Dave : Training

The Passes

Dave — Mon, 17 Apr 2006 00:30:00 GMT

I'll admit it right here, right now: Durango cyclists have an (unfair?) advantage for a number of reasons, but the one I really like is the proximity to the million dollar highway, US Hwy 550 between Durango Mountain Resort and Ouray. The road strikes fear into those driving trucks, RVs, or anyone pulling trailers. Anyone from Iowa for that matter ;) The route hits 3 major passes: Coal Bank, Molas, and Red Mountain. They are all between 10,600 and 11,000'.

Since the elevation is so high, power output is much reduced. According to one performance model (http://www.midweekclub.com/powerFAQ.htm#Q17), at 11,000' you have between 77% and 81% of your sea level threshold power and not a watt more. Some think this is bad for training - half of the reasoning of the live high/train low model is based on such reasoning. But I say bull hockey. Guys that train at elevation in these parts kick some serious booty. Ned is one of them, training high hasn't hurt his palmares! One thing I've noticed when training at elevation is that recovery is faster than a similar TSS workout at lower elevations. In the latter, FT is higher so absolute work performed is much higher - and I presume that accounts for more muscle damage (don't quote me on that though, I'm no physiologist). Of course I mix it up, interjecting high intensity stuff at (relatively) lower elevations mid-week. It's my opinion though, that prolonged work at elevation builds FT power because it's all relative - FT relative to available Os. At elevation I can do a helluva lot more "threshold" work than lower elevations.

In any case, after a serious block of elevation work last year I saw gains beyond expecations, so I'm at it again. Today's ride was 111 miles, Durango to Red Mtn pass and back. Total ride time was about 6:20. Not sure how much climbing, but by Silverton there is over 5,000' and that was just the first 2:40, only 2 of 5 passes climbed...

The aesthetic perks are huge. It's awesome country any time of year up there...right now it's mud season at the lower elevations, and still winter at higher elevations.

This shot is just before the base of Coal Bank Pass. Engineer Mountain on the right.

The top of Red Mountain pass is still wintry. Last year snowpack was more than double this amount.

6 years ago I spent a summer guiding rafts down the upper Animas river. This is the first view the crews get, looking down the daunting Animas River gorge from Silverton.

Now you know another reason you should groan when a Durango cyclist shows up to your next event!

Executing your first 24 solo, part 5 (training)

Dave — Sun, 12 Mar 2006 13:02:00 GMT

Part 5 addresses how to train for your first 24 solo effort. The first 4 posts in this series are here.

Yuri: Do you do any 24 hour simulations...or just go for it?? Dave, I really appreciate all of your input on these matters and putting up with my petty questions, I know that it will help me out as I prepare for Laguna Seca.

Dave: Thanks Yuri for the questions - they are really well thought out. They directly address aspects of racing I've been working on for a few years now...and I'm happy to help out fellow chronics!

Training for ultra MTB events in general is a passion of mine. I've spent years thinking on the topic and used different tools to help understand what is happening, how to guage progress, and how to plan. Sharing these thoughts is the #1 reason I started this blog. In time I'll go into more depth on the whys, whats, & whens of what I've found to be effective, but for now, this will get you pointed in the right direction. Of course, there are a million ways to skin a cat...so you may end up doing something entirely different based on your previous training experiences...

24 solo efforts are huge - physically, financially, emotionally, mentally. It's always been my approach to come at them with the best possible fitness, because anything less is just going to hurt that much more and leave me dissatisfied. We're always looking for optimal experiences, right?

Time to stir the pot again. There just isn't much info in the public domain on ultra mtb training. I've been coached, used Friel's methods, and learned a lot for both scenarios. However, neither filled the ultra gaps. At issue is the demands of the event, balanced with a need for speed. There's a basic paradox in ultra events: you rarely if ever do sustained efforts at or above threshold power, but power at threshold is the primary determinent of endurance capacity. That last part is key. If you train by power, you know that you have an intrinsic power-duration curve. For example, let's say you can do 600W for 1 min, 400 for 5m, 300 for 20m, 250 for 5 hours and so on. These are points on your power-duration curve. For long events, we're interested in raising that 5 hour point. It is my observation that to do that, you must raise the shorter duration points - the 1, 5, and 20 minute points.

