Workout: Climbing Intervals

Saturday 11/22 Climbing Intervals on the Trainer, 60 minutes

I've been working on creating some more climbing simulation workouts. I enjoy climbing, first of all, and I need to work on overall strength (core + legs) to get the most out of bigger gears on the flats anyway.

Today's workout I enjoyed quite a lot, by which I mean it was a proper suffer-fest. Before I began, I set my wheel block up to the climb/incline position. As for the drill, it's listed below.

For this workout, I am going to give the gearing to be more specific. My bike has a Shimano 105 9 Speed 12-27 cassette. Kind of like this one, but with only nine cogs. In non bike geek speak "9 speed 12-27" refers to the number of cogs (9) and the number of teeth per cog (e.g. 12 is the smallest) mounted on the rear wheel hub. I have the following choices on the rear hub: 12,13,14,15,17,19,21,24,27.

The front chain rings (where the cranks are) on my bike are 50 and 34. I stay in the 50 for all the trainer workouts; the bigger gear is tougher on the front. It's the opposite in the back. The lower the gear, the harder it is. So the hardest combination on my bike is 50 on the front, 12 on the back.

Ok...so here's how the climbing workout goes:

Warmup 6min Fast Spin Low Resistance (50/24)

6 x Climb Interval 5min (50/12), RI 3 min (50/19).

For intervals 1, 2, & 5 climb out of saddle for 3min, seated 2min
For intervals 3, 4, & 6 out of saddle for 5min

Cooldown 6 min Fast Spin (50/24)

That's thirty minutes of climbing in the hardest gear over the course of a 60 minute workout. My least favorite part, by far, is sitting and pushing that big gear during intervals 1, 2, & 5. But it really helps to build leg and core strength. I work really hard to keep my upper body still to avoid straining my back (you can tell if this is working by how much your upper body rocks side to side; if you rock too much, it's too much resistance and you are probably tweaking your back).

Workout: Spin Class

Friday 11/21 Spin Class (55 minutes + stretching)

Today's workout was yet another incremental step up in terms of difficulty. The main difference is that from the very beginning through to the end, we had tough drills with very short RIs.

We had enough new folks in class to do our attack, pull, draft drills in teams, with each team around the circle taking a turn at the virtual front. It was fun. We also had another instructor join us - just as a participant - but in her honor Tina threw in one of her signature drills. She calls them "black holes." They are 40 seconds of hill intervals, out of the saddle, followed by 20 seconds at lower resistance but maintaining cadence. There is no RI, so each one takes you deeper and deeper into the abyss...

Fun. No class next week due to Thanksgiving. In honor of last year, I might go run hill repeats when we are in Ohio for the holiday break. Might, I say. :)

Workout: Bike Intervals

Sunday 11/16 Intervals on the Trainer, 64 minutes

"Hard Eights," with a twist

Warmup Spin 8, High Cadence, Low Resistance (same for RI's, below)
(2 gear differential to start WI)

8 min WI, 8 min RI x 2
then
8 min WI, 4 min RI, 8 min WI

WI has some structure...like this:
4 min tempo w/crescendo, gradually increasing effort
shift up 4, 2 min climb
shift down 2, 2 min hard effort (gear +2)

This was my third workout day in a row...it's been a while since I've done that. I plan to do one more tomorrow, as I am trying to get back to a 5 day week. Tuesday will definitely be a rest day due to schedule alone. Thursday may be too since I have spin class so early on Friday and can count on that being a hard workout.

Wokout: Recovery Ride

Sunday 11/15 "Three Quarters" on the Trainer, 65 minutes

A true recovery ride today. Short segments of fast spinning at very low resistance, followed by 15 minute intervals, below tempo, with moderate resistance. Enough to get the heart rate up and sweat, but not a hard effort. Gear differential = 2.

Pattern:
5 min Spin warmup

3x 15min Work Interval, 5min Spin Interval

It's not really accurate to say these are Work and Recovery Intervals exactly. The fast spins are about the same effort, the heart rate is constant. But a few fast paced spins help shake out the muscles and break up the long ride.

