Some advice for those starting to ride or new to training

Friends and facebook "friends", or folks in facebook groups, frequently ask "I'm training for a 100 mile ride in June. What sort of training plan should I use?" or "does anyone have a training plan? I want to start training for a 100km ride next month!". 

So, you want to start training. Great!!! 

And, you want somebody to send you their training plan or tell you what you should do? My answer to you is both simple and not at all simple.

1. The simple answer: Any riding is good riding. Any training plan is better than none.

- This is the simple, happy-making answer. Maybe it's the one you really wanted to hear! By this answer, anything you do on the bike is the right thing - regardless of whether you are structuring your own riding time, or you've found/paid for a generic plan with guidance. 

Sadly, this is the cheap answer. It is true that any activity will make you more fit than none, but a generic training plan does you a disservice if you truly want to maximize your fitness and achieve your full potential. 

The saving grace of this answer is that it IS a great place to start. Just go out and ride your bike!

Do: Have fun! Keep it free flowing and enjoy the routine of being outside, on a bike, having fun, sweating.

- Start out at an endurance pace for 90-95% of your time on the bike, especially if you're starting out over the winter. Ignore everything you're reading or watching on TV about HIT sessions for the first 300-500 hundred miles. Nice, long rides at a pace you can comfortably speak at is the best way to build your aerobic capacity and focus on your form. 

• Are your pedal strokes nice and smooth and round? Are your elbows bent and your shoulders nice and relaxed?

2.  The not so simple not-really-an-answer: There is no universal training plan. 

- Everyone is different! People come to the sport with different levels of fitness and past riding experience or experience with other sports. Anyone who lends you their training plan, or any website that advertises a one-size fits all couch to century type of a plan is cheating you of the best training experience - if you are really, truly serious about seeing improvement and having fun on the bike.

     Do: ask yourself some questions and answer them honestly. Then, consult with a licensed cycling coach (no, not a personal trainer or spin instructor!) about your goals and get a plan tailored to your specific needs.

1.     What is my baseline fitness?

• Couch potato? walking the kids to school? marathoner? or, maybe a marathoner five or ten years ago?

• if you have past sporting experience, especially successes with endurance sports, your body tends to remember. You'll probably see your fitness shoot up quickly with any training.          

 2. What are my goals? 

• Limited to this one event? Using this event as a springboard to launch a new year round fitness campaign? Looking to race? 

 3. How committed am I?

•       How many hours do I have per night to dedicate to training? How many hours on the weekend? How many days per week can I realistically be on the bike?

      

4. What is important to me in developing a plan? What s

• Examples: A plan flexible enough to accommodate Sunday rides with the guys/kids/dog, etc.
• I am new to riding and nervous about riding on the road.
• I have a GI/heart/lung problem and need to ________________.

5. What kind of relationship do you want with a coach? 

The less experience you have with training, the more benefit you will get from frequent contact (even every other week) with a coach, which provides time to troubleshoot problems, ask questions, and pick their brains of all of that accumulated cycling wisdom!

• Ex:  Personally, I find that I do best with frequent contact and accountability to a coach who is also my friend. I need some moral support, but I also need somebody who's going to lay down the law and tell it as it is if I start slacking/underachieving.

I swear, he didn't put me up to this, but if you want a really amazing coach, check out my coach at Human Vortex Training! He does online coaching too, for those who aren't local.

Velodrome time!

Just a short photo post ahead of a real update!

'

Indoor base miles.

Ug. Cold and wet does not a good ride make. So, I'm indoors doing some steady endurance miles on the trainer this week.

For those of us who are training to race (versus year round fitness), we try to go through macro and micro cycles of intensification and recouperation. During the winter, we go into base miles mode, which means a lot of lower intensity, steady, long rides in a purely aerobic zone - that means no sprinting, no going so hard you feel like you're going to keel over, no challenging your friends to a dual on two wheels up a hill. Just steady, mellow, long miles.

It's a time of rest, both physically and mentally. There is something beautifully meditative about a steady aerobic effort. Or, on days when you're feeling a bit cabin feverish in the apartment (like me, today!), it can be mind numbingly monotonous. But, being social as I am, I always enjoy company on the bike. Even when that person isn't riding, and is taking unflattering iPhone photos of me looking sweaty on the trainer in the living room!

