Strange day at the beach.

Me, Jenni and our nephew Brandon went to the beach today. We went to the Virginia Beach Oceanfront at around 35th Street. My nephew and I were in the water attempting to catch some waves on our body boards. Quite a ways out I catch a glimpse of black body board that just seemed to get away from someone. After a couple more waves passed I noticed someone out attempting to swim and catch the body board, but he didn't seem to be doing a very good job of it. He then started to struggle and dip under the water at times. I turned to my nephew and said "I think someone is having a hard time out there." I then looked to the shore and saw the lifeguard jump out of her stand and start running towards the water. I looked back toward the struggling swimmer who was appearing to be in more trouble, then I looked back to the lifeguard and she seemed to be fighting the waves and was not going to get out very quickly.

My first thought was that I did not want to get in the way of the lifeguards. But then I thought that I was so much closer then the lifeguard was and I had a board with me. So I swam out to him. The lifeguard from the next stand over was much faster getting off his stand and swimming to the victim. So he got there the same time that I did. Just as we got there the swimmer went under. We pulled him up and I offered my board to be used. Me and the lifeguard pulled the swimmer up on my board. The female life guard finally got there and we started to swim him back to shore. I offered to undo my wrist leash and get out of there way. That is when they informed me....

this was a mock rescue.

I felt like such an ass.

In my defense. Even the lifeguards did not know it wasn't real until we were nearly at the shore when one of them recognized the "victim" as another lifeguard. I guess they do this at times to test their skills.

After that excitement, six military speed boats sped by. They looked pretty cool.

After a few more minutes I told my nephew I was going to shore. On the way to the shore I looked down the beach and noticed some smoke coming from the roof of the Hilton. The smoke quickly blackened and thickened. There was no question that there was a fire. After just a minute or so the smoke turned white. I assumed that the suppression system kicked in. We later found that the range hood at Catch 31 caught fire and was put out by the automatic suppression system.

Definitely not a boring day at the beach.

I told you I would do better.

Remember a post from June, after the PLT TT #1? Time Trialing Sucks This Time of Year.

In there I talked about how I don't typically get on my TT bike from April to June when I realize we have a few TT to race. My time in the PLT #1 was 56:35. A few years ago I would have been thrilled with that time. But my PR for that course is a 53:43, so nearly 3 minutes slower was very disappointing. So from then until this last weekend I rode my TT bike at least once a week. I did intervals on the bike and played around with positioning and cadence speeds (as evident from my last few posts).

I went out this last Sunday actually excited to race. I had guarenteed a PR to one of my teammates and said I was sure I could get sub 53.

I was right about the PR but not about the sub 53. I ended up with a time of 53:16.

I felt like I raced hard and smart. I pushed big gears when it was right and I gave my legs a little break and spun a faster cadence when it was appropriate. All when trying to maintain a high average speed. I think a little more practice and longer intervals an I will soon be a competetive time trialist.

For this year it is over. I am out of town next week (Jefferson, MD. So I will be able to get some hill riding in) so I will miss PLT #3. No more TT this year. But next year I will be getting on the bike early, and staying on it for most of the year.

Now just a couple more races and then the CX bike comes down.

Legs Versus Heart...Part II

The question of cadence might be a question of your strength...Heart or legs?

Many riders train with wattage these days. Power is defined as work over time. Work is defined as force times displacement. Simplified, the two components of power is force and time. P=F/t.

So a rider who pushes a big gear can produce a large force per pedal stroke. They will, however, pedal slowly. A rider who "spins" will produce less force per pedal stroke but will bill pedal faster. Therefore it is possible for both of those riders to produce equal power. Which is more efficient?

Spinning at a high cadence will be more likely to increase your heart rate higher than the gear masher. The gear masher will produce more muscular fatigue than the spinner. What works for you?

I started racing as junior and was forced to use junior gears at times (not the same of today when it is forced even when a junior races senior races.) So that taught all of juniors to spin a little faster. I then went through a phase of mashing gears. Never getting out of the big ring. Then I went back to spinning, but I sucked at time trialing. So much of my training this year (now that I have a power meter) was to figure this out for myself.

My first clue was when I got my VO2max measured. It was nothing to publish. It was above average for America but probably below average for endurance athletes. It was just below 59 (done in February). This told me I didn't have the lungs and heart like a Lance Armstrong that could produce such a high cadence and still hold a conversation.

When practicing my TT intervals recently, I discovered I was very comfortable (comparatively) at a low cadence and big gear. I was also able to maintain a higher speed. But I couldn't accelerate very fast. It was more like a diesel engine. It took me awhile to get up to speed but it was easy to maintain it.

