Crunching Numbers, pt 1

What's up with you planet Earth, this is your boy Speed Pacer checking in with you after about 9 days of riding for 2008.

I have to say that coming off the fast and getting back on the bike I have worked my form up to a level that I have never experienced, EVER. What has confirmed this is my polar percision performance software. If you don't know I am "Polar HR Chart" Super Freak. At this point I'm almost a slave to them. OK, I am a slave to them.

I'll give you the 4 of the workouts of 40 miles that I have done in the last week, and you'll see that the first 3 workouts got progressive better, but the 4th chart is just "King Kong".

This workout was my first day back on the bike after of not riding for 5 weeks, and a 14-day Water Fast. You can see that I did have a good pace going, but my heartrate values were just too high. My goal is to be able to ride in the 140's. As you can see, I spent not even 5 minutes in the 140's.

So that you understand the colors, the blue zone is the top of my fat burning zone, and bottom of my endurance zone. Anytime you see the chart in the red, that means I'm officially in my "Race Zone".

Here is the HR Chart

And here is HR Values.


The next day I did the same workout, and the chart looked almost the same. I only spent about 10 minutes in the 140's, but the avg spd was about the same.

HR Chart

HR Values


Day 3 was a very cold day, but the heartrate was very high. Sad to say that I spent less time in the 140's, but it was the fastest ride that I have ever done.

HR Chart

HR Values

I took 2 days off from this workout, and popped my cherry on the Titus for the first time this year. I did 2 pretty good laps, but was tapped out for going so hard the first time out. The next day I did a 90 minute recovery workout.

I then went back to this workout on Friday and was determined to get in the 140's. So this time out I decided to just keep my heartrate in the 140's and find my mode. Take a look.

Here is the most beautiful HR Chart I have produced

This is the best zone training workout I have produced also. 87% of the time spent in the lower endurance zone is great.

For the first 3 works my HR averages were, 161bpm, 157bpm, and 160bpm. The Avg workout for this day was 142bpm. For the same speed, my HR Avg when down 18bpm. For some reason my legs and lungs got married for this workout, and I started firing on all cylinders. Even the breathing came around.

Just to make sure I was not tripping, I went back and found my chart of this same workout in November when I had 2 really good finishes in the State Series.

Here is the HR Chart from Nov 3rd

Here is the HR Values from Nove 3rd.

As you can see that my Avg HR was 152bpm, which is 10 bpm higher than my best workout I did this year. So the form is officially better than it was last year, and probably EVER.

Now that I was able to ride at a really consistent pace I decided to get some interval work in at the Sheridian Ride. That is the kind of training I need right now to work on my high end for mtn biking. My plan is to do 100 miles, and to do that I will ride about 22 miles before the I get to the Sheridian Ride, then the 27 miles of the group ride. Then my normal 51 mile ride from Flamingo and Orange up over Sunrise, then out to Weston and back to Orange. The after that I will turn around and take that route back to my house.

I get out of the house at 6:40, and I'm able to get to the Sheridian Ride with about 10 minutes to let the body cool down. That was just enough time to take a couple of photos of the some of the riders in the group.




After we roll out we immediately get stop at Sheridian, so I quickly snap a few more pics.



The ride started off slow, so I knew that it wasn't going to be like last week when it blasted off right from the start. Things got moving once we went over I-75. I could tell that Z's Bike was going to control the ride today. I started to make my way to the front just before we got to Hwy 27. There were 2 groups that were already up the road, which made for a great way for me to get my intervals in. I got with the groups that were making up the chase. Z's was still up front, and they were trying to slow the ride down to keep there guys up the road.

I kept taking my pulls to make sure that the pace stayed high, and we eventually caught the group with LaRue in it. The next group was caught about 2 miles from 84. On 84 Z's made several attempt to put some riders in a breakaway. When we would pull it back in, another 2 riders from Z's would go off the front. Right at I-75 Bob suggested that we try to breakaway. I was a little hesitate as I wanted to save it for the sprint.

Once we get over I-75 a group makes a break for it. I'm slowly stalking my way to the front, and I intended on attacking as soon as we bridge and things get moving again. We caught the group just before Indian Trace, then we hit a red light. As soon as we get going I look back to Bob and signal to him that now is the moment, and I burn about 10 matches making a surge away from the group.

Joe D is on my wheel, and Bob is in tow. I totally feel like crap, and I know I won't be able to do anything that puts the group under real pressure so I pull through. Joe immediately pulls through, the Bob takes a much longer pull that I did. By this time Austrialian Time Trial dude (Name is Keith) bridged up to us. Once that happens, Joe D lets himself get drop and goes back to the group. I take another 2 pulls, then I let Bob know it was futile.

