This is where I’ll journal my training, mostly for my benefit, but also for my coaches, teammates, supporters and anyone who might be looking for training information or inspiration.

May 21, 2011 - The Rapture

Didn’t happen!

Started work at Chris King on Tuesday. I love it. I’m working long days, and my commute is about 19 miles each way. I made the mistake of packing every evening this week with track activities, and my racing seriously suffered. No rest for the wicked? No wins, either!

I rode a total of 103 miles this week, not including track laps in class, warm ups and races.

About 3/4 of those miles were ridden on my track bike at 48x15 with no brakes.

The other 25-ish miles were on my cross bike, fixed, at 46x17, with brakes.

Worked 26 hours, and in those 26 hours I learned about 6 months worth of information about the Bar Stock process at Chris King. It was pretty rad!

So, while I don’t have any prestigious accolades to add to my resume of track riding, I definitely feel more comfortable and more prepared for racing. I now have a locker at the track where my track bike, track shoes and rollers will live until September. I have a much better feel for riding fast in a pack and holding my line. I’m not as timid about getting into the middle of a pack and I’m starting to remember how important it is to find a good wheel and stick to it. I have a feeling the rest of this season is going to be about figuring out who the best wheels are to stick to, and how to not get pushed off of them. Points, right?

Finally, I am working in figuring out how to balance my commute, work, training, racing, and resting schedules so that I have some energy left for Friday night! Pushing the higher gear on the track should be totally feasible, and staying in the middle of the pack shouldn’t be so hard. I just need to save some energy for it. I’ve been packing in the protein and carbs, eating and drinking for recovery and fuel, and trying to make sure my glycogen stores are always ready for the serious hard efforts, but my lack of rest was acutely effective in kicking my ass this week.

Sep. 11, 2011 - I’ve been riding a lot, but I need to start doing more focused workouts. My endurance is high, and I can hold 20mph all day, barring a gnarly headwind or huge hills. My sprinting has improved a little, as well, but I need to be doing more high intensity training to simulate cross races.

I’m building some barriers and laying out a course that starts about 200 meters from my front door. It starts on a paved MUP, corners sharply onto gravel single track, encounters mud, packed dirt, loose loamy dirt and needles, wooden bridges, grass, and pavement and has 3 mandatory barriers, and 2 or 3 run ups. It’s about 2.125 miles long, per lap, and climbs about 150 feet. My target lap time is 8 minutes and 45 seconds, and I plan to build my workouts up to doing 10 laps, twice a week. My thought is that if I can hold a 15.5 mph average for 120 minutes on this course, any course I face the rest of the season will seem easy. Then I can focus on positioning in the pack, passing, and decreasing lap times on each lap, so my final lap is my fastest.

I’ll continue riding 100 to 130 miles per week, on my commute, and I’ll throw in 1 day per week of hill work, for speed and strength. Partnered with my cross workouts on the home course, some strength work at the gym, and some technical exercises for bike handling, including barrier work, cornering and maneuvering drills, and some short distance/high intensity running, and I should be in peak shape by the season opening Crusade Race at Alpenrose on October 2nd.

My season goals:

1) Top ten finishes in the SS category.

2) Smooth and thoughtless transitions over barriers and up run-ups.

3) Same as above, only fixed.

4) Learning to pace my laps so my split times decrease progressively from lap 1 to the final lap.

5) Strong starts, hole shots, competitive positioning and passing, advanced race skills development.

6) Finish 20 races.

7) Keep my bike in top shape, all season.

8) Have a blast and make a bunch of mew friends!

Here’s to a killer season! See you all out in the mud…