Hitting the Hills
I started a new training phase in July, incororating hills into my workouts. Both Ft.Ritchie and Half Full are both described as "hilly" by locals. Now this being Maryland, hilly is a relative term. I grew up in the Poconos of PA, where there aren't the mountains of Mont Vantoux or Alpes d'Huez but more than the 50 ft climbs that count as hills in MD.
Ft. Ritchie (now two weeks away) does have climbs that are categorized. I looked up the route and it had been tracked on mapmyride.com. This site categorizes climbs from GPS uploads based on similar criteria that is used for cycling events. Ft. Ritchie has a short 3/4 mile category 5 climb and a longer 3.75 mile category 3 climb. Knowing this, I felt it was time to try to get in as much work as possible on the hills around here.
In doing that, I am trying to put together some courses that repeat some of the steeper or longer climbs in the Annapolis area. This is pretty hard as our climbs aren't as long or steep. I found some around the Naval Academy bridge up to the B&A Trial on Ritchie Highway. It's only 200ft of climbing over the whole thing but repeating that circuit does the workout.
I found that doing a majority of my climb workouts on my road bike helps build strength. My road bike has much more rolling resistance and is heavier than my carbon tri bike. Switching to the tri bike makes it feel easier, trying to match cadence and speed to the road bike. I have also been discovering more about gearing and will hopefully be writing a separate post about simple gearing later this summer. Gearing and knowing when to be in or out of the saddle is perhaps equally important (if not more) to pure strength on climbs.
These last few weeks of watching Le Tour gave me insights on riding styles, gear, and tactics. It has been great following this so closely. I have gained a tremendous appreciation for the cycling portion and am actually considering entering some cycling only races or even duathlons. I have been eyeing the Annapolis Bay Country Century at the end of August and the Gran Fondo Allegheny Highlands for next July.
As for the Tour, I did not come in last in my fantasy league. I was fourth to last, but not last. The LBS here put together a mini league for this year's tour. It was all free and you don't win anything but it's all fun. First, yes there are Tour de France fantasy games. Yes, I did play. Yes, I did get very into it. My main racers out of my team of 8 were Alberto Contador and Nairo Quintana who came in 4th and 2nd overall respectively.
This week I will be focusing heavily on the run. I am into the "theme week" portion of my training. This week was supposed to be swim themed but I decided to make it cycle instead. I switched around some weeks so that I could do the bike and run focus before this mid-training tri in two weeks. After Ft Ritchie, I'll swing back in and do my swim focus week. I am also going to head up to Ft Ritchie on Saturday morning to do an open water swim clinic and to bike the course before the tri.
I do apologize that this post is very disjoint. I didn't post in a few weeks and needed to wrap up all the happenings. Look for more frequent posts, gear reviews, and other helpful information.
Ft. Ritchie (now two weeks away) does have climbs that are categorized. I looked up the route and it had been tracked on mapmyride.com. This site categorizes climbs from GPS uploads based on similar criteria that is used for cycling events. Ft. Ritchie has a short 3/4 mile category 5 climb and a longer 3.75 mile category 3 climb. Knowing this, I felt it was time to try to get in as much work as possible on the hills around here.
In doing that, I am trying to put together some courses that repeat some of the steeper or longer climbs in the Annapolis area. This is pretty hard as our climbs aren't as long or steep. I found some around the Naval Academy bridge up to the B&A Trial on Ritchie Highway. It's only 200ft of climbing over the whole thing but repeating that circuit does the workout.
I found that doing a majority of my climb workouts on my road bike helps build strength. My road bike has much more rolling resistance and is heavier than my carbon tri bike. Switching to the tri bike makes it feel easier, trying to match cadence and speed to the road bike. I have also been discovering more about gearing and will hopefully be writing a separate post about simple gearing later this summer. Gearing and knowing when to be in or out of the saddle is perhaps equally important (if not more) to pure strength on climbs.
These last few weeks of watching Le Tour gave me insights on riding styles, gear, and tactics. It has been great following this so closely. I have gained a tremendous appreciation for the cycling portion and am actually considering entering some cycling only races or even duathlons. I have been eyeing the Annapolis Bay Country Century at the end of August and the Gran Fondo Allegheny Highlands for next July.
As for the Tour, I did not come in last in my fantasy league. I was fourth to last, but not last. The LBS here put together a mini league for this year's tour. It was all free and you don't win anything but it's all fun. First, yes there are Tour de France fantasy games. Yes, I did play. Yes, I did get very into it. My main racers out of my team of 8 were Alberto Contador and Nairo Quintana who came in 4th and 2nd overall respectively.
This week I will be focusing heavily on the run. I am into the "theme week" portion of my training. This week was supposed to be swim themed but I decided to make it cycle instead. I switched around some weeks so that I could do the bike and run focus before this mid-training tri in two weeks. After Ft Ritchie, I'll swing back in and do my swim focus week. I am also going to head up to Ft Ritchie on Saturday morning to do an open water swim clinic and to bike the course before the tri.
I do apologize that this post is very disjoint. I didn't post in a few weeks and needed to wrap up all the happenings. Look for more frequent posts, gear reviews, and other helpful information.
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