March Training Update

This is a long overdue update on my 2011 cycling training and where I think my season is going. Before I start, I want to say that in general I'm having a good year and I'm in a positive mood. Cycling, on the other hand, is not going well.

I started training a little late because I had a goal of competing in Brazilian Jiujitsu in early winter. I consciously decided to follow through with that goal even though it meant pushing back the start of my season a few weeks.

But once things got rolling in mid-January, well, they never really got rolling. I had knee issues that got pretty bad before I was through my 2nd week of training. It was very touch-and-go and it took a few weeks for me to narrow down my symptoms and figure out the causes. Yoga, Ibuprofen, stretching, research, cleat and position adjustments, ice; I was trying everything. In the end I required some professional attention to my fit from Gehling to (mostly) address the problem.

But just as I was starting to get back into the swing of training again I tried to address some of the mechanical issues I was having on my road bike. As I investigated I realized something was seriously wrong. I took it in to my local bike shop and found out that I had cracked a lock ring on my bottom bracket. It was a Specialized brand part that needed to be shipped in from California.

Between me trying to figure out the problem, taking it to the shop, them figuring out the problem, sending for the part, it arriving, installing it, and me driving down to North Carolina for my annual spring training camp I had lost another 2 weeks of training.

Coming off that (abbreviated) trip I've taken stock of where things stand.

It's almost the end of March. Road racing has already started last weekend. I've had about 4 good weeks of training all winter with no workouts. My knee is ridable but still only feels 80-90% on longer rides. I'm far from the shape I need to be in to finish, let alone be competitive, in Cat3 races. I would guess that I would not be in shape to race on the road till early June and the season ends in late July.

In short, I'm honestly not motivated right now.

My season thus far has zapped a lot of my enthusiasm. Instead of putting energy into things like gut-busting workouts and tuning up my bikes, I've just been trying to ride for a week without interruption while everyone around me is getting stronger. While riding is still fun, putting it in the context of training to race has just been a source of frustration this year.

Racing, especially on the road, is unforgivingly competitive. More than any other racing discipline I've done, including all other forms of running, triathlons, and other kinds of bike racing, road riding is all-or-nothing. There are no finishers' medals, there are no T-shirts. You put you money down and if you're not with the winners they will pull you off the course.

So for me personally, I think I'm reaching a critical point of diminishing returns on my 2011 road season. I'm not sure what I'm going to do at this point. But, unlike years past, this hasn't made me a crabby bitch and I can at least say I'm happy with that.

More later.

My Training: March Training Report

[2010 weekly biking milage via DailyMile]

March was another good month of training for me. This was my last month of base and I intended it to be my biggest month of training for this year. I did that and it gave me a nice high volume to slowly work down from for the rest of the year as I continue to add more high intensity workouts and need more rest.

Here's how it went:

Training:

Biking: 879M / 60'00"

Running: 8M / 1'01"

Total: 887M/ 61'02"

I'm real excited about those numbers. That's over 2 hours a day of training, by far my highest monthly volume ever. This was no doubt largely due to achieving my goal of holding an 3/hr per day average over the 8 days of my spring break training trip down to North Carolina to meet up with the UW Cycling team. 

I also got 4 sets of 2x20s in as well as a 60 min tempo and the grab bag of hard efforts I put in over spring break. I'm happy about that because that's all the LT work I'm going to have to carry me through my early season races.

Most importantly I'm having fun and feel fresh - physically and mentally. 

Racing:

I only had one race in March, the AFC Sugar Hill XC on the 20th. It was my first MTB race ever and I picked up my first win on two wheels there. You can read the full race report here.

Looking Ahead:

Training:

Right now I am strong but not fit -- which is where I want to be at this point in my season. I've put in big miles (over 1,500M this year) as well as some endurance and LT workouts. I can ride for long periods of time and have worked on developing and holding hard efforts for 20 - 60 min. 

Now it's time to get fit. 

