Training systems

Now in my second year of training, much has changed.  Maybe most obvious to the 3 people who read my updates: I'm not posting very much.  That isn't because my life has suddenly become excruciatingly boring.  My life has long been that way!  I don't write much about cycling this time of year because I am most interested in writing about new things.  Training 5-7 days a week isn't new.  And, after doing it last year, entries on training aren't nearly as interesting as entries on racing.

What IS new about my training this year is I'm doing it right.  Having someone design plans for me with an outsider's view of my strengths, weaknesses and limiters is really great.  Not only does it remove the guesswork, it is a major step up for me because I am horrible at self-identifying my needs.  So, kids, if you can afford to do so, get a coach.  As Tony the Tiger says, it's GRRRRRREAT!

Cross-Training
One thing different this year about my training plan is the cross-training.  At least 2 days a week are spent doing something off the bike.  Whether that's weights or core work or even non-cycling cardio, the variety is refreshing.  When you finish the racing season, you might be a tad burned out.  This was especially true for me because I didn't get any form of exercise other than cycling for a couple years.  That all changed this fall and I'm generally happier to be on the bike because my body has done other things in the meantime.

Of course, cross-training isn't just fun and games.  And it isn't primarily meant to clear the head.  The goal is to build strength and flexibility in other areas of your body that can be transitioned to gains on the bike.  Now, if you are immediately making plans to take up racquetball in order to win bike races, that may not do the trick.  Once again, having someone who understands these things - the muscular systems your body uses for different phases of a race - is nearly essential.  If that's you (or you simply happen to be 22 years old and it doesn't matter so much), fantastic!  I needed coaching for this.

Endurance & Tempo Work
On the bike, I'm sticking to the plan with approximately 95% success.  The goal is to be riding in my Endurance and Tempo heart rate and power zones.  Sometimes this is terribly difficult to do.  For example, when you're riding up a 10% grade by yourself staying in those zones is impossible.  Or, when you're riding up a 5% grade with a Cat 1-2 racer who is missing an "off" button.  I do my best to resist the latter pressure, but sometimes fail in that effort.  Most of the time these days, you will find me riding at what feels like a snail's pace, just working the muscles and staying in the correct zones.

The first thing I noticed during this transition was my Threshold power dropping like a rock.  That was depressing and difficult to take.  It feels like you're going backwards to see the number every bike racer targets fall like that.  What made it all better was the realization that, by working a different fitness system, I could observe gains elsewhere.  For example, when I get on a bike and spin, my heart rate immediately moves into the 120s.  (PS.  My heart rate at Threshold is now 180, which is neither here nor there but is helpful context for this discussion.)   That seems to be the minimum HR necessary for me to exercise.  If I go REALLY slow, my HR might fall into the upper teens (117-119), but you get the picture.

Whether I'm riding at 75 watts or riding at 125 watts, my HR stays in the 120s and doesn't change much.  Where I've noticed changes is the wattage at which my HR starts to rise.  In late-September, I'd be riding along at 130 watts and my HR was pretty stable.  Once I got into the 145 watt range, my HR would rise out of the 120s and would then fit an upward sloping curve as my power increased.  Today, that HR increase doesn't occur until I'm at approximately 170 watts.  That's very exciting news!  The higher I get that number, the less energy I'll need to ride in the peloton, and the more power I'll have in a race when I need it.

This is what I should have been doing last year but didn't.  It is, as I recall, the advice I received from HSP after my OLBA testing.  More specifically, they told me my power/HR curve was steep and I'd be better off with a shallower slope.  As I keep training, I'll be watching the start point of that curve, working to get it to the highest wattage I can.

Miscellanea and lists

The dark days of winter are approaching, which means iTunes playlist creation and a good movie selection become very important in my daily life.  Personally, I need action or sci-fi movies during my Endurance/Tempo workouts.  Even though I love comedies, I can't watch them while riding.  So, here are a few of the shows I've picked up to watch during my indoor workouts:

• Firefly TV series (and the Serenity movie)
• Transformers: Dark of the Moon
• Thor
• Captain America
• X-Men: First Class
• Live Free and Die Hard

....plus my existing collection of movies.  If anyone has any recommendations for good winter-riding shows, I'm all ears/eyes.

