While perhaps wordy, and lacking photos, a training update post is upon us. My first month of “official” training is complete and I have a few reflections. Initially I would note that my fitness seems fairly good from the start. After the Gravel Grovel in November I didn’t do much, besides a “for fun” cross race in early December and then I just commuted and went on few recreational trail rides. However, I feel like I still have a decent base to work with.
With that being said, most of January was spent on easy riding during the week on my commutes. I tried to extend the rides as many times as possible in order to get in extra base miles. The past week and a half I started doing some supplementary evening rides after I get home around the Butler campus and Canal Towpath to get some hill repeats in and just add some additional riding. On the weekends I have been doing longer endurance rides, usually Saturday, with higher intensity efforts interspersed throughout, on both pavement and trail. Sunday is a more relaxed and shorter ride.
I have gone on several snow trail rides in the past week two weeks. While the mileage has been limited, (usually 10-15 miles max.) the time investment has been fairly high, and sometimes I wonder if I could get more benefit from riding a trainer. However, the trail rides have not been easy, as each one has been done in the snow or extremely low temperatures. A ride I went on Martin Luther King Day morning (see last post), while only 11 miles, was done during heavy snow fall, on a snow covered trail, at 13 degrees, and on my single speed (actually all recent trail/snow rides have been on the single speed). All of these factors combined for a very hard work out and I felt appropriately beat afterwards. Although note to self, be careful crossing off camber logs which are covered in snow. I had a less than graceful ending on one log.
This last week I also experimented with some intervals on my commute. My commute is either by bike lane or greenways and I’d like to perfect a system of getting an efficient workout in during this time since this accounts for a good chunk of my on bike time. I plan on experimenting with different workouts to see what works best for these rides. One of my most used routes home is the Monon Trail, a local greenway. The trail has several long sections without road crossings that I thought would work for intervals (plus the part I ride home has little to no bike or pedestrian traffic). I wanted to experiment with 2 minute intervals and found it worked well, although once I got up to speed the time needed to traverse the sections were more in the range of 1 minute. I did four of these and felt quite tired afterwards and actually ached a bit in the morning. Sources I have read suggest longer intervals first, with a build up to the shorter, punchier intervals. Another greenway route I use which is slightly longer than the Monon allows me to do longer intervals but even these will not be longer than 2-3 minutes. Unfortunately, with the compromises due to work I think my commute intervals will have to be of the rather short variety, while I will try to include some higher intensity periods to my endurance rides on the weekends.
Anyway, entering February, I am looking to further my endurance, while also incorporating more speed workouts in my commutes, at least twice a week.
In terms of races/rides, I’m still on the fence for the Sub 9 Death March. My partner from last year is not doing it this time around which leaves me a bit high and dry. Still, it would be a good prep ride for the Barry Roubaix so I am considering riding it solo for training/fun purposes, and taking the DQ. Plus the ride has increased the number of checkpoints which make the whole route planning aspect that much more fun. Otherwise, the first race is the BR. I think I will be able to handle the Michigan terrain well enough, but the registration numbers are currently pushing 2,500. This is going to be one crowded field.
No comments:
Post a Comment