And base begins

With the beginning of February (soon) starts my one and only, one month long Base period. Back in October when I was laying out my plan I didn't want to pedal endlessly on the trainer for hours at a time. I opted for different approach of tempo and intervals over rides of less than an hour and a half. It's working as today's ride was a test of my 5 minute power and it ended up the highest (by 14 watts) that I've put out since starting my build up in mid-November. My 15 minute power is only now 10 watts off of my best during the last summer, 1 minute power is 20 watts off and 5 minute is now 22 off. 20 second power is where it gets weird, as I pulled off some stupid wattage during a single crit last year and can't get to within 200 (not a typo) watts of that!

Anyway in February is my time to ramp up the hours and build the endurance. These long rides will NOT be like the long rides of last year, as I plan to put plenty of tempo time in as well as short burst intervals.

Below is my schedule, subject to massive revision based on sickness, lifestyle or workload. I worked my butt off through the holidays and up until this week to try and bank enough money to slack a bit during February and catch up on sleep. But with my job the way it is, I could think it's going to be an easy day and by 9am people are calling to get emergencies out the door. Such is life, but I'm not about to change it.


Note that there are only 2 races on the schedule for February, one outdoor and one indoor time trial. The outdoor TT is going to be cold. Suck it up. My first "road race" of the year will be Mid-Ohio on March 1, held on a car/motorcycle race track near Mansfield. More of a circuit race, with each lap being 2.5 miles or so, but you get the jist.

March schedule in it's entirety looks like this:
1 Mid Ohio
2 neo Limits indoor tt
8 Colavita time trial
15 Hueston Woods (Team Columbus)
30 Hueston Woods again (OVR)

I'm ready for winter to be OVER.

Days off

Don't like 'em, but got to take 'em.

Last week was a "not so restful" rest week. I called it a rest week because I did nothing structured, just a ride how I want type of thing. Of course I ended up doing intervals of varying length, but nothing was really ball buster. Should have taken a couple of days off, but I didn't and I think I'm paying for it today. Sore throat, lethargy, grumpy (more than normal!). So today is totally off the bike, first day this year. Tomorrow is back to time trial practice (AKA 16 minute interval) so I need the rest.

On a good note, net weight loss last week was 3.5 pounds. That proverbial "10 more pounds to go" is all that's left. Well, and 1.5 on top of that to get to where I need to be by March.



Friday update - whatever was bothering me Monday turned into a full blown sickness that I've not yet licked. I was able to get in a 45 minute ride (with intervals) Thursday. Power was there, but it pretty sapped me out for the rest of the day. We'll see what today brings, ride-wise, but it will probably mimic yesterday's effort. On another note, I've lost 5.5 pounds in the last 12 days. More to go.

Well hot dog

Finally got the chance to ride a bike outside. It was December 22nd the last time I was on the road. Perfectly timed, I rolled back in my driveway after 2 hours (and 30 seconds) of riding.

Although not cold (low-mid 40's), it was pretty windy. Made for long hauls on the farm roads around here when going right into it. I felt all perched up on the Orca until I remembered that I had a new seatpost and set my seat a bit higher. Can't really tell on the trainer, but made a world of difference on the road.

Tomorrow will probably be back on the trainer due to schedule. Why do people schedule conference calls at freaking 2pm? Blows the whole afternoon. Then it's off to a 5:30 meeting and dinner after. My whole Thursday is shot and it's only Wednesday!

For your viewing pleasure, a list of upcoming time trials for 2008. Join me, will ya?

2-16 Colavita 20k
3-8 Colavita 20k
4-6 Monrovia 40k
4-12 Colavita 20k
5-3 Calvin's 114mi
5-10 Colavita 20k
5-11 Monrovia 40k
5-24 Monrovia 40k
6-8 Monrovia 40k
6-14 Colavita 20k
6-22 State championship 23mi
6-29 Monrovia 40k
7-12 Colavita 20k
7-20 Monrovia 40k
8-3 Monrovia 40k
8-9 Colavita 20k
8-31 Monrovia 40k
9-13 Colavita 20k
9-14 Monrovia 40k

Time Trialling

Sunday's effort was not my best. 281 watts for 16:50 was good for 3rd in my division and 10th overall (out of 43). It got me thinking about time trialling. People either love them or HATE THEM WITH A PASSION! I actually like them. I guess it came from when I started riding in 2002 (yeah, I only started riding when I was 32 years old, shut up) where all I did was ride by myself as hard as I could. Back then was when I was in my "weight loss" mode. I ran quite a bit and fancied myself as a duathlete until I realized that 21 minute 5k's would get me nowhere even if I could ride a bike fast. I bought a time trial bike (the one I have now) before I ever even thought about bike racing and just rode it for fun as fast as I could.

Forward to 2005, my first season as a fresh cat 5. I was having a pretty good season going into the Tree City Stage Race, which consisted of a road race, time trial and criterium, all time based in a combined cat 4/5. I finished at the back of the pack around 25th or so in the road race, but was "same time" as everyone but the stage winner (time bonus). The time trial was early on Sunday morning where I pulled out 2nd place in my field. My time would have been top 5 for cat 3's and top 10 in the 1/2 field. A time trialler was born that day. So I crashed in the crit and lost my spot in the GC that afternoon, but so what? :)

I only did one other TT that season, again as part of a stage race. It was the Midwest Championship Stage race in Bloomington, Indiana. I got 3rd place in the ABR cat 4 division.

In 2006 I competed in 11 time trials, including two sub-1 hour efforts at the Monrovia 40k race, and a bronze medal in the state championships. In 2007, I did 9 TT's along the way to winning the Colavita series. Overall, 11 podiums out of 23 entered races.

What does all this mean? Those who love time trials, time trial. Those who don't only do it if it's required for a stage race. That doesn't diminish the success I've had, though, at least to me since it's only people who love time trials that TIME TRIAL.

I'm not sure what the future will hold for this time trialler, but it's getting clearer a little more as time passes. My racing age is 38 this season, so in two years (duh) I'll be 40. At 40, I'll be at the young end of my age bracket and will probably switch the bulk of my races to the master's group. Over the next two years, I hope to build myself up to being somewhat competitive on a national level in time trials. There, I put it in writing so if it doesn't happen, I'll look like quite the chump.

Oops

Apparently I've been training on the wrong computrainer course. The profile for Sunday's race was emailed to me it's different than what I found on the web. The old one looks harder (more climbs). Oh well.

Well here is a sad sight. My Orca, in a near permanent locked-in state on the trainer. Notice new Thomson Elite seatpost. From what I heard, my old carbon post was sawed and chiseled out.





At least the Orca will be taken off the trainer Sunday! To be put on ANOTHER trainer at the indoor TT.

Oops again.

2008 team kit

January 2nd and team kits are already here - sweet!


This year's gear list is as follows:
2 short sleeve jerseys
1 sleeveless jersey
2 pair of bib shorts
1 winter jacket (sweet!)
1 long sleeve skin suit
6 pair of socks
Hat
Baselayer