training

with the start of my racing season fast approaching, and a "promise" that i'd write a bit more about what i do for training, i decided to babble-on about it this morning in an effort to delay studying for my Final Pysch exam.

in jan-feb i started gearing-up for daily riding, putting-in 25hrs in jan, mostly on the indoor, w/plenty of snowboarding mixed in, and some big clothes outdoor rides w/the studs. then 35hrs in feb w/some hill and snow rides; 40 solid hrs in march including plenty of hills and at least 15-20hrs of indoor spinning. 50 quality hrs in april w/the indoor rides as rest days, then 60+hrs this may. during race season 50hr wks are the norm, unless there is a lot of racing to be done, then more taper days. my base is still shakey and i'd really like to get 60+hrs this may before my season begins in earnest...

one missing element from my non-program program is rest wks. i'm terrible at taking time off. if i'm not hobbling around the house w/tired legs i feel like i didn't do enough, so i ride harder. time is always tight so my training has evolved into almost constant medium to medium-high intensity (ie., climbing hills), but never includes rest... i just don't enjoy it. for me, training is an organic experience. i ride how i feel... training is ingrained into my being. i started swim racing at age 7, messed around w/baseball for a cpl yrs (i was terrible), got back into swimming, then into competitive running for 6yrs, then competitive partying before finding cycling in my mid 20's. since then, i've simply felt my way through training, leaning upon yrs of experience to guide me naturally... i wonder if i could be doing more w/my time if i followed a plan based around HR zones, blah, blah, blah, but i dread that. i dread removing the natural flow of my training process; removing this need to work myself into the ground, then rest-up before a race and have the golden legs emerge in an almost mystical fashion. but it's not mystical, it's what works for me, however backwards and against standard methodology it may be...

i have to miss a cpl big races this yr due to family stuff, weddings, visits, etc (and i'm not complaining, i look fwd to those events), which makes me think my "organic" training method is perfect. if i can't dedicate myself to racing the way some others can, why take the "fun" out of training?

and of course, there's the part of me that wonders why i keep doing this at all? why not just buy a 6" travel bike, use my free lift serve pass and ride the downhill/xc at sugarbush all summer!? 'cause i'm a freak, i suppose, like all the other bike racin' freaks out there, from beginner to pro...