I Got Rolled, then I Got Watts, BABY!!!

Evil coach made me do an FTP test on the bike today. I guess it's the last hurrah before Ironman Brazil to see just where we should calibrate my IM ride. And then I get to test it out this weekend.

Recall that I was pretty wasted beginning Sunday's little indoor riding festival. Luckily, Monday was a rest day (I still did some weights), and yesterday I only had to swim 2650 yards, which was not bad, but after which I still felt like someone had run over me repeatedly with one of those roller things they use to level blacktop (see above), especially my quads. I could feel each part of my quadriceps muscle vibrating while I was kicking in the pool yesterday.

I smartly garbaged up on sleep while I had the opportunity. 9.5 hours Sunday night (pure exhaustion). 9.5 hours Monday night (more exhaustion). 9.5 hours last night, and man I did not want to get out of bed this morning. Sometimes when I drop my training down, I go into this "hey, this lethargic thing ain't so bad, maybe I don't really want to train any more" thing. I guess I have rewired my brain so that when I have the opportunity for real rest, I interpret it instead as "I am done training FOREVER!"

Today was no different. I was in no hurry to get my bike prepared to ride. I just didn't feel very motivated. Paralysis was setting in. How about I just continue not doing much and sleeping a ton? I could really get used to not training. Thanks, though, I really enjoyed that last training cycle. Busted my ass. But I guess I will get on my bike and see what I can do, even though I don't feel like I have much energy at all.

So I procrastinate, and finally at 11:30AM I figure that I had better get the bike ready and be out the door by 11:45 since I have to be back for a 2:00PM meeting. I am supposed to ride 1:15 and run :30. I know the ride will go longer, because when I ride outdoors I am almost never dead on. And then there are stoplights, stop signs, and other things. Today, of all things, there was a funeral procession pulling into the road right after my warmup. Any other day, and I would be pissed off. Not today. A little respect for the dead. I was amazed that I didn't even cry over it. I think it was the universe testing me. Seriously! I did sneak by when there was a gap, though, because I just didn't have that much time to wait. Priorities, you know.

I got to my circle TT loop area. It's about 3.1 miles around with minimal stopping. It's mostly flat, but there are some rises and a few small rollers that make it interesting. But it's the best option I have to do my interval work on, and it's pretty safe, so that's where I go. However, I have no control over wind. But I LOVE wind when doing intervals. Makes it more fun. I got my wish on the wind again today. SSW, 8-10, gusting to 25MPH. Excellent!

I got nice temps, too. About 71. Perfect. So I didn't have to wear much clothing. And for a short ride, no aerobottle either. I played Natasha Badmann and did the upside-down drinking thing from one of the XLAB cages behind my butt.

Ah, the joys of riding on a nice day with a power meter! Interesting thing about the SRM--when you stop an interval, the average watts it shows you may be slightly lower than what you get once you download the information, and then in Cycling Peaks, when you get to see Normalized Power (NP), the NP value is typically higher when riding outdoors (because of variation in terrain, wind, etc.). So on my first FT interval (my test protocol is 20' at FT, 2' easy, 20' at FT, and then get NP for the entire 42' range), what I saw was 168 watts, which was fine, since I knew my NP would be higher given the wind (head and tail) and hills (up and down, and I tried to minimize coasting). I figured close enough. On the 2' easy part, at first I just wanted to puke or at least not pedal, but I picked it up to keep my legs in motion to get ready for the second FT interval. On this one I just decided this was so much fun that I would push even harder, or at least try to. Why not? I was under strict orders from Coach to make each of my remaining interval rides (um....which ones AREN'T????) count. When I'd look at my average watts, they weren't looking too great about 10' in, so I pushed harder. At one point, I asked myself, "Does this hurt?" And the answer was, "Nope." It's not pain; it's just effort. What the hell, it's only 20' (and believe me, the 20' goes by MUCH more quickly outdoors than on the trainer).

When I hit the interval button, I thought I saw 170 for the second FT interval for average watts. All I know is there was a 1 followed by a 7. So good enough. I eased off the effort, dropped back into the small chainring, and headed for home. When I was almost there, for some reason I rode through downtown Downers Grove, and a guy on a motorcycle pulls up ahead of me and says, "I prefer a little more power on my ride." To which I replied, "I had plenty of power today!" with a huge smile on my face. He gave me a thumbs up.

I happily rode home and thought, "I wonder how well I'll run today?" It had been 4 days ago that I last ran, and it was a brick run, and so I just got ready as quickly as I could. About 4' later, I'm out and running.

I decided to head west into the wind so I could have a little push on the way back in. Problem is, going west is mostly uphill for about 1.5 miles. Too fucking bad. Just run. I had a new pair of running shoes that I knew would feel good--all cushy and all clean with day-glo orange EZ laces and hot pink squeeze toggles. I didn't feel bad as I headed up the hill right outside my house. Why should I expect to have trouble running? I only rode like 1:20. That is nothing. So what if it effectively included a 40' time trial. I am so used to this it is not even funny. I will say my legs did not feel quite normal, but they didn't feel bad at all. It was more like, "Fucking hill, another fucking hill" until I got 15' out so I could turn around. I was wearing a pair of low-rider DSS bike shorts, with just a skimpy bra top, since I get pretty hot running, so I'd removed the tank thingie after biking (when it gets to be full summer, I will ride with just the nothing bra top during the week, who cares, may as well get a decent tan). Because of this, I was getting the expected incredulous stares from people seeing all my freakish abs staring them down, daring them not to look. One guy in his car on a cell phone just about crashed his car. I just laugh at this stuff thinking, "Hey, I'm 49 and look like this it just doesn't get any better!" There were a few times when I smiled thinking about my mom, how she would probably say something like "ohhhhhh Sheila" (name that tune) if she saw me dressed this way. Before she passed away, I gave my mom a good look at my abs so that she would know that I wasn't really skinny, and that I had all this muscle on me. She even touched them!

The run was fine, and I guess I was motivated by needing to get back home for my business meeting call. Well, when all was said and done, I negative split the run by 1.30. How about that? And I think I was running 8:00/mile? WTF??? It just goes to show you that sometimes when you feel totally lethargic and such that you can have a great workout. I guess I sort of had a little taperoni there. Whatever, I'll take it!

Now for the good part: my NP for the 42' interval, aka the FTP test was....177!!!!! So I have become stronger, even doing it outdoors! Phew. Coach had said he wanted me to hit 175 before Ironman Brazil (remember that?), and I guess I have done it. Only problem is that means I get to ride harder, but I think I have been riding pretty hard the last few weekends, which is a sign that my FTP has gone up.

My FTP watts/kg is now 3.47. WOO-FUCKING-HOO!! My weight hasn't changed, but I know I've lost additional bodyfat because my hips and butt measurements each went down 1/2". My quads ain't any smaller, though. See previous Bike Porn (Fat-Free) post.

I'm a happy camper! Data is below:
FTP Test:
Duration: 42:40
Work: 435 kJ
TSS: 75.8 (intensity factor 1.032)
Norm Power: 177
Distance: 13.608 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 331 170 watts
Heart Rate: 0 254 106 bpm
Cadence: 30 130 69 rpm
Speed: 3.8 28.6 19.1 mph
Torque: 0 488 218 lb-in