I feel pretty good about my training this week. I rode on the road a total of 91 miles. I rode 10 miles offroad. I went to swim class twice. On the whole that is between 9 and 9.5 hours of training total. Not a record or anything, but for me a pretty good load.
I was talking to Brian today(who owns a presently dismembered Lapierre identical to mine) and I mentioned that I had ridden around 100 miles this week and that today, mainly because of the singlespeed mountain ride, my legs felt sort of dead. He said something like "yeah a couple of weeks ago I did 350 miles in a week, I was toasted."
I immediately realized why he races Master A's and I have been in Master C's. He works much harder. There is just no way that I have the time to do so much riding in a week. I work four days a week. Bridget works two of the other days, and then there is church and other family stuff on Sunday. Plus the boys, I gotta spend my boys! I can see where I could get it up to somewhere in the 150's and still do my swimming class, but dang....you are the man Brian, what can I say.
There is another guy who comes in to the shop a bunch. His name is Robert and he is from Eastern Europe. The dude just rides. All the time. Last weekend he rode 215 miles in one day. It took him around 9.5 hours if I remember right. And he isn't training for anything. He just will decided to ride from Portland down to Cannon Beach and back. Or from Portland to Sisters, Oregon and back. No big deal to him. he just rides to ride. And he does it all with minimal stuff. He rides either his Campy C40 or C50 bikes with full Record groups and with just a bit of food, a tube or two and that is it. Crazy stuff man.
I don't feel too bad. I just have to train smart, and I know that I am continually getting in better shape. I am not discouraged by the fact that Brian can ride so much in a week, but I have a healthy respect for him and that amount of riding. I can see why he is able to hang with the guys in Master A's--and why last year I was in the back third of Master C's.
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You'd be surprised at how little you actually need to train for cross during the season, assuming you get in a good foundation prior to the season. Between races, just getting recovery from the intensity takes time. If you actually work full time and have a life, there isn't really a need to train more than 5-6 hours a week. Works for me in the A's! Rest/Recovery=training.
Thanks for the words of advice.
I think that what mostly had been hurting me was extra weight. Last year I was sitting about 13 to 15 pounds heavier than where I am right now. By the time cross season comes around I hope that continues to about 20 pounds lower. I ride much more than I did last year. I think it will be a good season for me.
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