Looking good for states

(photo credit:  Kris Thompson)

Today I raced the Alpha Cross #2 cyclocross race south of Denver.  We had a pretty good field of around 45 riders and since I haven't done much BCR/BCT races, I started on the back row.  The course was just what I like.  Smoooooooth grass.  It was mostly grass with a little pavement and some a couple sand sections.  It was really windy too.

Anyway, I settled into around 8th after the first lap.  I was picking off a rider or two every lap and with 4 laps to go, I pulled in behind 3rd, Damien Fraser.  I was within a couple seconds of him for two full laps until he made a handling error in a switchback and hit the grass.  I got around him without slowing too much and he got back on his bike, but stayed about 5-6 seconds behind me for the rest of the race.  I finished in 3rd -- best result at a Colorado cyclocross race ever!  The two in front had a huge gap on me, so I wasn't in the hunt for 1st, but my legs felt good and I stayed on the gas throughout the whole race without the fatigue that usually sets in.  I really didn't expect to do well since my last few weeks of training have just been steady workouts (no intervals), but it is what it is.

Here's the results from my 60min, 310W workouts recently:

It looks like my HR is on the downslope for the most part.  My last tempo workout was on Thursday and I took yesterday off.  I'll increase my watts to 318W and try doing tempo workouts from there starting on Dec. 7th.  Next week is my "rest and recovery" week with some 30-40min tempo rides and reduced volume to hopefully prepare as best as possible for the state champs on Dec. 5th.  I also have to travel to Phoenix, AZ for work, so I don't know how much that is going to affect things.

Tempo Workouts

Since I got sick from my race on Nov 7th, I spent a week of trying to recover.  This week I felt pretty good.  Unfortunately, I didn't feel well enough to race last week and this weekend I'm going skiing instead of racing, so I'm pretty much writing off the end of the cx season.  I'll probably do the Nov. 28th race and state champs race if it's not snowing.  If it is snowing, it's absolutely miserable starting from mid-pack to try and move up.  I did that last year.

That said, reviewing the last couple weeks of training reveal some insight on how my body was recovering.  Last week I did two 60min, 310W Tempo efforts and my average heart rate was up around 175bpm and 174bpm.  Then, this week, I did three Tempo workouts (70min each at 310W) and my heart rate was in the upper 160s.  I think that shows that either I'm getting stronger (which I doubt after just two weeks of tempo workouts), or I'm recovered from that sickness.  Here's the trend if just using the first 60min of data.

Clearly, I can't expect my HR to decrease with a linear trendline, but it is going down as I do more of these workouts which is a good sign.  I'll update this spreadsheet again once I have some more data.

Anyway, the plan is to do another 70min effort Saturday, then do two 80 min efforts next week, then take a week to recover and adjust power levels.  I'm not a fan of long miles in the base period.  I don't have the stamina to toil on the trainer for 2 or more hours at a time at a mindless pace.  I'd rather do tempo workouts every other day to build my fitness.  Here's the schedule/journal for the rest of November (gray areas are days completed).

Note to self: Don't race when you're sick

I did two races this weekend.  The first was called School Yard Cross and was in Lafayette, CO, about 20 min from my house.  This race was put on by my previous team, Rocky Mounts, and they did a great job.  The course was pretty flat, had several low-speed switch backs, and was relatively smooth.  There was also a mud pit.

I was feeling frisky from the start and they said there was a sunglasses prime for the first lap leader, so I decided to bury myself from the gun.  I started from the 2nd row, but because the start was a fairly long chute, I was able to move up and take the holeshot into the first turn.  My legs and lungs felt great, and I had a very slight gap for the whole first lap and most of the 2nd lap.  Then, I started to fade a little bit and moved back to about 8th position before clawing my way back towards the end of the race and picking off a couple riders on the final laps to finish 6th.

Sunday was a whole different story.  I had the race cough after Saturday's race and was feeling sick on Sunday, but there weren't many races left, so I decided to give it a go.  That was a bad decision.  As I pre-rode the course, I was having trouble breathing and I was coughing a bit.  I had already signed up though, so I gave it a shot.  Well, I crashed on the first lap (totally my fault for taking a bad line on a tight switchback), then moved up a few spots to about 8th by the 2nd lap, but on the 4th lap, my body checked out and I went from around 8th to around 20th in one lap.  I pulled off after the next lap and went home.  I shouldn't have raced anyway, but now I know what my body feels like when I shouldn't race!  Lesson learned.

November training plan

Here's the plan for November.  I skipped racing the last few weeks for various reasons and am ready to hit the 2nd half of the cx season now.  I've got races every weekend now until December, so I'm hoping to get some good results with the high intensity training I'm doing now.

The plan for this month is full-on high intensity training.  I'm doing what I call "Speed Intervals" and "Crit Intervals".  The speed intervals consist of high power intervals (aiming for 439W) with equal rest, decreasing in interval length.  A set would consist of 2 minutes hard (439), 2 min easy (recover), 105sec hard, 105 easy, 90 hard, 90 easy, 75 hard, 75 easy, 1 min hard, 1 min easy, 45sec hard, 45 easy, 30 hard.  8 minutes rest between sets.  I'm aiming for 3 sets, but am usually wasted after two sets.  total workout time with warmup is about 1hr 20min.

The Crit intervals consist of 30 seconds as hard as possible, 30 seconds recover, repeat for 10 minutes.  5 minutes rest between sets.  Aiming for 4 sets each.  total workout time with 10min warmup is 1hr 10min.

Next race is this Saturday.  here we go again..

P90Fail

I think the P90X is a good program, but I just don't have the time for it.  It's only an hour a day, but I just don't have the motivation to do weights or plyometrics after my high intensity training.  I may start it up after the cx season is over though.