sarals 

It's okay, Chas - I gathered that about Clarkson. Still, his wit is entertaining. I am growing fond of 5th Gear, too - Vicki Butler-Henderson is my kind of gal!

We don't get much rain on the California Central Coast - I had no idea any part of the British Isles could be so dry as it is here.....

Hermes

Saturday 2:15 TT bike z4/z3 intervals TSS 143. Sunday 3:09 road bike z5 intervals TSS 203. Both days the weather was in the 60s, sunny and generally a lot of wind. My road form is returning (or has returned) to my 2010 road racing levels.

sarals 

One hour in the gym this morning (I'm becoming a Gym Rat) - 20 minute warmup on the spin bike followed by 45 minutes of strength training (two sets of each exercise). The jumping exercises are getting easier, as are the side planks.

caloso

Super mellow ride to work today on my old commuterized Hard Rock. Core work in the gym at lunch. Super mellow ride home.

shovelhd

A nice 37 TSS recovery ride in the low 60's with light wind. I know I am coming into some form when I feel great on these day-after rides.

revchuck 

Last week was pretty much a lost cause in terms of training. I had a good ride Tuesday, then switched to night shift...and never got used to it. I got at most six hours of sleep/night. I tried one set of VO2 max intervals on the trainer, and quit after the first one. I basically felt like a coyote ate me and puked me over a cliff. I finished the night shift stuff early Sunday morning, took a two hour nap, went to visit with my brother and did an easy 15 miles with him on his Trek hybrid. I don't think my HR broke 100 for the whole ride, but we had a good time catching up. His GF cooked an excellent dinner, and I went back to the hotel and was in bed at 8:20. The alarm went off at 0500 this morning, and I shut it off and slept until 6:30 and could've used a couple more hours.

Nose returns to grindstone tomorrow.

CommuteCommando

Track class, final session last night. Rode the fixed to work due to logistics of making it to the track on time. Easy ride in. Part of commute to train station was along uncrowded MUP where I managed to get in a couple of brief z5 sprints. Class shortened by rain, but not before we got to do a flying 200. Was disappointing as I only took 0.1 sec off my time from the start of the class. Weather has me off the bike today. Gym tonight.

Hermes

CC, I lived in SD for 16 years. I looked at the weather.com for SD and other than maybe some wind, it looks great. From the middle of April to November, IMO, SD has some of the best weather in the world.

chasm54

Recreational ride with an ex-colleague and her husband today. Took me about 50 minutes at endurance pace to get to their place, then spent about three hours riding with them (not counting an hour for lunch) at recovery speed, then 3x12 sub-threshold intervals on my way home.

Nice day. One of the few things I dislike about training for racing is that in order to stick to the plan, get enough recovery etc. I can't just decide to go for a long ride whenever I want, like I used to. So it was nice to be able to work this in. It helps that this couple are by no means fast, so the training stress of just riding around with them is negligible.

AzTallRider

We do have to make some sacrifices, Chasm... I turn down a lot of invitations to fun rides, but the benefits makes up for it.

I started a base phase today, with 90' of JRA.

gsteinb

Day off: Feel fried today. Could have slept all morning.

sarals 

Day off. Folded clothes. I'll put the race wheels on tomorrow and make sure the rear derailleur is adjusted properly. Working on my head for Friday and Saturday, trying to talk myself into having good races....

AzTallRider

This is for Sea Otter, right?

Allegheny Jet

Trying to talk yourself into an effort is not the way to go Sara. Simply tell yourself that you have prepared yourself well and that you expect to have good races.

Hermes

My wife attended a business women's seminar today and was really impressed with one of the speakers. She shared a video with me that is similar to the talk by the same speaker. I think it is very interesting and valuable for many life situations including bike racing.

CommuteCommando

The weather sucks. Stay home.

Could have ridden this morning, but wimped. I do ride on weekends in rain, but not commuting to work. Too much to carry. Bad weather is not frequent enough to justify investing in a bike with fenders.

Used trainers in the gym this afternoon. The recumbent showed me spinning up to 600w (100 cadence setting resistance to 15 for about ten seconds) Don't know how accurate that is. It's a lot higher than the non-power meter estimate I get from my Garmin.

sarals 

It is...circuit on Friday, road race on Saturday - and it's supposed to be warm, although it *might* not be as hot as it was last year.

sarals 

I'm just trying to work up a "calm mantra", AJ. In my last race I realized I was wasting a lot of energy by being really amped up. My breathing was out of control and I was tense. This is all relatively new to me, and I'm trying/exploring different things. You make a great point.

My physical preparation is pretty good, certainly a LOT better than it was when I raced Sea Otter last year. But, now I let my head get in the way. That's part of the prep, getting my head right.

I'm watching the video Hermes posted next.

sarals 

Hermes, that was a very appropriate video. "Fake it till you make it".

Racer Ex 

Esteban58

Fake it till you BECOME it.

revchuck 

1:48 at endurance pace with intervals in the middle - 20 seconds all out sprint, 60 seconds recover, three minutes at LT, 60 seconds recover, three times with a sprint at the end. I'm still tired from the trip and weird hours, so this got my blood moving for the first time in almost two weeks - I felt more awake at the end than at the beginning. 136 TSS, .87 IF, 1113 kj. (At least I burned off the doughnuts from work...)

revchuck 

I don't see a TSS listed for the clothes folding.

I don't have anything pithy to add here. If you're going to kick your own ass, do it by pedaling your hardest, not by talking yourself off the back. You've already got your own personal cheering section here.

shovelhd

Sara, I'll leave you with one word, conserve. I don't mean race conservatively with your arms crossed and your hand on your neck, I mean consciously being aware of conserving energy. When things are rolling along, sit in nice and tight and suck wheel like a pro. When things string out, have confidence that you have the gas in the tank, and let it fly. When I think about conserving, it calms me down and helps me focus.

Best of luck to you.

sarals 

Guys, thank you - as always!