Team Grumpy to Regroup in March 2014

There's been something of a hiatus in this blog since Team Grumpy made their trip to Normandy for the 2013 Duo Normand. This has been occasioned partly by the pressures of daily life, but more excitingly by the fact that both members of Team Grumpy have seemingly survived the winter accident and illness free (touch wood!) and have been busily training. Grumpy Bob isn't particularly superstitious, but maybe February 1st is a bit early to make that claim...

Grumpy Bob and Grumpy Art have, for a change, managed to keep their training going fairly consistently through the winter so far. This is generating an alarming sense of optimism in the Team Grumpy international headquarters, which clearly must be quashed. And soon...

Team Grumpy is sad to have to announce they will be missing out on their usual season opener, the Port Talbot Wheelers 2-up '25'. This is because of Grumpy Bob's work commitments. Grumpy Bob's Baldrickian cunning plan was to arrange these work commitments to avoid the usual calendar slot for the 2-up, only to find the event being held a week or two later than expected.

Regular readers of this blog (if there are such) may recall that this event is usually characterised for Team Grumpy by lack-lustre performance. In 2013, an omnishambles was averted by Grumpy Bob's severe back pain which meant that getting out of an armchair was pretty nearly impossibly (let alone climbing on a Cervelo P3). This year Team Grumpy will regroup for a solo '10' the week before the Port Talbot Wheelers event. Watch this space.

Aargh! Another Team Grumpy omnishambles to come?

Team Grumpy has been neglecting this blog of late. Partly that because both riders have been astonishingly busy, but it's also because both riders have been laid low with what appears to be the same illness. Before anyone's tongues wag too fast, Team Grumpy would like to observe that both riders have been located at the opposite ends of the country since the TG omnishambles that was The 2012 Duo Normand.

For both 'Grumpy' Art and Grumpy Bob were afflicted by a ghastly feverish heavy cough that lasted about two weeks in Grumpy Bob's case, but a bit less for 'Grumpy' Art, who sought medical assistance. In any event, both suffered an extended period of post-viral fatigue that has kept TG from training for about 5 weeks.

With the now traditional first TG 2-up of the season looming in about 6 weeks time, it merely remains for TG to discover whether their form will bounce back or, more likely, grovel back. 'Grumpy' Art has already started making his excuses, thereby following Team Grumpy Rule #1 "Remember to make your excuses before the race, not after. Otherwise it will just sound pathetic" with extraordinary enthusiasm. He also made grim references to faking a mechanical in this year's Port Talbot Wheelers 2-up '25' (the event in question).

PTW 2-up '25' - preview part 2

Well, in the run up to the first 2-up of the year Team Grumpy members have suffered illness ('Grumpy' Art) and injury (Grumpy Bob).  So, not ideal preparation.  The arrival of the start sheet for the Port Talbot Wheelers 2-up '25' brings with it a field of 51 teams, which is not at all bad for an early season 2-up.  And some of those teams are pretty swift.

In the face of such competition, Team Grumpy plans as usual to utilise the usual preparation: takeaway curries and conspicuous consumption of official energy drink (Pop Belge) during the 48 hours prior to the event.  Team Grumpy feels that this, coupled with lengthy stints of sofa-sitting, will be more than adequate last-minute preparation for the race.

Maybe.

At least Team Grumpy has taken the precaution of new skinsuits. Of course, any benefits that may accrue from that purchase might depend wholly on whether Grumpy Bob can actually squeeze his winter bulk into the skinsuit.  Perhaps this represents an underhand strategy to upset and distract the opposition.

Better not tell the Team Manager...

Grumpy Bob's winter training programme is going completely according to schedule.  This is good, but Grumpy Bob isn't too complacent: everything was looking good last year, until he ricked his back in an unnecessary tandem parking incident in early February.  That set the scene for a season beset by injury and illness.
In contrast, reports making it back to Team Grumpy HQ indicate that not only is 'Grumpy' Art Vanderlay taking it a bit easy (having been a bit ill recently), but he's taken to hiding away in his shed with a bunch of chums down the village and drinking copious quantities of official energy drink.  Nevertheless, 'Grumpy' Art claims to be making great strides in form, relating by email that

I went out for a spin today - hardly expecting much - and demolished my best ever time on my 'test' hill. This is the one that I just managed to get under 5 mins on before heading out to the Duo. Anyway, today I did my first ever sub 4 min. ride on it (3m 57s).