Here it is, me at my frumpiest, doing some base miles in the living room in the NYC apartment.

A long way to the top

Since the crash in August I've been plagued by knee and hip problems, not to mention the lingering, renewed Crohn's issues over the past year. It's been a (litterally and metaphorically) wobbly path back to cycling, with a lot of ups and downs.

I've worked up to finally doing some real distances again, but am still distrustful of my knee's integrity and shy away from any real torque or out of the saddle riding. My base miles are still low for this winter and my fitness is behind where I need it to be leading into the next racing season. I've got a lot of work to do, but it's looking up. I have a referral to a new physical therapist; one who worked wonders on a cyclist friend who was told they'd never walk again.

And, one more promising sign is that this weekend I did a relatively fast ride from NYC to Bear Mountain in Harriman State Park and back, which includes 6000+ feet of elevation with a 5 mile climb in the middle. It almost destroyed me, but I survived and even said, "Oh, this is it? I thought it was longer" at the top of Bear.

Here's to continued kneehab to come. If it wasn't hard, it wouldn't be fun. Right?

The view from the top of Bear Mountain, NY.

Muckity muck.

Warm, cold, warm, cold, rain.... Snow, warm?

We've had some nutty weather over here in the NYC area. All of the snow melt has made for some very muddy riding earlier this week before things froze again.

Here's some lovely photo evidence of my rather impressive dirt tan lines!

sock lines!

dirt tan lines for December.

cycling mud masque, anyone? With a side of bleary, road salt splattered eye treatment.

The season of cold-damp-rainy-snowy is upon us!

It's officially here! It's been here for about a month now. It's winter riding season.

Although sometimes it takes extra motivation to step out into the mist, or onto the frozen ground outside the doorstop, all hesitancy is always erased once I'm on my bike and moving.

Winter changes the landscape, making everything new again. Old routes covered in ice, or bare of leaves with new views at the top of climbs.

Into the wintry mist... friends, fun, and fog!

Tip for winter success: Order a case of those instant hand and toe warmers, so there is nothing holding you back from getting on your bike when it's freezing outside. Toe warmers make the difference for me, as cold feet is my big rate limiting factor.  Also, get some good waterproof shoe covers. Then, it's off into the cold-damp-beautiful world with you!

Chill'n out and doing some focused strength exercises

Since the crash in August I've been keeping it pretty low key. Not that I've had much of a choice, between a wicked concussion that kept me off the bike for about 6 weeks, and then realizing just how badly I'd messed up my knee once I was back on the bike. I've also continued to have some lingering Crohn's related ick. So, I'm continuing to ride it out, and try to enjoy the time I can get out on the open road even if it's at an easy pace.

The benefit of the easier pace is that I get to spend time with our newest riders on the Yale team. And, I must say, I do love helping folks master cycling skills like pacelining, cornering, and climbing hills! Getting to see the huge gains in confidence and the satisfaction of mastering a new skill is so satisfying.

40 degrees and sunny in New Haven! 

Plus, it's fall. And autumn riding means we are back to base miles anyway, so my easy pace is right on target.

I've also been taking the time to work on some other stuff while I've been in the saddle less.

The problem areas:

- Core strength: I have terrible core strength, which is likely because I have trouble with ab spasms on my ostomy side if I do much direct core work like sit ups.

- Medial leg strength: It's easy in cycling to work only the front and back muscles, as we have no side to side movement.

- Gluteus Medius strength: Yep, that's the muscles on the side of my butt. A lot of cyclists have  this issue. Have you ever seen a competitive cyclist on a bike and noticed that the side of his butt looked almost indented? That's the gluteus medius underdeveloped. And, according to my physical therapist friend (it was a strange night of casual consults and laughing about it), mine are sincerely lacking.  She said that my "massively hypertrophied hamstrings" had been doing all the work instead.


The remedy: 

- planks! Oh man, I am terrible at these. But, I'm making myself do at least 5 sets of holding it for 30 seconds with keeping good form before bed every night.

- Spider-mans: 2 sets of ten. From a plank-like position with your arms straight, bring one knee out to the side and touch it to your elbow. Then bring it back together with your other leg. Now do the same on the other side. This should make you side ab and back muscles burn.

