palookabutt

I had my first event of the season this weekend -- a supported ride that covers the same route every year. Although it is not a race, I treat it the way a runner treats a 10K, or perhaps like a long time trial. For me it has become an annual fitness test, to see how my training regimen is progressing.

My previous best time over the hilly, 63.3-mile course was a 3:30:12, and I remember feeling exhausted, sore and miserable by the end. Yesterday, under virtually identical weather conditions, I did it in 3:22:45, more than 7 minutes faster, and I still had energy to burn.

This year, owing to work demands, I have cut my training week back from 5 to 4 days and I've been doing longer "long" rides on the weekends -- ~80 miles where I used to do 50-60. My average weekly mileage has actually increased, from about 120 to 140 mi/week.

Probably the biggest change has been my diet on and off the bike. I've added a bit more protein to my diet in the form of beans, nuts, egg whites and tofu, plus whey protein after workouts. I've also added significantly to my on-bike carb intake, from ~12g/hour to about 40g/hour. It's enabled me to do longer weekend rides with less muscle fatigue. Overall, I think the dietary changes have permitted me to do much more productive workouts than before. Ever since I implemented these dietary changes I have noticed significantly more comments in my training log such as "felt great" or "excellent workout".

But it's one thing to feel better and another to realize it in hard numbers. Thus scoring a new PR -- and obliterating my old one in the process -- was immensely satisfying.

Of course, now I've set the bar even higher for next year...