This isn't to say endurance rides aren't important - they are key! Another aspect to consider is specificity. 24 solos are long...and the closer to an event, the more "race-like" you should be training. So when I put these thoughts in a tumbler and shake'm up, I come up with a rough periodization plan that looks like this:

Transition
Endurance phase, tempo training
Top end training (power level 5, 6)
Threshold training (power level 4)
Big, a$$-kicking tempo blocks.
Taper/sharpen/race

That's more or less reverse periodization in terms of intensity. The general idea is to first raise threshold power as high as possible, then build the endurance required for the event. The final big tempo blocks are key - and to get to your question - no there aren't any 24 hour sims in there. I shoot for getting a ride in that is at least 8 hours, and not usually more than 10. In the long rides of this period, I always try to pick it up towards the end. It instills good PE/pacing practices & intuition. This is based on power of course...the long rides are when you want to dial in your on-bike nutrition (300-400 cal/hour), pit stop actions, equipment, clothing...all the little details that add up to make or break performances.

This is the most race-specific preparation of the plan - and part of the process is to learn your body's signals/requests. During the race, you should always be thinking about what you need now, and what you need in the near future. Is your calorie intake on target? Is it digesting well? How about electrolytes? Are you getting cold? Are your eyes getting worked over by dust?(!!!) Out on a lap you are thinking of things you might request of your support either now or for the following lap. The long rides of this period are a time to dial in this ability to plan ahead on the fly, listening keenly to your body's signals. This is also a good time to dial in your night riding equipment and technique.

When to end that final tempo block and enter the taper depends on your base and race intentions. If the goal is a good solid finish, you probably want to enter the taper about 2 weeks prior to the event. If your intention is race domination, you'll want to end it 3 weeks prior, and after you freshen up (about a week) do a week's worth of higher intensity mtb stuff to bring on top end...but that is something I'd strongly recommend for a future event. You need a huge base to pull that one off. A 3 week taper will leave you flat (less fit) if your base isn't big enough.

Blah blah blah...a picture is worth a thousand words. Cyclingpeaks is *the* software package for power meter users. Here's a plot of some of my training metrics leading to Old Pueblo this year. Higher intensity weeks occured in early Nov and mid-Dec, the low volume weeks. Note the steady progression of volume each week through early Feb (except one easy week when I was torched, had to rest up for this week). Long rides get a bit longer each week in this phase. This was a very aggressive, experimental training block. The result was my best 24 hour form to date. This just goes to show that even folks with average genetic endowment can have their share of "pinch me" moments given smart, hard training.

Yuri, thanks again for the well-formed questions. Good luck in your quest for an optimal experience, I know you'll rock it.

I'd really like to hear what others think about this and any of the other ideas I've expressed in this series, all thoughts are welcome.

TeamDicky: care to share any insights from the Viking point of view? Don't worry, Yuri's a west coast guy ;)

Executing your first 24 solo, part 4 (pacing)

Dave — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 13:34:00 GMT

Now it's time for the fun stuff.

Yuri: Last, how do you pace yourself? Did you preride so you knew what kind of times you should be laying down, or did you just go out and base your pace off your first lap?

Dave: There are several possible answers to this one...as in what did I do in my most recent race, or what did I do in my first few races...but sticking with the theme of solo virginity (that sounds bad!), the short answer is start out a lot easier than you think you should, especially on a SS. I've been training with power for several years now and have collected power data for long rides and a few 24 hour efforts as well. From this data, one thing that is obvious is how much initial pacing affects late race performance. Go too hard early in the ride and you'll slow sooner. Fatigue in these events is inevitable but manageable with good fitness and a good plan. Let's break the event down into 6 hour chunks.

Hours 0-6

This is a critical period of the race - not because you can win it here, but because you can lose it here. Since this is when you are uber fresh and chomping to get racing (you've been tapering for a couple weeks and have been going stir crazy with extra energy) it will be easy to come out of the gate flying, and it will feel effortless. Be conservative! No matter how fast you go, you still gotta go in circles for 24 hours...go too hard here and the next 18 hours will be pure torture, or worse. A prime example of going too hard early in the race happened last year at 24 hour natz. All the big guns did their best to torch each other - and took themselves out of the race, one by one. A hard pace means you aren't eating or hydrating well either, it all leads to CTD conditions.