- cross training: and by this, I mean cyclocross training. Yes. Running, leaping onto a built up road bike with knobby tires, and then jumping over barriers and roots. It's good for building stability in all of those other little muscles that don't get used in just moving forward. Still not sure what cyclocross is? Check it out: http://www.behindthebarriers.tv/

- Actually cross training: Really, not bicycling. Walking vigourously while focusing on form - ie, not compensating for my lack of gluteus medius muscles by using just legs. It's suprisingly difficult to focus on using butt muscles while walking. Try it.

- Thigh master like it's 1992: Just kidding. But, same idea, squeezing a soccer ball between my knees while doing a slightly more upright wall sit. This targets the muscle groups on the inside of the thighs without activating the larger quad group.

Winter begins with snowfall and December 1st

You know it's officially winter riding when there is snow on the ground, regardless of the actual calendar season.

Today marked the first riding day that I wished for neoprene shoe covers vs my fall windproof ones. And, handwarmers inside my gloves. Alas, I had neither on. So, I had to conjure the mental fire on my handlebars that one of the New Haven cycling legends swears by to keep him warm.

During the winter I tend to introvert, which becomes something pretty close to isolation at times. I start enjoying the grey skies, and the silence of the road, and my own company. This year in particular, the reprieve from racing and lack of challenge from others is welcome. I pushed hard into both road and track racing for a long March-September 2012 season.

I saw a few lone-wolf cyclists in local team colors, peddling in the oposite direction, chilling in their small ring, and looking like they were enjoying the grey day as much as I was. A nod of acknowledgment, and comraderie from a distance. But, no summer giddiness and doubling back mid-road to see what route I'm on and if you can join in for a few more miles.

Here are a few pictures of the grey Connecticut landscape. Yes, that is a hint of snow hiding in the photo behind my bike. And a local racer caught going the other direction.

Most climbing so far!

Today I completed a 67 mile ride that was among the hardest things I've ever done on two wheels. "Only 67 miles?! what's so hard about that!?", you are probably thinking.

The part about a total elevation gain of 6,900 feet (the elevation shown below is debatably accurate, although much higher). That is a ton of climbing. Six summits, to be precise, plus a handful of smaller climbs to keep things interesting.

And, I will say that I am actually thoroughly enjoying the fact that I got completely and totally beaten up by the elevation on this ride. While I know that I am not slow (I am sometimes frustrated by being the fastest person on a ride), I felt like a brand new rider again. It was like I was learning the true meaning of climbing, and seeing a mountain for the first time - both at once. Aaaannnnd... then I experienced what felt like total body failure at the end of summit 5 (with still about 1000 feet of climbing left to go on the ride back to New Haven.). Everything hurt, and every time the road pitched upwards even slightly my legs felt like bricks. The last long climb seemed to go on forever. A gap would start forming between me and the [notably all elite or pro level racers] group, and then I watched the formation of what felt like an abyss. At some point, one of the strongest riders doubled back for me and rode behind me, periodically launching me forward by a hand on the small of my back. By this point I was beyond cracked and beyond caring about the patheticness of such help. I was only thankful. Since getting back, I've been thinking about the incredible strength it would take to ride up a mountain AND periodically push a 123# weight. Pretty wild. At the time, I was in too much pain to think about anything but the top.

It's nice to be totally, completely and absolutely humbled. And, that I am.

No excuses about Crohn's or having an ileostomy, or nutritional deficits related to the prior. All of that is my back story, and certainly effects my stamina. But, the real determinants of strength and speed are time spent on the bike, sweat, pain, and the will to inflict more suffering on yourself. The only way to get stronger is to put in the effort. So, I'll consider this ride an investment.

Check it out:

Biomechanics, and the problem with ab muscles lost

Having just finished a fantasticly productive and learning-filled cycling team practice, I am feeling very ready for bed! It's only 10pm! But, I'm pretty much toast, in the best kind of way.

Today we did a lot of pedal biomechanics work - this is the physically and mentally painful stuff. We have been working on perfecting smooth, even, one-legged pedaling in proper form and at a relatively high cadence... and up small hills! The good news, it's getting better. The bad news, my right side is still about twice as strong and fast as my left.

