One of the greatest aspects of having a successful year of training is looking back at last year. It is very easy to say "I did well in that race because I won" or "I did poorly because I beat this guy handily a few times but he beat me in that one race". But, something along the lines of "after completing a very difficult workout, my confidence increased noticeably and may have led to my great execution to win the field sprint". While the last line seems more arbitrary with saying "may have", it is much more helpful in looking towards how to improve next year: Why was I not confident before? What physiological advancements gave me the capacity to come out on top once I could mentally execute? What components of positioning played into that finish?
There can be hundreds of questions for every scenario; and to better oneself he or she must consider every one of these...even the seemingly obvious ones.
As both a benefit to myself and anyone who wants to see deeper into my results/training: I'll leave myself open for some Q&A - feel free to leave comments or email me at travis.b.kroot@gmail.com, if there are enough (or any at all) questions, I will do a follow up post to answer those questions.
Now for a quick rundown of 2011.
Started with the intent to focus on Olympic Triathlon, but changed to pure cycling in May due to situation, success in cycling, and enjoyment in cycling.
5th place and 1st place in GVCC Spring Giro's B Group (Cat 4/5).
2nd place at Bloomfield, NY Road Race - Cat 5
Collegiate ECCC Championships @ PSU: Champion in Road Race and Criterium (Class D)
12th Place at Hollenbeck, NY Road Race - Cat 4/5 (8th place for Cat 5)
1st place at NY Road Race State Championships @ Bristol, NY - Cat 5
**Upgraded to Cat 4**
Auburn Road Race - Mechanical resulted in losing the field
5th place at Concord Criterium - Cat 4
1st place at Witches' Cup in Salem, MA - Cat 4/5
Other notable achievements were:
Having a great team (Base36 Cycling/Gorham Bike and Ski) to work with during races and group rides.
Winning my first sprints on the PVC Saturday Morning Ride. One day in which I won 2 of 4 sprints.
By the numbers:
I cycled 8012 miles last year, and ran a mere 775 miles as I only focused on running in January-May and December. My biggest training weeks were:
Multisport: May 8-14: 20.2 Hours; Cycling - 228mi, Run - 49mi, Swim - 4.5mi
Cycling: June 12-18: 20.5 Hours; Cycling - 359mi, Run - 10.2mi
For 2012: I plan to exceed well beyond 10,000 miles, and 12,000 miles would be a stretch - but not impossible. As my focus is going to be more on quality than it was last year, I am not reaching for a specific number...just progress and, eventually, results.
Once again, feel free to throw any questions my way - I'll be more than glad to answer. As my Biotransport Phenomena professor loved to say "No question is a bad question".
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