Training is getting to a point where it's not all that exciting. It's just slow and steady progress.
My training volume and intensity are slowly increasing. I'm up to about 8 hours and 4500 kj of training per week. For comparison, at my peak I was doing about 12 hours and 6500 kj, so I have a lot of progress still to go.
My threshold and power at VO2 max are slowly climbing. I'm not making the enormous gains I was the first month, but I'm still seeing a few watts per week improvement (which to be honest, is still pretty fast!). My functional threshold now is about 215 watts. For comparison, it was about 275 at my peak.
I'm consistently able to do 2 hour rides on the weekends, but not on both days. Eventually I'll want to be doing 2 hour interval rides on Saturday and 3 to 4 hour endurance rides on Sunday.
My weight... well, it's been stable. With the steady increase in training, I'm eating to keep myself fueled and replenished. I knew that my weight loss would be pretty slow in the beginning, if it dropped at all. It doesn't help that work has been more stressful than usual lately and I tend to stress-eat. (on the plus side, at least I'm not gaining weight!) I am seeing changes in my body fat %, so my body is changing, just not the way it will once I start dropping weight.
I'm hoping that the race in September will actually happen. Right now, I'm confident I could finish it, and it's just a matter of increasing performance as much as possible.
My Progress Graphic EQ keeps showing improvement. I also keep tuning it, so it helps show progress but also doesn't become a source of frustration. You can see the big drop off at 2 hours, because my longest rides right now are about 2 hours and 20 minutes.
