It's killing me but..........

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I've made my view of competition rather clear, being that it isn't a big motivation for me. I haven't chastised anybody for holding other views, but I got a disproportionate amount of teasing for mine from a number of folks here. I needn't rehash the 'living in the caves' and other comments do I?




I wouldn't begin to think I understand the mindset of those who don't enjoy winning a bike race.

You may well not know the mindset of someone who doesn't enjoy winning a race, but seemed to be fine with categorizing it all as 'pacifist'. This is both a slippery slope and hasty generalization argument.

Why would you think you can understand the mindset of those who do?

Psychologically, the mindset of those who do is not terribly hard to understand in a literal/intellectual sense. Emotionally, it simply does not register and as such just motivates my actions accordingly and how I weigh/measure happiness/success.

I saw an image the other day that summed it up: a parade of robots all marching with a little bubble over their head saying "must win, must beat others"....Just meddling but I actually have a sort of middle ground opinion here. I train to better my condition and not with purpose of beating others, but I think we all agree that on group rides the urge to not be left behind or to try to brake away (maybe it’s a testosterone thing) makes us reach a performance that would not be possible (in our minds) before. So on my part a little competition is welcome.

I suppose quotes from Conan the Barbarian & the riddle of steel would be complety inappropriate for competition.:D


"To crush the enemy, and see them driven before you. To hear the lamentation of their women and children."

The Riddle of Steel compares a man's heart to a piece of raw unworked iron. The heart must be hammered by adversity and forged by suffering, purged and hardened by the fire of conflict. A man's heart can only be purified and shaped on the "anvil of despair and loss". Unknown Author

I suppose quotes from Conan the Barbarian & the riddle of steel would be complety inappropriate for competition.:D


"To crush the enemy, and see them driven before you. To hear the lamentation of their women and children."Sounds like LA's racing attitude to me.:D

that kind of reminds me of a phrase that I heard in a TV show that didn’t register at the time but it stuck in the back of my mind

“we are not descents of the good people in the middle of the cave sharing food but of the one on the back planning to kill them to get it all for himself ”

Something like this I think you’ll get the picture it has some kind of truth to it
almost as bad as the conan one :D

“we are not descents of the good people in the middle of the cave sharing food but of the one on the back planning to kill them to get it all for himself ”I don't know who said that, but he/she is a philosopher.;)

Lucy, I respect your opinion and was just teasing(seems like you take it pretty well.) I actually agree with you in many ways. For me there would be no pleasure in dropping a fellow rider during a group ride. However, if the rider challenged and I was able then sure I's drop him/her like a bad habit. At, the stage of the game I'm still lucky if I can successfully suck on to their back wheel. I've been dropped many times. The first time was an eye opener, but then I just challenged myself to stay with the group a little longer on each ride. Hopefully next spring, after a winter L4's, I'll be sharing my time at the front of the pace line.

http://www.historyvortex.org/HistoryImperialDalek_003.jpg
http://www.doctorwhoworld.org.uk/Images/sitegraphics/exterminate.gif

http://www.historyvortex.org/HistoryImperialDalek_003.jpg
http://www.doctorwhoworld.org.uk/Images/sitegraphics/exterminate.gifIs that you and me on a tandem? So, our tag is going to be "The Exterminators"? Cool.:cool:

Is that you and me on a tandem? So, our tag is going to be "The Exterminators"? Cool.:cool:
And for those of you who don't which is which, RD is the ugly one.:D

Is that you and me on a tandem?
I thought they were your Halloween costumes. :)

What I like in this topic is the specific goal of increasing FTP with specific L4 and L5 work outs. It's propaganda for intensive training plans. But today I saw a post of Andy Coggan on slowtwitch I have to show you.

http://sportsci.org/2006/ssrowing.pdf (http://sportsci.org/2006/ssrowing.pdf?)

See sheet 2 on page 25. Increasing training hours during decades but with only low intensity hours.

FTP improvements from this members in this topic.

Tyson: FTP increase from 130 watt to 250 watt in a couple of months.
Rapdaddyo: FTP increase from ~150W to 325W in 9 months in 2005
Lucy, Alex Simmons, frenchyge, Felt_Rider?

FTP improvements from this members in this topic.

Tyson: FTP increase from 130 watt to 250 watt in a couple of months.
Rapdaddyo: FTP increase from ~150W to 325W in 9 months in 2005
Lucy, Alex Simmons, frenchyge, Felt_Rider?I ordered the KK trainer yesterday with the power computer.
I hope to start tracking soon, but for the moment I have to use an unmonitored spin bike. I am eager to start tracking data.

OK, same for me. I started exercises yesterday, running :cool::D It's too dark when I come home from work and I don't have a spinningbike. Next month I am trying to move to a bigger home and then I buy a spinningbike with powermeter. I think it's going to be the CycleOps Pro 300PT (http://www.cycleops.com/c-8-indoor-cycles.aspx?skinid=2).

