query.

will have to keep up the frequency and see how it goes

G rock

w/e sat 16/6/12
sun: 191km
sat: 57km
weekly total: 248km
YTD: 5299km

long way to go to that 1200km target....uh oh.

G rock

w/e sat 23/6/12
sun: 91km in the north east coastal challenge
weekly total: 91km
YTD: 5390km

had a very enjoyable cycle on sunday courtesy of carrickmacross cc, a fast (33.8kph) spin out to the coast and back.

it taught me a few things:
1. i'm definitely not as fit as i thought i was!
2. cycling fast is fun
3. i therefore need to work on my speed!

as i've posted before, i've been experiencing a few difficulties health-wise in the past few weeks, and again that took its toll this week and the past few weeks in general.

no gorey details, but suffice to say that a few visits to a consultant and a couple of tests have hopefully got things sorted and after a lay-off period of a couple of weeks i'll get things back on track again:)

G rock

w/e sat 14/7:
wed: 41km
fri: 45km
sat: 32km
weekly total: 118km
YTD: 5508km

not a lot but it beat sitting inside wishing i was cycling!

tried to just go out and spin easily as a reintroduction to it, but that idea went out the window after a few km on each spin and i couldn't resist pushing it a bit, managed to average 30kph or close on each of the rolling routes i took.

i hope pushing it a bit doesn't come back to haunt me...

G rock

sun: 104km
tues: 34km
thurs: 90km
Fri: 50km race (monaghan road race hosted by emyvale cc)
weekly total: 278km
YTD: 5786km

competed in my first race last night, the monaghan county championship or whatever it was called. i just thought i'd give it a go to see how i'd get on.

obviously i signed on as an a4 (with the majority of the crowd), and we set off on a rolling course 5mins ahead of a1/a2 (which was too much of a handicap i reckon). two laps of 25km, with a kicker of a hill at the very end of the lap.

when we first set off it took me a while to find my legs, and i was a bit taken aback at the pace. we got a few up and overs working, and i tried to take my turn on the front, but each time i did i think i slowed the pace down; i just don't have the power to maintain that pace.

the hill at the end of the first lap however suited me, and judging from the other riders i thought that if i could stay with them through the second lap i'd do ok at the finish. during the second lap i did a short turn or two on the front, and just tried to stick with the bunch. into the final corner before the hill it was each man for himself, and i spun up the hill to finish fourth over the line. had the finish line been a couple of hundred meters further on up the road i wouldn't have finished in that position, the final hill really worked to my advantage.

a1/a2 finished about a min or two behind us (so the 5min handicap was definitely too much). 39kph over the 50km.

all in all a great experience; i am now beginning to realise what goes into training for racing, some seriously quick guys in the pack.

yet again it was a learning curve in how far i have to go to improve my cycling! i think i'm ok on the hills, but have no power to maintain a high speed on the flat.

G rock

sun: 125km
tues: 33km
thurs: 35km
sat: 36km
weekly total: 229km
YTD: 6015km

had a very enjoyable day on the sunday, took part in emyvale cc's sliabh beagh tour with some of my regular cycling buddies. although i'm from monaghan, i had never been on parts of the route before, so enjoyed the variaton from the normal routes i take. cycled from the inlaws and back and made up a few extra km.

the shorter spins during the week i'm still trying to do at speed. on some of these i end up being as tired afterwards as i am after a longer spin. probably a good sign!

G rock

sun: circa 100k leisurely spin
mon: 65 glorius km
wed: 34km http://connect.garmin.com/activity/205893789
thurs: 42km http://connect.garmin.com/activity/205893763
sat: 81 not so glorious km! http://connect.garmin.com/activity/206361327
weekly total: 322km
YTD: 6337km

first 300k+ week in a looong time so fairly happy with that.

plus i got a new toy to go with my new bike so should make for some sobering reading:D

G rock

mon: 126km with two friends http://connect.garmin.com/activity/209055137
wed: 58km commute
sat: 76km solo http://connect.garmin.com/activity/209055029
weekly total: 260km
YTD: 6597km

not quite as much as i'd like, but was busy enjoying the weather!

not sure if it's the new bike or the shorter distances i'm doing, but i've noticed my av speed creeping up a bit.

anyone care to comment on average HR? pretty clueless about it TBH.

the few days i've been using it i've been averaging around the 160-170bpm range (details in the garmin links)

G rock

W/e sat 18/8
Tues 32km
Weekly total 32km
YTD 6629km

No more excuses!