More so than running or triathlons road cycling is about racing - not time trialing but racing. I've made the mistake in the past of thinking a balanced steady effort can bring you success in cycling like it did for me in running and tris. 

But cycling is about attacking - frequently and hard. 

Now is the time of the year I need to work on developing busts of power for 10 min or less to break away from the poleoton, chase down or bridge a break away, bang out a long climb or surge over a short one, give a 1k leadout or sprint for the W. 

These are aspects to my riding I've never really focused on developing before so I'm pretty excited. I'm doing my research and asking the faster guys for advice -- it should be a fun experiment.

Racing:

One of my goals this year is to gain experience and as a result I'm going to be racing a lot early in the season. This should also allow me to see where I stand against other guys in my category over a wide variety of races. Based on what happens this month I'll pick my focus of the rest of the season.

Coming up this month in racing:

• 04/10: Michaux Mash (rescheduled, 4hr MTB)
• 04/17: SoYoCo (Road Race)
• 04/18: Carl Dolan (Road Race)
• 04/24: Farmersville (Road Race)
• 05/01: Turkey Hill (Road Race)
• 05/02: Bunny Hop (Crit)

March was a great month of training with a surprise race win, 8 awesome days in North Carolina, quality workouts and lots of riding in general. With a full race schedule and harder/faster workouts April is looking to be even better!

Hope everyone else it having a great year as well. Best of luck to all!

Thanks for reading!

a

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My Training: Sugar Hill XC Course Pics

Here are some pics from the ride-through's I did on Thursday and Friday of Saturday's AFC Sugar Hill XC in Patapsco State Park just outside Baltimore. I didn't take a lot of pics yet (hopefully more tomorrow) but there is a fantastic selection of terrains, single and double track, up and downhill rock gardens, a BRUTAL opening climb, bridges, stream crossings, mud, flying downhills, etc.

This is a 'B' race for me, meaning that I backed off a bit the last few days but I haven't tapered for it. By Friday I had ridden 10 hours with 2 interval workouts but my legs feel great.

I'm excited, staring to get nervous, but ready to go.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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My Training: Skyline Century

What you are looking at is a map of the 96M length of Skyline Drive through Shenandoah State Park. As the topology indicates this would be a damn hilly ride. This is something I've been kicking around in the back of my head for a while. I looked into the details a little bit and now I defiantly want to give it a go some time early this summer. Car details would be tricky since it's a point-to-point ride but I think it could be worked out.

Whose's in?

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My Training: February Training Report

Here's my training for the month of February. I've added some screenshots from a social training site I've been using this year called dailymile.com. Great site founded by a UW Cycling Team and Tri Team alumnus. Definitely suggest you check it out and look me up.

By the numbers:

Cycling: 500M - 38:06:00

Running: 28M - 3:13:00

Total: 528M - 41:19:00

So in terms of mileage things are good! I'm in a base phase and I averaged 1.5 hours of cardio a day in Feb. I'm also increasing my load;I ran 8 more miles and road almost 150 more mile than in January. Looking at my 2009 training I have 20 more hours of this year then at the same time last year. I was concerned that I wasn't getting as many long rides in as compared to last year but looking at my log I still think I'm getting enough long rides in while staying more consistent in my training.

But I added more than just mileage this month:

• Periodization
  
  This year I knew I needed to be more specific in my training. I consciously decided NOT to do this in 2009 because frankly I still felt like I needed to figure out what road cycling was all about before I started parsing my training too finely. For better or worse I understand my racing needs better now and am training to meet them. I've drawn up a 30 week training plan but I didn't do it alone ...
  
  
• Advice
  
  Now while they would claim they "didn't do anything" I do have to give a tip of my cycling cap to Dr. K & Tank. Their modesty aside it's great to have a Cat1 and Cat2 to advise me on my training and racing. Tank has been helping me on my cornering and suggesting workouts. Dr K lent me the Cyclist's Training Bible, and sent me some coaching materials he used when he was at U of I. I used that and my running experience to cook up and plan and we've iterated on it. Mostly we just kick around ideas but even that is helpful -- and fun.
  
