January 2012

So, having spent much of last month reading about training and racing, I was able to piece together my training schedule for the year.
I decided to start with the periodization and macro-cycles from Joe Friel's Cyclist Training Bible, using the sample workouts and techniques from Training/Racing with a Power Meter.

Also acquired a new trainer, the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine. At first I thought I made a mistake buying it; touted by many online as the best trainer to perform high wattage intervals, I was disappointed to spin out past 900W - cadence of 173! I've since tightened the resistance unit, ordered the larger flywheel, and decided that for true 5-10 second max power tests I'll have to be on the road.

It was definitely a difficult month, between work and family stressors, and long base hours indoors. That said, I feel stronger on the bike and am seeing my various interval maximums increased over December.
Started rest week now, and although I've mostly done endurance zone work, I feel I could improve on my FTP test.

This month has continued to pleasantly surprise me with above seasonal weather.
Yes, there was a solid week of -30, but it was surrounded by weeks in the plusses, even double digits!
Managed an outdoor ride with Mike and Darryl on the 8th, and a solo trek up the road to Nepal on the 29th!


Still waiting for ABA to release their calendar for the year so I can finalize my training dates, and decide on which triathlon I could do. I'm thinking about the Lake Chestermere sprint in mid July, and possibly the one in Banff in September.

Numbers for January:

• Bike: 38 hours, 24 workouts, 208 outdoor kms
• Run: 4 hrs, 6 workouts, 45 kms
• Swim: 2 hrs, 4 workouts
• Total: 44 hours

December 2011, Brief Year In Review

Eric and I in Rabobank training ride

Totals for December:

• Run: 4 workouts, duration of 2:22, distance of 30 kms. Twice weekly maintained until the last 2 weeks of the year.
• Swim: 5 workouts, duration of 2:26. Also a 2 week break in final 2 weeks.
• Bike: 16 workouts, duration of ~26 hours, with ~720 kms. Included in this were 13 rides on the trainer, 2 on roads (love Houston winters!), and one mountain bike excursion with Vince and Eric (another one with just Eric on Jan. 1st but doesn't count toward December numbers.)

Vince and Eric at Meyer Park

Some notables of this month include

Amble with Angus
A 5-ish run for charity on a Friday morning, around Prince's Island. Several hundred runners, including Darryl and a whole posse from Mike's company.
With some slick cornering but otherwise nicely laid out circuit, I was very happy to record my personal best run speed at 4:09/km!

PowerMeter

Vince at Meyer Park

With this acquisition I have redefined my winter training/riding completely. I no longer rely on my winter commutes to exercise, which was turning out to be more of a stress reliever and bike handling workout than a good endurance ride. Now, in the basement, I'm finding stats and hockey and occasional sufferfest videos to keep me preoccupied. Also been good to do some FTP and other threshold testing to establish my baselines for 2012.

Eric at Meyer Park

Houston

Family vacation to Texas, included a couple of nice (outside) mountain and road bike rides. Feeling of good form but not pushed too hard on any of them. Good for December.

Eric at Huntsville Park

2011

On June 1st, I switched from MMR to Garmin Connect.
On December 1st, I added WKO+ to the repertoire, but am still using GC as well.

Yearly Totals: 

• Bike: 7600 kms, 276 hr (mostly attributed to a horrible Jan-Mar)
• Swimming: 8 kms, 8 h (only started in last 2 months)
• Run: 417 kms, 37 h

Huntsville State Park

Some notables:

• First triathlon, 
• First run race in a while, 
• First cyclocross race
• 10 Road Bike Races: BBF x 3, JayLap x 3, TdB x 2, Stampede Masters RR, Provincial RR.

November 2011

About to embark into the cold

Full speed into a plain white wall

Well, this month illustrated the glorious see-saw weather we can get in Calgary fall/winters.
Not complaining; every day of snow or wind storm was was succeeded with above an seasonal day!
I managed to best my October numbers in all 3 disciplines!

Every time I resigned myself that my dry-road commuting days were done for the year and I should prepare myself to ride indoors, everything thawed out again!
As for the swimming, I'm starting to feel more comfortable, doing as much as 4 straight pool lengths without a break.
Watched a great video of a world class swimmer, Grant Hacket doing freestyle that helped me focus on my glide and propulsion.

I've also begun doing some strength workout incorporating my former Crossfit exercises with bike sprints! Was sore for 3 days afterwards...



On the run-front, I've been doing some intervals with guys from work, and have registered for a 5k charity run on Dec. 16th, the Angus Ambler.

Finally, probably the most exciting development this month for my training was the acquisition of a Quarq CinQo Power Meter!
Took me months of deliberation and research, going with it's extensibility to use with my Road, Time Trial and Cross bikes, as well as it's accuracy and reliability (and availability - thus eliminating the Garmin Vector.)
I took it for my first ride on the trainer yesterday to perform an early winter FTP test.
Results were less than flattering and definitely lower than late August when I did my LT test with Jack.
Good motivation though!



A summary of my results this month:

• Swim
• 7 workouts
• 4 kms
• 3 hours
• Bike
• 27 workouts, including 3 indoor
• 592 kms
• 23 hours
• Run
• 8 workouts
• 60 kms
• 5 hours