The Snow is as high as a Labrador's eye...

The snow started later than usual this year.  But now that it's here, boy is it coming down.  Officially, The Canyons Resort (which is less than 2 miles from my doorstep) is reporting 18 inches of new snow in the last 24hours.  Unofficially, my driveway now has 2 foot berms and our yard has the beginnings of a toboggan run for my girls. For the last 48 hours all I've heard from my skier friends is that the “warmer” snow that we've been getting will make a great base. 

What does this have to do with training with power? I'm glad you asked. Just like you need some boring cement-esque snow to form a foundation for the champagne power to come, on the bike you need to put in some long and not terribly exciting hours to support the high intensity work that comes in the spring.  OK, I know its a stretch. But seriously, in 2009 I put in over 100 hours on the trainer and if all goes to plan I'll put in at least 150 hours in 2010. And with out a plan that's a depressing thought! So it's time to put together a training plan / strategy for the 2010 season and start training with purpose again.

In 2009 my focus was the State Time Trial and I made great progress. But, spending 6 months training for a single event left me more than a little flat. So, for the 2010 season I decided I wanted to race more frequently and put my focus on Road Racing. I'll also be doing the Leadville 100 again and some local cross-country mountain bike races, but training for those will be secondary to my road racing.

In 2009 I didn't have any structured “base” phase in my training (in the last 3 months of 2008 I only spent 22 hours on the bike).  For all intents and purposes, I just jumped on my TT bike in January and went full force into training for the State TT.  And that worked out fine for a race that only took 46 minutes and 7 seconds.  But it didn't work so well for Leadville. And, it won’t work for the upcoming Road Race season where I'll be doing races lasting into the three hour range.

The Plan-

I decided to use the guide lines set out in The Road Cyclist Guide to Training with Power. This guide is by far the best blueprint I've found for a self coached athlete who is training with power. The training philosophy laid out by the author is simple and straightforward and seems to be based on current research and understanding of cycling physiology.  I highly recommend getting a copy and reading it several times (there is a ton of information there). And oh yeah, it FREE!

My basic weeks will consist of one Threshold workout and several Zone 2 or Zone 3 workouts, at least one of which will be on the TT bike. Last week I spent 7:40 on the bike with 380 tss points. I'll add 20 to 30 minutes and 20 to 25 tss points each week which should get me to the start of my build phase in the first week of February in great shape.

That's all for now, I've got snow to shovel.

Train Hard and Smart.

Pat