40 Goals

The Christmas break brings a lot of time, but not to ride since it is so darned cold and icy (of course the turbo is always an option). So instead, I tend to play with GC coding. I've been rummaging around the plumbing of the GC code for a week to prepare for a more configurable view. I've now got to the point where you can drag and drop charts onto a page and configure them. Looks kinda neat. But its pretty static at the moment - once they're there you can't drag and resize them ... but that will come. The hard miles have been done, now its all about putting a layer of glitter on the top. I've also been playing with native Mac widgets to make the Mac version, well, more Mac-like. With a week of coding left, I reckon I can get a v3 framework in place and we can really go to town! And I've been playing with this for a couple of days now and when working with intervals it is SOOOO much nicer to see all the key ride charts at once, this is not just eye-cand...

We like all things stacked ;) Stacked histogram support for showing things like time in zone on a PMC is kinda sassy... Pastels are us too... hail Crockett and the Miami Vice crew

Been working on a treemap.Unlike most of the other charts in GoldenCheetah this one really is coded from the ground up. Will tart it up and make it more interactive and fancy looking. But the hard yards are done, from here its all refinement. On the other hand, its telling me that a lot of my rides aren't as well annotated as I thought, a large proportion of them have 'unknown' or rather (not typed in) workout codes. Later. And looking at stress by year is quite interesting... And what did I typically do for each day? I've been playing with this all morning and some of the analysis is useful, always a good test of a new feature!! And a splash of color...

After a seemingly endless number of release candidates v2.0 went live tonight. Yay!

Started on the diary view to support training planning in Golden Cheetah , so far I've got list, monthly and weekly schedule views, but would like to add a Year view too. It's kind of working with actual workouts, but its  messy. I reckon if I can code up displaying actuals then folding in planned workouts should be a breeze. I'm using the Qxt widget 'QxtScheduleView' for the weekly view (below) ... lets just say the documentation is brief and its a bit 'quirky' ;) As it happens I previously coded up webcal support to read iCal or other .ICS (files or URLs). For example I can fetch and parse my training schedule from TrainingPeaks.com via a webcal URL using the excellent libical from freeassociation . So adding planned workouts should be quite easy once the view is sorted. I reckon this should all be sorted by the end of the weekend, so planning mode can start in earnest soon... And I now have a monthly "calendar" view, although I skippe...

Just sent a new patch over to the Golden Cheetah list, this time to show time in zone on the histograms. It was relatively trivial to code up. One of those features that is absolutely needed, weird that it's been missing for so long and a piece of cake to write. Makes a change from being a nightmare to code and almost unused by most users (e.g. export to KML). This should make it into the upcoming OFFICIAL v1.4 release of GoldenCheetah. Here are some pics. Obviously the zone names and ranges are user defined in options, I just ran out of imagination for my HR zones! Just added HR zone shading too. Looks like the OFFICIAL v1.4 release is gonna get  a release candidate in the next couple of days. yay!

Weight: 83.1kg (-1.6kg - but a lot to do with empty legs this morning) Weekly Distance: 184km (-30km) Peak 1 Min Power: 404 Peak 5 Min Power: 319 Peak 20 Min Power: 247 Peak 60 Min Power: 225 Highlight of this week: Weight loss, yay! Goal for next week: Make turbo time work Really consistent this week with eating and flattered by empty legs this morning after a 3 hr ride in the hills (TSS of 255). But all in all, progress being made :)

Weight: 84.7kg (-0.8kg) Weekly Distance: 217km (+17km) Peak 1 Min Power: 404 Peak 5 Min Power: 319 (+24) Peak 20 Min Power: 247 (due a test next week) Peak 60 Min Power: 225 (that is *so* needing a test now) Highlight of this week: Power intervals really worked Goal for next week: Build some weight loss momentum. Body shape is changing even if weight isn't dropping off any more. Today looks like a hard workout and my legs are aching!

Think positive man! Last week saw my average cadence improve. Given that was what I was supposed to be achieving I should pat myself on the back and say - Well Done!

