Slornow and Wannabefaster's mentor group...Closed (Page 25)

Hope everyone is doing well.  Looks like we have several days of nice weather ahead with temps getting close to 70 over the weekend.  I am thinking about doing a charity ride on Sunday.  About 100 miles to the Battleship Alabama and then back.  Apparently it is a mixed bag with some easy miles early and some hammering later.  Several of my teammates and cycling buddies are doing it so it should be fun.  So, the next two days will be fairly easy so I will be somewhat fresh come Sunday.

Anyone have anything exciting planned for the weekend?

Sunday a bunch of us are getting together for some torture on the bike.  65-70 miles with 9-10k feet of climbing.  Very little of the elevation gain is on rolling stuff...it will either be flat, steep uphill, or steep downhill.

Had a solid TT ride yesterday.  4x12.5' @ 275-280 with 2.5' recovery. 

It will be a little over 100 miles round trip. Weather looks good. Partly cloudy with temps from 63-69 with fairly light winds. Looking forward to it.

Seems strange to be sitting around on a Saturday morning.  Usually out riding to try to get it done early.  My calves have been a little tight/sore since my run Thursday so I took a "leg rest" day yesterday and just did some strength work. Would usually have done  a swim but the pool is closed until Monday.  Going to keep it light today as well and do some cleanup on the bike.  I have really enjoyed having the pool closed this week.

Jason N-nice work...really strong.

Jason A-great that you are back so quickly.  Seems like you made the right call on the surgery 

I haven't tried something like that, but if I had to, I'd probably shoot for around 112% as a safe number and see if I could squeeze more out.  I've done 13' all out recently at 112% which includes 7-8 seconds of coasting to make a U turn. 

I get why people prefer to do that 8' test, but it's beyond me that anyone thinks it correlates at all with one's FTP.  And 10' rest?  I haven't even looked at that test protocol in years and forgot that it was so much rest.  Maybe 2x8' on 2' rest would give a better estimation....but at that point, why not just suck it up and do the 20 minutes (which, admittedly, is not a perfect estimation either...). 

If my goal was to be as fast as I could possibly be, I would ride the trainer 95% of the time.  If my goal was to have as much fun as possible and not care as much about my improvement, I would ride outside 100% of the time without a computer, GPS, or power meter.  

My goal is to make improvement while still having fun, so I ride the trainer 2x a week (hard intervals) and ride outside once or twice a week (some with set intervals, some just as a group ride with a "whatever goes" mentality) when the weather is decent.  I think you strike a balance, but if you're "relegated" to indoor riding, you're probably in a good place to make more improvement.

I love riding outdoors and it's definitely my preference, but except for 1 ride a week (on the weekend) it's all on the trainer.  Made me pretty decent at changing tires though...

After a few calls on several outdoor rides a few years ago - mostly from distracted drivers and one that was deliberate - I do almost all of my rides on the trainer. 

That has worked for me when doing mostly Sprints and one Olympic last year, but I'm planning on doing a HIM in the fall and I don't have the mental strength to do a long ride on the trainer.  90 minutes seems to be the most I can handle right now and so will be doing all the longer rides outdoors. 

I've been busy at work the past few weeks but have been keeping up on bike and run.  Plan to get a swim in this afternoon.... its been awhile and so don't expect much.  Just want to get a feel for the water.

I expect I've lost a bit of muscle strength during this break from swimming.  Any recommended upper body exercises to help bring the speed/endurance in the water back?