Throwback Thursday: Training Status Style

What was I doing in 2012 that made me hate cycling so much? 

...Okay I've never officially hated cycling...for more than a week at least. But looking back, it's not hard to tell that the motivational aspect in training spiraled down for a good period of time in 2012.

Now that it's June, it is a good time to reflect on my current annual volume. I should probably mention that it's a pseudo annual volume since I don't follow calendar years when it comes to the periodical training numbers, but it's still a good way for me to see the relativity to past years. 

What I found when comparing my numbers was that I had just surpasses my 2012 volume. I can't believe how short my months were. November's volume is practically a weeks worth, and October is looking awkward with the 3 hours over there. July and December is reasonable because of my trips to the Philippines. 

But what I got from seeing this was that I didn't really take cycling serious, and that's because I didn't have well-defined goals. So if there's one thing I'm really glad about, it's that I didn't continue my non-directional cycling habit--nor did I quit. I realized my mistake(s) and now I'm surpassing myself!

No goals = nowhere.

Apart from cycling, my main goal right now is to graduate college on time, which is supposed to be next Spring. I've been filling up my class schedules with many units, and have been taking summer classes. This summer I'm taking a Human Physiology Lab, as well as a Human Anatomy Course & Lab, which are really demanding. But I'm doing whatever it takes to graduate on time because that's my goal. And graduating on time is something that needs to be done in order for me to achieve an even higher goal. (Goals need to be flexible, so of course I always have potential events in mind that would require me to adapt to such changes.)

With that said I'll briefly say that I can still maintain an adequate training volume. Monitoring performance from power data really helps--I can see the effects of my off-days on the two days I have school for 7.5 hours and adjust accordingly. 

Right now I have high fitness relative to my past and low fatigue. With no races available, I'll be able to use this form to do challenging, high quality workouts!

- DB

Mt. Diablo Hill Climb ITT Report

This weekend had my favorite Criterium, the Burligame Criterium, but I had established that I'd be doing the MT.Diablo Hill Climb this year, just to try it out. A big reason why I had strongly chosen to the hill climb instead of the crit is because my crash had left me a little traumatized. Crashing hurts--no doubt--but the real reason I'd like to avoid situations where crashing is of a high probability is not because of the pain (which actually isn't that bad after you've more than enough time) but it is the forced time off the bike which is really difficult to deal with.

With that being said, I had decided indefinitely to not participate in any criteriums. What his meant was that I can focus my training to building my Aerobic engine, and naturally I've been really inclined to focus on climbing. Thus, it was appropriate to do this race in order to see how well my climbing has improved since my transition back to hard workouts.

Pre-Race

I'm in the midst of taking summer school, and I'll say right away that I haven't been getting enough sleep. This race was relying on 5 hours of sleep but I wasn't really tired until after the race. I warmed up for a good 25 minutes or so and got to the start line. I was a bit nervous when I was being held up on the ramp because my bike was leaning left but I was leaning right.

Start

I was the first person in the E4/5 to go, so I didn't have a 30 second man, so I did constantly check if anyone was behind me, and it actually helped me perform better, by giving me encouragement. But going down the ramp, my gear was too heavy which probably costed me like 7 seconds. I told myself to not go hard on the rolling section in the beginning, but for some reason I was going really hard, my legs weren't listening to me.

The hardest part of the race, before the 1000ft sign, actually wasn't too bad compared to climbs that I regularly do. I was surprised at how gradual the inclines were. Compared to the climbing I've been doing, it wasn't too steep. In fact, the climb is very predictable--it's pretty much just a steady incline then a switchback or a kicker. So holding a rhythm was easy.

I knew the race wouldn't last more than 30 minutes. I also knew the E4 winning time would be in the 28min interval. So my goal was to get below 28 min. Once I hit the 12 minute mark, I assumed I could just imagine I was doing the San Bruno Hill Climb since it would've taken me a little over 16 minutes. I increased my pace and was definitely digging, but I had a reserve. I couldn't look at my power correctly, since technically I was riding in my 5-minute power at times. But whenever I dropped down to my 20-minute power, I did kick it up a little.

At 21 minutes I pressed the lap button just to check my average power, which was at 4.9 w/kg...way above my critical power, meaning I'd just set a record in these zones. I didn't know how many more minutes were left, it could have been 6 or it could've been 10. But since I was so sure I wouldn't go past 30 min I went really hard, any harder would've been a sprint effort (which I was able to save until the end!)

(Thanks to Craig Huffman for this amazing shot!)

Finish

After seeing Craig, I only had a couple of more switchbacks left. I didn't know this during the race, so I kept holding back...just right at 4.7 w/kg. Then I saw a sign on a cone that said "200m", which was surprising because I didn't pass the little white house--it turns out the finish line was over here and not at the junction like I had thought! I was able to finish strong, but if I knew the finish was over here, I definitely could've gone harder the last 5 minutes.

I ended up being only 23 seconds away from 1st, and 8 seconds away from 2nd. Both guys were Cat5's too! I wasn't too stoked about my result. I still believe the time is just "mehh" and I didn't pace correctly, Like always, I still had a fun time out here and definitely plan to do it again. I'm hoping I can shave off at least a minute and a half. That would be a good indicator of my focus toward climbing better!

Thanks for reading!

- DB

Pescadero Road Race - Summary

The Pescadero Road Race was my first road race as an Elite 4, but too bad it wasn't my last =p

The race would be the first race since my crash in the 2nd week of March. I didn't know how much fitness I had relative to my last period of racing, but I did an FTP test and ended up with the same FTP as I had in March. Therefore, I was looking forward to a challenging race yet I was confident that I could stay in the main field and hang around through every climb.

However, I knew my critical point was during the descents, and I did get left behind and used energy on the climbs to catch up. I knew that this was okay since the Stage Rd. Descent was really the only sketchy descent, and the fact that the descent had a few climbs in between them would make it possible for me to regain loss time. (The other descent was straight down then flat).

The biggest factor that had probably costed my race was me forgetting my water bottles at home. I thought I could be fine waiting for the feed zone, and even though I did hang on by the time we reached the feed zone, I ended up getting dropped on Haskins. What made it worse was that I didn't have an electrolyte drink...just water. It didn't hit me that I was bonking until the 2nd lap during the Stage Rd. Descent (I caught the main field with some other guys after Haskins). With that in place, I did my best to roll to the finish and rolling to my car was even harder.

Like always, I still had fun! Yes it was a disappointment that I couldn't race at my best effort but it's always a blast doing a local race. It didn't bother me at all after the race especially since it's happened to me at Wente Vineyards (another favorite course). I guess I haven't learned my lesson yet!

Now the interesting thing is I placed 44th which is exactly my placing when I did it a couple of years ago! 

- DB

Power Meter Reflection - How has it changed my training/racing so far?

So it has been over three months since I started training power, and there are a few things that I'd like to mention, especially to those people who haven't trained with power yet. I think everyone responds to the tool a little differently--some people will understand it right away, some people will have to play around with it for a while, and some people will just hire a coach.

I'd like to figure things out myself with the power meter because that's just the way I am, although it might have a lot to do with my exercise physiology-based curriculum for my Kinesiology degree. I really do enjoy learning about power-based training myself, and I'd feel spoiled if all the information were handled by someone else--for now at least.

When I crashed in March (just over 3 weeks after getting the power meter) I took a full week off and it took about four weeks before I actually started riding at an endurance or tempo pace again. This definitely threw my consistency off, especially since I didn't have the motivation to update my training plan. I also returned to my habit of skipping workouts or replacing them without thinking twice. While I was able to train with high volume, this also meant the quality of my workouts were quite low. And the way I knew that was with my power data, which told me the amount of stress I was responding to as a result of these workouts.

Being able to visually track stress allows me to view important things I wouldn't be able to tell with heart rate or RPE. I only started using a performance manager chart 3 days ago (despite having the power meter for 3 months--since I only recently returned to full training).

