Rest Week!

Finally.  I didn’t plan out my training schedule like I should have and I ended up doing about 4 hard weeks in a row.  After two final rough days on the weekend I took a day off.  My legs were still feeling terrible on my ride to class on Tuesday, so I stayed off the bike another day.  On Wednesday I was going to do the local time trial but a huge design project got in the way.  So now it’s Thursday, I’ve been off the bike for 3 days and I’m going to test the legs out on the race ride this evening.  I hope the hard training and hard resting will pay off :o)

Ideally I would have had only 3 build weeks and made the 4th a rest week instead of 4 slightly less intense build weeks.  Plans don’t always work out just right, but I don’t feel like I dug myself into a hole or anything so it should work out just fine.

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!

Another Collegiate Weekend

I had two races this weekend and they both went pretty well.

The road race was a real test of fitness — 4 laps of a course with one pretty nasty climb.  The pack was destroyed the first time up the hill.  The rest of the race was just a matter of going around the thing 3 more times (in groups of no more than about 4).  I ended up finishing mid-pack but a teammate got 3rd which was great.

The crit had a nice little hill in it that dwindled the pack down but was not enough to pop me off.  I sat in most of the race, tried to stay near the front, and covered some moves when necessary and made a couple attacks when I thought the pack might split some more.  On the last lap I found a good wheel (the same as last weekend) and followed it for 2nd.

My timing could definitely use some work, as my solo efforts weren’t on the prime laps when I could have actually nabbed some points, but overall I’m really happy.

I’m only going to do one hard day this week in order to recover for the final collegiate weekend.

3 Race Weekend

First Crit: I tested my legs out a little bit by being pretty active throughout the race.  I felt good, but did not have the legs or position to do well in the sprint.  I ended up finishing mid-pack.

Second Crit: I felt absolutely horrible at the beginning due to the first race and the heat.  I basically did no work throughout the race except to help bring back a break that started to appear dangerous.  Instead of actually working to bring it back, I jumped off the front to try to bridge it and got a reaction from the pack.  I sat on for the rest of the race, found a good wheel and sprinted for 2nd.  Best race of the season so far.

Road Race: Once again, I sat in for most of the race.  There were a few instances where I had to jump to make sure the team was represented in ‘breaks’ but nothing ever had a chance of escaping.  My climber teammates pushed the pace really hard up the hills but the hills just weren’t long enough to break up the pack.  It was super hot and I ended up finishing 3 bottles in less than 3hrs.  It came down to a field sprint and I was decently positioned but my chain dropped just as I started to accelerate.  I’ll definitely need to have a look at that before the next race.

My training right now isn’t so great because of school and weather.  I’m taking 3 days off in a row because I really need to get some work done and it’s been extremely windy.  Is this bad for my performance? Probably, but my biggest concern right now is preventing another burnout.  If riding isn’t going to be at least a little bit enjoyable, a rest day should be in order.

Things are going well, and I can’t wait for Summer racing!

Quick April Update

Training is going very well. My 10mi TT time has gone down and I’m starting to feel like I’m in top shape again. I feel much stronger than I ever did last year. Collegiate season is starting to wind down (we really didn’t do many races) but I’m really not all that concerned with collegiate racing. I’m going to focus on preparing for Summer racing, including a stage race. I will be training pretty hard through the end of collegiate season, taking a short rest period, and then I will continue to build up for the Summer.

Training Status

So I’ve had a few races this year and I think at this point it’s a good idea to critically analyze my racing. My fitness isn’t where it should be, but that’s something that will just take time and solid training. I’m working hard on my time trialing, which should improve my performance in flat and windy road races. I’ve been pretty comfortable in terms of pack skills and my sprint is basically what I would expect it to be. I have repeatedly made the mistake of allowing myself to get stuck in the back of the pack during road races — this is something that I can’t let happen anymore.

Mostly I just need to train more…

First ‘08 Collegiate Weekend

I don’t feel like doing a full on race report but overall the weekend went well for me.  I felt pretty strong both days and I feel like I made myself relatively useful to the team.  My squad has some super fast guys who really gave everything they had in the races and came home with some great results.    We worked really well together and I’m sure it will only get better.  The folks that showed up to the race all did really well but we didn’t have the turnout that we should have.

Time to study.