A few days off and training

Feeling a little blown this past week, I took Fri thru Sunday off. While I was off I looked back at my training calender and updated my results file that I keep to make it easy for reference. And what I found was pretty interesting. Note this information may not apply to everyone, but seems to be the key to any success I might have.

I noticed that from March 8 to April 26 I had a lot of issues. Most of them out of my control such as getting sick, getting a new job, working on wedding stuff, etc. The one big thing that I could've controlled was that I didn't race. Not a single road race, crit, or even TT. I did the same thing the year before (only it was actually a little longer), and noticed a big drop in performance.

Well this year I haven't lost that much performance physically, but what I did loose was my focus. Sure I was going out and busting out some 8 min intervals and 4 min intervals, but I wasn't focusing on the intervals. No I'm not going to turn into Mr. Philosophical on you, but without focus your basically pedaling without a chain. I was just going through the motions of training, and racing (once I started back after the draught). I thought I wasn't training hard enough so I put in more time...well that was good for weighing myself down with fatigue, but not much of anything else.

Now that things are leveling out in general, I'm feeling more on track with trying to up my performance. My training feels good, I feel good, and I want to win again. Will I win? Who knows. I feel like I have the legs, and if I make smart choices while racing I'll be in good shape. I feel success in a race goes as follows 20% physical, 30% mental, and 50% is making the right choices. Which means I need to get smarter with racing. And I feel that's coming along nicely with the regained focus.

As for my training. I've swapped up some intervals and added 6x2min @ 120%FTP and 3x5min @ 110%FTP for the weeks that I race. That's 27 min above my FTP, and I should be able to get a good 15min above it during even one race. (Remember the goal is to have 30-40min above FTP per week). During the weeks I don't race, I'll continue with my 4x4min's and 3x8min's. I think this will help me stay a little fresher.

I'll be heading up to Roanoke on Saturday for a crit in the ID3 races. It should be a good race.

Take care!