I haven't posted much to the blog. It's been a long couple of weeks of re-building. Trying to navigate the mid-Atlantic winter still and get good training days in when they're available and use the trainer when I have to for continued hours on the bike.

I've finally strung all of the right training days together and I'm on a good solid schedule. I think that's been the hardest thing to get done since I got back in the groove in January.

I was afraid I'd lost a bunch of strength on the bike, but I think I escaped that. I've finally gotten some good MIET training in the last couple weeks, slowly building 45 minutes, 60 minutes... etc. I rolled into the MIET this week and hit out to Wakefield to run a course I could measure myself on against last year's form. I'm pretty happy with the power numbers. I'm no where near peak form - I could feel that. There's a lot of room for aerobic building. All of the right sensations were there for room to grow.

I had some 4x4x4 VO2 intervals on the schedule for tomorrow. I wanted to set the bar for future training today. I was pretty sure I'd set my fitness back a good year or more at the upper end. Some of the out and about endurance miles led me to guess VO2 had dropped a good 10%, and I knew the VO2 stuff was gonna suck. Weather doesn't look like it's going to cooperate tomorrow so I moved the workout to today. I try not to do that much, but I despise doing VO2 on the trainer.

So, with slightly fatigued legs from a hour+ hammer session, I hit the hill to get the intervals. And... uh... WOOT! Power was not dropped at all from mid-summer last year. I don't have the snap of the racing season yet, so I'm stoked about that really. But, I got 4 good back to back VO2 intervals in right at my training goals for last summer.

Now... time to start dropping this winter warm layer called "fat." I'm at least 5 lbs heavy. I'm not aiming for my lowest racing weight this year of 165. I just don't think I can get there and hold weight all year again. So, I'm aiming to settle in the 79kg range - just below 175.

Lots of hard training on the horizon, but daylight is pushing to 6pm easy and with daylight savings coming up real fast, it's a good time to be feeling good. And now.. the bar is set.

I'd give this huge exposition of training like I have before, but I have college homework to get done on explaining HTTP and TCP sockets. Certainly, this would be much more enjoyable.

However, I can reset at least 3 times, that's for sure. But, I've had two weeks now of pain free riding, finally. I made some minor cleat adjustments and am back up to 13ish hour weeks. This week will stretch a little more and the first week of February will begin solid intensity the way I want to.

I need to lose weight. I rode with the team yesterday and I realized that beyond just being well out of form now, I'm also a lard on the bike. So, tomorrow I go back to what I know. Weighing food before I eat it. Logging my diet and relearning portion control.

Why? Cause I hate going uphill slowly and painfully. I don't mind painfully, but if it's going to hurt, at least I could go fast.

VW

So, after a fully introspective push into the new year, I've come down with the season goals for 2009.

15 hrs/week at max on the bike.
- This will be a pull back from 2007 and 2008 where the hours were pushing 20ish/week.

Why the reduced time? Running. As much as I've scoffed at putting feet to pavement over the last couple years, I need to face the reality that I cannot continue to punish my body at PFT time with 17½ minutes of impact running without some prep into it. Along with a need for a change in venue, this will give me some distraction from some minor burnout on the bike over the last month or so.

Not to be one to shy away from goal setting, I'm going to couple this with a second half 2009 peak plan for TT and duathlons. I'm not a big swimmer, but running and biking work - and with the commitment to get on the TT bike throughout the year as much as opportunity allows, adding a ____-thon into the mix adds to training time if nothing else.

I'm pushing the peak time back a little after having a really slow December and going to aim for late spring. I'm going to have fun this year, racing into shape as much as possible and enjoying the hammers. Team racing is going to rock this year with a great team in WWVC and a more focused training plan with smaller hours is going to be a lot of fun.

I've hit the calendar now and I'm looking at 6-7 races before June, reset for TT's and duathlons for the rest of the summer. Fun, fun, fun.

Add to that about 2 hrs per week on the running side and I really look forward to seeing where I can take the body.

Ride safe, ride hard.

VW

So, there I was.

