2 Weeks to Go

Cranking 42×16 in the rain at July’s Prouty Century Ride

The Concord Criterium is tomorrow.  As it turns out, this will have been the first time I have actually raced since the end of June.  Not that there was a lack of riding in July; I just haven’t found my way into competition since Okemo.

I was pretty sick for a week or so following that race, and from that point on I put more of a focus on shorter, intense rides with ample recovery time.  This is a departure from years past, when I would go most of the summer with a lot of long rides and drawn-out training structure.  This year, after base training wrapped up, I more or less abandoned a formal training plan.  There were just too many events I wanted to participate in, and wanting to do well in all of them, I believed that integrating a lot of training objectives would just end up not being fun.

I’ve spent the better part of the past 6-7 weeks on being strong for our weekly mountain bike rides, which I feel add a lot of strength that I don’t get on the road.  Power right now is really good.  It also helps that I’m nearly 14 pounds lighter than at the start of the year.  I can definitely accelerate right now.  I guess I’ll find out tomorrow if I’m just imagining that, or if it’s really there.

So we’re only  – wow – 2 weeks out from Washington now.  This is it baby.  There’s no time left to build; only time to maintain what we’ve got.  I learned that the hard way for sure in years past.  I feel really, really good about where I’m at.  If we get the weather, I’m feeling like a sub 1:30 is going to happen.  Getting into the 1:20 range would be the best possible outcome for this year.  At that point, we’re just fine tuning the attack plan, knowing we have the base for what it takes to get into the teens.  I get psyched up just thinking about this, so I should stop for now.  This has not been a good year for events on Wash.  Both Newton’s and my practice ride were rescheduled on account of bad weather.  I’ve definitely been sitting at that base of that mountain with no place to go before.

So Concord this weekend, then some work dialing in the Van Dessel on Kearsarge next week.  I may work in one final trip to Loudon, depending on what I’m in the mood for.  Then we taper.  Then we’ll see what we get.