I suggest setting some sort of limit for the first 6 hours. This can be based off heart rate, PE, breathing rate, or power, depending on what you have available. If using HR, the limit would be about 10 beats below LTHR, and you probably wouldn't want to average any more than LTHR-20 for any given hour. You never want to go to the point where you hit your ventilatory threshold, where breathing just begins to get labored. If you find yourself there, back off quickly. At this point the primary fuel source is muscle glycogen which is good for about 2 hours. If pacing by power, Coggan's level 2 is a good place to hang out, and limit any power spikes above L5.

So you're wondering what I'm talking about there...some of the fastest 24 hour riders come out swinging throwing down wicked fast first laps, sometimes faster than any team riders, and still go on to win. It takes quite a few events under the belt to get a feel for what you can get away with. Experience builds confidence. Still, I've often pondered the pacing question. Given what I've learned about power output (which determines speed & performance), it seems ridiculous to start a 24 so hard. Yet, the winning riders often go hard. Is it just because physiologically they are head and shoulders above the rest? Or maybe it's best to make hay while the sun shines, so to speak? The mental edge of leading the race? Hard to say. But for sure, in your first 24 solo effort, take it easy the first 6 hours. If you find you have lots of energy left you will still have 18 hours to put it to good use.

In general, I don't pace by lap times at all. It's all perceived exertion for me these days. Ride the wheel of others when you can, but avoid getting on the wheel of someone riding like a XC event - super bursty - you'll want to ride as steady as possible to avoid those higher power bursts. Ride relaxed, upper body loose, and get dialed into your nutrition plan ASAP. You'll want to be taking in 300+ calories an hour, the sooner you get on track with this the better.

Hours 6-12

The first 6 hours don't tell you a lot about how you'll feel for the rest of the race, but in this period (6-12) you'll get strong indications. In my first 2 events, there was a time around the 9 hour mark when I'd have trouble maintaining, probably because that's about the length of the longest training ride pre-event. It was a difficult time. Your circadian rythms are telling your body its time to get some shut eye. Don't push pace at all in these hours. This is the time to "settle in" and find your flow. Your actual power output will likely come down considerably, and you are best served by a comfortable pace. MP3 players were made for night riding in 24 solos...talking to others is a treat as well. The cameraderie/vibe of 24s in general is so NOT norba, it's grassroots stuff where everyone is having a great time. Soak it in, it becomes more apparent in the night. Keep your pits as short as possible. Long stops in the night just have you starting the next one colder. You don't have to ride hard, just ride...

Hours 12-18

The witching hours. By anyones measure, the hardest part of the race. Everyone slows towards dawn - just know this, accept it, don't fight it, flow with it, and keep the wheels turning. Focus on keeping to your nutrition plan - and when I say "plan", I'm talking more about calorie goals. Eating in the middle of the night is often difficult. This is when you will make use of all the variety of foods you brought. Be flexible in *what* you eat, just make sure you get the calories in. I find that I need surprisingly little water in the night so can't get nearly enough calories by drink alone - but just be aware that solid foods take energy to digest. This can be trouble, leaving energy reserves super low...if your support person can keep track of your calorie intake in calories/hour, they can help you avoid the total crash. These are oatmeal hours. You might find that sections of trail that were previously rideable become techy monsters. Don't sweat it; when the sun comes up you'll see that line again. This is also a good time to make little short term goals for yourself. "Eat banana at turn x" or "make it through rock garden without unclipping" sort of stuff.

If you have inner demons, they will surface in this period.

Hours 18-25

So you've been hammering away for 18 hours, only 7 to go! After suffering through the dawn lap, the sunrise brings warmth back to the world. It's amazing what this can do for you. Hopefully at this point you're feeling OK, haven't cracked too hard, and have a little something left. If you are in a good position, this is a tactical time. Know where you are in the field in relation to others, and know that they are hurting as much as you. If you haven't overcooked the pacing, you'll wake up nicely and have more to give...it becomes absolutely limited by fuel intake. If you find that you are still racing, you'll want to go fast...but one fast lap in the last quarter of the race can leave you pretty drained. So it's the constant tug - go hard, or eat? If you can do both, great...if not, eat as much as you can in the pits. I'm usually on to pepsi on alternating laps in this period...if you do a straight sugar approach like that, be sure to use electrolytes of some sort as an electrolyte bonk in the morning is a bad thing. In a good race, I'm riding right at VT for most of the morning, and might even have to dig deep for a lap or two. Despite the hard breathing, power output isn't much, it's just that by now the primary fuel source is fats & it takes a lot more oxygen to burn them.

