At least according to my new Garmin Dongle. You know this happy puppy ever upward cheer leading gets old fast.
The 130 has a few more factors and numbers to tell you how good you are. It shows a training effect factor for aerobic and anaerobic fitness or whatever. They both are over a range of 1 to 5. 5 is too much and under 2 is "why bother."
My last couple of rides the aerobic number is comfortably over 3 or even 4 so good on ya mate! My anaerobic number is barely over 2 so "maintaining". Before that anaerobic was not so good at all.
Historically I know my winter HIITs are for strength which is the Anaerobic thing and my endurance suffers. I need to get outside for longer and longer rides to build that. The Garmin says that is working.
So here I am pondering what do I do to improve strength while I improve my endurance to "summer shape." Basically I have to sprint. There are several places I routinely do that. There are two small bridges on the YVR run I try to Hammer. The first one is about 1000m long and it is about 50 seconds to the top at 30ish kph. It is hard. Last night I managed to hold good speed over that one.
The second is a hump over a commuter train line to the terminal. Very short, but steepish. I typically do max power there (663 Watts last night). I can sprint very hard for say 30 seconds and still pretty hard for 60 seconds, but after that gotta breathe hard.
Those two things probably got me that barely good score.
The strength thing is used in a few places on a typical ride not sprinting. Starting up from a dead stop, or climbing a short hill both while standing on the pedals takes strength. If I run out of air my legs burn and I have to sit down. I expect this and see it slowly improve over a season.
So these new numbers tell me that if I want to maintain my strength or even improve it I have to do a lot more hard pushes. Thing is do I want to? I have a pretty set routine and expectations over a season. My Garmin says I can do much better. It only takes hard work. Damn I was pretty happy were I was. Its that motivation thing again.
Another thing is that on long rides you pay for your efforts. If you push really hard it slows you down as you recover. If I sprint on longer rides or trying to hammer climbs the ride after will suffer. Tricky business.
Anyway my YVR loop last night was the best yet this year. It was still windy just less so. My average speed was 28.31 over the course. A few years ago I did just over 30 kph as a PB. Hot day, no wind. I think I may be close to that fitness now. Just need the conditions or much better strength. Damn dongle!
In other news I have a new power meter on its way. Came from the UK, but made in Calgary of all places. The power pod I have is good on slow uphill sections and in dead headwinds. Cross winds and tail winds it is stupid. I know this as I am working hard my heart rate is the same as when I was pushing 180 Watts into the wind, but it says I am not even doing 100 Watts. I am so frustrated with it I spent money. Cant buy a new bike so just fiddle with what I got.
Just past the halfway for the year. I am still in deficit, but probably will make 4500 ish km if the numbers converge. It is nice when things go well. I had problems this year. They are behind me now.
I have my second Covid vaccine and had only mild effects. My resting heart rate was up a bit but has come back down. I could not tell if the aches and pains were from the shot or just from my working out.
The TdF is on. I really hope that Slovenian is riding clean. People coming out of nowhere to win that race and then repeat the next year from a small country......