Heading out to grab some long miles on the W&OD and I see B. Vaughan getting out of the car in Vienna. Pulled over, hooked up and off we went. It was a pretty good cruise, high tempo. It felt good after a couple easy days. My legs had been feeling pretty sore, so I had a few light days. We hit the turn around up by Dry Mill and I was cruising on back when I started to feel a weird twinge in the right knee. Backed off the pace a little and cruised along. By the time I was pulling through Fair Oaks area, it was really starting to hurt. By the time I was by George Mason, I couldn't stand up on the pedals. I worked as little as I could - basically single leg effort all the way home.

Got home, popped some aspirin, hit the salves and rested. Got out the next day and things felt okay as I headed out for 4 hours. 1 hour in, the pain was creeping back and I knew I wasn't making four hours. I turned it around and 30 minutes later I couldn't apply any pressure to the right leg at all without my knee buckling. I got home and just about tipped over the toilet trying to stand up. Injury... crap.. crap... crap.

For the first time in almost 3 years, I was going to take a week and some change off the bike. What a crappy time of year to do it - even though the weather has been crap, so that's not an entirely bad thing, but man.

So, there I was. I didn't download powerfiles for two weeks. I hadn't downloaded a powerfile since the week before the injury until tonight. I got on the bike twice this week but my legs are friggin sore as all heck after no real work on the trainer. Crap, crap. So, there I am. For the first time since November 2006, my CTL has dropped below the 100 mark. My prospect of clobbering some crazy base miles this winter has just come to a screeching halt and I'm rolling back to the mortal hours.

Where to go from here? Start over. Base 1.

This weekend I'll get a couple long ride 2 1/2 hr rides in, low effort. Next week will be all 2-2 1/2 hr long rides, low zone 1. Then.. January will be the reset now.

There it is.

Post 1 of the real new season.

Registration for Battenkill Roubaix. Finished the event last year 11th, respectable but disappointed. Told myself "I'll never do that again." But registration opens soon and like last year, active duty military registration is free, and the least I can do is go race it! Course change from last year. Less climbing, more dirt. Can't see how the event can be more epic, but it'll be fun! Trip to the folks in the Adirondacks and a race on Saturday. Coolness.

Though... a change from last year. I may not attempt to follow it up with a 40km TT in PA the next day like I did this year. Yeowch that was a killer - even after I flatted on the TT.

Had a good, comfy ride today. Enjoying the extra day off and took in just over 4 hrs of riding. Nothing epic, just cruised out to Vienna, hopped on the W&OD and up toward Rte 7/Dry Mill and back.

I'm really working on "holding back" on the LSD days. I was reviewing some power files from the last two years and one thing I noticed from last year was that my LSD days didn't really hit me as hard on the recovery. I think that's because the terrain in Japan was a lot more "steady" in any direction. A typical 4 hr LSD/Zone 1 day would take me along the coast and I could pretty much sit and spin at the top end of Zone1. Or, I could hop into the mountains, sit down and spin for a couple hours in a lower gear, but rarely was I out of the saddle pushing big numbers. Here in the DC area with the rolling terrain pretty much everywhere you go, it's soooo easy and tempting to crank it up on the rolling hills and pay for it later.

I need to find some more guys to ride bigger distances with. First, it gets you out of the house on those cold mornings that you really don't want to be out there if you know someone else is going to suffer with you. (admit it, we all need more reasons to HTFU) Plus, I've notice the rides with Pete tend to be a lot less of a beat down for me. Same or bigger TSS numbers, but we'll be cruising at conversation pace for good portions of the rides and it ends up being more "time" on the bike than intensity. And while the "numbers" say a 5 hrs/250 TSS ride should be the same "tax" on the body as a 4 hr/250 TSS ride, I just don't feel that.

Tomorrow looks to be a good 4-5 hr day though with the middle time with the team. 45 min - 1 hr to the ride, 2-2.5 hrs with the team, and then another 45 min-1 hr home.

Felt real good on the bike and had a lot of chance to spin comfy. Powerfile attached just cause I'm bored.

Sit and spin,
VW