Winter Training!

On Tuesday, last week, winter training began! Hooray! Who does not love spending hours on the trainer, staring at the wall, working on technique, building base, power, speed and endurance? I know I love my trainer. Well, not exactly. I just keep remembering that all the work I am putting in now will be worth it when the race season begins.

Last year, I entered winter training weighing close to 230 lbs. While I was building power into my legs, I was also trying to lose weight to get to my race weight for 180-185 lbs. Not the ideal situation for preparing for the upcoming season.

This year, I entered winter training at my race weight 180 lbs. Instead of having to worry about cutting weight, I only have to focus on building power, a much easier task at hand.

For winter training this year, I am incorporating the things that have been successful in the past for physical growth and performance. The winter prior to my shoulder injury, I spent one day a week riding my trainer for 4-6 hours, in addition to the other rides that Brent had. I have never felt that strong on my bike. Unfortunately, I destroyed my shoulder on my first ride back on the road of that season, which sidelined me for several weeks. In addition to the long rides, Brent added yoga to last year's training regime and I noticed huge gains in flexibility through that, something I plan to continue to do. After talking with Brent, the game plan he has me on has me doing the three training sessions at Emery's each week (Tuesdays 5:30-7pm, Thursdays 6-8am, and Saturdays 7-10am at the Milwaukee shop), one long ride of 3-6 hours (probably on Sundays), and lifting on Mondays and Wednesdays. It has been a while since I consistently lifted, but I always had huge gains in the past and know that it will help get those extra few mph in my sprints.

After the first week of winter training, I am definitely excited about where I can take myself this off-season. The legs feel great and are anxious to spend more time on the bike.

Word of warning: Regarding my training schedule/plan, each week and workout has a different purpose that repeats every 7 weeks. I am also not going 100% to allow my body to get used to what I'm asking (telling) it to do before I really ramp it up in about 6 weeks for the second cycle of the program. The first cycle is more about building base than killing myself. Also, while I took a week completely off my bike, I was still riding over 100 miles a week through mid November (thanks to our unusually warm Fall).

Now that the warning is out there, come join on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at the shop. And if you're interested in joining on any of my other workouts, just comment to let me know.

Happy training!