Weight: 85.4kg (no change - again!) Weekly Distance: 200km (+77km) Peak 5 Min Power: 295 Peak 20 Min Power: 247 Peak 60 Min Power: 225 (NP 245) Highlight of this week: Um. Not a good week. Goal for next week: No refined carbs. On plan this week, the sessions are focusing on cadence rather than power so the intensity isn't there and working on leg speed is a bit 'boring' :-) Weight loss stalled, not due to lack of exercise, but too much eating. I'm being good and eating 3 good meals a day, but also polishing off chocolate bicuits, bars etc isn't a pro-athlete regimen. Must try harder. Here are some charts... Oh, speaking of charts, Damien Grauser has coded the Heartrate based TRIMP metric for Golden Cheetah. It isn't published yet but I was playing with it over the weekend and updated the performance manager and other charts to plot it. I thought it would be interesting to plot a HR (TRIMP) based PMC against an Power (SKIBA) based PMC to see how ...

Ok, so I'm not a Jedi yet. But, the fancy pants 3d plot is quite interesting when looking at cadence drills. If nothing else, it sure looks cool.

Weight: 85.4kg (no change) Weekly Distance: 123km (-85km) Peak 5 Min Power: 295 Peak 20 Min Power: 247 Peak 60 Min Power: 225 (NP 245) Highlight of this week: Started with coach Goal for next week: Food intake, stick to plan Not a great week of riding, the torrential rain kept me inside and although I set up the turbo and even coded up support for the Computrainer/Ergvideo .txt ride format still managed to avoid the dreaded thing. Started my plan with my coach. All seems a bit too easy, but its all part of the process. Goal for this week is to stick to the plan and not to get too frisky. I also note that he wants lots of high cadence work - I find that harder than high intensity. Working with coach via TrainingPeaks.com, which is cool since its testing my GoldenCheetah code. I'm currently working on importing the workout calendar into GC, watch this space!

Weight: 85.4kg (-0.5kg) Weekly Distance: 208km (+50km) Peak 5 Min Power: 292 Peak 20 Min Power: 247 Peak 60 Min Power: 225 (NP 245) Highlight of this week: FTP test Goal for next week: Food intake As previously posted, did an FTP test this week. Reckon I could have gone a touch harder. Going to do a MAP test soon anyway and start basing my zones from that, since it isn't so susceptible to poor pacing etc. Its a test to exhaustion. Weight didn't fall off much this week, this is partly to be expected and partly due to a few blowouts this week :-) Gotta improve on that score as it gets increasingly harder to lose the flab. But, TBH, I'm still in the 20% ballpark so its not THAT difficult. Almost hit 1,000 miles since getting back in the saddle too...

Everyone's favourite workout, the FTP test. Started in two minds as to whether to do SST or a full on FTP test, the truth is this was pretty much an FTP test but could have gone a smidge harder. Best hour: AP 225 NP 245 Over a rolling 40km course with 1000ft of climbing. I'll stick with 235 for now, not so much an estimate as pretty much a fact (I know AP is king, but over that course its hard to do iso power). My peak 20 min is 250w which would also equate to a 235w FTP. And if anyone tells me to do my FTP tests on the turbo they can go hang :-)

Weight: 85.9kg (-1.1kg) Weekly Distance: 157km (-23km) Peak 5 Min Power: 292 Peak 20 Min Power: 247 Peak 60 Min Power: Untested (Estimate at 230 from CP Curve and NP from SST ride)  Highlight of this week: Lungs aching! Goal for next week: Stick with Quality not Quantity. I cannot believe I only rode 3 times this week; on Monday a couple of hours in the hills, targetting vo2max, on Thursday threshold and neurmuscular intervals targetting LT and Sunday 3 hours of hills targetting CV again. As a result 5 min power is edging up but other intervals didn't really get tested this week. Next week is more of the same. CV and LT are serions limiters and JRA aint gonna sort that out. Later.

I have missed the old RichardDawkins.net forums. They were closed a while back amidst 'controversy' which ended up really being the good Prof and a couple of helpers utterly misunderstanding t'internet forum culture and activism in general . Anyway, the reason for the post is I have now found the replacement forum , setup by many of the old members and mods at RDF.net and joined to browse the discussion. Oh happy day. Well. Except. My short term memory is pretty rubbish, I think my medium-term (?) memory is worse. Every thread. And I mean every thread has the same structure. I'm talking specifically about the philosophy forum here... OP: I really wonder about the xxxx of yyyy. P1: define xxxx OP: xxxx is obviouslt zzzz, P1 is an idiot. P2: yeah, but zzzz is aaaaa and your premise is faulty. OP: ok, so if we accept that xxxx is really aaaaa, I still wonder about it being yyyyy P3: yyyyy reminds me of this: [image of carrot/map relief/penis shaped like a car...