Workout: Spin Class

Friday 11/7 Spin Class (55 minutes + diabolical yoga squats at the end)

Today's workout was another envigorating, hard effort. Tina threw in some new stuff for us this week, building on the drills we worked on last week during our first session.

It's all intervals, all the time of course.

One of my favorites is really fun because it's based on road riding/racing. The idea is to follow a pattern of attack, breakway with a group, take hard pull at the front, and then fall back into the draft. So it goes like this:

Attack: 20-30 second maximum effort sprint, out of the saddle, big gear
Hard Pull: 30-40 second max. sustained effort in slightly lower gear
Draft: 30-15 second recovery

As we repeat, the WI's get a little longer and the RI gets a bit shorter. Nice! A great visual too. I admit I enjoy imagining myself pulling a Jaja Jalabert, escaping for a long break to win a mountain top finish.

Workout: Bike Intervals

Wednesday 11/12 Intervals on the Trainer, 65 minutes

"Terrible Twos"
WI = Maximum Effort; RI = recovery spin; 3 gear differential

Warmup Spin 10
5 x 2 min WI, 2 min RI
Spin 5 Recovery
5 x 2 min WI, 2 min RI
Cooldown Spin 10

Hard workout today. Felt good.

Workout: Bike Tempo

Sunday 11/9 "Hard Eights" on the Trainer, 74 minutes

My goal for today was mainly recovery, so I returned to my "hard eights" pattern. It goes like this:

Spin 10min warmup
4 x 8 min WI, 8 min RI

WI is tempo pace in a bigger gear, RI is recovery pace, spinning easy. The work intervals are not terribly hard, but this is a tough workout because I try to maintain a solid pace throughout.

Shoutout: Go! Sean Go!

I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge my brother's recent efforts to get moving, get in shape, and get healthy! We are very proud of his efforts so far. After just two weeks of running and riding the exercise bike, he's starting to see some results!



Sean and I are planning to do the Tour de Cure ride next year together. I'll log our progress and training! In the meantime, you can already visit my Donation Page for the 2009 Tour de Cure! We already have one donation!

Workout: Spin Class

Friday 11/7 Spinning Class (50 minutes + stretching)

I started my first ever spin class today, and I enjoyed it a great deal. I am taking it with Tina Brookhouse, a trainer who just opened her own studio here in Williamston.


I opted for the 6 a.m. Friday session because it was convenient for me, and also because I figured it would mean that only the die-hards are showing up. I was right about that. There five folks in the class, all of whom rode on the road. This let Tina design a workout that was very cycling-specific.

She put us through about 45 minutes of cycling that included lots of intervals and hill-simulation work. The nice thing about having an instructor for interval training is that I can do more complex drills that involve shorter, more intense intervals than I am usually patient enough to do on my own on the trainer. It's just too hard to pay attention (or write all of the sequences down ahead of time and post them somewhere near the bike) to do lots of variations alone. But she did a great job of breaking things up and getting us to really work hard. I went to my suffer place at least twice during the 45 minute session. And I felt sore in places that I don't usually after riding indoors.

So far, so good!

Workout: Tempo Run

Tuesday, 11/4: 4 miles (no watch, but right around 8:40/mi)

While others were busy finishing up their run for office, I was just plain running. I ran by my polling place where I had voted earlier in the day, in fact, and noted that even as it was starting to get dark at 5:45 p.m., they were still doing what appeared to be brisk business.

I didn't have my watch with me on this run. I mainly just tried to stay steady and enjoy the unseasonably warm weather (68 degrees). I saw several others out doing much the same. First run this season with my reflective gear on...tough to get home in time to train in the daylight this time of year.

