Training Update: Signs Of Life

I am finally starting to hit the grove of training, I am not fully immersed in quality training but I can feel it righwithin my reach. A couple more weeks of consistent training and I will be ready for serious training.

Feeling great on race day is an amazing experience, feeling great during a huge block of training volume is equally satisfying. I have not had a huge block of training since I left Bozeman in 2006. For various reasons my spring training has no afforded big miles. I miss my riding in Bozeman. I would ride all day on Saturdays, usually 70-100 miles, be so tired that I would spend the rest of the weekend on the couch.

It was this training that has made me the cyclist I am today. I miss the big miles and I look forward to a great winter and spring of smart injury free volume. This year I have just started training. I am almost out of the pre training phase, a phase of body adaptation that conditions my legs and lungs to consistent training.

I did my first long (relative term to current training volume) of 25 miles on Saturday. I was pretty tired afterwards but that means I am going in the right training direction. I set out from the Tri-Palace and found a sweet route that goes by two lakes, it was awesome. I feel great about the ride.

My swim has been consistent all spring, I did my firs open water swim on Saturday after my cycling adventure. The water was pretty cold, but my swim was great. My arms felt strong, this was a definite confidence booster for training. There is something special about swimming in open water that makes me feel like I’m a bad-mutha. “Yeah it’s cold, deep, dark, alone, and scary.” Just watch me from the shore, I ain’t scuuuuurdd of no monsters, they should be scared of me. :)

That reminds me of time me and Kevin went to Canyon Ferry Lake and just started swimming. We swam and swam and swam until we were at least a mile from shore in the closest direction, alone and dependent upon no one but ourselves. Most people can’t deal with that kind isolation in large bodies of water. Imagine if anyone saw us, what would they think of two frog me in wetsuits in the middle of the lake a mile from shore.

Check out the pics below of my open water swim lake and of my running trail near the Tri-Palace, it is a great training area, that is why I live here!

Oh yeah, check out my 2010 Hammer Kit, how can I not feel awesome wearing such a sweet kit! I wore it for my ride this Saturday and I thought I was lookin’ pretty sharp.

I am excited to be training again; I understand I am not in the same training place as I was at this time last year. I understand I need to race and train at the same time, I have not had the training time that I usually have had in the spring. I have decided I will race through the next few months. I have no choice, if I rest for each event and not train through I would spend every week resting and not training. I will train through the next two months of races in hopes to have my form in July. I have a feeling that my races will actually be more consistent, more on that later.