Counting Chickens, Mad Scientist Style

The view from my bike
CompuTrainer Real Course Video (IM St. George)

I thought long and hard about writing this article because I don't like to jump the gun in declaring success in any aspect of my training for fear of impending race disaster. The reason for this is because in the past, statements such as "my training is going well" or "I've noticed a measurable improvement in x, y or z,"  have caused the planets to instantly align against me and anger some cosmic deity who will then extend a giant hand from the sky and thwack me down.

In light of this, blabbering about increased speed or fitness without repeatable (or race) evidence has become somewhat of a no-no for the Disaster Magnet. But this week, after analyzing performance graphs of my weekly long rides on the CompuTrainer (CT), I've discovered something rather neato - something that might, ever-so-slightly, fall into the "progress in cycling" category.

First, a little background. For the last six weeks I've been doing three bike workouts per week as part of a "CompuTrainer Challenge" among a group of local cyclists and triathletes. My workout intensities are all based on my FTP (Functional Threshold Power) - a wimpy 196 watts - obtained in a time trial in January. Two of the weekly workouts involve intervals at paces from tempo (76-90% FTP) to anaerobic threshold (91-105% FTP) to VO2 max (106-120% FTP). The third weekly workout is usually a long ride of 1.5-2 hours on the trainer to be done at an average power output of 76-90% FTP.

Because my first race is very early in the season (May 7) and it's an Ironman, I've replaced the weekly "long ride" with my own "very long ride" (double-it-and-add-some) of 4-5 hours. For several of these, I've ridden the simulated Ironman St. George (IMSG) course from Racermate's library of Interactive Real Course Videos. The most recent was this past weekend - February 12. Because I'm a geek (some use the term "mad scientist"), after Saturday's ride, I could not rest before coming up with a way to compare my performances from these same-course rides. (Note: doing things like this have illustrated to me the power of the CompuTrainer as a training tool. They have also illustrated to me my husband Jim's mad skills at Microsoft Excel, my lack thereof, and all the reasons I find Excel to be a maddeningly-frustrating program.)

I plotted all sorts of data for several rides on the CT IMSG course - power, heart rate, speed, cadence, etc. versus miles and time. I decided the graphs I like the most, i.e., that make the most sense to me, are the ones that compare power and heart rate versus time or miles. This way, I can see exactly what happens each time I ride the same course. With Jim's help, I now have a single plot - see below - of power (left y-axis, upper data) and heart rate (right y-axis, lower data) versus miles for three CT IMSG course rides. Two were in January and one was this past weekend. Note on January 15, the blue line, I only completed about 56 miles of the 67-mile course (also known as "getting to the top of the BIG hill").

Power (upper data) and Heart Rate (lower data) vs. Miles for rides on same CT course (click on image for larger version)
 Note: data was smoothed by simple averaging of nearby points

In comparing the three sessions, I try not to focus on speed because it depends on the CompuTrainer calibration, which might change from one workout to the next (note in the table below that my average speed on Feb. 12 is lower than on Jan. 22, and yet my average power output is higher, and on Jan. 15 my speed would likely have been higher had I made it to the downhill portion of the course). Still, my ride averages were as follows:

AVE:	Power (Watts)	Heart Rate (BPM)	Speed (mph)
Jan. 15	157	139	15.6
Jan. 22	156	145	17.0
Feb. 12	163	137	16.9

So, then, the big question: does this graph and table indicate progress on the bike? I'd like to think so and here's why:

• My latest ride, Feb 12 (red line), shows the highest power throughout the ride, especially in the late stages (close to 4 hours effort). In comparison, the first two rides were only a week apart and even though they were different in length and time, my average power for each ride was almost identical.
• The heart rate plot shows that on Feb 12, I was able to maintain this higher power/wattage over the distance/time at a lower heart rate than in January. Even during the hardest climbs (between 35 and 55 miles), my heart rate was lower in my latest ride. I'm guessing this indicates an improvement in my cardiovascular fitness.

Other than these rides on the CT IMSG course, my regular workouts have not been as taxing (or next-to-impossible) as they were in the first few weeks. It will be interesting to find out if and how much the increase in FTP will be when I do my next time trial. Or better, if and when I ever get out on the road again (assuming winter 2011 comes to an end before April), I am very interested in seeing how fast I can go on my old tried and true road courses.

New Year, New Toy

the spare-bedroom bike-training facility

I got a new toy for Christmas this year and I've been avoiding writing about it because at the moment, it stills scares the living daylights out of me. What is it? It's a RacerMate CompuTrainer. It was an extremely generous gift from my husband Jim, courtesy of a team discount from Bike Authority in Broadview Heights, OH. Like last year, I think Jim is tired of watching me sweat for hours on my trainer only to hear me cry over and over again about how I work so hard on the bike and get nothing out of it.

So this year, instead of books about how to train, his gift came with a "Performance Improvement Guarantee" -- I am NOT making this up. If I don't get faster, he gets his money back. That's what's so scary. As far as training tools go, improvement only happens if you use them properly. I know how to use a treadmill to run faster. I know how to use hand paddles to get stronger (and faster) in the water. But, a bike trainer is a bike trainer, right? If I haven't been able to figure out how to use a fluid resistance trainer to get faster on the bike (even with a heart rate monitor), how is this going to change? The answer appears to be the one detail missing from my bike training: power. I have no clue how much power I'm generating. This CompuTrainer thing is supposed to help with that. But HOW? Just knowing my power output isn't going to make me more powerful.