Not your usual riding around with no goal session this one :-)

Weight: 87.0kg (-1.2kg) Weekly Distance: 180km (-100km) FTP: 220w (+5w) CTL; 59.4 (+3.6) Highlight of this week: Hard session at Hillingdon Goal for next week: More handling drills, esp. hard cornering at speed. All in all, a great week. took a little more rest as I was feeling a little jaded and joined a prime training session at Hillingdon on Thursday. I rode 'out the back' of the medium group so I could keep out of trouble but work hard. I knew I was fresh and wanted to lay down a hard workout. I was totally elated to see my 30 min power was so much higher.

Weight: 88.2kg (-0.8kg) Weekly Distance: 280km (+100km) FTP: 215w (+5w) CTL; 54.7 (+12.6) Highlight of this week: Hillingdon laps, after 2yrs of watching lad *I* rode the circuit Goal for next week: More of the same, keeping a balance, avoid more illness Did a session at the Hillingdon Circuit this week, mostly tempo with a bit of threshold in a most unstructured way, but threw in some all-out efforts in (which the circuit is good for). Whilst it was pretty boring going round and round in 1mile laps it is clearly a great place to do 3 minute intervals!

Weight: 89.0kg (no change) Body Fat: 19.0% (no change) Weekly Distance: 180km (-30km) FTP: 210w (minimum value, +5w) CTL; 42.1 (+6.3) Highlight of this week: Friday Ride hit bests for every interval from 1s to 1h (!) Goal for next week: back to work, eat well - keep riding Well, I'm still bitterly disappointed with my numbers. I hit an AP of 210 for an hour on a hearty ride, so 210 is a bare minimum, but even so it is crap. In 2008 after no riding I was happily sitting on 240w. On the bright side my 20min power (which is a good gauge since I tend to do a 20min effort at some point during every tempo or SST ride) is increasing very quickly up from 172w to 235w over the last 3 weeks. Back to work tomorrow after 2 rain-soaked weeks and overload. On the bright side both of the full-time roles I'll be performing in my 4-day week are based at offices 30 minutes away from Hillingdon Cycle Circuit. So, I will be dropping down there to get some workouts done after work. With t...

I have been deliberately working on my posture recently. And after a few rides on the drops I'm starting to find it just as comfortable as on the hoods or upright. Will try and get some pics together, but for now try and imagine me in a similar position to the the big GO below... It certainly has made me faster! I went out for a windy 40k rolling ride today and set a time that was a full 5 minutes faster than when I started back up in 2008, over the same course and similar conditions (i.e. windy) and my power today was slightly lower than in 08. Did 1:22 against 1:27 two years ago. I have also found, as a happy by-product, that my cornering is far more controlled and I'm leaning with a lot more confidence too.

Weight: 89.0kg (-0.2kg) Body Fat: 19.0% Weekly Distance: 210km (+35km) FTP: 205w (estimate +10w) CTL; 33.8 (+14.7) Highlight of this week: Plenty of lactate burn, riding more on the drops Goal for next week: Keep the faith in the miserable weather (forecasted) Got out almost every day this week. Hilly ride on Saturday was probably a ride too-far though, legs were wiped out and had a rest day Sunday but still fatigued today. Its all good. Weight loss looks like it has stalled but in reality I'm coming off a rest day, body shape is definitely changing and the trend is in the right direction anyway. I got the withings wifi scales integrated into Golden Cheetah, so the PMC below also shows the daily body fat measurments (watch the trend no the fluctuations). It was quite tricky to get this working but means I can now start mucking about with athlete metrics like Weight, RHR, BMI etc and chart them alongside performance metrics extracted from ride data. Later.

Weight: 89.2kg (-1.5kg) Weekly Distance: 175km (+119km) FTP: 195w (estimate +10w) CTL; 19.1 (+11.6) Highlight of this week: Regular riding and CV improvement Goal for next week: Cut out those damned biscuits. Climb some hills. It has been a pretty good week. Got out a few times to ride this week and enjoyed it too. My HR is more stable, recovers a little faster and most importantly less oxygen debt means I can work my legs and get that lactate burn. Managed better on the food front but still succumbed to the mighty biscuit in a blip on Saturday. Hey, you can't do everything at once ;-)

Ok, so I got my withings wifi scales today and got all interneted up. Really cool gadget. They're pretty accurate too, I tested with me holding various weights to see if it calibrated correctly and it was spot on. But as accurate and cool as they might be, my numbers are all off the scales ... and not in a good weigh (hehe) ! Ride more, code less. :-)

Weight: 90.7kg Weekly Distance: 56km FTP: 185w (estimate) CTL; +7.5 Highlight of this week: Gave up smoking. (I know, I know...) Goal for next week: Cut out butter, cheese, biscuits. Drink more water. Well the only way is up from here. I reckon my FTP is probably in that ballpark, and frankly it doesn't really matter at this point. I'll probably do a test once I'm riding more regularly.  Chuffed to have got rid of the evil weed, but stunned to see my weight has gone up by a kilo in one week. So these very public weekly updates are back. Sorry to bore.

