Day 14

Sunday was Home - Perez - Home again, but this time with the boys. Sundays are long steady ride days, so kept it steady most of the way, especially on the way back, where usually I take the opportunity to ride it at a hard tempo. The only interval was up Perez. Must have been a tailwind most of the way up, coz it was another pretty fast 26+ minutes to the top. Leading into the climb, Leonard was going like a bat out of hell. In my head, I was thinking "this is what TDF riders must feel like heading into the last climb as the domestiques line them out". Was surprised I managed to hold it up at threshold, since it was a hard week with a hard ride on Saturday.

Ride stats:

Home - Perez - Home: 120 km

Perez: 26:30 NP 261W

235 TSS points.

Day 13

Was supposed to be 2 loops of the Dragonback + Puncak Alam today, but Leonard punctured and ran out of tubes, so at the end of the 2nd time up the Dragonback, we turned right towards Puncak Alam climbs and turned for home.

Workout stats:

Home - Sungai Buloh - Dragonback Start: NP 192W

Dragonback Loop: 18.9 km, 35:30, NP 244W

Dragonback: 5.5 km, 10:40, NP 273W

Puncak Alam Climbs: 7.7 km, 15:00, NP 238W

205 TSS points.

Day 10

A Public Holiday on Wednesday meant a longer weekday ride. On the menu today was Home - Perez - Home. All the boys didn't make it for one reason or another.

It was my best ride so far of the two weeks, although it started out far from it. Legs felt heavy all the way to Batu 18, where I stopped to say hi to Ishsal who was meeting up with the others for TSB's Tribute Ride. Felt much better after that. Maybe thanks to a shot of Twiggies.

An FTP set all the way up Perez, where I felt better for close to 30 minutes than I felt for the first 20 on Saturday up Sempah. Maybe Twiggies is magic! :-) I think it was a PB up Perez. Before it was 26 minutes from the junction, but today it was 26:30 from the start of the climb instead. Not too sure as it's been a while, and previous data was lost along with the old laptop. So this can be the new baseline.

Pushed REAL HARD from Batu 18 to home and made it under an hour. Average speed was 37 km/h and it was mostly all me, with some help only on the Phoenix Plaza climb.

Ride data:

Distance: 120 km

Ride time: 4:00

Home - Foot of Perez: NP 194W

Perez: FTP interval NP 261W 26:30

Batu 18 - Home: NP 234W

250 TSS points

Day 9

Monday was just an easy 30 minute active recovery ride on the trainer. Need to flush that lactic acid out of the legs somehow. Using the stick, the legs felt swollen and tender. Maybe inflammation from all the hard riding in the first week.

Due to Wednesday being a public holiday hence a ride in the morning, I had to ride on Tuesday morning so that I have plenty of recovery time. If I had ridden in the evening, chances are recovery is compromised and I won't be able to get the best out of the ride on Wednesday. So The Sufferfest: Revolver it was on the menu. Short and sweet. And I wasn't too late for work today.

Something I noticed (actually, it's been pretty apparent for a while now) that I do better at lower cadences. At RPM >100, RPE is quite high for the first 5 >300W intervals. But once I started riding the intervals at around 90 - 95 RPM, I felt better across the board and could deliver more constant power to the pedals. Maybe it's all these time riding as a triathlon and a lot of steady state efforts. Is that necessarily a bad thing? Maybe, for road racing, where there's a lot of accelerations to close the gaps or out of the corners. I won't base my whole training on getting my cadence up, but including a couple of intervals with higher cadence should help with things, overall. Who's to say that lower cadences will ALWAYS work. Might have worked for Lance. But an n=1 case shouldn't govern everything. Hail "Der Kaiser" Jan Ulrich!!! :-)

Workout stats:

Main set: NP 258W

65 TSS points

Week 1 Round Up

So Week 1 is over and done with. A bit low on the TSS side than I would have liked. 5 consecutive rainy evenings meant I was limited to the trainer for evening rides. And riding the trainer limits my watts by around 10 - 20 watts compared to riding outside, hence a lower TSS for the same amount of ride time. Although riding to The Sufferfest's videos does provide a focused approach to trainer riding.

Was aiming for something around 700 TSS points for the week, but only managed 660. But next Wednesday is a public holiday so an opportunity to fit in a slightly longer ride during the week to recover some TSS points. But all in all, a good start to the cycle.

Something I have to take better care of is post-ride nutrition. Get a protein shake down immediately post-ride, and have a small meal within 1 hour after ride. This is definitely more important if I'm riding again the next day. Recovery is definitely impaired if too much calorie deficit (as I found out this weekend, and it's not something new I've discovered).

Week 1 stats:

Total Hours: 10:05

Total TSS Points: 660 points

Week End Weight: 173 lbs (easier to track in lbs as variation is more easily detectable)

Total Work: 6675 kJ

Day 7

3 hour aerobic was on the cards today. Decided to do the Home - Sungai Buloh - GCE - Latar Expressway - Ijok - GCE - Home. A bit more than 90 km on the cards. Was supposed to be aerobic but turned out to be low tempo, thanks to overzealousness on the way to Ijok on my part, and Leonard's strong legs on the way back.