On tactics: you'll need help from your support crew here. The idea is to do the least amount of time on the bike to achieve the highest possible placing. You're racing, right? You could find yourself at the front, but close - which might mean you have to crank really hard to come through before noon so you get the honor of another lap. Or, you might be in a bit of no mans land, where you can stop at 11am and not lose a spot. If the SS field is small (not likely in CA I'm thinking), the gaps could be large. Just don't convince yourself you will stop at 11am if there's any chance whatsoever you need to keep it rolling.

More on tactics: if you have the good fortune to still be racing (95% or riders are in survival mode right now) it is a huge mental game right now. Actually, racing always is...but especially so after everyone has been to the bonk and back already. You may be really tight with one or two competitors. If you lay down a lap that is substantially faster than a previous lap, it will strike fear and doubt into your competition. Or, really motivate them...depends how tough they are. Just know that these are the type of games that go on at the pointy end of the field, and if you are still racing, everything you do will have consequences one way or another...OK so this is a more advanced topic, but Yuri is a fast, salty dog that just might find himself in this position.

Finally, you'll come into the timing tent for the last time, and with that arrival a sense of accomplishment you've done something out of the ordinary, something big. Your body will know it too.

Executing your first solo, part 3 (pits, chammies, the run)

Dave — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 01:31:00 GMT

Yuri: How long were your pit stops?

Dave: They've been all over the map. At Old Pueblo, they varied between 0 and 5 minutes, probably averaged about 1-2 minutes - except for the 8 hour forced stop :( Moab was similar, quick stops throughout. Competition was really tight and strong; I was motivated to hustle them all on through.

Pit stop length seems to be something I've adapted to. I couldn't do short pits in the first couple of events. I tried...but ended up stopping for 5-10 min through the night after 9pm or so, and really looked forward to the "every other lap" in the night when I switched out batteries, since it took a little longer.

For your first event, I'd strongly recommend taking a "relaxed" plan of attack. You want to keep the wheels rolling as much as possible, but it might be too costly to shoot for 2 min stops throughout the night. Have a good plan in place, then on race day be flexible and seek the flow.

Yuri: I know this one is a little more personal but, how many shammies did you go through? Did you rotate every few hours or did you just use one for the whole 24 hours? Any issues with chaffing, if so, any secrets for prevention...besides vasoline??

Dave: It depends on the race. If it's a close one, I'll go the whole 24 without a change. I think the perfect plan is to change twice during the race, every 8 hours. The first change could coincide with when you mount your lights, the second the am breakfast stop. To keep things pain free (well, sorta anyway) new chammies are key, and the kind that you know are uber comfortable. I started using performance bibs, not sure the make but they come from Italy...every 24 hour event gets a new pair of bibs. 24 solo events are so big, so epic - that I figure I just owe it to my nether regions. The other key is a saddle you know won't rub you raw. I prefer the WTB lasers as the whale tail design spreads the pressure points over a wide area - but this is totally subjective. It all gets lubed up with Udderly Smooth udder cream - cheap and works better than anything else I've used, although it doesn't have the menthol tingle of that expensive euro stuff.

Yuri: Now, I read your blurb about the run....how important do you think it is to be in good position on the run? I don't think that Laguna Seca bottlenecks too bad at the beginning, so there will be time to bring people back. How do the other solo riders approach the run?

At OP last year I dawdled the run and got completely bottlenecked in traffic. My first lap was about 25 minutes slower than the second. This year I was on a mission, and getting bottlenecked wasn't part of the plan. It takes a few races to get a feel for how you'll respond, and with each race confidence improves, allowing more aggressive pacing. However, for the first one, the position of the run is absolutely meaningless. You could walk it and it just wouldn't matter, especially on a course that doesn't bottleneck. For example, last year at Steamboat I was pretty much dead last on the run. Didn't expend any effort at all, yet it certainly didn't affect the results. In fact, there are some potential pitfalls of an aggresive run. First of all, it will put you with the front-runners, which may motivate you ride harder than you should. The second point - if you aren't accustomed to running, you can do muscle damage in the first 60 seconds of the race that will haunt you the rest of the race.

