The last CT session, take 2

Hautacam again today, but only for one hour's duration.  My average speed was 23, 6 mph more than yesterday's workout.  I started with a threshold power of 130 and kicked it up 5 every time I felt comfortable doing so, finishing at 155. 155 was my FTP before I got ill. I'm damn near back. Hurray for me!

The Last Session, Take I

Some cyclists in my Computrainer sessions had reservations about the ERG video technology HPC installed, but seem to have accepted it as another means of training. I enjoy the videos. Hey, high-definition training! And I enjoy not being stressed by competing with other cyclists. I enjoy the system's performance cues. I feel exceptionally well used when I'm done with an ERG video workout.

Today, I'd heard we were to climb the Hautacam, which ERG released in September 2010. Here's the ERG description of the one hour and twenty-one minute climb :

The Hautacam is one of the Pyrenean climbs always used as a stage finish in the Tour de France. It isn't the longest, steepest, nor the hardest climb you'll find, but being a stage finish means the contenders to win the Tour decide to go "all in" with devastating and decisive attacks, pressed all the way to the top to gain time on all others. It's no different here when the gents from Southwest Bike Academy, the Cycleryand 9to5 Pro have a crack at it. They provide a thrilling "warm-up" for you in the river gorge leading into Argeles-Gazost, before engaging a competitive local group of hard-men on the lower slopes of this climb. They attack "SouthWest style", over and over again, until only one worthy opponent is left to contest the final sprint against two of our SouthWest heroes. This isn't a steady ride at threshold, it's action-packed and not for the faint of heart. 

I was almost late arriving in class, as I decided 5 minutes of quick chain maintenance would be worth 15 minutes of warm-up. I felt good about the challenge. But I felt a little queasy and didn't eat. I finally snagged a sample piece of  raisin bread next door at Great Harvest and munched it as I climbed into the saddle.

I kept reiterating the breathing mantra: 'Relax. Breathe. Do nothing extra.' I continue to be amazed at how regular and rhythmic my breathing is becoming in everyday circumstances, not just on the bike. It seems as if I haven't really been breathing properly since I picked up my first cigarette in 1970. I can feel it energizing me, too. I stand taller and straighter, my shoulders square. Amazing.

I brought my own music today. I pulled up a new age shuffle on my ipod, because I wanted to relax into the ride. I didn't need the jangle of rock today. I listened instead to Paul Winter, Enya, Tambourine Dream. And I put my feet to pedaling. I warmed up with full honest one minute one legged intervals, and spun some kinks out of the muscles.

My FTP was still set low, accommodating my illness of the last few weeks. After twenty minutes, I raised it 5 watts, and again twice more, finishing at 135. And I kept my feet spinning circles, no more than 5% mashing in all that time, unless I'm fooling myself. After seventeen minutes, a 3-minute reduction since last time, my breathing began to agree with my spinning. It got even better at about 50 minutes. And after that - well, mostly it was easy. I consumed two of the Gas-X strips I've found useful during hard exercise like this. I was surprisingly not thirsty, and had to remind myself to drink. I had no nutrition with me; it all seems to upset my stomach these days.

I feel great. I'm going to try it again tomorrow, starting with a Threshold Power of 130.

Exploring Breathing

My Computrainer sessions end tomorrow. I plan to spend the next few weeks outdoors, exploring breathing, and hills, on my performance rides. This is to see how I can use breathing to control feelings and improve performance.

Week 1
Use breathing as a way to control emotions:

• Noticing the rhythm
• Feeling the inspiration
• Relaxing any tension

Week 2
Experiment with different types of imagery around my breathing, in order to gather energy.

Week 3
Practice re-establishing an interrupted breathing rhythm, using breathing to relax into the effort again, using breathing to manage pain.

Relax, breathe, and do nothing extra.

Hey, here's a cheap way to improve my performance! Give up photography!

No, that's not the point, although it may be helpful for me to define my rides as training or touring mileage:

• On the touring rides, I run on the joy of what I am perceiving. 
• On the performance rides, I run on the joy of what I am doing. 

Note that's an unordered list, with no value or preference attached to either option, generally speaking.

In the latter case, I can my improve my focus with Ian Jackson's Breathplay, according to an article on breathing in UltraCycling.

The key is to simply breath. Relax, breathe, and do nothing extra.

I'm very interested in finding out more about breathing. Seems to me it's key to my performance, but I don't hear much about it from the racers, trainers, and triathletes. Probably second nature to practiced athletes. I'm just an old lady who smoked tobacco for three decades.

Ian Jackson is talking about it, though. Traditional training is a metabolic process, he explains. Most training focuses on the metabolic foundation that strength comes from stress and recovery, and no pain, no gain. This kind of training "zeroes in on stressing the body metabolism in specific patterns of base and sharpening training routines. And through all this effort, how we breathe is taken for granted." But instead of enhancing performance, "over-reliance on the metabolic method often results in stale burned-out performance." 

Well, I hadn't got good enough yet to get stale, that's not the point of the curve I'm on. In any case, his Breathplay concept turns breathing upside-down to become air-pushing instead of air sucking. And maybe that's what I've figured out how to do, been forced to learn how to do in order to cope with acid emanations over the last several months. Sounds like the same effect:

With BreathPlay training, you learn to boost your pedaling power through finesse rather than force, so that while your wattage output increases, your heart rate decreases. With well-developed BreathPlay skills, riding faster and stronger becomes easier.

Easier. That's the word that always gets my attention.

Looks like Jackson's recommending lots of visualization. That's good and easy. Marilyn Phillip's experience was interesting...

The most powerful experience by far was the one I related to you recently, of giving shape and color to the burning sensation in my thighs, then experimenting with changing the color and working with my outbreath to intensify the color or change the shape of the sensation. After a few minutes, I began to feel a warmth at the base of my spine, which progressed to a burning, and then a feeling of tingling (something like a very intense tickle) as it rose up my spine. I began to laugh, and the feeling of fatigue in my thighs was replaced by a surge of strength. I shifted up two gears and pedaled ferociously for several minutes.

Well, let's see what I can do with my own body observations and imagination. There are good clues here, but I'm not sure I want to invest in a program.

Relax, breathe, and do nothing extra.

That's it in a nutshell.

Economy of Peformance

This sounds like a good summary, from John Hughes at the UltraCycling.com website.

Economy of performance improves as a result of:

1. a higher percentage of slow-twitch muscle fibers;
2. low body mass;
3. low psychological stress;
4. light, aerodynamic equipment;
5. proper bike fit;
6. low frontal area;
7. eliminating energy-wasting movements;
8. efficiency off the bike.

Edmund Burke at Carmichael Training says cycling economy as important a factor as VO2 max and lactate threshold values "to determine fitness and efficiency of effort." He discusses pedaling mechanics, the value of the interval and tempo training such as we're assigned in our Computrainer sessions, and miscellaneous factors that affect economy:

Fighting the bicycle, holding the handlebars too tightly, using a lot of upper body energy while climbing and riding in an unaerodynamic position during time trials or break-a-ways will affect your economy.