DeathB4Decaf

I did a series of "Race Notes" videos covering my 2021 Over the Hump season, and trying to note what I could do better.

One thing that was really clear in 2021, and again this year in 2022, was that I need to improve my cornering, especially on loose trail. So I've been practicing.

My favorite video on cornering a mountain bike is this one by The Loam Ranger. I love that he establishes that leaning the bike is key.

Focusing on that really helped. But something still wasn't clicking. The video above on cornering motorcycles really helped.

What I noticed was that the rider was setting up for the U-turn by shifting his hips to the outside of the turn. Basically, for a left turn, he'd put his left butt cheek on the saddle, and vice-versa for the right.

When I tried that, a few things happened naturally:

• I made more space for my saddle to lean into the turn.
• Rather than trying to drop my outside foot all the way to the "6 o'clock" position at the bottom of the stroke, I adopted a stance with my inside foot slightly higher than my outside foot, which I've heard called the "60/40 stance".
• That, in turn, let me lean the bike much more easily, getting those all-important turning lugs planted in the dirt.

And all of this felt much more natural than ever before. I feel more secure in the turns, and it feels so much more secure than ever before.

And the proof is in the pudding. There were so many moments during last night's race where I was clearly carrying more momentum through turns than before. In places where I used to just be part of the conga line going through a twisty section, I was often picking up time on the riders around me.

My training goals for the rest of 2022 boil down to:

1. get leaner (ideally, weight around 175#)
2. build trail skills
3. build my ability to sustain race pace with periodic 30- to 90-second punches at 400-500W.

It's really great to be making solid progress on #2 there.

I've adjusted my training & nutrition to prioritize fat loss, and it's working ever so gradually, just like it should. But man… doing this The Right Way is... HARD.

It's going well. I'm down ~10lbs over ~4 months. I spoke with a dietitian & implemented a few of her recommendations:

less sugar/simple carbs

On days I don't ride, I've swapped my high-carb oatmeal breakfast for scrambled eggs & a slice of toast. Snacks feature veggies/hummus, etc.

prebiotics & probiotics, fiber

I now supplement to support gut biome health:

• breakfast: fiber supplement
• lunch: prebiotics
• dinner: probiotics

more sleep

It's easy to stay up watching TV or playing games or doomscrolling, and for me that results in ~6½hrs of sleep per night. Getting in bed earlier & pushing that toward 7½hrs has really helped.

NOPE: more veggies

I've gotten some more veggies into my diet, but not nearly enough. There's 100% room for improvement here.

I've also made some adjustments to my training to prioritize fat loss.

consistently make time for weight training

My love of biking often leads me to want to skip my Thursday's barbell session so I can give Friday's ride my all. But for me, consistently doing SOMETHING every day is FAR more conducive to fat loss than going hard every other day.

I have to remember that a new PR is nice, but what I really want is a whole stack of new PRs as payoff for dropping this extra fat I'm carrying around. I'll be healthier & significantly faster if I drop the extra weight.

on-bike fueling

I usually put Gu Roctane in both bottles. That keeps me fueled through the end of the ride, which is good for recovery. But it also means more sugar in my system than I really need. So now it's 1 bottle of Roctane, 1 of water.

That cuts just 250 Cal from my daily intake, and my rides typically burn 800-1400 Cal. But I find that cutting sugar in particular has an outsized effect on body composition.

What's the Goal?

I'm starting to notice clothes fitting differently, and I'm maybe starting to notice that I'm feelign stronger on the bike. So that's encouraging. I'm down from ~205# to reliably under ~195#, and I'd love to get back down under 180#, where I was in April of 2019. I felt great back then, and wasn't strugling or pushing myself to maintain that.

I didn't catch the first Winter Series race, but I was determined not to miss the second. My result wasn't great, but I had fun, and it renewed my motivation to trim off the fat that I've gained ever-so-slowly over the last couple of years.

I'm looking forward to race #3 on Feb 26, and I'm determined to line up for the Summer Series on May 3 leaner & fitter than I've been in years.

This winter, I'm finally doing what I said I need to do, and focusing on getting leaner. The scale & my body measurements have been telling me for a couple of years that while my hypertrophy block was a raging success, it left me with extra fat that I never managed to shed.

Here's what seems to be working.

Daily Routine

• ~550Cal, high-carb breakfast of oatmeal, bagel, etc. (I've been enjoying Biju's Oatmeal.)
• workout/ride (I fuel with Roctane mix, usually 1 bottle @ 250Cal)
• post-workout protein shake (protein powder, milk) (~360Cal)
• light lunch (~300Cal)
• RIDE DAYS: snack (~250Cal) & coffee (~80Cal)
• LIFTING DAYS: just coffee

Weekly Routine

• MON: Ride 90min
• TUES: Strength & Conditioning
• WED: Ride 90min
• THURS: Strength & Conditioning
• FRI: Ride 2hrs

Strength & Conditioning

I'm doing a 10min warmup run or KB session, then the barbell complex from Dan John's Mass Made Simple.

• 5 rounds
• 5 reps each movement
• each round should take under 1:45
• rest 1:30 between rounds
• movements:
  1. bent row
  2. power clean
  3. front squat
  4. military press
  5. back squat
  6. Romanian deadlift

I'm currently doing this with 85# on the bar, and that's feeling just a hair light, so next week will be at 90#.

Add more weight when you're consistently under the 1:45 mark for each round. If you want to go up in 10# increments, the first workout with the new load should have rests of 2:00 between rounds. Trust me on that.

This seems to be working. Over the last month or so, I've dropped from ~205# to consistently weighing in around 199#.

I was genuinely surprised to see that I'd gotten under 180# back in 2019. No wonder I was quicker back then.

So far, this rhythm is letting me drop fat while still getting quicker on the bike, which is ultimately my goal. I'll continue this as long as it keeps working. I'll re-evaluate priorities when I get back down under 190#.

Races 4-8 were a steady progression of feeling stronger & getting better results. Each week I did better & better, climbing from 18th to 13th, which is great. I only placed 16th overall, but that's to be expected when I spent the middle of the series finishing around 20th each week.

8 individual races kind of blur together, but I did learn plenty during this time.

Initially, I was soft-pedaling into spots where I knew there would be an accordion effect, thinking that I was saving energy. "We're all gonna be wheel-to-wheel in a second anyway," I'd think. And then three riders would dive in ahead of me, which would hold me up and/or push me off the fast line, and I'd come out the other end of the accordion having surrendered 5 positions.

In later races, I reframed the typical rhythm of open trail punctuated by tight turns or bottlenecks. I relized that in a 40- to 60-minute race, it's a sprint from start to finish. Saving energy is nice, but you've gotta do it opportunistically rather than tactically.

Meaning: if someone is going a little faster than you, and you can draft, then draft. But it's almost never a good call to draft behind someone slower than you in hopes of "resting" or "recovering".

I worked on my cornering, and discovered that (possibly because of the current state of my skills) I'm far smoother carrying speed through corners if I stand.

And I found that I can totally stand & power up climbs & pass people, and that this works much better for me than trying to sit & spin.

Between standing for power and standing through corners, my approach to most of this race completely changed. I'd brake late, carry speed through the corner (leaning the bike as much as possible for more grip), then stay standing & power out, rinse & repeat.

And honestly, I think pushing myself each week did great things for my fitness. Not only was I performing better each week, I felt better after the race.

I haven't seen my heart rate hit 185 BPM in a long time, but it did duringing these races.

Take-Aways

Most of what I learned from the 2019 Over the Hump series served me well. A few additions:

Pass when you can: the twists & turns of this race offer little windows where passing is possible. Make the most of those opportunities. Pass, then use the course to defend your position & recoup for a few seconds, then go again.

Foam rolling: foam rolling is amazing and completely eliminated any need for Sudafed/NyQuil after races. Never even thought to reach for them.

Base layer: I have a few sleeveless base layer tops, and I'm now religious about wearing them. Even on the hottest days on the race course, I felt like my sweat was actually cooling me rather than just dripping off or evaporating uselessly.

Bike fit: after getting frustrated with lingering saddle sores, I got a fit from Bosco Bike Fits, and it was money well spent. My sores disappeared as if they never existed, and have not returned.

Roctane Recovery Mix: It's not cheap, but I really do love it. Fantastic recharge after hard workouts. I ran out during the last couple of races, and replaced it with a simple mix of protein powder, milk, and chocolate syrup, and that seemed to get the job done well enough.

The 2021 Over the Hump series wrapped up on Tuesday evening, and I'll for sure have more to say about how that went.

For now, though, I want to document my starting numbers for my next training block.

The general plan is to spend the next few months with the following priorities:

1. get leaner
2. get stronger
3. don't lose on-bike fitness

Current Measurements

The only metric here that I have any kind of goal for is my weight. I'm clearly currently carrying more fat than I need to, and some rough calculations indicate that getting down around 15% body fat would put me right around 180#. So that's what I'm aiming for.

However.

If I arrive in February 2022 leaner & stronger, but weighing above 180#, that's absolutely not any kind of failure. That's why I take my other starting measurements, so that I can put my weight in context. If my weight holds steady, but my waist goes down and my thighs & hips get bigger, that's a win.

weight	192.2#
calf	16''
thigh	25''
hips	41''
waist	39.5''
chest	41''
biceps	15.5''

Strength Goals (5x5 max)

Some of these goals are within reach over the next few months. Some are... not. But I'm noting my "big picture" goal here, and I'll see how close I can get.

Movement	Current	Goal
squat	215#	250#
deadlift	225#	295#
bench press	TBD	195#
chin-up	1 rep	15 reps
military press	65#	110#

More on how the second half of the Over the Hump series went is on the way, and I'll be noting progress on my strength build periodically.

Every movie has a moment where the characters are introduced, the central plot is established, and everything after that proceeds from what we already know. (A few twists & turns aside.) It's the end of the beginning.

I kind of feel like Race #4 was that moment for the 2021 Over the Hump race season. Everyone's been moved to their proper divisions, consistent winners have established themselves, and now we're all just racing for incremental week-over-week improvement.

I took 9th in my first race, which felt like a good start, but then finished 12th & 22nd in the next 2 races. That prompted some re-evaluation of my goals and some investigation into how I slid 12 places in 15 days. The nutshell: a bunch of stronger riders either showed up, or moved into Intermediate from other divisions.

So, rather than looking at results, I looked at my time relative to a rider who consistently finishes in the top 3 to get a sense of how I was doing.

In the first race, I finished ~1:30 behind him. In the second, I was ~3:30 back. In the third, I was a miserable 4:40 off the pace.

So, both things are true:

• Riders stronger than me have joined my class
• I wasn't racing as well week-over-week.

After race #3, I had a couple of take-aways.

It is immensely clear that my trail skills have atrophied. I'm not nearly as comfortable on trails as I used to be, especially if they're loose. During races, I can feel the extra effort taking its toll.

The little, punchy climbs that litter the OtH courses were killing me. I needed to get used to holding pace while periodically pushing over short rises.

I'd also been following my TrainerRoad training plan, which prescribed mostly rest between races, with an "openers" workout the day before each race. I wondered how doing actual training between races would affect my performance. (Both in terms of race results, and whether I'd improve week-to-week.)

So before race #4, I did some training rides during the week, and moved them from power-based interval workouts done mostly on flats to more race-specific stuff on trails.

And honestly, that seemed to help a bit. For Race #4, I was much better able to deal with the short rises.

Race #4 was honestly pretty uneventful. I was able to match my PR on the back lot climb, which makes me happy, and I felt like I improved the way I'm riding the first ~10 minutes of the race: didn't overcook the start, maintained position well, and got onto the flats with my HR at ~165 BPM, which is exactly where I want to be.

I fumbled at least one place right at the end by not following through over the top of the final climb. I had a gap on the rider behind me, and I'd have kept it if I just pushed for another 5 seconds & gotten up to speed heading into the final 2:00 of the race. I got passed with ~1:00 left to go, and that's entirely my own doing. I did manage to barely hold off an attempt to get past me right at the line.

So, 4 races in, it's clear I've gotta work on three things, and they're not subtle.

First, I need to work on my cornering. I'm just bleeding time on every single corner, and I absolutely hate my lack of confidence in the turns. It's costing me time and fun.

Second, I'm going to do some YouTube research and see how faster, more experienced racers deal with short rises. (~5 seconds) There's a definite art to carrying momentum & using minimal energy to maintain/regain speed.

And third, I simply have to get faster. When I was 1:25 off the lead, I felt like better skills & tactics might close the gap. But I'm 4:00+ back now, and that's down to my legs.

And finally, I have to accept that if I'm going to win in Intermediate, let alone move up to Sport & be competitive there, I'm going to have to get leaner. So I'm working on that.

After nearly two years, the Over the Hump Tuesday-night races are back on the calendar. Instead of two six-week blocks with a hiatus in between, it's a single eight-week series. I'd love to see more racing, and a longer season, but after 22 months of waiting, I'll take what I can get.

My goals were super-simple: stay with the leaders as long as I could, and race smart. I've been watching a lot race tactics videos on YouTube this year, so I like to think I'm a smarter racer than I was two years ago.

Because of some delays at the venue, organizers shortened the race from three laps to two, which I was slightly bummed about. The last lap is usually where I'm able to pick up a few places. And a short race means a brutal pace I wasn't sure I could hang with.

I got off the line clean, and everyone seemed to take their time getting up to speed. I was with the leaders into the first turn, and felt really solid. As we crested the top of the hill & headed down to the road along Irvine Lake, gaps were forming and I was crosseyed, but I had the leaders in sight & felt okay about my position.

I did my best to breathe & conserve energy on the flats, but the pace was still super-high, and as we came through the park & onto the "back 40" section, I'd been gapped pretty good. I figured with just two laps in the race this was the best time to do whatever passing I was going to manage, and started to work my way up through the traffic.

It was amazing to push along the flats solo at 280W, then tuck in behind someone and watch that number drop to 170W without losing any speed.

The flat finished with that hard left up the nose & into the CX section. I decided not to burn my matches there, and I feel like that's the smart move there. It's maybe a 30-second climb, so going into the red just gains you maybe 5 seconds, which can be made up with minimal fuss later.

My trail skills are rusty after so much fire road riding in my training, and the course was really loose & dusty. So I feel like the back section took more out of me than it should have. (Or at least, more than it used to.)

I headed into lap 2 with no clue what position I was in. I just tried to remind myself that there was no point saving any matches, and that I really had maybe 15 minutes of racing left.

I managed to pick up a place coming through the park, and as I headed into the "Back 40", I spotted a huge train motoring along about 40m ahead. I've learned my lesson from so many crit videos, and I know that I've gotta catch that.

So catch it I did. I kept myself just shy of redlining, but managed to join the back of that train & get into that sweet, sweet suction. I took a minute to rest, but realized that I had one competitor just ahead, and another behind.

The train started to split apart, so I jumped on my competitor's wheel & went with him for the rest of the flat section. A glance back showed a nice gap, so I stopped looking for the guy behind, and just focused on moving up.

The guy I was following attacked up the nose climb, and I just couldn't go. I hoped that if I could stay in striking distance I could make up the time later in the lap, but after that he was gone.

I had a nice gap after the final climb, but didn't want to take that for granted. And I'm glad I didn't. A guy in my division wearing all black managed to sneak up & passed me going into the second-to-last corner. Very fortunately, there was a guy in another division just ahead of us and we all hit that corner at the same time. Mr. All-Black was forced to go outside of the other guy, but I had space to pull inside & get past them both. I spun up the hill as fast as I could & held on for 9th place.

(My GPS says I hit 130+ RPM there, which seems unlikely, but matches my experience at the time of just spinning as fast as I could.)

I had high hopes for this race. I spent several months at the beginning of 2020 building muscle, and I've been pushing hard on the bike to build my fitness.

Unfortunately, it looks like I've mostly just maintained, rather than improved. That's... disappointing.

On the other hand, I'll get to do eight races this year instead of just four back in 2019, and I improved significantly during those four races back then. I'm hoping I can do likewise this year.

So, goals for next week:

• start harder- stay with the leaders. I'm not 100% convinced this will get me my best possible results, but I really do feel like at this race the top finishers pull away quickly & stay away.
• more burning matches, more coasting. I spent a lot of time just above FTP, and that meant I had nothing when I needed to push harder. I want to see what happens when I, for example, start hard, then coast & draft along the flats, then attack up the nose, then recover in the CX section, then attack up the longer climb, then coast through the start/finish, etc. Might be a terrible idea. Dunno. I want to find out.

Upgrades!

First, I got a Stages left-crank power meter for my mountain bike. The change has been phenomenal. Instant feedback on technique means I'm really focusing on getting faster rather than just building aerobic capacity as a proxy for power output.

That set the stage for joining TrainerRoad's training program. So far, that's been awesome. I'm clearly getting much stronger & faster, and I like the variety it provides over something like Time-Crunched Training Protocol.

And I've upgraded GPS unit, replacing my old Garmin Edge 500 with a new Edge 130 Plus. Wireless sync has been awesome, and the screen is so much clearer. Both units support structured workout downloads from TrainierRoad, but the workout screen on the 130 Plus is so much better than what's available on the 500.

I also decided to try using a base layer just for grins, and I'll never go back to just a jersey. I'm using a Pearl Izumi sleeveless mesh base layer, and it keeps the chilly days from being too chilly, and noticeably helps make hot days manageable as well.

Saddle Sores

I've never had trouble with saddles before this year. But now... I do.

I suspect that the biggest reason is that I've been doing much more training (indeed, most of my training) on flat fire roads along the Santa Anna River Trail. On trails (where I did most of my riding until now), there's much more weighting & unweighting the saddle, shifting positions, etc.

Whatever the reason, saddle sores have been a persistent problem for me for the last few months. So far, I've been lucky. They haven't caused any disruption in my training or gotten beyond merely annoying. But they're not going away, and I want to get that resolved before it becomes a real problem.

On the calendar, the next two weeks are rest & prep for a race in Big Bear followed by a recovery week. So the plan is already calling for very little time on the bike with lots of rest, and workouts to maintain fitness rather than build it.

I won't be doing the Big Bear race, so I'm going to take advantage of that low volume to get some extra rest & minimize my time in the saddle. I'm hoping that doing just 2-3hrs over the next couple of weeks will let my sores heal completely.

I've also ordered a new seatpost that will give me more fine-tuned tilt & setback options, and I have a new saddle with a slightly wider body & more padding that I hope will help spread some of the pressure & minimize hip rocking.

And finally, once I'm healed I'm going to book a bike fit at Bosco Bike Fits to get my bike fit nailed down properly. I've never had a proper bike fit, and I like to think that if I had, I'd wouldn't be dealing with this now.

I've plotted a rough training outline for 2021, with the Over the Hump races as B races, and some more classic style race series on the radar as possibilities for A races if/when racing resumes.

My goal for 2021 is to get on the podium as an Intermediate racer, and set the stage for a move up to Sport in 2022.

For now, I'm using Strava's workouts (based on Charmichael's Time-Crunched Training Protocol), and making solid progress. Two-hour rides at 140 BPM feel easy, 150 BPM feels normal, and I'm doing intervals at 155-165 BPM to push my FTP up.

It's been a long time since I did real climbing repeats at 170+ BPM, so my climbing is garbage at the moment. Looking to get that back in order by April or so.

I've ordered a power meter, and I'm planning to start with TrainerRoad once that's fitted & working, which I think will really help me make better use of my training time.

And I've started doing a few things that are really helping recovery & getting more out of my workouts.

Fueling During the Workout

I've been fueling with Gu Roctane during my workouts, which has made a noticeable difference in how I feel in the second hour, especially when I need top-end power.

• 1 bottle Roctane, 1 bottle water
• drink ½ bottle every 30 minutes
• finish the Roctane 30 minutes before the end of the ride

Recovery Drink After the Workout

I've been taking BCAAs & water for years. A full recovery drink is better. Gu Roctane Recovery Mix, or a basic chocolate milk & protein shake:

• 8 oz milk
• 1 scoop (25g) protein
• chocolate syrup to taste (~2tbsp)

Stretching & Foam Rolling

I usually do this at night, immediately after doing my nightly housework so I'm warm & moving before I start.

• some version of my usual stretching sequence
• some strap-assisted work on hamstring & hip mobility
• short foam rolling session for legs & glutes, focusing on slowly rolling toward my torso
• I sleep better when I do this- my legs are more relaxed & I don't feel that "gotta stretch" feeling.
• I move around much more easily, especially getting up/down off the ground.
• I feel noticeably fresher the next day. No leftover stiffness or soreness.

Vitamins & Krill Oil

I'm still doing my usual dinner-time supplementation:

• 1 multivitamin
• 1 vitamin D
• 3 capsules krill oil

Focus on Sleep

Dan John said it well: "Recovery = Sleep. Everything else is FOMO."

• I make sure I get 7+ hours every night. 8+ as much as possible.
• I now use a device called a Smart Nora to eliminate snoring, which helps my wife sleep, which in turn means I'm not catching elbows in the middle of the night.
• I nap when I need to, and focus on getting to bed at a normal time the following night.

My bike performance & strength gains are pretty much done for the 2020 training year. I'm going to spend the next couple of months getting leaner, and then in October I start the the 2021 training year. That makes this a good moment to take stock & see what I've accomplished since October.

I have nothing poetic or insightful to say about what's happening in the world right now. For the moment, my wife, daughter & I are all healthy & employed, and able to sequester ourselves at home, which is awesome under the current circumstances.

Training continues to be my little bubble of emotional safety. So I'm going to keep doing that, and I'm going to keep writing about it here.

The Over the Hump schedule was first pushed to May 19, and is now listed as July 21, but I'm writing off my 2020 race season. I think of it as playing the long game. Instead of focusing on getting race-ready for 2020, I've taken a step back from riding and instead spent some time on barbell work to build a generally stronger, more capable body.

Goals

I've cobbled together my long-term strength goals from articles, books, blog posts, YouTube videos, and my own experience.

	goal	current
squat	1.5 x BW (270#)	195#
deadlift	2.0 x BW (360#)	245#
bench press	1.5 x BW (270#)	140#
pull-up	10 @ BW	4 @ BW

Methods

I've taken a step back from bike-focused training, and centered my training around body composition and building strength & muscle mass. I've been down this road before, with disappointing results, so this is something of a leap of faith. But, I've made a couple of key choices this time around that have really helped.

First, I've stuck to the basics, and added one complementary movement where I felt it was appropriate.

Second, I've ruthlessly avoided changing too much over time. I want a solid framework within which I can apply progressive overload to make my body stronger.

Third, I've tailored one workout a week to addressing general mobility & core strength, with some emphasis on a couple of problem areas.

It's really tempting to add too much. But I find that most of these workouts clock in at around 1:15h, and on the hard days they leave me wobbly. That tells me I'm doing enough.

Workouts

The primary goal is to build strength, and not necessarily to build muscle mass. (I covered hypertrophy back in late 2019.)

For the primary movements (bench, pull-up, squat, deadlift), I've taken a note from Mass Made Simple and adopted a cycle of set/rep/load that seems to be working well:

1. Workout #1: 3 x 5, 2 min rest between sets
2. Workout #2: 5 x 5, 90 sec rest between sets
3. Workout #3: 3 x 8, 2 min reset between sets
4. Increse the load & repeat the cycle.

Basically, start by doing enough volume to get used to the load & trigger some growth. Then push up the volume, and finally, consolidate the reps back into 3 sets to push the growth further.

That's working well. While I was doing Mass Made Simple, my bench press max double was 135. I can now do that for 5 x 5.

Lower Body/Back (Wednesdays)

• deadlift (3x5 | 5x5 | 3x8)
• squat (3x5 | 5x5 | 3x8)
• crab walk 3 x 45/60
• kb snatch 3 x 20

Upper Body (Mondays & Fridays)

• bench press (3x5 | 5x5 | 3x8)
• pull-up (3x5 | 5x5 | 3x8)
• face pull 3 x 10
• front raise 3 x 10
• barbell complex (5x5 | 3x8):
  • bent row
  • deadlift
  • power clean
  • military press
  • squat
  • Romanian deadlift

Complementary Work (Saturday)

• circuit x 3:
  • back extension
  • axe chop
  • Jefferson curl
  • hanging knee raise
• stretching

Random Notes

I feel like the crab walks (which I do more in an ice skating motion due to space constraints) have been a fantastic addition to my workouts. I decided to try that after seeing that it was part of Emily Batty's gym program.

And the day of core strength & hip mobility has been great. I added the back extensions after watching Jeff Cavaliere talk about how just doing squats & deadlifts is not enough to really build a strong low back.

Together, the crab walks, back extensions, axe chops, and mobilty work has massively improved how I feel on standing climbs, and improved how my low back feels after tough/long rides.

I find it interesting to note that this has been more effective even than the Foundation Training low back sequence.

Preliminary Results

My measurements are virtually identical to when I finished my hypertrophy block back in November, which is great. I'm not trying to add bulk, and I'm not adding fat.

I'm comitted to "playing the long game", which means moving consistently toward those strength targets, and genuinely letting go of 2020 and aiming to hit next summer in the best cycling shape of my life.

Just the same, I was worried what several months of prioritizing strength work would do. Nobody likes to move backward.

So after taking a rest week and doing a couple of rides to wake up my legs, I did a ride up Coachwhip to see where I stand.

Result: I hit my fastest time in nearly a year.

That's still ~80 seconds off PR pace, but I'm no longer worried about losing huge levels of hard-earned bike fitness. I'm confident that prioritizing strength over the last few months is paying dividends, and I'm on the right track for a great 2021 race season.

What's Next

During my late-2019 hypertrophy block, I gained ~10# of muscle. I'd like to now shed ~10# of fat, so that I'm back at my 2019 body mass with a much-improved composition, and massively better strength. That'll take up July & August, and maybe a couple weeks of September.

And I'm reading up on targeting slow-twitch hypertrophy, so that may be on deck for September/October.

The single best thing I've done for my training this year is to build a periodized plan that clarifies priorities, and then stick to those priorities.

And so, here I am reminding myself of my initial principles:

• clear priorities
• play the long game

I've been putting off my fat-loss & base training block. The plan is to do what I did last year: shed ~10 lbs by simply postponing breakfast until after my 11:00 AM bike ride. Basically, I did fasted cardio, and it worked great.

I've been hesitating to implement this because:

1. I like breakfast.
2. I've given myself the excuse that I need the fuel to make sure my rides are productive.
3. I only have ~12 weeks until my first race. I don't want to sacrifice training efficacy to gain weight loss.

This is bullshit. I'm doing some difficult intervals, sure. But they're not intense intervals. They're right around my lactate threshold. So I don't need the available glucose.

This week is a back-off week, so I'll let it go. But when I start back up next week, it's time to get real about dropping the fat.

I have to remember that it may be 11 weeks until the first 6-race OtH series starts, but it's ~22 weeks until the second series starts. Fat loss should go early in my training (in other words: now). And if I put it off until later, I'll just sabotage both series for myself. Far, far better to Play the Long Game and focus on the genuine top priority in the here-and-now: drop 10 lbs of dead weight.

Here's what I have with me on all my trail rides, recorded for posterity (aka: future me):

• Bag: No longer made, but it's a Seatsleev from Speedsleev
• Multi-Tool: Topeak Mini 6
• Tire Plug Kit: Dynaplug Micro Pro
• CO2 Nozzle: Blackburn Wayside C02 Threa On Inflator
• CO2 Cartridges
• Tire Lever: Cut-down Park Tool lever
• Electrical Tape: ~12'' of electrical tape (wrapped around tire lever)
• Zip Ties: 3 small zip ties
• Chain Tool: Topeak Super Bicycle Chain Tool (I've removed the included hex key, since I just use the multi-tool.)
• Missing Link: KMC Missing Link 10R
• Spare Tube: Specialized Turbo Tube
• Patch Kit: Park Tool Patch Kit

The whole thing weighs in at around 520g.

I'm cutting the last week of my planned strength block. My right AC joint has been hurting, and I want to focus on getting it healed & strong again. I think I tweaked it doing bench presses during my hypertrophy block. It's mostly been fine since then, but it's been hurting this week and I really want it to be solid by the time I start racing.

So, I feel like that's a solid decision. It's a good time to switch my focus to on-bike gains, and put the barbell stuff into maintenance/prehab mode.

But I didn't feel good ending the block on that note... until I started looking at the numbers.

We made our first dinner with the Caja China this afternoon. We're planning to use this for Christmas dinner, so I'm making notes here to help ensure that things go smoothly.

With my hypertrophy block successful, the next step is to build on that foundation. Next up is an 9-week strength-building block.

I've avoided the temptation to throw in everything. "Enough" upper body work really is enough. And I'll be geting plenty of bike-specific work on my bike. So the core of my strength workout is dead simple: deadlift, box jump, farmer walk.

The Workout

• warmup:
  • kb swing: 20 @ 35#
  • 1-arm kb swing: 20 @ 35#
  • kb swing: 20 @ 50#
  • 1-arm kb swing: 2 x 20 @ 50#
• workout:
  • barbell complex (2 sets, 5 reps each movement):
    • bent-over row
    • deadlift
    • clean
    • front squat
    • military press
    • back squat
    • Romanian deadlift
  • deadlift: 3 x 5
  • chin-up: 5 x 2 (working toward 3 x 5)
  • box jump 3 x 10
  • farmer walk
• assistance/corrective: 3 rounds of:
  • plank x 60sec
  • jefferson curl x 5
  • resistance band rotator cuff work

So far, so good. First workout was tough, second felt solid, so I increased the weight for the third, and I feel it just right in my hips & hams.

I'm doing the barbell work Monday & Thursday, and doing easy loops on the bike on Tuesday & Friday. So far, that's working well. The bike rides are feeling better and better, and so are the barbell sessions, so... success? Or am I just not going hard enough in the gym? Dunno. I'll just track my progress and tweak as I go.

The Mental Aspect

I took a lot of comfort in doing the Mass Made Simple program, because basically none of the decision-making was up to me. I could see & feel myself getting stronger, and all I had to do was stick with the program.

Putting together my own strength program is far less comfortable.

Honestly, I'm a little stressed at being nearly 20# heavier than I was at this time last year, with ~3 monts less time than last year before racing starts. That really seems... not good.

But looking at the calendar, I'm fine. I've got plenty of time.

Looking at my records from last year has helped. It really only took me about 8 weeks to drop 10#, and if I do that again this year, I'll be happy. That would take me back to my racing weight last year, with significantly more muscle.

I've backed way off on the protein intake. I've bulked up plenty, and I know from experience that I don't need that kind of calorie/protein intake to build strength.

The Big Picture

• Priorities, in order:
  • gain strength
  • don't gain any more weight
  • stretch goal: shed fat
• Barbell Mon/Thr, bike Tue/Fri.
• Weigh-in every Friday, with the goal being not to gain much.
• If I'm not recovered for my barbell work, I'll cut intensity/volume on the bike. For now, strenght work takes priority.

And with a plan in place, I do feel better. We'll see where I am in 8 weeks.

The Program

I mostly followed Dan John's Mass Made Simple, but I'll state up front that I did not do the program as written. In particular:

• I started the program, completed 3 workouts, then got sick & continued to do the third workout as a holding pattern until I felt solid enough to move forward.
• The program recommends a three-day workout rhythm. (Each workout is followed by exactly two rest/recharge days.) I worked out twice a week. (Usually Monday/Thursday.)
• Where the program prescribes bat wings, I did flexed-arm hangs, and later chin-ups on a pull-up bar.
• The program uses squats at 185# through much of the last few weeks. That proved too heavy for me. Where 185# is called for, I used 165#.

I found that the workouts took about 90 minutes to complete, including a 5-minute warmup of light rowing.

I did not do any stretching to speak of during the program, and I have not noticed any diminished mobility.

Results

Final Tally

• 8 canisters of protein powder
• 1 canister Perpetuem
• 200 creatine capsules
• 1542 squats

Measurements

	Before	After
weight	187.2#	198.2
calf	15.5''	15.75''
thigh	22.5''	25.25''
hips	40''	41''
waist	38''	39''
chest	39.5''	42''
biceps	12.5''	14''

(All measurements taken with my OrbiTape.)

I'd call that a raging success. I haven't gotten results like this since I was in my 20's.

I've had a cough for the last couple of weeks. I initially thought it was nothing, and just kept training, which felt fine. But it held on & got worse rather than better, so I've just stopped training altogether & concentrated on getting the rest I need.

I'm finally on the mend & expect to be ready to hit the weights again on Friday. But I don't want to just jump back in where I left off, so I'll be repeating the second week of Mass Made Simple before moving forward & completing the program.

A week off, plus repeating a week means I'll be 2 weeks behind. The initial plan was for 7 weeks of mass building, but the extra two weeks pushes it to 9, and I'm not sure my body will want to do that. So once I hit week #5 of the program (which will be week #7 on the calendar) I'll be alert for signs of deeper fatigue: lack of motivation, stalled progress, trouble sleeping.

Focusing on next summer has made it much easier to make the right decisions this week. I feel like I have plenty of time to rest & recover and I'll still be able to bring my A game when it matters.

I meant to do this before the first workout on Tuesday, but I doubt much has changed in two days & one workout.

Here's the current state of things:

• weight: 187.2#
• calf: 15.5''
• thigh: 32.5''
• hips: 40''
• waist: 38''
• chest: 39.5''
• biceps: 12.5''

The calendar says that I'll wrap up with Mass Made Simple around October 25, so I'll take the "after" measurements around the 30th.

Even before the last race of the Over the Hump season, I could feel that I needed a break. I was looking forward to being able to just ride wherever I wanted, if I wanted. And finishing 5th in that last race, and 7th overall, really made me feel like I'd done what I set out to do.

So what now? Well, it's a good time to take a big-picture look at my health & fitness, and to play the game so that I arrive in May 2020 stronger, fitter, faster and more injury-proof than I am now.

I talked with a nutritionist, who said that I generally eat pretty well, and suggested a few improvements to try. I'm trying them.

I've taken a rest week, and I'm now starting to do some light barbell work to acclimate my body to that kind of work again. (Mostly a modified version of Cosgrove's Evil 8, without the power cleans or good mornings.)

I've started Dan John's Mass Made Simple program. It's classic "bus bench" stuff: show up, do the workout, enjoy the results. The core of the workout is a barbell complex (row, clean, front squat, press, back squat, good morning) similar to Cosgrove's Evil 8, and a heavy helping of squats.

The first workout went really well, and today I'm definitely sore, but not hurting. (I went slightly easy on the complex to make sure I had the gas for the squats.) I'll up the weight a bit on the complex next time.

And honestly, I think just a 40-minute complex/squats/pull-up workout will be an excellent way to maintain my strength gains once I get back on the bike & start base building again in a couple of months.

I think the biggest difference between my first race results (12th) and my last (5th) was not fitness. It was being far smarter with my energy expenditure.

It's easy to think that I'll remember what worked and what didn't when next year rolls around. But I know myself better than that. So here's the stuff I picked up over the last few weeks/months of training & racing.

Pre-Race Protocol

Clean & fix bike the weekend before.

I really noticed that the drive train was happier after I cleaned & lubed the bike. (Not surprising.)

This is also when I'd address any problems that arose during the previous race. (Derailleur adjustments, wheel truing, etc.)

Monday shake-out ride

This gives me a chance to shake out any fixes I did on the weekend, and confirm that nothing is loose or misaligned after the weekend cleaning & tweaking.

I've found that the legs felt much snappier & performed better when I get a little low-volume intensity the day before. Climbing Coachwhip seemed perfect. (~10 minutes climbing at 165+bpm.)

Pre-Race Checklist

• number plate
• water bottles (2)
• drink mix
• protein shake in thermos
• socks
• shoes
• glasses
• helmet
• gloves
• gps
• floor pump
• bike
• wallet
• phone
• keys
• chamois butter
• sunscreen

Arrive by 4:45 PM

That's enough time to:

1. mount number plate
2. get my leg marked
3. check the course map
4. pre-ride the course

Things to note on the pre-ride:

• first bottleneck
• first climb
• last top-out
• setup to final corner
• final corner
• sprint

Ditch the saddle bag.

My trail repair kit weighs ~570g. That's a nice chunk to leave behind for race day, and the start/finish area is always within walking distance.

Race Strategy

Line up at the front.

First or second row. Behind the known fast riders is fine, as they'll start fast & clean. Not behind unknowns.

Start fast, start clean.

A 45-minute race is no place to dilly-dally at the starting line. The leaders line up in front & get away quick. If I want to be anywhere near them, I gotta do likewise.

Grab a wheel on the flats.

The flat section along the lake is ~2:30. Get on someone's wheel & recover or gain speed.

Brake less, coast more.

I consciously stayed off the brakes as much as possible, which let me carry more speed.

And on every downhill I'd resist the temptation to keep pedaling, and instead I'd get into a low hinge and takea few deep breaths & try to recover a bit.

Look behind you.

Through the middle of the race, I found it really helpful to be aware of who was following me. (Shocking, I know.) Getting a gap was encouraging, and knowing I had not gapped my competitor(s) was helpful in deciding how to ride the lead-in to the flats.

From the top of the last rise, push hard to the finish line.

Near the top of the final rise before the finish, get a sense of who's behind me. Push over the top, close the door & keep it closed.

Post-Race Protocol

Protein shake immediately post-race

A shake with ~300cal & 30g of protein immediately after the race noticeably improved recovery.

Stretch & Sudafed/NyQuil the night after the race.

I found that I had some trouble sleeping after the race. It took me some time to wind down. And once I did, I could really feel the fatigue in my legs. I was consistently too warm to sleep.

This wasn't consistently a problem, but happened a couple of times, and when it did, it killed my recovery.

My final race of the Over the Hump season went really well. I managed to hit my personal goal of a top-5 finish, and racked up enough points to place 7th overall. I'm really happy with that.

The race this week got off to a much cleaner start than last week, though I had to make my way around a guy who lined up on the front row, but didn't seem to have the gas to stay near the front at the start.

In the meantime, half a dozen riders had come around me, so I set about not burning all my matches on the first punchy rise, and making the most of the flat along the lake. I found a train & jumped on, and was content to get pulled along, and could see that we were passing others in my division. When I did pull through, I just kept the same pace & tried to bring the rest of the train with me, but it broke apart and I found myself alone again on the CX section, which was fine with me.

I grabbed another wheel through the second lap's flat section, and actually felt like I'd recovered a bit going into the back half of the race. I just concentrated on cornering well and carrying as much speed as I could.

I came through the last lap feeling like I had a bit of a gap, but knowing that I'd had just a few seconds at best in every race so far. I wasn't about to let off the gas.

The course doubled back on itself several times near the end of the lap, so I could see that I had a little bit of a gap going into the final 500m or so of the race. But I wasn't about to take anything for granted. Nobody behind me for 30m or so was good, but no guarantee of anything.

I pushed over the top of the last rise and tried to carry as much speed as I could over the pump section. Coming out of the final, loose, uphill right-hander before the finish I hit the gas hard, and just tried to make sure I didn't give away any opportunities at the last moment. If anyone was going to get around me, I wanted to at least make them earn it. The only thought in my head was, Looking back just makes you slower! GO!

The way things shook out, I earned an overall score I'm fine with, hit my goal of a top-5 finish (which I thought wasn't going to happen), and have a nice pint glass as a souvenir. That's a pretty great way to finish out the season.

Next year, I'll aim to improve on that. But for now, I'm going to rest up for a week or two, then hit the weights & start laying the groundwork for next year.

Life got in the way for a couple of weeks, and I missed races #9 and #10. So it was really fun to be back at the start line this week for #11.

Another flat course, another super-fast start. The start was hectic, and by the time the field settled I knew the leaders had gapped everyone else, and I wasn't sure where I was sitting. So I just tried to push and get clear. I've learned to just get away as fast as I can without burning out the legs immediately, and that worked out okay this week.

The flat along the lake was early in the lap, and a few riders came around me soon after that. (Either on the short, sharp climb that ends the flat, or on the CX-style section that followed.) But I was able to grab a wheel here and there and hold my pace, and managed to pull back a few places on the second lap.

By the time I hit the flat on the third lap, there was just one competitor near me. He tried to pass on the sharp climb after the flat, but I got ahead & built a lead on the CX section, and by the time I was headed for the finish, I could see I had a comfortable gap.

Just the same, I pushed hard through the last climbing S-turn to the finish, not wanting a replay of race #7.

There were lots of trains forming during this race for some reason. (I think the course brought the Sport/Elite classes together with the Beginner/Intermeditates more than usual.) I ended up pulling a few for a while before realizing they were behind me.

So, if I have a note from this week, it's to look for trains to jump onto on the flat. The two that I did manage to fall in wich picked up my speed by ~2mph, which is a huge energy advantage.

So, ultimately, I had an okay start, held my pace, managed to pick up a couple of spots on lap 2, and finished strong. Pretty good!

