Monday, November 30, 2009

Time to focus...

and start working the training plan. This week 12:30hrs. The amount of hours should not be too difficult. I have been logging around 11:00hrs for the past few weeks. The workouts are mainly Endurance workouts with one Spin Up - Speed workout.

My new toy is going to help out a lot. I picked up my Polar CS600x from the bike shop Saturday set it up and took it for a short ride that afternoon. It has a percent grade feature. The hills around here are steeper than I thought. With the unit I got the Pro Trainer 5 software. I can design a workout in the software and then transfer it to the unit. Then the unit will tell you what zone you should be in throughout. There are plenty of other features... I am going to have fun with this!!

This weekend I was able to ride a bit on Saturday and met some peeps for a 2:00hr ride Sunday. good times!!

Friday, November 27, 2009

This Week

I decided to do one more week of prep... Next week starts my training schedule for the Joe Martin Stage Race (JMSR). That means I have about 22 weeks to get race ready and it does not seem like much time.

I will do my base building according to the Joe Friel recommendation but at the end of February I may get the JMSR training plan which is designed specifically for the JMSR.

This week I started the Muscle Transition part of strength training. This is where you do choose a weight that you can lift 10 - 15 times. For the hip-sled, I did 3 sets of 495lbs. I also increased my weight on the Seated & Standing rows.

I will do 2 more Muscle Transition sessions... then off to Muscle strength.

Wednesday I was able to get out for a long ride. The first half of the ride was a pretty miserable. The temp was about 42 degrees and very windy. I fought the wind for the first 2hours. By time I made it through Boyer Chute up to Ft Calhoun I felt that I was done. I grabbed something to eat at the gas station and headed back to town. After grinding up the hill to Omaha trace I started to enjoy the ride. My speed went up from a mear 13mph to a fun ~22mph and I was able to enjoy the late fall scenery on the trace. I put night lights on my bike but I wanted to head back to the safety of the trail before dark. I set out to do a 4hr ride and got 3:52min. I was able to stay in zone 2 for most the ride. My speed? I don't want to talk about it :)

Turkey Day - I hit the trail for a quick 20miles. I am working on a high cadence so it wasn't such a quick 20miles. I logged 1:30hrs in the saddle.

Note: I ordered a Polar CS600x from The Bike Way but Trevin is letting me use his garmin Edge 705. The 705's battery ran out on Wednesday's ride and the thing is big? Trevin says he can send the CS600x back if I want to get the garmin. Right now I think I will stay with the CS600x.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Re Motivated

I have taken some time off from serious training just to ride or do whatever. Fortunately for me I like working out so the "whatever" is usually some kind of exercise.

Now I am re-motivated to get back into the serious training. I need all the motivation I can get to carry me through another winter of training. Last year, because of my upgrade to cat 3, I was motivated. Still it was very hard to get up early in the morning to either ride out in the cold or sit on the trainer.

My base 1 training is schedule to begin on Dec 30th. I am ready to start now! So, I am playing with the idea of beginning base 1 next week on Nov 23. My first 'A' race will be the Joe Martin Stage race in early May.

Today, I am taking a 1/2day off to do a long ride. Hopefully, I can do this more often in the coming year.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Prep Week 2

This week was about the same as last week. 3hrs spinning, 3hrs on the bike, and 2hrs lifting weights. I did miss a weight lifting session on Friday... going to make that up tonight.

The highlights of last week were Tuesday night in the gym lifting and my 3hrs ride on Sunday.

Tuesday - I was able to increase the weight on the hip sled to 315lbs for the last two sets. It is a challenging weight but I was able to crank out 30 reps each set. I felt a little extra soreness in my legs the next day so I won't increase the weight until I start the MT (Muscle Transistion) phase of lifting.

Sunday - It was a gorgeous day in Nov. Starting out it was 47degrees, blue skies and very light wind from the south. I headed North toward Ft Calhoun. I was having an Ideal endurance training ride. Keeping my HR below 150bpm & cadence about 100rpm. I felt good most the ride although my rpms dropped into the low 90s toward the end of the ride.
Some numbers - HR avg 140bpm, 44mi, Cadence avg 92, Avg Speed ~16mph.