A few thoughts post-Banana.
First of all, I’ve discovered I like road racing more then I thought I would. A lot more. Those shots of adrenaline when you’re about to make a break…there’s just nothing like it. Seriously.
The build/power training I’ve been doing the last month has massively paid off, in a much bigger way then I could have imagined. I powered up those hills faster then anyone, it felt really great. If I keep at it, keep building up my power, I think I could really do some damage. Which means I need to go through and reevaluate my training program to make sure I peak for Elkhorn. It’s still early in the season, and as it stands, I’m going into the 2nd Build stage, and it’s only March. So I’m considering I might have to bring back the base-building a bit, albeit still concentrating on limiters. I have to keep my eye on the prize…it’s great to be able to power through 33 miles of Hagg Lake, but I need to able to race 200+ miles in one weekend. That takes an entirely different set of skills. I’m thinking a good thing to focus on in the following weeks would be long, hilly tempo rides, plus one set of those killer ladders on my trainer per week w/ plyo. I find one of my main limiters in the short races is sprinting. But at this point I’m not sure how much I really want to focus on that, plus i think the only good place to work on that is probably the track. And I seem to be lacking a track bike at this point.
Another idea is to simply have three build sequences. Keep the weekdays mostly the same and increase mileage on the weekends, if possible (might have to start riding more after weekend races). Also I need to get mountain biking in there…somewhere. I think I could probably work on my skills outside of my actual workouts (ie, go to a grassy park, set up cones and practice cornering). I’m a little hesitant to keep on doing the same thing, so I’ll have to find ways to make it harder, switch it up. If there’s anything I’ve learned over the last few months, its to make every week different.
So, here we go.
Monday: yoga
Tuesday: Tempo/Hills, 2 hours (outside)
Wednesday: Sprints/Hill repeats (?) 1-1.5 hours
Thursday: plyo + ladder intervals (trainer) 1-1.5 hours
Friday: yoga
Saturday: 70 mile team ride
Sunday: recovery ride 40 miles