This claim is regarded with some suspicion back at Team Grumpy HQ, where it has been suggested that 'Grumpy' Art was abducted briefly by aliens while out on his bike.  Meanwhile, the Team Grumpy riders are keeping schtum about 'Grumpy' Art's energy drink consumption, lest the Team Manager find out.

Everything's gone a bit quiet...

As is usually the case, Team Grumpy has gone rather moribund in the offseason.  From Grumpy Bob's perspective, 2011 was a dreadful season, rescued only by Team Grumpy's second place in the Corporate category of the Duo Normand.  And it has to be said that the team's performance was really a bit strained.  Firstly the weather was completely atrocious and was quite definitely the worst Team Grumpy had seen in eight outings at the Duo.  To add insult to injury, Grumpy Bob rode the event with a cold, the third such affliction during 2011.

This meant Grumpy Bob rolled off the end of the season somewhat earlier than expected and had an enforced lay-off from cycling of any kind.  Indeed the only connection with Team Grumpy related activities was the continued consumption of Leffe.

All that changed as Grumpy Bob swept into October, began his winter training programme, and aimed to build up for the annual New Year's Day '10'.  We shall see if starting so early proves a good move or bad, but at the moment Grumpy Bob feels quite good.  Perhaps 2012 will match 2010 and leave 2011 as a distant fading memory...

Project Duo - Part Four (Oh Dear!)

Grumpy Bob feels duty-bound to respond to his team-mate's recent post updating Team Grumpy's stately progress to Duo Normand form.  Whereas 'Grumpy' Art seems to have been steadily building form through the summer, Grumpy Bob was consigned to residential school which (as colleagues recognise) leads to excessive consumption of inappropriate food coupled with excessive alcohol intake for a week.

Returning from that bout of system abuse, Grumpy Bob was relieved to record 58:15 for a '25' on the F1B/25.  The last weekend, he rode a 22:15 '10' on the F2A/10, albeit compromised by a late start penalty (you can read all about it at the linked article).  Unfortunately Grumpy Bob has since developed a bit of a cold.

Common cold virus (a bit like those being sneezed out by Grumpy Bob).  

Taking heed of Team Grumpy rule #5 ("Never train or race with a bad cough - it will destroy your entire season."), he declined an evening '10' and has remained aloof from training.

Not ideal preparation, but Grumpy Bob takes heart from the observation that there are over three weeks before the day of the Duo Normand...

Port Talbot Wheelers 2-up '25' preview

Team Grumpy's season kicks off as usual with the Port Talbot Wheelers 2-up '25' on 6th March.  The last report posted on this site was rather encouraging.  Grumpy Bob reported good threshold power levels and good progression in his training.  Similarly, 'Grumpy' Art Vanderlay had been making progress in the winter schedule.

Team Grumpy build-up for first 2-up of 2011

Both members of Team Grumpy have been busily working towards their first 2-up test of 2011 - the Port Talbot Wheelers 2-up '25' on 6th March.

Grumpy Bob has been pounding the turbo, and using the excellent Golden Cheetah software package to monitor progress. His general strategy is not to ride training sessions to specific power targets, but to use the HRM to determine effort, and the power meter to monitor what was actually done, and progress in fitness. Most of Grumpy Bob's real training (i.e. the really hardcore 'eyeballs-out' sessions) is done on the turbo. After the setbacks of a persistent cold during October and all that horrible snow in December, he's feeling pretty good at the moment, with a resting HR around 43bpm and a critical power estimated at about 300W. Grumpy Bob treats such wattage figures cautiously, knowing that he's really using them as performance comparators on his own training, not with other riders.

