Mile To Ride Before Sleep

Mile To Ride Before Sleep

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Bike & Build by the Numbers Part III

I am breaking from my traditional monthly post, and you now get a second bonus post! Wahoo.

I thought I was done with numbers from the summer. I'm currently reading The Cyclist's Training Bible, which has given me some insight into the software I use to analyze my cycling performance. I now present my Performance Management Chart from last summer.


It's a lot, so let me break it down.

TSB = training stress balance :: form
CTL = chronic training load :: fitness
ATL = acute training load :: fatigue

ATL shows my training stress and how hard I worked in the short term. When CTL rises, my fitness is improving. TSB shows "restedness." A score above zero means I am "on form" or well rested. As you can see, I only reached that twice. The first time was after a week in New Orleans, and I am not sure how I recovered for the second. That day off was in the Grand Canyon, and I didn't do too much there as it was raining (and hailing) and I was a little under the weather.

I was tired for much of Bike & Build, and now I know why. Well, I guess anyone with half a brain could have told me why. They would have said, "You're biking across the country! Of course, you're tired!" I tagged the build days and days off and there is a strong correlation of restedness after those according to the graph. For fun I also labeled some of the hard days, which is along the ATL line. I will have to compare this to my regular racing season. It may be that I will only be on form a couple times during a season, and it's perfectly normal. I will continue reading the book and find out.

Interestingly, I started Bike & Build near my most tired state. I had just completed Cover Indiana (360 miles), and I was sick. Not the best way to start. If I had to do it over again, I would make it a point to come well rested. More on B&B do-overs next time.

Also, I felt most burnt out during the two times I was most rested. Weird, right? Moral of the story: stay tired enough so you don't realize you're tired?

Thursday, January 3, 2013

SUS Does New York

Me and 17 of my best friends met up in NYC for New Years. I don't know if we were able to pull that off during the summer when we visited places. It was quite the reunion having two-thirds of us in one place. We hadn't skipped a beat. It felt just like summer just a wee bit colder. I think about these people every day (literally [read: litruhlee]) and it was wonderful to catch up.

We went to Central Park for the new year and watched the fireworks. I did the whole Times Square deal in 2001 so it was good to back with good company. We we went ice skating, out to eat, walked across the Brooklyn Bridge among other things.

Unfortunately, many of us became sick. It was a real SUSpool er... cesspool at Jay's apartment. I felt like I got hit by a bus - lots of body aches and a fever, but Jay and his family are great hosts and took care of us. All in all an awesome time.