Athlete Blogs
October 31st, 2009Trick or Treat
Halloween - not exactly a major holiday in my mind, no kids of our own and I don't get dressed up. Kristy gets into it a little, and we have been handing out candy in between posting on facebook and doing some coaching work.Training this week - the usual. Get up early, ride hard for a while, come home. A few days this week it was a little cold and wet, and for some really odd reason I enjoyed riding outside. I actually equate the difficulty and "hard man" approach of riding outside in the early (dark) AM to doing workouts on the rollers. Both are hard, solitary right to the point. The best (outdoors) is actually not having any type of rain start until you are cooling down and only a few minutes from home. You totally get cool points from the wife when sees you rolling into the neighborhood in the dark, fog and rain after your workout. Well, at least I got some points for that.
This morning I did a few efforts on the rollers, mainly to make sure I still "could" go hard inside. I has been so long that I have started to really worry about my ability to do so. This is really funny, because this past spring I was practically terrified of doing interval work outside after a winter of riding indoors. Of course it is a little different but indoors and out, it's all good and there is nothing to worry about.
This afternoon I took a short ride to get some sun and on the way home I met up with Kristy and cooper who had been out walking for an hour. Kristy let cooper loose and I clocked the little guy at 18.5 MPH max speed. He was so excited to run next to me, very cute. Once we got home he found a nice cool spot on the kitchen tile and took a nap!
The new giant continues to impress me and I look forward to writing a complete review. I will have a second SRM shortly, which will allow me to make a direct comparison to the look 595 at the same time. There is, however, no question about Di2. I won't have a bike without it. As of this moment, I will either have 2x giant TCR limited or one giant (race bike) and the look 595 (training bike) plus a TT bike.
This past month has gone relatively well, a steady increase in power, good feelings on the bike and an overall feeling of being strong. OCT is typically the easiest month on the calendar for most racers, myself included. Having said that, OCT 1st was still the first day of 2010 prep. NOV will be a step up, higher % on the intervals, slightly more time at/near threshold, digging a little deeper. As my good friend goldman says, "time to make the donuts"....not time to eat them. I'm not eating any donuts and I train while you sleep. Think about that ;) There was actually a "no fear" t-shirt back in the early 90s that said something to the effect of "faster stronger longer, I train while you sleep" that I deeply regret not buying. So fitting to many here at PE. I might have to get some CCT t-shirts that say that. Now that I think about it, we will. Given my client base I can't think of a more appropriate saying.
A relative that lives long route 119 asked Kristy the other day if Pete had a headlight on his bike - that thing is visible for miles! I like being a fixture on my particular 15 mile stretch of route 119 almost every morning. 99% of the time - it's me, early AM, out and back on the same stretch of pavement. I'd have it no other way.
On the team CCT front, we are just about ready to finalize our clothing design and submit our order for 2010 - nice and early, meaning we will have kits before most teams even get their orders in. Fun stuff. If anyone reading this is interested, email me asap to get more info.
On the coaching front, I have sincerely enjoyed working with all of our athletes, it has been great fun and many have become really good friends. The relationships I have forged have been so much fun, so interesting and fruitful, I am truly grateful for the privileged to work with such a great and diverse group of guys.
A funny aside is that one of my guys, who is probably too busy sewing up an aorta to read this - came to me with a very concerned email the other day. He was worried because his power was so much higher than a year ago, that he felt like it was coming on form too fast - worried that he would burn out. The funny thing is for the last 6 weeks we have been doing some low intensity work, mostly 80 to 90% stuff. It is a wonderful thing when you work steady and hard for weeks and months - and one day all this power just shows up. I personally feel like I have to fight for every watt, but as I have often told guys, don't expect fitness to increase on a steady linear trajectory. It wont. There are ups and downs, but consistency and hard work win out over the long term hands down.
Another thing I found striking the other day, I was selling a pr of wheels to a guy I race against and he was telling me he was putting in lots of slow miles, "putting in the miles". My immediate thought was that my body already knows how to go long and slow, I can do that any day of the week. What it needs to know how to do better is to go fast, long and fast, short and blistering fast and just plain hard. I'm working endurance tomorrow. 60 minutes, 92% of threshold, no coasting. After doing countless workouts like this, it's not hard anymore, it's just work. It's not like you are blowing up, suffering in pain - but just working hard. Probably easier than doing squats and deadlifts then trying to ride 4 hrs though. NO question about it actually, I've been there and have no desire to go back.
On other fronts, work is great, Kristy and cooper are great, life is good on sam snead drive. Let's hope it continues to be that way.
Hope everyone is doing well, enjoying this time of year and getting excited about 2010! If this was too long, too self serving I apologize, but there isn't all that much to write about this time of year, so this is what you get.
Cheers,
Coach Pete
