Cause vs. Effect

I often confuse what makes me stronger with what my body can tolerate when I am strong.

Tough to be objective when you are emotionally involved.

Last month was a dream month of training. 8% higher TSS than the month before. Solid, could-race-with-expectations-on-flat-courses-type raw wattages. Diet is spot on. Lowest body weight since high school. Best power-to-weight ever. More aero position on road bike.

Adding 8% in a month is a tad high, but some of that extra work was low intensity stuff, so I thought I could handle it. Unfortunately, I made up that entire extra load for the month in the final 10 days. In hindsight, that is obviously WAY too much, too fast. This month, the reaper came to deliver the message.

But I did not understand the message, so I continued to plug along and endure "just a bad day" after another "just a bad day". Finally, last night I poured over my training data and saw the problem.

This knucklehead move cost me the chance to show off my form at this weekend's GamJams TT Throwdown. It will leave me unprepared for Tym Tyler's early season series in OH. It could make me a no-show at the Dismal Dash TT next month that I always do and had so looked forward to this year. On the other hand, I still have time to be competitive in May at Wintergreen and in the local race series. And surely I learned a lesson, right?

Optimizing power-to-weight ratio

Power       Ride hard and ride a lot, but not too much     
-------  =  ----------------------------------------
Weight      Eat only good food, but not too much

I am going to copyright my magic optimizer.  It is foolproof.

You are only as good as your last showing.

I am not talking about the Cowboys going from “hottest team in the NFL” to “WTF was that?”

Woke up yesterday and the cyclism in me felt horrible. Totally beat. Felt like a zombie. I had already raised TSS/day by nearly 10% this month, so maybe I was a bit overworked. I decided an easy 50 minute spin was the order of the day.

Got up early this morning ready for the intervals. Was looking forward to them and felt ready. I was not ready. I was horrible and shut it down 20 minutes into the first interval.

Anxious to ride tomorrow, put out good power, and feel good about this stuff again.

Day Off

Took a day off the bike yesterday.  Not a low TSS day, not even a recovery spin, but an entire day without sitting in the saddle.  Have been pushing quite a bit lately and yesterday I was just totally beat.

Did a couple hours of tempo this morning and felt great.  Tomorrow, back to the intervals.

Weight 3: Equipment

So if you are going to go through all the hard work of eating like a cyclist, you start to think about the weight of your equipment.  These are expensive thoughts.

Chance of rain

Yesterday, after checking the weather radar and seeing a chance of rain, I called my buddy and cancelled our planned ride. He hates riding in bad weather as much as I do so he did not mind, but it got me thinking… There is no way I would have cancelled this ride a couple of months ago. My theory… I backed out, in large part, because I am out of shape and my ego is too big to enjoy riding with others when I am not in near peak form.