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Race The Training Thread

baribari said:
Just as I was starting to be a good boy with my diet and training, I caught a nasty cold from the wife/kid... Probably shouldn't have trained the first few days, since I've got it much worse than either of them.
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Oh no! Hope that you'll bounce back soon.

I managed to finish 5th 6th (a teammate told me 5th, but I re-read the results and I was 6th) in the Ontake Hill Climb. Neutral rollout was super long and included the bottom steepest part of the climb, which probably benefited me some. But once the racing finally kicked off it was 54 minutes for me at 322w & 181bpm. I ended up setting my 60 minute all time power PR, which is pretty cool. I rode with the lead group for only about ~5 minutes of the climb, and then settled into my effort letting them go. It wasn't long before I was catching and passing most of them as they blew up.

In the last ~3 miles I had one guy manage to stick on my wheel, and he rode with me to the top as we caught 2 more riders with around 1 mile to go. So I ended up in a "sprint". Nothing like 1 minute @ 400+ watts and 2,200m to really finish off a ride.

I finished 1 minute off the podium, which is a both encouraging and a bummer. Really proud with the effort today but I have a little bit of that "what could have been" feeling. Maybe I'll have to give hill climbing another try one day!
 
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Tsuga said:
Feeling any better yet?
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Only good enough to stop using paid leave!
Even brisk walks are slightly unpleasant since they make me cough. I am probably at the tail end of it, though.

I wonder if maybe this isn't just a nasty cold (definitely was a bug, since the whole family got sick) combined with allergen exposure. For one, I was doing body work on my car without a mask, and two, the yellow sand has been pretty bad lately. Also, there has been a lot of incense burning lately...

I might start doing some Z1 riding soon. Two weeks till race day...
 
@baribari, do you have room for one more in the sick house?

Our son generously shared his bacterial infection with me. He was literally oozing out of his right ear, right eye, nose and mouth. Fortunately, our ear-nose-throat doctor knew immediately that I needed antibiotics, too. Ugh. (But at least he is doing much better know, less crying and scratching, more heart-melting smiles.)
 
OreoCookie said:
@baribari, do you have room for one more in the sick house?

Our son generously shared his bacterial infection with me. He was literally oozing out of his right ear, right eye, nose and mouth. Fortunately, our ear-nose-throat doctor knew immediately that I needed antibiotics, too. Ugh. (But at least he is doing much better know, less crying and scratching, more heart-melting smiles.)
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I really should know better than to hold my boy up over myself when he's leaking drool/snot.... (since he's both teething and had a cold)
 
baribari said:
I really should know better than to hold my boy up over myself when he's leaking drool/snot.... (since he's both teething and had a cold)
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Yeah, but what can you do?

If I did that, I'd never touch my toddler until he turned 4 or 5. He is constantly drooling, so much so, that his teachers in the 保育園 change his shirts at least once. He is sneezing and the last few nights, he was a frequent guest in our bed. It didn't help that his ears were hurting. One night he left a yellowish stain on my sheets next to my pillow. I wish I could claim it was pee … 😅
 
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OreoCookie said:
Yeah, but what can you do?

If I did that, I'd never touch my toddler until he turned 4 or 5. He is constantly drooling, so much so, that his teachers in the 保育園 change his shirts at least once. He is sneezing and the last few nights, he was a frequent guest in our bed. It didn't help that his ears were hurting. One night he left a yellowish stain on my sheets next to my pillow. I wish I could claim it was pee … 😅
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I just mean I shouldn't hold him up in a way that inevitably causes drool/snot to land on my face!
Feeling gradually better each day. Might even get on the trainer tonight, if I am not coughing too much.
Need something I keep myself occupied so I can be a good boy regarding alcohol consumption... If it wasn't for alcohol, my diet would be perfect.
Push come to shove, I suppose I can always cut another 300 calories from food or do an extra 300 calories of activity per day.
Just have to up protein consumption to compensate...
 
Y'all make the early years of parenthood sound so appealing.

I got selected for the 2 days in Gunma on June 10th & 11th. My ride at the Hill Climb reinforced that Tempo - Threshold is my strength and Threshold + is where I suffer. So I've still been doing my power intervals. My goal is minimum of 400 and ideally 420+.