Right away I was able to see these things:

- The effect (on training stress) of skipping a workout

- The effect of a recovery ride on training stress (...they do have a purpose!)

- The effect on training stress & form as a result of an extended recovery period

- The effect on form as a result of missing workouts due to a crash

- The effect on race freshness as a result of a taper period

- The effect on training stress & form as a result of doing a longer than usual ride (75-mile hilly ride out of the blue)

But what really provoked me to write this reflection was when I analyzed today's data. Actually, I didn't really need to do much analyzing since the data was shown right away to my face. For today's workout, I had to ride 35 minutes at Tempo, but from the data it only showed that I had rode 20 minutes in Tempo! 

However, my RPE definitely felt Tempo-ish, and my heart rate was at tempo too. It turned out that I spent 28 minutes in HR tempo zone.

But that still means that I didn't complete the workout! Which means that I wasted a little of my time, which will ultimately affect how my fitness progresses. Seeing this data allows me to fix the mistakes that I assumed were the problems during my workout, such as riding in a route with stop lights and some long negative grades.

The bottom line is, training with a power meter will tell you if you are training right/wrong, or hard/not hard enough! It takes a lot of guessing out, which is mostly represented by heart rate or RPE for most non-power users.

It does not automatically make improvements though. To get the most of it, I'd definitely agree that you'd need to work with a coach because there's a ton of stuff to learn and most people with full-time jobs don't have the time to learn it themselves.

So that's all for this reflection. People have asked me how different my training has been since I started training with power, and this is pretty much what I have noticed so far, and I know that there's still a whole lot to discover still!

- Dom

Update: 1-week Crash Follow-up & Training Plan Changes

Staying Positive!

One week ago, I crashed for the first time ever at a bike race (Criterium) due to some protruding asphalt that was camouflaged in the shade. Currently, one week later, I still am not able to get on the bike. Today I went to the doctor today to get my injuries--some scrapes, road rash, and a muscle strain--checked out, and I heard mostly positive things. The worse was that I'd have to take 1-2 weeks off or at a very low intensity or 25% of what I normally do, which would be somewhere under 4 hours a week. Of course, the lost of fitness and the training setback sure bums me out, especially since I was really on a roll for 15 weeks straight (almost as long as a semester of school!).

However, I found that it's easy to get through this and stay positive, and that's because 1) it's very early in the season and 2) there's a always a brighter side to bad things. In this case, I have more time to learn how to train with power before a target race and I could probably manage performance better over time toward a peak. There are also later races in the year where I was like "aw man I wish I could peak for that," and these races seem fitting for a peak considering the re-structuring I need to do!

My Injuries

So what are the implications resulting from crashing in a crit? Well first off, let me mention that the part I crashed  at was the uphill part coming out of an uphill corner, so our speed & momentum was reducing. Thus, I really only crashed in the low 20's MPH.

The main reason I'm still off the bike is probably my fault. I love lots of tension in the pedals, and I think my pedals--especially on the right, had a bit too much tension, so during the crash the leg was pretty much fixed or stuck. This meant it required a great amount of force--probably a pulling force--for the foot to leave the cleat vertically, instead of the normal twisting motion. Combine that with the way I landed upon impact, then you get the idea. I pretty much strained the muscle groups in my groin due to the high tension in the pedal:cleat. Other than that, I have healing scrapes and bruises.

The picture I put is actually mostly all of the items that I use for my first-aid. Some of these are extras from my crash last year, but some are new like the Walgreens Saline spray (which can actually be flowed similar to how wringing water from a cotton ball works). 

My favorite wound dressing is any Silver microbial ointment. It has worked wonders for me and it still does! In fact, I favor it over tegaderm but just because of the fact I'm not riding. If I were riding, tegaderm would still be the applicable dressing due to the fact that it's easier to ride with. Bug anyways, the Curad microbial dressing is sold over the counter and it's $6 at Rite-Aid for a 0.5 oz tube.

Finally, the Curad non-stick pads are a must if you do choose to dress the wounds up. They are like 98% non-stick, and 98.99% ouchless. Other people would probably say they are 100% non-stick/ouchless though. I only remove the 1.5% because any draining fluid will stick and you will feel some sensation when taking it off! but it's like a less than a 1/10 in terms of pain. I've been using Curad non-stick pads since 2011 and have never used anything else after that.

Anyways, I definitely can't wait to ride again, but at the same time I am also enjoying the time off the bike. I'm not saying I am overtrained or burnt out, but this is the first time I've been training straight and consistently instead of trying to get away with inconsistent training. Thus, my head needs to calibrate with my motivation. With that said, I'm looking forward to spending time with family and spending time on other non-cycling related hobbies. 

But like I said, I can't wait to ride again!!!

- DB

2014 UC Berkeley Men's B Criterium

Hold on! I will mention what happened! =p

Running cold water down my legs the night before helped with my acidic legs for UC Berkeley's crit. I was running a little short on sleep but my legs felt pretty good. On my trainer warm-up, I was feeling pretty meh and agreed with Christian when he said "I hope my legs feel better during the race" because sometimes, that does happen especially when the adrenaline kicks in.

When the race started I was probably at 90% of my max effort already. I didn't have a HRM because 1) I was too lazy to put it on and 2) I thought power would be enough for 40 mins. However, during the race, it would've been nice to see the relativity because I was hitting really high numbers on the uphill S/F section on Durant.

For most of the time, I was struggling to maintain 2 or 3 bike lengths from the last person in the actual pack, but there were a few guys tailing off of me as well. The beginning was really hard for me, and for about the first 10 laps I was finding it hard to drink. The best place would be thee corner after the uphill but that really limited how I took the corner, and I had to stay away for safety.

My handling was really sloppy in this race. Last year, I was able to consistently find the best line. For some reason, my lines--especially in the 3rd corner, were inconsistent and inefficient, most likely because I was afraid of hitting the potholes which actually weren't really clear to me.

Toward 3/4 of the race I was feeling better or the pack was getting tired. I was finally able to move up and drink a little more. I moved up high but they still weren't showing lap cards which would come up with 9 laps to go, or about 10 minutes to go. Before I knew it, they were showing it. My lines through corner 3 were getting better, but still not the best! But moving up was getting easier on the uphill.

With 4 to go, I told myself to stay and fight the position I was in until the sprint. I was able to until people started to come up on the outside with 3 to go. I knew that I would have to go harder, and the best place to do it would be on the uphill. I knew I needed to take full advantage of the uphill to secure a leading spot in the pack.

At this point my mental focus was optimal and we entering the 3rd corner, where I took a good line. I exited the corner hard and fast to hold a good position for the uphill, and I was able to hear the Bell lap bell.

But I took the corner way too wide especially since there were people in my inside, so an optimal apex line was out of the question. The line I took would've actually been fine, had it not been for an awkward groove in the road that I didn't see! most likely since it was in a dark shaded area. The groove itself wasn't much, but the problem was that upon exiting, I stood up and dialed in some power, about 582w to be exact, and the groove facilitated in shifting my inertia to the front when my rear wheel lifted due to my jump.

The whole thing happened slowly (visually). I felt an awkward change in the road, but it was a smooth change, not like hitting a pothole. It was like going on a small ramp. Needless to say, when I was already going over my bars, I was already wondering what was going on. Nobody was really to my side and I didn't run over the boundary pole bases.

I was actually slightly able to brace for impact due to having almost full situational awareness. So I ducked into a fetal position, arms in front of my chest and braced for the impact on the ground. When I was on the ground, someone ran over me which was actually the part that hurt more. It turned out to be my teammate Christian, who went over and asked me if I was okay. I had a little sensation of the air being knocked out of me, but my lower back was hurting so I didn't move or say anything. 

