(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.
