It has begun!

Base has begun!

For the January and February, the plan is:

• Monday: 45-60min Z2 spin
• Tuesday: Sarah’s core workout
• Wednesday: 45-60min Z2 spin OR night Z2 XC ski
• Thursday: core workout
• Friday: off/gluttony
• Saturday/Sunday: Whatever. XC ski, snowshoe, hiking, CX bike, Spinerval workout.

• I bought the Spinervals Aero Base builder DVD series and went through the first one on Saturday. It’s a little shy of an hour and a half, which seems like a long haul on a trainer, but it was fairly tolerable. Good workout. Good long zone 2 workout. Not sure I can carve out that kind of time on a weeknight. Also not sure I can stand doing more than one a week without getting trainer burn-out.

• Under the dim lights of the newly installed halogen mood lighting in the pain cave, fan crankin’, all is well. Btw – I forgot that halogen is f*cking HOT. It’s basically mid-July in the basement after those things burn for an hour.

• I joined the NorEast Cycling team. I see a lot of these guys all year, and there was really no good reason for me not to ride with them. I am pretty pumped up about having some teammates to work with. It’s a big, very well supported club. I had to bid adieu to the Cyclocrossworld grassroots team, and we parted on very good terms.

• I have decided not to have my VO2 and heart zones re-tested this year. I had it done the last two seasons. I was starting to feel like the test was something I needed to do each year, and I don’t like that feeling. Additionally, I don’t like the pressure of committing to a test date in the winter, when the odds are better than usual that I’ll be sick. I was sick during last year’s test, and I don’t want to go through the second-guessing of test results all over again.

• Friel just put up a great article on base period nutrition, and priming the body to burn fat. I’m weighing in every Friday morning. Last Friday, Jan 1….189.8. Ouch. My goal is to lose 5 pounds a month.

• In spite of the snow and ice, I got out on The Major for a half hour yesterday. Man that bike rips. Cross season is just too short. Few disagree. We should do something about it.