Hill Attacks

August 06, 2019

"Moving on...today was another recovery day from the #alptoc."

by Alison Powers, ALP Cycles Coaching

In February, I wrote a blog post called Training to Train and in it, I disclosed that I had signed up for a bike race-Steamboat Gravel (SBT GRVL), a 141-mile race with 100 miles on dirt/gravel roads. Now 4 weeks out from race day, I thought it would be fun and interesting to blog every day leading up to the race. I will blog about the specifics of my training, my preparation, my headspace, etc. All the things that lead up to race day that not everyone gets to see or understand. 

17 days to go - Friday, August 2nd

Yesterday, I blogged about how much sitting I do. Today felt like the exact opposite. The day started with coaching a 2-hour private mountain bike skills lesson. I very much enjoy this type of hands-on coaching and she was a strong rider so we got some solid pedal time.

Back at home was another dog walk (with 3 dogs there is a solid amount of dog walking per day and today was a little extra), and computer time. Come 2:15 pm, I had free time until another phone call at 4. If I wasn’t training for Steamboat, I would have used the free 90min to take care of house things such as vacuum, pull thistle, etc. But as race day is just over 2 weeks away, house things get put to the side (and dog fur piles up).

So, out I went for Hill Attacks (a simple, but challenging, workout that I often give my ALP athletes). I mentioned in an earlier blog post that my training has been lacking anaerobic efforts, so today was a day to get those efforts in. Before going out the door was a quick dynamic warmup as I had tightened up since riding this morning. I’m lucky in that I live on a fairly hilly dirt road. I warmed up, rode the 5-ish miles to the pavement, turned around and every time the road when uphill, I went full gas. By the time I reached the pavement on the other end, it had been 25min of intervals. The last time I did this workout (mid-winter) I was dead at the end and this time, I felt like I could do another set of 25min intervals, so that is promising. This is where, if I had a power meter, the data would come in handy. I could compare the power and time I did in the winter to what I had done today to track progress. All in all, I was out for just over an hour and I think that hour is the only part of the day that it rained…

Quick protein recovery drink, bike wash, shower, dog walk, and out the door to help build trail with NATO (Nederland Area Trails Organization). Building singletrack trail (by hand) is fun, rewarding, and hard work (manual labor). Like multiple dog walks, doing manual labor is not ideal for recovery, or training (but it’s fun and #happiness watts goes a long way).

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ABOUT ALISON POWERS

Alison Powers only recently retired from cycling, finishing her final season on the UnitedHealthcare Women’s Team. Her career has spanned a wide array of wins, including the 2013 USA Cycling Professional Criterium National Championship where she won in memorable fashion by soloing after an early breakaway that obliterated the pro women’s peloton. Other standout results during the 33-year-old’s 2013 season include the win at Redlands Bicycle Classic, second at the Tour of Elk Grove, third at the US National Road Championship and the US National Time Trial Championship, and stage wins at Cascade Classic, Tulsa Tough, Tour of the Gila and Redlands Bicycle Classic. Hailing from Fraser, Colorado, Powers has been racing bikes professionally for eight years and is a true athlete with her career beginning as a teenager in mountain bike racing. In her mid 20s, she added in alpine ski racing before switching over to the road. In addition to being the current Criterium National Champion, Powers has two other national championships (Time Trial, Team Pursuit) and 2 NRC titles (2009, 2013).

About ALP Cycles Coaching

ALP Cycles Coaching is located in the mountains of Colorado, and is a cycling coaching company with over 25 years of professional sports experience. ALP Cycles Coaching is unique in that we have 4 coaches, Alison Powers, Shawn Heidgen, Jennifer Triplett, and Patricia Schwager who each brings her own coaching strengths and personal experiences. We work together to create a training plan that works for each and every person. Visit them online at http://alpcyclescoach

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