Day 206

The sun came out this afternoon, and I got out of school early!  So I took advantage of that with a ride out to Iona.  My recent threshold test caused me to lower my training zone wattages, but I think that was due mostly to being a little rusty at any effort above easy, so I'm sort of ignoring it for now and I'll retest in the next few days.  Today was a very windy ride, my speed nearly doubled when I turned around and had the wind to my back out at Iona.  58.29km in 2:07:05, for an avg speed of 27.5km/h, and avg power of 158W (163W normalized). 

Day 205

Went for a couple of laps around Stanley Park with Ben today.  Nice to see that the dirt road has been paved.  It was about to rain all day, and held off until about 20min after I got in the door.  I'm assuming that's why we pretty much had the park to ourselves.  No other cyclists, and only a few pedestrians and cars.  27.19km in 1:00:53, for an avg speed of 26.8km/h, and power of 176W (189W normalized).  That's a bit harder than I meant to ride today, but it's a bit harder to keep a planned pace when you're with someone else... I think we both just want to avoid holding the other guy back.

Day 204

Today I went in for another VO2max test.  Since my last test 2 months ago, my results improved by about 16%!  My peak power only went up slightly, which doesn't surprise me due to the lack of any training above a low intensity.  In any case, it was very motivating to see such an improvement in my VO2 score, and kind of fun at the same time.  When I test my threshold on the road, I have to pay attention to safety (cars, pot holes, etc) and can't really bury myself like I can in the lab.  Still, I always leave thinking I could have held on for a little longer, even though my legs disagreed with me at the time.  "Shut up legs!"

Day 203

Rest day today.

Day 202

Went for a low intensity ride around my usual UBC route this afternoon.  I threw a couple of higher intensity efforts in for good measure, since I have tomorrow off, but felt pretty slow overall since my power zones were lowered a little since yesterday's test.  30.37km in 1:06:58, for an avg speed of 27.3km/h, avg power 156W (193W normalized).  The plan is to rest tomorrow, then do some VO2 testing on Tuesday.

Day 201

Went out for a threshold test today to see how much my fitness went down over the winter.  It seems my threshold power is down to about 225, which I guess is to be expected, but a little discouraging.  I'm going to repeat the test in a couple of weeks, since I think part of the reason for the low value might be that I haven't done anything but low intensity rides for the past 7 or 8 months.  I think I might just need to wake some of those muscles up a bit.  After a 15min warm up, I tried to keep it above 230W for 30min, then rode back slowly.  Overall, I did 42.31km in 1:32:37, for an avg speed of 27.4, avg power 169W (193 normalized).  This threshold test would put me in about the same place I was at the end of May last year, but with more kms in my legs, and so likely more endurance.  It'll be interesting to see how things go in a couple of weeks, but I wouldn't be too surprised if my threshold were up to around 250W.

Day 200

200 days in!  In reality, there are only about 100 days of riding in there.  From September to October, I was training consistently, 5 or 6 days per week.  Then in November that started to fall, down to about 3 days per week, then 2, and by December I was only getting in about 1 day per week.  Unfortunately, I'd underestimated my course load at school, and that early consistent training had put me behind a little too.  So I had to put school first toward the end of the semester and my training was essentially put in a holding pattern.  I'm sure I lost some fitness, but I probably benefited a little from the rest as well.  By January I was back at it, and apart from 10 days off due to illness, I've been training consistently for 5 to 6 days per week in the new year.

I've got just under 100 days to go, so the plan is to start introducing a little more intensity, but overall the focus will remain on long slow rides, since that's what I'm planning to do for 3 weeks in France.  My course load isn't really any easier these days either.  I've got finals coming up for the courses I'm in at the moment, then a couple of weeks to focus on the MCAT, then I'm back in class for a condensed summer semester of biochem.  The bright side is that this will be the last of the courses I need for med school!  The downside is that it ends a week before I leave for France, so my training will suffer.  I'd originally hoped to get up to 13-15 hours/week, but with school, I'm lucky if I squeeze in any more than 6.  I guess that'll just make things more interesting in France!

