My goals for 2011 are modest.

1. Be able to finish with the pack at Cat 5 Sumner County RR in early May. I know this doesn't sound like a lot. But for me it is huge.
2.Top 10 finish in at least one Nashville Cyclist criterium later in the summer. Best placing this year was 18. I think this should be doable with some work.
3. Upgrade to Cat 4 by end of season if I feel like I've learned enough.

What will it take?

1. Just got a powertap and was able to get out for one good FTP test ride. Sitting at 225w at about 72 kg. I'm going to shoot for an FTP bump to 250w by later next summer (or earlier if possible). I'm OK with my weight right now but if I can drop a kg or two easily during base that would help too (especially on the last hill on the RR I am targeting).

2. My racing skills are bad. I need to get much more comfortable sticking my nose in a little tighter and keeping it out of the wind. I'm way to good at dangling off the back and then getting dropped.

3. As well as my FTP being poor I also suspect my anaerobic conditioning is poor. Shorter hard efforts kill me. I will need to work on my 2-8 minute power and repeatability of those efforts. I'm not entirely sure if this is just a symptom of low FTP (meaning I'm above my FTP way too often just to keep up) or my anaerobic capacity in and of itself. Or both (likely). I'm going to concentrate on FTP first and foremost but can hopefully learn more about the rest of my profile as I heal up my knee and start testing and training with the powertap. Actual testing may change some of my thoughts later.

4. I'm not even going to worry about training my "sprint" too much this season. I need to get myself to the pointy end of the pack at the finish line first.