After the EMT's came, I gave them all solid answers to the questions so they ruled out major injuries. I also checked myself and I had small scrapes and minor road rash. The real pain was my lower back but it was caused from landing on a plastic tube repair box which housed my catholic rosary. It must have caused some trauma from its edges but nonetheless I was okay.

The worst result was walking with a limp but other than that I'm fine. Christian was okay too, and he was able to do the E4/5 race, but I wasn't. The post crash morning was a bummer but I got through it, and I took multiple rides on the school shuttle on my university. However, I think I'll be okay for the most part of my recovery which I'm hoping will be short and sweet.

Today, only the neck whiplash, some trauma areas, and my left pelvic joint area are my injuries preventing me from riding, but I can already feel that I'm recovering quick.

After 4 years of racing that was actually my first crash during a race. I'm glad it was nothing serious, I'm bummed that it caused a small chain reaction. My bike is fine--it has a few cosmetic scars on the shifters but it still functions and my decision in choosing an aluminum frame (CAAD) was rational yet again. 

I had no race plans in the next few weeks so that's a relief, and my hours are cutting down (due to harder weeks in training) and I have a cushion for missing hours. Overall I don't think this will set me back significantly.

Anyways, it was a fun race and I was looking forward to doing well, even with bad form. Even so, I'm still greatly happy I was finally able to get some upgrade points the day before and am looking forward to coming back to the races in a few weeks!

--DB

"Wear a helmet."

-- Anonymous

2014 UC Berkeley (Crockett) Mens B Road Race Report

This race report was made possible by Noli at Putnam Toyota in Burlingame.

*Thanks to Craig Huffman for shooting all of these awesome photos across almost all categories at this Race! Be sure to check out & support his work at www.craighuffman.com!*

I just changed my bandages from the aftermath of the UC Berkeley Criterium, but I'm feeling really good! This past weekend was a bit bizarre. I'll say the good news, which was that I've earned some more upgrade points making me one-fourth Cat 3. My result at the road race helped me stay positive throughout the weekend despite all the incidences. I also had a wonderful time seeing other SFSU Cyclists compete for their first time or improve upon last year. We are such a great team :)

The Cal, Crockett Road Race is tied as my favorite with UCSC's. I did fairly well last year and was looking forward to repeating that. However, my form was very bad--after coming from hard consecutive workouts integrated with 3-race weekends. I was definitely fatigued during the week, and so I took two easy days and did an unstructured ride with some hills to tune up for the race.

Eric, Christian, and I warmed up by going up & down Cummings Skyway and turning around before it descended. I felt pretty good during the warm-up so I was looking even more forward to how things would turn out.

Lap 1
We left the start line and within 30 seconds someone had flatted! Yikes! We went up Cummings Skyway, which isn't much of a climb compared to McEwen, but it was fun. The descent was great! I forgot to mention, I put on a new Cassette with 11-28T for a) descending and b) climbing (with high RPMs!). I had no problem keeping up on the descent unlike in previous races. We cruised through the really short climb after the descent, then we made our way to the twisty Paradise-Loop like rollers. Yada yada yada we arrived at McEwen, made the right turn and I was already grinding the 34t-28t!!! Although I was able to spin over 90rpm, it was still a grind! I was also in the back, which made me work harder to not lost contact with the lead group. From the back, I could already see that someone had attacked. Like most people, I predicted that he wouldn't stay away (we had 4 laps to do), so nobody responded. I was already maxed out, and due to my form I couldn't do anything. After the climb, everything was fine. I was feeling good, and I moved up almost effortlessly to the front of the pack, and we can see the soloist, who had about 30 seconds on us.

Lap 2
The second time around was pretty much the same. The soloist was still in our view so we felt like we had no reason to go too hard. Felt okay on the rollers, terrible on McEwen. I was afraid I wasn't going to keep up by the 3rd or even the 4th lap, but I fought hard. Moved up again on Franklin Canyon, but we couldn't see the guy from UCSB off the front anymore. The feed zone told us he had over 1 minute on us!

Lap 3
Lap 3 would've had to be the determining lap, but nobody really wanted to work. Mark from UCSC had surged up a few times but no one wanted to rotate. This was especially annoying because a teammate from the UCSB would always get the front when nobody worked (good tactic on his part.) I tried to attack on Cummings Skyway, but I only got the group to surge along with me. I dropped back and noticed that it was again the UCSB guy behind me. On the descent, I was moving pretty quicker than others even without pedaling, so I was able to get to the front effortlessly to trade off with Christian. Next thing I know, Eric comes around me and tells me not to work so he takes a pull leading into the right turn.

Thank you to Craig Huffman for this photo.

We did go a little harder on the rolling sections, and even harder on McEwen. In fact, this was the race determining moment because the strong UCSB guy (not the one in the break) and a UCLA guy attacked and went off together. The field had exploded and the chase group consisted of 5 guys including me and Christian, but Eric had gotten dropped on McEwen. We went through the rollers of McEwen pretty hard to chase the break fighting for 2nd.

Lap 4
On the final lap my mental game which had been missing at Stanford had kicked in! My goal was to settle for 4th if it came down to that; ie. not catching the two guys and the guy OTF (we didn't). In the group of 5, Christian and Mark were working the most. I tried working too but I knew I if I went too hard, there'd be a high chance I'd get dropped on McEwen. So, I stayed in the back of the group for most of the time.

Me behind Christian, thank you again to Craig Huffman.

On McEwen, I had to do a lot just to stay in the group. I didn't want to be the one who got dropped from the chase group...yikes! During the climb, I was hoping nobody would attack. We actually saw the two guys off of the front, so I was expecting it. However, I told the group we were going at a good pace (according to my power numbers =p) and that would've enabled us (or me) to go harder at the end of the climb where it would matter most. If Christian did (like last year) that would've been awesome, but even he was working just enough to maintain a good position. With nobody attacking, I was able to focus on potentially taking the small field (uphill) sprint.

It was very awkward since it would be my first time contesting a high-placing (considering there were upgrade points for grabs still) in such a small group, but my seasonal goal depended on this, and so it was a good time to truly test if the hard work I put in to training would pay off!

The finishing effort started early in the flat-ish part. Uphill finishes were something I practiced quite a bit back when training neuromuscular power, but I felt confident so I went along with an early move, not quite at max, but hard enough! There was enough road for all 5 of us to contest it, so I went hard once I felt good enough and didn't look back. Once I saw SFSU cheering I dialed to a maximum effort & was completely exhausted just short of the finish line, but was indeed able to grab 4th place!

My overall performance wasn't the best, due to the regression in my form, but thanks to my hard work, I was able to maintain a baseline fitness which allowed me to stay on the climbs and win the uphill field sprint. I am getting closer to my peak fitness so I am definitely looking forward to seeing how I'll be then, but first I need to take care of some minor crash aftermath for a few days. Hopefully it doesn't push me back by too far, but either way I'm really satisfied with this present season.

-- DB

2014 Stanford Race Weekend Report (Men's B Road Race & Criterium, E3/4 Criterium)

Road Race

The road race course is shared with the NCNCA's Panoche Valley Road Race. Compared to last year's Men's C race, this one went quite further and also had more punchy climbs. It was a 55-mile race that lasted 2 hours and half. My goal was to finish in the lead group, which seemed pretty realistic. I raced with Christian, Eric, and Yao.

The course does not have the smoothest roads. It also gets twisty at times at the road width isn't consistent--it gets narrow and wide at times. With that said, it's easy to get locked into a position in the pack, especially in the back. Once you're there, you're there, unless the pack strings out. But for our race, our pack was bunched up for around 70% of the race.

Like I said, the climbs are punchy and can be big-ringed. For this race, I wanted to see how conservative I could be, so I either used the little ring or if it was like a 4% grade I'd just use the big ring and cross chain. For the most part, I felt I had an optimal cadence on all the small climbs. I think at one point I was spinning 110-120RPM but 100RPM was quite common on the climbs.

