haven't been here in a while - been pretty busy. base going well so far except for the getting a lot of sleep part :(. Luckily only one exam separating me from all the sleep I want!

SST ride today at lunch. Hit the south-side big climb all-out. Into a headwind, w/in 7s of pb. Legs were farked for a couple hours.

Going Strava poaching in Chicago for a couple of days before heading out to Fort Collins for two weeks. Currently 2nd on a relatively popular "lollipop" out and back course. 160 people, ~600 attempts. Was VERY surprised to be that high up, but also pissed that a dude has me by 30s over a 24min loop. The trail conditions have probably worsened, so I don't anticipate any miracles out there.

Still ~9lbs over race weight, but I have 9 months of fear and adrenaline induced stress, at 7500ft (currently at 700ft) to help burn that off. When I live at altitude, the fat just melts off of me.

On a scale of 1 to 10, we're down to a 5 on the pain scale. Baby steps.

I tried doing tabatas on the exercise bike in the gym today. Total fail. Instead of increasing resistance at higher speed like on a fluid trainer, this got easier the faster you pedaled. And harder the slower you pedaled. I don't understand it, but it completely threw me off my game so I quit half way through. Bah.

I've found that on some spin bikes. What I usually do is warm up for about 15 minutes and figure out where the 'happy' point is on the knob for the tabata. Then when I go to do the actual work it's like "2 turns in" pedal..."2 out". Then if I need to modify it based off that, I change it on the next work period. By the time you get to the last few, you're in brain fade...you just do what you can.

Thanks Fat Boy. Unfortunately, this isn't even a simple knob resistance spin bike. It's a fancy Nautilus electronic exercise bike that requires you to push an arrow button to change the level. There was such a delay in changing the level that by the time I got it to where I could spin easy, the 10 second rest interval was over. With practice maybe I could figure it out, but it's probably not worth it for a workout I'll only do a couple times a week. I'll just do them at home on my trainer or (gasp!) on the road.

Finally decided after much thought to give the racing another go next year.
It's been a hard decision following my racing accident last year where I broke my back and collar bone. My Mrs isn't too keen but, well, she's ok with it.
I'm going to start with some hilly TTs.
Ive started hammering the first Trainer Road plan ( www.trainerroad.com ) Intermediate Base 1 and am in week 4. The sensations are starting to come back and the weight is coming off.
If I get down to 80kg and 300wFTP I'm going to give it a go. I got up to 100kg last christmas!

Another 50min at 91% FTP sweet spot today, finished season 2 of Game of Thrones. 10 or so minutes of endurance warm-up and cool-down on each side.

I'm digging these 90ish%, 45-80 minute rides as my default winter base, with some 2x20s @ 100% and over/unders thrown in. I feel like I get a good workout, but can do 3-4 days in a row without crashing. I'm trying to be smarter than last winter, when I DID make a lot of gains, but had a lot of bad days. I was doing 2x20s, 3x15s, and tons of sufferfests at full throttle, and trying to also do 2-3hr endurance paced trainer rides. I think my hard days were too hard early, and my easy days were painfully boring. I was only managing 6-7 hours a week and feeling wiped doing it. Sweet spot shoots the middle of this and at least is more enjoyable than the boredom/burnout I was feeling last winter (and I got to ride outside a lot then, with the rare snow we had here). We'll see if the results come in.

3:50 last evening and about to head out for ~5 hrs this morning...tired legs but after this I get 4 days off as I'm flying out to New Mexico!

5:15 hilly ride with a good group of teammates. Big boost to my CTL.

3 hour Z1/Z2 ride in the wet cold desert.

you've been through a lot over the last two years. Best of wishes on your road back.

Cheers :)

4.5 hrs today capping off a 16 hr week and a 12/14/16 hr block. rest time now.