On the other hand, Team Grumpy's management, when told that progress was good and that critical power had reached 300W merely echoed Bjarne Riis' sacred dictum: "Give me 400W!". Oh well.

On the other side of the country, it sounds as though Grumpy Art Vanderlay has been making strides as well [GAV: well, it's more general conditioing work really, but I do feel surprisingly good and the odd bit of high intensity work that I've done has gone off very easily]. Notably, he's acquired a new TT bike (road testing indicates it's pretty fast), and the new position is reputed to have unleashed an additional 12W. Or something. [GAV: proof will be in the eating, of course. But there is a consistency about the extra power across a number of sessions already, so I'm hopeful. If the last two years are anything to go on, though, I need more than an extra 12 watts] It brings a new twist to the "buying speed" accusation Team Grumpy has faced over the years.

The return of Team Grumpy

Grumpy Bob finally shaken off the recurrent cold that's been a bit of a burden since he returned from the USA in the first week of October.  This was convenient since Team Grumpy were reunited for the weekend - 'Grumpy' Art Vanderlay was visiting and a Team Grumpy bike ride had been planned for some weeks. 

Of course all Grumpy Bob's assertions that we should 'take it easy' and 'don't forget I've been off the bike for four weeks' had zilch effect as Team Grumpy  found itself zipping along on a beautifully clear and sunny morning (though it was rather cold at the start), particularly after joining an old club mate on the way, with the consequences that generally follow.  Team Grumpy covered around 50 miles in about 3h riding time - the furthest Grumpy Bob has cycled since the trip to France in September, and the first 'proper' bike ride in the last month.  Team Grumpy did stop at a cafe in Winslow, which was just as well, since by the last 10 miles, Grumpy Bob's legs were suffering.  'Grumpy' Art's claims that his legs were in a similar state were, it is suggested, merely politeness.

It was notable how 'mobile' Grumpy Bob's heart rate was: while mostly it was in upper level 1 or lower level 2, it didn't take much for it to leap up to levels normally seen during short time trials.  So recovery may still be some way off.  Fortunately a whole winter's training lies ahead. 

Oh, and Grumpy Bob did collect a slow puncture a mile or two from getting home.
 

Towards the Duo Normand (and Grumpy Bob's dubious turbo training soundtrack)

Grumpy Bob has blogged a preview of this year's Duo Normand two-up team time trial (2010 Duo Normand Preview) - and about a week or two ago, began thinking about ramping up the training for the event.  GrumpyBob's been something of an afficionado of Pete Read's turbo training manual - The Annual Manual a.k.a. The Black Book. This presents a straightforward and progressive month by month training programme.  It's safe to say this was behind Grumpy Bob's (and indeed "Grumpy" Art Vanderlay's) time trialling successes of 2000-2003.  Since then, as he's written, his ability to stick to a programme of training has been compromised by the demands of the day job.  Over the time GrumpyBob was following the programme, he was able to fine-tune and tweak the programme to suit his strengths and weaknesses.  this was made easier by the collection of turbo training sessions that Pete Read presented in The White Book. [Apologies for the lack of web links to Pete Read, but last time Team Grumpy looked, his web presence had vanished]

So the programme Grumpy Bob has adopted fits in some turbo sessions of short hard intervals around longer low intensity road rides and some time trials (Grumpy Bob has a '50' on 5/9/10 and a '10' on 12/9/10, the two weekends before the Duo Normand itself.  This morning's session was a set of 10 x 1 minute intervals at slightly higher than race pace, with 1 minute recoveries.  Quite a difficult session, albeit quite brief.  This, coupled with another variant, are progressive as the Duo looms on the horizon: in one case by doing more intervals, in the other by extending from 1' to 2' to 3' (and so forth) intervals.  Grumpy Bob thinks these, together with the remaining time trials will be enough to peak for the Duo, ideally with a few days easy beforehand.

This morning's music accompaniment was provided by Acid Mothers Temple and the Melting Paraiso UFO.  This unlikely sounding mob are a Japanese psychedelic inprovisational group, and the album in question was Absolutely Freak Out (Zap Your Mind!).

