I'm back from Christmas, fully rested, and very well fed... so much so that I gained a few pounds from eating so many candies and cookies while just sitting on the couch (and driving 1200 miles!!)
I have 12 weeks until the start of racing season. In that time I need to lose 12 pounds (I am at 176 and need to be 164), get used to riding my time trial bike again (I have not ridden it since August), and build up my fitness to where it needs to be (I need to gain about 15 watts on my threshold).
I really set the bar high last year, being on the podium for 7 out of 11 races (and winning 3). I'd love to improve upon that.
Time to get to work!!
Monday, December 30, 2013
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Winter Boot Camp
From the time we got back from Vegas to the time we leave for Christmas, I had 14 days to train. Since I was well rested after several days of not riding and am going to have several more days off, I decided to absolutely floor it for those two weeks.
I have not taken a single rest day or a single easy day and trained twice on some days. While pushing this hard I hit some surprising numbers, many of which slightly better than what I was doing last February. I have gone from worrying about being behind and not hitting the results I needed to being right on schedule. I wanted to hit the Christmas break absolutely exhausted and in desperate need of a recovery week. It's safe to say that I've hit that goal.
When I get back, I will have 12 weeks until my first race.
I will be starting to ride my time trial bike more, getting used to a position I have not been in since August. From then on, I'll be doing all my hard training and test days on the TT bike to give me better data for my races. I'll also be fixing a few mistakes that I made in last year's training and gradually building up to the hell-on-Earth schedule that Hunter and I worked out so I can gain fitness during my insane 9-weeks straight of racing in the spring (yes, I'm more worried about surviving the workouts than I am the races!!).
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Happy Holidays!!
I have not taken a single rest day or a single easy day and trained twice on some days. While pushing this hard I hit some surprising numbers, many of which slightly better than what I was doing last February. I have gone from worrying about being behind and not hitting the results I needed to being right on schedule. I wanted to hit the Christmas break absolutely exhausted and in desperate need of a recovery week. It's safe to say that I've hit that goal.
When I get back, I will have 12 weeks until my first race.
I will be starting to ride my time trial bike more, getting used to a position I have not been in since August. From then on, I'll be doing all my hard training and test days on the TT bike to give me better data for my races. I'll also be fixing a few mistakes that I made in last year's training and gradually building up to the hell-on-Earth schedule that Hunter and I worked out so I can gain fitness during my insane 9-weeks straight of racing in the spring (yes, I'm more worried about surviving the workouts than I am the races!!).
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Happy Holidays!!
Saturday, December 14, 2013
Season Plans
(Just a quick note: this is my 150th blog post!!)
This week, the schedule for the NJ TT series was posted. Since doing well in (or even winning) that series is my goal for next year, I was eagerly waiting for that information.
The schedule contains 14 races running from the last week or March until mid August, with events from 6 miles to 24 miles. It won't be easy to do consistently well in that range of races over that period of time, so the goal will carry even that much more weight with me.
Making matters even more difficult, over a 12-week span there are 10 races. It will be really difficult to increase my fitness for the longer races later in the season while racing every week (and every race matters for points in the series, so I can't just take it easy for a few).
With so many issues, I was really starting to struggle with planning it all out.
My wonderful wife had heard me mention some various coaching options that I'd considered before but hadn't ever pursued before... so she got me one for Christmas. She bought me consulting time with power training expert, Hunter Allen.
She gave it to me early and we were able to set it all up this week.
Hunter and I spoke this week and it was amazing.
It felt like most of the call was me talking and explaining. Hunter was asking me questions and guiding the discussion, but ever for me, I felt like I was talking a lot, but that really makes sense. In order for him to give me the best recommendations, he needs to understand my goals, my abilities and limitations, and how I performed in previous races.
He made some great recommendations and gave me a few different options to try out. This season won't be easy, but that's part of why I'm looking forward to it.
While my goal was primarily looking forward to next year, I also got a great secondary value: he validated what I was already doing. There's nothing quite as great as hearing an expert you admire tell you that the training plans I had come up with on my own were good ones.
I didn't just get great ideas for next year. I also found a little more motivation in training.
This week, the schedule for the NJ TT series was posted. Since doing well in (or even winning) that series is my goal for next year, I was eagerly waiting for that information.
The schedule contains 14 races running from the last week or March until mid August, with events from 6 miles to 24 miles. It won't be easy to do consistently well in that range of races over that period of time, so the goal will carry even that much more weight with me.
Making matters even more difficult, over a 12-week span there are 10 races. It will be really difficult to increase my fitness for the longer races later in the season while racing every week (and every race matters for points in the series, so I can't just take it easy for a few).
With so many issues, I was really starting to struggle with planning it all out.
My wonderful wife had heard me mention some various coaching options that I'd considered before but hadn't ever pursued before... so she got me one for Christmas. She bought me consulting time with power training expert, Hunter Allen.
She gave it to me early and we were able to set it all up this week.
Hunter and I spoke this week and it was amazing.
It felt like most of the call was me talking and explaining. Hunter was asking me questions and guiding the discussion, but ever for me, I felt like I was talking a lot, but that really makes sense. In order for him to give me the best recommendations, he needs to understand my goals, my abilities and limitations, and how I performed in previous races.
He made some great recommendations and gave me a few different options to try out. This season won't be easy, but that's part of why I'm looking forward to it.
While my goal was primarily looking forward to next year, I also got a great secondary value: he validated what I was already doing. There's nothing quite as great as hearing an expert you admire tell you that the training plans I had come up with on my own were good ones.
I didn't just get great ideas for next year. I also found a little more motivation in training.
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