Season planning

Not much exciting stuff happening riding wise these days. I made a quick recovery from Sunday’s epic mtn bike ride. On Monday I did a nice easy walk with the dog in the morning followed up with a REALLY easy spin on the trainer while watching Scrubs Monday night. The legs felt tired but decent, it was my ass that needed some help. Sitting on a bike seat felt like I was sitting on a belt sander. Yowser. Sitting upright eased the pain enough that I was able to spin for the ½ hour. Tuesday and Wednesday consisted of my commuting for work so allowed me to shake the last of the cobwebs out and today I feel pretty darn spiffy and am planning a quick lunchtime spin with a co-worker. It rained buckets yesterday but I’m hopeful that the trails will be in good condition. We’ll find out.

I’ve also decided to bag the cx races this weekend in New Gloucester. I had hoped to hit one for shits-n-giggles but the weekend is filling up fast and that’s one thing that is easy to axe from the schedule. Sorry cx freaks. Also, since last weekends long ride, I’m beginning to realize (of course I’ve sort of known this for a while) that I really need to start focusing on longer races rather than short races. My body just isn’t wired for the quick, intense efforts required for a sport like cyclocross. It is, on the other hand, wired for long distance riding and racing. The longer a ride/race is, the better I typically do. With that in mind, I’m beginning to think about next years race schedule and I think I might try to incorporate some 6, 12 & 24 hour races and bag some of the shorter races I typically do. It’ll be nice to race at some new venues and will allow me to use my natural abilities to a greater extent. I’ll still do some shorter xc races but will be a bit more choosy about which I do. The two Camden races will definitely still be on the list as well as Bradbury (especially since they say it will be close to a 50 miler next year) but the all the others are more iffy.

Of course, with my potential change in focus for next year, I really need to start thinking about getting a real training plan going. I’ve gandered a bit at Training Peaks and it seems to have potential. I think that with just the tiniest bit of structure next summer, I’ll be able to improve my results without a significant increase in time involved. Of course I said the same thing this spring and I never did get structured but next year I will. Really.