James Pearl Thinks Blogging is Dead

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
@StayHydrated - I've been doing 2 things to try to get more sleep. First is to take the phone and move it away from me when I go to bed. I've been putting it on the bookcase in front of the window when I read. When I'm done reading, I'm not tempted to pick up the phone for "one more hit" before I go to sleep. This has helped on the front end. Second, I try not to set an alarm, though sometimes I do. Last week I did twice and it made me drag all day. So I've been avoiding the alarm. That helps on the back end. I'm aiming for 7 hours a day.

This means that I don't wake up as early every day to write. I still wake up & work on the book, which I'll need to give a name at some point. It just takes me longer and longer every day to wrap up the chapter. Yesterday and today I wrapped up chapters 29 and 30. Looking at 10 to go. Figure maybe 2 weeks and I'll be through 40.

The last 2 days I rode my bike outside, which is 4 days in a row. The Zwift Cockpit has been disassembled for now. I was given the green light to keep it until Thursday but I said screw it and took it all apart to get the house ready. The fewer cans we kick down the road, the better. Yesterday I rode easy, recovery. Today I hit it hard, attempting 8 Strava segments of 30 seconds to 2 minutes in length. I didn't get any of them but I did come 1 second off the 2nd effort. I cycled through each effort, then rested, then did another. I didn't expect to get any of these and I didn't. Best way to get a KOM would be to do only ONE segment. But this isn't how you get stronger for racing, is it?

As I looped through them, I felt good, even if I did start to fade a bit. But I kept going and on the 7th one, I actually felt surprisingly good. Decided to go for an 8th one, which frankly is unheard of when I do these. I'm pretty happy to see that I can bounce back pretty well from these, better than I expected. The power numbers aren't where I would love to see them but this whole power realm is new in the training intervals for this year. Rinse, repeat, keep going. Bake stronger bread every week.

After the race I identified these things as my weaknesses I need to work on:

1. Weight loss - ok this is obvious
2. Microbursts - I am not ready to do yet but that GD clover exposed this. I think there were 15 turns in that infield.
3. Short-term power - that was today, not micro-short but sub 5 minute stuff. The back side hill climb was this stuff. See below
4. Driving - I'll worry about this more if I don't see some improvement in the next few races

So that back side hill climb in Lucky. I defined it as a segment in Strava:
https://www.strava.com/segments/19009212?filter=overall

My times over the 6 laps, from 1 to 6:
1:46
1:54
2:01
2:01
2:06
2:05

That's a 20 second drop across the spread. Ideally I want that to be more consistent but it's ok, that was a race in September. Plenty of time. But today's workout is how we address this. Well today's workout, plus the weight loss thing will both help address it.

Now look at Utah (difference with mine):
1:37 (-9)
1:35 (-19)
1:42 (-19)
1:42 (-19)
1:41 (-25)
1:55 (-10)

Ok do the math here. This is 101 seconds. That is huge, HUGE, maybe even Yuge. He beat me by 211 seconds. Almost half of that is on this hill that is 1/4 mile. So I lose half my time on 20% of the course. How do we address this?

1. Lose weight - again, duh
2. Improve your power in this 90-120 second range
3. Learn to be able to repeat this effort under stress. This is why you don't do one KOM run, you do 8.

One spot ahead of me was Charlie, who beat me by 71 seconds overall. He beat me by 74 seconds on those 6 climbs. So I beat him by 3 seconds on 80% of the race, but the 20% is so important he totally crushed me in the final results.

I hope that makes sense.

Anyway, 8th effort one is my street. My cleats fly out of the pedals, and I almost crash. That would have sucked. Went home and ordered new cleats.

@StayHydrated - I think just a few pounds as they come off is the best I can hope for and get away with stuff like today. If I am good/vigilant, it will slide down. I do think I could drop 5 between now and December 14th. That's not totally out of the question. Once that comes & goes, I'll probably embark on a huge winter base season to try and lose more. We'll discuss that later, next year, when James @pearl may reassess his opinion on blogging.

4 days to go. Still not done getting ready.
 

MadisonDan

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
@Norm Great breakdown of that hill, and how a section like that can affect (effect?) the overall race. Of course, I had to look at my times, fully expecting to see a fairly wide gap between my first and seventh lap.
2:03
2:03
2:05
2:11
2:19
2:16
2:13
Slow, and somewhat consistent for first three laps, then slower and a little less consistent for the 4 other laps.
Are your lap times in order that you did them, or sorted by Strava?
I also need to put new cleats on, thanks for reminding me.
 

