Well I wrapped up my first real month of training last night with a 80 minute endurance building ride. Overall I'm pretty happy with how my first month of prep work for the 07 riding season has gone. I've been warned not to push too much, too soon this off season for fear of being over trained and burned out next summer, but I get two mandatory days of rest each week and when I start skiing more the days off the bike will certainly increase.
So here are the dissected numbers from November:
22 days with a training exercise
9 rest days
1589 minutes training time, which is roughly 26.5 hours
Average training time of 72 minutes per exercise
The majority of the work was done at 70-75% of lactic threshold. Some days I did easier recovery rides in the 60% LT range and a couple of days I did hard rides on the mountain bike. A fairly good start IMO.
And for the most telling number...
Weight on November 1 - 201
Weight on November 26 (last official weigh-in) - 198
Yeah 3 pounds doesn't sound like much for a full day on the bike (mostly trainer indoors), but considering the number of huge meals I ate during the course of my 2 weeks of Thanksgiving celebrations I would consider holding a steady weight a big accomplishment. My ultimate goal is 185, so 13 pounds to go.
I could start a diet and reach that number pretty quickly I'm sure, but I'm not the diet type. I like to eat, so my only real answer is to exercise more, which is what I'm doing.
So is this just about losing weight? Not really. I've got my eye on some major rides/races next summer, including The Laramie Enduro (a 70ish mile mountain bike race with 7k elevation gain) and the Triple Bypass (profile below), which is basically riding from Denver to Vail up and over 3 mountain passes.
The other interesting ride is the Tulsa Tough back to back Century rides. As if 2 back to back 100 mile rides wasn't enough, if you can finish them both in 5 hours (20 mph average), then you get a special "Deuce" jersey and of course the well deserved bragging rights. The thing that intrigues me about this race is how much more prepared I'd be for them compared to something here in Colorado, given the lower altitude and much more forgiving climbing. Of course, you do have the inevitable Oklahoma wind and scorching heat that will surely be a factor in June.
A lot to ponder for the upcoming season, but then again that is what winter is for...
"I'm always thinking one step ahead. Like a carpenter who builds stairs" - Andy Bernard from The Office.
2 comments:
Spiffy looking log there. Looks like you're doing awesome and I bet you'll kick ass at Laramie! If you ever want to head out for a road century let me know. It's kind of nice in the winter if you stay in the plains.
Come to Tulsa and ride the Tulsa Tough. I will probably stick with 1 Century but I could sure use a riding partner.
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