The race was pretty boring in the beginning. Other than the climbs, I was mostly in low zone 2 or lower. The first half of the race was also uneventful. My horrible descending skills were tested on a narrow descent that was twisty, but I didn't get dropped.

After the turn around everyone was anticipating the climb back, which was the reverse of the twisty descent I just mentioned. At the bottom, it surged and I knew this would be he perfect time to finally move up as I had spent all this time in the back. So, I shifted into the little ring and the chain had fallen.

Thankfully, I didn't need to get off my bike and was able to just use the shifter to bring it back. I probably lost like 5 seconds so I had to use more energy that I would've liked, but I was still passing people left and right, and I felt good. At this point, the field had been split up and Eric maintained staying in the 2nd group. Christian was up in the lead group.

The end of the climb was the transition to the long descending rollers. This is where I was chasing the lead group. A chase group of 4 or 5 formed and they were digging deep. I rode with them for a while, but they were going too hard, even though they didn't need to. I figured that I could just pace myself there without burning too many matches. At first it yo-yo'd but they slowed down so I caught on and stayed there until the end.

From here until the end, the pack was cruising at tempo. A few people tried to attack, including Christian and I, but the headwind (which wasn't even as strong as last year) prevented anyone from getting away. As a result, my fear of a bunch sprint was coming closer, because the road was narrow and I knew I'd get locked in, which did in fact, happen. My mistake was purely as a result of my mentality because I was focusing too much on the end instead of the now. In other words, I should've focused on moving up instead of being worried about getting locked in a bunch sprint.

I ended up finishing 14th, with Christian at 10th. We both expressed our disappointment because we both had the legs to put out a good sprint, but we both got locked behind guys who couldn't. Regardless of that, I still enjoyed the race and it was a great workout! Overall, I had good performance but bad positioning, so that is something I need to focus on.

Criteriums

The Men's B Criterium started an hour late due to a crash in the C's. I had a pretty good warm-up, but we started hard, which was a relief from the crit in Salinas and yesterday's RR. It finally felt like a race!

For the most part, I stayed in the pack, mostly in the pack, but I managed to move up some times when I felt good. I attacked at one point but couldn't get away, probably because I didn't want to make the mistake of racing too hard, like I did in the UC Santa Cruz weekend. My goal was to save everything for the sprint.

When the end did come, I couldn't move up in time. My mental game was truly off, most likely because I didn't have a specific plan or goal other than saving it up for the sprint? This is something I definitely need to address for my next races.

I ended up finishing 15th but had a lot of fun, and finally had the feeling I was racing, instead of being impatient and attacking all the time.

This feeling was amplified during my 2nd race of the day in the E3/4. This race started hard and fast. THIS was the feeling of a race. I started off in the front but pulled back into the pack after people kept attacking. There were plenty of surges because of this, but it wasn't hard enough to drop people.

I knew from my last race that I needed to move up so I used a line I was familiar with after the chicane to move up on the outside. My mental game was better, but still not good enough. I at least knew to stay on a wheel, and shift my lines safely on the straights. Of course if there was someone next to me, it would've been impossible to come from the outside on one corner and shift to the inside. This was especially true in the last two corners and the chicane.

I didn't move up to the front in time, and the pack was crowded during the sprint. I ended up 13th but was happy with my moderately better mentality that last time. 

The whole weekend was a great way to remind myself of the mental aspect of racing which includes the technique needed to move up in time for an optimal position in the end.

I'm looking forward to next weekend due to the hilly nature of both the road races and criterium :).

-- DB

Power Based-Training, Day 8 & 9: First Races with the Power Meter

On Day 8 I did a 55-mile Road Race and on Day 9 I did a Criterium in two different categories.

Day 8

Racing with a power meter is different because it gives you another thing to pay attention to. Another thing it does is that it takes a lot of attention away from heart rate. With all that said, at least 94% of my attention is devoted to the actual race, so having a power meter is not a distraction whatsoever.

The numbers I saw during the road race were low in the beginning half of the race and that's because the pack was going easy. It wasn't until the 2nd half of the race where I was actually able to use my power meter to pace myself, especially up a steady climb and during a moment where I needed to bridge up to the lead group because I had dropped my chain at the beginning of the climb.

My chain didn't drop significantly, but the group surged so losing the 4 or 5 seconds it took to put it back on was pretty significant especially since I was in the back of the pack. However, I was able to keep the lead group in sight, so when it came to rolling sections, I paced myself with the power meter to avoid a thrashing chase group that was burning matches. Thus, I caught on without the panicky group and saved a lot of energy. I also glanced at my heart rate which was a little high...close to max, but my power numbers or RPE weren't too close to maximal, so I felt the need to hydrate well since it was also a little hot.

I knew that I could catch the lead group because 1) The power numbers I were putting out were right under my best 5-min power effort and 2) because I knew the pack would slow down eventually, based on the racing pattern I observed throughout the race. So with that said, it can be said that my judgment on bridging to the lead group was based on integrating the power-based pacing and reading the race.

One of my race goals was to not work and to pedal as least as possible. After the race, I looked at a power distribution chart and found that out of the two and a half hours of racing, I only pedaled for an hour 50ish minutes. Seemed pretty cool to me!

Day 9

The power meter wasn't too much of a help during the crits unlike in the road race. It was only interesting to look at the numbers and see its relativity to hearts rate. But since criteriums require more focus than road races (ie to stay safe) then that's totally okay. The real analyzing happens after the race, but I've only used Garmin Connect and Strava to do that. With that said, I really had nothing to do with the data except look at how much I didn't pedal again which was 25% of the Men's B race.

My Garmin lagged in starting before the E3/4 race, so I only have 18 minutes worth of data which includes the end, so I need to look at that set more.

Beginner Power-Based Training, Day 7: First Actual Structured Workout with Power

On the 7th ride with the Power Meter, I went and did a structured workout that I normally do with the Heart Rate Monitor and the training zones based on Friel's training bible.

Known as Cruise Intervals, they are my favorite workout in terms of developing Muscular Endurance. With this said, the workout consists of steady intervals at the threshold level. This day, I was doing 5 sets of 8 minutes with 2.5 minute recoveries at zone 2. With the power meter, I was now able to train at the threshold level in terms of power, and there is a little difference in terms of how harder the workout became. The workout did feel harder in terms of RPE, but I took into account that the first 2 intervals will feel harder than anything after the 3rd one, which should be repeated with little to no loss in power. Overall, I lost about nothing more than 7% which seemed appropriate for the workout since I still stayed in the target power zones and heart zones which is actually a huge margin.

One thing I noticed, especially toward the ending intervals, was that I couldn't raise my heart rate even though I was still hitting high power numbers. Right away I knew this wasn't good because it is a sign of overtraining. However, since I knew the following day would be a rest day, I went ahead and finished the workout especially since my heart rate was still in the prescribed zone.

Training with the power meter also helps in starting intervals too hard. Here is a power curve which well-represents the nature of the workout, due to the slightly horizontal characteristic of the curve, which portrays steady efforts and consistent maintenance of wattage. Riding on the trainer the first few days with the power meter truly helped in teaching myself how to pace.

Beginner Power-Based Training, Day 4, 5, & 6: Getting the numbers!

Day 4

On the fourth day of having the power meter I did another indoor two hour ride which was a little harder than the day before. The following day was a recovery day and I felt a tad sore but it was barely unnoticeable in a static position. On this ride, I was paying particular attention to pacing again and holding a given range of power, at least in terms of the 3s power average. With that said, I held what I believed was my high-end aerobic endurance pace, using my heart rate as a reference, which is about 84% of my Lactate Threshold. There seemed to be a positive relationship with the watts I was holding which was 190w up to 200w. 

Day 5

After 5 days of having the power meter, I finally tested my FTP. I used the testing protocol from Coggan & Allen's book (2nd ed.), right down to the 20-min warm-up, the 3 high cadence intervals, the 5-minute recovery, 5-minute all-out effort, 10 minute easy, and the 20 minute time-trial.