Most solo riders take the run nice and easy. The exception would be the contenders. Even then, the race is not won in the first 400 yards ;)
---------------------------------

Next up: pacing, then training.

Executing your first 24 solo, part 2 (lights)

Dave — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 15:43:00 GMT

Update 3/22/06: Pivvay (Chris) has done a great write-up on DIY LED lighting. It's a bit of work and no guarantees you will have light out in the boonies, but check it out: http://slipangles.blogspot.com/2006/03/geek-this.html.

Part 1 of this series addressed nutrition and supplements for 24 hour solo efforts, geared towards an experienced racer who is doing their first solo event. Picking up where I left off, here's another bit of Q&A from Yuri.

Yuri: How many lighting systems should I have and, do you wear a system on your helmet as well?

Dave: Great question. 24s can be won and lost in the dark, trust me on this one. For starters, there's a lot of info at MTBR on lights. Another great review of LED light systems is at gearreview.com. There are so many choices out there...I encourage anyone reading this with different experiences to post a comment of favorite setups.

It depends on the style of riding and the course demands...but I generally prefer two light systems. On the bars I'll have a bright (HID) wider beam light, and on my helmet a narrower spot beam. The helmet light doesn't have to be quite as powerful as the bar light - it is simply a spot to fill in the gaps, especially in twisty singletrack so you can see where you are going as opposed to where your bars are pointed. I also like the helmet mounted light to be narrow and bright enough that it can throw light farther than the bar light. This is especially helpful if there are high speed sections on the course. At Moab, for instance, there are some straight shot gradual descents that are rippin fast - if you have enough light, anyway (unless of course you just use the force).

Also, some types of lights seem better for certain types of terrain. For example, if it's dark terrain, like high-country in the woods stuff, I prefer brighter light, like an HID. If it's desert terrain, like Moab, I like yellower halogen light possibly mixed with HID light. I've only used one LED system to date, and this is an area of keen interest as the systems generally last longer and are lighter. Experiment as much as you can before the race to determine what works best.

I wouldn't consider any light system that I didn't trust to run for 2 laps, about 3 hours. Also, the batteries must be able to charge up within the same timeframe - 2 laps. This way, you can get by with 2 light systems and 4 batteries. This is what I'd consider the bare minimum - if you can beg, borrow or steal a couple of backup systems and/or batteries you'll have more piece of mind. 24 hour events require a backup light source of some sort, and this requirement is satisfied by a second light. That is a great argument for two light systems. You can get the charging done by neutral support probably, depending on the type of systems and support offered, or you could do it yourself with a power inverter and your car battery. I've been doing the latter for the last 3 years. The inverter can be found at Radio Shack. I can charge multiple batteries and run a low wattage shop light through the night, works a charm. Here's my setup:

Before the race, you'll want to make sure you have it all dialed in. If you need a connecting wire from the bike mounted battery to the bar-mounted light, zip tie it in place...if you need an extension from the helmet mounted light to the battery, make sure you've got that worked out and it works. Sometimes long cords develop shorts at the worst possible times. I find that the routing of the wire from the helmet to battery is non-trivial, in particular. Good to have it figurred out so it isn't in the way on race day (night).

As a final note on night riding, take good care of your eyes. I can't stress this one enough... Always wear eye protection, no matter how much it might feel good to go without (initially). The colder the temps, the more critical this becomes. Evolution, for example, has set up some deep water fish with mechanisms that keep the eyeballs at a constant 20-25C. It turns out that the "speed" of sight is greatly determined by eye temperature. I can tell you from personal experience, if you scratch your eyes with dust or whatever, then it gets cold, you are going to be so pissed as you crawl in your sleeping bag listening to the race carry on despite your temporary blindness.

So there you have it. Stay tuned for more rants and secrets.

Executing your first 24 solo, part 1 (nutrition)

Dave — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 11:11:00 GMT

A long time racing bud shot me an email the other day with a great set of questions on how to make his first 24 hour solo attempt a success. It seemed like a great thing to share here...so here we go. Don't worry Yuri, I'll send you a few top secret details off-line :)

First of all, Yuri has been racing a long time at a very high level. He's already a hammer, and that's a great place from which to launch your first 24 hour attempt. I've read that Eatough doesn't do any specific training for 24s except maybe one 6-7 hour ride before the race...maybe Yuri is the next E? The following responses are geared towards a rider who is already fit, fast, and has a good bit of racing under their belt.

