Monday, March 22, 2010

Building Blocks

 

Blink and life leaps forward.  It seems like just yesterday I was getting back from Tucson, filled with Vitamin D, a little color on my face, and a whole lot of miles in my legs in a short period of time.

The effects of the training camp were pretty evident right away, although it was my coach that noticed them first.  Early March I got a note from him saying my 28 day power profile was equal to my all time bests.  I felt strong on the team rides and in my training, but I hadn't yet "turned the pedals in anger" this season.

Banana Belt plans went slipping away when I had to work the weekend of the first event.  From there after I just passed on the racing as the thought of riding around Hagg lake 5 then 6 times just didn't appeal to me.  I'm happy to saw however the team got some great results out there, with Mitch Lee finally getting his first ever win in epic 60 mile breakaway fashion.  You rule my friend.

Because I had to work that one weekend, I took a few days off this past week because the weather said "SUN".  When its sunny and 60 in this part of the world, at this time of year, you take advantage of it.

Traci was still in the process of recovering from the "lung-crud" that popped up the week prior.  During the time of her convalesces, I took care of the house, including the cooking.  Because it takes me 2x the time to make something 1/2 as good as what she does, my riding sat on the back shelf with the exception of the weekends. 

Knowing that I was going to have a few days of riding, I put the call out to the team and was rewarded by the excellent company of Dave Haag and Mike Kender for all three days of the mini-camp and a host of other folks who were able to make it out on the other days.  Thursday we did Dave's special loop out of West Linn.  Friday was the PV Classic Timber route, and Saturday the team did a recon ride down to the new Piece of Cake course.  Sunday I just did an easy recovery spin.  By the end of the weekend I clocked in just shy of 250 miles, all on my brand new Corsa Concept carbon clinchers.

Sandwiched between it all was a wedding, (congrats Scott and Tabitha!), a party / fashion show (thanks Veloforma!), and some quality time with my finally healthy wife.

The funny thing about the mini camp was how my body reacted on day three.  Day three in Tucson was Mt. Lemmon, and that evening I ate and ate and ate and ate and was still hungry, and I barely had to take any insulin.  In fact, I had to dial down my insulin because I was consistently drifting low!  Day three in my mini camp was the same way.  We did 70 miles with some hard efforts thrown in for kicks, and when we got home I had a sandwich, had an early dinner, then Salvo and I ate about 2 pizzas between us at the party.  Again, barely any insulin usage.

Its pretty cool to see that my body reacts so well to exercise and especially multiple days of it in a row.

This week I'll take it easy at the start, with a slight ramp at the end to wake the body back up.  Piece of Cake is six days away!