AZT, This link is from our team's sponsor coach... http://sportvelo.com/coaching-philosophy/ It has some interesting points and he discusses base miles.

I had a great 3 hr 29'er road ride on Saturday at my pace. The roads were mostly chip/seal, gravel, dirt and paved bike trail. I began the ride at 3:30PM and rode into darkness that arrived at 5:30pm. I rode up and down the valley along the Allegheny River and along the top. The 4 steep climbs each totaled 400' to 600' in addition to endless rollers on the top of the valley. When riding by the Foxburg winery I was tempted by the 'motorcycle riding wine tasters' to stop and join in, hmmm, tempting but I didn't fold. Temps were in the high 50's at the beginning and dropped to the mid-40's at the end. Fortunately I packed a wind vest in my pocket as the last decent, 3/4 mile tunnel and 7 miles on the bike trail back to our cabin was cold. Riding the dirt and gravel roads in the dark was odd as there are no sounds from birds and insects anymore, just silence. The highlight of the ride was almost T-boning a porcupine about 5 miles from the end of the ride as I was hustling down the bike trail back to home. I don't think porcupines fear anything as it just waddled along not paying any attention to me.

On Sunday I rode with my wife on the bike trail for a 26 mile ride @ 9.88 mph.:)

Thanks, Hermes.

It has been interesting for me as I've climbed up the learning curve, or I should say curves, since there are so many facets to bike racing. I've approached it like I approach everything I want to accomplish, by jumping in the deep end, then swimming as hard as I can for the surface, and when I get there, finding a deeper pool. When you take my approach, a big part of it is quickly ferreting out what is truth and what isn't, and what is important and what is not. You know you will make mistakes, but there just isn't time to follow the wrong currents very far. You need to recognize when those currents are taking you away from your destination, and swim over to a different one.

So, I ended a brief phase where I rode "for fun", which meant a ton of high-intensity, and it definitely put my body into a different mode. I could tell that without the met test; I knew I was no longer burning fat like I had been. Anything I ate went to my gut, and I lacked endurance. And I could sense the extra carbs I was eating to fuel the intensity were just not right. So now I'm doing z2-3 base, and I can already feel the shift into fat burning mode. What has shocked me is how quickly some of these changes can occur, and how "razor edge" the balance is. I'm beginning to understand, physically, what I only had an intellectual understanding of previously. Your body will just not let you be good at all aspects of this sport. Becoming great in one area requires the sacrifice of others. Coming from nothing, I'm still improving so quickly in all the areas that it is still too early to tell which area will be best for me. I do know that I love what the real endurance riding does for my body, and I believe the longer road races are what will ultimately be my focus. I doubt I can develop some of you guys' raw power, or the Hermes hyper-efficient sprint speed, so I'll just have to ride everyone into the ground over a long RR. :-)

Anyway, there are two areas where I'm feeling like the currents might have me drifting a bit from my destination:

1. Extreme periodization. I'm in synch with your SportVelo coach, that a mix needs to always be there. I just saw that my Coach is starting to mix in the higher intensity, so I don't think we'll be in conflict when I discuss it with her.

2. Work Load. I'm not sure I'm pushing hard enough, especially during build phases. I feel like, so long as I have rest days, I can handle a higher load than I've been doing. I can work it in with longer morning commutes, and I'm leaning towards more time on M-W-F, with rest days (or z1 rides) on T-TH. Sat would still be the big effort day.

I love this sport!

AZTR, I think you have figured it out. The only part you can't know about is how your body will respond in the long haul. After being coached for 3 years in a formal training program I know that I have about 7 months of top end stuff then it all goes away in a flash. I can dig deep for a few hard efforts then I crash back to nothing left. Knowing what to expect from your body takes time to learn. I'm in the re-setting mode now.

My coach will give me some hard tasks to do on the rollers, trainer, cycling class or on my own, however, there is always the next scheduled ride with "no hard efforts". I'll begin formal training again December 1st with the first races in later March.

Tonight looks like we will have 8 riders on the night ride. I planned a route with 1,500 ft of climbing over 36 miles and will be riding the frixie. I should have a few good efforts at Z3+ needed to climb the hills and false flats with the group. None of the efforts will be race paced or longer than 3 or 4 minutes. The down hill bits may be exciting.

I detect an understatement, and will awaiting the report on this one.

I had a great ride today with the Tuesday group. It's been a while since I rode with them! I can already see some improvement from taking the spin classes. I'm getting my heart rate higher (high z4, low z5) and NOT suffering all that much, and I am climbing better. I was in the front 1/3 of the group for a good part of the ride, and in the climbs I was mid-pack. That's saying something for me!

I looked into MBRT racing team. Wow, it is EXPENSIVE, both financially and in time required. I'm afraid I can't commit because of both issues, especially the time part. My work, which is an "immovable object" is thoroughly in the way of many of the training rides and meetings they require. Damn....

Work, cycling, family, sleep. Pick three.

I am envious of my competitors who are retired and can both train and sleep all they want.

