The Leadville training camp went really well this weekend. The camp was extremely well run and the coaches were great, the recon riding experience and information learned was priceless and I can not say enough good things about this camp and the CTS staff that put it on. This camp was very encouraging mentally and gave me a good confidence boost in understanding my physical capabilities, also very remotivating as I feel I can make a very good jump in performance and weight loss before the race. The pace which we were riding puts me on track for an under 12 hr finish, which is very promising for race day results.
Friday June 25
I probably could have rode harder the first day of the camp, but after reading the CTS information on altitude and pacing I decided it would be best to back off more as opposed to less to avoid fatigue. This was certainly one of the smarter decisions I made, I found myself riding by myself more to keep at my own pace, but this was good as I really didn't have the overall fitness to hang with the second group that I riding with. "overall fitness" may not really be the correct term to describe my situation. Here's how the day worked out, on flat sections of the course I had no difficultly keeping up with the group, and really I could have kept up with the first group. On medium to slightly inclined (gradual climbing) sections of the course I struggled to maintain pace and keep up with the group. This is where I had to just stay consistent and ride at a pace I could maintain. I really never ended up too far back from the group, but just wasn't quite there for keeping up and maintaining a comfortable pace. The interesting twist to day is the steep climbs, on our return trip up Powerline, I found myself passing nearly everyone and nearly leading the way up these climbs. My HR was higher than I had previously been riding at, but felt maintainable -really it just wasn't possible to ride any slower, to stay smooth and efficient it felt like the only pace I could ride at. On the medium climbs I originally felt my weight was hurting me, but my performance on the steeper climbs contradicts this. In talking with the coaches, my only conclusion is that I engage a lot more muscles on the steeper climbs and somehow I seem to have a much higher performance efficiency for this type of terrain.
Unfortuneately the battery was dead in my Edge 705 on this day, so its very disappointing that I don't have any HR data for Friday...
Saturday June 26
Saturday was a much different day. After dinner on Friday I was super tired and was looking forward to going to bed and being rested for the next day of riding. Due to the altitude this did not turn out as planned. I never actually slept that well due the altitude and sort of felt like I was constantly waking up periodically all night long. Needless to say I didn't feel well rested in the morning and my second days performance suffered. The Columbine climb really wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, but my pace dropped me well behind the group I was riding with the day before. About 3/4 the way up, my performance flat lined and I was forced into a survival mode pace. Since there really wasn't any hard efforts or climbing required after getting to the top the rest of the day went fine and I didn't really notice my decreased performance anymore.
I do have the HR/GPS data for Saturday, haven't had a chance to download it yet, but I'll get the link posted as soon as I can.
I had a hotel rented for Sat night also, but decided to get to a lower elevation for the night as there was no need to get another night of poor sleep. This decidsion was confirmed when I tried taking a nap before leaving. I stayed in Denver Sat night with some friends and while I slept better I still felt the effects of higher elevation. Due to my sensitivity to the altitude I am heavily investigating getting supplemental oxygen for sleeping the night before the Leadville race.
Technical skills are not going to be an issue in the race, and actually I found that I seem to way ahead of most people in this area, I was very surprised at the slow decending speeds of a lot of the guys, the CTS coaches kept our decent speeds to a relatively low speed as the purpose was to recon the course and this turned out be very good strategy as there are certainly a few obstacles that could be dangerous if your not aware of them.
Friday June 25
I probably could have rode harder the first day of the camp, but after reading the CTS information on altitude and pacing I decided it would be best to back off more as opposed to less to avoid fatigue. This was certainly one of the smarter decisions I made, I found myself riding by myself more to keep at my own pace, but this was good as I really didn't have the overall fitness to hang with the second group that I riding with. "overall fitness" may not really be the correct term to describe my situation. Here's how the day worked out, on flat sections of the course I had no difficultly keeping up with the group, and really I could have kept up with the first group. On medium to slightly inclined (gradual climbing) sections of the course I struggled to maintain pace and keep up with the group. This is where I had to just stay consistent and ride at a pace I could maintain. I really never ended up too far back from the group, but just wasn't quite there for keeping up and maintaining a comfortable pace. The interesting twist to day is the steep climbs, on our return trip up Powerline, I found myself passing nearly everyone and nearly leading the way up these climbs. My HR was higher than I had previously been riding at, but felt maintainable -really it just wasn't possible to ride any slower, to stay smooth and efficient it felt like the only pace I could ride at. On the medium climbs I originally felt my weight was hurting me, but my performance on the steeper climbs contradicts this. In talking with the coaches, my only conclusion is that I engage a lot more muscles on the steeper climbs and somehow I seem to have a much higher performance efficiency for this type of terrain.
Unfortuneately the battery was dead in my Edge 705 on this day, so its very disappointing that I don't have any HR data for Friday...
Saturday June 26
Saturday was a much different day. After dinner on Friday I was super tired and was looking forward to going to bed and being rested for the next day of riding. Due to the altitude this did not turn out as planned. I never actually slept that well due the altitude and sort of felt like I was constantly waking up periodically all night long. Needless to say I didn't feel well rested in the morning and my second days performance suffered. The Columbine climb really wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, but my pace dropped me well behind the group I was riding with the day before. About 3/4 the way up, my performance flat lined and I was forced into a survival mode pace. Since there really wasn't any hard efforts or climbing required after getting to the top the rest of the day went fine and I didn't really notice my decreased performance anymore.
I do have the HR/GPS data for Saturday, haven't had a chance to download it yet, but I'll get the link posted as soon as I can.
I had a hotel rented for Sat night also, but decided to get to a lower elevation for the night as there was no need to get another night of poor sleep. This decidsion was confirmed when I tried taking a nap before leaving. I stayed in Denver Sat night with some friends and while I slept better I still felt the effects of higher elevation. Due to my sensitivity to the altitude I am heavily investigating getting supplemental oxygen for sleeping the night before the Leadville race.
Technical skills are not going to be an issue in the race, and actually I found that I seem to way ahead of most people in this area, I was very surprised at the slow decending speeds of a lot of the guys, the CTS coaches kept our decent speeds to a relatively low speed as the purpose was to recon the course and this turned out be very good strategy as there are certainly a few obstacles that could be dangerous if your not aware of them.
