I've been doing a lot of Edmonds rides again! The roads are so nice and it is right about 30 miles. It is hard to do a 30 mile ride that isn't boring from my location so Edmonds is perfect. I rode up there yesterday with our women's group. Then today when I went to meet my teammate at the coffee shop and another team was already there and invited us to ride with them. They ended up going to Edmonds but a different route. So now I know some more cool roads. The other team was actually going all the way to Everett but that was longer than I wanted to ride today. It was fun to ride in a big group again though.
I have started doing some power 5 minute power builder intervals during the week but my average power is low - around 220 watts. I will try to gradually build it up over the winter.
Showing posts with label 5 minute intervals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 5 minute intervals. Show all posts
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Training fun
Last Wednesday one of my new teammates came over and we did computrainer together in the garage. It was great to have a training buddy! Mark made up a workout for us and we did progressively harder 5 minute intervals. The last one was a real grind (220, 240, 250 watts)! We are going to do it again this week too.
Saturday was really cold. I checked the weather at 8:30 and Woodinville and Renton were still both below freezing. We played it safe and did a loop on Mercer Island again to be a little warmer. We got in some good pacelining practice. On the way home we went through the arboretum. I like to have the team sprint for the bridge at the end because it's good practice. I played "motor" and led them up to the sprint point. It was like doing a keirin on the track! Everyone had fun.
On Sunday I watched the cross races at Woodland Park. I had teammates in every race! I watched for about 5 hours! It was fun but cold! I had to run up and down the hills to keep warm. It was at Woodland Park which is a great venue for cross races. I hope they have more races there next year.
I watched with my friend Kari from the track and her dog Josie. Josie did a little dance every time she saw one of the racers from the velodrome. It was very cute!
My teammate Bendan was able to ride over these barriers on the uphill!
The crowds were big!
Saturday was really cold. I checked the weather at 8:30 and Woodinville and Renton were still both below freezing. We played it safe and did a loop on Mercer Island again to be a little warmer. We got in some good pacelining practice. On the way home we went through the arboretum. I like to have the team sprint for the bridge at the end because it's good practice. I played "motor" and led them up to the sprint point. It was like doing a keirin on the track! Everyone had fun.
On Sunday I watched the cross races at Woodland Park. I had teammates in every race! I watched for about 5 hours! It was fun but cold! I had to run up and down the hills to keep warm. It was at Woodland Park which is a great venue for cross races. I hope they have more races there next year.
I watched with my friend Kari from the track and her dog Josie. Josie did a little dance every time she saw one of the racers from the velodrome. It was very cute!
My teammate Bendan was able to ride over these barriers on the uphill!
The crowds were big!
Saturday, May 16, 2009
More intervals
I did the intervals again on Tuesday. I knew I would be still tired from Sunday but I wanted to get in another hard workout with time to recover before Friday. They were better this time but 4 was enough. On the last one I could barely hold 300 watts for the first minute. Hold the next three minutes at 230 was a little easier though.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
4 Minute intervals with a power start
I took yesterday off after friday's track racing and today did some more 4 minute efforts. But this time I followed Mark's idea of doing a hard first minute followed by a sustained effort for the next 3 minutes. The plan was to go over 300 watts for the first minute and then hold 230 for three minutes. This was a tortuous workout! I think it even approached how much I hurt during the race on Friday.
The 300 watts part was easy. But then the next three minutes were really hard on the legs. After the second interval my stomach hurt and I had to lay on the swiss ball for a few minutes until it stopped hurting. I'm glad no one saw me. I managed to do two more intervals but it was tough. Glad to have that workout over! I think that might have exposed a weakness of mine!
The 300 watts part was easy. But then the next three minutes were really hard on the legs. After the second interval my stomach hurt and I had to lay on the swiss ball for a few minutes until it stopped hurting. I'm glad no one saw me. I managed to do two more intervals but it was tough. Glad to have that workout over! I think that might have exposed a weakness of mine!
More 4 minute intervals
Last Tuesday I did the 4 min intervals again. I got in 5 this time before my legs blew up. Held them at 250-260. I listened to a great song by the Elks that made me think of trying to hold on to the field when they are really punching it.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
4 minute intervals
I did some 4 minute intervals last tuesday. When I did my last 5 minutes intervals I was at 220-230 watts but I know I need to get the watts up higher so I did a slightly shorter interval. I was able to hold 4x4 minutes at 250-260 watts. I was totally wiped out on the last one. Mark came in and asked me if I was on my 6th one yet. I about fell off the trainer. There was no chance of making it to 6.
Maybe next week!
Maybe next week!
Sunday, April 26, 2009
VO2
Mark talked me into doing some VO2 intervals. I started at 220 watts and edged toward 230 watts. 5x5 minutes with 6 minutes rest. It was a sweat fest but I felt good after.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Rain Out
Wednesday night was rained out! I did a few quick intervals instead before our team meeting. I did two 5 minute intervals but was surprised at how low the power was. It was a struggle to hold 230 watts. Maybe I should be working the intervals on the weekends.
Last Sunday I went to the sprinting grounds and did 30 sprints. You can really learn a lot doing a sprint 30 times. You can really think about what your body is doing and how balanced or unbalanced you are. Every part of me was tired after that workout. It reminded me of doing "puke in the gutter" sets when I was swimming at the UW.
Last Sunday I went to the sprinting grounds and did 30 sprints. You can really learn a lot doing a sprint 30 times. You can really think about what your body is doing and how balanced or unbalanced you are. Every part of me was tired after that workout. It reminded me of doing "puke in the gutter" sets when I was swimming at the UW.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
5 minute intervals
I did a Computrainer ride today to work on focused intervals. Computrainer is great for doing training that you can't easily do on the road when you are dealing with all of the distractions.
My goal was to do 4x5 minute intervals at progressively higher watts. The first one I held at 210 watts. It was difficult to hold the wattage because if you haven't had any feedback for a while your form suffers and you don't realize it. When the watts jump around though you know.
The next interval was 220 and it wasn't too bad. I worked on firing the quads while keeping the legs relaxed.
230 for the next interval. I was breathing harder and tried to establish a breathing rhythm. It reminded me of my days of swimming across lake Washington when I would get a really nice strong rhythm.
Finally 240-250 on the last go-round. At first it was hard but then I remembered what one of my teammates was telling me yesterday about how she learned to mt bike by riding without sitting back on the saddle. You aren't standing but you aren't sitting back either. As I shifted my weight I felt more aggressive, like I was really driving the bike and the watts went up.
I felt pretty good afterwards but resisted the temptation to do more - well just a 10 minute tempo but not too hard.
My goal was to do 4x5 minute intervals at progressively higher watts. The first one I held at 210 watts. It was difficult to hold the wattage because if you haven't had any feedback for a while your form suffers and you don't realize it. When the watts jump around though you know.
The next interval was 220 and it wasn't too bad. I worked on firing the quads while keeping the legs relaxed.
230 for the next interval. I was breathing harder and tried to establish a breathing rhythm. It reminded me of my days of swimming across lake Washington when I would get a really nice strong rhythm.
Finally 240-250 on the last go-round. At first it was hard but then I remembered what one of my teammates was telling me yesterday about how she learned to mt bike by riding without sitting back on the saddle. You aren't standing but you aren't sitting back either. As I shifted my weight I felt more aggressive, like I was really driving the bike and the watts went up.
I felt pretty good afterwards but resisted the temptation to do more - well just a 10 minute tempo but not too hard.
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