2009 Training

Looking around the blogs lately has brought me to the conclusion that I'm not the only "wacko" around. I see at least a few others are starting their training for 2009 next week if they haven't started already. I started training for 2008 around the same time last year and it seemed to work (for the most part).

When one thinks of training one should have a goal or goals to provide motivation, as if being in good shape isn't good enough. Last year I set goals that I thought were very attainable and realistic. I will not list them here, mainly because somewhere around March 9, 2008, I changed course and threw my original goals in the hopper. To elaborate, I was focused primarily on road racing and doing well in some of my favorite road races and time trials. What happened on March 9Th was the Camp Hilbert cross country mountain bike race where, unbeknownst to me, I won my age group category. Having found a discipline/category I could be competitive in caused a change in focus to MTB racing and attempting to win the beginner category in the Virginia Off-Road Series. Of course, instead of shifting to an MTB training/racing program four months into my training program I simply stuck with what I started with and modified it by riding my mountain bike once or twice a week.

So, while I am ready to get started with my training I have some decisions to make regarding what I am going to do for goals for next year. Should I focus on MTB again and target the Sport category? Should I go back to road racing and time trialing? Should I do all of the above? Should I make my wife happy and do none of the above? One thing I know for sure, next Monday I will start my training using Joe Friel's Cyclist Training Bible as my guide. That means at least for the first four weeks I will be lifting weights three times a week, cross training twice a week and endurance rides twice a week. Maybe in tomorrow's post I will share some pic's of my winter training equipment so you can have something to compare with Fat Guy Racer's pics. Until then!