THREE WEEKS TO GO!

Another week of training complete and one week closer to the Joe Martin Stage Race.  I am not going to lie, the nerves are starting to build.  I have put a lot of emphasis on this race and have the goal to win the overall for the CAT 3.  Randomly I will get visions or thoughts of how the race will play out.  I get this pit in my stomach.  Those damn butterflies temporarily jumping around causing me anxiety.  But alas, I quickly ground myself and change any negative worries into positive visions of glories.  One interesting thing I have noticed over the past couple of months is this huge leap in confidence.  While I haven’t really raced a lot, whenever I ride I just feel stronger and confident I can handle my bike with great skill.  I don’t actually know how true it is but confidence is important in bike racing.  Confidence allows you to make those risky moves, dive into corners, and work hard when no one else will.
Alright, so visualization is one thing that is important in my lead up to the race.  The other obvious side of training is the physical side.  Last week I shared what my training looked 4 weeks out from the event. I figured I would just follow that up with data from every week, including the data from the race.
                What happened last week?  Well, the past month have been stressful due to selling a house and trying to close on another house.  The bank, Chase Mortgage, is really dropping the ball and making life extremely difficult.  I should have closed last Friday but due to them losing documents and not paying attention they caused two extensions.  You might wonder why that is important, because to the body stress is stress.  The body reacts the same way to stress from physical or mental side, releasing cortisol.  This affects recovery and the ability to train to the full potential.  Now, due to some meditation practices and overall resilient mindset most of these outside mental stressors are quickly reduced.  On the physical side, I started to suffer from some slight left knee pain.  The pain is kind of dull but gets better after warming up.  I have done some longer rides and hard intervals since the knee started hurting but never noticed the pain during the ride.  It is probably an early onset of tendonitis or other overuse injury.  Luckily, the condition of the knee has been on the up and up.  Every day the pain gets less as I move into a taper.  My official taper will start next week though and will last the work week.  I find that I don’t need a big taper to feel race ready and perform to my potential.
​
Monday
Goal: Day off.  Focus on recovery.  I watched Hacksaw Ridge and absolutely loved it.  Recommend it to anyone who is a fan of Saving Private Ryan.

Tuesday (Double Day)
Goal: Get the blood moving, add in some volume to the week, work on cadence.  Early morning workouts are brutal.  If anybody wants to try them I recommend setting your expectations low.
Workout Duration: 30 minutes
TSS: 13.0              IF:  0.51

​Goal: Upper threshold work and mental fortitude by using trainer to complete intervals
Workout Duration: 1 hour 45 minutes
Workout: 4 x 10 minutes in Z5 (400w)
TSS: 114                IF:  0.82
Comments: Legs were tight and fatigued coming into the workout.  Missed my wattage on the final 2 intervals.

Wednesday
Goal: Endurance & Recovery on Trainer
Workout Duration: 1 hour 20 minutes
Workout: General ride w/ mixed cadence.  Mostly Z1-Z2
TSS: 43.0              IF: 0.59
​
Thursday
Goal: Crit training through 30 second intervals.  Controlled high power output for 30 seconds
Workout Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes
Workout: 30 x 30 seconds Z6 w/ 90 second recovery
TSS: 111.3            IF: 0.83

Friday (Double Day)
Goal: Get the legs spinning.  Add in one 3-5 minute Z5 interval
Workout Duration: 40 minutes
TSS: 28.5              IF: 0.65
Goal: Easy lunch ride to focus on recovery
Workout Duration: 1 hour
TSS: 33.5              IF: 0.60

Saturday
Goal: Sprint work out on the road
Workout Duration: 1 hour 45 minutes
Workout: 2 x [4 x 10 second sprints] w/ full recovery  
TSS: 80.7              IF: 0.68

​Sunday
Goal: Endurance ride with some “race pace” work in second half
Workout Duration: 4 hours
Workout: 20 minutes warmup; 60 minutes Z3; 6 x 10min SST; 3 x 3min Z5
TSS: 235.9            IF: 0.79

---

Total Week Stats:
Time: 12 hours 27 minutes
TSS: 660.5
Work: 10573 kJ
IF: 0.73