Liz Randall's Cycling Blog - a life behind bars

"With ordinary talents and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable"



Wednesday 3 December 2008

Track training and the ability to count to 1 and a half

Last night was another fun session on the Blackie outdoor track.

We started off ok with a warm up session happily swinging off and dropping back until the windsock(!) that M. ABOC put up started to droop as rain took over from the wind. With safety in mind, we all trooped into the club house and started technical discussions on sprinting and pursuit pacing. ActuallyI found the sprint talk very interesting as, since I was never ever going to contest a track sprint, I'd never bothered to learn the rules and some of the finer points of sprinting.

Back on the track 40 minutes later and we enduros were into pursuit pacing drills. This involved being given a specific time for the standing half lap and then for the subsequent full lap...ie 1 and a half laps...ie finish on the far side of the track. Looking at the download of my powertap later in the evening , I discovered I'd barely managed 40kph and was into twiddle mode with a cadence of 114rpm. I had to remind myself this was "good training" although at the time I grumbled loudly that the gear I was being forced to use was "far too small" for a grinder.

Clearly "someone" (Lawrence- "I did an arts degree, dont ask me to count beyond one....) was a bit distracted by something or other cos her somewhat pitiful maths ability kicked in and she lost count. The next time she did the drill we helped her on by (mis)counting for her.

Soooo sad, but not the first time its happened on the track; I know 2 people who've sat up after 1 and a half laps of a 2 laps 500m race and both were at a World Masters Track Champs. Lawrence did the opposite and did an extra half lap....

The saga of the computer and the Tacx trainer continues....I've bought a new mouse and that is now sorted, but despite uninstalling, re-installing and getting updates, the imagic is not living up to its name.....no magic there as its still not working.

Guess I might have to read the instructions.....

5 comments:

Lawrence said...

Distracted?? Ha! Better to be safe than sorry and incur the wrath of Coach for missing half a lap ;-) Besides, we are enduros... we need to go the distance!

Penny said...

Hehe ... the "war on words" between you two on your blogs continues! I enjoy reading the blogs - especially when both of you have a different take on the same events!!!
I still find it a bit wierd riding my track bike without the feedback of cadence and speed, so have no idea what "slow" cadence I was doing in track training on the trainers last Thursday night. I was certainly one of the slower pedallers there!
Penny

Liz said...

Hehe! and all in good fun too!

The different "take" on one situation is something I've thought about WRT being a witness to a crime...how do you separate the pure facts from one's interpretation of the facts...and keep the story straight, not altering it as time goes by.....my own stories regularly get changed,embellished...(!)

Penny said...

Great to see you in person today, Liz. Sorry about the one-liner remark just before you started your 3 km pursuit effort ... but after you'd needed to double check what you had to do, I just had to make the remark - all in good fun of course:
"Can't you count to TWO?"
At least the motorbike rider knew what he was doing by then!
Penny

Liz said...

No probs Penny...good to see you too and I hope you learned something from the session. It was good to have your help with the lap counting.