White Ranch early on Sunday morning. It was still pretty cold out when I was riding and nobody else was out on the trails.

So, should I do a wrap up of the week or the month for this update? I hate when the month and the week end on the same day, it takes away a post idea. Given how challenged I can be with posting any changes can confuse me.

For February I had another pretty solid month of riding. Starting off with a long 95 mile ride the first week to really work to challenge myself. The highlight in some ways of the month was the ride last Sunday with Kelly where I was finally able to hang. February ended with a total of 576 miles. Given the 95 I put in on one ride alone it seems a little light for a total but I did fit in a week with essentially no training during the week for some much needed rest. Total for the year is 1,246 (though this is kind of a false number since for me “the year” of training started in November, the problem being I wasn’t paying attention to my miles then) is a solid start for the year. I’m still on pace for a big mile year with 7,400+ looking pretty realistic. If I ever put in a big ride or two during the week an 8,000 mile year may happen.



The views from White Ranch are pretty sweet of the city, this is actually a herd of deer. There were a ton of deer out today and just me on the trails.

For the week I put in a few good efforts, though nothing crazy. I spent a lot of time working on tempo rides (just below threshold, a level that can be ridden at for extended periods of time). Two of my weekday rides were tempo focused and my ride yesterday was tempo plus a super hard effort on Lookout Mountain. I rode Lookout in 24 minutes flat. This is the fastest time of the year, but still not great from a perspective of what is fast on Lookout. I think the time will drop pretty quickly over the next few weeks as I start to add some intensity to the riding. I spent this morning on a quick mountain bike ride at White Ranch. It is crazy how nice the trails are now. Prime riding except for a couple of patches of ice. I was riding without an Ipod today (very unusual for me) and had Danny’s Song by Kenny Loggins stuck in my head…”…Pisces, Virgo rising is a very good sign…”. Certainly not my normal riding music, but fit the ride pretty good today and made the climbs less painful. I really never got into a grove on the climbs, mostly I think I was fried from yesterday, up early riding and cold makes it tough to feel great.



White Ranch looking east toward Denver.

Overall though I'm feeling like the training is moving in the right direction. There are still a lot of weeks to go before the first race so the speed and intensity can be brought along at a slower pace.