The next thing we've been focusing on for a few team training sessions now is sprinting, specifically with getting forward and low over the handlebars while leveraging the bike side to side underneith you. This takes a lot of control and core strenght! And, I do confess that I don't have a lot of it. I haven't been very good at doing any active abdominal excercises. In fact, I avoid them because they hurt and send my ab muscles around my ileostomy into little spasms! Distressing...

So, now it has become clear that without doing some core strength work, my sprinting will never be as good as it could be.

For those of you with an ostomy out there, if you are reading, perhaps you have input on the ab workout quandry? Have you had similar muscle spasm issues? How have you overcome your own hurdles around building/rebuilding lost core strength?

Also, in preparation for my departure for Yale in August, I had a final fit of rebellion last week! Whoa! Next month, I intend to dye it cotton-candy blue to match my new Yale cycling kit.

Youngest person ever on potassium supplimentation

Ah, yes, the electrolyte issue again!

After I got back from the race weekend in NJ, complete with ER trip, I had repeat bloodwork done at my primary care physician's office. And, wouldn't you know, my potassium levels are borderline low.

I took this weekend off from racing and have been training closer to home while I do a trial of K-dur (a prescription potassium suppliment usually given to older people with heart issues who are on diuretics!). This is interesting because taking a daily potassium suppliment could be very dangerous, if I were to alter (lower) my training/racing plan. Potassium has a very narrow normal range, and then it can cause lethal heart problems including sudden death.

I am currently starting on a fairly low-moderate dose, once a day, and will be completing another set of bloodwork before going to race out of town next weekend. Figuring out my dosage with my physician was an interesting conversation, involving laying out exactly how many hours per week I am training/racing at a high enough intensity to drive down my potassium levels.

Yes, exercise does naturally drive potassium down. Your cells need it to function properly in an aerobic state. And, chronic diarhea also lowers your potassium. Having a high output ostomy and high intensity training/racing for 8-12 hours per week is enough to really knock out some potassium.

How has it been going so far? Well, it took a few days for my body to readjust after getting screwed up last weekend. But, at the end of 5 consecutive training days, I'd say it's going pretty well. I did some team time trial practice with another teammate who didn't race this weekend, and got well into that satisfying place of feeling the hurt!

A photo of me lined up with the most interesting time trial team ever. Notice where I line up to the shoulders of the two guys on either side of me? Oh, Crohn's, why did you have to stunt my growth so terribly? There is almost a full foot height difference there.

A fast, hilly 60

Today I went against my training plan... and rode 60 miles on what was supposed to be an off day.

I couldn't help it! It was so sunny out! It was the last day of spring break! And yes, I confess that this was a premeditated crime against the training plan.

And, it was soooo sooo good. Even after 3,000+ feet of climbing, my legs aren't toast and my ankle is feeling fine.

Here's looking forward to TTT (team time trial) practice this week, in preparation for races in Philly next weekend!

----

On a deeper note, I keep on thinking that I should tell at least some of my teammates what is up - that I have an ileostomy. Clearly, some if not all of them have noticed that I wear an extra piece of clothing and am funny about what I eat. I feel like it would be helpful if everyone was on the same page. But, I'm not quite sure how to go about filling them in without making a little public service announcement at a team meeting. Telling everyone individually seems overly energy intensive. So far, our coach is the only one who knows what's up.

breakfast, then a training ride

Breakfast.

Hydrate.

Wait.

Ride!


If you do any reading or talking about bicycling, you've probably heard people say over and over again how important a good pre-ride meal and hydration routine is. Yet, with IBD or an ileostomy, it is all too easy to cut one's self short.

Eating leads to an active gut, and that's the last thing anyone with IBD or an ostomy wants on a bicycle. I like to not have to think about my guts when I'm trying to get my daily miles in, or set a new personal best up that climb that haunts my dreams/nightmares.

I used to be afraid of eating much before going out to ride. And, that meant that (especially if I was starting early, 7 am anyone?) I'd be running on just a piece of toast and peanut butter plus some gatorade as I headed out the door. And yes, I've done centuries more than a few times on this routine. But, midride I start feeling like I just can't keep up, and later that afternoon I end up feeling like somebody beat me with a baseball bat - regardless of how much post-ride feuling I did. Worst is the next day, if I'm riding again, when I felt like my legs just didn't want to work no matter how hard I willed them to.

But, I've reformed my ways.

