Field Test

I had to do a Field Test yesterday. I really hate doing these. Essentially they are 2 x 3 mile all out efforts (and everyone knows how much I hate TT'ing). The good news was that I blew every other FT I've ever done out of the water! My highest average Power prior to yesterday's was 297 watts done in January of 2006. I averaged 331 on my first 3 miles and then 318 on the second.! Six weeks ago I averaged 283 & 266 respectively. That's equates to over 10% increase from my previous best and ~15% increase from 7 weeks ago! I've been feeling this is the best shape I've ever been in this time of year and it's nice to have the data to back it up.

The bad news is this result completly changes my power ranges for my intervals. Hmmm, I guess I may have to 'throw' these results in the future! Here's how my ranges changed shown in watts;

• Endurance from 127-212 to 148-248
• Tempo from 226-240 to 264-281
• Steady State from 243-254 to 284-297

I'm hurting just thinking about my new ranges!

There's a Brew Pub in Southampton, NY that released their Russian Imperial Stout in Bottles on Saturday. The last time they released this beer was back in 2005. It is currently ranked #32 in the World on RateBeer.com. They only bottled 200 bottles and limited the number 1 person could buy to 3 per person.

I decided to make the long trip up there (it is just under a 4 hour drive). Here's a picture of my 'haul'. I was able to get 12 bottles; 3 from me, 3 from Trish who came up with me, 3 from my Brother who agreed to come on up with us, and 3 from some random person in the back I pointed at and told the bartender she was with us :)



With the bad weather the other week, I got plenty of WII time in. Take a look at my WII age in the fitness test (I think 20 is the lowest you can go). Aren't you jealous?

I spoke too soon...

Looks like I spoke too soon. Add snow to the list of crazy weather for the last week. From 70 degrees to teens to snow in 7 days!

Yet Another Weather Related Post!!!

This week we've seen it all weather wise;

• Record warmth. It got up to 70 degress last Wednesday. Unfortunately it was raining. I didn't care and still went out for a 1.5 hour ride in the warm rain.
• Thunderstorms. You usually don't get thunderstorms in the winter. We did last weekend.
• Gusty winds. During our ride yesterday, the winds were between 20-40mph with some stronger gusts!
• Coldest weather in over a year. Its 11:00am and its only 12 degress outside with windchills in the negatives (-3 degrees).

At least it didn't snow (although a wintry mix is in the forecast for tomorrow).

January Summary

Did my 1st long rides on the Merlin this weekend (for Ben; my bike was dirty because on the East Coast, we ride even if the roads are wet and crappy because of rain and snow). It feels great and climbs well! I didn't remember it having this much acceleration (I guess it's that damn curse!).

January Training Summary (5 weeks)
40:47 total training time
614.06 miles on the road
47.99 miles on the Computrainer

It's been a warm January and thankfully I haven't had to spend too much time on the trainer. I started Tempo and the dreaded Steady State workouts this week. I really hate those SS intervals!

Styling Points

Cousin Ben gave my bike a 95 / 100 'styling' points. He liked the way the red in the saddle matched to the red on the Zipp wheels and to the red in the pedals. He also like the way the Titanium colors blended and the grey/white on the fork blended to the handle bar tape. He deducted 5 styling points because of the blue on the fork. Here's why there is blue on the fork.


Notice how the blue on the fork blends into the team water bottle and also the blue in my racing shorts. This should be worth the 5 points he deducted! I demand a recount.






And for those training days, notice on the blue on the saddle bag ties into the other blues. He should award extra points for this! Also note how the stiching on the saddle bag matches the bike.