reviewing my bike training at mid year

I was just tooling around, commuting to work and really riding whenever the mood struck me. January and February were very scary months at work: business was very slow. I didn't want to commit to any great bicycle riding goals. I had toyed with the idea of training for a double century, but didn't want to commit the necessary training time. I really didn't want to spend the weekends riding my bike for 100+ miles. But I also wanted to retain my fitmess and improve my abilities. In retrospect, all the uncertainty at work was probably affecting my mood.

Oh yeah... then there was this woman. I thought it would be fun to chase her around for a while. In the end that didn't work out and I just resumed normal biking activities.

Goofing off time was over. I wanted to improve my cycling abilities and ride. I still didn't have a goal to search for, so I thought I'd try a low key approach to the KOM rides. Last year I wasn't able to complete the entire series, because I got sick for the last ride. Anyhow, the rides were so challenging that they took two weeks to recover from. I rode the rides at a brisk pace and thought this time, I'd try them at a slower pace and try not to kill myself. Still, I have to admit that my heart wasn't in it.
I also wanted to take the time to try and understand the training guidelines in Joe Freil's book. So, I put together a plan with performance goals (... figure out how long it would take to ride up hilly road, set performance goal...) The sad thing is I didn't really have a target ride. Three or four weeks into the plan I looked through Charlie Irwin's Western States Ride Callendar and saw a brevet listed. At that point I thought it would be fun to do a brevet series, well, atleast up to the 400km ride...

So I penned a training plan based on the information presented in Joe Friel's bike training book. The first six weeks were very slow. I rode less hours than normal. Learning to pedal rapidly was new. I learned that sitting on a trainer in the garage and pedaling the bike is very boring. I can't imagine having to ride one of these things in the wintertime. In time it became easier, but I still prefer riding on the open road.

But the plan itself is the plan. Okay, okay, I know that doesn't make any sense. I'm really interested in learning about the bike training ideas presented in Freil's book. When I wrote the plan, I didn't really have any performance goals. I really want to complete the brevets - that's all. I didn't want to kill myself on the long rides; riding so hard that I get sick the following week and waste time recovering. I want to better understand how to quantify my training with the power meter. I want to learn about myself.

The first big ride of the new year was a gorgeous 120 mile tour of the hills of Malibu (12,000 ft of total elevation gain.) My plan was to take it at a slower pace than the prior year. I felt good going into the ride and was enjoying the scenery. Sure the ride was hard, but I had no doubts that I'd fail to finish. As the ride wore on, I kept feeling more and more like I was about to get cramps. At mile 72 I missed the cut-off time for one of the rest stops. I thought: Uh-oh, I'd better hurry it up. So I rode the next segment at tempo pace. I arrived at the rest stop, got my sticker and moved on. Both of my water bottles were nearly full and I needed to get to the next stop before the cut-off.

The next segment of the ride was harder, I felt tired, and remember thinking I'm almost out of gas. Also, my leg felt more and more like it was going to cramp up. It did. That was excrutiating. I somehow managed to get myself off the bike. That was scary. I've heard people talking of cramps, but never really had any episodes on the bike. Anyhow, I rested for 30 minutes, drank all of my water and ate some energy bars. I needed to find some water before the next rest stop. Even though the ride seamed to be heading back to civilization, I couldn't find more water and doubled back to the nearest road home. I rode home disappointed - grrrr.... I should have rested at the rest stop I skipped.

The recovery segment after the ride was okay - I just barely got sick and it didn't take me too long to recover. The ride was too big for the training plan. I didn't want to ride three more like it in the base period. Ummm... on a positive note, I can't believe I rode 96 miles over 10,000 ft. of hills with minimal preparation. Furthermore, I didn't feel really tired after the ride. The previous year, my body temperature would be very high and I'd have a hard time falling asleep after the rides. Also, recovery felt easier this time.

I took two weeks to recover from that ride and spent another week regaining my legs. I felt strong. But I also had a work comittment the first week of March that cut into my training time. -- sigh -- I fear any gains I made were lost to a week of inactivity. Life goes on....

I actually put in a nice three week block of training. My Sunday rides were getting longer. I was also taking my dieting seriously and reduced my consumption to a level where I would lose 1-1/2 lbs a week. I felt the lack of energy in my rides. At the end of the three week block I was tired and ready for a rest.

The positive side of this low energy level meant I didn't hammer through the long weekend rides like I used to. After the last weekend ride, I thought to myself: okay, I think I know what an endurance ride is. I really enjoyed the long weekend rides. I was riding a loop that even last year would have been very difficult for me to do. Event though the loop included some longer hills, they didn't seem to hurt as much. I was looking forward to getting a bit of rest and continuing to increase the duration of the long rides.

I decided to use memorial day weekend to replace the sprinklers in the front yard. I knew it would take quite a bit of work to dig trenches through a front yard full of tree roots. I paced myself by working a morning shift and an afternoon shift. I spent the entire week end digging. I was very tired Monday.

It appears that all of the work on the sprinklers was too much and I got sick again. I hate that. It was a brief one day thing, but I knew why I was sick. I felt tired. Anyhow, I had to finish what I started and was out digging and working the next weekend as well.

I had signed up for another scenic ride up a hill. I started out on the ride feeling stale. My legs were tired and I felt stale. There is no other way to explain it. My legs felt dull, unergetic. As I started heading up the major climb of the day, it became increasingly apparent that I wouldn't finish the ride. 5000 ft. up the hill I turned around and headed home. Grrr... another failure !!!

I spent the next week just tooling around and resting up. The end of the week I felt better and my commute to work felt almost normal. I cranked out 10 min. at threshold. The following Saturday I finished the sprinklers. Sunday I headed out to do a fitness test on my normal route. It was no use. I could barely manage 5 min. at threshold. I abandoned the test and rode home. The following week I was back to being sick.

The dull listless feeling and flu was taking it's toll. I thought, if I could take it easy the next week the riding would bounce back to normal. It didn't. I rode a very easy ride to work and felt okay. The next day I did the same and felt tired. Did that one more time that week and decided to just stop riding the bike for a week and see what happens