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My mental anology yesterday during this set was that I was digging for gold. I'm not sure I found any, but I guess I'll find out in a few weeks in the race. I was doing these intervals before my last race in Gunma and I think they really helped a lot. I've also been skipping the early morning Tuesday race ride to do these, and don't tell those guys... but the intervals are harder.
 
Tsuga said:
Y'all make the early years of parenthood sound so appealing.

I got selected for the 2 days in Gunma on June 10th & 11th. My ride at the Hill Climb reinforced that Tempo - Threshold is my strength and Threshold + is where I suffer. So I've still been doing my power intervals. My goal is minimum of 400 and ideally 420+.

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My mental anology yesterday during this set was that I was digging for gold. I'm not sure I found any, but I guess I'll find out in a few weeks in the race. I was doing these intervals before my last race in Gunma and I think they really helped a lot. I've also been skipping the early morning Tuesday race ride to do these, and don't tell those guys... but the intervals are harder.
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The cuteness makes up for everything, but we have grandparents to help out...
 
baribari said:
I just mean I shouldn't hold him up in a way that inevitably causes drool/snot to land on my face!
Feeling gradually better each day. Might even get on the trainer tonight, if I am not coughing too much.
Need something I keep myself occupied so I can be a good boy regarding alcohol consumption... If it wasn't for alcohol, my diet would be perfect.
Push come to shove, I suppose I can always cut another 300 calories from food or do an extra 300 calories of activity per day.
Just have to up protein consumption to compensate...
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It's just some personal lifestyle stuff for me, but I have cut way back on drinking this year compared to what I was making a habit out of from last August - December. I didn't drink a lot until I was in grad school, and in the years since it was an on and off, but increasingly on habit. I've noticed cutting it back has been really good.

Really confuses my co-worker I used to drink with regularly though.

I do eat a lot more ice cream now though... but my body seems happier about that.
 
Tsuga said:
It's just some personal lifestyle stuff for me, but I have cut way back on drinking this year compared to what I was making a habit out of from last August - December. I didn't drink a lot until I was in grad school, and in the years since it was an on and off, but increasingly on habit. I've noticed cutting it back has been really good.

Really confuses my co-worker I used to drink with regularly though.

I do eat a lot more ice cream now though... but my body seems happier about that.
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I was being a really good boy for the first month or two of my diet. Basically only drinking one or two days a week. But various things happen that make it harder to abstain consistently. One silly example: Having been voluntold to join the fire brigade, a couple of times a year they have "night patrols" which means "drinking in the fire station and then riding in the fire truck and making a racket every night for a week or so." If I skip a night, no drinking. If I go, you bet your ass I'm drinking free beer.

Had it not been for this, I'd probably be a couple kilo lighter... hahaha.

I was never a binge drinker before coming to Japan. Nomihodai and drinking party culture has ruined me.
 
It's a bronchitis and my whole family is coughing. Ugh. I guess I will be able to get on the bike in about two weeks.
 
A good day at the races yesterday. I rode out to Yahiko to cheer on Gen who I've been kind of coaching.Nobody else in the photo, he put it all out by the line. He was solo from his school and up against multiple riders from Yoshida HS which feeds into the Yahiko Keirn. So it was an excellent effort.

A brief report below.

Cheers, Andy

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The Niigata High School Championships today
The top two finishers can ride in the national "inter high" championships in Hokkaido in August!
I'm so excited I'm awake at 3am!
Aki is nervous too!
Gen is more relaxed!
5 laps of a 7km circuit
*strong winds
*two climbs
*and a technical descent
Gen rides on the front on the 1st lap
a 3 up breakaway!
He is the strongest on the climb on the 2nd lap
So kun drops off
Mizutani kun drops off too
But Mizutani kun is a track specialist so he can bridge on the flat
Aki says "give him some advice!"
But we can only see a snapshot of the race!
But I know Gen has the endurance
He is also smart
"Go with your instinct!"
"Believe in yourself!"
He won in the best way possible
Fighting on the front
After the race Sho kun and Mizutani kun congratulated Gen
I was moved by their camaraderie and friendship
I hope the three of them can enjoy riding as special guests at Summerfest in July!
Great ride guys!
 
Yesterday I "failed" my first workout in a while. 3 sets of 6 x 40 second max efforts with 80 rest between each. Yikes. During the intervals I shared earlier I usually hold it together pretty well until 45-60 seconds out of the 90, so I thought 40 seconds would feel easy. Nope.