Since I didn't have any power zones and it was also my first ride outdoors within a week, and it was also relatively humid, and because of a bunch of other factors, I know that this won't be repeatable in terms of test conditions, so I'm already anticipating the next test which will be more accurate and repeatable. 

On my 5-minute all-out effort, I didn't feel like I was going "all-out." I paced myself (based on RPE) so that I wouldn't blow up in the end, but in the end I felt like I had been going 90-95% in anticipation of the 20-minute time trial. So for the next test, maybe I'll be able to go harder.

During the 20-minute trial, I think I paced myself well. I didn't start out too hard, but again I had a lot of kick left in the final 3 minutes. This is pretty evident in my HR, which shows a gradual rise then a quick rise in the end! This pattern can also be in my 5-minute effort. For the next test, I'll try to keep a reserve for a longer time...maybe about 5 minutes-7minutes, instead of 3.

When I analyzed my data I got an FTP Power:weight ratio of 4.42, which according to Hunter & Coggan's chart, falls in the middle of Cat 2 power. Pretty cool, but I know these values are probably underestimated in accordance with the Categories. I'll have to see if this is actually accurate, by racing smart. My 5-minute power, although not fully established, fell exactly next to the FTP value in the chart, which was pretty cool but I know it is higher than the effort I did before the TT.

Day 6

The day following the FTP test, I did an active recovery spin on the trainer. Nothing really new here, except with my training zones established, I knew what would've been too hard, so I didn't need to wear an HRM. 

However, I did see the effects of yesterday catabolic test, it was really hard to get the power up without leaving "recovery" in terms of RPE. In other words, if I had spun up to 55% of FTP, I could Lactic Acid. Therefore I stayed at around 90-100w. Interestingly, for the 6th day with the power meter, my low intensity pacing has been pretty decent. My speed on today's ride kind of shows this, as it is pretty constant after the initial warm-up period, which is quite obvious in the graph,

Sorry these are Strava mobile graphs haha...

Beginner Power-Based Training, Day 3:HR & RPE Relativity on the Trainer

I was about to do my first outdoor ride with power but after I put my contact lenses on, I checked the sky and it had some darker spots than what I had seen a little earlier. Even with a little blue sky poking out, I retreated and went back onto the trainer.

I did a two hour ride with no intervals...just some efforts into my endurance zone and on the border of tempo. I'm getting an idea that my FTP could fall in the 240's? Which would be a little over 4 w/kg. That's a rough guess so it's useless plus it's on the trainer. But it doesn't hurt to play the guessing game to see how far off I am!

In addition I'm also seeing some relative power numbers with HR even without knowing my FTP. I mostly get this from practicing pacing, holding a range of wattage for 5 or 10 minutes. For instance, I told myself to hold 180w for some time, I think around 10 min. Then went up to 200w. Those two wattages were definitely aerobic endurance intensity. My HR was at 146bpm which is still Z1 but probably because I was on a trainer.

Overall, on my 3rd day of seeing power numbers without testing FTP yet, I've been able to get a basic glimpse of the relativity with HR in terms of my Aerobic Endurance intensity, and I've also practiced wattage-based pacing to learn how accurate my RPE is. So far, it's pretty close but most of the times that it's wrong, my RPE stays the same but wattage drops about 30w or more.

I'm referring to Low-Z2 intensity, by the way.

Trying to do my first outdoor ride with power, tomorrow.

-- DB

Beginner Power-Based Training, Day 1 & Day 2: Break-In Period

Day 1:

So, the bike shop installed the power meter within half and hour. Right after I left the bike shop, I made my way to a Barnes & Nobles to pick up a copy of "Training and Racing with a Power Meter" by hunter Allen and Andrew Coggan. 

I got home, ate a little, and got ready for my first ride with it...well kind of. I got home late around 5, plus there was a chance of rain, so I attached it to the trainer, read how to do the easy calibration, zeroed it, and was ready to see my first data of power. 

Before I got on my bike I modified the data fields on my Garmin to include 3s power. I have different pages...like one is committed to showing me interval values. But anyways, I made 3s power the most dominant field.

I got to ride for 40 minutes before I had to leave the house and didn't upload the file that night so the data itself is useless apart from helping me get used to this new foreign language. 

Day 2: 

This morning I read the first 3 Chapters of Allen and Coggan. I feel like other chapters would make more sense the more I train but I want to read it anyways so I can be ready. My perspective? There sure are lots of data and lots of testing to do. I'll be lucky if I can get the hang of training with power by the end of the season. In reality, I know the more I train with power the more it will make sense and the more easier the data will be to determine what needs to be determined, and I know that will take longer than just a season. But I'll be patient I think.

Also, the book talks a lot about V02max as compared to Friel's training bible.

I read 80 pages in less than 2 hours. I didn't even know I could do that. A homework assignment with 8 pages of reading is already enough for me. 

I started a ride on the trainer at around 5 because it was raining. It was another recovery ride with some higher aerobic stuff. Soon I'll be able to accurately gauge intensity rather than just adding an adjective to the word "aerobic."

Anyways, it was a 1 hour ride with more useless data I don't know how to interpret, yet! I'm planning to do the 20-minute power test for FTP next week, which is a recovery week, so I'll be fresh and have a number of rides with the PM already. That will give me a better idea of how to use the PM more effectively.

Right now I'm a noob but I'm motivated to get the gist of it by myself (ok..maybe some external help at times).

-- DB

Two Before & After Pictures Representing Growth

I'll be honest--when I first started cycling I thought I was going to be the best. I was obviously unaware that there were other Juniors who we're doing things like...uh I don't know...racing in National championships and doing some races in Europe. I definitely needed to know that or else I would've continued being cocky and egotistical. After doing poorly in CAT5 races, I finally figured out that I'm not "the best." But I didn't quit, because I knew I could improve and improve and improve.

It didn't happen right away though. For 2 seasons I didn't take my training seriously. I also got sick and crashed a couple times. I seriously thought that I could get away with skipping some rides every week, but the reality was that I couldn't. 

Today, I'm already expecting 2014 to be a breakthrough season, because I'm finally seeing characteristics I've always wanted when I first started. The UC Santa Cruz Road Race is going to be memorable, because it was my first sustained solo breakaway and it lasted around 1 hour. That's something I never knew I could do, but it was something I've always wanted to do, even though I couldn't hold it until the end of the race.

I have two comparison photos that show what how I'm feeling. The first one is from 2010 when I was a Cat 5 at my 2nd Criterium, when I tried to attack at the end of the race on the bell lap. I ended up getting 2nd to last because I was overconfident and didn't know my limit. The picture below it is me at the UCSC crit Cat4 race, where the pack was actually on its way to swallow me up. I never even knew I could create a gap that big! 

                                       

Notice how my form is almost exactly the same? Hehe.

The next photo is me at the UCSC Road Race. I'm going to paste what I wrote on Facebook instead of re-explaining it:

"Identify & address your weaknesses... The TOP photo is me getting dropped from the Mens' B UC Santa Cruz Road Race in 2013. The BOTTOM photo is me a year later at the 2014 UC Santa Cruz Road Race (Mens' B) where I attacked 2 laps in and held it solo for 8.5 laps (1 hour) and had a 2-minute lead at one point."

                                     

I'm finally improving! This is my first time in all my years of riding where I can actually feel improvements, and these improvements are marginally huge.

I guess this is the right time to say that, in order to track my progress in even more detail and precision, I'm expecting an arrival of a certain bicycle part/tool that has changed the way people train.

That's right, I finally got one. 

-- DB

UCSC Slugfest Criterium (Men's B & E4)

This race report was made possible by Noli B. at Putnam Toyota in Burlingame.