Workouts: Bike Intervals

Sunday 11/2 Intervals on the Trainer, 65 minutes

Intervals + ladders...they looked like this:

Warmup sequence
Spin 5min high cadence, low resistance
Spin 5min @ tempo pace w/ "road feel" level of resistance
Spin 5min high cadence, low resistance

Ladders (WI is Lactate Threshold, max sustainable effort for the interval; RI is just below Tempo)
5min WI
4min RI
3min WI
2min RI
1min WI

1min RI
2min WI
3min RI
4min WI
5min RI

Warmup sequence
Spin 5min high cadence, low resistance
Spin 5min @ tempo pace w/ "road feel" level of resistance
Spin 5min high cadence, low resistance

All while watching the #99 win and stay in cup contention. :)

Catching up again: workouts after my viral event

Toward the end of October, I had a bit of a cold that kept me idle, workout-wise, for about 10 days or so. Hence...few posts. But I've actually had a good week since then...and so I will try to catch up with a few posts.

Workouts, plural: Bike

I had a nice week last week, workout-wise. 4, count-em, 4 rides! About four quality hours, all told, on the bike.

Sunday 10/12 18.8 mile Hilly Loop at roughly 19.1 mph (57 minutes)

Monday 10/13 Bike Intervals on the Trainer
Spin 10 min
2 sets of 5 x 2 min WI, 2 min RI with a 5 min Spin in between sets
Spin 5 min

Wednesday 10/15 Bike Resistance Workout during the Last Presidential Debate
Alternate 9 min WI, 9 min RI with a big, heavy, punishing gear for the WI for 70 min

This workout was inspired by the debate, wherein each topic was supposed to last 9 minutes (two minutes for each candidate to respond to the original question, followed by 5 minutes of follow-up; Scheiffer did his best, but they didn't always make the 9 minute cutoff)

Saturday 10/18
40 minutes @ recovery pace with Michelle & Steve (about 11 miles)
chilly and windy, we are fast running out of pleasant outdoor riding weather here in Mid-Michigan. But this was a nice end to a solid week of riding.

Workout: Tempo Run +

Sunday, 7/28: 10k (6.2 miles) in 46:56 or 7:33/mi

I didn't run the half marathon in town today, so I was feeling a little guilty. I decided to run my measured 10k route to see how I could do. I went a little faster than tempo pace, especially in the last mile, but not quite race pace. I felt smoother and stronger than I have in a while on the run. Quite pleased.

The Fall air brings back such strong memories of cross country season, even 20 years later.

Bonus feel-good fact...my 3 mile split was 31:36 or 7:52/mi, which means I ran a negative split. I had this in mind, going out a little easy but deliberately not going into the red early. Nice to execute a game plan, even when there's no game.

Workout: Bike

Saturday 9/27: 18.8 miles (hilly loop) in 1:00:03, AVS 18.8 mph tempo

Good, steady pace today, but I never dug too deep. It was a bit more than recovery speed, so we can just call it a tempo ride. Felt strong coming in. The days are getting shorter, so I was enjoying the weather while it lasts.

Workout: Bike Intervals

Saturday 9/20: 18.8 miles (hilly loop) AVS 18.2 mph Intervals

Spin 5 minutes warmup, high cadence
2X (5 x 2 min WI, 2 min RI) with 5 min high cadence spin RI in between
Spin 10 minutes cooldown

...and another two minutes to get all the way home!

Whew. First time I've done an actual structured workout in quite some time. It would be nice to get some fitness back. And days like this are the way to do it. Have to do these more than once a week, though...

Workout: Run in Del Mar, CA

Friday, 9/12: about 6 miles in 55:10 with lots of climbing

I am in California for a conference at UCSD, staying just North of there in the lovely little town of Del Mar. I couldn't help but notice as I rode the shuttle on the way in that my hotel sits just a mile or so away from Torrey Pines State Reserve, a place with breathtakingly beautiful ocean views like this one:


Thanks to Flickr user informedmindstravel for that lovely shot.

The profile of the run was pretty brutal. Picture the letter "U." Big downhill, short valley (across the beach entrance of Torrey Pines) and then up a long, long climb to the top of the hill and the entrance to the famous Torrey Pines Golf Course, home of this year's U.S. Open. I made it to the top, thinking that if Tiger could play 90 holes with a broken leg and beat a world-class field, I could certainly struggle through this run.