  
• Intervals
  
  I've started doing 2x20 min intervals at my lactic threshold. Starting these this early in the season (which is when you should start doing them) is going to pay off in the spring. Finally getting my HR monitor back out to know where my LT is really producing some quality training sessions.
  
  
• Easy/Hard
  
  I've bee working on keeping my easy days easy and my hard days hard. It's difficult because in high school we were raised on the mentality that someone, somehwhere, was working out and you had to work harder then that person today to beat them. We even had shirts to that effect. But you can't train that way. I now organize my weeks to make sure I'm rested and ready to destroy my intervals and long rides. I let my body rest when it needs to. Or at least I'm trying.
  
  
• Core Strength
  
  The beginning of Lent and the pushup contest over at the Fleet street house inspired me to take up core strenght training again in the form of alternating days of upped body (chin ups, pull ups and various types of pushups) and abs/back. While all this has training benefits the part I most enjoy is that since none of this affects my legs I can hit these workouts as hard as I want whenever I need the satisfaction of a killer workout.

Races:

I ran the RRCA 10M challenge on the last day of the month. As expected it was my slowest 10M ever but I was fine with it. I gave out girls team some helpful and much appreciated pacing through 6M and most importantly our team swept all the awards. Couldn't be prouder -- race report to follow (I promise).

Looking Ahead:

March is going to be a BIG month for me. I've got my first 2 cycling races of the year which also happen to be my first 2 MTB races EVER. The first will be the 4hr endurance Michaux Mash on the 14th (I know how to ease into it right?) and then the Sugar Hill XC race in Patapsco on the 20th. On the 26th I leave for spring break for 9 days in the mountains of N.C. with the UW Cycling team. Wouldn't be surprised to put in well over 350M down there.

Across the country race results should start coming in this month. UW Cycling has started it's road season. Bren is looking to drop a very fast 1/2 Mary at the National Half Marathon while Alyssa looks to continue her Ultra running dominance in a Missuri running stage race. Dr. K and the LSV elite team will also open up their road season at the end of March.

Hope everyone had a good Feb of training followed by a great March.

My Training: January Training

Cycling

Week 1: 49M / 4'40"
Week 2: 110M / 7'27"
Week 3: 154M / 10'32"
Week 4: 41M / 4'05"

Total: 354M / 25'44"

Running

Week 1: 14M / 1'33"

Week 2: 6M / 0'42"

Week 3: 0M / 0'00"

Week 4: 0M / 0'00"

Total: 20M / 2'15"

Things are off to a decent start this year. T

he big story from my first month of cycling training is mounting biking. I finally starting hitting the trails on my rigid single speed GT Peace-29er I bought off Ster. It's the most fun I've had on a bike. I've ridden in snow, muck, cold and it's been great. Every time I get out see improvement in my technical skills.

My first time out I was scared shitless for the entire first hour. Absolutely terrified. But I got through it and by the end I was having a great time. That sense of improvement, of changing who you are, is one of the joys of sports.

Other things need to change as well in the coming months.

In contrast with last year my milage is a lot lower in January. But last year I was a lot more worried about being prepared for my spring break trip to North Carolina with the University of Wisconsin Cycling Team. I put a lot of big rides but didn't do any intervals aside from tempo riding. I could ride long milage and I could ride at a fast tempo for an hour. Basically I was in great shape to go for a week of long rides in the mountains (50 - 100M) with long hard efforts on the climbs. Over the course of 12M climbs I could drop Cat3s off my wheel.

(Yes, I'm drinking a PBR at the top of a climb.)

