Month: February 2022

How has my combined mileage changed over the years? I did some digging in Strava to find out what my cycling and running mileage has looked like over time. These charts are from the last 10 years. * I can’t believe I’ve been using Strava for 10 years, but that’s another post.

My highest volume training year was 2018 (2nd chart), my lowest was 2012 (3rd chart). The lowest year was most likely because I wasn’t recording all my activities, and I probably wasn’t running very much. I’m not sure about 2018. I would have thought it would have been 2016, when I ran Mountain Lakes 100 and my overall volume was high.

2015 – 2018 were pretty consistent, but I started to fall off the volume in 2019, and nose-dived in 2020. Cloudability had just been acquired acquired and I started going into the office less (no 10 mile round trip bike commute) and less frequent lunch time runs. I think I was just working a lot in 2019 before Covid. I has my last flight to Seattle in March, when Covid started to appear more frequently in the news – I think everything shut down a few weeks later. I can’t believe I was traveling through SeaTac maskless with people coughing all around. Holy shit. I took over leadership of a much larger team in 2019 and was just generally working a lot (remotely). My training volume suffered.

I mentioned in a previous post that I’ve started riding the smart trainer – only 2 rides so far, but I’m planning to use it to build a base going into the spring. I think I can recapture some of the lost commute miles – even if I only ride 45 minutes per day, that would make up the deficit from 2019 and 2020.

I’m going to proceed cautiously, doing 1 hour rides 3-4 hours / week and then take a functional threshold power (FTP) test in 2 weeks, this will give me a baseline for training. I don’t really want to know max output right now, I just want to get comfortable riding and using the apps (currently Rouvy). Though it was fun cranking up to 300 watts plus just because I wanted to see the number go up.

I rode an hour last night and found it … not bad … I ran a 5 miler this morning and my legs felt the accumulated cycling + running. Tired legs.

To make the charts above, I cut/pasted data from Strava into Google Sheets, then pasted the URL into Google Data Studio, then pulled some levers and turned some dials. I’m not sure if you can extract all your data from Strava – I know you can download .gpx data – but maybe not cumulative reporting data.

So I bought a smart trainer. I was checking Fedex on the hour to see where it was and yesterday it finally arrived. I’m trying not to go crazy $$ on setup, so I didn’t buy a second cassette to put on the trainer (it’s a Saris H3). I spent last night getting my gravel bike cleaned up and ready to ride indoors. I pulled the cassette off (11spd, 11-32 Ultegra), degreased it and installed it on the trainer. I had the adapters for the through axle backwards and hand tightened as tight as I could — before realizing they were reversed. A minor freak out ensued when I realized I couldn’t fit the cassette removal tool over the through axle. With a lot of pressure exerted while holding the cassette with the chain whip, I reversed my mistake, flipped the adapters and mounted my bike onto the trainer.

After a quick calibration using the Saris app on my phone, the trainer was ready.

A smart trainer can be locked into a specific wattage output (erg mode), or it can match the effort required based on the terrain in a virtual ride. I have a free trail of Rouvy, so I’m starting slowly and plan to do some easy spins this week and next, primarily to break my ass in to riding in place and to get my setup dialed in.

I got up at 5:30 this morning and rode 8 miles.. on the Pacific coast near Malibu 🙂 I’m using an ironing board on which I’ve placed a fan, my iPad and a water bottle. I have my watch set to broadcast heart rate so the Rouvy app picks up HR via Bluetooth. It all seems to work.

A few brief observations.

It doesn’t matter what gear the bike is in, the trainer is measuring watts, so will adapt based on cadence and force on the pedals. I had it the big ring and once I spun the pedals up, I tried to keep effort at 100% or above. Once I lost the cadence though, the watts dropped, and if I got off the pedals, e.g. coasted, the avatar stopped, got off the bike and the app asked if I wanted to end the ride or continue.

The fan was critical, in 30 minutes I was sweating and mopping up with a towel. I had some music playing on my phone, but it would be nice to put some ear buds in and crank up the music.

I now see why people put a tv on the wall in front of their trainers. My eye position looking at the iPad was just off the front wheel, forward and down. I would never look there while riding outside unless something was going under my tires.

I’m looking forward to the burn on the trainer as an alternate to my morning runs. I know everything will complement and contribute to overall beast level fitness. So yeah, I’m stoked to get back in the saddle and hammer.