These days I know that if I'm heading into 3 consecutive days of interval training, and preparing for the next race weekend, I have to always be thinking about the future - not just the ride today. I know that if I run myself down to empty on the first day of training, because I didn't eat appropriately, I will blow any chance of being productive on the next two days.

I started eating oatmeal and some juice before rides later this past summer, and carrying a few GU shots with me, and thought I was doing pretty well.

And then came the equation....

To prepare for a race effort (or long, high intensity training), (according to my coach) an athlete should be eating ~2 grams of carbohydrates/kg, 3-4 hours prior!!! Or, ~1.5g/kg 2 hours prior.

Plus enough protien to keep you running efficiently. And, don't forget the water!

The closer to the effort you get, the less carbs and calories you should be loading. You also need to give yourself time to hydrate (and pee) prior to hitting the bike, so you don't head out with a sloshy stomach and the desire to hurl on the first hill.

I found that when I did the math, I was still selling myself short. Oatmeal with honey and PB was still only ~50g of carbs.

I weight 58.5 kg (divide lbs by 2.2). This means that I need to be loading 87.75 grams of carbs 2 hours prior to racing or high intesity training.

This is equal to: 1 bagel (the real kind, not the ones that are just circular bread!) with peanut butter and honey, 8 oz of OJ, 8 oz yogurt, 1 bannana.

Or, today's breakfast: a stack of sweet potato pancakes with maple syrup, a large bowl of nonfat yogurt with a sprinkling of cocoa crispies cereal, and a coffee.

For a hilly 3 hour ride, I will be bringing 4 GU shots, each equal to 100 calories.

Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference season opener

This past weekend was the ECCC ("E tri-C") season opener! The Pitt team caravan got home close to midnight last night, so I'm feeling a bit tired and achey. But, it was a blast!

The team report:
Our team did well overall, with a few guys in upper categories (A & B) making massive breaks off of the front of the peleton. The break in A was a 45 second gap for half of an hour long criterium, with three points Primes (sprint laps with points awarded)picked up. The breaks in B were in both the road and crit, with close to a full minute gap on the pack and overall top ten placements in both rides. In women's our team got 6th place time trial and 7th place womens A/B crit places. MIT cleaned house in the road and crits in men and womens, with a number of pro team members in the race (the men's A road winner is a Garmin development team member).

Sadly, we had one teamate crash in the D category, and one get caught in a major pileup in the C road race. They are both ok, but sore.


My report:
I went into this weekend not fully expecting to finish either the road or criterium, having only ridden a few times since spraining my ankle. And, I did pull myself from both the road and crit because my ankle was hurting in a bad way. It wouldn't be worth throwing away a whole season on the first weekend.

I did start in C category (the categories are A, B, C, D, and Intro) despite this being my first season racing with a team. And, after some initial intimidation and aprehension, it felt like a good place to be!

What I will say is that the collegiate categories are overall more way aggressive than the local categories. The guys are fit, fast, and not afraid of bumping in the pack. There was significant overlap in the time trial results for the A,B and C men's categories, and the C men's road and crit races were FAST! As the announcer said, "C men's: kinda fast, kinda dangerous". As opposed to B mens which is fast, and A men's which is blazingly fast and more stategic as a race.

Saturday: The road race
Prior to pulling myself in the road race, I learned lessons about not getting boxed in on a narrow road, about strategic placement on corners (don't get squeezed out to the curb!) and about when it is appropriate to start yelling at people. My teamates said I should have yelled more when two Penn State races tried to push me over the yellow line on a steady ascent (automatic disqualification for crossing the yellow line). But, it was also the first time i got to do some elbowing back in a road race. Three times! I've never honestly elbowed somebody with the intent of pushing them over before! It was a good learning experience. I still couldnt get out of the middle of the pack and move up until I was at the point where my ankle was twinging and I let myself drift out the back. luckily, I pulled myself just before the entire back of the pack wrecked. It looked like a landmine went off under the pack! Bodies and bikes flying through the air. A few major injuries with loss of conciousness resulted.

Sunday: The criterium
I was feeling more confident, despite starting with a bad right ankle and a mechanical issue with my left cleat (couldn't get muddy crud out of my finicky Speedplay cleat, despite lots of banging and resorting to putting it under a sink.

1 minute prior to staging, as my coach was holding me up on the bike while I was trying and failing to force it to click - which would have forced me to start on the wrong leg- he said "you're going to have to do a Lance on this one... don't push it too far if the stress is too much on your bad ankle".
I was consistantly able to move up towards the front of the pack on the 1/4 mile climb (atypical crit course!), and realized that I'm a much more aggressive descender than most others in C. But, doing most of the work with my right leg because my left was unclipped was too much stress on my ankle. One lap under half way through, I let myself fall off the pack on the climb. If I hadn't had to take myself out of the race, I might have stuck with the front group for the crit and gotten a top 20 finish. It was a confidence booster, but also a good lesson in what I have to work on before the next race!

Two top priorities for things to work on:
1. Finding my most efficient climbing gears for a race pace.
2. And, I desperately need to improve my nutritional status and get more sleep on a regular basis.

I was definately feeling the effects of anemia from recently diagnosed iron deficiency - it feels kind of like drowning and desperately trying to stay afloat on hard efforts. Not a fun feeling. And, the nagging cough I've had since strep throat came around my office a couple of weeks ago. I've always found that I got sick more often and more intensely than my non-autoimmune disease friends. This is yet another example of how much harder it can be to recover from illness when you are starting with any other nutritional deficits, or on immune suppresant medications (which, for the moment, I am not).

I can't wait for the race in a couple of weeks! Hopefully my ankle will behave better and I'll be back with a vengance as the only gutless cyclist in the ECCC, and maybe all of collegiate cycling history!

Off the bike for a week, leads to swimming?

Here in Pittsburgh we have snow!

And, I've been off the bike since I injured my ankle last weekend. The official verdict was that it was a "classic but fairly mild" sprain, and a posterior tibial tendon strain. See how that tendon hooks under to support your ankle? And, if it's injured could also seriously mess up the back half of your pedal stroke?

The doc who checked out my ankle was impressed by my calf muscles, declaring them to be "like a lesson in muscular anatomy!", which I found funny because it says more about the sedentary lifestyle of American society than my athletic abilities. There are probably a couple of hundred cyclists in the Pittsburgh area alone who have better legs than I do.

So, off the bike in a snowstorm. Could be worse. Off the bike in blue skies would be torture. However, you know it's bad when you start to get jelous of the rest of the team's trainer riding. Oh well.

This injury is pushing me to look for alternatives to cycling, that don't heavily involve my ankle. The answer appears to be swimming. I haven't been swimming in years. Actually, not since I had ileostomy surgery in 2009. And, to be honest, I'm not really sure how I feel about it.

Yes, it is true. I do spend a significant amount of time wearing spandex, and have no problem with that. But, no, I'm not ok with wearing a speedo now. And, I'm also not ok with not wearing a shirt to cover up my bag.

So, wear a wicking shirt with a speedo? Nah, that looks weird. A wicking shirt and some board shorts in the pool? Awkward for swimming, but at least the top and bottoms are equally awkward. Plus, not having touched a pool in close to 4 years, I'm sure that my swimming will be awkward anyway! Maybe I'll just stick to some kickboard laps. I'm very content with my shrimpy T-rex arms and lack of upper body mass!

Minor setbacks... and the ECCC calendar!

I don't know how, when or what I did to my ankle. But, it hurts... in the bad way.

There is no major point tenderness, so I'm taking that as a good sign that it is just a strain of some kind. And, you know what they say about sprains and strains! RICE!

Rest
Ice
Compression
Elevation

Since it's not swollen, I'm not sure that compression or elevation would do much good. But, I did ice it today and will be resting it tonight. I tried going out for a ride earlier today and realized after about a mile of pain not going away that it was a bad idea. Walking up the hill on my way back home also didn't feel so great.

Why am I always sabotaged on the nice days?!


In other news, for those that are in the Northeast and into cycling, the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference calendar is becoming more and more populated with race details every day! Check it out! And, drop a line if you'll be at one of these races! I'm hoping to do as many as possible, but probably not New Hampshire.

The power is on!

The PowerTap SL+ on a Velocity Deep V rim with DT Swiss Competition spokes is mine!

It was a team mate's "old" wheel from 2009. As he said about the deal, "I'd rather sell it to someone on the team and ensure we ALL get stronger." Word. I love discounts on well loved bike stuff! And, by the end of the season I may have a national champion's old wheel.