Yuri: I am going to be doing Laguna Seca on my single speed....just for a little more pain, and have a number of questions. First of all, I've only done a 24 hour event as part of a four man team, so I've never suffered for 24 hours straight by myself and I'm wondering if you have any nutritional secrets that will help me out?? What is your favorite/most effective replenishing food? How were you feeding...did you take it on the run, or did you stop?

Dave: Do I have secrets...hell yea! I'm a blabber mouth though, so here we go.

Support: You didn't ask about this...but your support at a 24 solo is the single largest factor for consideration. My teammate Lynda did her first 24 totally unsupported (SITS last year, the sicko finished 3rd), and for her second 24 did OP this year with a killer support crew. She thinks support make a difference of about 3 laps in a race. 3 laps! Start dialing it in now.

On a SS, you might get by without a mechanic, but it's still risky. A lot can happen in 24 hours. At the very least, you'll want one dedicated, very patient individual. I'd suggest more because it is very hard on that one person to do it all. At OP Lynda and I shared pit; we had a professional mechanic and 4 support staff, 2 kids, and one dog. Dogs not needed...

Feeding: my normal feeding routine is pretty simple, and perhaps gross...in one back pocket I carry bananas already peeled and cut into 3 or 4 chunks. Easy to grab and I don't tire of them. In another pocket is an eGel flask. Fluids are almost always eFuel and water. I've used other drinks in the past, but can't tolerate anything else for long periods. eFuel/eGel is high in electrolytes so you won't need additional supplementation unless it is really hot, or you are a heavy/salty sweater. As a general goal, I aim for 350-400 calories each hour. Eating that much is a challenge if your pace is too high - use that as one of your pacing guages. No matter how fast you go, you're still going in circles for 24 hours.

As the race progresses, the need for solid foods with a bit of fat becomes apparent. My favorite is tortilla, almond butter, and honey wraps again cut into chunks. At OP, Tinker was in the next pit - we saw him going for bite size snickers & oreos. You'll probably want some variety in there - my taste buds were all over the map at the first couple of 24's I did, and at one of them I was eating enormous amounts - most of it what Anna (my support guru) had brought for herself. Some riders need a lot more salt that can be obtained from drinks and will eat soups in the night. Ever look at the sodium content of a can of soup? It's like eating 20 enduralytes.

For your first 24, I'd strongly recommend sitting down to eat at least twice during the race, once about 6-8 pm, and once about 4-7am. Not too much, and easy on the fats/proteins, something easily digested, but you'll thank yourself later if you do. I never planned these breaks in my first attempts, but they became mandatory anyway. Planning them in will give you something to look forward to, and keep energy levels up. It should only take 10-15 minutes. One of my favorites is instant oatmeal (maple & brown sugar, oh yea), I can down one of those in 30 seconds at lap transitions...In Steamboat last year, I cracked so hard I darn near threw in the towel. 3 instant oatmeals, 4 advils, and a jug of coffee later I was a new man and soldiered on (at the coaxing of one very persistent crew member, Jen Murphy. She about kicked my a$$).

Most of the time, all this eating happens on the bike. I'll have a table set up with some easily grabbed items in the pit to fill pockets and mouth.

There are some essential supplements in my 24 hour kit. I make sure to take in a little protein each lap. The research I've seen suggests that additional protein can mitigate muscle damage and also prevent/delay mental fatigue. If it's cool I'll mix HealthFX whey with OJ; if its hot I'll mix it with V8 juice (the V8 provides a ton of electrolytes for the heat). If this secret gets out there is going to be a lot more competition this year... Advil was the big revelation for me last year. I honestly had never used it before. You will probably reach a point where everything starts to hurt - back, neck, shoulders, and of course legs - every little thing seems painful. That's your body telling you it's time to shut it down. You can silence your body with Advil. I go to a prevention mode with Advil at the 8 hour mark - 2 every 4 hours - then more if needed. I've heard talk this interferes with proper hydration, so make sure that isn't an issue. It hasn't been an issue for me. I use something with some zip in the night to help stay alert and keep the bike handling sharp. Things that have worked are coffee, yerba mate, and EnduroFX. If you use enduro, though, don't get carried away - you can easily bonk on that stuff! The idea is just to keep bike handling sharp, not necessarily to hammer. More on that in pacing...