The Ever-Changing Playlist
My taste in workout music is subject to a steady rate of change but is also cyclical.  About every 6 months or so, I'll find I'm back into music I listened to the previous 6 months.  Some songs find their way into my playlist and quickly disappear.  Others stick around through several playlists, then I put them aside for months, only to discover those songs again accidentally and become uber-focused on them again.  I'll get deep into electronica, then shift to guitar rock, then older pop, then back again.

Right now, I've got a bit of new music in my playlist plus some older stuff.  For example:

• Several tracks from the new Jane's Addiction
• A couple tracks from the new Skinny Puppy
• New Korn
• New The Big Pink
• New Trophy Wives

To mix it up, I've also added some older tracks, including some from the Led Zeppelin "Runes" album, some 3 Doors Down, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nine Inch Nails, and an Echo & The Bunnymen track or two.  And then there's the stuff most people who know me would never guess I listen to.  Er....um....let's see....Adele, Katy Perry, Til Tuesday, We Are Scientists, and others.  I wouldn't call myself a big fan of those artists, but they each have some surprisingly good workout tracks.

This music seems pretty good for strength workouts.  I expect when intervals start up again I'll shift to even more aggressive music to keep the intensity up.  What do you listen to?

Strength Goals
This year I had some reasonable goals - I thought - for my strength workouts.  I'm happy to say I've reached them in everything except the squat, though I'm close there, too.  My strength workouts have shifted a bit from weights to core and general body strength, which has been interesting.  My soft middle is noticeably less soft right now, which makes me happy.  I'm very interested to see how all this off-season work translates into cycling performance when we finally start building toward race season.  At the very least, it is keeping me from getting bored.

That said, the riding is starting to pick up, though all of it is Endurance pace.  In addition to all the core and strength workouts, I'm riding again both weekend days and have 1-2 Endurance rides during the week.  Happily, my body seems to be absorbing this workload with relative ease.  That's a good sign!

Soft in the middle

As much as I exercise, it's amazing that I've managed to almost completely ignore my core.  The legs are fat-free and defined, but the middle is soft and squishy.  This state of affairs won't last long because I'm being asked to do 2-3 core strength workouts per week.  I'm not sure whether it's amusing or pathetic that intervals and hills hurt but it's the core workouts that cause me to whimper like a broken-hearted child.  Logic suggests that I'll eventually grow stronger but at the moment I feel like a colossal wuss.

Can you believe there are dozens of exercises meant to build (hurt) your core?  Who knew?!?

Occupationally, I find myself in the soft middle as well.  My previous employer and I parted ways, which is a very good thing.  I'm getting close to putting together a bit of a directional change, something new.  For the moment, though, I'm free to wake up later, eat lunch on the couch, and work out whenever it suits me.

Given how much time I'm now spending at home, my wife would probably tell you that I'm in the middle of everything to do with her life these days.  She enjoys having me around, but my presence is certainly a change of pace.  As a manager of people, I'm used to having my opinion sought on a variety of topics.  For some reason, my wife doesn't seem to need my opinion on whether or not to answer the phone or how often we should clean the house.  Huh.

My daughter thinks me being more in the middle of her life has been GREAT!  I think she'll be quite disappointed when I'm back at work and less available.  It's allowed me to attend all her cross-country meets, be there when she wakes up and goes to sleep, occasionally walk her to the bus stop, etc.  That's been pretty nice.

But all good things must come to an end.  Pretty soon, I'll have a strong core, I'll be back at work, I'll stop stealing my wife's favorite chair, and I'll be working pretty hard to stay as available to my daughter as she's recently enjoyed.

Actually, all those changes will be good things, too.

Let the training begin!

After a welcome hiatus, today was the official beginning of my 2012 training program.  Today's core and strength workout served to prove one thing: I've become a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

For the last 12 months, nearly everything I've done has been lower-body focused.  As a result, my legs are stronger and more muscled than they've ever been.  My wife, who once had my number when leg-wrestling, is no longer a match for me.  Yes, I will admit that a side effect of cycling training is I can now beat a girl (my co-favorite girl, no less) at an athletic endeavor.  We take our wins where we can get them.

On the other hand, my upper body has atrophied greatly, my arms and shoulders wasting away and my chest the equivalent of my 10-year old self.  This was acceptable largely because I live in a world of very skinny men with shaved legs who wear spandex for fun.  However, I'm now receiving some coaching (from a man we shall call "The Tormentor" here forward) and The Tormentor assigned a lot of exercises that require the use of my upper body...including two different types of push ups!  It was during the second circuit and third set of push ups that my arms notified me that they were not prepared for such punishment and promptly gave up.  Several hours later and I'm still wandering the halls with my arms hanging uselessly at my sides.  Ahhhhh, the joys of exercise focused on one half of your body.