I also take some relief in looking back on my test stage from last year.  I set out around Vancouver on an approximation of that day's stage in the TDF (details and map).  It took around 8 hours for mountain stage of just under 200km.  Going by my other rides from last year, I can see a significant improvement in my fitness.  I expect to see diminishing returns this year.   Last year my threshold wattage went from around 200 to around 260 between April and July, so I'm hoping to reach something like 300W by July this year.  If I were to guess, I think that would shave about an hour off the same route if I were to repeat it (of course I'll have to, just to see!).

In terms of fundraising, in about 7 months I've managed to add about $200 to the pot, from 6 kind friends.  Word isn't exactly spreading, and the donations are not piling in!  But I can't complain, since I've been a little lazy on the donation request front myself.  I'm hoping to have a fundraiser before I go, so I'll have some details for that soon.  If you'd like to donate a little, that would be much appreciated, and you can do so here. 

As for today, I barely scraped together enough time for a short ride between school and work.  I even considered leaving the rice cooker on, but didn't want to find out what would happen if I flatted and took an extra ten minutes to get back!  19.02km in 42:55, for an avg speed of 26.6km/h, avg power was 163W (normalized 166W).

Anyway, if you're actually reading this, thanks.  Less than 100 days to go!

Day 199

I had a late ride last night and went straight to sleep after.  After an evening exam, I went out around UBC on my usual route: 27.78km in 1:02:07, for an avg speed of 27.8km/h, and an avg power of 169W (179W normalized).  I made a few efforts at higher power.  I haven't really done that yet this year, so I feel like I need to wake them up a bit and remind my muscles what those harder efforts feel like.  In fact, afterwards I find it hard to keep the effort low again.

Day 198

Note to self: eating half a pizza and drinking a few beers before a ride is not recommended.  Those burps were rough!  But there was a good hockey game on, so I really didn't have much of a choice... 28.55km in 1:02:54, for an avg speed of 27.2km/h, avg power 159W (163W normalized).  And apparently it's frog mating season in Pacific Spirit Park (out at UBC)... I don't think I've ever heard such a loud noise of frogs.

Day 197

It was hailing when I rolled out today, but by the time I got to Richmond it was sunny.  Stayed sunny for the remainder of the ride, but still a little chilly.  Felt pretty good today, but maybe needed to eat more on the ride.  I was estimating on my way back, I think I'd be able to ride 100km/day for 3 weeks at this point.  I want to be able to do twice that when I leave for France, so I'm about half way there, with about 3 months to go.  Today's ride was 60.08km in 2:15:15, for an avg speed of 26.7km/h, avg power was 164W, normalized 183W.  My effort felt pretty steady, so I'm actually a little surprised by the normalized power... might have had something to do with the first few minutes (I needed to recalibrate the power meter). 

Day 196

Rest day today. 

Day 195

I got a little excited with the nice weather today and picked up the pace a little on the way back... tail winds get me a little excited too!  I figured I had a rest day tomorrow anyways, so it wouldn't hurt.  30.39km in 1:04:03, for an avg speed of 28.5km/h, avg power was 173W (187W normalized).  Really glad to be back riding after missing about ten days because of that cough, which seems to be pretty much gone.  I think the tough part now will be not getting too excited with the improving weather and riding too hard.  I spent close to 1/4 of my ride at an intensity above what I'd planned today.  It shouldn't be an issue with a rest day tomorrow, but I can't do that when I have a ride scheduled for the next day.

Day 194

Went out for an hour this afternoon.  Didn't want to overdo it after taking so much time off.  I was coughing a little this morning, but it was mostly gone.  30.27km in 1:07:34, for an avg speed of 26.9km/h, avg power 162W (167 normalized).  I'm just slowly easing back into things, since I'd rather take a couple more days to get healthy than make it worse.  A few years ago I pushed too hard training for a climb in the Himalayas and got pneumonia two weeks before my climb!  I definitely want to prevent that from happening again. 

