Annual Goal Post

It's just not a new year without a bunch of stuff on goal setting. Of course, the whole point of this blog is to keep me on track for my goals, so I have to list mine for the year!

To set the stage, in 2009, I dropped from 198 to 174 pounds. Over 2010, I drifted back up to 190 (with a little 5-pound burst between Thanksgiving and Christmas). As I write this, I'm back down to 186.4.

I have a wide range of goals:

• be down to 180 pounds in time for the first crit on March 6
• finish 6 crits (note: FINISH, not start ;-) )
• Get in the breakaway in at least one of them
  
• be down to 170 in time for the time trial June 4
  
• finish a West River Time Trial (8.35 miles) in less than 19:42 (25.4 mph)
• finish a 42K TT in less than 1:05:00 (24.2 mph)
• finish my season (August 6) at 165 pounds (probably around 12 to 14% body fat)
  
• keep my weight at or below 170 for the foreseeable future
  

The weight loss ones are not that major. Losing 6 pounds in 7 weeks, 10 more pounds in 12 weeks, and then 5 pounds in 12 weeks. It's the maintenance that I'm more interested in. I don't want to have to go through all this again!

One of the biggest ingredients that I lost in 2010 was weight lifting. I was riding and getting pretty fit, but my weight was not staying off. I found that just in the last few weeks, most of my success came from being back in then gym. I've been debating getting adjustable dumbbells so that I can do more weight workouts at home.

Another ingredient is intensity. I spent most of 2009 and 2010 doing tempo and threshold rides. I did very little VO2max, anaerobic endurance training, and sprint training. I've already started doing a little of that this winter so that I'm not caught off-guard in the early crits like I was last year.

Somewhere in there, I'd like to fit into my 34-inch waist jeans again :-)

Wish me luck! (and of course, support me along the way!!!)

New Year

It's a new year and here we are again: me complaining about losing weight :-)

I can't really complain about my fitness. I'm doing very well on the CompuTrainer ((3) 3x3:00 @ 280 watts) and I'm pushing major weights in the gym (12 reps at 850 pounds). For January, that's more than I could hope for. It's still 8 weeks until my first training race of the year.

Of course, I'm complaining about my weight. When I got back from Christmas, I was up to 190 pounds. All the candy and snacks while I was back in Erie added a few pounds onto me (and I was already complaining about my weight!)

For the last 6 days, I've been training like crazy. I've been on the trainer every day, trying out each of the workouts from my favorite workout menu. I've been to the gym twice and spent one night doing balance work on the Bosu. In the process, I've dropped one of those pounds already. Hopefully I can keep losing weight at that rate until I'm back where I want to be (at or around 170 pounds).

Much Better

After fighting a cold for nearly three weeks, it's nice to feel back to normal.

Of course, sitting around and eating for a few weeks, plus the Thanksgiving holiday, I've managed to climb back to 189.6 pounds. Not good.

On the plus side, I've just begun to train a little more aggressively. Yesterday, I did a test on the computrainer to see how long I could hold various power levels. Shelli was kind enough to help out, adjusting the power levels and recording when I couldn't maintain the effort anymore.

• 300 watts - 3:02
  
• 350 watts - 1:52
  
• 400 watts - 1:12
  
• 450 watts - 0:59
  
• 500 watts - 0:43
  
• 550 watts - 0:33
  

I'm not judging these numbers at all. They are just a starting point for me. I didn't push to failure and I didn't watch the recovery to make sure I was fully recovered between each effort. I just did it as a starting point to see how I progress over the next few months.

Today, I went out for a two hour and forty minute ride, covering about 46 miles. It was cold, about 31 degrees when I started, so I was not expecting any record speeds. My power levels were right where I wanted: I recorded an average of 203 watts for two hours (215 normalized). Granted, it's not the best ever, but considering that I haven't been on the bike much for the last month, I'm more than happy with it!

Almost back to normal

I've spent the last two weeks fighting a bad cold. Well, "fighting" makes it sound more active. Really, I just sat on the couch as much as I could while eating constantly. I barely rode the bike or the trainer at all.

Today was my first attempt at a real ride. I did pretty well.

I rode about 30 miles. For the entire time, my heart rate was about 10 to 15 beats per minute higher than normal for any given power level, so I knew I was not quite back to full power.

I did two harder efforts: one of 7:30 at 250 watts and one of 2:30 at 330 watts. Both of them were pretty rough, but at least I could do them.

Of course, sitting around and eating for two weeks, I gained a pound and a half, and am up to 187.6. At least I'm starting to feel better enough to ride again!

Even colder

When I left for today's ride, it was 31 degrees, probably the coldest weather I've ridden in for a really long time. I went out for a relatively easy ride for about two hours. My legs were a bit stiff from the hard week and I just wanted to spin them out a little bit.

I was a little alarmed to spot a frozen puddle on the road. It made me pay just a little more attention to make sure I don't hit any ice!

Better than I expected

Today was my first RPM ride of the season. I wasn't quite sure what to expect.

For the last two weeks, I've been riding around 9 hours a week, up from 7. I've been spending some of those additional hours riding with the guys from work at lunch, and they like to attack and sprint a lot, so I'm working a lot harder than I would normally. Add in a night at the gym each week, and my legs have been a bit stiff. I wasn't expecting to do too well today.