Even more unlikely than its applicability to an interval session is its cover, pictured right (click to link to Amazon).  Still, it provided an amusing distraction as Grumpy Bob pounded away in the garage at 6am this morning!  (The music, not the cover).  It's something of a celebration that the iPod is now behaving itself, and scrobbling to last.fm.

Physiology, training and the ageing cyclist

Pez Cycling has a brief article (Toolbox: What Does Every Masters Athlete Have in Common?) which touches upon the physical decline that faces the ageing athlete, and what to do about it.  For one in his second half century, Grumpy Bob finds there's always something a little depressing about such articles, but at least there is advice, most interestingly on the subject of recovery from training:

To me, the key is fitting workouts together like a puzzle. For example, perhaps one day the focus of the workout is strength type efforts, where the cardiovascular system is not overly stressed, but the essential component of strength is benefited. The next day, a focus can be more aerobic. In other words, you are working on different “systems” on different days.
One addition item. In a recent study, 75% of athlete’s polled (not sure of the amount in the study, but it was large) said they applied some type of recovery program to their training, like recovery drinks, massage, etc. I still think the biggest and most important, regardless of all the other things you try is sleep.

Anyway, Grumpy Bob's encouraged by his performances this season - routinely hitting levels he's not seen since 2004.  A testament to more structured and analytical training?  Or just luck?

Golden Cheetah power training analysis software

Since revising his training programme and reviewing his work-life balance in late 2009 (and as described in the this blog), Grumpy Bob has coupled his use of the Polar CS600X HRM/Power computer with the very excellent Golden Cheetah software package.  The attraction of Golden Cheetah as far as Grumpy Bob's concerned is that it's (a) open source; (b) has an active group developers (which means relatively frequent updates), and (c) it's available for MacOSX, Windows and most importantly from Grumpy Bob's perspective, Linux.  Screenshots are available here (though perhaps not from the most recent build).

In a recent message through the Golden Cheetah mailing list, Grumpy Bob became aware of two new websites related to Golden Cheetah.

Firstly, one of the (and possibly the lead) developer Mark Liversedge has a GC related blog, 40 Goals.  Posts there very often reveal new and/or upcoming developments and features for Golden Cheetah.

Secondly, Golden Cheetah - Windows/Linux Development Builds provides pre-built executables for Windows and Linux (32 bit).  These are based on recent snapshots - Grumpy Bob's pleased to see some of the newer features there.

Weather. Aaargh!

Grumpy Bob has just checked the BBC's 5 day forecast for the coming week. He has one word for this. AAARGH!
It seems as though another lovely week of cycling mostly in the garage is likely.

Update 5.30am 22/2/10 - yep, it's snowing...

Port Talbot Wheelers 2-up '25' preview - part 2 (aaargh!)

As the excitement of the opening event of Team Grumpy's season looms (the 2-up of this post's title), it would seem all is not well in the Team Grumpy camp.

Both "Grumpy" Art and Grumpy Bob seem to have been afflicted by unusual poor health over this winter, which coupled with the generally rather snowy weather has really dented their training. In a recent email, "Grumpy" Art even referred to himself as a "walrus". It is thought that this refers to a cough, rather than physique, since "Grumpy" Art has never been seen in a particularly overweight state.

The same cannot be said for Grumpy Bob, for whom gluttony appears to be the norm, and who relies on a combination of cycle commuting and turbo training to keep his weight down. Here, the snowy weather has dented the former, and a lengthy bout of a recurring cold through most of December has dented the other. He feels distinctly under the weather now, and fears he may have caught a cold that's doing the rounds at his work.

Or maybe it's just galloping hypochondria. Whatever, it would seem that Team Grumpy's season may well have a slow start in 2010.

Team Grumpy official energy drink: crisis looms

Sky News are reporting that Belgium is currently gripped by a developing beer crisis, due to strike action (Blockage Of Anheuser-Busch InBev Breweries In Belgium Leads To Shortage Of Stella Beer Lager | Business | Sky News).  On the face of it, this isn't of huge consequence.  Except that the official team energy drink of Team Grumpy is Leffe, one of the brands owned by InBev, and, indeed, named in the news reports of this appalling crisis.