I've never done a stage race and I don't know how I feel about them, because Collegiate racing demands that you can race hard one day and race hard again the following day. Make that 5 or 6 days in a row, then you've got a decent stage race. Make that 21 days, and I'll shoot myself.

This is what makes me glad that I don't have the genes to be that good. Racing at a low volume is really fun at my ability, but this weekend my racing volume was really high and I went hard for each of the races because I was so excited to be back (and surprised).

Men's B Race Start
How the heck do you spell "Men's B?" Uhh anyways I'm glad I'm not doing this as a school paper or something.

Our race started fairly on time, but we got there early when it was cold foggy and slightly wet. To make matters worse, the Porta Potties didn't arrive on time. Thankfully they arrived well enough before our race. The sun was coming out as the fog burned away, and I did a slightly-okay warm-up of about 20 minutes with one threshold interval and one 10 second sprint. My warm-up ended perfectly, right when the awaiting B riders were allowed to get on the field to warm up.

I got right into the moment when we started, despite not having our teammate Yao with us because he missed the start (he still took awesome photos & did the E4 race). The pace was comfortable, lots of chit-chat again. I was wondering when I should make a move. There were little attacks here and there, but not much response from the pack.

When you notice that pack isn't responding to attacks and moves, you should use it to your advantage. However, I stayed with the pack for a good amount of time in the start. There was a prime bell on the second lap! Hmm...was the official trying to summon me out already? Nope. I finally joined an attack, when a rider who I marked as a strong rider went off the front alone.

The Peloton is a Scary Place
The course is actually fairly safe--at least to me. Very good pavement, minimal bot dots that were easy to avoid with a clean line, and wide roads to accommodate the squirrely guys. With that said, this race was not very sketchy, but when the attack that I wanted to join went off, I didn't know much after that because for the majority of the race I was spending time in a bunch of different breaks.

Photo taken by Yao Saeturn

I joined the UC Irvine rider and we gave each other the "I don't know you, you don't know me, but let's work together" look and so we did. Half a lap later, a UC Davis rider who I also understood as a really strong rider joined the break, and finally a UCSB rider who I didn't know also joined.

At this point I actually thought the break would stay, mainly because these guys were strong, and also because I knew there were a lot of UCSB riders and Davis riders, and I thought they'd block the pack. But they didn't, and for around 4 laps we had a decent-sized gap and we were trading pulls evenly. Eventually the UC Irvine rider lost faith in us and retreated back into the pack so I was only working with the UC Davis Guy and I forgot what happened to the UCSB guy.

Next a UCSC guy attacked and bridged up to me and the Davis guy, and we traded pulls again for a couple of laps. THEN a UCSB guy bridges and does a bunch of long pulls and drops the other two guys. I was rotating with him and he was really pushing me, saying that we had a good gap and he was telling me to go faster. Ah man. He had a lot of legs in him so he attacked me and went off solo.

The Race End
Toward the middle of the race when I was up front, there was a rider lying on the side who stayed in that position for a long time. It turns out he was okay but the EMTs were called out and the race was neutralized.

This gave the UCSB rider, who was 15 seconds ahead, a great advantage because I knew nobody in the pack wanted to work before the field sprint. At first I was debating whether I should bridge up but I decided against it, slightly because my legs didn't really want to do that.

So I went ahead and contested the field sprint, the UCSB rider won 3 seconds ahead of us. I ended up taking 5th in the field sprint for 6th place, and that was a surprise after spending plenty of time in breaks and what not! Looks like my criterium fitness is pretty established, so I can't wait to expand on it!

Mens E4 Race

About 2 hours later Yao, Eric, and I did the Men's E4 race. This race was pretty uneventful, apart from a few attacks that Yao made. I used this race to learn a little more about myself, but the pace was so easy that it didn't even seem like a race. The wind direction had also changed, there was now a tailwind on the backside and a headwind on the finish line side and the final corner. For most of this race, I stayed in the very back where I was comfortable and actually safe. There was a lot of braking in the corners and even in the headwind, because I guess people up at the front didn't want to pull hard so they feathered their cadence a bit.

This race was also more sketchier than the Men's B race because a lot of riders were making out-of-line shifts and sudden jerks. Luckily, people must have been paying plenty of attention to avoid a crash.

I looked at my time and it was approaching 20 minutes. I decided that I would make a move soon. Our race was 40 minutes and I knew that I could decently hold a 10 minute effort. Or well I at least estimated that I could, so I attacked when it hit 28 minutes which was the 6-laps-to go point.

I had a decent gap but they caught me with 3-to-go, and I sat in before the final sprint. I actually had enough energy to move up for the final sprint, but I took a bad line before the final corner, and when the final corner hit, the headwind was so strong that I couldn't firmly choose a gear to sprint with.

After all that, I ended up 16th, which wasn't too bad despite yesterday and today's race.

Racing 3 races sure made me tired though. I'm taking two days off because I have a lot of fatigue and also an irritated throat, probably due to all of the heavy breathing I did haha. I'm hoping I don't need to take 3 days off but I'm way over my planned training hours (about 3 hours ahead) so I have a cushion, but I don't want to lose 3 days of training or else I'd have to re-do my training plan.

Stay tuned for the Stanford Race Reports which will be my next race(s).

-DB

“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.” 
― Mother Teresa

2014 UCSC Slugfest RR (University Road Race Course)

This race report was made possible by Noli B. from Putnam Toyota in Burlingame.

If I wanted to do hill intervals, I'd have a lot of nice gradients to choose from in Daly City...from short, steep sections that only take a few seconds to power through to moderate, steady inclines that help you find a sweet spot climbing rhythm. Normally, 5 to 6 repeats of a hill or section is good enough for me.

When you tell me to do 15, that's when I'll start calling you...and maybe myself... crazy. But that's not the case at the Santa Cruz University Road Race, because this is one heck of a course for a road race...and a bike race in general...but it's inexplicably enjoyable. The course is literally a Hill Interval/Repeat festival, and it doesn't only demand well-established fitness, but also a focused mentality that will keep you from going insane before, during, and after the race.

If you've looked at this blog before, you might already know that I did this race last year in the Mens' B category, and was so traumatized that I downgraded to the Mens' C because I knew that the challenge of the B's with my state of fitness at that time would have possibly drained my motivation down to nothing. With that being said, my performance gave me an opportunity to reassess my training and address some of the gaps that I've been ignoring for over two seasons.

Well, after attempting to set a good foundation for my 2014 season, I finally got serious with making and strictly completing my training plan/hours. This was my first road race for this season ever since I've overhauled my training, so I didn't really know what to expect and was ready to be surprised.

The Start-

Like last year, we started fairly late off-schedule. The benefit from that was that I was able to get in a lengthy yet effective warm-up around the reverse way of the course. The warm-up lasted about 40 minutes and was kept in my endurance zone aside from a short tempo interval and a shorter threshold period. However, because of the late start we were only to do 14 laps instead of 15.

I started in the back but I was okay with it because I knew that nobody would really gun it out right away anyways. I wasn't feeling nervous or anything, just a little excited to start after waiting half an hour from the normal scheduled time. When we started everything was normal and people were actually joking around as if they were in a high school class that was about to start. Us young people would call it a "chill" pace, even when we got to the climb. I glanced at my heart rate and it was still low, unlike last year where it was already beating over 180bpm before the climb.

This "chill" pace was maintained for 2 laps in and after that I can't really tell you what the pace was like because I attacked.

Going Solo-

Maybe I was enjoying the conversations in the pack, similar to hearing people talk during lunch period at a high school. But this wasn't the lunch period, nor was it high school. This was a bike race, so in an attempt to remind people that it was, I went ahead and surged up a bit--it wasn't even a full-on super threshold effort. Thinking that the pack would respond, I looked back and saw that they were still maintaing their lunchtime pace, as if I was invisible.

