Having goals is one of the most important facets of being a cyclist. It allows us to fulfill the desire of achievement and helps us focus on how to improve in a realistic way. That being said, there is no motivation like injury and illness to make a cyclist claw his way back to the level of riding that he left behind. It is the memory of fitness that and how fun it feels to really put a bike through the paces at the peak of fitness that drives us to achieve the same or better form heading into a new season. Many cyclists, myself included start riding in the early season with the kind of intensity they had in August thinking that they can ride a bike just as fast as when they hung it up, what entails is a rude awakening. Rather than a rude awakening, this year I’ll allow my body to come out of hibernation with a strategic pyramid of accumulated mileage for racing in mid-April. It’s February 2nd and I have less than 100 miles of riding in my legs since the end of November. After a groin injury in November, a back injury in December and a bout of Pneumonia that has lasted three weeks in January I’ve got my work cut out for me if I’m going to renew my USCF license as a CAT 2. At this point I should probably drop down to a 5, but I like a challenge. Having this much time off the bike has allowed me to fulfill all of the cravings that I needed to pack on an extra 20 lbs. My (Current weight is 194. This summer I was 174.) My ideal weight for climbing the hills around the Upper Valley at a respectable speed is 170. So, now that my antibiotics are done, I’ve 2 completed two solid days of “running”. As a time crunched parent of two, this is the only viable solution to shedding the lb’s. (Insert photo of panting Michelin man) The Tuesday night trainer sessions will be key to launching my early season fitness program to get shape for some early season racing at the Tour of the Battenkill in 72 days, or around 10 weeks. Losing 20 lbs in 10 weeks will be tough without going overboard on training and burning all my matches in the early season. Gotta save something for racing in August. So how does one get ready for an 80 mile race in ten weeks with zero fitness? The answer is LSD. Not the psychedelic, but Long Steady Distance, which in effect creates it’s own kind of endorphin based stimulatory hallucinations, or in this case delusions of racing grandeur. My basic formula will include accumulating the miles necessary to prepare the body. Good fuel in and bad shit out. Rest where I can get, when I need it. Increasing the mileage over the first three weeks will have me riding around 200 miles over 5 days by the third week in addition to running 15-20 miles a week with two days off the bike. The next 3 weeks will have an increase in mileage to 300 mi. by the sixth week, riding 6 days a week with lots of long, seated climbs on odd days, light intervals and sprint work 2 days a week. At this point I may cut out running altogether or at least reduce the time running to 15 min. a day. The seventh week should allow me to mix in some longer intervals with about half the mileage. The eighth week will include intervals on odd days, sprint workouts 2 days, and 2 days of long rides over 85 miles. The ninth week will be slow taper down in mileage and intensity with a focus on sprint drills 3 days a week. The final week leading up to the race is for rest with easy spinning for about 1.5 hours a day. In addition, I’ll do no sort of weight training as I’m lacking in a gym membership or time but I will include a daily routine of 200 push-ups, 100 tricep dips across two chairs, 200 crunches, 80 leg raises, lunges and squats with 30 lb. dumbells and lots of stretching. I’ll usually do jumping jacks or jump rope in between sets to keep the heart up. Without core strength you’ve got nothing and your back will let you know early in an eighty mile road race whether or not your going to have the strength to sprint to the line. The race is on, let’s see how this unfolds…
