Training Program
So, with the road and track seasons fast approaching, the question has come up as to what training program I'm following. This season, I am doing a 550-hour program, with two peaks (road season and cyclocross season) using Joe Friel's The Cyclist's Training Bible as my framework, with Weight Training for Cyclists to help round-out the plan. I got a bit of a late start due to the insanity of the holidays and the aftermath in January, but I think I'll be okay.
Right now, I'm in the Prep/Stability phase. Prep comes from the Training Bible -- I'm doing basic endurance work right now, with a small amount of speed skills thrown in. On the weights side, I'm going 2-3 times a week and doing 60-70% of max weight, 15-30 reps, 1-2 sets. It's a light workout, and man, I when I'm doing the cardio I want to drop the hammer, and when I'm on the weights, I feel foolish barely pushing anything around.
It's about patience right now, though. If you were building a house, you wouldn't rush the foundation just so you could get to the interesting stuff, right?
Right.
So for the next few weeks I'm going to look a little goofy at the gym, pushing around light weights and never hammering hard on the cardio stuff. But I need to focus on the fact that I've got time until the season starts, and that I need to focus on getting the groundwork done.
Things I've noted thus far:
- I need to be religious about getting my body weight and resting heart rate recorded every morning, first thing.
- Stretching = important. Must do that more.
- Need to work in some time every day for visualization/deep breathing exercises. Mornings, probably.
- Easier to change your diet when you're working out. Your body will tell you what it needs.
Off-Season Training
It's December. It's that time. It's time to suffer!
This off-season, I'm going to do some good cross-training in addition to the usual weights and assloads of base miles on the stationary bike. I'll be adding the following to my training regimen:
- plyometrics
- swimming
- running
- yoga (once per week)
In addition to all this goodness, I'll be driving to Colorado Springs in late March to get a full 3D fitting to my bikes (road and time trial) at Carmichael Training Systems ($500, plus travel). And in early April, I'll be paying a visit to the sports lab again for another work-up to see where I'm at ($100).
Beat Down
Oh man, Kate whupped my ass last night in the pool. She's my swimming instructor, you see. We're actually to the point where I am swimming freestyle and side-breathing, and I feel like I'm making progress. Today, I am truly sore after swimming for the first time ever. My legs are exhausted and sore, and even my shoulders and forearms are torched.
After that, I had to drive to a couple of Targets so I could find a place to exchange our copy of WALL-E (Deluxe Blu-Ray edition). Our copy had two copies of disc one, which was a bit of a downer. Anyway, that accomplished, I hauled ass home.
At home, Kate and I spent a few hours unpacking, getting the kitchen into some semblance of order, finishing around 11:30. Then we sat on the couch while I did some Battlefield: Bad Company online. Went to bed around midnight.
Exhausted. But calm and happy.
This weekend, I'll be drawing up my pre-season training program for the timeframe of November 2008 through March 2009. Fun!
Recovery?
The Off-Season Plague seems to have vanished. By yesterday evening, all my symptoms except the swollen glands were gone. Today, those seem to have departed as well. This is a good thing. I'll definitely be taking a spin on the stationary trainer for about 30 minutes today...but that has to wait until after I get some errands done. I need to go get some champagne for tonight, a new shirt-and-tie to wear to a job interview on Wednesday, and must follow-up on some email/SMS messages today.
So yeah. Hoping I can resume training shortly.
Illness Update/Staying Motivated
So, I think I'm getting better. The fever seems to be gone, as does the sore throat. These are both good things, as I am sick to death of laying on the couch, drinking 2-3 liters of Gatorade a day, and eating chicken soup. The glands in my neck are still swollen like hell and tender to the touch. (Note, despite the swollen glands, my tongue has not turned black, so we can rule out bubonic plague. I know this disappoints some of you, but whatever.)
Bah.
Woke up this morning with one of the worst colds ever. Not sure if it's the flu, or what, but wow. High fever, swollen glands, nasty sore throat, and the beginnings of a cough. I've already taken steps to alleviate the symptoms -- 600mg of ibuprofen for the pain in the throat, a couple of cough drop/throat lozenge thingies, and running the humidifier. I've also got a half-gallon of Gatorade and about 1500mg of vitamin C sitting here that I need to ingest.
I usually get like this once a year. Funny how it this year it actually waited until the off-season. I'm pretty happy about that, even though I feel like hammered dogshit.
An Update of Sorts
So some searching around, and I finally found a Wordpress template I like enough to modify for use on this site. Some minor graphics tweaks are done, and the next step is to get that little pile of photos in the upper left corner to randomize. My PHP coding is rusty, due to some dalliance with Ruby on Rails, so that's kinda back-burner for now. I did get Akismet up and running, so I shouldn't be inundated with comment-spam anymore. Here's hoping, anyway.
In the realm of the bike, I have finally gotten an arrangement made with Zipp re: the ongoing issues with the rear wheel in my 404 wheelset. I'm dropping that at the UPS store today so it can go and be fixed. I also started ordering the parts for my singlespeed mountain bike, which is going to have to be put on pause, as I (along with several others) lost my job on Monday the 3rd.
Minutiae
- I think I found a WP template that I am going to modify to create the template for this site. Pretty cool.
- Offseason project #1: pursuit bike. No question about this.
- Offseason project #2: single-speed mountain bike? Many questions about this -- need? 26" or 29"? Mix of the two? Huh.
- I still owe a write-up on the Critical Mass stupidity.
- Also, I choke down way too many pills every day. Last count? Eighteen. A dozen and a half pills. All in the name of better health and more optimum performance. (Yes, everything's legal and above-board.)
Run #1
My first run of the off-season last night and I discovered a bug in the Nike+iPod software. At the end of about 2.75 miles of slogging, the iPod showed 4.44 miles completed. Once I uploaded, the data on the Nike+ site matched the treadmill's data.
The upside to this is that my max heart rate was higher than the sports lab said I'd be able to do, and I felt fine. The downside to it all, is that I'm still a woefully inefficient runner.
Click for a larger view...
Max Heart Rate: 178
Avg. Heart Rate: 152
I'm still not fast, but I really enjoyed myself and felt awesome.
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Checked in at Rainbow Foods - The Quarry
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Checked in at PetSmart - The Quarry
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Have not updated the blog in a few days. I should rectify that tonight. [fontosaurus]
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BLTs for dinner tonight, I think. [fontosaurus]
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