Tomorrow, I shall mount my trusty steed and ride it slowly for 90 minutes.  Nobody ever said the early part of training was exciting, but I'm glad to be back!

September in a nutshell

Fall has arrived, the leaves are starting to accumulate on the ground, and the temperature's dropping.  Race season feels like a year ago.  So, what does an unsatisfied racer do during the month after race season ends?

In short, not a lot!

My riding has been limited to one weekend ride per week, plus about 30 minutes on the trainer 3x per week.  So, my race fitness is pretty much gone now that I've spent the bulk of 4 weeks off the bike.  However, I haven't been sitting on the couch eating bonbons.  Instead, I've been lifting weights.  My circuit involves 4 exercises, each of which is meant to develop cycling strength and power, plus core strength.  Each exercise below is done with an Olympic bar and plates:

1. Narrow-stance squat with feet at approximately pedal distance apart
2. Step-ups onto a platform approximately crank length high
3. Side lunges holding a plate
4. Hang cleans

I'm doing this circuit 3x per week with the 30 minutes riding split as a warm up and cool down.  So far, I've gotten through the adaptation phase and this is my last week of transition.  Next week, I move on to adding weights with low reps to build strength more rapidly.

There is always a risk of injury with weight lifting, but studies show that masters age racers, particularly those new to the sport, gain a lot from lifting weights.  Plus, I like it.  There's something satisfying about lifting weights and building strength.  I've noticed, after only three weeks of relatively light lifting, that my low-end power is increasing.  My high-end power hasn't adjusted (except that I've lost most of it!), but being able to maintain low-end power will really help my racing.  I'll comment on how my lifting is progressing once training is in full swing again.

Anticipated 2012 race schedule

Now that my 2011 race season is over, it's time to think about training for and racing in 2012.  I'm currently in the midst of 2-4 weeks (mostly) off the bike.  Starting last week, I began weight training with an early focus on adaptation to the exercises.  Weight training for cyclists is not without controversy, but being a masters-age racer and a Joe Friel follower, I've plowed ahead.  Last week I also completed an LT test at Herriott Sports Performance to see where I stand post-racing.  Soon everything will shift to endurance and tempo riding plus lifting and core work.

My greatest hope is that year two will include FAR fewer illnesses.  Certainly part of my issue is that my body isn't accustomed to the level of exertion I've put it through.  Now that I've done this for a year, I should see improvement when I ramp up the intensity again.  Another contributor to my challenges with illness was my failure to properly train, eat, and sleep during race season.  Next year will be better on that front, too.

Racing Likes and Dislikes
With a little experience, I also have a better idea of the racing I'd like to do next year.  Included in my list of "likes" are road races, particularly those with variable terrain (read: hills).  Also, I discovered I like time trials even though they hurt like hell.  I'm torn on circuit races, liking the races with hills and disliking the races with extremely narrow roads and flat courses.  Criteriums I can mostly do without, primarily because I dislike the repetitiveness.  Kinda like track (running) in high school, I could be decent at them, but they just don't have the appeal of road racing to me.  Finally, even though I failed to complete a stage race, I really like the idea of stage races and omniums and will feature them prominently next year in my schedule.

Planned Races for 2012
Given that, here is my initial plan for 2012.  The plan incudes a LOT more races than I did this year, which may have to change.  I'm also leaving the early races somewhat open; they will be a good test for my early fitness and I may do more than are in the list below.  That flexibility is partly because the first 5 races of the season will be Cat 4 only and, should I have the opportunity to accumulate points, I will want to take advantage of that.  The races in bold are the races I'm most excited about:

• Ice Breaker Time Trial
• Frostbite Time Trial
• Mason Lake Road Race (one of them)
• Sequim Road Race (one of them)
• Independence Valley Road Race
• Tour of Walla Walla Stage Race
• Longbranch Road Race
• Vance Creek Road Race
• Olympic View Road Race
• Wenatchee Omnium
• Mutual of Enumclaw Stage Race
• Ravensdale Road Race
• State Time Trial Championship
• Capital Stage Race
• Keller Rohrbach Road Race
• Boston Harbor Circuit Race
• Gig Harbor Circuit Race
• Eugene Celebration Stage Race (Oregon)

Of course, the WSBA schedule will ultimately determine whether or not all this racing happens.  Two other major factors will be the impact on my time with my family and time at work.  So, consider this schedule written in pencil.

