It's Off Season !

I haven't blogged for a little while. It is the end of my 'regular' season and there is not a lot of focus around my racing and training at the moment. I finally shook the lurgee that hammered me for pretty much two months and I am actually enjoying riding my bike with minimal structure. I have been up to a few things though:

Retul Bike Fit

I saw a good, old friend, Nick Formosa, from Cadence, for a Retul bike fit recently. The whole process is extremely interesting. I got both of my bikes (road and TT) fitted. My road bike was almost 'spot on' with only a slight change in seat height (up) needed. My TT bike however, was a different story. Seat slightly up, seat slightly back, shorter stem, stem up (a lot), aero bars extended and arm pads closer together. This new position 'feels' good but is taking some adapting to.

The fit process also highlighted some strength issues I have with my upper body (especially core) so I have been working very hard on that ever since. My biceps have been responding quickly as you can see:

Tour de Valley TT

I rode this event on October 13. It was 'kinda' an excuse to have two nights at the beach with the family, but it was also a good preparation for the Bravehearts TT I am doing at the end of November. The race was an undualting 36km on the proposed 2018 Commonwealth Games course in the Currumbin Valley. It was an extremely windy day as well. I didn't do too well. It was Open Male category and I came 10th of the 25 starters in a pretty ordinary time. I am way off form, struggling with the new position and to be honest, probably a little too focused on the beach ! At least I got a nice photo of me going slow:

Club Criterium

October 19 was a combined club criterium at Glenvale. I thought it might be a nice little hit out. I had absolutely smashed myself in the Dalby bunch ride that morning so had hoped the legs were up to it. I rode fairly agressively and there were only five of the original seven left for the sprint. I came third which I was pretty happy with (I actually sprinted pretty well). Here is a picture of me basking in third place glory:

This is also my first club race in the Team TLD kit. I rode the Queensland Road Teams Series (QRTS) with TLD this year and they have very kindly offered me a regular spot with them for next year. This means that officially I will leave Pensar SPM racing at the end of the year (but will still wear their kit in the two opens I have left in 2013). I'm really looking forward to the move. It was a great QRTS with TLD this year and it's also good to be racing with the local team.

Upcoming Events

Be Better Psychology Criterium (Bikeline Open) is on this Sunday, October 27. Field sizes look small so I am guessing it will be combined Elite A / Elite B / Masters A.

Bravehearts Time Trial is on November 24. My fundraising is going really well and you can sponsor me here if you are interested: BRAVEHEARTS

Bravehearts Individual Time Trial

Bravehearts’ key purpose is to educate, empower and protect Australian kids from sexual assault. I'm doing an individual time trial as a fundraising event for Bravehearts (with many other people) in Brisbane on 24 November. Click on the link below (SPONSOR ME) or use the Paypal link on the right, if you would like to sponsor me by making a donation to Bravehearts:

SPONSOR ME

An Analysis of a Power File

I thought this might be an interesting exercise. If you look around the web you will see quite a few people who have analysed a power file after a race. Normally though, they are crunching the numbers after they have had a win (or gone very well at least). I thought it might be insightful to do it after a race has gone spectacularly wrong.

This file is from the recent Masters 3 (40 - 44 years) Queensland Championships Individual Time Trial, in which I finished 5th. I should probably say that I have appreciated people's kind words and congratulations for this result. I should also keep things in perspective; 5th in the state (in my age group) less than two years after getting back on my bike is not bad. If you know me well though, you know that I was keen for a better result here and when you analyse the power file (as we are going to), you will see that 5th is a bloody miracle!

I should also add that I apologize if my analysis is a bit on on the amateurish side. I have only been training with power since April of this year. I have read just about everything out there on training with power and have had a lot of help with my program from Mark Brady who is a great mate and an excellent coach (based on the Gold Coast). 

The course was 20 km out and back at Purga (near Ipswich). A hard up and down profile that would require a balanced effort to be successful. As a 27 - 28 minute effort, I had decided that a target of 380w average would be about right. I based that on the following previous efforts:

• 32 minute criterium (I was away solo for 30 minutes of it) - 369w (average) / 397w (normalised)
• 28 min time trial - 365w (average) / 368w (normalised)
• 27 min time trial - 370w (average) / 376w (normalised)
• 27 min time trial 383w (average) / 388w (normalised)
• Consistently doing 2 x 20 min efforts at 370w - 380w in training

My power from this particular race was 338w (average) / 340w (normalised). I barely managed to keep my average power in the threshold range. If you have been following my blog you will know that I have been struggling badly with colds and bugs for over a month. That has definitely impacted here. I must say though, that I actually thought I had come good for this race. Despite the impact of the sickness, there are still some other interesting points in the data. So let's have a look at it:

Okay let's explain some of these lines. Power first. The grey line is my target average power (380w). The green line is as high as I wanted to go on the hills (no more than 410w). The pink line is as low as I wanted to go on the downhills (no less than 350w). It should be fairly obvious how this panned out for me. Not bad at the start, but then it all fell apart. I should also add that we are looking at a 10 second smoothing of the watts here, which is what I actually use when I race.

