Well Last Tuesday I stepped up to B grade road crits, and it seemed to be a bit of a step up. The first thing I noticed was were were on it from the first corner, and pushing harder through the corner. Things were going OK definitely in no position to make a move but I was holding my own, the wind did not help either. 10mins in OK now I'm starting to struggle near the back sitting on Lee's wheel, we come around the corner and I noticed the group jumped away a bit. Lee is onto it pushing hard down the straight then I think OK Lee will struggle with a 2nd effort so I'll pass through the corners which I did and made my effort on the uphill straight and 3 of us latched back on, just. So Time to just hold on and see what happens for the last 10. Well Lee eventually dropped off and I hung on till the last corner where the group jumped and my legs would not, there only had tempo left so I rolled to the finish thinking that was a really good effort.
Data, well the data does not really show it straight away. I had averaged the same watts in some the C grade crits, the average speed was about 1.5km/h higher as we were pedaling though the corners more (and I'm glad I switched to road pedals for the extra lean angle). So why was it so hard? I had a look at the power profile/s and noticed there was more efforts above 350 wattts. Thinking back I remember working it out of each corner then easing off as the group dropped the pace. So B grade was sapping all my matches during the race leaving me with nothing at the end, where C grade I was right on Threshold not peaking enough to burn all those matches. I have noticed in C grade and one of the little tricks I have been using is to make up positions in corners so I don't sit at the back of the pack usually in the corners there is someone that struggle to hold a wheel or moves off line, allowing for me to jump in and snag it. Hopefully when I am able to move positions I'll still be able to use this trick although it seems more of a challenge with the jump out of each corner. Anyway last crit tonight so I guess I won't get that chance just yet.
Over the weekend I had planned a solid enduro ride on Sunday with a 3.5 hour ride on Saturday. I headed out on Saturday to Honeysuckle keeping a good effort out there I was feeling pretty good. I started climbing, I lacked a little power but that's OK I thought see what happens. Well I struggled eventually crept to the top about 15 minutes slower than my fastest time. I was not in a good way, I sucked down my liquids got some food in, had a lay down and I needed that 10min off the bike. I got back on cruised down the hill noticing I had nothing on the flat sections so I just rolled them. Then came a few hills on the way back, they hurt, it was a huge effort to climb, my legs were completely gone. I contemplated doing the ring for help as they hurt that much. My power levels just peaking at 200W, (I usually average easily 200+ for a 3 hour+ ride) something was not good. Anyway after allot of pain I made it home and it was time to recover. Looking at the data it seems like I have been -20 TSB (Training Stress Balance) or worse for a little too long. During the build for Worlds I adapted to be able to cope with that TSB for training, and now I was trying to replicate it in the final build for nationals without allowing myself to adapt. My body is saying nope that is it no more. So 48 hours off the bike and a tempo ride for an hour yesterday I seem OK but I'm not out of the woods just yet. Tonight is crits and I'm hoping my TSB will be back positive for a few little efforts before a fun little memorial race on the weekend.
Seems I'm not going to get the chance on a long ride before Nat's. So far 3.5 hours has been my longest ride leading in. Plus I'm only doing about 70% of the hours that I usually do. That's the way it goes though, I planned to ride differently this year so lets see what happens. If I have a worried look at the start line it's because the teacher is about to find out I did not do my homework, and I'm about to be spanked, oh and yes I am old enough to remember those days ;).
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