After two days of looking at the box, Jim and I - well, mostly Jim - spent time last Thursday setting up the bike on the CompuTrainer. We then hooked it up to the refurbished Dell PC he also bought me for Christmas (specifically to run the software) after I installed the software. The first thing you have do is calibrate the trainer. Oh great! More things to worry about. Luckily, you can do this as a warm up. And guess what, it's not hard at all!

But what else can I do with it? The anxiety starts...

You can do so much with the CompuTrainer, it boggles my mind. I worry I will never fully know how to digest, analyze, and use all the information. But that doesn't change the fact I now think it's one of the most awesome training tools I have. And that's good because I live in Cleveland, and I will probably spend most of my bike training for Ironman St. George indoors.

I already have one advantage. The CompuTrainer came with a free "Real Course Video" ... Jim chose (obviously) Ironman St. George. I can ride the course and the trainer will automatically adjust resistance based on terrain while showing you the exact video of the course -- not a 3-D rendering, mind you, but someone actually DROVE the course and videotaped it.

And yesterday, New Year's Day, that's exactly what I did -- I rode the virtual Ironman St. George bike course (while simutaneously watching the great Christmas classic "Die Hard" on my television).

I know there are a multitude of things I have to learn in order to use the CompuTrainer effectively. Right now my fear is based on the old cliche: "You can't teach an old dog new tricks." It's overwhelming for my ancient brain to fathom -- I'm afraid there's too much to learn and not enough time to figure it out by May. But the bottom line is that I need to increase my power on the bike, and everyone says the way to do that is to: "get a CompuTrainer." Am I allowed to mention they're all a LOT younger than me?

If I put aside my anxiety for a moment, my starting impression of the CompuTrainer is that it IS one of the coolest, and most fun, gadgets I ever trained on. Hopefully it will do exactly what it is "guaranteed" to do. At the very least, I will be better prepared for Ironman St. George than those who have never seen the course before. I may even be tempted to buy the Ironman Lake Placid course just to relive the horror...  I mean for the beautiful scenery.

And, if anyone has favorite references on what they did or the best way to use the CompuTrainer for increasing power on the bike, please point me to them. I do know I will be doing a test this week to find my "FTP" (Functional Threshold Power). It all starts here.

Kurt Kinetic Averts Disaster

Maybe I'm overdramatizing it, but I broke my stationary bike trainer last week. For an obsessive-compulsive endurance triathlete who lives in a northern climate, this is a disaster. I had to miss a bike workout. And I had to replace my trainer -- which could lead to MORE missed bike workouts and unexpected expenditures.

I'll start at the beginning -- the bike trainer itself. I bought it in winter 2001-02 to train for my first Ironman. I had done extensive research about what type of trainer to buy. The "cyclists" said the only acceptable way to train indoors was on rollers. However, upon asking, I found very few of them actually enjoyed cycling on rollers. Many hated it, and some were still not able to get up on the bike without some kind of prop. And NO ONE advised riding rollers for more than an hour at a time. This was NOT good news. I was looking to train for a 112-mile bike ride and I needed to do some epic long rides indoors.

Rollers were out. I started looking at trainers I could mount my bike to. They come in several types: fan, fluid, and magnetic resistance units and computer trainers. (Read Bicycling.com's Indoor Bike Trainer Guide.) Computer trainers, such as the Computrainer, are highly recommended by professional and elite triathletes and coaches. Maybe THEY could afford the hefty price tag (over $1000), but I could not. The ballpark price for me was in resistance trainers ($100 - $400). After more research, I settled on a fluid resistance unit made by Kurt Kinetic. The Kurt Kinetic trainer was heralded by users as one of the only fluid resistance units that never leaked. Reviewers also praised it as the quietist of its type (note that loudness was why I choose fluid-resistance over magnetic or fan). And the kicker -- users also said it had the most "roadlike" feel. I bought one. It has been a workhorse for eight years through three bikes. It saved me after my bike vs. car accident when the "roads" no longer beckoned, even in the summer. I've come to love steady-state tempo riding on my trainer with my heart-rate monitor -- guarantee the road will be "flat."

Imagine my surprise two Mondays ago when I noticed a strange vibration and loudness upon beginning to pedal my trainer-mounted bike. I jumped off only to find that the mount for the fluid unit (a weld) had sheared off on one side. End of trainer. Shock, dismay, tears. I screamed for Jim to help, to FIX it. (He always fixes hardware.) He couldn't. I went to Google. Jim went to the phone book. I looked up trainers, prices and places to find them locally. He called welders. In the midst, we both visited the Kurt Kinetic website. (Don't mess with a classic - this was an OLD trainer that was put through weekly 4- to 6-hour rides for EIGHT YEARS.) Jim saw it first. Kurt Kinetic offers a LIFETIME WARRANTEE. Would they honor it? Yes. We had the receipt. We gave them the serial number. No more questions asked. They shipped us a new base unit (which has changed from dark blue to Wake-Me-Up-At-5-a.m. lime-green). All we had to do was ship back the old unit (they even pre-paid shipping). Amazing. In a world where it's difficult to find good customer service, Kurt Kinetic is a shining light.

In the meantime, one of my "cyclist" friends was even willing to lend me his.... um... rollers? NO! His old Kurt Kinetic bike trainer -- the one that I recommended he buy. It's almost like Karma.