But when I got back I couldn't handle attacks from other Cat4 riders in 30M races. I starting trying intervals but was behind the game and basically petered out in the summer. Overall it was still my best season -- I finished 9 out of 10 races meaning I both started and finished more races than in my 2 previous cycling seasons. I usually finished just inside the top 3rd of each race. I made noticeable improvements in my bike handling.

But I was still clearly missing elements in my cycling game.

I think I am still learning not to train or race like a runner. You can go into a running race with no workouts and just a huge base and do pretty well. In a running race consistency is the most important thing. You find the bleeding edge of your lactate threshold and hold it -- dipping into the red at the very end.

Cycling isn't like that.

In cycling you'll spend long periods mostly jockeying for position and maneuvering the course all while comfortably in your aerobic zone. Then there will be accelerations, breaks, chases or hills that will put you DEEP in the red in the middle of the race. This is where you NEVER want to be in the middle of a running race but you will have to do it repeatedly in cycling.

Surge. Recover. Repeat.

If you can't handle a surge you'll be spit out the back of the peloton and then it's game over. The wheel and drafting are great equalizers. Hard accelerations are the only way to break things up. This season my training is going to focus on preparing for that so I can stop riding along with the peloton and start racing.

Thanks for reading.

My Training: Aikido Nerves

I figured it's about time I posted some original content on here again. Tonight I have practice test belt test in aikido and I'm nervous.

I wrote about a page of stuff about all the techniques I'll have to know, how hard I've been training and how the testing process works but I deleted it. In the end it doesn't really matter. Either I'll pass the practice test and take the belt test in 3 weeks or I'll have to wait until cycling season is over and try again. Either way I'll pass the test eventually and really that won't really change anything because it's just rank.

So what does matter?



Tonight is just another is series of tests to see if I can remain calm under attack. With 20 other people watching me can I remain focused on one person attacking me? Can I make mistakes and not lose my composure? Can I even do something as simple as just taking deep breaths throughout my test?

My evaluators aren't my teachers but myself. If I can learn to go calmly through vicious attacks and by extension through the ups and downs of life, if I can get a little closer to achieving an imperturbable mind., then I'll be a little closer to being the person I want to be.

There's lots of things I want out of aikido and lots of reasons why I do it but tonight I just want to be calm.

My Training: The Season Begins NOW

I've scheduled this entry to post at 10am Saturday morning. The same time that my first race of the season goes off. The Cat 4/5 field at the Millport Road Race in Lancaster, PA.

I'm pretty nervous but I'm going to go out there and be brave, put faith in my bike, myself and not worry about any kind of failure.

Here I go ...

Everything you need
Is already inside

My Training: Cycle 1 Complete!

Well my first 3-week cycle is done and I have to say I'm both pleased and surprised.

By the numbers:

Week 1
Running: 0.5 hr
Cycling: 7 hr
Total: 7.5 hr (+2x abs, 2x strength, 2 hr of aikido)

Week 2
Running: 1.25 hr
Cycling: 8.25 hr
Total: 9.5 hrs (+ 2x abs, 2x strength, 6 hr of aikido)

Week 3:
Running: 0.75 hr
Cycling: 9.75 hr
Total: 10.5 hr (+ 2x abs, 2x strength, 5 hr of aikdio)

So that makes a 3-week total of 26.2 hours of cardio, 13 hours of aikido and 6 sets of both abs and strength. Let's break it down a little more:

I only took 4 days off completely (no aikdio) but 3 of those days I was in CA on a work trip. I took an additional 4 days off from cardio and only did aikido. My long rides were 4.5 hr (63M), 5 hr and finally 5.5 hr (86M). I spent 7.5 hours on the trainer over the 3 weeks. Every time I rode the temperature was between 30 and 38 degrees. It flurried every time I rode except for the one time it started sleeting. My last two long rides were spent with Cat1 and 2 riders who would beak or pop me on every grade (not intentionally they're just more fit).


I walking away from this training block very satisfied. I've been training in weather that forces most people inside, alone on my trainer, and with people who are significantly more talented than me. I've done workouts I didn't think I would or could do and I'm having a lot of fun with it.

