Training Update

Thank god for long weekends. Training this past week has been super difficult as I'm coming off a 7 day straight work binge and the weekend is a much needed time to do even more riding :D

I had one workout in the Don Valley a couple of days ago and I felt really good. It was between 10:30 and 12:30 at night so it was done with my full light setup and in total seclusion on the trail, definitely one of my favourite times to ride. With the first OCup only 3 weeks away I decided to put in some race pace efforts. When it was all said and done, I felt really quick. Unfortunately I didn't feel like I had the staying power necessary for a full Expert Cat race, which worries me quite a bit. I've been so focused on developing my power for shorter bursts (through short intervals on the trainer) that I've seemingly neglected my endurance. To remedy the situation I'll be cutting back a wee bit on the short burst stuff and focus on the long/easy side for awhile.

And first ride with that in mind was a little jaunt along the Lakeshore.

It was a beautiful day, strong tailwind to start (foreboding I should say...) and I had no work obligations all day. Somehow though, the ride went horribly wrong - I came pretty close to bonking hard. So bad in fact that before even halfway into the ride I did an about-face and headed home. I made it as far as the next Subway restaurant where I wolfed down a 6incher in about 10 seconds. And of course this whole time I'm trying to get home there's a cross wind that's trying to knock me off my bike and impede my refueling. Once I got home I had to restrain myself from tearing through everything edible in sight. But I have to ask myself, what went wrong? I've never had nutrition problems on such a short ride before - My lunch before the ride was a serving of pasta, cliff bar and a bottle of water but I burned through it like it was nothing.

My guess is that the training load I was putting on myself demanded more intake. Cue more food time and bigger grocery bill....

Training also continues off the bike in the weight room. I'll do any kind of circuit workout that swaps between muscle groups each exercise (ie legs, core, legs again, shoulders, legs yet again, chest etc.) Each exercise is done with moderate weight and moderate reps (15-20) but everything is performed explosively. For the most part, racing in Ontario is short bursts throughout the course - there aren't any real extended efforts like big climbs. It's more like short, steep ups then flat or down for a bit and then repeated over and over.

So -----------------> this weekend will be more time spent on long and slow road rides and making sure that I've eaten enough. I've heard that Albion will be open this weekend too so maybe I'll do the long and easy on dirt instead, just no hard extended efforts


Also still waiting on my new road bike to come in... starting to get annoyed....