Don't Fear 300!

I have recently been reminded that the mind is a very powerful thing and so is perception. And that it's very difficult to override either one.

I train using a power meter which measures the amount of wattage (energy) I generate when I ride. What's great about riding with a power meter is that power doesn't lie. When I look down at my little yellow "dashboard", it's like riding with Goldilocks - it tells me if I'm not pushing hard enough, pushing way too hard, or if the effort is just right. The other great thing is that power is really independent of any external variables such as wind or hills. If my goal is to work at a certain level of effort, I can correlate that effort to a watt number and try to hold that number regardless of riding in 30mph head winds or sitting on my bike in the comfort of my living room while doing a spin workout on my trainer and watching the movie "The Notebook" (just an example ;-)

My watt numbers fluctuate depending on what cycling shape I'm in. When I'm in decent shape and I head out to do hill repeats or solid efforts, I know that if I keep my wattage at 225 or under (270 for climbing long hills), then I won't burn out and will have energy reserves to keep going. But if I see the number "300", I immediately back off. So 300 watts has become my benchmark, eliciting a, "holy crap I'm going to blow an artery and my quads will separate from my thigh bones!!!!" type of mental response. But in reality, it had become a roadblock. Until two weeks ago.

Two weeks ago I decided to take my own advice (what I tell my athletes) and I went out on a two hour interval/tempo/hills ride and just "left it all out there" - everything I had. I was blasting up long grinding hills, short steep hills, and keeping the tempo and effort high. The first time I saw 320 watts I immediately looked away from my dashboard, pushed the "holy crap" thoughts from creeping into my brain, and just kept hammering. 360 watts on the next hill? Who cares! Let 'er rip!

After that workout I dragged myself home and felt totally wiped and really great! When I downloaded my power data I was amazed to discover that my average watts for the entire ride (including warmup, cooldown, and recovery) was 209 and my 30 minute sustained effort was 246. I also discovered that my 1 minute efforts were 313 and above. And while one minute might not seem that long, it's long enough to get up a hill quickly or blast through a straightaway at pretty decent speed. And it's enough to reassure me that I won't blow an artery.

Sometimes we just have to get out of our own way to make progress. Fear 300? Not anymore!

RAAM on the Brain and in my Dining Room

My husband is currently on a business trip and I just got off the phone with him a few hours ago. After our usual, "How was your day" chit chat, out discussions these days always turn to one thing -- RAAM. I think he summed it up best when he said, "If I'm not thinking about it (RAAM), I'm talking about it, reading e-mails from people about it, writing e-mails to people about it, planning for it, or figuring out how to solve some logistical problem with it." He followed that sentiment up with, "Thank you Susan."

That's code for, "How in the world did you get me into another one of your hair brained ideas." And while I could hear the smile in his voice, I have to admit he has a point.

As I sit here writing this at 1:07am, with exercise TV infomercials playing in the background, I look around my office (aka: the dining room) and see piles of official RAAM documents, Team Ride Red folders and papers, and a few boxes from my newest technology acquisitions: a cell phone with video capability and a GPS window suction mount that I plan to use for live streaming video (not GPS). Go up into our workout room and you'll see a new bike helmet that needs to be properly fitted, four large poster signs stacked against the wall from our last sponsor fundraiser six days ago, our team banner rolled up, a pile of hardware and pvc pipe that is either on the way back to Home Depot or waiting to be affixed to something in the van to support a flag, flashing lights, emergency vehicle sign, or who knows what. That's next to the four foot stack of plastic drawers that WERE in the van but after last week's training session, have been replaced with two shorter stacks of plastic drawers because the van has since been rewamped for a better, more "efficient" configuration.

And I just came inside a few minutes ago from taking measurements on the side of the leapfrog vehicle (aka: our mini-van which we traded my camaro in for a more practical vehicle for RAAM...I know...I know...) so I can order magnetic signage for the van for our upcoming race in two weeks - the Hill Country 600K. Truth be told, I have never ordered magnetic signs before so quite honestly I have no idea what I'm doing. Is $68.50 for two 24x24 magnetic signs a good deal? Is that in four color print or just one color? Should I hold out for vinyl signs instead because the magnetic ones will look dorky? Good lord.

I have to admit a big part of me loves figuring out all the logistics of an event like RAAM. But there are some days when it's a bit too much. My friend, and team Crew Chief, Fred said last week that he thought he and I alone would exchange no less than 50 e-mails from Tues to Sun as we ramped up for the team's 18 hour training event on Saturday. We hit 48.

Perhaps when my husband returns we can have a meaningful conversation that doesn't include topics like, "How are we going to fasten the orange safety flags to the car" or, "Do you think we can find a coffee maker that is below the power rating for the 1600 watt/amp power inverter booster thingey". Or perhaps we could go out to dinner instead of Home Depot's plumbing department while we try to figure out how to take a drain pipe and turn it into a flag holder (been there, done that). I give us 5 minutes before one of us cracks.