The first 12 minutes or so, I actually felt like I was on target for a really good ride. I was chasing (at 1 minute) a rider who had produced some very good time trial results at masters level (Chris Millen) and I was catching him pretty well. I had gone a little above and below my target power but was feeling quite good. I went maybe a touch too hard up the first hill, but at the time I didn't think it was anything too drastic. You can see (even when I felt good) that I was having some trouble keeping the watts up on the downhills. Was that start too hard? Maybe...

After 12 minutes (the black circle) it all comes crashing down. I definitely hadn't overcooked it on that hill (in fact the section before it fell apart was the most balanced of the entire race), but you can see the power go down, down, down.

After the turn (at the turn I estimate I had only lost 10 seconds or so to the eventual winner John Murazak, who would go on to beat me by over a minute) things go from bad to worse (the brown circle). I am having extreme difficulty getting anywhere near my target power. It looks like I am fatigued and ready to stop and that is probably about how I felt.

As we get nearer to the finish (the pink circle) you can see me starting to panic. I know these last few hills are hard and I try my best to drive up them, but you can see the impact that has overall as I can barely produce any power going over the other side. It almost looks like I am doing intervals! You can also see that I try to 'bring it home' but can't even sustain that acceleration and increased power for very long (I actually blow up completely).

So what can I take out of all this information?

It's been said a thousand times before and I'll say it again. Don't start your time trials too hard. On the road this start felt good, but it was obviously just too quick, which impacted on me later.

When riding time trials with hills, we all know that we need to 'feather' our power up and down. The surging  approach that I used in panic mode late in the race is not effective at all.

It is also obvious to me that I am still not 100% recovered from my colds and bugs. The really telling thing for me is my heart rate data. I know a lot of power users ignore their heart rate all together but I still find it very useful. In time trials, I will generally start at about 165bpm, quickly build to about 170bpm - 175bpm and then in the last few minutes can really bring it home up to 185bpm - 190bpm. The yellow line on the chart is 170bpm. That is actually quite scary. I was cooked (in terms of heart rate) pretty much the whole race. I hit 190bpm (which I consider my maximum) several times throughout the race. A big sign for me that 'all is not well').

So in summary, if you want to learn something from this analysis:

• Don't start too hard.
• Take a balanced approach to time trialing on hilly courses.
• Don't race unless you are 100% well.

Very happy for people to provide a comment if they have further analysis.

Histogram as requested for extra analysis:

Race Report: Elite State Titles Road Race (and a cross road in the season)

Well today was just a straight up shit day...

I have been battling this cold on and off since the Cunningham (three weeks). It gets better, it gets worse, it gets better, it gets worse, but I don't stop coughing. And before you ask, yes I have already had nearly a week off the bike trying to get rid of it.

I coughed like an old car on the hills today. Heart rate goes up = me coughing my guts up. It's not an ideal state for racing. 

The other part of my dilemma was a rear derailleur that today decided I needed some strength training. I say 39 x 23, it says 39 x 19. I say 39 x 25, it says 39 x 21. If you know the Kalbar course, 39 x 23 and 39 x 25 are just a little bit handy (well, for a tall unit like me anyway). 

So it was all over for me on the second lap. The frustrating thing is that if you have a real close examination of my power data today, there is absolutely nothing that says I should have got dropped (well, that early anyway).

So methinks another short break off the bike to rid self of this cough is necessary. And possibly a new derailleur. 

The problem?

Masters State Titles are in two weeks. The individual time trial especially has been a target event for me all year. I have done plenty of specific preparation for it and I believe I have a very good 20 km in these legs. I was intending to make a decision on whether or not I train on until October for the Australian Masters Titles in Goulburn, based on my results in two weeks.

You see the problem? At this rate, I may not even get to the start line in two weeks, effectively meaning that my 2013 season may well be finished right...NOW. 

Maybe I 'll just get healthy and got to Goulburn anyway? Who knows. At least I'm not a fat slug on the sofa (gotta stay positive about this whole cycling business).

Here's me looking ragged: