Racing, Bikes, & Training

I’ll start with the exciting news.  Two words, Cyclocross Nationals.  If you are remotely interested in cycling and haven’t been to a ‘cross race you owe it to yourself to make it to one as a spectator, or better yet, a racer.  I got the green light from my beautiful, caring, understanding, wise, and loving wife to go to Cyclocross Nationals this year in Bend, Oregon.  Take your average cross race with the normal amount of rowdiness, bell clanging, yelling, drinking, and cross-dressing (yes, this happens at cross races) and then think what would happen if you took only the most fervent of the partakers from across the country and brought them all together for one irreverent weekend.  One of the guys from the team has booked a couple of cottages at McMenamin’s Old St. Francis School.  Cross nationals are in December so there is still plenty of time for you to get a bike, get fit, and get a room.  The other part of the exciting news is that I have another bike on order.  The bike I raced cross on last year wasn’t really designed to be a cross bike.  It was a single speed commuter that I put gears on and it was a tank, weighing in at over 30lbs.  I went over to Banning’s and picked out a new Salsa Chili Con Crosso frame.  They will be building it up with some extra parts I had and I’m hoping to have it soon! 

 

I think Jeff (one of the other Power2People bloggers) gave me his cold through the internet somehow.  I rode on Saturday and felt pretty good but it has been all downhill from there.  I have been training pretty hard for the last couple of months so I think I will take this cold as an opportunity for a recovery week.  Now, you would think if I was considering a “recovery” week that I have a general training plan laid out.  Go hard this day, go easy the next, rest day… you get the idea.  Well, you’d be greatly mistaken.  Before I even got the PowerTap in the mail I had done my homework.  I read all of the information I could find online, read a book on training with power, and even took notes on the vital information.  Here’s the problem.  I’m on information overload.  I think I have a good estimate of my Functional Threshold (280 watts, which is the amount of power you can put out for an extended period of time.  I just have no idea how to set up a “training plan.”  How do I determine how many days I should be going hard?  How often should I be doing sprint intervals?  How about tempo intervals?  How do I work my Saturday club ride into this training?  So far I have been trying to have a large volume of training (about an hour and a half of cardio a day Mon-Thur, 3 hour club ride on Sat, and a 1 to 2 hour ride or a 30-40 min. run on Sun) without paying much attention to the intensity of these efforts.  I will continue with the elliptical in the mornings and will probably be working some running into the routine but would like a more specific idea of what I should be doing when I’m on the trainer in the evenings.  Any ideas?

Comments

[Rachel]

I've found Friel's Cycling Training Bible easy to follow for putting together training plans for myself. Sounds like the group rides are fun and motivating, so I wouldn't take those out unless you need a rest due to fatique or illness or if there's a scheduling conflict.

Justin - Thank's Rachel, I'll have to check it out! I was so focused on figuring out the power aspect my training that it only recently occurred to me that I should sit down and develop a long range plan.

[Sara from La Mirada]

While on the trainer, It would be beneficial to watch re-runs of The Office to further tighten up those abs... Just a thought.