Castroville Omnium

My current training and race recap to Chann:

Chann, I attached a screen shot of my Performance manager chart.



In 2007 when I was riding fairly well, i had a peak CTL of ~68 (not that high) but was built on a solid base. This explains to me why I complained about feeling tired, yet putting out a decent FTP (325w).

In 2008 I had a significantly higher CTL, but (working with another coach) it was built on a poor foundation. ie not enough miles or threshold and FTP stayed about the same. I hit a high of 82 after back to back weekends of Joe Martin Stage Race and Tour of Arkansas.

This year I have been very diligent in getting in the miles, especially the big rides. Not only that but making sure that my base rides were done at a bit higher power, closer simulating average power you would see sitting in during a long P/1 road stage. I'm currently sitting at CTL of around 88. It only makes sense that i'm putting out new power highs week after week. During the crit on Saturday, I had a 60min NP of 332w, putting me at 5.0w/kg.

Position too aggressive? Losing 30w is too much.

As for the specifics of the race.

TT: decent warm up, felt good. I think your assessment of bars being too low is spot on. They are a bit lower than what livingston set them at due to a bar change (Livingston's request). I will make the adjustment this week. As far as the effort went, it was full gas, but hamstrings/glutes did feel tight. Only averaged 320w for 22min. After that I felt a little down, wasn't sure what to think about it. I think I also need to be working on my flexibility more.

Having a go in the criterium

Crit: Felt great. Didn't get clipped in very quickly, and the race was on right from the gun. It took me 4-5 laps to get moved back up to the front. I made 2-3 goes off the front, and really pushed it. I even made the small group that formed at the front a few laps from the end (very hard!), but came back together just as the end. After a couple of near accidents in the final lap i rolled out of the back, not completely spent, but pretty tired. New FTP confirmed!

waiting to jump back in after a mechanical

RR: Honestly my head wasn't as in the race as it needed to be. I believe part of that is due to pushing it so hard the day before, i didn't feel sharp, kind of sluggish but still did ok. The course was similar to ToNB, with flat exposed roads and having to be near the front all day. I was doing ok at being near the front but not great. I missed a split mid race since being near the back and also because I wouldn't cross the yellow line and follow wheels. The whole race was stopped by the official after that because they were echeloned all the way across.

We started rolling again and on the next lap, miss another split, formed a 2nd echelon with about 20guys and we easily caught back on. From then on I was top 1/4 of the pack. I really surprised myself, was able to fight it out at the front all the way in, very windy, very technical going through low water crossings and neighborhoods. I didn't have the legs to sprint it out, but ended up in the top 20. The head ref decided that 44 of the 60 guys left were too far over and relegated us to the back after the finish, so they put me down as 49th. Not cool, but what can you do?

jmac


John McAllister
Chann McRae Cycling Coach
http://www.channmcraecycling.com/