Cold Hurts the Muscles

Is it just me, or is it harder to train when it's colder out...say below 5C?

Went out for my aforementioned intervals on Tuesday (with anti-blogger Gillian), and it was okay when i left my home... Met Gillian downtown, and as we left it started snowing. As we were cruising along the Goose out to Metchosin, it went from snow to sleet to rain..then stopped and cleared up as we turned onto Metchosin.

Got to the bottom of the quarry hill, and we went off to do our workouts, and as we started, it started hailing (or snowing like gangbusters). Ouch. Only lasted a minute or so, then cleared up again, pretty much for the rest of the day...

Still, was a bit chilled to start (was *slightly* under-dressed.) The first 20min FTP effort felt okay, looked like i was staying in the 265-275w range.. Rested a few mins, and went for the second effort. Felt sluggish, but pushed through, wasn't so fun closer to the end... I think the cold just saps it from the muscles.

Ride home was okay, but felt like work as well..felt beat when i got home.

Workout wasn't really all that great tho, by the numbers.. 257w for #1 (both NP and AP), and the AP for #2 was 260w. Oddly, it was 259w NP. How does that happen...?

Anyway, that's a bit short of the 270w i was aiming for...and it sure felt like i'd done it. HR was about right as well...and RPE.. I'm guessing it was just the cold.

Brrr..

Here's the ride WKO+ data for those so inclined:

Entire workout (208 watts):
Duration:   2:41:45
Work:       2001 kJ
TSS:        190.7 (intensity factor 0.845)
Norm Power: 227
VI:         1.1
Distance:   80.383 km
                Min Max Avg
Power:        0 826 208  watts
Heart Rate:   102 182 159  bpm
Cadence:      30 163 94  rpm
Speed:        3.8 57.5 30.0  kph

Was moving pretty good for such a crap day...haha

For those who want to check out what's happening weather-wise in the Greater Victoria area, check out this awesome weather map from Roland:

http://figbug.com/weather/

I'll give you a minute to bookmark that.

Okay, so i think we all agree it sucks riding in the cold. What's worse, we now have a ton of snow in Victoria. Happy Birthday to me...hahah.. My 35th birthday will always be remembered as the one with all the snow.

Don't know if i'll make it out on the bike tomorrow due to this...maybe a trainer ride..? Maybe head over to OBB and build up my TT bike if my levers arrive...!

Well that's about it. I think i'll conclude with the honey badger video. What a badass he is! He doesn't give a shit about anything, that honey badger.



=============

Dave's Latest Twitter Updates

follow me on Twitter

=============

A New Season - Let's Get It On!

Chimpanzee that your monkey news!!

Winter's passing along nicely in the Garden City, we've had great weather overall. Got a bit of a sunny spell, which is fab. Sadly, i'm not riding my Ridley Noah because my PowerTap (wireless SL+) has been sent away to have the bearings replaced...which is surprising given that i've had it like 4 months and it's barely been ridden. Saris insists that the bearings be replaced by their tech support..ridiculous. My wheel has to be sent away to Vancouver for nearly a week to have a 10min job done to it. Gah.

I just pulled all the wired PT cables off the Noah as well, otherwise i'd run the other (wired PT) wheel...so i'm stuck on the winter bike, which is fine...but it'd be nice to ride my summer bike when it's nice out!

On top of that, my MTB PowerTap is also away, somehow i dislodged the race on the drive side (that the freehub sits in), so it's being replaced i think. It's been away over a month tho. So two out of my three PowerTaps are being serviced. WTF? Not so sure i can recommend these things at the moment..the older Wired models are pretty bullet-proof tho.

I've begun doing intervals as well, in Jan i went out to the Observatory a number of times to practice climbing out of the saddle. I'm planning to do a bit more road racing this year, and climbing is a weak spot, so working on my core and form climbing out of the saddle a bunch more, hopefully that helps a bit and keeps me in the pack.

This week i'm doing longer threshold work, 2x20mins at threshold (270 watts) tomorrow, and likely Thu as well. Next week back to more hills, likely Neild Rd. Ouch. It really kicks you in the pants at the top as it just gets steeper and steeper. After that tho, most other hills will feel 'easy'.

Training Logging

How do you keep track of what events you're doing, and the training leading up to them? I don't really like using an electronic calendar (ie, Google Calendar), i find it a bit clunky, slow to update, and you can't really transport it (say, to meetings, etc.) So i did a search for PDF calendars, and i found this useful website: http://www.calendarlabs.com/pdf-calendar.php

It's pretty basic, but it let's you create a calendar (with lots of space to write in) and publishes a PDF that's easy to print. Here's what i've come up with:

This is perfect for what i'm doing, and i can mark out and map 4 week training blocks, leading up to "A" events, etc.. Also, easy to write in various events like VCL races, etc.. Me likey! Also, i can take a quick pic, and share what i'm doing for the month! Check back in a week for March's excitement! hahaha..

New Toy - TT Bike

I mentioned in my last entry that i got a TT frame (Salsa!!) and most of the parts i've ordered for it have come in..it's going to be a total Frankenstein of a bike. So i've got Shimano 105 165mm compact cranks, SRAM shifters, and hopefully some Vision brake levers. I'll be using some old parts (like my Veloce brakes), some stuff off my Salsa CX bike (Chorus derailleurs, Thompson seatpost), and the pursuit bars from my track bike (Specialized stem, Profile T2+ bars and basebar). Will get a Tritip seat, and for wheels i'll use my HED3 up front, and wireless PT wheel on the rear (maybe get a disc cover if i feel really bold..) This might get built up this week...weeee!




To conclude, a recipe! Inspired from the Rice Crispy Squares from Sarah Kramer's How It All Vegan, i've made some adaptations - served these up at a UVic Friends of Animals potluck last week, they were a big hit:

Dave's Crispy Rice Polygons

1/2 c brown rice syrup
1/2 c golden syrup
1c fair trade cane sugar
1c cashew butter
1tbsp vanilla
1tsp salt
6c organic rice crispies

In a saucepan, warm up the syrups and sugar together until a bit bubbly. Add in cashew butter, vanilla and salt, mix well.

In a bowl, pour in the crispies. Pour the saucepan contents on top. Mix well.

Pour those into some bakeware (or rubbermaid, or whatever). I suggest lubing it first, i like using coconut oil, so they don't stick and come out well. Pack it down fairly well, so the squares come out firm.

Refrigerate for 40mins. Enjoy!

There you have it, a quick and easy delicious vegan treat! Next time i'm going to try 100% brown rice syrup, but didn't want to list that in case it came out funky. =)

See ya on the road!

=============

Dave's Latest Twitter Updates

follow me on Twitter

=============