I retreat back to the group, and 5 minuete later Bob asked me if I want to do it again. At this point I was not going to burn any match unless it was the sprint. Once things start shaking up, I'm sitting on LaRue's wheel and I'm thinking he is big and I'll get the optimal protection from wind before I open up my sprint. But when they start setting up the sprint, LaRue gets dropped and gives up 15 meter. I come around him and I have to burn my matches to bridge back to the group that is in full fledge "Go for Broke". When the group starts to break up I'm on the wheel ahead of me, but I can't come around anyone's wheel so when 1 riders comes around my wheel I realized I lead him out, so I just sat up. Note to self: Don't follow LaRue's wheel for the sprint, he just does not have the horsepower.

We get to the Mobil, and LaRue starts on with saying he gave up the sprint because he thought I was not on his wheel. Bull shit! He just got dropped. I have never not been in position. You don't pull out in the last 200 meters unless you have your ball knocked in the dirt along with your legs. 200 meter with good legs is like getting to 3rd base with a chick. There is no way that any person would not proceed.

I get some Fuji water, put my Emergen-C in them, rip off one of the halfs of bread and eat a turkey and cheese sandwich, then I hit the road with Joe, Bob, and LaRue. My plan was to do my 51 mile time trial between 145-155bpm. I really need to put in long miles, at a much higher effort if I want to consider myself being halfway competitive in a Endurance Race.

Joe D and Bob decided to change their ride as they did not want to ride a tailwind up to Boca, only to get assaulted by a head wind for the last 2 and and a half hours of their ride back South. So they opted to tag along with me for my route, which keeps all of us closer to home. We go over the Sawgrass and I have my heartrate exactly where I want it to be.

Once we get to 84, I suggest we should take 3 minute pulls, and we do so all the way down to Royal Palm. We turn on Glades and all continue to rotate, then we make a stop off at the park for a nature break. I rinse the sweat off my face and it refreshes me a bit, as I kinda got bored of licking salt off my lips to keep them from burning. Note to self: Use the lip balm that you brought along. We get back to hitting it, and once we get to Saddle Club Road I take my pull just passed the YMCA. We are going into a headwind/crosswind, and I manage to keep the pace between 21.5-22mph. I pull through after my 3 minutes and Joe is gone. I didn't want to dump him out of the ride, but I was trying to maintain the heartrate between 145-155bpm. Bob pulls for 3 minutes, and when I pull through I slowly lift the pace. I'm at 21mph, then the second minute I take it up to 22mph, the third minute I take it up to 23.5mph. Now, I'm about 1 minute from Weston Road, so I just took it up to 25mph, then took it all the way to the stop light. I'm sure that put Bob under pressure and he let me know it did.

Bob takes a 6 minute pull, and almost all of it is into a headwind, and as soon as he pulls through we are going into a slight crosswind/tailwind, "Thank You God". I take the speed up to 24mph, and I keep it at that pace until the last 2 minutes then I take it up to 26mph to finish out segment of the ride really strong. I think I hurt Bob again on that pull. Since I do most of my ride by myself, I really don't pay much attention to where the wind is. I just pedal the bike.

Now 6 months ago I did this ride with Bob, and between mile 85-100, I completely cramped up and Bob had the "S" on his chest that day as he pulled me all the way back to the end of the ride at Active Cycles. Today I think I had the "S" on my chest as I was the rider putting in bigger efforts.

We chat for about 10 minutes, and we part ways after talking about nutrition on the bike, etc. I'm in for 100 miles, but I only have 76miles, and the route home is only 20 miles, so I'm going to be 4 miles short. I start thinking about how I can put in another 4 miles to make it a cool Benjamin(That means 100, Non-ebonics speakers).

I get going and I decide to just finish the ride as I'm started to lose some power. My heartrate won't stay in the 150's, so I just go into a zone and push the pedals. I get over to Bonaventure and a guys rolls up on me and he is finishing his metric century and offers me his wheel when I tell him I'm on my last 20 of a real hundred. He was a really big guy, and he said he was 235lbs. This guys is clearly in his late 50's, and he is riding like he is in his early 20's. He processed to pull me for at least 11 miles and he did not go under 23mph. At 84 he pulled off at Indian Trace and I said, " I need to remember your name". He said John. I then called him "Tarmac John". If you see a grey haired older gentlemen on a navy blue Specialized Tarmac, don't ask any question, just get on that damn wheel.

I have about 5 miles to go and I take it in riding in my fat burning zone. I end up with 96.1 miles, with an average of 21.2. I rode 20.7 miles to the Sheridian ride and the avg was 19.5, then the Sherdian ride was 24.6, then I road with Joe D, and Bob for 27.7miles at an avg of 20.8, then I did the last hour at 20.5mph. Here is the chart of my HR Values.

The total time was 4hrs, 37mins, and I spent 80 minutes in the 130's and 140's. After doing more crunching of number, that effort is not enough for me if I want to do well at the 12hrs of Santos and the Hospice 100. Explaining to you why will the subject of a post next week also.

Pacer Out!