G rock

Sun: 41km
Mon: 58km commute
Wed: 58km commute
Thurs: 128km
Sat: 20km (to meet a target!)
Weekly total: 303km
YTD: 6932km

G rock

sun: 153km http://connect.garmin.com/activity/215216483
wed: 58km commute
thurs: 58km commute
fri: 68km
weekly total: 337km
YTD: 7269km

went for what counts as a hilly spin in monaghan with a group on sunday, and was shown a few routes i haven't been on before. took things easy enough, and really enjoyed it. it's sometimes nice to remind myself just why i cycle- it's great just to get out and turn the pedals while taking everything in.

had a wedding friday so had a chance to get out beforehand. made me feel less guilty about the alcohol intake all day friday! needless to say there was no bike yesterday. having another wedding today hardly helped the motivation though.

overall i'm about 800k behind where i would have liked to be at this point of the year (wanted to average 1000k per month), and can only see that slipping back as we come into the autumn and winter.

think i'll also need to rename this thread as my audaxing didn't exactly come to much

G rock

wed: 73km extended commute
thurs: 202km solo http://connect.garmin.com/activity/221294659
weekly total: 275km
YTD: 7544km

my audaxing hasn't exactly worked out according to plan.

each time an event has come up that i'd like to do, something has come up to prevent me from doing it; similarly the dying cow/sow is off the cards this weekend (work).

so last week i decided i'd do an audax-type distance on my own. i really enjoyed it, couldn't have asked for a better day weather wise (well apart from a headwind in parts), plus it was the first longer run i've had on my new bike.

overall i felt fairly strong, and was glad i chose to lengthen my route at each junction where a turn for home could easily have been an option!

i found the HR monitor very useful-i picked a HR (fairly randomly i have to say-it runs at 180bpm when i'm really pushing uphill, so i reckoned around the 150-160bpm mark was a safe range) and kept cadence high, and managed to get home with a 28.4kph average, over a rolling route with a nice climb to glangevlin (even though the route profile doesn't look like much)


my stops totalled about half an hour over the day too (two stops), and i rolled home feeling good, helped no doubt by the following!
-large jerseypocketful of dried fruit and nuts
-chicken sandwich x1
-bananas x2
-coffee x1
-creamed rice x1
-horribly unhealthy doughnuts x 2 (to go with the coffee!)

next time, it'll have to be the 300km. with added lights and an earlier start

smacl

Fair play on that speed over the distance, pretty savage stuff!

CramCycle

Well done on the solo, audaxing normally has a large group at the beginning that whittles down to groups after the first 100km, if you can do that comfortably solo then you'll storm a 3 or 400 km audax.

I would normally eat alot more than that but I am a bit of a savage eater even when not cycling, glad you felt comfortable, Eddie Dunne has a 300 route not to far from you, you wouldn't have to start at the start but you could pick it up at the closest point to your house and have a crack, PM me your e-mail and I will try and forward it onto you.

G rock

CramCycle wrote: »

Well done on the solo, audaxing normally has a large group at the beginning that whittles down to groups after the first 100km, if you can do that comfortably solo then you'll storm a 3 or 400 km audax.

I would normally eat alot more than that but I am a bit of a savage eater even when not cycling, glad you felt comfortable, Eddie Dunne has a 300 route not to far from you, you wouldn't have to start at the start but you could pick it up at the closest point to your house and have a crack, PM me your e-mail and I will try and forward it onto you.

That's the three provinces isn't it? (another one I wasn't able to do at the time!)

I think I covered some of the route on my trip, it goes through cootehill which is home for me at the minute.

Much appreciated!

G rock

week of sat 16/9-fri 21/9:

i didn't really do anything last week, and i'm finished for this week so i'm going to count the week as saturday to friday instead

sat: 58km commute
sun: 103km http://connect.garmin.com/activity/225392428
mon: 10km mess around on the new fixed gear setup (i'm clutching at straws counting this one!)
tues: 58km commute
wed:58km commute
fri: 29km one way fixed commute
weekly total: 316km
YTD: 7860km

after a nearly a week of doing nothing, i tried to get out and do a bit on saturday and sunday, and i suffered! sunday wasn't the most challenging of routes, and i limped around the second half of the route, only managing an average speed similar to that of the 200km spin i did the week before, and feeling worse! i didn't bring any food with me, thinking that i could get around 100k without, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

in general, i feel much stronger if i consistently cycle, rather than have long gaps between days on the bike.

i also picked up new wheels for the single speed from holyboy, and decided to get them built fixed. so i had a trial run on monday and didn't kill myself, so brought the fixed on the commute on friday. i'm running a 48-18 gear ratio, and managed fine, despite nearly losing it on a descent. at around 50kph my legs stopped spinning smoothly, i nearly locked the wheel, and of course in my state of panic i forgot i had both front and rear brakes! stayed upright and learned my lesson.

the good bike will be parked for winter commuting, so fixed gear it will be!

off to kerry now for the week (no bike transport unfortunately), so another week's break coming up. i regret doing nothing last week now since i would have hit the 8k mark if i did

G rock

w/e sat 6/10/12
thurs: 84km
fri: 28km

weekly total: 112km

a poor week after a week's holidays

w/e sat 13/10/12
sun: 140km on the tour de breffni
wed: 58km fixed commute
thurs: 94km on fixed
fri: 58km fixed commute
sat: 29km one way commute
weekly total: 379km