OK, same for me. I started exercises yesterday, running :cool::D It's too dark when I come home from work and I don't have a spinningbike. Next month I am trying to move to a bigger home and then I buy a spinningbike with powermeter. I think it's going to be the CycleOps Pro 300PT (http://www.cycleops.com/c-8-indoor-cycles.aspx?skinid=2).Sweet!!
That is what I wanted to get, but I went ahead and got the KK so that I could started tracking data sooner.

OK, same for me. I started exercises yesterday, running :cool::D It's too dark when I come home from work and I don't have a spinningbike. Next month I am trying to move to a bigger home and then I buy a spinningbike with powermeter. I think it's going to be the CycleOps Pro 300PT (http://www.cycleops.com/c-8-indoor-cycles.aspx?skinid=2).Pretty cool machine.:cool: If you do workouts focusing on L4 and above, you can get one hell of a workout in an hour (or a maximum of 1.5 hours). The good thing is that you can get a good workout any day, any time. It's still fun to get out on the road, in part to see how the hills got "flatter," but you can make tremendous progress on a trainer or a device such as the 300PT. Keep us posted on your progress. As you can see, one person's gains really inspire others.:D

What I like in this topic is the specific goal of increasing FTP with specific L4 and L5 work outs. It's propaganda for intensive training plans. <snip>
Lucy, Alex Simmons, frenchyge, Felt_Rider?Who says I've been on an intensive training plan? It's a well structured programme to foster sustainable medium and long term gains but I wouldn't necessarily call it "intensive", at least not yet. Indeed the amount of structured L4/5 work I've done since starting again in August is pretty minimal*, yet I have a 45 Watt improvement in 20 min power since then. The more intensive workouts are only just starting for me. My track championships are still 4-4.5 months away....

*the vast bulk of my riding has been in endurance L2/3.

:( The cold/sinus season and all the lovely symtoms have flared up, but I'm not running a fever so I plan on more work tomorrow morning.

I started feeling the symptoms last week with a slight increase each day and have continued to push hard anyway. I think I can hang in there and beat this flare up and still push toward the goal.

Now where's that Nyquil?:)

BREAKTHROUGH?????

This morning on the trainer in the gym did the last L4 before Sunday's race.

Just did 1x10min @ 250W and for the first time ever 250W felt "light", so rather than up the watts, as I'm tapering I increased the cadence to 120.

Then did 30min spin @ 200W and as I have 2 days rest now, thought I would finish off with 3x1minute @ 350W. This too felt easier than ever.

However, we shall see what happens when I start training again next Friday after 4 days complete rest.;)

BREAKTHROUGH?????

This morning on the trainer in the gym did the last L4 before Sunday's race.

Just did 1x10min @ 250W and for the first time ever 250W felt "light", so rather than up the watts, as I'm tapering I increased the cadence to 120.

Then did 30min spin @ 200W and as I have 2 days rest now, thought I would finish off with 3x1minute @ 350W. This too felt easier than ever.

However, we shall see what happens when I start training again next Friday after 4 days complete rest.;)Well, that is one of the leading indicators of an increase in power. We don't have to actually ride our high-intensity efforts at 100% of our max power for a given duration. Yet, after awhile the efforts just feel easier. And, sometimes our HR (yes, HR) is a few beats lower that it was before (consistently, not just during one workout). Then, we know that we can bump it up a bit in the future. I think this is one of the hardest things for many to understand. Take L4 efforts, for example. Many think that they have to ride their L4s at 100%FTP in order to increase FTP. They figure, "If my FTP is 250W, how can I possibly increase FTP by riding L4s at less than 250W?" Well, surprise, you can in fact increase FTP by riding L4s at less than FTP. Magic!:D

Have a good ride this weekend.:D

P.S., I think you'll enjoy hearing about my training ride today. It's a neat story. I rode a 50K course today with a group that usually has 1-2 strong riders, but today a 3rd guy showed up who is very strong (we've never raced and he is ~30 years younger than me, but I think he would beat me head to head). The course has several climbs and one long descent through city streets. When we pulled away from the start/finish point, I was solo off the front by about 100 yards and managed to get through a light just before it changed. When I saw that the rest were caught by the light, I decided to turn the ride into a cat and mouse game. I decided to see how long I could hold them off, so I put the pedal down and went hard. The course was such that I knew they could keep me in sight until this one section where we make several turns in succession and then there is a long straight before the big descent. I figured that if I could be out of sight when they reached the long straight that they might give up. So, when I reached that section I just red-lined it all the way to the descent. I was absolutely flying! They never caught me (I got back to the start/finish point a full 10 mins ahead of them). I asked my buddy what happened and he said, "We had you in sight for a long time, but when we reached the descent, you were just gone, so we gave up." I loved it -- a 50K TT.:D