RECOVERY TIME

After four pretty hard training weeks, it's finally time for some rest. Yesterday I did a morning run, but then was pretty busy for the rest of the day, so it was hard to squeeze in an afternoon ride. I almost skipped out, but I knew this was my last chance to get some good training in before recovering for a while, so I hit the dreaded trainer at 9:30 pm to try for one last threshold workout. I was shooting for three twenty minute efforts right at threshold power, but figured that might be tough to do, so I was just hoping for the best. Once I was good and warm, which doesn't take long on the trainer, I ramped the power up to threshold, expecting it to feel hard. To my surprise, it actually seemed fairly easy, so when 20 minutes was up, I ramped the power up slightly and I kept on pushing. I held 10 watts above what I had previously tested to be my threshold power, on the trainer, without much difficulty, for a whole hour, and at the end of a HARD four week training block to boot. Obviously, my threshold power has gone up since my last test. I will take that as a sign that I'm doing something right. Getting in some miles and raising my threshold power were my goals of this training block, mission accomplished. Not only that, but that trainer ride that I almost skipped was a huge confidence booster for me as we dive into the beginning of the cyclocross season here in Montana next weekend with the Butte races. At one point I had decided to not race this season at all, and now after a little hard work I almost feel as if I'm right where I need to be. Here are a few stats from the last four weeks.

• 55 hours on the bike
• 5 hours running
• 3200 TSS
• CTL ended at 88.2
• TSB ended at -34.3, but was at an all time low of -52

It has been a hard training block, easily my hardest four weeks all season. I'm ready for some recovery, but for some reason I actually still feel pretty good. At the beginning of this week I felt very tired, and missed a few training opportunities, but I feel good right now. I almost feel like I can do more, and I WANT to do more, but I KNOW I need to REST, so that's what I'll do. Rest and recovery are needed for the body to reap the benefits of all the hard training that you do. Without the rest, the body cannot recover, adapt, and grow stronger from all the hard work. REST IS CRITICAL! So this week will be fairly easy, here's a general overview of what I plan on doing. Today I did a one hour neighborhood ride with Trey that was super fun and just the right speed for some serious recovery. Tomorrow's ride will be skills and a couple hard laps at the GAS team cyclocross practice which should be super fun. Wednesday will probably be an easy zone 2 paced ride for an hour or so, and Thursday will be a day totally off the bike. Friday's ride will again be mostly easy, with a few short hard efforts to remind the legs that they are needed for this weekends racing. Then this weekend is the Butte double header, with Psychlocross Friday night at Homestake Lodge, and Copper Mountain Cross Saturday in Butte. I'm sure all of the usual suspects will be there, fired up and ready to make an early mark on the upcoming season. Hopefully I can hang in there and battle with the big dogs for a while at least. Time will tell, I'll let you know how it goes.

Keep it PURE,

Brad