UtahJoe

Team Workhorse
Team MTBNJ Halter's
oh I love it when the teacher uses my homework as an example for the rest of the class....This never happened to me in real school.....THANKS MRS. SHIELDS!!!!!!

I lost my chain on that last one and did alot of running...so I guess im slower on foot.

But anyway, yes...this is why I spend exactly 0 seconds every year practicing mounting/dismounting/barricades....WAY more time to be made up elsewhere.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
This morning, I dove into Chapter 31, which is the sort of reveal/crashing together of the story I'm writing. This took a while to get through, but it was a good sit-down today. I slept in (~7:00), so it took a while to hit the end of it, almost 11am between having to get some work done this morning. I'm 100% sure this one will be torn apart and redone, and likely expanded a metric shit-ton when I reread it and realize the copious logical errors in it. But it felt good. Coming along. Now I need to tie things up. Bringing it home.

With 3 days to go, the tent people came and erected a massive tent. I'm still not sure what I think about the Wedding Crashers - if they will show or not. We're coming together, and I think the big thing is getting the vows written, the script for @seanrunnette, and the agenda for the day. The agenda is mostly done, so it's really the first 2 things that need doing. I need to finish mowing the lawn tomorrow and building the fire pit I bought at Home Depot yesterday. That shouldn't take too long. Cleaning people also came today and did the house top to bottom. Forgot to mention The Chimney Man was here yesterday. So we're ready to roll on winter & the fireplace.

IMG_3643.JPG

After the tent guys left I hopped on my bike and...

I did L4/Threshold work. This is a standard Wednesday routine where you can do 2x20, 3x15, 4x10, or what I planned to do, which was 8x5s with 1 minute in between. I did this just as a function of the length of the road from the light to the stop sign near my house. In the end it was just under 7 minutes one way, and just over 6 the other. So it morphed into 6x6 with 1-2 minutes between. Usually you would give more rest between but I am looking at working on repeatability with minimal rest. Threshold work should be able to be done continuously so the rest is mostly for a mental break.

It's been 3 years since I did these, so I wasn't sure where to start. Figured I would try 300 watts. Well it was soon obvious that this was aiming too low. I landed on 320 as my target. On the 4th one, I started fading to so I cut the workout there. In all, the 4 sets were like this:

6:49 @322w
6:05 @320w
6:43 @318w
5:00 @311w

Almost 24 minutes at my target, with a total of 5:25 rest combined between the 3 sets. A bit short of my 36-40 minute original target. But also well beyond my initial aim of 300w.

What I will be aiming for in the coming weeks of training:

1. Maintaining the 320w
2. Remain at 1-2 minute rest intervals
3. Extend the 4th set to completion at target power
4. Start a 5th set and try to get the total time at target to 30 minutes total

Note my HR through these:

165
176
180
180

Those of you who train by HR need to take heed of this. By nature, it drifts upwards. If you are doing this kind of work, I would rather you train by speed as opposed to HR. If you are going to train by HR, don't even look at the first set.

Picked up Julia from after school canvas painting, then we were going to go for a walk when D calls and says her car won't start as she is picking up Simon. Luckily we are near (formerly) High Gear in Stirling and they were at the Millington School, so we drive over and they are literally running down the street to try to get to Simon's friend's house, who is having a birthday party today and he needs to be there by 4:10. It is now 4:05. We pick them up, drop Simon off for the party, then go back to her car. The batteries don't line up so I push it across the parking lot and park on the other side then give it a jump, and it starts right up. We drive it right to the shop which is, ironically (coincidentally, really), about 100 yards from where I was when she called for the rescue. We drop it there then go back to get Zac at soccer practice (also at Millington School). Then we go home.

Just another day at the box factory. She's making some pretty cool stuff at art class though. I love this moose.

IMG_9762.JPG

Got home and finished the garden bench project. Because, what else can I throw on the pile of shit we need to do this week? I put this up next to the chiminea so now we have 2 fully functional fire-sitting options for this weekend. Fire pit will be constructed tomorrow. I will be honest, the wood we picked for this won't last long. It's just perfectly fine that it will be setup right next to a place to burn it when it breaks. I like the color of the metal though. Looks nice:

IMG_3370.JPG

@MadisonDan - the laps in Strava are in the order you do them real time.

