Change you can believe in?

Word up,

I don't pretend to think for a second that anyone other then me reads this blog, but as a way of capturing moments for recollecting later I'm still posting occasionaly.

Things I think I've learnt this year:

Reading CW or any other training type publication doesn't make you an expert
There are only so many hours in a day and you can't do everything
Change can be a good thing ( I hope ;) )
Beasting myself for 3 months on a turbo with a power meter did not:
a) make me a better rider
b) enable me to enjoy my cycling very much

So what now? Well, I've been asked if I want to race with a team next year and I'm currently getting some coaching in order to use my time more effectively.

I've said yes to the offer of racing with a team as I was a bit disillussioned with the club I'm currently a member of and the new place seem pretty spot on. A nice group of people who actually plan to race together which to me is the point of a club/team. Still waiting to get final details of what to expect...

I think the optimism is in a large part to the coaching that I'm getting. After setting some goals for next year I've gone right back to basics and what I would imagine are real old school training values i.e. build up a big base over winter so that you can reach a really high peak for the season.

The training has been going really well, it's been a lot of low intensity work and I've started to commute into work to enable myself to get the hours in, this means that on a week when I'm in the office for 5 days I've done 125 miles or 10 hours without even thinking about it. This, obviously, isn't always the reality but in the last 8/9 weeks the least amount of hours I've done in a week is 6. I think the average must be about 9/10. I've also started running again, which with the exception of a twisted ankle in my first XC race in over a year has been really great fun.

TTFN...

Katchadragoogoo?

Hello...

It's been over a month since Drago last checked in. What can I say? Not much really, the only cycling I've done of note is the Tour of the Black Mountains and commuting to work.

The ToBM was pretty epic, Dragotastic infact. 115 miles with 4000m of climbing. Had some great descents thrown in for good measure. My speedo ran out of battery before what I think is the fastest descent of the day but befire that I had a max speed of over 51mph which is faster then I went in the Pyrenees!

It August already and of I'm being honest with myself I think Drago's season is over before it ever began. I had a few goals in mind but I never seemed to get myself organised enough to achieve them. The goals I had set were to go under the hour for 25 and to get third cat status on my race license. The 3rd cat goal started out well when I bagged some cheap points at the Hillingdon winter series. I had entered two 25s this Summer but only got to one of them where I actually went slower then I had last year. I was a DNS at the second when I book a last minute holiday with Madame Drago.

I guess it's not too late to have a final sprint for the finish line for either of the above goals. All it will take is 2 points in a road race and to actually enter some TTs.

Well I guess we'll have to see about that...

Can you tell where it is yet?

Bought a CX bike on a whim this last Saturday and went out for a test ride when I got home. It seemed pretty good so far, nice kit and feels good to ride. Decided to try out a few new routes and found this little beauty about 6 miles south of Croydon. Found by accident and if I could have got my camera out a few seconds earlier you would have seen all the sheep stood there staring straight at me wonder whether they were going to have to leg it or if I was going to feed them. In the end they got bored and started to stroll away.

Went and rode a local sportive on Sunday, was good to be out on bike but is always a nasty surprise to find that all you form has dissapeared in a matter of weeks. I'm doing the Tour of the Black Mountains at the end of teh month which should be fun. I really should try and get out for a few long rides between now and then but with a summer holiday booked with Mrs Drago the chances of that are looking like a lost cause, a little like a three legged glue pot that I backed recently...

I do run run run I do run run

Well it's been a while since the last post as I haven't really been doing much cycling.

A couple of club runs, a few commutes, one evening ten and an unsuccesful ride to Brighton which was cut short after a unexpected encounter between my riding companion and a ford mondeo.

The Pyrenees was less then inspiring this year and if I'm being honest I didn't particuarly enjoy it . It rained for 6 out of the 7 days we were there and on the morning of day three my PT had packed in. This really annoyed me and looking back I seemed to spend far too much time staring at the damn thing wWishing it back to life. This didn't work and I should really have just taken it all away to stop it's immense powers of distraction and torment.

So, since I've been back I have been doing a bit of running. This has been anti Drago training, I've taken out a watch which records my route and the time I've run and not much else. The runs have been with my better half who for the first few weeks was showing me heels as she skipped and danced away from me, my heavy breathing and also my cries for mercy. My legs felt really awkward at first although the heart and lungs didn't feel bad at all. It has taken the last four weeks to get to the point now where my knees and achilles aren't really sore when we run. Not too surprising when I think that I haven't run at all for the last six months.

As a result of the running I've started to re discover some of the local footpaths, bridleways and woods, I've started to crave mountain biking, which, I haven't for about six months when I killed a dropout that still hasn't been replaced. Hopefully I'll have ridden one shortly. In the mean time I'm planning on getting out on the biek this weekend for a club run and a local sportive...

Grande creme

Been in the Pyrenees, PT fucked :(

They don't like rain up 'em!!!!

More soon

Palace 1 - DRAGO 0

DRAGO came and DRAGO saw but DRAGO, he no conquer MFs.

I had a choice today; Hillingdon, my old faithful friend and a 4th cat only race or Crystal Palace, the unknown quantity and a 3rd and 4th cat race. I decided on Palace and a half hour bike ride to the venue in favour of a possible two hour journey on the M25.

I chose Palace and I chose pain, MFs - it was tough.

According to the DRAGO training formula I'm following this should have been a rest week but I wanted to break my lack of racing and after a hard week followed by a hard weekend I wanted to see how I'd get on. I was pretty pleased with myself really, I've definitely learned from the experience and I'm feeling more confident with a number of DRAGO factors including were my weaknesses are and where I'm making improvements. Thats not to say that it was fun, I was chewing bar tape for three laps before falling of the back and then doing some laps with a few others in a similar state.

Somebody asked a question recently for a magazine and I remember thinking it annoying for some reason. The question was "Is structured training boring" It just doesn't make any sense does it?

DRAGO training can never be boring, DRAGO structured training is tool to be used to destroy weaknesses and enhance strengths.

Black and Wight

I met Rodger Black last week and forgot to mention it in the last post. He was quite inspirational and got me thinking about a few things. It was a surprise to meet him as I'd gone to a work presentation about the future plan for the company that I work for. When we first turned up we were told there would be a guest speaker but had no idea who it was. Anyway the presentation was dull and by the interval I had just about managed to stay conscious, I stocked up on coffee and chocolate cookies and stayed awake through the team building exercises when all if a sudden Roger Black strolls in.

It was a bit weird really 'cause I didn't really remember anything about him from when he was at his peak other then someone I know being quite negative about him. I can't remember what they said but it was negative and I had this preconception of what he would be like. Anyway he had a brief run through of his career and how he started training, the main factors contributing to his success and his setbacks. They ran some old video tape of a few of his solo and team victories and he had bought two medals from the Atlanta Olympics to pass around the room. It was great just to listen to what he was saying, he was a really great speaker, very clear and concise and lots of what he was saying could be applied to all parts of life. Summing it up from what I remember a week or so later; if you're going to spend time doing something then do it as well as you can, you can't control everything so focus on what you can control or have and effect on and don't get stuck in a rut with your methods. To improve you will need to learn to evolve.


And then I went to the Isle of Wight...

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/5580280

Dragolates

Had a go at pilates yesterday, interesting stuff, lots of stretching and some strength work. Today my abs and the top of my back aches - I remember doing ab work but can't think why my shoulders hurt. I'm sure there is an explanation though. Did a good turbo session tonight and my numbers are definitley increasing. I think the pilates may have had something to do with it.I'm hoping to get out on the road in the evenings more often as it's light until after 8 now but I don't seem to be very good at keeping to wattage numbers.

I'm sure it will improve with practice, I've been working on improving my wattage numbers at a high cadence. Tonight I did 4 x 10min efforts at 290 watts, I was aiming for a cadence of 105 which I managed for the most part.

Monster Mashing

First 25 TT of the year and I was hoping to break the hour on a course that I've previously finished in 1:02 something. So, what happened?

Having stayed at the in laws last night I got up and had some toast and a coffee before heading of the village hall in Broadbridge Heath to sign on and get a number. Done that now time for a dump, who needs smelling salts when you can stroll into an event toilet for the same effect? A quick warm up on the turbo before heading of to the start.

The ride waas pretty uneventful, I seemed to be mashing the gears a lot more then I would normally. The PT is limitied to how much info it can show you and once you've made your choices you are stuck with them unlike some other computers I've seen. I settled on current power, Cadenece and HR as my measurements of choice. I think I need to adjust this though as I never really had any idea of how I was doing in realtion to the course. Speed or average speed would have been much more useful to me. Power is a great thing but I was struggling to keep the numbers that the fitness test in the week had predicted for this length of effort. In an attempt to make the power numbers I ended up really mashing the gears which I'm not really comfortable with. In the future I'll concentrate on keeping my cadence and HR up and let the power take care of itself, it didn't seem to help me to try and grind my way around the course. The thing with that is that I seem to struggle to get high power numbers with a higher cadence, it's something that I need to work on in the lab.

Anyway, I finished in 1:03.44 average speed 23.66mph. It's a reasonable time but I've gone faster in the past and I think I'm stronger then I was when I last did this course. The weather wasn't as good as it was back then but I had gone DRAGO by purchasing a wheel cover to give the effect of a disc wheel and I'd managed to acquire an aero fairing helmet type thing yesterday for the local bike shop (LBS). Perhaps I'm not as strong as I thought or perhaps the "disc" wheel and aero helmet didn't make the differences I'd hoped for...