If it's a really tight race and you want to drill the finish, you might try defizzed pepsi or coke, either watered down or full strength if you have water as well. That works well for me, and sometimes pepsi in the night will settle an unruly stomach. Not sure how something that can eat pennies settles a stomach, one of the great mysteries in life...

I find a small, 50 oz water filled camelback to be the trick for 24s. 30 oz would probably be plenty big as well, maybe something like this . Haven't laid my eyes on one yet, but hear they are awesome. I'll also carry the eFuel water bottle. Except for the first lap where I don't have a camelback, I use that combo for the duration.

Dang, this got long! Let's call this the end of part 1 of ? Stay tuned for the rest to include pacing, chammies, lights, and the big one: training.

Don't ask me why, though ;)

And on the 7th day...

Dave — Fri, 03 Feb 2006 12:01:00 GMT

4 of the last 5 weeks have been between 1,100-1,500 TSS, and let me tell you, that has kept me in the hurt locker for the week. Brent mentioned his sensations of his first recovery day...well I've had that for the past 6 days pretty much. Wednesday it seemed the legs were itching for action - but once on the bike it was obvious it was to be another day of recovery. When energy levels return, I have a very active mind in the wee hours of the morning - today for example. The trouble is, I'm too dim-witted when in the hurt locker to remember that, doh! Anyway, today feels like the first day of the peak and taper into OP - I'm excited for the next few weeks, rather than looking forward to the post-OP break.

So what's all this nonesense about high CTL training? Here's a plot of my CTL for the last 3 years. The y-axis begins at 80 and goes in 10 point increments, horizontal lines represent months (CTL, or chronic training load, is a measure of current training load based on the accumulated TSS of previous training. I've put a short def in the glossary, but just realized it doesn't mention TSS. Sooner or later the actual calculation of CTL/ATL/TSB will be publicly available, but until then please accept my apologies for the cloak and dagger stuff). To get a feeling for the stress associated with TSS points, it's normalized so that 100 points is the equivalent of going all out for one hour. Hmmm...thinking that way, 1500 TSS is the equivalent stress of 15 x 1 hour time trials in a single week. NO WONDER!

Hmmm...now that I look closer, it's more of a 2.5 year plot, oops. '03 data is not as complete as I thought...lots of time on the MTB sans PM. Anyway, the trend is obvious - increasing. The implications, especially to an enduro freak, should be pretty obvious. By strategically increasing one's ability to train, one can train more - and race longer, and with the right training (refered to as composition of CTL), faster. So part of the experimentation leading to OP is to see how far I can push CTL and also with an eye towards big weeks since TransRockies will be one helluva big week. I'm happily calling 145 my limit for this season;)

Speaking of CTL limits and such, check out Tinker's schedule for '06. That looks incredibly ambitious, even for Tinker. Sorta boggles the imagination what CTL he'll find after RAAM...

This is my 3rd year of doing self-experimentation leading to OP, it's the best form of learning. There isn't a lot of info on how to train for ultras and it's something I've been passionately putting my thoughts to for a few years now. In a month or so, the results of the current experiment will be distilled and the results added to the library of my training hypotheses/ideas/methods. The rough training sketch for the main racing season is in place, but it always gets tweaked in March after the OP process. From March forward, I stick to what works, no more experimentation.

For now, on this 7th day, I'm darn excited to get to the business at hand: dropping some CTL and increasing the intensity. One of the projects that lends itself to this period is the 29/26 singletrack testing. So look for some interesting 5am posts in the near future, but be forewarned, they might blow up the universe!

Building for Old Pueblo

Dave — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 22:44:00 GMT

It's December 13 and Durango finally got some of the white stuff. It's been the first year I recall that you could ride your MTB all the way to December. It's been great, but oh man the Nordic and Alpine folks are jonesin.

According to my training plan, the build up for Old Pueblo begins today. It might sound odd, given that I've done 4 White Rim rides in 2 weeks, that I consider today as the beginning of the build...it's more of a seasonal attitude thing. Growing up in Michigan, I was programmed at an early age to put on winter fat in the fall, and no matter where I live it happens every year. Late October to Jan 1 is typically a time of weight gain, regardless of training volume. Gimme some pie dammit! This year seems to be different. I'm super excited for what's to come in '06 and feeling fresh as a daisy at a CTL of 124.

