My "Best of 2007"
Heck, why not. Nothing else to blog about right now with today being a day of rest and prep for the up and coming mega miles. So below are my "Best of the year 2007."
Best Race that I Raced: Vapor Trail 125
Not sure what it is, but the midnight start on top of 13+ hours of racing at 11,000 ft makes this march an epic one. Here is my report from this year. Here are some pictures from Ed who also raced.
Best Race that I didn't Race: Mt. St. Anne World Cup Weekend
If you ever have the chance to attend a World Cup event......GO! What will it take to get an event even close to this in the USA? Go see for yourself.
Best Training or Racing Aide: Apple iPod Nano
Best New Food: Poke. Raw fish never tasted so good.
Best Road Trip: Team training camp in Mallorca
Best New Product I Tried This Year: Continental Race King Tires. Grippy high volume love is all I have to say about that.
Best All-Around Ride: Anything on the Colorado Trail.
Best Picture: From the Wasatch Classic
Best "I don't think I am going to make it" moment: When it drizzles.....it pours.
Best Movie: 300
Best Purchase I Made: TomTom One XL
Best New Climb: Rist Canyon outside of Fort Collins.
Best of the Best of 2007: New job and everything associated with it.
Jeff Kerkove said at 10:46 AM
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Weekend peaks
Peaks referring to the high points in the training charts.....not mountain peaks. Pretty uneventful weekend otherwise. Still do dang icy to get outside and do structured road bike workouts. So, just sucked it up and headed back down to the basement to my private little pain cave. This weekends workouts involved short and powerful intervals on Saturday. Then Sunday was at a good tempo pace for 3 different 20 minute intervals. Power was the same....but the cadence was dropped 20 rpm each set. Started with 100...then 80....then 60.
Saturday's spin session. This hurt more than Sunday's spin.
Sunday's 20 minute efforts.
Later in the afternoon on Sunday I installed the Crank Bros. pedals on the bikes. Next week it's supposed to hit the 50's, so I should be able to get some dial time in on them before the desert binge.
As for the rest of the day....scratching the belly of Bella, one my Sister's dogs. Think of it as active recovery. Speaking of recovery....time to get in some football. Vikings and Broncos are on the tube. Go Purple!
Jeff Kerkove said at 1:51 PM
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Spinning L2
Needless to say, with yesterdays snowfall and the current 5 degree F temp, I am not riding outside. Heck, they don't plow roads in Fort Collins. Give it a few days.........[holding breath]........and we might see some significant melting.
To the basement I went to get in the 1 hour L2 workout. Workout was aimed at riding in my Level 2 (L2) power zone. Which on the low side is 175 watts and the high side is 236 watts. So I alternated 2 sets of 10 minutes on the low side.....and then 10 minutes on the high side of the L2 power level. Then 1 set of 5 minute intervals. Followed by a 10 minute sub 140 watt cool down. Cadence was hovering at a comfortable average of 90 rpm.
Jeff Kerkove said at 11:08 AM
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What I'm doing today.
Watching is snow another 5-10 inches....with the addition of wind this time.
Working and drinking coffee.
Looking at lightweight packable rain jacket & pants for the upcoming high alpine mountain bike adventures.
Browsing this website. Pictures are amazing! As are the gear and food lists.
Getting ready to get in todays workout.
Wishing the snowshoes would arrive.
Rolling around on foam roller. It's like your own personal massage therapist.
Watching it snow......................................still.
Jeff Kerkove said at 8:49 AM
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Rebuilding Complete
My recovery / rebuilding process is complete. From last Friday until today the focus was on rest and relaxation. Now it is time to start ramping it up again. Sessions will get longer...as will the set intervals. Looks like the weather is turning a bit more arctic over the next few days. More roller time for sure. Only t-minus 16 days until desert training binge. Suhweet!
Jeff Kerkove said at 10:40 AM
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Holiday Candy
I am back in the Fort after a brief 20 hour round trip to Minnesota and back for an early family X-mas. It was a good break from the training grind and any work related chores. Weather was really cold.....or at least colder than it has been in Colorado. With wind chills near -15 degrees F outdoor time was very slim. Rest of the days were spent watching marathon sessions of Man vs. Wild on the Discovery Channel and avoiding Holiday sugar items. I did have some pie...so sue me. It was pumpkin. That's healthy..........[dramatic pause]...........right? That is what I thought. Oh, and by the way, Chuck Norris is soooooo yesterday. Bear Grylls is the new tough-ass on the block. With a name like Bear....you might as well be called Thor, God of Lightning....or something tough like that.
Well, I guess I can say I did have some Candy. A box of pedals was sitting on the door step from Crank Brothers when I got home. I am totally love'n my Crank Bros. road pedals I purchased a few months ago. So, I decided that my current 5 year old Shimano's needed to be replaced. Over next few days, I'll get these installed an ready for Camp Lynda and the rest of the 2008 racing campaign. Speaking of Camp Lynda....if you need to get in a 3 day desert riding binge, this is your ticket. It's a no-nonsense self-supported training mission. Currently there is upwards of 20-30 people rumored to be attending. All the details are here.
Jeff Kerkove said at 8:35 AM
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Slow & Smooth
Harry: I expected the Rocky Mountains to be a little rockier than this.