Legs felt heavy on the bike, mainly I think coz I took too long between finishing riding on Saturday to getting some food in me. Plus, I was on my feet walking around looking for second hand cars for two hours in the afternoon. I have to be more vigilant about post-ride nutrition if I am going to be able to ride hard on Saturday AND Sunday.

Ride stats:

15 min warm up

Home - Sungai Buloh - GCE - Latar Expressway - Ijok: 1:30, NP 199W

Ijok - GCE - Home: 1:00, NP 206W

15 min cool down

160 TSS points

Day 6

The normal Saturday ride: Home - Sempah - Home with FTP intervals up Sempah and tempo on DUKE on the way back. Rode with the gang today.

Up Sempah was 2 x 20 @ FTP. Felt good in the first half of the first interval. But as the interval wore on, started to feel worse and worse and somewhat faded at the end of the second interval. But it was the first time that I made it up before the supposed end of the second interval. Reached the top at around 19 minutes of the second interval.

And on the way back, instead of the typical benchmark distance mid-Zone 3 from the DUKE entrance to the end of Penchala Link, it was a two-man breakaway with Leonard up to the Penchala Toll, ridden at close to FTP, reaching V02max on the climbs (didn't go all the way to the end as we waited for Terry at the toll).

Ride stats:

FTP intervals: 2 x 20 (NP 258W, 257W)

DUKE: 21 minutes to Penchala Toll, NP 255W

200 TSS points

Day 4

Mother Nature is conspiring against me, trying to spoil my training. And it's only the first week! But actually, thank God it's the first week, while mental will is still strong. And the trainer is not the most hated sight. Yet.

Today it was The Sufferfest: Fight Club. There's just something the makes me want to smash Cunego's face in at the end of the workout. Thanks to him, it was countless times of attacks. So much so that I only could respond to every other one in the last set. Still, 70 TSS points in the bank.

Workout stats:

1 x 6:00 - 250W

4 x 6:30 (4:00 @ 240W, 2:30 @ 260W) - 256W, 252W, 258W, 260W.

Day 3

Another rainy evening in KL. Another day confined to the trainer. Some ascending extended tempo sets for today to the video of the 2011 Paris Roubaix race.

1st set was 4 x 3 min ascending from 200W to 230W. Decided to extend time at each level to 4 minutes for the next 3 sets. The last set was to the last 12 kms of the race. Perfect motivation to push hard as van Summeren tries to stay away and Cancellara attacks the "coward" group. AP for each of the 4 sets were 219W, 221W, 221W and 223 W. Total ride time including 10 minute warm up was 1:15 for 85 TSS points.

Day 2

Another day on the trainer due to time constraints (And rain. What's up with the evening rain nowadays? is it the monsoon season already?). Today it's slightly longer FTP intervals. The Sufferfest: Angels. Workout stats:

Over/Under set: AP 239W.

Main sets: AP 258W, 260W, 262W.

75 TSS points.

So close, yet so far. Only 2 watts in the first set until I achieve the trifecta of 260W for all 3 sets of Angels. It's been a long time and I though I'd never get there. Soon, though...

Day 1

It's supposed to be an R&R day today. But after the eating marathon over the weekend, I'm feeling slightly flabby so I decided to give the legs a spin out. Stormy in the evening so I was confined to the trainer. What better way to make time fly than with The Sufferfest videos. Revolver was the pick today as I didn't feel like spending too long on the trainer, and the mind wasn't that up for long-ish intervals. Short and sweet. That's what it's all about today.

Pretty heavy going the first couple of sets as I washed all the lactic out from Saturday's ride. Was doubtful I could finish the 15 intervals but made it over the line. Just.

45 minutes. Main set 16 x 1:00 >300 W with 1:00 RI. 30 min NP 259W. 65 TSS points.

I'll never be able to achieve outdoor watts inside, and usually I knock off 20 watts in comparison. All's you can do is all's you can do. So I'll take these 65 TSS points and store it in The Bank of De Ronde.

Introduction

This blog is to log my training in preparation for the Ronde van Vlaanderen Sportive on the 31st of March 2012, which is around 6 months away. And also to chronicle my training beyond that. I have two measurable start points and short term (~6 months) goals, which are:

Starting Weight: 78 kg

Starting FTP: 260W

Target Weight Loss: 5 - 6 kg in 6 months

Target FTP Gain: 10 - 15W in 6 months

These are the two metrics that are most important in my progression as a cyclist. Everyone knows it's a W/kg game. The aim is to make the watts go up, and the kg's go down. The targets are achievable in my opinion. 1 kg a month is feasible, and 10 - 15 watts over 6 months is definitely not unheard of. The challenge is to be consistent and disciplined in my application over these next 6 months.

Here's to me achieving these goals.