Winter training ups and downs

Winter training is always a mix in the Pacific Northwest and is usually a combination of weekend rides and weekday trainer rides.

For October and November I was really doing well. I was averaging about 15 hours a week between weekend rides and weekday trainer rides. I was also getting in regular lifting 3 days a week and making good progress with my fitness and maintaining or losing weight (though slowly).

Then December hit and all the food that comes with the holidays. I was able to get in some good riding, but ate "A Lot" of stuff I shouldn't have. I ended up putting on a couple pounds but was able to get in some good riding. The last part of 2012 was very wet around here and we had the 2nd wettest year on record. With that said it was fairly warm for most of it ... so it wasn't too bad getting rides in on the weekend.

When January came around I was really starting to feel good.

During one of our group rides we did one of my baseline climbs and I was able to hold 363 watts for 24:29 and was only averaging 155 bpm for my heart rate. I was going hard, but not full on and just wanted some basic baseline number. Extrapolating from those numbers I figure I could have held 375-380 watts if I was really being pushed on the climb. These are very good number for this time of the year and should make it easy to get back into the mid 390 watt range for 20 minutes during the race season.

Then this past week I developed a saddle sore from my trainer, then got a cold. I've missed about 7 hours of riding during the past week or so and feel like a slug. I've been able to get in some shorter training rides while sick, but could feel the extra effort it took. I'm on my way toward healing but it's going to take a couple of weeks to fully recover from this.

My weight during my sick time also went up a little to around 205-206 pounds, which is still very good for this time of year, but I'm feeling fat right now.

I'm hoping things pick back up from here on out since the first race of the season is about 6 weeks away. It's a flat ITT so if my power numbers stay where they are or get better, I should have a good time and placing ... assuming my TT position is good. There is also a road race the week before and if the weather is good and my weight is below 200 pounds I'll likely race in it as well, just to get one in early.

Our first team meeting is this weekend, which should be fun since I've only met a fraction of the team so far. Looking forward to seeing some people in normal clothing since we never look the same when not wearing a helmet or cycling clothes. We should get more information about this years retreat also which I'm hoping to attend.

Overall ... I'm encouraged by the power numbers I put out two weeks ago ... but frustrated with being sick and having a saddle sore. At least they came now and not during the season so I have time to recover.

It's also time to start hitting intervals a lot harder ... so let the fun begin ... next week :)