My Lame Threshold Poem

Every last fiber is firing right up to the brink
Try to turn off my brain I don’t want to think
Struggling to sustain the effort level
Wrestling with my inner quit devil
But, amid the pain I find my peace
Yet this elation has a short lease
For a time I am one with the swords edge
I’m close to the limit right at the cliffs ledge
My stay in this place is of terse duration
Its filled with both misery and exaltation
Then, I stop, the effort ends, and I leave this place
This abode, where I’m at one with time and space
Why do we love to see how far we can go
If you never feel it, you never will know

Yes, I have completley lost my mind. I just wrote a poem about doing 1x60 minute interval at 100% of FTP. What is wrong with me. I was just really happy about averaging 362 for the 60 minutes today. But seriously I truly have major mental problems. I can't believe my wife allows this type of behavior.

Seven Weeks Till St. George

St George is now seven weeks away
I hope to do well but I can’t yet say
I dropped my miles and feel fresh not spent
I’ve cut my bike hours by about 30 percent
My swim is still really really bad
If Im close to an hour I’ll be glad
My run is where I hope to cut a chunk of time
I hope that you have liked this lame-O rhyme

Keena is smart I am stupid

As we all know Coach Keena Schaerrer is immensely intelligent concerning all things triathlon. I have received and followed many nuggets of wisdom from her over the last 20 months. As a new triathlete her pearls of foresight have helped to straighten my crooked triathlon path. She has always harped on the importance of core strength. This is one nugget that I stubbornly ignored (thinking that improved core strength would not improve my performance) until a few months ago when I started to do upward leg lift exercises that target my core and hip flexors. I feel like the added strength has helped the upward lift of my pedal stroke. I believe that this is a contributing factor to my power improvement on the bike. I should have followed her abdominal admonition earlier. Keena’s smart I am stupidly stubborn.

Supersonic Quantum Breakthrough

Well.... not quite supersonic or quantum but I did improve my 30 minute power by around 2%. I finally broke the 375 barrier with a 382 watts average for 30 minutes today. I also set new 15 (393) and 20 (389) minute records. It was nice. I hope that I can continue to improve my power. In other news Heath, and everyone else at Power Tri, are Awesome. I brought my bike in to get a 55 tooth chain ring put on for the downhill sections of ironman St George. Heath not only did a great job of putting on my chain ring but he also did a brilliant piece of work mounting a bottle cage to the back of my saddle. He saved me a bunch of grams and I am sure he improved my aerodynamics. I bet it saves me at least 37 1/3 seconds at St George. Everyone at Power Tri goes the extra mile, sooooo go online right now and buy lots of stuff from them. Even if you don’t need it just do it because they are really great people and I am sure you could always use an extra wetsuit or two.

The Onion-Mushroom-Green Bean Diet

I weighed around 188 for World Championships. After Kona I adjusted my diet in hopes of getting to 180 or perhaps even lower than that. A good chunk of my food intake consists of a mixture of onions, mushrooms and green beans jumbled up with either chicken, shrimp or fish. (My family disdains this hodgepodge calling it “Dad’s concoction”). This Diet has caused changes in my body but it has changed my body odor more than my body weight. I imagine I am known by some people at the pool as “that guy who smells like rotten vegetables” and my Wife (who abhors mushrooms and onions) finds my odiferous aroma to be repugnant. BUT I have slowly lost some weight. This morning marks a major milestone as I broke 180 tipping the scales at 179.8. If I can get to 177 it will be the first time I have weighed that little since I was 2 inches shorter and 18 years younger as a zit faced 16 year old. If I lose those last pounds it will be due to the infinite patience of my ever enduring Wife’s olfactory sense.

Looking for marital tension? Get a Power Tap.

My wife is jealous of my Power Tap. It is the love of my cycling life. I think that training with power is the best way to improve your cycling. I would forgo getting the new bike or race wheels and get the Power Tap first. It makes workouts measurable and when workouts are measureable you can track progress and have an accurate assessment of your fitness. Because of my Power Tap I know that today was one of my best ever workouts. I was able to set 4 peak power records today. I started by doing 90 minutes all out and in the process set 40 minute, 90 minute and most importantly 60 minute records. I average 357 for 60 minutes. (I have a special place in my heart for the 30 minute average power. I wish I would have just gone after the 30 minute record from the beginning because I definitely would have got it with the way I felt today. My best 30 minute average within today’s 90 minutes was 364 which is only 11 watts away from my 30 minute record.) I recovered from the 90 minutes of pain and then did some max efforts and hit 1268 watts and set a new 5 second record with 1193. Without my power tap I would have no idea that today was any better than any other day, and I would not be able to see that my power has improved a lot since Kona. Since Hawaii I have set new records for 5 seconds, 30 seconds, 1 minute, 2 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 40 minutes, 60 minutes, and 90 minutes. I would not know that I am improving without the Power Tap. Without the feedback from the Power Tap you really have no idea if your training program is or is not working. Sooo if you want to improve on your bike call Power Tri (866-601-4445) and get a Power Tap. They have a great deal on them plus give them the code “spencer10” and get another 10% off. Start tracking your progress. Just don't let it come between you and your spouse.

The 400 Watt Dream

I started riding when I got a bike for Christmas is 2008. After riding without power for two months I began riding with power on February 13th 2009. As I was new to cycling I saw rapid, improvement in my power. For a while I was setting new power records each week. It was nice to set records for the different time periods from 5 seconds all the way to 2 hours, but to me the most important record became the 30 minute average power. I saw it rise from 315 my first test on Feb 16th 2009 up to 368 on May 22nd of 2009. At that point I thought if I could get to 368 in three months then it was only a matter of time before I hit the big 400 for 30 minutes. But I stalled at that level. My power actually dropped for a few months. I matched the 368 again in October. Then on January 7th of 2010 I hit 375. In this past year my overall cycling has continued to improve and I have set new average power records for most of the designated times from 5 seconds to 2 hours but I haven’t improved on my 375 for 30 minutes. It looks like 400 watts for 30 minutes might never happen, and I will be fine if it never does but I really want to hit it. I have adjusted my training a bit and I hope the changes eventually translate to 400 for 30. In the whole scheme of things my power level on the bike doesn’t really matter, when I step back and look at how obsessed I am with my watts I am a little disturbed with myself, but to go down to my basement, get on my bike, have a 30 minute suffer fest, and then plug my power tap into my computer and confirm 400 watts for 30 minutes would be pure joy. The increase from 375 to 400 comes out to an increase of 6.68% ....I hope that it happens.