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Benchmarking Procedures
for 23+ Widder's Hump

this page last updated: 02/01/2015 10:39:12 PM

 

Date Checklist  
07/03/08

see below
Background
Benchmarks

1) Confirm equipment tire pressure, plus power meter and HR monitoring devices cleared and functioning. Got drink?

2) Stroke test at start by clicking out of left pedal and assess right  leg function, switch click out right for checking left with comparison to right. Currently Mary's right is much better, so while testing it she is to observe how it moves "correctly" and try to accomplish the exact same movement with the left. Report on scale 1-10.

3) Meditation for 4-6 miles at 80-100 watts with 90-100 rpm cadence while stepping through relaxation elements same as morning prone exercise. Focus in turn on major muscle groups stepping from bottom to top thus: bottom of toes, top of toes, bottom of feet, top of feet, calves, shins, hams, quads, glutes, psoas, sacrum, lower abs, mid-back, upper abs, lats, pecs, back of delts, front front delts, triceps, biceps, back of forearm, front of forearm (based on prone with palms up), back of hands, front of hands, back of fingers, front of fingers, traps, front of neck, back of jaw, lips, ears, nose, temples, eyes, whole head, verbal reinforcement, "I am one strong motherfucking cyclist. Unbeatable actually," while visualizing stage win in the Tour. A quick review over the whole body looking for trouble spots. Just like a musician works on scales a bit at a time in order to finally play a very smooth fast line as if in a single motion, this exercise is to be practiced until the whole series can be accomplished in a single relaxing breath out. Currently Mary can go through the steps three or four times in the warmup.  Report on scale 1-10.

4) Cadence test beginning at 90 rpm and doing 30 seconds each of 90, 100, 110, 120 then spinning out to the point of bouncing. Back off the bouncing and try again to a cadence just before the bounce. Several repeats till comfortable with assessment of where and why problems arise.  Report on scale 1-10 (compare to startup test).

4) Stand and Sit test. Work for even pressure in both feet with the goal of smoothing the plop after dropping pressure off the left foot. Practice both up to down, and down to standing. Report on scale 1-10.

6) A couple more miles with review of benchmarking results and pop-watts. (Final report on scale 1-10, decide if continue.)

Tactics

1)  Some of the hills on the Hump are too steep for Mary's gearing (and she would rather quit cycling than suffer the embarrassment of a triple), so she will stand on those hills in order to rest her piriformis while she incurs the unavoidable hit on her FT as her watts spike due to standing and over torquing at too low a cadence. Currently this will occur: a) just before Cross Road, b) at the mailbox on Ridgebury, c) Dog Hill, d) Hard Core Hill.

2) She will do the same thing through corners, because we now realize the biggest hurdle for her 23+ Widder's Hump will be the loss of pace at turns with the associated need to spike her watts to overcome inertia coming back up to pace. Tests have shown that keeping her watts up on the downhills will not be the problem we expected, but the harder uphills and the turns will be a perfect chance to rest and relax her left hip, psoas, piriformis, and glute, and take some pressure of specific areas of her bunions while doing a quick review of the ride to that point.

3) Intervals are recorded using her middle Powertap CPU (using the one which still has the cadence function intact), and intervals will be set AFTER each turn in order to avoid thinking of getting through the turn while clicking an interval at the same time. The process will be to pop-watt to the goal effort after each turn then click the interval on. She will monitor average watts during each interval with the interval CPU, while her current watts will display on the left hand CPU. She can add intervals at significant landmarks in the same way, such as the top of Ridgebury, the hill before the Camel Farm, Dog Hill, etc.

 

 

 

 

Background: This page records the ongoing development of warmup and benchmarking for the beginning of Mary's rides.

As of 07/03/08 we have already gone through numerous iterations (during the previous 7 months) improving her benchmarking procedures in order to pre-test a go/no go situation at the beginning of each ride. She has come to understand that an early prediction saves her a lot of pain and disappointment when things are wrong and will not be getting better.

This testing now begins when Mary wakes in the morning and begins the exercises which were first used as therapy for a lack of strength in her left psoas along with restricted movement in her left leg/hip. Now they are part of her daily routine.

The morning exercises consist of a series of Yoga and stretching exercises along with icing, and resting on a device called a SacroWedgy which lifts the sacrum and relieves pressure from her piriformis. She does the three times throughout the day, and reports on a 1-10 scale how she feels each series has gone.

At the beginning of each ride she continues the process with a few specific exercises at the very start, then a warmup with continued meditation exercises, and a re-test after warmup. She grades each section on the 1-10 scale and compares start of exercise with post warmup results. This is to help her focus and learn to assess her performance before it falls apart.

These are very specific exercises which may not have relevance to any other athlete. Since they are being developed as based on careful monitoring of her physiologic response over time, the series will change over time, and it may be useful to review the progression at a later date. Therefore the table above is an outline log of her pre-ride benchmarking procedure. The top entry is the current status, and the dated entries below it follow the development process.

 

 

this page last updated: 02/01/2015 10:39:12 PM
 

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