The trainer is no way to start this build, so I opted for some interval work up Junction Creek road in the snow.

Riding MTB in general reduces power output. Combine that with snow and it becomes a judgement call whether to call it a skills ride or L5...it often required quite smooth form to avoid slippage, and going down was a real treat!

In between intervals 4 and 5 the shifting took a nap. I have no idea why :)

Riding in the snow turned out to be a ton of fun, and I think I just discovered another strong point of these 29er wheels. Hmmm....

Here's how it all turned out:

If you've seen my rants on wattage, you know why I'm doing this kind of stuff in December...but for the benefit of everyone else: the short answer is that after a long season of long events (feb-oct), my power duration curve gets very, very flat. That means top end power declines while long term power rises. I view the winter as the time to rebuild top end power - a rather different take than most, but it works for me. For MTB ultras, the trick is to have plenty of top end, and great long term power. It's a difficult balance to achieve...but hell, riding a lot can make up for a lot training mistakes;)

Glossary

Dave — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 17:22:00 GMT

Training aided by power meters is the best. Much of this glossary defines power related terms. For a crash course in terminology/methodology, check out these articles:

power 411 at cyclingpeakssoftware.com. Most of Andrew Coggan's power principles are described in detail.
http://midweekclub.ca/powerFAQ.htm, the wattage forum FAQ. The nuts and bolts.
http://www.pdqcleveland.org/power.htm for a collection of resources.

TSS - Training stress score. Invented by Andrew Coggan at the request of Hunter Allen, TSS puts a numeric score on workouts normalized such that 100 TSS points = 1 hour at threshold. It also considers the variability of efforts and weights them accordingly. Go to the power 411 link for more beta on this critical measure of cycling stress.

CTL - Chronic training load. This can be thought of in general terms as fitness, or you might even think of this as base. CTL trends upwards during building periods, and trends downwards during tapering periods. During a solid race period, it will be relatively steady unless you do long and/or multi-day races. It is quantified by different methods in the literature; the method I use was developed by Andrew Coggan and is currently available to only a handful of lucky beta-testers.

ATL - Acute training load. Similar to CTL, except that it reflects more recent training. ATL is much more reactive to big rides and days off; it fluctuates quickly.

TSB - Training Stress Balance. A measure of the balance between CTL and ATL. A highly positive TSB means that you are quite fresh, but losing CTL. A negative TSB, on the other hand, means you've been training consistently. Very negative values = the proverbial pain cave.

Headroom - A term I like to use to describe where your current CTL is in relation to it's recent historical max. Everyone has a CTL limit based on genetics, training experience, type of training performed, life stress that must also be balanced, and time available to train. If you are very close to this limit, you will find it difficult to recover from intense efforts, while if you have lots of headroom, you might be unfit. The trick is identifying the amount of headroom that is ideal for each type of training block to maximize the gains for your hard work.

Life as a chronic geek

Dave — Thu, 24 Nov 2005 14:44:00 GMT

Chronic. The term conjures up visions of terminal smokers hacking their way through the day. I once worked with a gent that went by "chronic", and indeed he was (still is so I hear) keepin' it real. But as Miles points out, it's my new favorite word. It has a different connotation in my vernacular, just to clear any confusion.

The night before Thanksgiving and I finally found time to get the PT wheel set up on the Dos Niner. You'd think it'd be easy, right? Slap a tire on it, mount the harness and you're off. Some extra steps included a Stan's tubeless conversion and switching to a v-brake system from the Hayes disk. 3 hours later, this is what I have:

This is all very exciting...you see, if you don't have the data, it didn't actually happen. I've been flying blind since late July when I got the first 29er.

So this am it's off to give it a whirl, run it through the paces and pick up the metabolism in preparation for the gorging to come. 4 days in Moab are on deck...and everytime I spend time in that place the White Rim beckons. More than likely, tomorrow will be another trip around the WR. Not sure what it is about that ride - it's only jeep road, right? It sure does call loud and clear tho.

Any ambibuities in my useage of the term "chronic"? The geek part should be obvious.