Lloyd: I was thinking the same thing. That John Denver's full of sh*t, man.
One last workout session planned by Coach for today. After today, I go into a 5 day recovery period. Once again, warmer temps made it possible to get outside. Got'a be close to 45 degrees F. Todays session was a strength builder....spinning a huge gear at 55 rpm. Totally against my pedaling technique. I am normally pretty happy turning over 90-100 rpm. But todays goals were all about strength.
Here are the numbers. Yellow line shows the RPM intervals. Delightful I must say.
OK, now I am signing off until X-Mas day. I am heading east to Minnesota for an early family holiday get-together. Should be back to normal blogging and e-mail on X-mas or the day after.
Jeff Kerkove said at 1:57 PM
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Power failure.
Todays workout was 1 minute efforts at a high power output. This is the 3rd time for this workout over the past 3 weeks. Here is last weeks wattage numbers. I successfully made it through the 20 intervals.
Here is todays. Big difference. I made it through about 11 intervals before my wattage could not be maintained. Ugh. So, I packed it up and spun home early. Kind of a bummer, as yesterday I felt awesome. Little R & R tonight and then one last push tomorrow before the X-mas recovery period.
Cruising back down the hill I just climbed after a 60 second effort.
Can't complain about the views during the recovery between intervals and sets. I see the reservoir is starting to get some ice.
Jeff Kerkove said at 2:52 PM
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30 Second Efforts
Finally warm weather! Pushing 40 degrees for my 30 second efforts today. Got a little crazy on one effort and threw down a 1,102 watts. Nuts.
Needed a low traffic flat road for todays workout. Frontage road along I-25 is perfect...and the views aren't that bad either. I like the jet coming out of my forehead.
Only about 20 feet of flat ditch covered with snow separates me from North bound traffic.
Yes, it got a little warm. Thermal jacket was unzipped pretty much the later half of the ride. Good news......temps are to get warmer the next few days. Today I also tried out a new Craft base layer I purchased the other day. So far, this thing is pretty dang warm....and it feels good against the skin.
Jeff Kerkove said at 2:10 PM
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It's in the mail.
The mother of all 100 mile races is officially on the radar for 2008. There is good reason other than personal pleasure, pain, glory, suffering, good times with friends, and high altitude sucking to register this year.....and it will be announced in the coming weeks.
In other news, the Mountain States Cup 2008 schedule is released. Select events in this series will serve as training races. The MSC is also supposed to announce a Trans-Rockies like event for '08 in the coming months.
Jeff Kerkove said at 7:34 AM
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Mobile office Monday
Monday is the day of rest in this years training program. So, I am taking the office out of the house and to the coffee shop this AM. Figure I can kill two birds with one stone. On the way to the coffee shop I dropped off the Ergon FJ for some routine maintenance. Get the oil change, check air pressure, yada, yada, yada. Now it's time to sip the black goodness and answer some e-mails.
Jeff Kerkove said at 8:51 AM
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Saturday Rollers x 2
2 workouts planned for today. One is in the AM and one in the PM. Shouldn't be too bad as they are short and to the point. Below are the numbers form the sessions.
Workout #1
Here is Workout #2. It's a piece of art. If you stare at it long enough a sailboat will emerge in 3D.
Jeff Kerkove said at 9:13 AM
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Force Workout
Slow, smooth, and powerful was the workout today. Six minute intervals at 55 rpm at a set wattage. It was all about building strength on the bike. To add to the resistance factor I took a page out of the Tony Kisch training book.....roll up a towel and stick it under the back 2 rollers. Off the bike this raises the rollers off the ground about quarter inch. But once you mount up on the bike the rollers sink into the towel creating a "pedaling through sand" effect. It burns.
Ooooo, what an intense game face.
The fun little numbers from the day. Notice the RPM's. Very, very, very slow....almost tipping over.
Jeff Kerkove said at 12:10 PM
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LIVE Training Cam presented by LW Coaching
OFF AIR
Live feed off the Mac Book iSight as I pound out 400+ watt intervals on the rollers. Feed should be live roughly around 9:30 AM MST. Total workout time is set for 2.5 hours....or until my wattage drops. Note, you may have to hit "refresh."
UPDATED 12:00 PM - TRAINING SESSION COMPLETEDHere are the stats from the roller session. Two hours was enough. My legs where getting cooked by the time the 15th interval came around. Lactic acid was starting to creep in.
Jeff Kerkove said at 7:19 AM
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Wondering Wednesday
Active recovery was due today. Coach's orders..."No indoor riding." No problem. I headed out for a 2 hour wondering session on the Foothills Trails and up near Horsetooth Reservoir. Trails were pretty packed from all the previous foot traffic. Made the stroll a lot easier than it should have been. Good news to that the temps are rising. Roads need to get cleared off so I can get the bike back out!
And finally, after a few days of sorting and pondering, the Ergon 2008 athlete and teams list is complete. I spent all morning detailing e-mails to all the folks that are going to be flying green in '08. Stay tuned for some pretty cool announcements coming down the pipeline regarding other Ergon athletes & events.
Jeff Kerkove said at 9:41 AM
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