Music.
I've been very preoccupied getting my brand off the ground. Our last party was a huge success. Mike Gibbs threw down an awesome set that had people talking for days. It's an uphill battle trying to get proper underground events going in a small town such as Guelph. I've been trying hard for almost 10 years now. Every now and then the stars align and we get a night like the last event.
We've got another event lined up in a couple weeks that I am beyond stoked for. We're building a bit of a following now and the brand is picking up momentum. Finally we have a group of like minded people that appreciate the sounds of the underground. We're kicking it up a notch this time around with some fantastic art and light installations that will really add to the atmosphere.
Thanks to some good friends Mike and Brian, I was able to get set up with a PowerTap and headunit to do my first power benchmarks in years.
If you've read my blog in the past you've witnessed my initial love for constant technical feedback during racing and training, then my thorough disdain for any sort of numerical attachment to my rides. When I was training, HR, Power figures, elevation profiles etc. were all invaluable. Chasing goals and numbers tapped into the competitive spirit that comes with racing....
...then I burned out and it all came crashing down.
Suddenly every time I went for a ride I was disappointed. Since I wasn't training, my fitness and other numbers came cascading down. The only thing I could think about was how fast I used to be. It became a complex.
So I eschewed computers, power meters, and numbers. I rode a full year and a half without any sort of feedback. I was fat, slow and didn't give a f%$k. It was great. I learned how to ride for riding sake again.
Then an app called Strava showed up. Like a proverbial Rob Ford, I denied that I was hooked on numbers again, but this was the crack-cocaine that would do me in, and get me training again.
So a couple weeks ago I did my first FTP test in almost three years. The beautiful part about training with power is that the power/weight ratio is an almost bulletproof indicator as to how fast you are. I know down to a decimal place, what P:W I have to achieve to be competitive in any given race.
I've been training hard for the last 6 weeks, and I came into winter being quite fit. I had an idea what I wanted to see as my avg power output during the 20 minute FTP test. 300w felt like a good target. At a weight of 73kg that would put me at 4.10w/kg. This figure would put me as a bottom third Pro/Elite Ontario Cup mtb rider. Close to the figures I pushed the last time I trained.
So I did the standard power test outlined in Racing and Training with a Powermeter, as I had done so many times, many moons ago. I taped some paper over the power reading of the computer so that I could simply focus on my heartrate, and began the test.
"Wow I feel strong, I wonder if I'm putting out like 320w or something"
When the dust had settled, and the numbers reviewed, my 20min FTP effort resulted in a figure of....
*drumroll*
....
....
shit.
I have some more work to do.
So I've tacked on another four weeks of focused threshold, and bumped the VO2 max work down to mid March.
In hindsight, it makes complete sense that I would fall short of my lofty goal since I haven't spent 20 minutes at threshold for more than two years (prior to training this year). Derp.
I'm the master of false hope.
til next time.
