Got the afterburners back?

Yup, it really feels like the training is finally coming together.  I’ve been absolutely killing myself on the race rides, getting my time trial rides in, and getting plenty of rest when I’ve needed it.  All season I have been missing a certain ‘pop’ on the climbs that I used to have… but on my hill ride yesterday (it’s been awhile since I’ve actually done a hilly ride…) it seemed to have re-appeared!

My body seems to be responding really well to my current ‘training plan’ so I will continue with what I’m doing and gently add more time as the weeks progress.  I will taper off a little bit before Elkhorn and continue to build afterward.

I’ve planned out some of the summer racing stuff, but who knows what will actually happen with the rest of life getting in the way.  I’m primarily focusing on hilly road races, but will be throwing some crits in for a good variety.  Things are getting exciting, and Elkhorn is getting closer…

Training Update

I made a serious effort to get out and do a nice long 3hr+ ride this weekend but due to some unavoidable mechanical incidents it just didn’t happen.  Other than that, my training is going very well.  I’ve been doing the race rides and attacking them as hard as I can whenever I can.  I’m sure people must wonder about the guy who attacks super hard with no chance to get away, gets pulled back in, explodes off the back, and isn’t seen again for the rest of the day.  It probably looks pretty silly but a lot of the time I can find my way back into the pack and keep going… if only to launch another suicidal attack.  I really do feel like it’s making me stronger though — it’s worked for me in past years so I’m going to stick with it.  I just stay off the front a little bit longer now.

I’ll be doing another TT on Wednesday to (hopefully) verify that my last time was not a fluke.  I definitely need to get back to doing some hill training but it’s pretty difficult due to the time it takes just to get to hills.  However, I’m getting very close to my ideal race weight, without really doing any sort of intentional weight loss aside from eating more fruits and vegetables and riding more.  With my strength increasing and my weight going down, my climbing abilities will probably get better even without specific training.  We shall see.

EBC Criterium Cat 3

The more USCF races I do the more I realize how slow I am!  I stuck myself right in the front of the race for the first couple laps, pulling people around and basically making myself suffer for no reason.  I quickly fell to the back of the pack and attempted to recover… for some reason my chest was really really hurting for about 5 laps.  It was painful enough for me to seriously consider pulling out, but the image of my girlfriend , bloodied from a crash, climbing back on the bike and still taking 2nd inspired me to dig a little deeper (HTFU).

I sat around at the back of the pack for most of the race and only started moving up with about 5 laps to go.  With about 3 laps to go I found myself right at the front of the pack and decided to just go for it.  I attacked with everything I had (full commitment!) and took another guy with me.  We held off the pack for about a lap (I think there was actually a rider off the front ahead of us as well) and then I completely exploded.  The pack whizzed by, I latched on for a few seconds, and then fell off the back.

I ended up rolling across the line dead last — but I had a lot of fun.  This spawned one of my new goals for this season: increasing my activity in races.  I’m not going to sit in and let the race happen around me.  If it means getting blown off the back, so be it.  It’s a lot more fun throwing yourself into the wind and failing miserably than coming across the line in the middle of the pack with a set of fresh legs.

End of Collegiate Season

Yup, collegiate racing is over.  Theres a lot of racing to sum up but I’m not even going to try.  I’m happy about my personal performance — 2 2nd place finishes was more than I would have ever anticipated.  I just wanted to finish with the pack in most of the races.  I was most impressed by the performance of all of my teammates, from the D’s up to the A’s.  It was obvious that everyone had been working really hard and it was great to see lots of personal goals met or exceeded throughout the season.

My focus is now on building up for Summer racing.  In particular, I’m working really hard on improving my time trialing ability, which has always been a weakness and limiting factor for me.  Fortunately, I’ve seen lots of improvement in this department — I’ve set personal records on my last 3 attempts at the 10mi TT and have reduced it by over 2 minutes in 3 months.

I’ve got a crit tomorrow so we’ll see how that goes!