JasonHilimire.com

No idea why I used a french title, maybe too much watching the tour last month?  Anyways loads going on around here.  The biggest news is I got a new article published in the CycleOps Power newsletter!  If you’re subscribed to the newsletter you probably seen my mug in your email inbox (subscribe here).  If not, go read my article on Using Intensity Factor to Train in the Right Zones here!

Back to bike racing:

After the 24 hour, decided to don my Minerva Design kit and head over and hit up the GVCC Crit.  Legs were still a bit cooked, but managed to jump in and stay in the main break for 30 minutes or so out of 40.  Pack pulled us back in, was able to work my way to the front and challenge for the sprint.  Coming up the hill, had a solid jump, 2nd place was starting to move up.  Dropped another gear and still had some in the tank, and then ‘schlecked’ it as the chain jumped on the cassette.  Sat up as I saw Zito had 2nd wrapped up, then realized I still had a bit to go and raced to the line for 3rd, but was nipped and will settle for 4th.  Been a while since I earned some GVCC points but was super fun to race.

This past weekend went out and did a pretty good size ride from home around Canadaigua Lake.

Great View around that lake for sure. I slogged and suffered like hell on the ride as I didn’t get much sleep the night before, but still managed a pretty solid ride.

Farmall XC Summer Series #1

Farmall Summer series kicked off this past tuesday night.  Good to get back in the flow and get back to some hard racing again.  Managed to botch my start and mis my pedal and dropped into 4th, gasp!  I pushed my way up to 3rd and then followed Staffo into the woods in 2nd place.  He was ripping it up the climbs, but I fought the good fight, and even though he got a slight gap out of the woods, I managed to pull him back in before the end of the lap.  A hard charging Tim Pilato was hot on my heels and we managed to both get past Staffo around the start of the 3rd lap.  Got some separation from Tim after a few laps and held a steady gap to the line for the W!

But enough about the racing!  It’s about the post-ride I did with Lake!

Right after this, we were ripping down the grass, and at high speed, just before the 180 turn, it gets a bit choppy. Well, he grapped a wee bit too much front brake and did a massive high speed endo. Hit the ground face first, and the bike slammed him hard in the back of the head. I think if he did have any teeth he would have lost em in this crash! After a few minutes of tears (I think I would have cried had I crashed that hard), he was back on the bike and ripping it

Up this weekend is Sprague Brook: Singletrack Stampede! Looking forward to this one, gonna be a ton of fun!

Quickie Post with a few pics for those who still come here……Do people still read this in the day of Facebook photos/twitter posts?   If you do I’ll keep posting….

Super fun time, but I’m still tired and still trying to catch up on everything. Racing some cross country this weekend at Williams Lake. Not sure why I signed up for a race thats 4 hours away, but ah well. It’s xc racing and it’ll be a blast!

I’ve written a new training tip on getting fit for going long! You can check out the article and the intricate details over on Singletrack.com.

Some good power based info on how to help you better prepare yourself for Endurance racing (and really any type of racing)

Also, Here’s some links to a few other articles I’ve written:

Mountain Bike Power

Race Simulation

It’s official, for next season I’ll be splitting up my time between road and dirt. On the road side I’ll be linking up with Minerva Design Cycling (official announcement here).

I’m super excited to be racing with a great new up and coming Rochester based road team for 2010. I’ll also be helping the fellas out with training advice and how to use those newfangle powermeter whatzamagics to make em even faster for this season. GVCC and beyond, better be on the lookout for the Red Train this season!! Choo Choo baby!

A few years back I split my season up between dirt and oad racing and have missed many a friends and the camaraderie of road racing. While I’ll still be shredding up the trails at all the same races, look to find me out racing and training on the road this season and sharpening up that razor blade.

Here’s to a great season with my new teammates!!

Day 2 was all about checking out power meters…

I’m waay too tired right now to type so enjoy the pictures. More tomorrow

So, I’ve been handing out lots of Sweet Spot and Tempo Bursts to my athletes, today made for a good day to does myself up with a few good efforts of my my own prescription. On tap was 4×9 min Sweet Spot wattage efforts with 15 sec ‘bursts’ > 400 watts.

Wasn’t sure how the legs were going to respond after yesterday’s ‘hour of power’, but actually felt really great.

I hit my targets, particularly on my 1st and 3rd interval, the 2nd and 4th though…. I think I was just riding too fast, slight downhill + little tailwind was impossible to push out upper ends of the wattage.

I’ll take this weather, blue skies and another short sleeve/shorts day!!

Headed out for some Tempo Bursts this afternoon. One of my favorite workouts. Seems to make the intervals go by so much quicker when you do a little sprint a few times during the efforts.