One perspective on the 2011 road racing season

Well, my 2011 road racing season is over.  This year was simultaneously deeply rewarding and incredibly frustrating.  The year turned out exactly nothing like I expected.  However, I learned a whole lot and, when I start my 2012 training, those lessons will lead to more realistic goals and objectives.

This post is a list of lessons learned from the perspective of a 37-year old male who had never done any cycling until a couple years ago.  Younger riders will certainly have a very different perspective.

In short, if you are considering bike racing as a hobby, I highly recommend it.  But don't go into it thinking it is easy or inexpensive.  It isn't!

General Lessons Learned

• Bike racing is incredibly hard, quite probably one of the most difficult sports in the world.  This comes from someone who has done a whole lot of sports competitively, then sat on the couch for more than a decade.  This sport will test your pain tolerance and your mental strength.  It will hurt you.  And you will love that.
• A lot of new racers (see example A: me) believe they are strong as they enter their first racing season.  Compared to recreational cyclists, they ARE strong.  However, compared to racers, the odds are that they are NOT strong.  In fact, compared to racers outside the beginning categories, they are likely very weak.  If I were advising me 12 months ago, I'd have recommended that I set my expectations low at the beginning of the season.
• The season is quite long, especially for someone new to the sport.  The likelihood that you will maintain your fitness throughout is slim, so you will probably need a break in the action.  Expect this.  It will ease your disappointment when you start to falter.
• The differences between the racers who win races and those who do not are very small.  Incredibly small.  It is somewhat rare for a break to get away in the lower categories and very few riders are able to ride away from the peloton.  Most races come down to a field sprint, which has as much to do with tactical advantage and positioning as raw power.
• The time commitment to succeed in this sport is large.  It takes many hours a week of riding, let alone the planning, tracking, nutritional changes and simply thinking about cycling that surround the riding.  During the winter especially, you can go on a 3-4 hour ride and then have to spend an hour cleaning your bike for the next ride!  This is not so much a hobby as a lifestyle.

Mass-Start Lessons Learned

• It takes repetition to get good at this bike racing thing.  Seeing how the pack is moving and knowing when to get off or on a wheel, when to take the lead, and when to slide back or to the side, will not come naturally to everyone.  Time in the saddle IN RACES will make a big difference.  I didn't spend enough time racing (see all my previous posts for details) to get good at it yet.
• Lining up at the front takes a whole lot of early race uncertainty and 86s it.  This won't always happen and ending up in the back does not usually mean your race is over.  It just means you have a first goal of getting to the front that the guys at the front were able to skip.
• You can start a race with an idea of the basic strategy you would like to execute, e.g., get in a break or win the field sprint.  However, your ability to control that outcome is limited.  Once you have teammates working for you, you get a little bit more control, but teamwork is a rare commodity in Cat 4 and Cat 5 racing.  Go into the race with an objective or two in mind but expect to change your approach based on immediate circumstances.

Training & Equipment Lessons Learned

• You cannot train during race season like you did during the winter.  Though I never figured out the appropriate volume and intensity for me, I was able to conclude that it was necessarily MUCH less than I was doing.  In fact, only when I started reducing my riding a lot did I find myself getting closer to the front for the finishes.
• Don't push too hard during the winter.  In terms of strength and LT, I probably peaked in March.  But I didn't know what I was doing in races and wasn't able to take advantage of it.  Regardless, that is waaaaaay too early.  Next year, I'll start riding with intensity later in the process.
• Equipment is important but does not determine who wins.  There are lots of guys, me included, who have spent a small fortune on their racing machines.  Later in the year I ratcheted down my expenses.  With the exception of buying a TT bike for next year, I'm likely to use much of the same equipment.  Whether I have $3,000 wheels or $1,000 wheels will really not make that much difference.  Spend wisely.
• That said, a rain bike may be the best investment in equipment that you can make.  Riding inside is really boring and being able to train outside during the winter, while cold and wet, at least keeps the boredom level low.

I could probably go on and on about all the little things I learned this year, but I'd bore even myself with that post.  Suffice it to say, I've learned a lot, starting with the need to boost my fitness to be more competitive next year.  Onward!