It was a small group today, with just Todd and I. We did a course that I was not familiar with, that turned out to have a few pretty steep climbs in it (up to 8.9%).

I pushed pretty hard the first hour and averaged 243 watts. After that, I backed off a bit, and averaged 232 watts for 1:30. I forgot to look up my numbers from last year before I left this morning, so I didn't know if that was good or not.

It turned out to be very good. My numbers from the first few RPM classes last fall were in the 204 to 208 range. I'm a full 15% above that.

On the downside, my weight is still hovering around 186 :-(

A Classic in Reverse

Over the last twelve years, the ride from the Philly Art Museum to Betzwood Park has been a staple in riding. It's about 42 miles round trip, with a flat 4-mile section on West River Drive, a 5-mile hilly section through Manayunk, and then a 12-mile flat section on the Betzwood trail.

My first exposure to the course was when I was still skating. Small groups of 3 to 6 skaters would head out together. The downhills on the return were especially difficult, since racing skates do not have brakes. My biggest memory of that course was the day we did it as part of a skating century. Two laps from the Museum to Betzwood and two laps of West River for a total of 100 miles on skates. Ah, the good old days....

As a cyclist, that course is much easier. The hills through Manayunk, either up or down, are not that bad. They just give you a little more to work on during an otherwise flat course.

Yesterday, since I now live so close to Betzwood Park, I rode the course in reverse. It's a lot different!

The differences were more psychological. The long flat section on the Betzwood trail is now the beginning and end, not the middle. West River Drive is no longer the "almost home sprint." It's the turnaround section. It was weird seeing the Museum and thinking "just 21 miles to go!" not "I'm done!"

Most of all, I never realized how hard the hills in Manayunk could be. When you are only 6 miles out, they are not so bad. When you have 27 miles in your legs, it's another story. The little zig-zag hill going from Main Street up to Umbria is a lot harder.

It wasn't all that bad, though. On the way back, I didn't stop at home. I kept going out to Phoenixville, for a total of 52 miles in about 2 hours and fifty minutes. It was a fun ride that I'm sure I'll repeat in the future.

I was just happy that I felt better. I'd been fighting some kind of stomach thing the last few days and I didn't have any problems at all today.

A City Smurf goes to the Country

Saturday I did the suburban QCW ride that left from Betzwood park and went about 60 miles. Let me tell you, it's a lot different starting in Center City Philly and going 60 miles than starting near Valley Forge and going 60 miles.

First of all, there's a lot more country roads. Within about 15 minutes, we were passing stables and cow pastures.

Next, it gets real hilly real quick. I'm not much of a climber, especially since I'm still carrying a few extra points. I really struggled to keep up with the other four guys a few times. I figure that's a good thing, since now I'll work to keep up with them.

We had a few notable experiences. One was the seemingly endless, straight climb that we took at about 8 mph. It was only about a 6 minute climb or so, but felt like forever.

The other was going across the closed bridge around Evansburg State Park. We went a little off-road and were handing our bikes over the railing to each other. Talk about team building!

It was a really great ride and I'm looking forward to doing them through the winter. I do kinda miss that last 4-mile burn coming in West River Drive though...

A bit cooler

Today was the first time I've ridden below 50 degrees in quite a while. When I went out for my morning ride at 8AM, it was 48 degrees.

I was a little overdressed, with a long sleeve jersey (which is fleece lined) and tights over my normal cycling shorts. I could tell I was overdressed and could feel the extra heat the whole time. Combined with the cooler air, my heart rate was running high the whole ride.

It felt good to do a foundation ride. My average power for the day was a mere 156 watts (a out 16.7 mph average), doing 37 miles in 2 hours and 12 minutes.

It felt good to get out on a sunny day and do an easy ride like that. Over the course of the winter, this ride will grow to be 4 hours long.

The down side: in the last month I've only lost a half pound. I'm hoping now that I live right next to the trail and I am settled into the new apartment, I can devote more time to training,

Here we go again

Early Spring 2009, I was just shy of 200 pounds and 28% body fat. I had a great summer, dropping to 173 pounds and 19% body fat. In just a few months I went from couch potato to holding my own on the bike.

Then I got divorced, took a new job, and hit the difficult final semesters of my MBA. I focused a lot on training for performance, but stopped watching what I was eating. I was still reasonably fast on the bike, but I went back up to 189 pounds and 23% body fat.

Over the last month, I've finished up my MBA, spent some easy time pedaling on the bike to relax a bit, and started planning for the next season. I've also managed to drop a couple pounds.

I want to get back into the mid-160's, with a body fat around 15%. My training plan is aimed at weight loss for the next six months as I build an aerobic foundation for the 2011 racing season. I've got my eye on a few races (some criteriums and some time trials) that coincide well with when I will hit peak fitness based on the training plan. I did a two-peak season, so I will have a cluster of races in the spring and another in the late summer.

Today, I'm at 186 pounds. I want to be at 174 (19% fat) by January 1 and at 165 (15% fat) by April 1. I realize those goals are not difficult, just about 3 pounds a month. If I can do better, then I will!

I know that all I need to do is watch my diet, keep the training volume up, and stay involved here and I should be able to drop the weight without much problem.