Game On

Be weary to take this as some of that New Year's resolution stuff. When I say "Game On", I mean it. The only asterisk here is that I will be almost 100% coaching myself for the time being...I am utilizing knowledge I've gained in training but also from some very intelligent people (read: Doug Welling) and friends who have decades of cycling under their belts. However, dictating my own workouts has fared extremely well in the past. I have been in a mostly constant state of improvement since I quit varsity Track/XC at Rochester in 2010. I had an excellent coach, Doug Welling as I have mentioned on many accounts, who prepped me unbelievably well for the PVC Double Loop - where I was planning on racking in a couple wins, some loot, and a great day with my teammate on Base-36 Cycling/Gorham Bike & Ski Race Team. I had to focus on just training alone once I broke my collarbone, and having a coach was not feasible at that time. But financially and situationally right now, dictating my own schedule is the best option at the moment. No telling what happens in the coming months though...

I know I will be able to continue to make big gains, because with simply training in an unstructured fashion with a broken collarbone I've gone from my FTP being in the mid-290W's when peaking for a race in November...to 301W on 12/15, and over 310W on Friday. The only "workouts" I have done cycling were those all out efforts and some technique work. Enough talking about the past.

My overall goals are to improve as quickly and effectively as I can in the next few months to be prepared to get a super early season upgrade to Category 3, and then come into The Tour of the Battenkill ("America's toughest 1-day race") in good form for such an early race. The big thing I'm awaiting is getting my SRM sent out and returned from Colorado so I have a fresh battery and wonderfully accurate data, until then I will likely do quality work on a CompuTrainer.

What I plan to build into over the next month (from pretty intent to rather strict) is as follows:

1. Exercise with a Purpose: Anyone who is not in a top tier of athletics will make noticeable gains from maintaining a good quantity of exercise. (Note: I gained about 6% on my FTP while doing almost all 'easy miles' with a broken collarbone...in about 1 month since the first 2 weeks of my fracture I was quite useless athletically).
   Bottom Line: So, here is the critical point in improving effectively. I'm working on building a structured repertoire of workouts that I will essentially be testing on myself "in the field". This isn't purely physically stimulating, it's exciting to make something and test it yourself, it's both sides of learning and benefiting from your own knowledge. Some of the stuff I am bouncing off and having friends try out as well.
2. Nutrition: I have a really good grasp on nutrition in general. The only things I can put good work into is reducing fat intake slightly to keep total of my calories from fat under 25% (during high volume base training, you can definitely put in over 30% calories from fat...but when working on weight loss - cut some, not a lot, of fat). Therefore I'm aiming for about 20% calories from fat. Once real workouts and strength training are back on (pending how the clavicle feels) I'm going to need to increase protein intake.
   From a 2 week period where I logged everything I ate and was pretty intent on training/eating for best results (not necessarily weight loss as it was mid-peak season), here's the data:
   Looking back - I'm pretty darn pleased: 57% Carbs, 18% Protein, 25% Fat. Quite well for that time of season.
   BL: Eliminate meats high in fat, increase micronutrients, and eat enough early in the day (night loading calories is a classic flaw of mine). And ditch the alcohol, aside from a drink or two per week - and only the good stuff!
3. Weight: to quote a Bible of Running (Once a Runner. If you haven't read it, go do it. Now. This post is of much less value of your time. Even if you don't like running.): "Gaunt is Beautiful". It is also a classic line by the Men of the URXC team, and seen on many t-shirts. But in realistic terms, weight is one of the ultimate maximization problems known to athletes...especially those who utilize numbers such as "watts per kilogram". All athletes who are serious (and almost any athlete at all) wants to lose weight. And almost all of these people will benefit from at least some weight loss (the rarities are those who naturally have excessively low body fat %age, are already at their optimum - ususally a professional, or people who need gains in muscle mass). I am none of these, and if anything - the opposite. I am naturally built strong, stocky, and the professional thing is clear haha. I could benefit from trimming down fat and losing some (but not a lot) upper body mass.
   BL: Lose weight steadily, and not too much. Maintain enough caloric intake to not sacrifice recovery from exercise.
   I'm not afraid to talk numbers: today I weighed in at 164.0lb at home. I plan to be under 150lb fairly (reasonably though!) soon. My current FTP is around 310W and gave me an estimated power to weight ratio @ FTP of 4.29 W/kg, which (according to cycling charts) matches up to the lower end of Category 2 cyclists. Now I just have to prove it where it counts, which is the only place it truly matters.
4. Core/Lifting: I need to kick these into gear once my shoulder feels the situation is viable.
   BL: Get after it. I know what to do, just doing it is the issue. The only category in which my motivation doesn't get me all jacked up to do it. Once I get in the groove it will move along better.

Other things I want to work on are more life related and also quite important:

1. Reading: I've never been much of a person who is into reading, but I've gone through phases. It's something I enjoy but don't put all that much time into because I'm bad at remaining still.
2. Learn Organic Chemistry: It's something I never took in college and always wanted to. Had I overloaded at the right time(s) I could have taken it without sacrificing too much. But being on a varsity team and overloading wasn't a pleasing thought. Could I have done it? Sure, but not at the sacrifice at enjoying myself. And I like the challenge of learning something thought to be so "difficult" on my own. It's exciting, kind of like building cycling workouts from scratch and seeing how they pan out. (Note: If anyone has a spare Organic Chem textbook...let me know! It'd be a massive help :p)
3. Sleep/Schedule: I will be working (hopefully full-time) in the near future...so I plan to get on a normal sleep schedule. With the training volume I plan to sustain, 5AM may become a relatively normal wake-up time. And with 14+ hours per week training alone, I like 8 hours...add work on top of that, and I'll have to be very efficient with my time scheduling. Bring on the challenge.
4. Pick Up a Hobby: Not sure where to go with this. But it will be a nice, pleasant time-filler.

Today it all begins: Nothing changes, but the focus is different...and thus everything is different, because mentality is everything (almost, haha). Go ahead and read the intro to Jack Daniel's Running Formula, it sums up athletic capacity quite well...and it applies to every aspect of life that has limiting factors and situational benefits.

I leave you with a quote from a phenomenal athlete: Mirinda Carfrae, 2010 Ironman World Champion, 2009 & 2011 Runner-up, 2005 ITU Long Course World Champion. And she's the fastest female Ironman runner out there. She's smart, strong, and whose bite rivals the level of Ali's bark. This quote is from an interview around the time of Ironman Kona 2011.

"You have to be willing to hurt to that next level. Yeah, there are people that go out there and say, you know, 'I'm just gonna go and do my best'. I think that those athletes are not ready to put everything on the line because they're scared; those athletes never win."