I’m the worst at doing long intervals, not bad when you can do them on a climb, but always loathe them on the flat roads. Seeing as it was a little chilly, I decided to not become a popsicle by doing hill repeats and freezing my arse off on the way down and just went out and hit the flat/rolling terrain.

All in all the 4×9 tempo efforts with bursts at 3,6,9 minutes turned out great. A few minor glitches involving traffic and corners, but they pretty much look about as good as I can do them outdoors. The legs felt quite a bit better than yesterdays efforts. I felt really flat yesterday, but good and strong today. I usually have good workouts when I have a few days in my legs. Plus I did a bunch of stretching last night, my hips and hamstrings have been really tight and I think that really helped me out.

Weather is looking awful tomorrow thru the weekend If the snow stays away, may spend some time on the dirt, but otherwise may be a fairly rough weekend to get in some big miles. Next week looking like it’s going to be back in the mid 50′s and 60′s so I’m happy with that!

Weather is blowing in here on the front range, temps have come down a bit compared to last week. But being an Upstate New Yorker, it’s still great weather for me to train in.

Yesterday was a rest day, which meant today was time to grab the bike and head out for some time. With the weather moving in, (snow was coming fast) I decided to cut the workout by 30 minutes so I wouldn’t get caught in the blackening skies.

On tap for today was 3 x 9 minute Sweet Spot Training intervals. The legs were so-so today, nothing special almost felt a bit flat. I did manage to get the work done. As you can see in the graph below, doing SST’s on the road isn’t always pretty. Though, I easily fell in wattage range for the duration of each effort, the rolling terrain keeps the chart from looking perfect. Especially the 3rd effort where I hit some really good rolling terrain, and got up and out of the saddle for the efforts while lightening up on the descents just a tad. A good workout and by no means was I hosed at the end of the workout, but just comfortable and glad I decided to head out.

Need some help in determining your training zones; well FasCat Coach Frank Overton, just posted an article on VeloNews on how to perform a field test and set up your training zones

Today called for a bit of the tempo; 4×12′s to be exact. It was a nice sunshine day here so I decided to add some xtra time to my workout and head up towards Carter Lake.

As mentioned yesterday, I made some changes to my road setup. Boy, what a difference. The bike felt great, fit like a glove. With that came some xtra power on the bike and feeling good!

Tempo Big Picture

2 sets: 2×12 on 6 min off 20 min Rest Interval

I was going to capture the whole Carter Lake fly by and the ensuing descent, but somehow I never erased my memory card. Thus you only get a minute or so of video.

WARNING: I didn’t edit it so turn of the sound or the wind will make you deaf!!

It was a great ride. I felt really good and comfortable doing the intervals as compared to yesterday. My wattage was perfect and almost nearly into my Sweet Spot zones. I really felt great finishing up the ride. So my senses and WKO+ agree, my fitness is on the upswing. I plan on hitting up the Gateway ride this weekend to confirm.

Tomorrow, I gotta go get some tubes. I busted off the valve stem on my front, so I haven’t put air in it in a week, and the rear has a pretty good leak, meaning 2 hours in I was probably at 70 psi and had to stop and hand pump. Yah, I’m lazy and cheap. But hey, run what you brung!

Looking North from Carter, Jeff you out there?

Sweet Spot intervals that is…
Today was a time to dig in and tap out some intervals. 2 sets of 3×8 on 8 off. No issue with the first 2 intervals of each set, but seemed like both times never could get through the third. Not due to power dropping off, but the 3rd interval was a wash, because I picked the wrong route and there was a boatload of descending that zapped the power. The final interval was cut short due to a never wanting to turn stoplight!

All together it wasn’t too bad of a day on the bike. Sun was shining, so I’ll take that. My legs were not super, but then it usually takes me a few days of riding to flush them out and get in the groove.

I’ve been making some changes to my road position. I just can’t seem to get comfortable. Last week I raised my saddle a hair and it felt good, but today I felt way to high and felt like I wasn’t pushing down on my pedal-stroke completely. I’ve lowered it back to normal and moved it forward slightly so we’ll see how that works tomorrow. I’ve also re-flipped my stem back to a more aggro position. I think I flipped it more upright about a season and half ago or so. The last few rides on my road bike have just had my neck and shoulders absolutely killing me. I feel like I’ve had a knife stuck inbetween my shoulder blades. I flipped the stem and felt much more comfortable today (except for the saddle).

Maybe I just need to stretch?

Tomorrow calls for some tempo intervals. Hopefully with the changes I’ll be more comfortable and put out more power.

Olde Stage Road Looking down to 36

Racing the Sunset

Currently playing in iTunes: Do the Rump by The Black Keys