69˚

Awesome weather today...had to ride. My legs have been a bit trashed since Saturday and yesterday's Tabata intervals didn't help much. Today was going to be just an easy cruise but once I got going the legs felt good so I did a 40' interval at 96% and ended up with a 2 hour ride in the fort. Nice surprise. More tabata's tomorrow then I'll post some info on these intervals from hell.

Solid

Thanks to Karl, Lang and Justin for showing up and riding hard.

real winter

So we've had a taste of what winter feels like to most of the rest of the country. Not very nice for road riding. Saturday when I went out it was 28˚ and I rode for about 2.5 hrs. Had to keep it at >200w to stay warm...below that and I could feel the cold creeping in. I had planned on 4 hrs so I spun on the velodyne when I got back for a while and ended up with close to 3.5 hrs total.

My dressing strategy: bibs, knee warmers, thin wool ski socks (knee high) and over all this I had a pair of AmFib tights. Up top a LS base layer, LS Jersey and a Cannondale winter jacket that I have never worn cuz it's way too hot for around here (I use it on my scooter). Hands got my soft side ski gloves and full booties for the feet. My secret weapon is stuffing chemical hot packs in both gloves/toes of booties. These make a huge difference. Hat and balaclava round it out (taped helmet vents too).

Today it was warmer and I went to the crit course and did my 2x20's at 100% of FTP. Felt a little tired from yesterday but eeked it out. I've got tuesday off so I may try to do a long ride in the afternoon. I'm also thinking of doing what I did last year and take a 1/2 day off from work to get in an extra long ride per week.

an old lesson

I've had days like this before...I feel like shit and am tired and all I want to do after work is just go to bed. And I know my ride is going to suck...but sometimes it doesn't, like today.

Getting ready and on the roll over I kept downgrading the workout in my mind...2x20 became 3x10 and went from 100% of FTP to 98%.

Once I got going I felt remarkably good and ended up with 15' at 100% (4.14 w/kg) then 20' at 102% (4.25 w/kg). Pretty solid workout for almost blowing it off...I'm glad I didn't. Some days are like that...the hardest part of the workout can be just swinging a leg over the bike.

My FTP "phase" has begun...

brrr

I'm back from our annual ski trip to Utah. I didn't get a huge amount of riding in out there but did a couple days on the trainer then one good day on the road. The good thing is that my sister in law loves my fizik saddle and wider easton bars so I left them installed so the Orbea is good to go whenever I head back out there.

Now it's back to doing SST/FTP and putting TSS in the bank.