Headwinds and intervals
Mar. 5th, 2005 06:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ninevirtuesWe have reached the part of the season where, ready or not, here come the intervals.
If you try to ride outside, on public roadways here-- well, the general public is just not prepared for that. They assume your car broke down (and you need a lift) or that you've had your driver's license revoked. Otherwise why would you be riding a bike?
Enter the bike paths. They are actually bike/pedestrian paths, but large sections of the paths are relatively remote and don't actually have pedestrians on them. They are flat. The scenery ranges from the prosaic (backyards of lower-income houses) to the remote (cornfields and the occasional old house, and a river). This is a good place to train, with plenty of headwinds, but no hills.
Which brings us to Thursday's planned entertainment. Ready or not, tired or not, here come the intervals. Plan: Go to the bike path: Ride south (the tailwind way) for half the time. Turn around and ride home into the wind, doing harder intervals along the way. My watch broke, but my speedometer and HRM still work, so I will pick a point that looks challengingly-far ahead of me, ride hard to it trying to get my heart rate to 175, and then ride easy until I pick another point for a total of ten intervals.
I'm at the turnaround point. I can see Offut AFB from here, and the reconaissance (sp?) aircraft are doing touch-and-gos today. (All right, enough musing. Move it.)
Pick a point. Start accelerating to lactate threshold (175 beats a minute). At once my body kicks up a symphony of complaint. It's too cold. I ache. I need more warmup. (Heart rate 160.) I need to bloody well eat better-- more vegetables and protein, less of the candy that's everywhere in my clinic. (Heart rate 170)I'm sucked dry. I ache. (Heart rate 180-- too hard, too hard!) Why do I do this to myself?
One.
I roll contemplatively for about a half mile, and it ticks by quickly. Pick a point to start. I roll past that point and accelerate; look ahead and pick the next overpass to end the interval. (Heart rate 165.) I'm clearly not used to extended time at my lactate threshold. (Heart rate 170.) I blow by that comfortable top-end range pretty quickly. (Heart rate 176.) Then I can't relax, breathe, bring it down and work at 175; I'm gasping and struggling. (Heart rate 180, gasping for air, overpass tantalizingly in the distance.) Heart rate stays 180.
Two.
...
Pick another point and begin accelerating. Dodge the nice lady with the white dog. (Heart rate 165.) I'm afraid my early season preparation won't stack up when I start to race. (Heart rate 170.) Come on, girl, use your whole leg to pedal, not just your quads. Your knees will thank you for it. (Heart rate 180, gasping for air). Look ahead. The chosen endpoint seems to recede into the distance. I barely make it. I am cooked, I tell you, cooked. I don't have another one in me.
Eight.
Results: I made eight of the planned ten, and I was whining the whole way and wondering who or what sucked me dry, and I wanted to be able to get my heart rate to 175 and keep it there for several minutes at a time, but didn't manage that.
I infer from this that (a) I'm about 33% able to deal with headwinds. (At 0%, I would have gone 12 mph the whole way, then gone home to sleep for several hours. At 100%, I would not have noticed them. At 33%, I whine and wonder what is wrong with me.) (b) I need more time at 175 beats a minute. Extended time, like five minute intervals, so I can get to 175 and try to stay there.
Strengths: I have a good year-over-year base (endurance is good).
Weaknesses: Hills, sprints, time at anaerobic threshold.
Plan: Races Saturday and Sunday. One weekday workout that trashes me, with some time spent at AT and some sprints for dessert. Other rides are steady aerobic tempo, some into the headwind.
I may revise this plan depending on the weekend's race results. Stay tuned.
If you try to ride outside, on public roadways here-- well, the general public is just not prepared for that. They assume your car broke down (and you need a lift) or that you've had your driver's license revoked. Otherwise why would you be riding a bike?
Enter the bike paths. They are actually bike/pedestrian paths, but large sections of the paths are relatively remote and don't actually have pedestrians on them. They are flat. The scenery ranges from the prosaic (backyards of lower-income houses) to the remote (cornfields and the occasional old house, and a river). This is a good place to train, with plenty of headwinds, but no hills.
Which brings us to Thursday's planned entertainment. Ready or not, tired or not, here come the intervals. Plan: Go to the bike path: Ride south (the tailwind way) for half the time. Turn around and ride home into the wind, doing harder intervals along the way. My watch broke, but my speedometer and HRM still work, so I will pick a point that looks challengingly-far ahead of me, ride hard to it trying to get my heart rate to 175, and then ride easy until I pick another point for a total of ten intervals.
I'm at the turnaround point. I can see Offut AFB from here, and the reconaissance (sp?) aircraft are doing touch-and-gos today. (All right, enough musing. Move it.)
Pick a point. Start accelerating to lactate threshold (175 beats a minute). At once my body kicks up a symphony of complaint. It's too cold. I ache. I need more warmup. (Heart rate 160.) I need to bloody well eat better-- more vegetables and protein, less of the candy that's everywhere in my clinic. (Heart rate 170)I'm sucked dry. I ache. (Heart rate 180-- too hard, too hard!) Why do I do this to myself?
One.
I roll contemplatively for about a half mile, and it ticks by quickly. Pick a point to start. I roll past that point and accelerate; look ahead and pick the next overpass to end the interval. (Heart rate 165.) I'm clearly not used to extended time at my lactate threshold. (Heart rate 170.) I blow by that comfortable top-end range pretty quickly. (Heart rate 176.) Then I can't relax, breathe, bring it down and work at 175; I'm gasping and struggling. (Heart rate 180, gasping for air, overpass tantalizingly in the distance.) Heart rate stays 180.
Two.
...
Pick another point and begin accelerating. Dodge the nice lady with the white dog. (Heart rate 165.) I'm afraid my early season preparation won't stack up when I start to race. (Heart rate 170.) Come on, girl, use your whole leg to pedal, not just your quads. Your knees will thank you for it. (Heart rate 180, gasping for air). Look ahead. The chosen endpoint seems to recede into the distance. I barely make it. I am cooked, I tell you, cooked. I don't have another one in me.
Eight.
Results: I made eight of the planned ten, and I was whining the whole way and wondering who or what sucked me dry, and I wanted to be able to get my heart rate to 175 and keep it there for several minutes at a time, but didn't manage that.
I infer from this that (a) I'm about 33% able to deal with headwinds. (At 0%, I would have gone 12 mph the whole way, then gone home to sleep for several hours. At 100%, I would not have noticed them. At 33%, I whine and wonder what is wrong with me.) (b) I need more time at 175 beats a minute. Extended time, like five minute intervals, so I can get to 175 and try to stay there.
Strengths: I have a good year-over-year base (endurance is good).
Weaknesses: Hills, sprints, time at anaerobic threshold.
Plan: Races Saturday and Sunday. One weekday workout that trashes me, with some time spent at AT and some sprints for dessert. Other rides are steady aerobic tempo, some into the headwind.
I may revise this plan depending on the weekend's race results. Stay tuned.
