Monday, May 12, 2014

This is only a test

Its been a while since I tested my legs in a race, so last weekend I decided it was time.  I know I'm in no shape to be racing, but I missed it and really needed to see where I was at.  Turns out I have a long way to go!

For the past few years, my winter training has been solid.  In 2011/2012 it was probably too solid and I was cooked, overcooked by June.  I had been riding up to 16 hours a week during that winter and my body didn't respond well to the volume.  I was a sprinter when I swam in high school and I think I'm just going to be sticking to sprinting now.  I just think my body is built better for it.  Not to mention I simply dn't have the time to train with that kind of volume.

So, its back to some basics for me.  My best season of racing was in 2011.  I won a good amount of races and that's where I achieved all my upgrade points to become a Cat 3.  But what was it about that season?

Well' to start, it was my winter.  I swam, ran cross trained.  I was on a spin bike 2 days a week and got out on Saturdays for 2-3 hours or even parked my butt on a trainer for that amount of time in cold days.  The other days I was lifting weights, swimming and even running a bit.

So this season, I'm going back to that.  But its already May!  Well, I'm just doing now what I should have been doing in December.  My weeks look like this:

Monday - Slow a.m. spin indoors
Tuesday - 50 min spin class and 50 minute weight circuit
Wed- 30 min run
Thurs - hour swim
Fri - 50 min boot camp style class
Sat - race or 2-3 hour ride
Sun - off or slow evening ride.

I've been doing this for about 5 weeks.  What I found out at the crit I raced at on Saturday was I had no top end, no power coming out of turns and I got dropped pretty quickly.  But for where I'm at in training, and where everyone else is at, I'm ok with it.  More important than anything was getting out there, testing my legs and lungs and seeing all my cycling peeps.  Just being in that atmosphere again motivated me and gave me some strength to keep on track with my comeback.  I'll start moving into some more power building in a few weeks but I'm satisfied with my progress so far.

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