To be honest the cold and the long days in the saddle didn't bother me at all. I was with my friends, out in nature and riding my bike. I also think the fact that I've allowed myself to cross train is having a positive impact on my fitness and on my mentality. I love variety and throwing a little running and aikdo in the week has given me the positive attitude to jump on the trainer for 2 hours at time.

I'm having a great time with my training and I think that's going to allow me to do great things this season. Next week will be a rest week even though I feel fine and I'm going to take some time to appreciate my great friends over my birthday weekend. After that I'll keep inching up the volume of my cycling through my next cycle. Right now my big goal is my spring break trip to North Carolina with the UW cycling team in Mid-March. I want to be ready to put on some big miles on the trip.

See you out there!

My Training: Off Season Training

Well I've assembled something of a off season schedule for myself. I'm taking a slightly different approach this time and not making a rigid schedule since 1) it's the off season and 2) I'm a pretty spontaneous person and I like having room to adjust my plans. So instead of trying to plan all my workouts for the next 2 months I instead assembled a list of all the possible workouts I could do each day of the week. I then leave myself the freedom to pick among those workouts depending on the week. I certainly will never do all of the things listed. My options are as follows:

Monday
Run: 6M

Aikido: 1hr

Tuesday

Yoga: 1hr
Aikido: 2 hr
Ride: 1hr (commute)

Wednesday

Run: 7M

Thursday

Aikido: 2 hr
Ride: 1hr (commute)

Friday

Aikido: 2 hr
Ride: 1hr (commute)

Saturday

Aikido: 3 hr

Ride: 3hr

Sunday

Aikdio: 2 hr
Ride: 2 hr

On a typical week in Baltimore I would expect to get in 2 runs, 1 bike commute, 1 weekend ride, 1 yoga session and about 8 hours of aikido (this includes core after class every other time). It's not a huge load but it is the winter, my options are limited and I'm enjoying myself. I'm hoping the aikido will help with my upper/core strength and flexibility.

One challenge to keeping this up is th at I will be out of town (and therefore off my bike) from Nov. 21st till Nov. 30th and again from Dec. 19th till Jan. 8th. Without biking that means my only 2 choices for cardio will be running and swimming.

Hopefully I can work out some kind of swimming schedule at the Y when I'm at home - loath to swim as I do I think I can handle it for a few weeks. While I'm home I'm going to try and do as much biking as I can and try and save my shins for running at home. The good news is that I ran 7M last night with the guys and my shins feel fine today.

The upshot is that I'm not going to try and maintain my fitness level over the winter. Instead I'm backing off and fully recovering mentally and physically. As Ryan and I were talking about last night - the fitness should come back quickly after so many years of training. So in a certain sense my shin injury coming back might be a bit of a blessing in disguise since it's forcing me to periodize my training more.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

My Training: More Crazy Shit I Call Training...

So I went to the aforementioned show after work which meant skipping dinner (I had lunch at 3 so I wasn't too hungry). The show gets out latish and since Hopkin's is about the lamest college campus you could hope to find most food places (not that there are that many to begin with) are closed. So Tank and I head to our friend Jen's house where I have my dinner of:

1 Popsicle (not to be confused with a Gay Popsicle)
1 Mike's Hard Cranberry
1 Chocolate Chip Cookie
3 Shortbread Girl Scout Cookies

(This was my dinner - cranberry actually. Kelley Korevek thinks I should get them to sponsor me but I don't see that happening. Then again...)

I got to bed around 1:30 am. I get up the next morning pretty tired but who cares - it's Saturday! I slide open the shade on my shoebox-sized window to my basement bedroom and there's not a hint of the rain the forecast was calling for. Another perfect spring day for a long ride! So I stumble upstairs at about 7:30am (yes, I get up earlier to ride than I do for work) to have breakfast and...

shit!

