Strength and honor.

As you can tell, I have now been through all of our new trainer movies, and am circling back to old (but good) ones.
It's the middle of February. I am currently keeping motivation up by following coverage of the Tour of Qatar, watching Haussler kick some a$$ on his s3, while wishing I was where it's warm too. So, perhaps I was a little bit premature in my enthusiasm for a ride outside in the sunshine this past Sunday. The roads were not so great, and most of my concentration was taken up by avoiding huge puddles in the sunny sections and icy patches in the shady sections, all while listening behind me for revving car engines as I constantly had to swerve out into the road to avoid both. Not the best plan. I aimed to get out to my favorite dirt roads out toward Millbrook: Milewood, Fowler, Canoe Hill and Woodstock. I made it up and over the the peanut butter thick muddy mess that was the Milewood Road hill, but not too far into Fowler the strip of exposed dirt down the center of the road disappeared and it was a sheet of soft ice, so given my crash record lately, I turned around and opted to stay on the pavement. It didn't keep me any cleaner or dryer. Tasted like I went for a ride in the ocean; a salty, cold, wet, slushy, muddy ocean. The rim of the washing machine had about a pound of silt in it after washing riding clothes (even after hosing off bikes and legs in the driveway). But what a treat to actually see and feel the ground moving under my wheels again instead of hours of going nowhere on the trainer! And it was good to push into a third hour of work, as fitness in the third 20 miles and the last two big climbs at Battenkill will be critical. I am planning to exceed that 2 hour mark a lot more in the next 8 weeks until Battenkill. And hopefully, more of it will be outside on real hills. Which leads me to the topic of the day as promised last time: training. Now that you've got the gear, it's time to get yourself in a position to make the most of it.
Disclaimer: As we have stated many times here at Team Bikeway.com, our mission is to provide support and opportunity to all levels of cyclists and multi-sport athletes. It's why we have different levels of membership. Obviously, not everyone has the same goals, time, competitiveness or interests as everyone else. At the end of the day, for me personally, it comes down to this: I don't want to become unfit and unhealthy, so I must exercise and eat well. But I am not so good at just exercising for exercise's sake. If I'm exercising, I might as well be training. And if I'm training, I might as well be racing. And if I'm racing, well, I want to win (I am sure this comes as a shock to all of you). At any rate, for what it's worth, I thought I'd pass along the list of things that I try to maintain as my central training goals and rules:
1) Increase strength and fitness. Obviously. Set up a training plan (look on-line, buy a book, get a coach). Do the work, no cheating, no excuses. Test yourself periodically. You should be making improvement in at least two forms: (a) be able to do more work (i.e. go faster, put out more watts) at the same effort level (i.e. heart rate/perceived exertion), and (b) be able to put out greater total efforts (i.e. go faster for longer.)
2) Gain efficiency. Pedal in circles, not squares. Concentrate on pulling through the pedal stroke, like wiping off your shoes. Minimize the "dead spot" in your pedal stroke. Keep upper body calm and steady. Elbows down, arms relaxed. Knees in. Learn to put out consistent, good power in an aero position. In the end, riding a bike is all about making the most of the machine that it is: turn the crank, turn the wheels. So don't sabotage yourself and negate all the work you do to gain strength and fitness and slow yourself down by constantly turning your head or throwing around your upper body, pushing the bike backwards when you stand, or otherwise sloppy riding. Put your energy into moving the bike forward; don't send it in useless directions. Believe me, your fellow riders on a group ride will appreciate this as well. Think about becoming a steady and trustworthy wheel that others will want to follow. Also, find your optimal cadence, where you get the most speed out of your pedal stroke and effort level. Don't just always grind along at the same slow cadence. I'll bet this concept goes for running and swimming as well.
3) Always get something out of it. Avoid "mindless" training, where you are simply sitting on the bike and getting nothing out of it. If you are going to put in the time, make sure it is worth it and will result in increased speed.
4) Weight loss/weight management. It's all about the strength to weight ratio. Leaner and meaner. But don't diet on the bike, because you'll only wind up bonked with a wasted training session. Limit intake otherwise, if you need to lose a few pounds. Cut out useless calories. Eat well. Again, look on-line, buy a book, get a coach if you can't figure it out yourself that an orange is better than a handful of cookies. But unless you're a pro, don't deny yourself so much that you start to resent it and lose sight of the fact that this is really all supposed to be for fun.
5) Rest. You get faster when you rest and refuel properly. This is when your body actually makes the adjustments and makes gains in strength, fitness and efficiency as a result of the work done. Listen to your body. If you can't turn over the pedals or get your heart rate up one day, maybe it's time for an easy or off day (these should be built-in to your training plan anyway - see point 1).
6) Gain confidence. It's called "Putting money in the bank." When race day comes, you should have the confidence that comes from the work that you've put in according to the above. When it's time to make a withdrawal, what you need will be there. If you've made the increases in fitness and strength, optimized your efficiency and strength to weight ratio, and fueled and rested properly, you will have what it takes to execute well and put out a good and satisfying effort on race day. Of course, more on this next time.