My plan for the entire indoor season was to run in the mornings for a shake down and to get the heart rate up and blood flowing for the long day of classes to come. I had it planned to do core and push-ups right after the run and then follow through with my typical stretching routine. In the afternoons I was going to ride the bike either on the rollers or the trainer for 30 minutes. I would throw short intervals in the middle of the ride just to break the boredness that comes with riding indoors. I would again do core and push-ups after the ride. Writing a plan and sticking to it is easier said then done. Life gets in the way, school gets in the way.
The first week did not go as smooth as planned. I was sticking to my plan fairly well till about Thursday that week. It was the week of the I-500 and I had my mind set on doing the pub crawl that Thursday night so I didn't ride at all. Of course the day after a pub crawl is going to be miserable so I just took things easy for the following few days. Plus I work long days on the weekend so my motivation to ride was pretty much gone.
Week 2 was once again a bad week for training. I started to slowly get sick early in the week then when I woke up Tuesday morning for my run I found myself dozing off during the run. I rode that night but my legs just felt like jello and the rest of my body was fighting me the entire time. The following morning I woke up for my run again feeling like absolute shit. The run was good. I went to my 8am student government meeting feeling like I got hit by a bus so I took the rest of the day to sit on the couch and rest up. This sick feeling lasted till about Sunday night.
On the Friday of week 2 I had the opportunity to get my VO2 tested from the Exercise Science Students here at Lake Superior State University. Eric Statt, a exercise science professor, has been working with me since last October. We did a test on me right after Iceman last November and it went fairly well. Eric is a very knowledgeable guy and he knows the importance of comfort for an athlete when it comes to their equipment so the test in November was a trial and error test for the both of us. He allowed me to bring in my own bike and trainer to test on. The test went fairly smooth with a few minor bumps. When I hooked the bike to the trainer I didn't turn in the resisting wheel enough so I ran out of gears very soon in the test. Also I was not comfortable with the mask that I had on. We sat down and took notes on what we could do to make this test a better test. When I got my equipment prepared for the second test I made a few changes to the bike and trainer. First off I put on my bolt on areo bars for the comfort factor when putting down a hard sprint while in the saddle. I also ran a low tire pressure that allowed me to crank the resistor of the trainer at a much stronger rate. The second test went much more smoothly. My numbers were lower, which was expected going into this test because we just wanted to get some base numbers early into my training so we can track my improvement when I do another test in April. I cant thank Eric Statt and the Exercise Science students at LSSU enough. It is really helping me develop a better training program and gives me an incite on what I need to do as I pursue this crazy sport of cycling
Week three of training is going much much better. I started implementing the specific things that Eric mentioned to me after the VO2 test. I backed off on the push-ups and put a larger focus on getting the strenght back in my legs. With Mud Sweat and Beers being my first race of the season in early May, I need to get to work. It's really hard to want to do all the work when your doing it solo but I know the only way for me to accomplish my goals for this coming season I need to take things to the next level.
