Wednesday 27 April 2011

Day 227\ yet more NUMBERS.......

The numbers are in for april. And it was a good'un, most time on the bike, top for km's and similar for total load to march but much better for strain as the monotony was only 0.92. Am going to start recording m's climbed also. Need to be careful now to not jump up the km's too rapidly and look at boosting restoration.




Monthly totals below and weekly averages above

Monday 25 April 2011

Day 225\ 190km in a week..

Last week i did 190km over 3 seperate cycles. Some of the scenery was absolutely beutiful, Arqua Petrarca, Castelnuovo, Rovolon. What i am finding is the need for food when i'm out. I can really feel my immune system struggling after a cycle of more than 2hrs. Which brings us to cyclists and their strange clothes......thats why i'm waiting for a jumper with pockets in the back to be delivered so i can carry around bananas and soreen bars!!!! I'm also going to look into ramping up the supplements in a couple of weeks, e.g Super Omegas, ZMA and a decent carb solution with BCAAs more on them when they are aquired.



A MB 190 Evo, more comfy than my 190km i imagine

Wednesday 20 April 2011

Day 220\ The meaning of numbers....

Well firstly the test. The Conconi or 'step test' measures Maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max), the maximum rate at which an individual can utilise oxygen whilst breathing air at sea level, despite increases in power output (Withers, Gore, Gass & Hahn, 2000). It is effectively a measure of cardiovascular function and provides an indicator of endurance performance potential. It should be included for athletes whose events or training involves continuous strenuous activity (Winter et al., 2006). A wide variation in VO2max can be expected, typical values are 30-80ml∙kg-1 for 20-30year old men and 25-65 ml∙kg-1 for women. Values decrease after the age of 30 by approximately 1 ml∙kg-1 and is heavily genetically influenced (McArdle et al., 2000). VO2max can be a weak predictor of race performance due to importance of other metabolic and neural factors (Noakes, 2000). It is robust to changes in protocol, with no change reported with variations in time and velocity increases (Billat et al., 1996). Exercise mode has a significant (p<0.01) impact on VO2max and is reflective of the specific adaptations to training (Roels et al., 2005). Aside from biological variability small changes in ventilation and fraction of dry oxygen greatly impact on measurement on VO2max and hence the requirement for careful calibration.


meaning of numbers!!!

Now back in the day my VO2max was 57ml.min-1.kg-1 and up until 4 years ago the fitness test on my polar watch was coming out at 52ml.min-1.kg-1. Now this lab test is telling me i've dropped to 40!!! I think that is pish and was probably badly affected by the type of face mask they used. It covered the nose and the mouth and once i got onto the final couple of steps, my breathing pushed the mask off my face, moving the mask, breaking the seal and probably invalidating the result given that only small changes in ventilation can seriously impact on the result.

Tuesday 12 April 2011

Day 212\ Fitness testing......and alot more numbers....

Right at last yesterday i did my fitness test, or test metaboloci as they are called here. It was what is know as a Conconi or 'Ramp Test'. Cononi interestingly used to live down the road in Ferrara and was a key protaginist in the use of performance enhancing substances in sport, nice work......


spinning the pedals at 200W

The results were as follows:

max hr: 171 bpm; max power 484W; VO2max 40.7 ml/min/kg

aerobic/anaerobic threshold 143bpm, pwer at threshold 283W

peak VO2max 41.8 ml/min/kg; max power 525W

2min recovery 123bpm

specific max power 4.79W/kg

specific aerobic threshold 2.8W/kg

Training Status Index

An Threshold/Max Hr 83.6% expected 92-94.5%
Max HR/Theoretical Max 94% expected 95-100%
An threshold VO2/VO2max 87.8% expected 86.5-88%


And all this will be discussed later

Friday 8 April 2011

Day 208\ First ride & now all set...

Right the bike finally rolled it's wheels in anger..... it was great. I rode to Teolo monday. On the steed this would take me 100 mins and my heart rate would be about 135bpm. On the new bike it took 87mins and my heart rate was around 125bpm. The climb was alot easier with the road gears and also as the bike weights about 5kgs less than the old it's understandable why it was easier and faster. Also more comfortable however my longer run to Rovolon on wednesday i was getting some pins and needles in my left foot again and aching in my back the back was probably more to do with the new position on the bike. Other issue is pressure on the palms of my hands so a new acquisition will be gloves.


interesting image for google search 'first ride'

The speedplay pedals hadn't arrived last week when the bike was being put together so i had to do the first two rides without. No bad thing in hindsight as i gave me an opportunity to get used to the bike without the added trauma of being locked into it. Today however they arrived and have been fitted along with the cleets to the shiny Sidi shoes and a computer to measure my cadence and speed. Another long run tomorrow and i can't wait.