Weekend Notes

- Training Stress Balance (TSB) in Training Peaks' WKO+ program is a good reflection of how one feels on the bike. Theoretically, it just shows how fatigued you are, deriving this number from some formula involving your base fitness (Chronic Training Load), your recent efforts (Acute Training Load), the recency of harder and longer efforts, and, I suspect, multiplied by some fraction of the exchange rate of Lira for Francs. More broadly, the TSB tells you exactly how you feel on the bike today. My number today? -38. Yeah, that's a science-fictiony sounding number. It's like the people who lose the genetic lottery in Gattaca. Non-citizen pacifists in Starship Troopers. And any planet about to get hit with a rock in Pournelle and Niven's excellent series of "hitting big things with other big things" books. And it's exactly how I felt today trying to do three hours of big ring and high cadence drills, and why I shut it down 70 minutes out, and cruised back home at a recovery pace. How bad, exactly, does -38 feel? Well, are you familiar with the circle of hell where Dante had Ugolino and Ruggiero trapped in ice, with Ugolino gnawing on Ruggiero's skull? Yeah, I felt like Ruggiero today. If Ruggiero had had a migraine. I couldn't even pedal in aerobic zone without my legs melting down. Time for a rest day.


- Speaking of WKO+... have you ever wondered how many days of low or reduced effort it would take you to get to "form" from where you are right now? Simply go to the Performance Management Chart dropdown menu, and "set custom date" for the date range shown on the chart. Set the chart to show a week's time from now. That'll tell you how many rest days - complete rest days - you'd need to maintain form. It'll also show you how much fitness you will lose in the process of "peaking" if you just shut down to rest. The trick is to keep your fitness high but still recover with a true rest week, where you combine rest with some efforts to keep your CTL high.

- Do you have trouble figuring out how life works? Check out GraphJam. It's like GamJams, except they explain how life works rather than explaining MABRA results. Consider it Lifehacker for the illiterate. Case in point:



- Did you notice that Cadel Evans recently moved into the yellow jersey at the Vuelta de Espana? Yeah, me neither. The Vuelta is like the crazy ugly cousin who shows up at Thanksgiving. Maybe if nobody talks about it, it'll go away and stop bugging us, and not cause any major embarassments. Where was I now... Oh, yeah, Evans. That he is in the lead appears in Velo News, and the article isn't touting how revolutionary and strong the R-Sys wheel system is, so I have reason to suspect it may actually be true, far fetched though it may sound.

- Speaking of pro racing news, George Hincapie recently moved over to BMC, presumably so he can ride with Mike Birner. Can you blame him? Meanwhile, a tearful Levi Leipheimer signed with Radio Shack, or Teh Shaque-uey, as I think they are now billing themselves in ads. Radio Shack, apparently unaware of the rule against giving one's self a nickname, is seeking to upgrade their image from stodgy, somewhat geeky and unspectacular but solid performer in a dorky business, by signing Levi. Um, yeah, that'll change things around. No word yet on whether they were able to sign Milton Waddams as Directeur Sportiff.

- The NFL is coming in just a few days. For some reason this year, I can't wait. My fandom wanes and waxes from year to year, but some years going into the season, I just feel it. I know I'm going to watch a lot of ball this year, and just love doing it. I don't know why it is, and couldn't tell you why I return to the gridiron every few years any more than sockeye salmon could explain how they wander the ocean for 4 or 5 years before returning to the stream of their birth to spawn and die. Also like the salmon, I am in living in mortal fear of the Bears this fall...

- Finally... it's Labor Day tomorrow, an excuse to love your girl or guy, love your family, love your friends, and love havin' a good time. C'mon y'all... wring some fun out of the day.