Almost Time To Plan For Next Year's Race Season

I have come to the conclusion this week, that the reality of finding a road race to finish off the season of 2011 is very slim. While I am very happy with the way the few races I was able to enter went, I am very disappointed that I was not able to race more often. Granted, my lack of races early in the season was slightly out of my control. It is always tough to schedule races during the track & field season and of course getting hit by a car will put a damper on plans for several weeks. Despite the lack of races, I am extremely happy about the way my training has been going this year. I know with another 7-8 months of training under my belt, the 2012 season will get off to an amazing start. I am hoping to be out of Cat 5 by the end of June into July. That will mean taking advantage of every weekend early in the spring around the track & field schedule to get some starts.

Training this past week has been very good. We managed to avoid some of the forecasted rain for the week and I was able to get outside all but one day. The only day inside was yesterday and that was because of our cross-country meet and I need to ride before I head to school to meet the team to catch the bus. Of course at 5:30AM when I start riding it is dark!!! I figure I will ease back on the mileage soon to freshen up for the next training year.

New training totals:

Week - 7 rides/ 250 miles/ 11hours 22minutes/ 22.0mph/ 2313 feet of climbing
September - 26 rides/ 947 miles/ 43hours 46minutes/ 21.5mph/ 15,299 feet of climbing
Year - 275 rides/ 9733 miles/ 456hours 00minutes/ 21.4mph
Average per ride - 35.4 miles/ 1hour 39minutes

This week's goals:
245-275 miles/ 11-13 hours/ 3000-5000 feet of climbing

In October I also want to start to add a few days (2-3) of running and resistance training each week. As strong as I have felt on the bike this past year, I know a little more power in the legs will go a long way.

TdO '12!

Running Out Of Chances To Race On The Road!

It is hard to believe that the opportunities to race on the road are dwindling every week. It is also made tougher with my teams racing on Saturdays and it seems that most bike races are on that day. While I did get to start 3 races and have a pretty good showing in each race (minus the crash with the car!), I wish I had more chances to race especially with how strong I have felt on the bike the past month or so. I also know that the crash cost me 4-5 opportunities to race due to recovery and waiting on new bike. While I may not have moved up from Cat 5 this summer, I would have moved up early next spring and not have to deal with a lot of the chaos of Cat 5 races. The year is not over yet and I am already looking forward to a dominating season on the road next year!

Training this week went very well. We did manage to avoid a lot of rain and no flooding like the previous week. The one change was much cooler weather rolled in late in the week and made for a chilly 4045 degree ride this past Friday. It was a welcome change. Today was another beautiful day with temperatures in the upper 50's for most of the ride and bright sunshine. On Wednesday, I had one of best workouts on the new bike. I had two long steady segments during a ride of 35 miles. The first segment was 12 miles averaging 24mph after a 1/2 mile spin I began a 15 mile segment where I averaged 25.03mph!!!! In all I averaged over 23mph for the 35 mile ride.

New training totals:

Week - 7 rides/ 251 miles/ 11hours 38minutes/21.6mph/ 5,344 feet of climbing
Sept - 19 rides/ 697 miles/ 32hours 23minutes/ 21.4mph/ 12,986 feet of climbing
Year - 268 rides/ 9483 miles/ 444hours 38minutes/ 21.4mph
Average per ride: 35.4 miles/ 1hour 39minutes

Goals for this week
250-275 miles/ 11-13hours/ 5000+ feet of climbing

I figure I continue on the series side of training for another 4-5 weeks and then start to drop some mileage and refresh for next year. I think the 2012 season of racing on the road will be a huge season!

TdO '12 - with another 8-10 months of training under my belt by next summer.....we know what the outcome will be!

Flooding And No Race!

