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Saturday 24 January 2009

Trying to get the training back on track

Somewhat alarmed by my team-mate's recent turbo training, I've made renewed efforts to get my training back on track, especially since the first 2-up launches my 2009 season in about 5 weeks from now.

I worked at home yesterday. This has the added benefit that I can punctuate my day with turbo sessions instead of pointless meetings - on this occasion, I did 30 mins level 2 before starting work, and when I finished work, I did a hefty power session not too dissimilar to "Grumpy" Art Vanderlay's one the other day: 2 x 28 mins at race pace, separated by 10' recovery. In fact, each 28 minute section consisted of 4' spells in gears from 53x21 to 53x12 (in the lower gears, I needed to have some resistance).
I was surprised how I coped - the biggest issue forme is usually boredom, which is why I have regular gear changes, against which I regularly swig some juice, and listen to music on the iPod (of which more below). I was aiming to keep my heart rate in the darker blue zone (approximately 175bpm to 188bpm) - the heart rate is the dark line with the shadow under it.
My turbo trainer is a Cateye Cyclosimulator, which at the time I bought it (about 12 or more years ago) was a pretty advanced machine. Over the years it's taken a bit of a beating - it's rusty and the control panel has broken off, so I only use the readout on my Polar HRM for information. Last year, the fan cover grille got sucked into the fan blades, and has never been the same again. Mind you, it's doing a bit better than the bike that's mounted on it. Years of turbo abuse have rendered it smelly and rusty, with many parts fused by salt and corrosion.
So the entertainment for this session was provided by listening to two Scottish bands: Glasvegas and The Fire Engines

2 comments:

Art Vanderlay said...

So, what do the other lines represent? I'm guessing that the red is cadence and the royal blue is speed. Is that correct?

Grumpy Bob said...

Think so.

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