Most of my rides don't pass the 3 hour mark so I made sure to ramp it up nice and hard over the last 90min. A tailwind helped.

i might ride for about an hour tonight, got home from Charleston last night at 1, and slept till 1 in the afternoon today. I just finished a little homework, and plan on sitting down and watching the 25 days of Christmas with the family soon.

Three more days of school left, with a test and project due wednesday, which shouldn't be too hard, one day (thursday) of running around with friends all day, then im off to florida on friday and will hopefully get in two huge weeks of riding to try and cut some of this winter weight off.

Thanks mostly to my brother visiting from out of town, I'm behind on hours this week. Next week should actually be my rest week following this block of base training, but because of some minor knee issues and the visit, I'm actually still pretty fresh. I think I'll do a full training week if I possibly can (I'll be up in Massachusetts, the Motherland, with time to kill) and take the week between Xmas and New Years as my rest week instead. Jump back into the third base period after that. I'm pretty pleased with how things are going despite missing time; I had enough fitness to take 5th in the Cat 3 state cross championship race today. With any luck I'll be plenty fast come March.

Those are the worst. Between the horrible controls and beach cruiser saddle (honestly, who _are_ those for?) they're damned near useless. The recumbent version is actually better.

Seriously. I was getting a weird pain in my side butt (abductors?) after about 15 minutes. I've got a vintage Selle Italia TT that I can ride for hours, but that pillow saddle was a disaster.

I may try the recumbent or the rowing machine next time.

Those things were designed by the devil.

Anyway. 2x20s on the trainer. Actually managed to hit my power targets, which I can never seem to do indoors. Pleased.

Because I travel a lot with work, I end up improvising a lot when it comes to exercise. I try to burn myself down a little prior to a trip. This may include a 4AM roller session prior to getting on a plane. Hell, I'm just going to sleep anyway, what does it matter if I get up uber early. Not only that, but since I'm always going East, it helps to acclimate to the time zone. If I miss a day or 2, it's not a big deal, because I need the recovery.

On the road I have a mental list of all sorts of body weight exercises I can do, if not in the hotel fitness room, then in my personal room. I've begun to incorporate a lot more strength work in my training. Taking a pair of running shoes to run is never a bad plan (except that *may* mean you actually have to run, which I'm 4-square against...at least in a philosophical sense). There's something to be said to walking to a local restaurant and then taking the long way home. I enjoy an hour walk after dinner and it actually lets you experience the place you've traveled to, which can be a rarity.

If the weather sucks, look for a local fitness club. They'll all do a 'by the day' or 'by the week' deal. A week generally runs about $20-25. Don't be afraid to dicker with them. If I'm stuck with just a fitness room, I want to do some cardio and there's a bike, then I get on it. Some version of 2 x 20's or ZCI's is my normal workout if I'm going hard, but often I'll just do a tempo ride for maybe an hour.

It's really tough to keep any sort of fitness when traveling for work. It takes planning and a lot of 'want to'. It's very easy to get done with your day and veg out in front of the glow box. Try to do it early if you can. It makes you feel a little better about yourself when you _do_ finally get the chance to veg.

Just as important is to not eat like crap. I take food with me. I'll take a bag of Bob's Red Mill Muesli in my suitcase, which is 4-5 days breakfast. Make sure your hotel room has a fridge. Go to a local store when you first get in. Buy fruit and veggies, even if means just getting pre-made salads. I generally do banana's and berries for my morning muesli and baby carrots and apples to snack on plus a salad or 2. Ya, you'll have the occasional Cheesecake Factory dinner, with which there is no good option. Don't obsess. If 75% of your meals are reasonable while on the road, you've done a hell of a job.

there are four rounds and they go back to back to back.

3rd day off the bike, enjoying being out of town and a few days off from training.

Was under for 3hrs as opposed to 1.5hrs for surgery. ENT decided I shouldn't even do zone two rollers for a week or two:/ Now just researching bike stuff and popping pain meds. No races tell march so its not the worst timing.