Last weekend was a bit of a struggle to hang on and get in what I had on my schedule. It was the end of my second three-week base training block and I was feeling pretty ragged. Saturday morning I hit the pool with teammates and training partners Danielle, Luke, Ed, Jason and Mike. It was nice having them there to help push that little bit harder. We swam a main set of 6×300 with a variety of equipment and strokes. All 3oo’s were swam competitively and near race pace.

Following the swim we all hit the snow covered trails for a 90 minute run up, down and around Green Mountain. This really put me over the edge. The ankle deep snow in many areas made the run extremely slow and heavy on the strength side of things. Footing was all over the place and the conditions really took a toll on my already tired body. I was so grateful to see the end as my body was waiving the white flag. Once I got home, ate and showered, I fell asleep for nearly two hours! Later that evening I headed out for a light ride to try to loosen things up a bit.

Sunday came and it was off to meet the group again for another week of strength climbs on the road bike. I couldn’t meet my past weeks power goals for the first interval and decided to to just ride the climbs moderately and not risk getting sick or injured. I loosened up over the course of the ride, but again was relieved when rolling into my driveway. I called off my transition run due to an aching back, sore feet and general stiffness all over. I guess I’m ready for a recovery week? Ah lucky me, I have one on my schedule this week!

Here is my recovery week plan: Monday I took off training completely. Tuesday through Thursday will consist of light activity. I will swim (lightly) 2 days, run (short) 2 days, ride (easy) 2 days, yoga all 3 days, and include a trip to the chiropractor and massage therapist to get my body tuned-up. By Friday I hope to feel good again and get in some longer endurance training over the weekend to have me ready for full training again next week. I find taking 4 days light are enough to allow for recovery. Then the rest of the week I get back to training easy and “wake” my body back up before getting back to regular training. I have found that taking a full recovery week, I feel sluggish and it takes several days to get my mojo back. Everyone is different with how much recovery they need and the only way to figure it out is via trial and error. Some folks need more recovery, some less. Try different strategies to see what works best for you.

CW

Scheduled workouts went out the window today in favor of hitting the snow for 20″ of fresh powder on Green Mountain behind my house. In the past, a snow covered day would have bummed me out because it meant I was going to have to hit the trainer or treadmill to get in my scheduled training. You see, I used to be very rigid about my training and had to get in everything as it was written, either by my coach or myself. If it said, 4 hour ride with strength intervals, then I would hit the trainer for at least three hours and get in the strength intervals. If it said, 2 hour endurance trail run, then I would hit the gym for rotations of 20 minutes treadmill, 10 minutes stair-climber to hit the mark.

But now, the new me, I relish the opportunity to cross-train during the General Prep and Base periods of training (aka the “off-season”). This year especially, I have taken big steps to implement cross-training into my plan, as seen by my scheduled weekly trip to the mountains for skate-skiing. The idea is to keep things fun and interesting while still focusing on the important parts of these training phases: increasing training volume, developing aerobic endurance, and building functional strength. I have already become a firm believer in cross-training, and the more seasoned of an athlete you are, the more emphasis I feel you should put on it. If you are new to the sports of swimming, cycling and/or running, then you should focus on these sports in your off-season so you can become technically better at them and build the specific endurance and strength needed. However, if you already have several years of training under your belt in these sports, then the more you will benefit from doing different activities, using different muscles and building off-season fitness via cross-training. Then when the Race Prep phase comes you can get serious about your specific training and it will come back fast and you will be fresher and more excited about it rather than just plugging along for another several weeks of training in the same sports.

Having grown up in the Phoenix area and living in San Diego in my early cycling years, I never really had the opportunity to experience the different seasonal changes and take part in the activities that are available. Living in Colorado has really opened the door up for me and I wish I had begun to embrace these off-season snow-sports earlier in my life.

Well back to today…..

Kathy, myself, and our friend Adam DLP, hit the trails behind our house on Green Mountain. Adam and Kathy were on snowshoes and I decided to take the opportunity to try the back country skis I bought earlier this year and have only used once. Now, I am not a skier. I just really learned how to skate ski this year and have gotted fairly good at it. Skating howeveris on groomed trails and very flowy and fast. Back country is more strength oriented with big hills, breaking trail through deep poweder and sketchy downhills. Super fun workout! I must say I loved every minute of it.