@taylor185 - probably this is for 2 reasons. First is that it gives the front tire a different, more firm bite in the corners. I will freely admit this is something that benefits me more when I am "in form" and these little things are more noticeable for me. I feel different turns have different setups, and being in the drops gives me more stability at times, other times I'll be in the hoods. The 2nd reason is just that it changes the contrast of the pain. Let's be honest, this all hurts. You do get addicted to this pain-adrenaline thing, and part of me loves it. But it still hurts. And alternating between hoods & drops makes me feel like I am changing the channel on the Pain Television. It's still broadcasting shit, but it's just a slightly different language. A 3rd possible reason is that you play like you practice. When I am firmly in-season, the L4 and L3 work is done in the drops when I am on the road. If I am in a power course (eg, Nittany) it benefits me to ride like I train. That's the historical answer. This past Saturday, probably a combination of the above plus muscle memory from years past.

Or I don't know WTF I am doing. Pick whatever answer seems to make the most sense today.
 

taylor185

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
With 3 days to go, the tent people came and erected a massive tent. I'm still not sure what I think about the Wedding Crashers
not going to happen. John (or maybe it's Jeremy) is traveling for work, leaving early sunday afternoon.

probably this is for 2 reasons. First is that it gives the front tire a different, more firm bite in the corners. I will freely admit this is something that benefits me more when I am "in form" and these little things are more noticeable for me. I feel different turns have different setups, and being in the drops gives me more stability at times, other times I'll be in the hoods. The 2nd reason is just that it changes the contrast of the pain. Let's be honest, this all hurts. You do get addicted to this pain-adrenaline thing, and part of me loves it. But it still hurts. And alternating between hoods & drops makes me feel like I am changing the channel on the Pain Television. It's still broadcasting shit, but it's just a slightly different language. A 3rd possible reason is that you play like you practice. When I am firmly in-season, the L4 and L3 work is done in the drops when I am on the road. If I am in a power course (eg, Nittany) it benefits me to ride like I train. That's the historical answer. This past Saturday, probably a combination of the above plus muscle memory from years past.
i find being up on the hoods (vs stretched out in the drops) as a much more "in control" position for cross cornering. based on feedback from @Delish I even moved my shifters further up the bar to place my hands in a more neutral position on the hoods. i dig.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
It struck me today that I have 3 projects going on right now:

1. Preparing for the wedding
2. Writing a book
3. Trying to get myself in shape for Nationals

The first will be taken care of in a mere 2 days from now, less than 48 hours, in fact. Damn, when I say it like that it sounds as if it's really close but then again, try standing on 1 foot for that long. It's actually a pretty long time in that light. Today I put the fire pit together, mowed the lawn, and we finalized the agenda. After I write this blog post, I will work on the script for the day, which is what @seanrunnette will read and includes the vows. The caterer also showed up today to setup the tables & chairs. So we're getting closer to lift-off, or touch-down, or whatever you prefer.

After that I'll be down to 2 projects, the 2nd of which listed above should also be done next week. But that will then morph into Editing my book, which I fully expect to take at least as long as it took me to write it. I had been doing both at the same time, writing in the morning and editing at night. But it was too much so I focused on just writing, which will likely turn into more editing in the long run as it allows me to drift further from what I wrote earlier. Anyway, random thoughts, but that will change. I'm excited about it all.

Last one is the biking. I went outside for the 6th straight day today, but had to swap out the rear tire before I did that. I realized that I had been riding on a bald tire, with 3 different spots worn through to the mesh/whatever under the rubber. No wonder it felt a little off at times. After my 10:00 working call I hopped on the bike and did a 35 mile tempo ride to go pick up the car from the mechanic. The goal here was to see if I could hang a 20 mph average today. The old Norm would be able to do it, for sure.

Well it turns out the new Norm can hang a 20.6 on this ride. Averaged 257w on the Garmin, which drops the 0s. Apples to apples, I used to be able to do a ride like this in the 280+ range. Though I admit that is so long ago and I can't pretend I am 100% certain of that. I want to say I used to smash out these in the 3 hour length but that may be me deluding myself. I'm not going to scrape through my history to figure it out.

Today was day 3 of the classic 3 day block:

* Tuesday is shorter, higher-end efforts
* Wednesday is your threshold work
* Thursday is your tempo work

Tomorrow I will try to get a road ride in, but the day may be hectic. Though if I get this script mostly done tonight I will feel pretty good about everything. I don't know what Saturday looks like, but ideally I would get out for an hour and try to do some microbursts on the cross bike for a few reasons. First, I can address something that I need work on. Second, without the Zwiffer setup this is as close as I get to a race. Third, I can do it quickly. Fourth, it's in the grass so I probably can't hurt myself on the wedding day. I will admit that D may read this and be unthrilled with me taking time to ride. So I may take a pass on the day. We'll see.

