Starting to Train

The first week of training is in the bag. Not a huge week, at 9:30, but all things considered I’m happy to get that amount of time in. Coming off being sick last week I was tempted to push the start of the training back a week, but since the week was pretty mellow until Saturday I went for it. Most of the training scheduled was low intensity and short time. Yesterday was a field test to benchmark my fitness for the rest of the block. Twenty minutes all out and man did I feel it.

I managed a pretty solid ride though, heart rate average of 180bpm and an average speed of 22mph. I rolled out miles 0-3 and 3-6 at 8:07 and 16:14, so even splits. The last mile + was painful and slow but not terrible. Today I did a 3:00 ride; I don’t think I’ve spent that much time on the bike since the last race at Winter Park. All in all I’d consider it a good starting point for working with a new coach (kind of). I bought a pre-built plan from Lynda W (http://www.lwcoaching.com/) so there is someone besides me behind the plan/work. I’ll see how it goes but the overall plan seems well put together so I’m excited for it.

Another tough week ahead for training (and really the week after) with a trip to Chicago this week and Thanksgiving next after that I should be able to really settle in for training up until Christmas. At some point the miles this early should pay-off and I’m not going to force these first few weeks. I’ve got enough freedom and flexibility that I can finish 80-90% of the work no problem just by shifting things a day or two. This week I’m going to ride Monday through Wednesday, shifting the plans rides that were scheduled Tuesday through Thursday. Wednesday is a travel day and Thursday is packed in meetings from 8-7:30 so it will be a recovery day. Friday I should be able to sneak in the planned ride and next weekend will be big miles again. Already looked at the forecast and it is suppose to be nice which will make the miles easy.