Whoa! Where did that come from?! I was not only faster, but significantly faster. How do you gain almost a mile per hour with weight and body fat staying more or less the same as the month previous? I don't know, I'm guessing that while I may not have shed much weight in the last month, I did ride a lot more often and my cardio probably improved to good in-season form.
So the raw data...
Height: 75"
Weight: 67.9kg
Body fat: 12.2%
BMI: 18.4
8 Mile Time: 18:15
Average Speed: 26.1mph
Average Heart Rate: 167bpm
Average Power: 298w
Watt/kilogram:4.39
So fucking wow again. I gained a little over .33 of a w/kg in a month. That is an outstanding development. If I keep making the same gains every month for another 8 months or so, I'll be a pro. =P
Feel free to ignore what follows, but some comments:
ReplyDelete1. Congratulations. Those are some really, really impressive numbers.
2. Don't worry too much about weight. You live in Florida. It might make a bit of a difference in races like Sugarloaf, but even then it's a power climb and extra weight isn't going to penalize you too much (addendum: extra fat isn't a good thing, but increased muscle mass shouldn't be frowned upon if it's resulting in increased power).
3. Seriously, 4.4 w/kg is nuts, and 26mph for 20 minutes is also pretty decently nuts. Was this on the road bike or the TT bike? On either, a slight change in weather (air pressure, humidity, temperature, or wind speed) could explain the speed difference. A better position could also have contributed (whether you consciously went for it or not). Rest could have also played a role.
4. After a great day, it seems counter-intuitive, but I like to take a day or so off. I always found myself most motivated after a good effort, but also the most likely to overcook it and trend towards burnout. But I think I might have a higher tendency to burn out than most. I don't know what software you're using, but if it's WKO+, watch out for your ATL dropping for a bit then exceeding your CTL. Don't ratchet your CTL up too quickly, and make sure to take often rests when it's getting up there. I've often heard CTL of 100 isn't sustainable, and ATLs exceeding that by much will do more harm than good.
5. Mostly I just wanted to say congratulations. With as much as you have invested in this (physically, mentally, and fiscally), I'm sure you are probably aware of everything above. Keep it up. That's a ride to be proud of.
Are you doing the Orlando or Gainesville TT series? Any road races in general?
Thanks for the advice Mike.
ReplyDeleteI'm not super worried about my weight in pounds. It's really a matter of body composition. % body fat is 10x more important to me than weight. The thing is, the best way to lower your body fat is to lose the fat which means losing pounds.
I did the Gville time trial this year, but got rained out of the crit. I plan on doing the space coast TT and road race or crit (ill decide when I see the flyer) in may and then the Stuart crit in june. After that my only real goal is the state road race in ocala in october.