On what @Delish says - yeah shorter efforts are more typical but you can't start training with the short game. You can be sure that all the strong guys have well-developed CP20s and CP5s and CP2s as well as all the shorter stuff. If you dive right into microbursts without any foundation at all, you may literally go home and smash your bike with a sledgehammer. I was thinking of putting MBs into the routine 6-8 weeks before Louisville, as I think they are best done in moderation. If I go with 8 weeks, that's reasonably soon. It also struck me that MBs should probably be done on some sort of course that forces you to slow roll into the MB itself. I am thinking Lucky here, where the burst power after the slow turns would have been helpful. I used to do it in a field, literally back & forth in total isolation. I am sure it's helpful. I'm not sure it's the best way to train it. I'll need to think on that. I also think that 15 seconds BALLS-OUT may not make sense either. The MB is meant to get you back up to speed ASAFP. I think the MB should train that, and only that. There is no reason to accelerate to 23 mph in the field and have to slam on your brakes to be able to turn around in time to do the next one.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
And we are down to 1. Less than 1. I guess 20 hours as I sit here and start to write this. But we are good to go, with a few details to work out tonight (words, mostly) as well as the setup for tomorrow. Nothing major. Honestly if you all showed up right this second we could pull this off. It would kinda suck because I'm stuffed but we could work it. But that's now. Let's rewind.

The day started a while ago, 6:30am to be exact. I woke up and started on chapter 33, then woke up D then Julia, then came down to make lunches like always. Everyone was slow in waking up today, which is fine. D got them out the door and I got back to my chapter. This one flowed pretty well. As I am writing more and more, I see that this is how things work. The story comes out. The narrative. It just comes out, and things happen. I will be 100% honest in saying that my brain drives this from some subconscious level at this point. I was telling D today on the ride that yesterday's chapter just happened in some ways. There was a major element of the story that I wasn't even aware of until then. Alternately, my brain vomited it and it worked. Either way, I was like, "Yeah, dig it." At some future point I will turn the narrative into a more consistent, more readable story. That's the editing. I'm getting better at not worrying about the word flow, per se. Get the narrative out now, shape it later. This is a cool experience.

Also sent v1 of the script over to @seanrunnette who thought it was good. There may be some tweaks but that takes a big burden off. Now I need to figure out what I'm going to say for the toast-ish-thing we'll do. We're not doing best man/maid of honor. But I would like to say a few words. Maybe I'll just break out the phone book and filibuster the shit out of this day.

Got my needed work done for the day. Not going to lie. I am billing my time like the lawyer in The Firm this week. 2 point story = 2 hours logged, even if it took 8 minutes. I am too pressed to get to this finish line to do otherwise. D hung the lights while I did this, with some input/help from me but she did most of it. We set the bench up with the chiminea in the yard as well. Later I would light a fire in it but I'll show it here.

IMG_1856.JPG

At noon we went for a road ride, which is day 7 in a row for me outside. This is also the first time we've done a road ride together from the house in what seems like forever. It was an easy hour, just to get out there and enjoy the day. Dare I say it was actually chilly today? It warmed up, but at 12 it was still a tad on the cooler side. It was a damn fine day today.

Got back and decided to head to Black River Roasters to make sure I have enough espresso beans for tomorrow. After I got off the Oldwick exit from 78 and drove towards 22, I got pulled over and the guy let me know my (well, D's really) inspection was 2 months overdue. Goddamn it, I said. He went back to his car, and came back to let me know he was giving me a $130 present today. Maybe they knew tomorrow was our wedding? Anyway, call it an early wedding gift.

Got 2 more pounds of beans, and a double espresso, then drove to Shop Rite to top off the seltzer supply. Then picked up the kids and brought them home with no further police activity. Then I built the fire you see above. We picked up Thai food for dinner with D's parents and now we are just hanging out on Friday night. @woody is about to stop over with some tables. And I need to send out a message to let people know what time we are really starting (3:30 ceremony) and where to park (the monster gravel lot across the street that you can't really miss). And then review the script and write up some form of notes for a toast-ish-like-thing-a-ma-jig-a-bob.

Would like to thank @taylor185 for our very first actual, non-police related present of the occasion. Like I said to him, after this, I'll need to dare him to crash more of our parties.

IMG_5019.JPG
 

taylor185

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Would like to thank @taylor185 for our very first actual, non-police related present of the occasion. Like I said to him, after this, I'll need to dare him to crash more of our parties.

@Dominique , apologies for a gift only @Norm will enjoy. classic guy move on my part. I should have just bought him some underwear or maybe a pair of dress socks.

hope you guys have a blast to day and congratulations!
 
Top Bottom