I've been thinking a lot about the end of the season lately. The season has started out strong with a good result at Willow and confidence building races at Runway but it is a looonnngggg season, eh? Many, many folk, (including some of my athletes), had great Willow TT times last year and ended up disappointed at Hines in August. I don't want that to happen this year.
Taking recovery weeks seriously has never been my strong suit. The thinking goes, "ride harder all the time and you will get better." This is where we get into trouble. This year I am going to take recovery seriously and this week I find myself right in the middle of a rest/recovery week after completing two build phases. I took two days off last week due to work and life but, reflecting, I needed that. I was dangerously close to being over trained. My legs were sore all the time. I didn't want to ride my bike, etc.. By Friday, I was locked and loaded again. People were asking me how I felt Saturday before the TT and all I could say was that I felt like a "coiled spring". I am learning that this is what proper rest and recovery can do for you after training hard. So this week is going to be fun. In 20 minutes I am heading out for an early morning coffee shop ride. The kind of ride that, on other weeks, would ring up magnificent guilt vibes. None of that today. I want to kill in August, (for my church friends this is bike lingo for ride fast!!). Regression in August would be so very disappointing so rest and recovery is going to be taken as seriously as any intense anaerobic capacity workout.
Further Reflections On STS 4
As I said in a previous post, the Lathrup team put on a clinic last Sunday. That is how I want to race this year. That was how it should be done. Yeah I know they are strong but we can rival their brute strength to a certain degree in the cat 3 field. We can potentially match their race savvy. In the cat 3 field, our team will be amongst the strongest this year. Joey will be able to do what Josh did in that A-field and we have the strength to support him. I hope we can get our guys out to Runway for the AAVC crit practices so we can hone these skills in practice races. Escapes, blocking, lead-outs, etc..
Time to head on out . TTFN
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
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2 comments:
Hello Darrell,
Yea, it's a long season.
I tell you, my favorite times of the year are April and the 4-6 weeks of August and the first 1/2 of Sept.
I usually take July off somewhat. Kind of funny, eh. July should be the biggest racing month of the year.
Take care,
Joe
I have a week off scheduled next month after Dexter, I think. The more I think about it the more essential this kind of recuperative rest is especially for us over the hill types. Chris Carmichal says, "Less pain, more gain." I think I know what he means now. Ride as hard as you can when the plan calls for it but take rest really seriously so that fitness can soar.
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