Day 193

Still coughing a little, but felt much better all day at school, so I went out for a quick ride between school and work.  19.02km in 44:02, for an avg speed of 26km/h.

Day 192

My cough continues to act up.  It seems to be worse today than yesterday, so I figured another day of rest was prudent.  Hoping to ride tomorrow though...

Day 191

The cough remains.  Shit!

Day 190

So another coma seems to have helped, but there's still a lingering cough.  After consulting my coach and manager, we've decided that another day of rest will be worth the loss of fitness compared to the risk of the couch coming back, so no ride today. 

Day 189

I'm definitely feeling better now, and hope to ride soon.  I knocked myself out with medication and got a good sleep, and I plan to do that again Monday night.

Day 188

Sunday.  No sleep, again!  With the time change I got to bed at 6am, then coughed for a while before getting a few hours of sleep.  No ride today.

Day 187

Another night without sleep after a shift full of coughing at work.  Just managed a short nap though, that should help.  No ride today though.

Day 186

Still sick!  Boo!  Another sleepless night.  Hopefully working outside in the rain tonight doesn't make things worse... if I sleep well then maybe a short ride will be in order tomorrow.

Day 185

Another sleepless night, so I'm resting again today.  I'd really like to get the advantage before my weekend of work outside in the cold, and most likely in the rain.  So, I'm expecting to rest tomorrow too, just to be on the safe side, and if I sleep well tonight and tomorrow night, hopefully I'll be riding again by Saturday.

Day 184

Decided it was a good plan to take another rest day today after coughing all night kept me from sleeping.

Day 183

Started getting a bit of a cough yesterday, and it's been getting gradually worse.  I had planned to go out for a couple of hours, but decided to cut it back to a short loop around UBC.  I felt fine on the bike, no coughing, but a little weak.  18.78km in 45:02, for an avg speed of 25km/h, and avg power of 152W (156W norm).   Hopefully taking it easy today will pay off with a quick recovery from whatever's causing this cough.

Day 182

Another day of sun, but a little colder than yesterday: numb fingers and toes today, but nice to ride without a jacket.  Went out around UBC to Iona beach again, but since I have a planned rest day tomorrow, I decided to pick up the pace a little.  Still mostly zone 2, but spent a fair bit of time right at the top of zone 2, so inevitably had some more time in zone 3.  It was windier than yesterday, but I love feeling like a rock star when I have a tailwind!  Rode 58.16km in 2:04:11, for an avg speed of 28.1km/h and an avg 166W (normalized to 171W).  Definitely felt like a good workout and had to stay focused to keep the intensity up for the last 30min.

Day 181

Great weather today, about 8 degrees and sunny!  Lots of folks out on the road.  Went out around UBC and out to Iona beach and back.  Not too windy, for a change.  Rode 60.0km in 2:14:50 at an avg of 26.7km/h, with avg power of 156W (163 normalized).  Interesting to note the small amount of decoupling between power and heart rate as the ride went on.  Comparing the to graphs in this way shows that my aerobic fitness isn't quite there yet.  I had felt like I was past this point, but it's a good reminder that I'm not ready to move past my base training yet. 

Day 180

Spent an easy hour in the gym today... low volume and low intensity.

Day 179

In an effort to save my "rest" week, I'm taking today off of training.  I need to get something out of this week, so I'm aiming for rested muscles and catching up at school.  I woke up today with sore muscles and behind in school! 

Day 178

Spent about 50min in the gym today.  I shortened the session a little to go along with the reduced volume plan for this week, and kept all my weights the same as last week, even though I added a few sets here and there.  Not feeling very tired tonight, so I guess it's working. 

Day 177

Pretty busy with school all day, but managed to make it out for an easy one hour ride around UBC.  27.1km in 1:03:14, for an avg speed of 25.7km/h, at an avg of 153W (159 normalized).  The plan is to continue to take it easy this week, low volume and the same old low effort.