YTD: 8351km

a very enjoyable day on sunday last courtesy of leitrim cc, and helped in no small way by a fantastic pace set by barry and noel from bray wheelers, who i also met on the ardattin 200. over 31kph over the 140km.

i also got some fixed gear mileage in too, and have given the dynohub a good testing. thursday wasn't the best of days so i took the fixed out since i didn't want to mess up the good bike. nearly 1000m climbing too. getting used to it slowly

G rock

sun: 83km leisurely group coffee run
thurs: 130km solo http://connect.garmin.com/activity/235675800
fri: 58km commute
weekly total: 271km
YTD: 8622km

i was quite pleased with thursday's spin, i averaged 30kph solo over 130km, felt strong.

i really should have done something early on in the week too though, but was too lazy, and now i regret it. oh well

G rock

w/e sat 27/10/12
tues: 58km commute
wed: 58km commute
fri: 58km commute
sat: 137km including 100km local charity run in monaghan
weekly total: 311km
YTD: 8933km

highlight of week: two 30kph commutes on fixed (just managed it- 30kph and 30.1kph!), which considering the rollling route i take i was very happy with

lowlight: finding out i was off today, and obviously missing out on the chance to ride the dying light 200.

so in essence the audaxing was a failure this year

G rock

W/e sat 4/11/12
Mon: 37km "recovery" spin (read slow and lazy!)
Tues: 58km commute
Sat: 102km
Weekly total: 197km
YTD: 9130km

G rock

w/e sat 10/11/12:

Thurs:
weekly total: 132km kind of hilly solo http://connect.garmin.com/activity/244986014

had a week off work that week, but was feeling a bit tired so took a bit of a break from the cycling too

w/e sat 17/11/12
sun: 122km including spinning over and back to the club run http://connect.garmin.com/activity/244985951
wed: 58km commute
thurs: 58km commute
weekly total: 238km

YTD: 9500km

well i finally did it this week-coming close to the end of my wednesday morning commute on the fixed i slowed down coming up to a speed ramp, and then decided i'd freewheel over it. of course the fixed drivetrain had a thing or two to say about that! ended up on my arse, helmet cracked in two, bruised arm but an even more bruised ego! just one slip in concentration was all it took; hopefully that's another lesson learned!

i'd like to get another two similar weeks in now coming to the end of november. ideally i'd like to have hit the 10k by the end of the month

G rock

w/e sat 24/11/12

mon: 32km nighttime spin
wed: 58km commute
fri: 58km commute
sat: 97km spin with friends http://connect.garmin.com/activity/246799147
all on fixed
weekly total: 245km
YTD: 9745km

a fairly good week, managed a few 30kph fixed spins, and another long fixed spin on saturday(frosty mucky roads, didn't fancy messing up my good bike)

was out again this morning on the fixed, and got 102km done on it, so well within reach of the 10k mark by the end of the week

an even better week if i count it as monday-sunday instead!

G rock

10,000km:)

G rock

heavy fog has forced a rethink of a nighttime cycle tonight, so i'm gonna call it a week, a

sun: 102km
tues: 58km commute
thurs: 108km http://connect.garmin.com/activity/248063419
weekly total: 268 all fixed km
YTD: 10,013km

quite pleased that i hit the 10k mark!

december is going to be a busy month, with a few 6 and 7 day work weeks, and then hopefully a couple of nights out, so i'll cut back the km a little. if i get a couple of commutes and a longer spin per week it'll keep me going until the new year when hopefully i can start getting some big distances done

G rock

December wind-down week one:
Sun: 65km
Fri: 32 km
Sat: 67km
Weekly total: 164 km
YTD: 10,177 km

Poor conditions kept me off the commuting run

G rock

a single long run of 108km
shorter 52km
one way commute of 29km

leaves december looking fairly poor, but a yearly total of 10366km.

G rock

i think i finished up the year on a bit of a dud. i was pleased that i hit the 10k mark by the end of november, despite a couple of periods of illness, more periods of laziness, holidays etc, which left me 1k short of my initial 1k per month target. december however didn't go too well, but i'm not gonna beat myself up about it too much. i think i laid down a good foundation for the year to come.

at the start of the year, i laid out a few targets. i completed a few long cycles, beat my previous daily distance record (twice!), beat my previous total weekly distance record (twice!), took part in a race (just the once:)), and finished up the year with the longest yearly distance to date (second full year on the bike).

however, the whole goal of this year, and especially as the year wore on, was audax. i really enjoyed the ardattin 200, and was really looking forward to taking part in another few 200's and maybe even a 300.

i can't really make excuses though, because most of the time i couldn't partake in events was on account of work. however, i now know that if i'm serious about riding audax i have to plan ahead, not only in terms of training, but even just to book the time off. the whole calendar for 2013 is already up, so hopefully this year i'll get my act together and get my name in early!

thanks to everyone for reading, i know it wasn't the most interesting read, but i enjoyed keeping the log and knowing there was somebody keeping track of my progress anyway.

now to decide whether to keep another log this year!