January actually turned out to be a great month for riding. Only two weekends were wet enough that I had to use my single speed, so lots of time on my road bike. Granted...It's still dark out on the weekdays so I'm still on my trainer during the week.
Overall I had several nice rides:
January 1st: 75.86 miles.
January 22nd: 76.15 miles.
January 29th: 74.29 miles
And some shorter road rides of 38.63 mile rides on the 23rd and 30th.
The month of January was the biggest month I've had on a bike since July of last year. I had a total of 54 hours and 39 minutes of ride time (trainer and road time) and technically around 1150 miles ridden.
The really bright spot has been weight loss. I've changed my diet around to allow for a larger percentage of it to come from fats and protein and less from carbs. Combine that with increased intensity of workouts and I've dropped a little over 15 pounds since the 22nd of December (5 weeks).
The only drawback I have seen so far is that my power numbers are down from the lack of intervals over the winter. Right now I'm only putting out around 360 watts for 20 minutes, which means I have a good 30 watts of continuous power to put on over the next several months as well as drop another 15-20 pounds.
I have also started my core work so my hamstrings and core section were pretty sore for about a week, but are feeling much better now that the soreness is gone. In the end though, some good core work always seems to make things better on the bike. I was noticing that my back was starting to get tired at around the 3 hour mark on rides, while this past weekend I still felt pretty good after 4 hours on the bike.
Overall.....A good start to the year, but a long way to go before things start to get better
Monday, January 31, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
The 2011 season is almost here...
It has been a while since I’ve last updated my blog, so I thought I’d get some time riding in before my first post of the year.
Race season is only a month or so away from starting so my normal weight loss routine has begun and intervals are starting to get a little bit harder. On the weight front…I’m actually starting this year about a month or so ahead of last year. On January 1st last year I was somewhere in the 222-225 pound range, while this year I started around 215 pounds. I’m already down to 208 and if I stay on target I should be down to race weight (190 pounds or so) by the end of March.
Power wise, I’m not sure where I’m at since I haven’t used my Powertap (aside from a few rides when the weather has been nice). The only input I have toward power output right now is the average speeds I’m holding while completing trainer workouts. Going off of this data my power is better than it was at this time last year, though, how much better is unknown at this time. I’ll most likely have to wait until the Jack Frost ITT before I get a good idea of where I’m at.
As for rides so far this year, it started out great. I had several days off of work leading up to New Year’s weekend so I had time to ride. It basically turned into a winter training camp form me and with some nice weather was able to get in 15.5 hours on the bike and just under 300 miles for the week. The longest ride of the week was a 4.25 hour, 76 mile ride with two other teammates, though my legs were feeling it from 9 hours of riding that I had done over the 4 previous days.
Since then I’ve been getting in 11.5 – 12 hours a week of training time between the trainer and weekend group rides. I’ve started getting in an extra hour of riding before Saturday group rides for the extra time on the bike and more overall base miles than I did last year. I’ve also started doing a little core work, so my mid section and hamstrings are sore today…but that should dissipate over the next few days.
I’m not sure what my race schedule is going to look like this season other than my first race will be the Jack Frost ITT on February 20th. From there, I’m not sure what will be next. I may compete in a Banana Belt race or two or wait until the Piece of Cake (of which I will race unless I’m sick) at the end of March. I’m contemplating competing in the Cherry Blossom stage race and using it as a good training block and helping teammates if I have any in the race. My two “A” races will again be the OBRA TTT and ITT championship races, but will also likely race in the OBRA RR championship race again, even though it’s been moved back to May as it had been in years past.
Against my better judgment and my allergic reaction to asphalt, I’m planning on racing a few more crit’s this season. I haven’t singled any out other than maybe the OBRA Crit Championship in August, but will look at a few of the local races that I’ve avoided in the past. I however don’t have any plans on racing out at PIR again this season, but as with everything, that could change once racing starts up again.
With all that said…The first race is just a month away…so the season is almost upon us again :D
Race season is only a month or so away from starting so my normal weight loss routine has begun and intervals are starting to get a little bit harder. On the weight front…I’m actually starting this year about a month or so ahead of last year. On January 1st last year I was somewhere in the 222-225 pound range, while this year I started around 215 pounds. I’m already down to 208 and if I stay on target I should be down to race weight (190 pounds or so) by the end of March.
Power wise, I’m not sure where I’m at since I haven’t used my Powertap (aside from a few rides when the weather has been nice). The only input I have toward power output right now is the average speeds I’m holding while completing trainer workouts. Going off of this data my power is better than it was at this time last year, though, how much better is unknown at this time. I’ll most likely have to wait until the Jack Frost ITT before I get a good idea of where I’m at.
As for rides so far this year, it started out great. I had several days off of work leading up to New Year’s weekend so I had time to ride. It basically turned into a winter training camp form me and with some nice weather was able to get in 15.5 hours on the bike and just under 300 miles for the week. The longest ride of the week was a 4.25 hour, 76 mile ride with two other teammates, though my legs were feeling it from 9 hours of riding that I had done over the 4 previous days.
Since then I’ve been getting in 11.5 – 12 hours a week of training time between the trainer and weekend group rides. I’ve started getting in an extra hour of riding before Saturday group rides for the extra time on the bike and more overall base miles than I did last year. I’ve also started doing a little core work, so my mid section and hamstrings are sore today…but that should dissipate over the next few days.
I’m not sure what my race schedule is going to look like this season other than my first race will be the Jack Frost ITT on February 20th. From there, I’m not sure what will be next. I may compete in a Banana Belt race or two or wait until the Piece of Cake (of which I will race unless I’m sick) at the end of March. I’m contemplating competing in the Cherry Blossom stage race and using it as a good training block and helping teammates if I have any in the race. My two “A” races will again be the OBRA TTT and ITT championship races, but will also likely race in the OBRA RR championship race again, even though it’s been moved back to May as it had been in years past.
Against my better judgment and my allergic reaction to asphalt, I’m planning on racing a few more crit’s this season. I haven’t singled any out other than maybe the OBRA Crit Championship in August, but will look at a few of the local races that I’ve avoided in the past. I however don’t have any plans on racing out at PIR again this season, but as with everything, that could change once racing starts up again.
With all that said…The first race is just a month away…so the season is almost upon us again :D
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