There is nothing carbohydrate-rich (read cereal, bread or oatmeal) in my cupboard or either of my roommates'. My ride is coming and I still have to get my bike stuff together so I throw together a breakfast of:

1 Nature Valley Bar
1 Glass of Ovaltine in Skim Milk

Ryan picks me up and we head out to Mt. Washington to meet OJ and Brian who were just finishing up a 5,500 yrd (3.1+ mile) swim workout. The 4 of us ride about 8 miles up to TriSpeed bikes up in Hunt Valley to meet up with their Saturday morning group ride. While we're riding out Ryan comes over to me at a stop light:

Ryan: Hey, Alex...so...question...
Me: I'll do it! (I knew where this was going)
Ryan: OJ! He'll do it!
Me: How much did I just agree to?
Ryan: 105 miles
Me: Niiice (Non-cyclists should note that riding 100M is called a 'century'. Also my longest ride in my life going into this was 80 miles.)

I've been rating for a while now and you may have gotten lost so lets review. I'm about to try and ride a century on little sleep and negligible caloric intake during the 18 hours prior to the start of the ride. And it was over 80 degrees.

So I decide to start the ride off by going off with Galen (who runs the WNW rides and told me I "made the news" last week in the ride newsletter) and a couple of other guys on a "break" and beat the rest of the group to the regroup point at 22 miles by about 2 min. The rest of the group turned off to do shorter loops and our original group of 4 pressed on.

By mile 60 or so I had eaten:

1 Snickers Dark Choclate Bar
3 Gatorades
1 16 oz chocolate milk

This is a good diet for a large hummingbird. To review my food pyramid from the last 23 hours looked more like a pile of rocks:

(It's actually possible to ride a century using only these two food groups starting 18 hours before the ride. Though I wouldn't recommend it...)

Then OJ and I decided to do about 5 miles of LT intervals over the hills on York Rd. I honestly thought this was a good idea at the time. when we were done we had made it to 73 miles and our average was a kickin' 19.3 mph.

And then I was DONE. I swear I was going 10 mph the rest of the way back. When Ryan caught back up to us (dehydrated) it turns out there had been a miscommunication between Ryan and I about me gong off to do intervals as opposed to just dropping him. A few terse phrases were exchanged and we maintained grumpy bitchy silence for 20 miles.

We were nearly home when we stopped at 7 eleven and I stared at a Gu for about 30 sec and had a conversation with my sugar saturated-body that went something like this:

Mind: Eat this
Body: Hellllllllllll no!
Mind: You need energy if we're going to finish this ride
Body: Try and make me eat that and I'll puke on you
Mind: ...you mean puke on yourself?
Body: Fine - screw you. Enjoy the next 10 miles asshole.

Now I think I was going 5 miles an hour. I stopped peddling on the slightest down hill. I rested my head on my handlebars at intersections. Finally we rolled back into Mt. Washington. I just kinda fell against the side of Ryan's car. On the way home I just kinda lay there and coughed as Ryan was screaming about how we should go as Hall & Oates for Halloween. I'm pretty sure that actually happened...

(Guess which one I get to be?)

Then I went to Tanks and ate like 4 steaks.

Here's the damage:

96 miles (so close to 100 - but still my longest ride ever)
5hrs 15min
18.6 mph average

Finally, the quotable memories:

Ryan: OJ like that time you hooked up with you cousin?
OJ: I did not hook up with my cousin
Ryan: Yes you did! That time you made me come with you to that stupid formal at your cousin's school! Your cousin was all over you like "Ohhh I missss you. It's so nice to see you!"
Brian: Wait, your real cousin? Like your parents' siblings' son?
Me: Yeah dude, like his...wait-what did you say?

Ryan and I doing Ocean's 11:

Me: 20 questions - go!
Ryan: Am I a man
Me: Yes
Ryan: Am I alive?
Me: Yes
Ryan: Evil Knievel!
Me: Damn!