Well, what a crazy week it was around here with rain and flooding! From Sunday to Thursday, Selinsgrove received nearly 10 inches of rain and with living along the river and the rest of Central PA getting hammered also, that meant some extreme flooding of the Susquehanna River. It also meant that from Tuesday to Thursday, I was stuck on the indoor trainer. Man, I am already dreading winter training as it can be so mind and ass numbing riding the indoor trainer. The weather did not effect training for the team. We were able to get all workouts although as much as I don't like using the track during XC season, it was the only safe place for the team to workout. This upcoming Saturday, we will be running our annual Ashley Tomlinson Alumni 3 Mile Run. We are expecting a decent amount of alumni as this year marks the 50th season of cross-country at Susquehanna University.

Also due to the flooding, I, as well as many others, decided to not partake in the Milton Harvest Festival 28 Mile Road Race. Milton, PA was hot harder than Selinsgrove with the flooding from the Susquehanna River. For two days, people could not even get into or out of Milton. I had never seen anything like this. Well, the race organizers decided that were going through with the race regardless even though none of them could even get out to see the course prior to race day and even said on facebook " the race was still on even though it maybe a disaster zone." It may have turned out well but that was a chance I was not willing to take given that it was the same organization that directed the race when I was struck by a car because an intersection was no manned. I decided to get a quality ride instead on yesterday!

Training went very this week despite the 3 days on the trainer. I was able to keep some decent mileage but obviously the hill climbing suffered this week. Hopefully we will raise that back up this week. I am still searching out some rides or races to finish off the season then get into cyclocross. Today, I finished the week off with my longest ride on the new bike. I did a 58 mile ride with a few decent climbs at 21.6mph.

New training totals:

Week - 7 rides/ 263 miles/ 11hours 48minutes/ 22.30mph/ 2699 feet of climbing
Sept - 12 rides/ 446 miles/ 20hours 44minutes/ 21.70mph/ 7374 feet of climbing
2011 - 261 rides/ 9232 miles/ 433hours 00minutes/ 21.50mph
Avg per ride - 35.4 miles/ 1hour 39minutes/ 21.50mph

This week's goals
250-275 miles/ 12-14 hours/ 7000+ feet of climbing (& no flooding!)

As soon as I figured some rides or races (if any), I will be blogging about them!

Keep training hard and smart!

TdO '12!!! He should have taken me down this year while he had the chance!

Milton Road Race Almost Here/1st Meet In The Books For SUXC!

Things are rolling along both with my training and the cross-country teams' training. This past weekend the teams opened up at Bucknell University in a non-scored meet with Bucknell, Bloomsburg and Juniata. It was a two loop 3 mile race that includes a couple hills that the runners and to climb twice during the race. Both teams accomplished a few of the goals we had set prior to the meet. Time goals were kind of thrown out the window with the muggy conditions that morning. The team is now off until our alumni run on September 17th. The next major race will be the Dickinson College Long/Short Race on September 24th. On that day some of the team will run a 4K while the rest will run 6K (women) or 8K (men).

Link to meet story and results:
http://www.gosusqu.com/sports/mxc/2011-12/releases/0903_bison_open_recap

My training on the bike continues to go extremely well. This past week may have been one of my strongest weeks on the bike. I had an amazing workout midweek where I had two 15 mile segments at roughly 24mph with just a mile easy spin between the segments. I also got a good amount of climbing during the week with one of my highest week totals in a few weeks. I also did a solid double yesterday and followed it up with a nice long and hilly 54 mile today. I am prepping for the Milton Harvest Fest 28 Mile Road Race this upcoming Saturday. Now I have not official registered for the race but that is just a formality and I will admit, I am kind of waiting to see the weather forecast!

New Training Totals:

Week - 8 rides/ 297 miles/ 14hours 14minutes/ 20.9mph/ 8225 feet of climbing
August - 31 rides/ 1.164 miles/ 55hours 39minutes/ 20.9mph/ 26,345 feet of climbing
Year - 254 rides/ 8969 miles/ 421hours 12minutes/ 21.40mph
Avg per ride: 35.3 miles/ 1hour 39minutes

This week's goals given cooperative weather:
Milton Harvest Fest 28 Mile Road Race
250-275 Miles/ 13-14 hours of riding/ 7,000+ feet of climbing

Course for next week's race:
http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/22906538

Keep training hard and smart

TdO '12 - Hopefully an Epic Event!