Our night ride was very nice. We did 37 miles, 1,477' of climbing and averaged 18.7 mph. Riding the fixie up the hills went very well, even better going up steep hills as compared to my riding buddies who shifting while I went right past them. I still need to get comfortable on descents as I would need to pull some brake when the pace got fast. I did hit a maximum of 33.8 mph which is over 150 rpm. The hardest part of the ride was the last 1/3 when we were on flats and the group started a pace line at around 24 mph. The cadence I needed to maintain the pack speed was high and after about 10-15 minutes I started to wear down. It was easier setting pace on the front than sitting in for some reason. On my last pull I dug deep and kept it going for about 1.5 miles and even dropped 2 of the guys. It is fun riding the fixie and I am learning how it will make me a better racer. When I get into the rhythm of pushing down and pulling up on the pedals at the same time the bike just flies as compared to my riding buddies on some sections.

I did a noon ride with my wife up Mount San Bruno -z4 effort. It was a beautiful day and the mountain right next to my wife's head is Mount Diablo across the bay.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...keSanBruno.jpg

As winter settles into Wyoming, your picture reminds me of better times when I lived in SF. What a great place to live and ride!

IP, I have to agree. As much as I like southern California's weather, the bay area has magnificent riding and terrain with very good year round weather. Mount San Bruno is approximately a 10 minute ride from my wife's office to the start of the climb. And this climb is used in the first USA cycling race on January 1st. The climb is splint into two sections. The lower half is 5 to 8% and the upper section 8 to 10% grades. Typically, I use the lower half to spin a little faster and use the upper half for lower cadence strength work.

Last night after climbing, I went to the gym and did an upper body and core workout plus stretching and foam roller.

The bike and her kit couldn't possibly be better coordinated. Great shot!

Thanks, AZT... The bike also matches the green in her Altovelo team kit.

Basement season has begun. 1 hr on the rollers and 1 hr of core/resistance work. I'm starting the core/resistance work a few weeks early and only doing 1 set of the usual with the intention that when starting up in December will be easier.

Rocked some endurance miles today. Got a couple of more weeks of preparation phase to go and then start base December 12th. My goals for 2012 are the SCNCA Masters 65+ TT Championship in March and Nats 65+ crit championship in Sept.

Just a reminder about recovery time at our age. We need recovery days (z1 riding) during each week and every 4th week should be a recovery week (z1 riding).

45 minutes on the trainer all z1 higher cadence.

My spin class instructor told me to "stay home" today. She said I work "too hard" and "need rest" before the run on Sunday. She knows me better than I know me!

You're supposed to tell her she's a wuss and to HTFU. Haven't you learned anything here? :D

AzT, I'm a slow study!

It's 5AM Sunday Nov 20 - at 7AM the half marathon starts. Red and her SO are here, along with 8000 of their friends - including me! The weather looks not good, rain in the area, 48 degrees right now. So what - HTFU - right?

Yay...

Always!

So how did it go?!?

3 hrs on a fixie group ride. Nice steady pace with everyone riding as planned and no "races".

So Coach met me (and one of her other Arizona athletes) at my gym for core and legs resistance training. We went through a large number of exercises, with her demonstrating perfect form, and me clumsily attempting them. She is, well, a rock. A rock with perfect balance and coordination. I'm neither of those things. My butt hurts, my sides hurt, my abs hurt and my hamstrings hurt. She disdains machines of any kind, only uses benches in ways they weren't designed for, and has more ways to use a Swiss ball than you would think are possible. Everything is a 'multi-task' exercise, and always involves balancing. Like bridging between your feet, on the Swiss ball of course, and your head, and doing triceps extensions with dumbbells, while she repeatedly insists that you keep your abs rock hard and your butt up so you are perfectly straight. The advanced routine adds hamstring curls done by pulling the ball towards you with your feet.

It was yet another eye-opener, showing me what being truly 'fit' looks like. Egads!

I tried to use the Bullshifters ride as part of my base yesterday, but it pointed out the difference between people who are all about focused training (racers) and those that epitomize the "let's pretend we are racers and surge ahead while looking really cool!" At 22mph? Gimme a break. Drove me absolutely crazy, as I was trying to maintain as even a pace as possible, and it was supposed to be a B group that stayed together. The ride leader had even asked if anyone wanted to head off first for an A group, and nobody did. But the club keeps things loose, and that's what happens. I finally decided to make a point, and, after pulling the main group up to the surgers at the base of a hill, I just rode past them, dropped everyone that tried to hang on, and waited for them at the top. Thereby ensuring a lecture from Coach for blowing a z2 ride all to hell and gone. And of course it didn't change anything. If I ever do the ride again, I'm going to volunteer to lead it, and organize a consistent pace line. Keep together except for climbs!

I added miles at the end to get up to 4.5 hours, then did a really consistent 2 hours of z2 today, on my "never break cadence or put a foot down" route.

A'Jet, can I join your group of steady Eddie's?

3 hour ride on Saturday that included a hill climb race. The roads were damp but the temperature was in the mid 50s. After a warmup, we did a 4 mile 7% climb. After more climbing, we did a long cold descent into the valley. Sunday, it rained and I did a 2 hour z2 trainer workout 5x20. Both days I went to the gym. Today, I did bridges, Roman chair and some ball plyometrics.