I started training just over a week ago. It’s been so hard. I needed to drop the session intensity by nearly 50% every ride just to finish. Today, I completed my whole ride at 100%. One step achieved! I can get there. I still have a long way to go, but now is not the time to nitpick. Now is the time to savor all wins! To health!
New Training Plan
Winter is coming. I want to go skiing. Skiing requires a long drive. So, I usually plan a trip where I ski several days in a row and stay overnight to justify the long drive. I want to go skiing so bad! Snow is already perfect in the Methow. My heart wants to go now, but my body isn’t ready. For the few weeks that my gym was open I enjoyed several great workouts, but I never acclimated enough to be able to go 2 days in a row. Wne I go skiing I need to be ready to comfortably exert myself several days in a row. Time to start a training plan! The gym is closed again, so I started a base plan on TrainerRoad. I started with a ramp test and saw a small decrease in FTP. Even with that, each workout has proved far too difficult and technical for my current skill level. I can’t let that get me down. Obviously, it is perfectly logical for me to see a decline in fitness after 2 months of minimal activity. If I stay positive and stick with it, I’m sure to see rapid gains. Right now, my only goal is to follow the program, even if that means I have to drop the workout intensity by 15 or even 50%. It will come back if I stay diligent.
TrainerRoad TSS calendar
I reached an all-time fitness peak starting the spring of 2018 that lasted all the way through the end of the year. For the sake of comparison, I’ll compare some fitness indicators from them with now:
My VO2 max is 42 from 48.
My resting heart rate is 60 bpm from 54 bpm.
My FTP is 191 from 194.
My muscle mass is 100 lbs. from 112 lbs.
My weekly training load average is 300 from 1300.
My monthly Garmin intensity minutes is 1000 from 4000.
Boxing workout tolerance is 1 day with a day off from 4 days in a row before needing a day off.
In comparing my activity level from my last ski trip, I can see where I need to be to have a good ski trip again. I don’t want to overreach and lose time. I can’t perform at the training load TrainerRoad wants me to for the first week of training. I wore myself out more than 80 TSS pointes below where it set me. My hope is to ramp my TSS/load/intensity minutes to the upper end of the safe range for each week such that I build enough tolerance to ski several days in a row and still enjoy each day.
I set up my White Bike on the trainer in the spare room. I am downwind from the cat’s litter box, but it’s better than I imagined. It’s actually perfect. I get a lot of cold air and space to my self so I can sweat, huff and puff unencumbered. I started TrainerRoad’s Sweet Spot Base mid volume 1 training plan a week ago. I plan to finish the training plan by Christmas and be at the planned TSS level. After that, I should only take me another month to get to the point where I can ski a few days in a row comfortably.
Garmin annual report for VO2 max and training load
Haleakala Goals
Trainer Road’s “Ask a Cycling Coach Podcast” answered the question I submitted about climbing Haleakula in Maui. Every year I visit Maui in March with family. Every year I sit in a van while we explore the island and I look longingly out the window at all the cyclists riding on the side of the road. I see cyclists climbing the mountain and I am in so much envy. One time we stopped at a rest area and I chatted a bit with a woman taking a rest. It wasn’t her first time taking the climb and she seemed to enjoy every moment; its reward and struggle. After we chatted a bit I found out she was from Seattle and lived not far from me.
My question starts at 1:42:04. They took a direction I didn’t expect. They started talking about “The Growth Mindset”. They pulled that I had a fixed mindset from the way I phrased my question. This is an uncanny direction to take. Just weeks ago my employer held a forum on the Growth Mindset and asked me to present as part of a penel. Each person talked about their fixed mindset past and the struggle trying to take a growth approach. A bit part of my personality is my drive to experiment. I am constantly trying to learn about the world around me and thrive with novelty. And barely weeks away, the group of strangers pull my fixed mindset out from just a few sentences of writing. In crafting my question I thought about how I would sound. I didn’t want to come across too boastful because I am not a racer. I phrased it with the goal of coming off humble, not fixed. But where did my need for humility come from? How fixed is my mindset really? I grew up in the Western culture that declares “you can do anything if you just put your mind to it”. At the same time, I am filled with worry and fear every time I ride. I still ride, and I guess that’s what makes me different from others. Needless to say, I don’t love the Growth Mindset approach. I can see how it’s what my employer needs, but it doesn’t touch me personally. That being said, I am now more driven than ever to take on the next challenge. Prove them wrong. I lived many years filled with insecurity, but that isn’t me now and hasn’t been for a long time. Check back soon to find out what my next big challenge will be.