On the way up, I was on the bike path that runs along the 5. This made the hill longer, with the pitch more gradual. Well over a mile of climbing. The way down was a bit better, as I found a bike path that went through the Reserve itself and afforded the kind of spectacular views you saw in the photo above. That road was steeper, but shorter too.

I saw lots and lots of cyclists on the way. I envied them their mechanical advantage today.

In truth, this was the sort of workout I probably should have been doing more of to train for the marathon. Why? Lactate threshold. Basically I ran for 45 minutes at a decent pace and with enough climbing that I was fatigued. Then, to finish, I ran another mile uphill to get back to the hotel. I stopped beforehand, let my heart rate come down, reset my watch, and then pushed the pace all the way home. Did the last leg in just under 10 minutes which doesn't sound like a fast pace for a mile, but you should see this mile!

I guess I took some time off the blog

Yep, it's been a while since I last posted. I've actually done some riding since I last wrote anything down, but the beginning of the school year and two trips in September have waylaid me. I've not spared much time for anything but work. The workouts I've managed to sneak in were much needed trips out of my head.

Not that I've been burning up the road or anything...but there are four rides I should mention before I forget about the all together.

Saturday August 31
30 miles or so with Randy
Hilly route in my hometown of Springfield, OH. AVS somewhere around 18.

Randy is only just a little out of tip-top form...having recently won his division at the Spirit of Racine Half-Ironman (see results for Male XL2 up to 39). He rocked the 56 mile bike split in 2:23:20. That's an AVS of 23.4 mph, boys and girls. Then he followed that up with a half-marathon in 1:53:32. Compare that to the first half of my marathon in the Spring, which was only about 6 minutes quicker...and, oh yeah, I didn't swim 1.2 miles and bike 56 beforehand.

All this is of course a preface for this: I took a beating. I was out of shape, and it showed. But it did feel good to get the work in. So good in fact...

Sunday, September 1st
25 miles or so with Randy, again
Bike path North of Springfield to Urbana and back

Yep, I went out for more punishment the next day. Didn't eat enough, didn't bring enough water, and fell apart at the end climbing the one big hill on the way home. In my defense, Randy was on his TT bike for this ride, so it was not only a mismatch of fitness and ability, but also of equipment. That made me feel only slightly better.

I snuck in one more ride the following week, my 18.8 mile loop. I did it at 19.3 AVS, snapping back a bit from the hard efforts of the previous weekend.

All was quiet for a while, then last weekend, Saturday, 9/6 I managed to go out for a 21 miler with Patty, the new occupant of the studio next door. We took the Southern route and stayed on fairly flat roads, staying around 17 mph AVS and soaking up the late summer weather. Nice ride all in all.

Getting back on track

Summer is over and this is what we like to euphemistically call "Welcome week" at Michigan State University. I guess "freaking out week" has too much truthiness.

Anyway, with the return of my normal insane work schedule and march of deadlines (not to mention the mouldering past-due deadlines of summer that still linger and are beginning to stink up the calendar) comes a reminder: this is why I need to ride and run!

Oh yeah. All that work of the mind requires an hour or so of suffering on a regular basis...or I never get out of my own head.

So...there were workouts this week! A run and a ride...and we aren't done with the week yet, so I am hoping one more ride later today. I'll post the details soon.

Welcome back, motivation.

Sloth in August and one old workout report

Well, it's been a pretty lame month of August as far as workouts go. Perhaps this is my official off season? I've really not been doing much more than one workout a week since mid-July. Now it's mid-August.

I do have one workout to report from a couple of weeks ago now:



Saturday, 8/9
Tempo Ride 18.8 miles (hilly loop) at 18.4 mph AVS (from memory, a conservative guess)

This was an evening trip around my typical loop course. It was humid and cool, a curious but common Michigan evening combination. I saw two deer on the route and had a brief chat with some pygmy goats as I rode by a field where they were grazing.

The effort was steady but unheroic. I hadn't done much in a long time (over a week) and so I was just trying to get something in without collapsing. Mission accomplished.

It's tough to call such a slow ride a tempo ride, but fitness-wise...this is probably where I'm at right now.