Movement

Today marks the end of the stagnant sunrise.  Although the sunset has been pushed back about 20 minutes already, the sunrise continues to arrive later and later until it just sits at 6:53 a.m. for about a week.  Tomorrow it will begin coming sooner and sooner.  By the 25th I'll almost have enough light in the afternoon to switch my training schedule to take advantage of longer afternoons, which mean longer rides.  Spring won't be far behind.

I've been training with a power meter now for two months.  My coach has me working harder than I'd ever be working at this time of year, and probably harder already than I'd ever push myself in this systematic a fashion.  I'm not going to bore you with an old guy's wattage numbers, but I will say they've improved remarkably in the two months I've been doing this.  And I don't feel I'm over training in any way.  Basically, two days a week I do threshold intervals; one five minute full throttle interval, and then two twenty minute intervals going about 90-95%.   It's hard, but once I've opened up my legs with the first one, I just concentrate on keeping the wattage where it's supposed to be while maintaining as smooth a cadence as I can.  I typically look for an uphill grade to do them on, it seems "easier" for me that way. My weekly mileage is about 250-260 miles, depending, with a long, climbing intensive Saturday ride.  Everything is improving.  Cadence, smoothness, the numbers, it's amazing.  I never would have guessed it would make such a difference.  Next week I'll head to St. George, Utah for three, possibly four days training with my club.  It should be interesting to see how I fare with them this year, given the pre-season preparation I've been on.  Nine months to Everest Challenge!

Some stats for 2011:

Miles for the year: 14,201 (22,864 KM)
Lifetime miles: 433,139 (697,193 KM)
Golf balls?  That question will be answered (by one of you!) next post
Sun bonnets?