Wow. 12 months go by I get fat and my bike is covered in dust. Started riding again, just in time for winter and my blasted Computrainer. Of course,  its all good. Getting the motivation to ride back is fantastic. So I'm taking it relatively easy. Riding when I fancy it and it is convenient. Which means I have only ridden 3 times in the last 2 weeks. But you know what, its fine. First ride was awful, I went out at a relatively middling pace of 180w, keeping it steady coz I didn't want to blow up. Of course, my FTP of old is loooooong gone and I reckon is hovering around 200w right now (honestly!). I am utterly de-trained and out of shape. The last two times that I've trained up for July events (Etape/Marmotte) I started by kicking off my training in August and then peaking in April or May only to fall away by the event in July. Either burned out or just bad timing. So I'm in no hurry to 'get a plan'. Lets say, by Christmas I should be ready to start thi...

Edit: More updates, now after half-killing myself getting a QAbstractProxy to work, we have show in groups and a column chooser where you drag and drop columns onto the browser. I want to get show in groups to be clever when handling dates to show this week, last week, last month etc Or perhaps show by Season. Oh, and for Relative Intensity / IF I'd like to zone them (which would then remove the need for workout code), so L1, L2, L3 etc would reflect what I did rather than what I wanted to do... anyway, here is a screenshot (that is my Linux desktop, btw). Ok, so I just saw Toy Story 3 with the kids and 'Death by monkeys' was a line that sums up IT project culture. Anyhoo, I finally got around to starting a project I've been meaning to do for a long time. Namely, a ride browser. Ultimately, I'd like to use it as a way of sorting / searching and navigating through my ride history. Selectable columns, sort by etc. But for now all I've got is a big spreadshee...

Zooming in Golden Cheetah is a bit crappy, so after a bit of discussion on the list I knocked up a dirty prototype for a zoom selection 'radar' and some span sliders. And here is an obligatory video... Golden Cheetah Plot Zoom Prototype from mark liversedge on Vimeo .

Google Earth 5.2 has introduced some really cool features for cyclists. I've added an export to Google Earth option for Golden Cheetah and the really, really cool thing here, is you can mix power, cadence and heartrate data with the geo data when exporting. The libraries related to this are in the process of being updated by the Google developers, as soon as they're ready I'll be adding the option to export power, cadence et al. Over on the Google Lat Lon Blog they have published an interesting fly-over (which uses the new Tracks feature) - check back later for updates on getting this working with your data from GC !! I'm quite excited about this :-) And here is a portion of the London to Paris ride from last September with all my ride data available in Google Earth - funnily I can even remember that part of the ride, I was on the front pushing and Andrew was, um, coasting :-) We stopped for a pee just round the corner too... And of course, I can't leave thi...

I've been hacking around with data manipulation, fixing spikes and gaps in recordings et al, but came to the conclusion that a full-blown ride data editor is required. As a start, basic data editing is the order of the day, but before you know it I'll be joining, merging, sorting and enriching. This could become GoldenCheetah Excel 2010 before you know it... bloatware mansions on the case. And oh, yeah baby, we have anomaly detection out the box. Wiggly-red lines are us here at monkey island.... Golden Cheetah Ride Editor Demo from mark liversedge on Vimeo .

I have never believed any creator-myth, but this sign seems very, very apt.

More Graphing stuff, this time a user-definable 2d scatter plot. Above you will see the average effective pedal force vs Power. Col du Glandon at Marmotte is in blue and Alpe d'Huez is in red. What I'm slightly surprised to find is that the amount of force applied to the pedals is roughly the same when totally knackered (AdH) versus when I was still fresh (Glandon) ... albeit I was suffering from the off. Anyhoo, I'm working on a replay button (the time slider at the bottom) so you can watch how these things change over the course of the ride. This seems particularly interesting when looking at power/heartrate over a long ride (long enough for the 'lag' between CV response and effort to be nullified). Hey ho.