50 minute TT -- damn that was hard!

Tuesday, June 15th -- Was supposed to do one hour easy. Coached 10 year old Canaan and right now we're working on sustained efforts with a focus on hills for his upcoming road race. He needs help with pacing (he sprints then dies). We were working at Indian Crossing Road, which is about a 1.3 mile descent and the returning for a 1.3 mile gentle climb with a steeper section at the very end. Of course, it was way too hot (95 degrees) and this is an exposed road, so he only lasted 26 minutes on the bike. I then went out and climbed Alpine (not exposed climb) very easy for the balance of my 60 minutes. When I think back to the first time I climbed Alpine (March 3rd, which was also the 1st day I was on Giana's program) I can see HUGE improvement. I'm able to climb just about anything in a low heart-rate. Hopefully sometime I'll be able to climb just about anything fast!!!

Ride Stats -- 1:01:01 -- 11.5 miles

Wednesday, June 16th -- Today was to be a 50 minute time trial to determine my PT training zones. I had a client booked in the morning who is trying to learn to ride and overcome her fear of traffic. We met in Menlo Park and did about 90 minutes flat & super-easy (we averaged about 9mph). I then rode up to Redwood City to do the tt at Pacific Shores Center.


I picked PSC because it's the only place I could think of that I could do a 50-minute sustained effort on the flats. It's a big loop with one 180 degree turn (which I was able to ride around at about 24mph -- good cornering practice). Headwind, crosswind, tailwind, crosswind. Got caught behind a truck that slowed down early on (only lasted about a minute). I think the next time I do this it will be on a trainer because it was impossible to maintain my goal watts with the changing wind conditions.

I began my effort after riding 2 hours & 10 minutes. Was not fatigued at all -- just warmed up. I kept watching the clock the entire time waiting for it to be over. About ten minutes in, I didn't think I could finish. Lungs felt good but I can tell I don't have enough leg strength. At 6 minutes to go I got a bit loopy, but was able to focus and finish consistently (I actually got just a bit stronger at the end).

Oh, and I recalibrated my PT today and used all the settings Giana suggested. I started an interval when I started the TT, but it doesn't allow you to see average watts for the interval (just for the entire ride), so I had to watch the raw data. My goal was to keep my watts at about 200. Given the wind, I found that it was really hard to get over 160 on the tailwind sections, so I thought I had compensated by riding at about 225 on the headwind sections. My average for the effort was too low (only 155). There appears to be a problem with the HR data from about 5 to 18 minutes -- it dipped way too low. I know my HR leveled out, but not that low, and unfortunately, I didn't start my Polar as backup, so the average HR data is off. If I isolate the last 27 minutes, I get an average HR of 154 (but there are still some low blips in there). Is the PT HR monitor hard to use?

Tomorrow is an active recovery day (I deserve it). I'm going to do it on my TT bike to prep for Davis on Saturday. Wish I had a PT on that bike so I can see if it actually yields any advantages over my road bike.

Oh, and I do feel good about the tt on Saturday. This was a great exercise because it's given me a really good sense of perceived exertion for that effort. I think I should be able to do quite well.

Ride Stats -- 4:04:41 -- 55.2 miles