Back to Business

Ok kids the R&R is over and it is time to get focused on next year. For me, the focus began yesterday when I was forced by injury to sit out the last Cross race of the Mud,Sweat and Gears Series and it was a doozy. Rain, mist and temps in the mid-forties, just the kinds of conditions I do best in, greeted racers as they navigated another Dwayne Letterman brilliantly designed course at Winged Deer Park. It was tough standing there watching when I'd rather have been racing but it was my own fault. I broke my first two rules of riding:

1. Know when to say no. When the risk is to much for the potential gain just walk (or ride)away.

2. Know when your body is telling you to give it a rest.

I shot myself in the foot by racing on an injury that should have been rested and I got that injury by doing something that was to risky to even try in the first place. It's not the first time I have done this and probably won't be the last. I guess there is hope though.

My training plan for 2008 was to have started last week but I just postponed it a week or so and I believe I am well enough to start base training now. I hopped on the trainer today for 1.5 hours and that went really well. The next 12 weeks are going to be focused on building a strong aerobic base, building core strength, increasing flexibility and, here it comes,

losing some weight.

I have alot of power and I know that my best bet for increasing my performance is losing some weight as opposed to building more power ( I plan to do both but losing weight is more bang for the buck at this point).

With that, here's what my next week looks like:

Monday - 1.5 hours in zone 1-2 (may be split in two workouts)
Tuesday - 1.5 hours in zone 1-2 (may be split in two workouts)
Wednesday - 2.0 hours outdoors in zone 2-3 (may opt to do this one inside this week pending how my ribs feel)
Thursday - 30 min - spin
Friday - off
Saturday - 2.0 hours in zone 1-2
Sunday - 1.0 hour free time (I can ride however I want)

I have stretches planned every other day and core work will begin next week if I feel like it. I am to sore still right now to even think about it.

This is going to be really hard for me as there is alot of zone 1-2 stuff in my plan which is really boring but very necessary. That's why I gave myself a free day to do whatever I want. Anyhoo, this is the basic plan for the next 4 weeks and then it will get changed up a little.