First race of the year and changing things up a little.

 First race of the year.

Well, It’s a brave new world we’re living in! Normally by mid-February we’re deep into racing

here in Arizona. This year there’s been only one race, a 20k time trial. And it was the usual drab

frontage road affair. Held halfway between Tuscon and Phoenix, it was a windy day in the mid-

50’s.

My training has been pretty consistent this winter and I’ve been pleased to see my FTP rising.

While my goal is usually to hit a modest 3 watts per kilogram, I was hovering around 2.8 leading

into the race. So, the fitness was good, but not great.

The time trial used to be my specialty. I’ve won some, placed in a lot, and even won a national

championship medal in different versions of time trials (that’s another blogpost altogether).

These days I don’t train for them and I don’t really have any TT equipment other than clip on

bars. So, I just put my mini triathlon clip-ons on my road bike and hoped for the best. I knew it

was like bringing a knife to a gun fight but I wasn’t attaching too much importance to the race

and wasn’t worried. I figured it’d be a good yard stick about how hard I could go, and a nice day

out in the sun.

(Me in time trials in the distant past)

In fact, I was so blasé about the race that I went for a few hour ride with some team-mates the

day before the race. I’m not really fit enough to get away with this but a day out in the sun with

company is a rare treat for me these days so I couldn’t say no. We ended up going a little bit

faster than I would have liked and I’m sure it made a difference on race day.

(Riding with teammates is always fun!)

The race itself was nothing to write home about. After a good warmup, I started a little easy as

there was a headwind and worked my way up to the heart rate I thought was appropriate for

the effort (I did not have a power meter for this event). It’s been my experience that it’s better

to start slow and work up to the right pace than it is go start to hard and try to figure out how

to back off enough. I was pleased to see that I could maintain more heart rate than I thought

for a longer effort but didn’t do much of a ride, placing pretty near the last of my age group.

The week of that race I had a TSS of 400. That’s a big week for me and the following week I paid

for it. I could not get out of my own way and was unable to complete any of my planned

workouts. So, I took the week easy and then retested the following week. My FTP had risen

again and I was planning on moving forward as usual.

However, as I’ve looked at the racing calendar for this year here in AZ, and upon reading

bulletins from the local clubs, it’s become apparent that there probably won’t be any racing this

spring, or very little anyway. I’ve been working awfully hard since last August and frankly,

without the races as payoff, I don’t want to work that hard anymore or be that tired all the

time. So, I’m backing off of the bike and adding back in more weight lifting. I like lifting and I like

how it makes my body a little more well rounded.

(Deadlift is one of the best whole-body strength builders)

I’m going to go from getting up at 4.30am two mornings a week to do my training rides to only

getting up early one morning a week. And on that morning I’ll probably do a Zwift group ride or

race (you’d be surprised at how many Zwift group rides and races there are at 4.45am or 5am!).

And I’ll do a 2nd bike workout on Saturday. And then Sunday can be long ride, hike with the fam,

roller skiing, anything outdoors.

From what I’m hearing most of the local clubs feel that racing will resume in the fall so I’ll cycle

back up for that and see how it goes.

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