"Max" is a funny thing to chase because it's such a sliding scale based on so many variables. My maximum in the first interval of the day was very different than #6, but my 18th interval was more in line with the first few. It was such a huge boost to be able to be able to think to myself "this is the last one" over and over.

I like intervals where it's black and white. Did I hold the number for the right amount of time? Yep, good. These were a little more grey which is why they feel more like a failed workout. In intervals 2-18 I never came close to the power from the first, so that was clearly a maximum effort. But I guess each following effort was the max I could do due to the building fatigue. Aside from the physical, the mental challenge is probably why these are good.
 
Tsuga said:
Yesterday I "failed" my first workout in a while. 3 sets of 6 x 40 second max efforts with 80 rest between each. Yikes. During the intervals I shared earlier I usually hold it together pretty well until 45-60 seconds out of the 90, so I thought 40 seconds would feel easy. Nope.

"Max" is a funny thing to chase because it's such a sliding scale based on so many variables. My maximum in the first interval of the day was very different than #6, but my 18th interval was more in line with the first few. It was such a huge boost to be able to be able to think to myself "this is the last one" over and over.

I like intervals where it's black and white. Did I hold the number for the right amount of time? Yep, good. These were a little more grey which is why they feel more like a failed workout. In intervals 2-18 I never came close to the power from the first, so that was clearly a maximum effort. But I guess each following effort was the max I could do due to the building fatigue. Aside from the physical, the mental challenge is probably why these are good.
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Is it really failing if you finish all the sets?

Finally feeling myself again... I even went to the gym before work today. Might have had to do with the fact that I dreamed about working out last night... The sensation of muscle pump was palatable. Haha.
 
baribari said:
Is it really failing if you finish all the sets?

Finally feeling myself again... I even went to the gym before work today. Might have had to do with the fact that I dreamed about working out last night... The sensation of muscle pump was palatable. Haha.
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I guess it can be. If I'm fatigued enough that I'm not doing an effort that's producing the physical reaction I'm looking for, that'd be a failure. Even if I did all the sets. Let's say a power less than ~470w was a V02 effort & not anaerobic and by shooting for max efforts I was trying to target the anaerobic system. 5/18 or 28% intervals were "failed".

I guess by school grade standards I barely passed with a C-. Maybe I can get some "extra credit" for the mental benefits of doing all the intervals though to push that up to a C. Except that reminds me of when I started grad school and on the first day of the first class I learned that only As and Bs were considered passing grades... bit of a shock.

But, in this instance I am my own teacher so I can make the grades up. My buddy that recommended I do these is a coach, multi US pro road national champion and Tour + Vuelta finisher... he might be a harsh grader if I ask him.

Glad you're back to feeling better! Being sick is such a bummer.
 
Fair enough, but mediocre VO2max intervals will still benefit you more than than a C-grade on a college assignment! Hehe.
 
baribari said:
Fair enough, but mediocre VO2max intervals will still benefit you more than than a C-grade on a college assignment! Hehe.
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A professor I had didn't like this logic when I was trying to explain why I was going to be missing class to go to collegiate mountain bike nationals :(

I ended up going and we were on the podium for the team relay. My only medal from a national championship (well... I also have team omnium medals). We just had a good friend spend a few weeks with us, he was on that relay team with my wife and I. Arguably they are the reason we podiumed in the relay and omnium, I was a pretty mediocre mountain biker... My wife was also 2nd in STXC that year.

I was joking recently that while I'm not using either of my degrees, the one constant from college is everything I gained from starting to ride bikes and joining that university's cycling team.
 
Did the Soma Enduro. I stayed in the front group until the very last lap, when I simply didn’t quite have enough left in my legs to latch back on after the penultimate hairpin. A little disappointing given it’s a pan flat course. Should have been more efficient by sagging to the back from the front instead of sprinting every time. I was reasonably efficient in the group.

This was actually the longest road race I have ever done, so fueling maybe have been a factor. I should have had that gel 20 minutes earlier. Haha. And probably should have made sure to actually finish both bottles instead of leaving one half full.

Of course, I haven’t really been able to ride much lately due to wherever bug I had… so this was probably the best I could hope for.
 
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