At this time of the year, when the Team Grumpy "athletes" are in full winter turbo training mode, it is to be hoped that the team management take immediate and prompt action to secure adequate energy drink supplies in the lead up to the first 2-up of the 2010 "Team Grumpy Centenary" season - specifically the Port Talbot Wheelers '25' in March.

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Icy turbo misery

Misery on the turbo is when you go out to the garage for a spot of training on the turbo, only to find the window is glazed on the inside with a sheet of ice from the condensed sweat of yesterday's turbo session...

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Work-life balance (a.k.a. "Aaargh!")

Regular readers of this blog (if there are such unwise creatures out there) may recall that Grumpy Bob made a serious attempt at addressing his work-life balance towards the end of 2009. This principally consisted of leaving for work somewhat later than he has done for most of his working career, and using the time freed up to indulge in turbo training, and when the day length increases, morning road rides (assuming the weather will finally have moderated by then).

Of late, even this strategy has come under pressure. Not only was Grumpy Bob prevented from effective training by a lengthy cold, the prospect of traipsing out to the garage at 6am in significantly sub-zero temperatures has not been, shall we say, received entirely enthusiastically.

Nonetheless, he has in general persisted. It is possible that the new interest in power training (Power-Based Training, part 1) has generated a revival of interest in turbo training, for which there's not been much alternative, since the council appears to be precious near with the salt (and indeed never treat any of the minor roads around here).

As a minor aside, the analysis GrumpyBob has been doing on his turbo sessions leads him to believe that his interval training (particularly the Black Book's "Progressive Power" sessions) which are based upon heart rate level are, in power terms, spot on for endurabce training. Well, that's what the current interpretation leads him to. Expect part 2 of the Power-Based Training article some time over the next few weeks.

Anyway, as is often the case, Grumpy Bob trailed out to the garage at 6am this morning for a Level 2 turbo session (here Level 2 is referring to heart rate level 2). The snow lay crisp, fairly deep, and pretty damned even. But the garage wasn't too bad, especially with a fan heater running. The big disappointment was another garage puncture after about 45 minutes. Grumpy Bob needs to keep another "Puncture Bob" scoresheet in 2010 - it certainly seems as though most of his punctures occur in the garage, either while turbo training, or deflations resulting from slow punctures incurred on the road.

Ho hum, business as usual.

Grumpy Bob dips his toes in the murky water of power training

Grumpy Bob has posted an article on power training over at teamgrumpy.org. He remains a little unconvinced over its real value (in relation to the use of HRMs) in a training programme, but is prepared to review that opinion over the coming months, as he tried to make sense of the power data he's rapidly accumulating in the run up to the 2010 season.

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Aaargh! Team Grumpy laid low over the festive season

Team unity revealed by Team Grumpy! Despite residing a considerable distance apart, it's quite touching to see Grumpy Bob and 'Grumpy' Art Vanderlay in such a display of mutual support.

As previously reported, Grumpy Bob has been suffering from a long drawn out cold, from which he is just emerging (possibly just in time for the NBRC New Year's Day '10'). This wasn't particularly appalling as far as these things go, rather it displayed an interesting sequence of relapsing symptoms, all of which have kept Grumpy Bob from effective training for over three weeks. And, since this happened over the season of over-indulgence, he's ballooned to 76kg. He is once again going to look like the Michelin Man at the start line on Friday.

Not to be outdone, 'Grumpy' Art (and indeed his whole family) contrived to be struck down with a serious gastointestinal disorder over Xmas. In the case of Art, this has led to a compensatory weight loss.

It's a cosmic balance thing, we reckon.

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Team Leffe Grump-a-thon

Well, TG didn't consume the vast quantity of Leffe that they might have done in their youth, but still enough to bring on hangovers on Sunday.

A brief return to the training programme for Grumpy Bob unfortunately careered into disaster after he contracted a cold. (See TG Rule #5)