No more training without knowing my watts! I'm excited! And, training smarter means bringing my lofty goal of finishing the summer a Cat 3 more within reach.

That's all for now. Just had to say how excited I am.

Rainy winter days. Powertap or not?

Rain, freezing rain later on, and lots of wind.

That was today's forecast. When I woke up, I had a brief glimmer of hope of going for a ride outside. But, then when I checked the weather and saw the quickly plummeting temperatures and wind speed I had second thoughts. And, then when I opened the door to let Sharkey outside, and was almost blown back into the kitchen (!) I resigned myself to more trainer time.

The trainer corner: wedged between the couch, a coffee table, and a desk. The fan stays on even in cold weather! Yoga mat to avoid sweat stains on the floor. And, now you know why trainer time gives me cabin fever!.

I sometimes wonder if all of this riding inside on a trainer is going to have unexpected consequences. Are all of these just below threshold intervals going to improve my hill climbing abilities when I actually get out there (and the roads aren't slick with ice/snow/freezing rain)? I hope so.

I'm currently debating whether or not I want to snag a powertap rear wheel off of one of the guys on the Pitt team. It's his older, 2009 wheel. It would be really really helpful to be able to see my watts all the time, not just when I'm at our sponsor shop's training studio. But, then part of me feels silly for investing in that sort of training equipment at this early point in my development as a competative cyclist. Getting a powertap wheel wont make me better or faster, and unfortnately many people newer to racing seem to feel that fancy equipment does make them a better cyclist. And, they get made fun of. And, nobody wants to get made fun of for having excessively fancy equipment beyond their training needs.

So, there lies the problem. Get the powertap wheel for an unbeatable price now, and use it to improve my training? Or hold off for now, because there are many other things I can work on and see improvement without a powertap wheel to read my watts?

Training tired/sick - "all pain is temporary"

Oh, right, tonight is Tuesday? That means 90mns of high intensity intervals including 5 x 2mns of fast pedaling and 3 x 8 minutes just below FTP (my threshold).

And... I'm feeling a little bit under the weather. Not really sick. Just overtired from too little sleep, and maybe some exposure to sick people over the weekend. But, still, I hardly ate anything today. That alone is a sign that I'm not quite myself... I'm usually ravenous, all the time. Seriously, I'm hungry all the time.

Anyway, so I ate a small dinner, drank some electrolyte mix before getting on the bike, and then after a brief facebook-based check-in with coach about the coming week, it was trainer time.

Today I added some planks and extra stretching to the beginning of my workout. Front planks are HARD when you have a hole punched in your abdominal muscles! More about core strength training another time...

Training under the weather is rough. It wasn't impossible, I just started feeling tired - as expected - and ended each interval feeling a lot more tired.

Training mildly tired/sick takes more mental stamina than anything else. Maybe you're starting a little dehydrated from too much coffee or cold medication, and your heart rate is higher than you want it to be in your warmup, or you find that you need more than just the terry cloth on your gloves to wipe your snot today.

And then, you look down at your index card and see another hour of pain!

I start bargaining with myself. "What if I just cut off the last interval?" "What if I do only a 7.5 instead of an 8 on the perceived effort scale" "Do these last 30 seconds really matter?".

And then I kick that part of my brain and shut it off. Partially because I know it is a slippery slope, and partially because I want to be proud of my effort and training slightly under the weather gives me more of a chance to be proud of my sweat.

So, I do the intervals. On time and on target. And, it hurts. And I suffer through those grueling last 30 seconds of each interval. And, I remember that much quoted Lance Armstrong line "All pain is temporary" and take comfort.

And, then, I'm done. I'm on the last 10 minutes of cooldown and my dog is wagging at me because she somehow knows that this means I will now detach myself from my bike, and pet her while I stretch.

Time for a hot shower!

Sleep. And, revamping this blog.

Working on revamping this blog... it might be ugly for a while. Trainer time tonight! And, then sleep. I've been feeling unusually sleep deprived and super cranky for the past week. It is true that I haven't been getting enough sleep (~6hrs/night), but that's not unusual for me. Maybe I've been coming down with something... there seems to be a lingering cough going around Pittsburgh. Or, maybe it's the increase in intensity of bicycling. Perhaps I should try to address this issue. My goal is to get to bed before 10pm tonight. We will see how that goes.