So here is what I discovered. When time trialing, or riding at a steady pace by myself (solo break), I am better applying the large force with a low cadence. When pack riding though, my cadence needs to be higher to be able to react to accelerations. Another thing to think of with pack riding is the ability to recover. So the higher cadence works well in the pack or pace line because you will have chances to recover and lower your heart rate and it is important to keep your legs as fresh as possible.

What is bigger? Your heart or your legs?

Do you spin a fast cadence or power a high gear? I think a lot of racers have issues and question what is right for them. I know I do. When I first got into racing I never rode my small chainring unless I was going up hill. When I moved from Hawaii to Virginia, I started riding with more experienced racers who rode to recover in their small ring. I still was a gear masher for the most part.

Over the last handful of years I changed. I started practicing my spin, especially during the off season. I felt it would help me respond better to attacks during races. So my cadence was comfortable at around 110 rpm for normal riding. Then came time trialing.

If you wanted to see how bad I was at time trialing, just look at the bottom of the results. I was the one at the end. I couldn't go fast. Then one day I played with my cadence on the TT bike. I did intervals and discovered I was fastest at a cadence around 90 to 95. The next TT was over 3 minutes faster by lowering my cadence.

Many of the really good time trialist push a big gear at a cadence of around 80. So that got me thinking. Would that be right for me? Does that work for everyone? I think the answer lies in your legs and your heart.



How powerful are your legs. Can you produce large forces and sustain the effort? How much leg strength do you work on during the off season? How can you tell if your leg strength is an issue?

Or is your cardiovascular system your strong point? How high is your VO2max? What is your heart rate at different watts?

Obviously if both of these are your strengths you are far better then me. But it is important to know your stength and ride accordingly.

My thoughts and ideas about this will be continued on my next post.

The Girls are Sore.

Since graduating this May from ODU with an Exercise Science degree, I thought I would start working in the industry a little. So my first two clients were my wife Jenni and her friend Laura. Both of them have done traditional gym style workouts and limited cardio work. My goal for them was to improve overall fitness and increase their aerobic capacity. Of course with these goals, weight loss would soon follow.

So our focus over the last few weeks have been movement based work, core strengthening and aerobic development. It has not been the hard interval work or the steady state cardio work that is kicking their butts. It has been the movement based exercises to develope muscular balance and better coordination as well as the core strengthening that has made them a little sore at times.

Here are some of their Facebook status updates:

Jennifer 'Rapp' Goyet is so sore.

Jennifer 'Rapp' Goyet is sitting on my butt & in pain. My whole body is cramping on me. Thank God I don't have to workout tomorrow.

Jennifer 'Rapp' Goyet needs some good reasons & excuses to give to Joshua in order to convince him we should skip today's workout. I just don't want to hurt today...

Jennifer 'Rapp' Goyet is in pain from the workout. Ouch. I'm laid up on the couch!

Laura Chavis Is going to punch Josh in the face! SSOOOOOO freakin sore today...it's not even funny! seriously...i'm gonna punch him in the face! LOL

Laura Chavis sore...that's all i'm gonna say!

Jenni had been going to the gym and said she was getting upset because the weight training was no longer making her sore. I don't think she's complaining about that anymore.

I have told them that the soreness will go away soon. When we started this type of work during the fall and winter my whole team was sore. Its amazing the stuff you don't workout during everyday things.

I'll keep you posted on their progress. Anyone else want to join us. We are working out at Performance Point in Virginia Beach.

New Location, New Name, Same Trainer

For those of you that have been following my blog, Facebook or just talk to me know that I have been a fan cross training and strength training for cycling. This winter my team stumbled upon Jeremy Levine. We trained with him through the winter on and off the bike (some kick ass indoor trainer workouts). As the racing season kicked in we continued to train. Early in the season we focused on power and volume (off the bike). The training really gave us some power and endurance that complimented what we were doing on the bike. Recently we have focused more on core, movement, balance and proprioception (body awareness). I have not spent as much time on the bike as I should have this year. If I had put in more miles, this extra training would have drastically improved my performance. As it is I feel better, stronger and more confident than I have in years...actually ever. So I am sold on this type of training throughout the season.

Some of you have even gone with us for some of the bike workouts during the winter. I think they could attest to the quality of the workouts. Well to update everyone on this training I wanted to let everyone know that the location has changed, the name as changed, the enviroment has changed but the quality training is the same.

Instead of the Riversedge location, we are now training in a warehouse space located off of Dean Dr in Virginia Beach (off of Lynnhaven Pw). The name of the company is Performance Point and it is still run by Jeremy Levine. Atlantic Performance is still around...I just don't know who is running it. So if you are looking for quality cross training, this is where you need to go.

They are starting some Strendurance classes and group exercises. They will have a monthly fee for unlimited classes or a pay per class rates.