I'm signed up to do this course again in about two months, in the mean time I better either do some training or start writing that second chapter of "DRAGO Excuses for lazy MFs"

One last thing, during the ride I could feel that my adductor muscles were getting a bit sore, well, when I went past the finish line and stopped pedaling they stopped working, I was in agony. I went back to the car and put the helmet in the boot before heading of in an attempt to loosen them up a bit. Before I forget, the helmet was crap or at least the permanently attached visor is. Within about 30 seconds of sweating it was like riding blind, I won't use that as an excuse for going slower 'cause it didn't have that much of an impact, it was just a pain in the arse. I'll have to do some DRAGO mods to that before it gets another outing. Back to the add's, I got back form the warm down and they felt worse then they did before, I can't believe how much they hurt. I could barely move. It was awful, I couldn't move without shooting pains through my general groin area, at one point I thought I was going to have to borrow a zimmer frame from the village hall hobble to a pay phone and order a stannah stair lift to get me into the car to be able to leave. Luckily enough a dial a ride van turned up and a couple of care workers got me into the motor so I was able to get away...

Double Drago

Had a physiological assessment at the SPARC centre in Roehampton today. Lloyd the tester was really helpful, I was part of his dissertation. He is trying to prove accuracy of Hunter Coggans FTP test when compared to a MAP test. The format of the test was this...

The Tests:

The assessment involves one visit to Roehampton University SPARC laboratory lasting 3-4 hours during which time two maximal cycle performance tests will be undertaken.

The first test is a VO2max test used to identify maximum O2 uptake and usage, maximum aerobic power, threshold points and power at threshold.  This test will last approximately 15 mins and be followed by a rest period of 1 hour.  Following this the second test for ‘functional threshold power’ will be conducted, this last approximately 40 mins and incorporates periods of maximal and sub maximal work.  The tests will completed on cycle ergometers equipped with power meters and connected to respiratory analysis.

At the end of the session you will be given some feedback on your performance with some results explained, you will then be sent a report by e-mail detailing your performance data and its implications for training and competition.

Results

Body Fat %    15.85
VO2 Max:      4.65l/min
Max aerobic power 425 or 5.4w/kg
Power @ Threshold 350 or 4.4 w/kg
HR Max 195
HR Threshold 179-184
FTP 288 = 303w avg for 20mins -5%

I actually really enjoyed myself today. I got higher numbers for the power of both tests then I expected. I worked hard on the MAP test and was pleased with the result but felt I might have lasted a bit longer. Lloyd said that looking at the com-pew-ta I had peaked and any longer then this would have been anaerobic which wouldn't have been the point of this test. Got to say that it felt pretty anaerobic to me, my HR at the end of the test was 195 which is the highest I've seen it at for a while. Lloyd then went through all the results for the first test with me and explained what I should be capable of for the next test - the Coggan test.

The format for this was a five minute as hard as you can effort followed by the 20minute effort. Both of these had been preceded with a warm up that included some high cadence leg spinning. I didn't really feel like going too hard on the 5 minute effort and when I was looking at the HR monitor I could see that I wasn't trying as hard as I should have. This was duly noted when I stopped between the efforts and it was pointed out that I had been a wussy, I wasn't too bothered though as I had decided to go for broke on the twenty minute effort.

Having used the PT I thought that the expected power figures were a bit ambitious but I wasn't on the PT, I was using SRMs so maybe that would account for some extra watts, what with the measurement being closer to the source i.e. measuring device at the cranks rather then the hub. It didn't matter though because I now knew HR threshold so I decided to ignore all the power readings for this effort and concentrate on getting my HR up and my cadence steady, the power would take care of itself. I started out and got my HR up and managed to stay in or very close to said HR threshold levels for the entire effort so I was really pleased with that. I've got the srm file from the session that I'll try and add somehow, TTFN...

My number is up...

Bought a power tap (PT) about three weeks ago and before that I'd been using a Kurt Kinetic (KK)computer on my KK turbo. I had the tools to measure what I was doing but what should I be doing?

As a guide for this I got a plan, one from Hunter Coggan. Unfortunately I bought one based on a figure provided to me by the KK computer, which obviously felt a bit sorry for me as compared to the PT the numbers I was producing were much higher. What this has meant is that I've had to work much harder for the same figures on the PT when compared with the KK. The first week was really hard but I seem to be adapting to it a bit more now that I'm a few weeks into it. I've seen some of my CP numbers improve, which is nice. Being an idiot I thought that just owning the PT and working to a plan would guarantee instant improvements without any effort. This has not been the case, the PT and plan have given me some of the toughest training weeks I've ever done. I'm no Pro, actually I'm not really any good at all. I like to ride the bike and would be pleased to get points in a local league bike race or go under the hour in a 25 mile TT.

As luck would have it my work hours have changed recently and I've been starting early and finishing early which has meant I've had the early afternoons to train. Monday - Friday is spent in the "Drago Lab" - my garage, weekends are for going outside.

Anyway, there's a clearer overview of what this blog is going to be about. I'm going to dribble on about my training and results. I'll stick the occasional photo up, brag about the stuff I'm proud of, whine about the stuff that's annoying me and brush over any mistakes I make, enjoy...

I will break you!

As method for logging results from ongoing laboratory testing with minimal funding TEAM DRAGO MF blog created.