Saturday, August 04, 2007

Bike 63 hills with 42 min of intervals

Ride 63 miles
3500 ft ascent
At 35 mile mark, Goal of 3 intervals on flat Sauvie Island loop. First 2 at 12 minutes in Z4 and third 10 min. in Z5 (power zones)
Had to climb up over west ridge to get back to start so I threw in a 4th TT at 8 minutes up the hill. Took 5 min slow spin between first 3 intervals and 10 min spin before final uphill interval.

This ride felt good. Really able to hold the slow cadence 65 in biggest gear almost the entire interval on each. Most of time in 54/12 gear with a few times in the 14 due to excessive headwind which slowed cadence to less than 60.

Entire ride: 63 miles/3:48/ave power 205 (Z2)/normal power 264 (low Z3)/HR ave 113 (high Z1)

For reference, 3 weeks ago I did 3 X 12 min TT on the same course, same 65 cadence, same rest between.
1 = 280 W and 333 T
2 =292 W and 360 Torque
3 = 307 W and 282 Torque (cadence higher on this one)
Why am I documenting my crank torque? Torque is inversely related to cadence. There is a point where torque and power are optimum. Hill and lower cadence really crank up the torque. Too high not a good thing. Too low and you probably arent getting the power you need out of your particular set cadence.

TT 1 = 12 min
Watts 325 (220-479)
distance 4.6 miles
ave speed 23.7
cadence 65
HR ave 128 (Z2) max 143 (Z4)
Torque423

TT 2 = 12 min
Watts 327 (196-497)
distance 4.8 miles
ave speed 24.8
cadence 65
HR ave 133 (Z3) max 157 (Z5c)
Torque 426

TT 3 = 10 min
Watts 362 (243-523)
distance 4.2 miles
ave speed 25.5 mph
cadence 67
HR ave 143 (Z4) max 152 (Z5b)
Torque 458

TT4 = 8 min , 600 ft ascent over 1.2 mile
Watts 329/speed 8 mph/cadence 53/HR ave 139/Torque 529

I was supposed to run 6 miles after, not as a brick, but sometime later. We got a pretty late start and didnt get home until almost 5. So, no run. My legs are pretty blown anyway. The consistency of these low cadence intervals is without a doubt strengthening my legs. Today, no burn at all during the intervals. I was pushing the final interval hard as possible the final 2 minutes, with watts in the 500's but still no burn. Just some fatigue. This to me is a very good sign to my increasing lactate tolerance which has been my limitation in cycling the past 3 seasons.