New York Route 97, along the Delaware River near the Hawks Nest overlook during the PA Hawks Nest 200k brevet, originally uploaded by Shane Beake.
This week began as a rest week. I was supposed to go easy during the week, except for a one-hour test on the spinner Thursday or Friday. Then Saturday and Sunday I was going to Massachusetts for a family trip. The bike wasn’t going to play a big role, if used at all. On Thursday morning I did the one-hour spinner workout and exceeded my goal of 800 kcal for the hour.
A few hours later, the plans for Massachusetts fell through due to an ill family member. So suddenly I had a free weekend. It just so happened there was a PA brevet on Saturday, the Hawks Nest 200k. Even though this was my rest week, I signed up for two reasons: (1) Due to the hot weather, I had cut down my riding the previous weekend by about 40 percent; and (2) I wanted to do a 200k two weeks before Quadzilla. Without this ride, I would have done nothing longer than a metric century (62 miles) within four weeks of the 400-mile event.
Balancing work and rest is the toughest part of training. I decided I could handle the extra stress. The weather Saturday turned out to be near perfect. The temperature only got as high as about 80 degrees with low humidity and bright sunshine. I started out a little fast, perhaps from enthusiasm over the cooler weather, averaging 222 watts for the first 30 minutes, an unsustainable pace. But I soon settled down to a more manageable 160-180 watts. The course has about 7,000 feet of climbing, less than the 8,000 to 10,000 you’d expect on a Tom Rosenbauer 200k. I felt good, so I decided to keep my stops to a minimum and aim for a good time.
I was doing all right on the hills, but where I really noticed improvement was on the flat and rolling sections, where I could pound out a more powerful pedal stroke. I credit that to the weekly one-hour time trialing sessions on the spinner. I ended up averaging 16.1 mph for the entire 125-mile ride, despite virtually no drafting at all. I’m usually in the 14’s for a course like that. I saw Don and Jon, the first two finishers, during the first 20 miles, then the only person I saw was Walter, the third fastest finisher. The four of us stayed within 15-20 minutes of each other most of the ride, though I saw only Walter, and only briefly at controles. I ended up fourth among the 14 finishers, which was a quite respectable result, especially given the quality of riders.
As the ride went on and I continued to feel strong, I began shooting for two personal bests, both achieved on a 2006 PA 200k in May 2006. On that ride I achieved my best power and speed numbers over the 200k distance: 171 watts straight power and 205 normalized power, and an 8:29 finish time. That ride was substantially more hilly, but I also did a lot of drafting as well. When I stopped at each controle, I was looking at my time elapsed and my average watts. I stayed near my goal through the last intermediate control. I tired a little at the end, but finished at 168w and 192 normalized power, my second best showing ever for that distance. My time was 8:31, just two minutes off my best. I spent just 38 minutes off the bike, despite four intermediate controle stops, averaging 5-10 minutes at each.
The power meter doesn’t lie. My numbers have improved significantly in the last several weeks. My conditioning appears to be good. That doesn’t guarantee I won’t have a bad day on Quadzilla in two weeks. There are other factors like mechanical issues, weather, sleep deprivation, navigation errors, and overtraining. I’m really concerned about overtraining. I’ve got to toe a fine line the next 12 days, between losing fitness on the one hand and not getting enough rest on the other. I got it right last year on the EM 1200k. I hope I can do it again.
Jud
WEEK 16 hours 12 minutes
GOAL 7 hours
I did cut down my riding about 40 percent over a 7-day period, so I sort of had a rest week. But I would have liked to have cut down on my volume this weekend a little more. I decided to do the 200k, however, as a final tuneup. I think I’ll be rested enough in 12 days. I’ll find out soon.