We literally strapped on our snowshoes and skis in our driveway and headed down the snow covered sidewalk for a quarter mile and then were climbing the mountain! Super fun to ski out of the house and to the trails. The three of us went up and down the mountain for about and hour and half. Then when they went home, I headed back out for another two hours! All in all I got in 3.5 hours, only six miles, and over 5000 vertical feet of ascent! I am pretty shelled right now as I write this. Incredible workout.

Enjoy the pics……

Me and Kathy

Kathy (front) and Adam breaking trail

Me, out of balance

Me, catching on

Deer running across the hill

Me, making some turns!

Sick turns! (for a beginner)

Well it’s snowing and windy here in Denver. Everyone is freaking out! Schools are closed, businesses are closing, freeways are jammed, and the local news are extending “coverage” with non-stop news of what I’m sure will be soon referred to as the BLIZZARD OF 2009!

It’s funny. It’s like because we’ve been so unusually dry and warm the last few months, that everyone has forgotten that it does indeed snow in Denver, Colorado. Oh my gosh! DOn’t get me wrong, it is snowing hard and it accumulating quite nicely. At my house there is already about 8 inches on the ground since this morning. They are calling for a total of 10-18 inches by tomorrow morning before the sun returns. 10-18 inches? Good storm for sure, but people are acting like it’s a going to be record breaker or at least 30 inches + that “big” storms are capable of here in the city. Oh well. I must admit, it’s kinda fun and exciting to follow the progress!

And yes my training has been effected today, but actually it will work out well for me. I was really tired heading into my scheduled run and swim this morning. I hit the treadmill for some threshold paces intervals. A third of the way through I had to pull the plug becuase I wasn’t able to hit my target paces. Too fatigued. I took a short break in the locker room and geared up for the swim session I had planned. During the warm-up I was feeling stiff, sore and tired. However I began to warm-up and settle into my 4×500 strength set. Then halfway through I was interrupted by a lifegaurd telling me that the rec center was closing for the day due to the storm. What? I asked for 20 more minutes and they said, sorry, but you need to exit the pool.

Initally I was upset, but then I collected myself and decided that this may have all happened for the better. I got in a short run and a short swim and could treat this day as a recovery day. By tomorrow I hope to feel better and ready to hit it hard through the weekend.

I may need to get the snowshoes out for tomorrows run! Should be fun.

CW

Views from my balcony!

It is finally dumping snow in the mountains today. Good thing for the mountains, not so good for me since I was planning to get my Nordic on today with some skate skiing. I’ll take the snow right now as we need it bad. Down here in Denver it was dry but chilly and windy with the front heading our way for tomorrow. Hopefully we’ll get some snow out of it as well. Can you believe I am saying that? I can’t. But we need it.

In replace of the skiing I hit the trails near my house at Green Mountain for some riding on the new bikes. There is a fun 45 minute singletrack loop that has it all: smooth fast sections, rocky sections, power climbs, sustained climbs, descents, and it’s all fun. I decided I would hit the loop three times on three different bikes and see how times compared. In between each loop I would stop at my house, switch bikes, use the restroom, guzzle some water and eat an energy bar.

I started on the cross bike (I got some new No Tubes 29′er wheels for it that I can run tubeless cx tires, sweet!). I love my custom Serotta cross-bike I had it made last winter. It is so fun to free-road it all over the front range linking together trails and roads for epic adventures. Riding a CX bike on singletrack improves your bike handling skills like you wouldn’t believe! You learn how to pick a smooth line and maintain controlled speed by flowing with the trail rather than smashing through everything in your way. I rolled my loop in 44:30. The tubeless tire set-up was killer. 34 psi on 35c knobbies with 1450 gram wheels was a treat.

Next up was the ARC hardtail. Bigger tires, lower pressure, front suspension and a more compact upright position increased speeds on the downhills and rocky sections right away. I rolled the second loop in 43:30.

Last up was the ASR Carbon. Same tires, pressure, and position with the added comfort or rear suspension. The bike seemed to climb well, handle well and as expected descend the rough stuff well. My third lap came in at 42:30.