Now this course's 1-mile climb has a fairly flat section, and I knew I could use momentum from that part to go up to the 13ish % kicker which turns right into a descent. So, I "big-ringed" the flat part and did exactly what I thought, and went hard on the descent just in case they were coming. At this point, I didn't see them until I got to the bottom of the climb again. Since this course is circuit-like, you can see across from the opposite side of the course. But I didn't look back yet, I used my momentum going into the bottom of the climb and big ringed until I saw a road sign, which was a trait I learned from my training routes which had road signs every 200 meters.

I finally looked back during the climb before the view to the feed zone, and saw that they were behind me and not too far back. I was partly excited and partly crazy so I just went and held the effort all the way up, and did this for about 4 laps--I'd big ring the flat part and there was also a part on the descent which could be sprinted for a boost downhill before the wind slowed you down.

After being alone for about 2 laps, the official yelled "10 laps to go" and it only hit me then that that almost seemed impossible, considering my performance from last year. That was a mistake though, because it wasn't 2013, and I shouldn't have been thinking about the past at that time. I got into focus, into the now and asked myself if I should try to hold it off as long as I could. I didn't know how long I could stay off the front solo, so I went on to find out myself.

Photo taken by Yao Saeturn

What was possibly going through my head?
I had felt good because I organized that week's training into a block of hard-easy days. So maybe I tapered just a little for a race that was of C-Priority...hehe. Normally I don't look back when I attack off the front, but I was so confused and surprised (there's that word again) that I was holding a gap on a course that I got dropped on and finished almost last a year ago. Well, there I went thinking about the past again! But I couldn't help it because I was already noticing what a difference it had been!

So looking back, I couldn't see them...even on the base of the climb where you could see the other side of the course! All of the spectators and course marshals were saying "Good job, keep going, why are you so fast," but nobody ever told me my gap, so I just kept on going *almost* as hard as I could. I kept the intensity down a notch from "all-out" due to me doubting myself. During the beginning of my break I looked down at my Garmin and remembered it hitting the 1:00:00 mark, meaning I'd need about another hour of the intensity I was going...yikes!

The cramps came just when I hit the 1hour mark, and I actually stopped significantly to make it go away. 3 laps later from the 1 hour point, (about 1hour and 24 minutes in) my teammate Yao who was spectating told me I had a 2-minute gap and that fueled me pretty good, so I tried to maintain my comfortable yet hard pace, but at that point my legs wanted to give up. They did me a favor and kept on going, but only enough to finish the race.

Caught!
I wasn't sure if anyone in the pack was actually trying to catch me, because in the end the others were saying that some people didn't know. Also a possibility was that some people knew they would catch me anyway. But after 8 and a half laps of going solo (and also looking really cool in front of all the spectators) I was caught on the bottom of the climb when the lap cards was about to turn to 3 from 4. At first, I was able to hang on to the group of 3 for half a lap, including the whole climb. I got dropped from that group when we started to climb again, and half a lap later another chase group caught up with me and I couldn't hang on. At that point, I only had 1 lap to go, and took it fairly cautiously before my legs would eat themselves.

In the end, I finished 12th out of 25th, but I didn't care too much about the result--which was MUCH better than my placing last year anyways. I was more happy at the fact that I did something I didn't know I could, and I was happy that I found out that I could do it! Sometimes, you have to take risks like that, so that in the next race, you'll know what's possible and what isn't possible.

My teammates Christian and Eric fought hard as well! And Ray and Eric Fong fought hard in the D's race. And my peers from SFSU Triathlon and Cycling club came to support too. Thanks a bunch!

Stay tuned for my Criterium report, I participated in the Mens' B and the Elite 4 as well! Spoiler Alert: I was off the front at one point in each of the races :)

--DB

Summary:

- 14 Laps @ 2.7 miles each lap with 350' elevation gain

- 2 hour race

- 1mile climb, 2-3% on bottom, 5-6% average, 13% kicker then the long descent.

- Attacked on 2nd lap

- Surprised that I stayed away for 8.5 laps, caught with 3 laps to go

- Finished 12th/25

“My attitude is that if you push me towards something that you think is a weakness, then I will turn that perceived weakness into a strength.” 
― Michael Jordan

Racing is full of fun and surprises!

Note: I had planned to post this the day that I wrote it but I ran out of relevant things to say, but I'm posting it now because it makes more sense after I did the UCSC race weekend.

With less than three days to go before the kick-off of NorCal Collegiate racing in the WCCC, I think it's an appropriate time to remind ourselves that racing is exciting, challenging, and ultimately fun.

I've had a lot of "bad" races, meaning that I've finished almost dead last. Obviously, the result of that would most likely be poorer self-confidence or developing insecurity. But whenever I do bad in a race, I never think that way--I never put myself down or feel bad about myself--at least to an extent. First off, I always know that there is a legitimate reason why I did bad, whether that was lack of training, poor nutrition/hydration during the race, or other circumstances that I couldn't avoid. But even when knowing that, I still don't ever think of a race as a waste of time or waste at all!

And that's because bike racing is fun. I don't know about others, but for me, there is always a unique feeling when racing that is different from a hard group ride. There's something about being with people who share the same passion as you, because it's a relief from the ignorant people at my college, it's a relief from the ignorant drivers on the road, and pretty much just a relief from people who don't love cycling.

This interaction with people who have the same interest as you, is especially valuable after training alone and interacting with the non-cycling population.

According to Joe Friel, training alone is a positive characteristic of highly motivated individuals. There was a time when I didn't like riding alone--something was scary about it...something was lonely and depressing about it. However, when I tried a training plan for the first time and eventually started racing, my perspective on riding alone completely changed. Riding alone helped me focus and pay attention only to me. So what does this have to do with racing being fun?

The key word is anticipation. Anticipation builds up when you notice an increase in fitness...such as PR's, lower HR's but higher efforts, faster speed, etc. When you train alone you kind of get lost as to how well you can actually perform in a race since you only know that you're better than yourself. But that's the main idea! When you increase your fitness, your confidence builds, so when you get to the start line you're thinking "wow I wonder how well I'm going to perform..." then you start getting mixed feelings of excitement and nervousness because of adrenaline.

And that leads to another factor which makes racing fun--surprises. You might be thinking that only the miracle surprises are worthy, for example, taking a podium spot without expecting it, or bridging a gap and thinking "wow where did that come from?." But what the mentality should be is that ALL surprises are pretty awesome, even the...well, disappointing ones. For instance, i'll give a personal example of last year's race at UCSC. It was a surprise to me that I got dropped so early in the race and that I pretty much had no legs to finish, but I legally did. So what is so cool about the surprise...?

All "surprises" give you a direction toward becoming a better cyclist. In this case, this surprise simply informed me that I needed to work on my climbing and endurance. In the case of a bridging the gap surprise, maybe that can be a good indicator to include more, time-trial-like threshold efforts in the training plan to make it a more consistent thing. Whatever the reason, surprises allow cyclists to funnel attributes they never knew they had OR they should have, into their training. 

It simply starts all over again. After improving what you learned from your last surprise, you go back into a race and surprise yourself again, and again, and again.

This is primarily the pattern I've seen in my racing at least. Racing essentially guides my training the same way training guides my racing. It's a dualistic thing and one can't really exist without the other.

(end)

Little Update

I'm mentally preparing for the first WCCC NorCal race this weekend hosted by UCSC, so I thought I'd pop this open and take it for a spin to get the gears in my head rolling. Wow where the heck did that come from?

I'm happy to say that from the time I last posted (a day before school started) to the present day, I am still consistent and motivated! Actually, I'm beginning to lose count of the weeks I've completed all workouts, but I believe this is the 13th week. Anyways, I'm feeling good but unfortunately UCSC's race is not an A race so I'm looking forward to some pure fun regardless of placing...and a good workout! However, I don't think it hurts to aim for some Cat3 upgrade points. I guess I'll have to wait and see.

