Fall is here...

The days are getting shorter, the morning air a little crisp and the rainy days more frequent...which means fall is here and winter not far away. With this in mind I've moved my Powertap to my indoor trainer and am prepping my singlespeed for the winter months.

Many of my teammates have moved onto the "Cross" season, as I did for a while last year...but it's just not for me. To much of a risk for tearing up a knee (I've already had too many knee surgeries) and in all honesty I just didn't enjoy racing cross that much. There are so many people at the cross races that if you are not in the top 20 by the first corner, your race just became a training ride due to bottlenecks when the course narrows...Today was the first "Cross Crusade" race and over 1350 people showed up to race, which means well over 100 people per category (I wouldn't be surprised if the C's had close to 200 people).

With that said...The winter is where I get in a lot of "Quality" training because the workouts on the trainer are so structured. There are no hills or wind to get in the way, rain is no longer an excuse for not riding and the workouts can be planned out weeks in advance. With the Powertap it makes it easier to follow specific plans, which is something I couldn't do before.

My plans for the winter include a whole lot of 2x20's and tempo rides with my main goal...to raise my FTP for Time Trials and MTB racing next year. My hope is to steadily raise my 20 minute power each month over the winter. I'm starting this month at 320 watts with hopes of raising it 20 watts each month through February when the racing season starts again.

So...October 320 watts, November 340 watts, December 360 watts, January 380 watts, February 400 watts....Then scale back just a little for March to really hit it hard in April and May when the TT season starts culminating with the Team Time Trial at the end of May.

I hit 391 watts for 20 minutes this year so this should be attainable. My goal for next year is to break 400 watts for 20 minutes and if possible break 420 watts, while getting my weight back down to 190 pounds or if possible 185, which I haven't seen since the start of my 8th grade year :)

My basic training plan will be this:

Monday: 2 hours (2x20's) with a 10 minute threshold effort near the end of the workout
Tuesday: 2 hours at tempo
Wednesday: 1.5 hours at endurance pace
Thursday: 2 hours (2x20's) with a 10 minute threshold effort near the end of the workout
Friday: 1.5 hours at tempo
Saturday: Group ride on my singlespeed (hopefully 2.5 - 3 hours on the bike)
Sunday: Off the bike

So bring on the rain, winter and college football...Lots of work to be done over the next few months :)