Now this was by no means a scientific test. I did my best to go by feel and keep effort levels similar. However without a powermeter or even an HRM today it was all pretty unscientific. Still interesting to take note. Each bike was about 1 pound heavier than the preceding, 17.5 cx, 18.5 ARC, 19.7 ASR, and 1 minute faster. Starting out on the first lap I’m sure I needed some time to warm-up, and the second half of the third lap I was getting hungry. Regardless it was a fun test. All three bikes rode great. I will have to attempt some more formal testing between the ARC and ASR in the future to see which bike really climbs faster, descends faster, and feels faster so I know which bike to choose for what race.

Okay, after eating some lunch, taking a bit of rest and catching up on some work, I’m off to the gym for some strength training. High reps are on the schedule today. Then I’ll be ready for dinner!

Post Ride Lunch: Breakfast Tacos. (scrambled eggs, jack cheese, diced potatoes, red peppers, avocado, hot sauce on three open faced corn tortillas)

CW

Check out these sick cranks….

ROTOR Agilis 2×9 w/ Wheels Manufacturing ceramic bearings.

I have been a big fan of 2×9 mtn cranks ever since riding for SOBE/HeadShok in 1999-2000. The team bikes then came with CODA 2×9 cranksets. I really appreciate the optimal gearing, better shifing, and lighter weight that 2×9′s offer. Most people are afraid of them, but if they would embrace them and realize how much better they make you ride you would see way more of them out there. If you are riding in a 22t small ring up a hill, chances are you could be walking it just as fast. You would benefit form pushing the slightly bigger gear and powering up that hill and moving on, rather than settleing into the hill as taking your time. I don’t get it? I encourage you to try one and let me know how it goes for you.

In addition to the 2×9 gearing (40-27 by the way), the Rotor cranks have their patented ovalized chainrings. I have heard and read good things about these but have never ridden them. I’m eager to give them a go and see what they’re like. Not to mention these babies are super light and super sweet cool-factor!

Another sweet addition to my rides will be the tubular titanium King Cages. Very light, very sturdy, and very cool. Check em out! I’ll be rocking one on the ASR Carbon bike and two on the ARC hardtail. Very nice.

Niether Rotor nor King Cages are an official sponsor this year (although I was able to get killer deals on both) I decided to go with these parts becuase I believe they are some of the best options out there for my needs. They are one of the few parts on my bikes that I actually had to pay for. This should tell you how I feel about them. I encourage you to give the 2×9 set-up a try and see for yourself how much faster you will become. If you do, let me know how it goes and you can thank me at the races and I’ll let you know what I think about the rings.

Solid run and swim this morning.

TREADMILL RUN: another 5 sets of 2x(40 seconds “on”, 80 seconds “off”) + 1x(80 seconds “on”, 160 seconds “off”). The “on” segments descend from 11.8 (5:08 min/mi) to 12.2 mph (4:55 min/mi) at 0.1 mph per set. The “off” segments are at 7.5 mph (8:00 min/mi). “On” HR gets up to 170 +/- with HR dropping to 130′s during the “off” recovery jogs. I have been performing this same workout once a week over the last two months. Some steady progress has definitely been made. I started with just four sets and also at slightly less speed, leaving me to struggle a bit to get through and fairly fatigued afterwards. Now I am able to run more sets, higher speeds and have relatively minimal stress getting through them and feeling great afterwards. This is a classic example of being consistent and building upon your training in a systematic fashion.

ENDURANCE SWIM: Pretty classic swim focusing on both endurance and strength. Warm-up, 400 kick, 3×500 endurance pace (8:20 per 500 meters, :40 rests), 1×600 pull with paddles, cool-down. Again, I have been building my swim endurance/strength in a similar fashion as the run above. Starting with shorter intervals and building up over the last several weeks. I’m feeling very sturdy in the pool. The new weight training format I’ve been following is also seeming to be paying off. I feel stable and strong in the pool.

A little rest this afternoon and I’m off to Wheat Ridge Cyclery again for trainer workout 11A. Two more weeks of leading this class and I’ll have my 12th season of this series under my belt (5th season I’ve lead)! Workout 11A consists of power sprints and 6×3 Vo2 max intervals.

CW

NEW FRAMES COMPLIMENTS OF YETI CYCLES AND WHEAT RIDGE CYCLERY! Check ‘em out….

Super light, super fast HT

Light and stiff full sus….. SICK!

SWEET PARTS COMPLIMENTS OF 2009 SPONSORS….

Magura Durin SL forks

Marta SL brakesets

Syntace bars, stems and seatposts

Crank Brothers headsets and pedals

MORE SPY PHOTOS TO COME….