I've been balancing training and studying pretty well. The only downside is that I haven't seen any of my non-cyclists friends. It seems they're busy too, so I guess it's okay to not fix what isn't broken haha! Anyways, I'm juggling 19 units with my training, but my training plan was perfected to get around that!

It's getting harder to get into the higher heart rate zones, which is a flaw when your fitness increases and you're stuck without a power meter, but some times ignore HR and just go with my RPE. However, using both HR and RPE is pretty valuable and I feel like I'm still making gains.

Anyways that's all for now!

An Interesting End to My Off-Season!

First, let me say that my definition of off-season is the period between the day after my last race of the season and the day of my last Base 3 Period workout.

With that said, I am officially done with the off-season! ...Actually I have a Base Period recovery week but that acts as a transition into the uhh...on-season? The reason why I don't start my season on my first race of the year is because I'm usually already doing threshold-level workouts that actually prepare me well for early races. Another reason is because by the time the base periods are completed, I should already be conditioned to do race-like workouts, but since I'm following a methodology relative to time, my workouts will only deliberately get more race specific as I get closer to my target race.

In other words, the base period(s) ARE my off-season because that is the "training to train" period, and the Builds, Peak, and Race periods are my on-season because that is the "training to race" period!

Last Day of Some Things

So today I finished my last off-season workout (apart from the whole recovery week this upcoming week.) Tomorrow is also the first day of my Spring semester of my third year in college! It has definitely been a long break but I accomplished a lot during the break, so I'm ready to get back into gear with school, and I have my own goals for school that I hope to tackle the same way I've been tackling my cycling goals.

I think that's all I wanted to say before I write about the main topic of this post. Since school is starting tomorrow, I went ahead and cleaned out my backpack to welcome the new semester properly.

I took out lots of old crumpled papers and molten chewing gum from who knows when. This has been my backpack since my early high school years!

Anyways I pull out this black, unknown cloth. To my surprise it was a DeFeet Air-E-Ator sock...one that I had been missing for quite a long time. Actually, I was missing two socks and they were both different designs. Thus, I had been wearing a "pair" of mismatched socks once a week since I couldn't find the respective half-pair.

So there was another black cloth, and it turned out to be the second half-pair. Which meant I once again had a complete set of socks...which really means I can go one extra day without doing laundry!

However, the interesting part of this story is that I lost those socks the first day I got back on the bike after my 3-4 week break after my last race. This is because my off-season had just started, so I pretty much ignored all of my cycling clothes. So when I went to look for them on my first day back, I was befuddled at where they had gone, and completely gave up on looking for them, and just focused on other things I had to do...like schoolwork and training.

It turns out that it was in my backpack the whole time...something I carried every weekday. It was closer to me than I thought!

I just find it so interesting that the day I find them also happens to be the day that I complete my first off-season base training completely. I wonder what the symbolism is there? Maybe I should lose them again?

That's all I have for now,

--DB

“One can begin so many things with a new person! - even begin to be a better man.” 
― George Eliot, Middlemarch

How College is making me a better cyclist (Part 1 - Leisure)

My family, relatives, and close friends usually ask me how college is going and I always reply with the same thing: "it's going good!," followed by the year I'm in and reminding them that my major is kinesiology, then getting the inevitable "what is that?" and explaining that it's "like" physical therapy when in reality it is only slightly related to the actual field. 

For the record, kinesiology is the study of human movement, mostly in terms of exercise, and what influences human movement--like psychology, physiology, society, technology, and uhh more. As you can see, kinesiology does not focus on one aspect of exercise or human movement. Instead, it allows those who are majoring in it to broadly explore the different areas of human movement in terms of some of the influences I described earlier.

With that said, the area I'm focusing on is exercise physiology but recently I've been very interested in the topic of sports psychology. On the other hand, those with a burning passion for physical therapy are likely to be focusing on motor development and neuromuscular stuff as well as things having to do with rehabilitation.

SF State has thousands of students so registering for classes is a little untraditional. The main thing is, I haven't been able to get my classes on time. But I've been taking a lot of "filler classes" to increase my total number of units to bump up to an earlier registration time to get ahead of thousands of thousands of students. As a result, I've taken many classes that were very well unrelated to Kinesiology, but what I didn't know was that some of these classes, especially the ones I took last semester, would shape me into a better cyclist!

When I'm riding or when I'm at a race, I see people I haven't talked to in a while. A few weeks ago I saw my old coach and also the ex-president of the same cycling club, as well as the ex-owner of one of my local bike shops. Of course, all of them asked how college was and the following is what I would've told them if I could put it into a really short story, but I can't. 

Random Classes and their connection to cycling

There are three classes I took that I think truly changed how I think about myself and what I'm doing in this world especially when it comes to getting on the saddle--and everything else before that. These classes were all "filler classes" which were classes that don't have any contribution to my major or undergraduate degree but is still credited toward my total college units.

These three classes were:

1. Recreation, Parks, and Tourism (RPT) Leisure Lifestyle Development class

2. Filipino American Identities class

3. Peak Performance class

These three classes all had psychological roots, meaning the material of the class was based on the topic of psychology. So, the main take-away I got from the classes was an improved psychological state as well as an improved awareness of my own wellness/well being. These are aspects that are definitely crucial to building a successful athlete, regardless of the sport.

Now I'll go over how each class made me mentally stronger and what it has to do with making me a better cyclist. This part is going to be long, so I'm going to divide it into separate blogs and write about it when I have time. 

I'll start with the RPT class.

Recreations, Parks, Tourism + Cycling

My RPT class focused on leisure. The class's purpose was to explore what people do for leisure and how the heck it affects our daily lives in society. Unless you're a pro (and even if you are), most cyclists would say that cycling is a huge part of their leisure lifestyle--the life outside of work, school, and other stuff we are forced to do to stay alive and functioning in this world. 

After taking this class it made me revalue how important cycling was to me. I mean...I know it makes me happy and keeps me a good mood, but taking this class made me understand the importance of those consequences. And while it made me understand its importance, the class really made me realize that leisure and cycling is primarily beneficial to the self, and any external benefits coming from leisure are a result of the benefits to the self. Wow was that confusing? Let me break it down...

So leisure is beneficial primarily to the self...which really means that leisure helps develop personal well being or how someone values their existence and actions and pretty much their own self. So if cycling is a huge part of my leisure lifestyle, some of the benefits I get for my well being includes making me happy (because of the endorphins) and giving me a good mood (because I just burned 2000 calories in 3.5 hours, oh yeah!). So as a result of those benefits, I'd probably be in a good mood and have a positive conversation with someone, possibly make a friend or two. Or while being very happy, I'd have other positive feelings like generosity or something that makes me a nice human being. 

The point is that by increasing your well being, you appreciate the rest of the world. You'll start appreciating your job, you'll start appreciating school, and even your chores at home. By improving individual wellness, you will start thinking "hey this isn't so bad after all" because at the end of the day you have this enjoyable passion, an indescribable aspect in your life called leisure to back up whatever purpose you have to stay alive and do the things we are forced to do. 

This class helped me realize the positive effects cycling has on my life. In terms of training, it gives me a reason to stay positive and on track! There's also the reinforced motivation from doing well, like getting personal records and BURNING LOTS OF CALORIES HAHAHAHA. 

But really, this class made me realize how important cycling, training, and racing are to me and made me discover why it is such a big part of me and most of all it made me realize how good it is that I'm doing this for myself and for my own well being! 

So...it made me a better a cyclist by further connecting the value of my passion to myself which fuels my motivation to train continually and consistently. Did it help in breaking a new personal record at San Bruno? Definitely! 

Next time, I'll rant about how my Filipino American identities class made me a better cyclist!

--DB

“Leisure is only possible when we are at one with ourselves. We tend to overwork as a means of self-escape, as a way of trying to justify our existence.” 
― Josef Pieper, Leisure: The Basis Of Culture