Up 5 places! Quite an improvement over last week!

Before the race, I scoped out the finish and made a mental note of the beats: climb, coast, flat, hard left, sprint. This really helped at the end of the race when I was just about cooked, but knew I had to make the most of that coasting section so I'd have something left to push across the flat & sprint for the finish.

The start was the usual drag race off the line, followed by a steep, narrow ramp about 200m from the start that created enough of a bottleneck that the first guys through basically got the hole shot. I didn't get held up too bad, but I didn't exactly roll through with any momentum.

On the fire road climb I just tried to hold an aggressive pace and stay with whomever I could, and I especially tried not to let myself get stuck behind slower riders. If I could pass without redlining, I did.

I think that helped my position going over the top, which ended up being pretty close to my finishing place, I think. I have a pet theory that if there's just one climb on a course, the order at the top is generally the finishing order. That seems to have held last night.

As we started the second lap, I caught up to a competitor in blue, and managed to grab onto his wheel.

We rode like that for a while, then, on the flats headed for the last climb, he let me pass and grabbed a wheel a couple of riders behind me. I tried to lose him in traffic, but he held on, and then made the decisive pass with about 20m left to go on the climb. I had no answer, and had to let him go.

As I was crossing the flat section leading to the finish line, I spotted another competitor trying to sneak past, and gave it a bit more gas. He was strong, but evidently not quite enough to pass, so I was able to hold on for 7th.

So what went well?

I was in the right gear & clipped in clean off the starting line.

I was more aggressive about passing slower riders, which I think both reduced drag and helped me keep a comfortable rhythm.

I managed to mostly avoid getting passed on the last lap. From what I can tell, I held my place from the top of the climb to the end.

I scoped out the finish, and executed my plan for the end of the race.

And what do I want to do better next week?

I don't think getting better results is all that complex. I need to keep training & get stronger, and I need to start quicker off the line. Being near the front after the first few minutes bodes really well for a good finish.

So I'll keep up the interval training, and the strength work I've been doing over the last few weeks.

My recent training is paying off huge. My average heart rate last night was 171bpm, which is nuts.

Temperatures were high, and with very little sustained climbing, the pace was murderous. My heart rate jumped straight up above 170 and stayed there for at least the first 15 minutes, and rarely dipped below that. (My average for the race was 171.)

I was sitting 10th until the very last half-mile or so, when I was caught by two guys. They both sprinted past me in the final seconds of the race to push me back to 12th. I was so cooked that even when I realized I was in a bunch headed for the finish line, it still didn't register that I should sprint out of the final corner to hold them off, and even when they passed me, my only thought was to check their leg markings to see if they were in my division. Whups...

I'm pleasantly surprised with how I feel today, after turning myself inside-out last night. I'm fatigued, certainly, but I'm not the kind of stiff & sore I expected. One more way my trainaing has paid off, I supposed.

I have thoughts about what went well, and what didn't. But ultimately, it's clear that if I want to move up in the field, I simply have to get stronger & leaner.

I was told recently that I'm too big (frame, not fatness) for cycling, but mountain biking is the realm of speedy gorillas. So many guys in the field are built like power lifters. So my near- to long-term training goals are to drop the rest of this excess fat I'm carrying around, and add some serious muscle.

But for now, the name of the game is to get out and do the rest of my training for this week, and then recover & prep for next week's race.

I'm done numbering the weeks. Tahoe is off, and The Grizzly 100 is at the end of September. That's close enough that I need to start thinking about it, but today's not about that.

I just wrapped up the second block of Strava TCTP training, and the results have been great.

I used Coachwhip as my fitness test. I've been chasing a new PR there for a long time, and it's a sustained 10-minute dirt climb close to home. My litmus test for the Strava program was: Can this restore forward progress to my Coachwhip PRs?

Answer: Hell yes.

The first training block improved my time from 9:25 to 9:12, good enough for a new PR.

The second block got me down to 8:53, which I'm really pleased with. I've been trying to get under 9:00 for ages.

Two months of training took 32 seconds off a 9-minute climb. That's damn fine progress.

And across the board, I'm improving. My endurance is up, I'm holding my HR at 170BPM on my hill repeats (up from 165 or so) and I'm recovering from workouts really well.

Interesting sidenote: I've noticed in the past that I need to "wake up" my legs before I can perform at my best. I initially attempted a PR after a day of easy riding and a rest day, and was way, way off the pace.

I went back the very next day, and was 40 seconds faster to score that 8:53 PR.

I can't help thinking of the Limestone Canyon race, where I felt sluggish. It was the same pattern: a day of easy riding, a day of rest, then race. For my next race or PR attempt, I'll do some riding the day before and see how that feels.

I lined up on Saturday morning for the Limestone Canyon race. I've resolved to race more often in 2019, and with Tahoe off the table, I've been looking for smaller, closer options. Limestone certainly fit the bill.

A peek at the course map and a bit of Google satellite imagery magic was nearly as good as a pre-ride. I printed out a little cheat sheet that combined course cues with a tactical plan:

START	GO!
1.5	MOVE
1.9	CLIMB
4.0	RIDGE - 2 KICKERS
5.1	DESCEND
8.2	SHORT CLIMB
8.4	RIDGE
10.0	GO GO GO

I hoped I'd need the tactical info, but honestly I know where I stand in the Sport class pecking order. Just the same, it was really nice to have that on my top tube out on the course as a way to measure my efforts, and especially to know when to expect turns, climbs, etc.

It was clear from the map that there were basically two key points on the course. I figured that at mile 5.1, where the major climbing topped out, whoever was out front would probably stay there. And the best opportunity to be ahead at mile 5.1 would to go to the riders at the front when the fire road funneled onto singletrack at mile 2.

So the funnel onto singletrack would be the first selection, and the last two climbs on the ridge would be the second.

So I wasn't surprised when the race organizers told everyone at the start of the race: "Get your passing done by mile 2."

I mentally prepped for a lung-busting start, and hoped that the relatively flat singletrack to the first climb would provide a chance to breathe & find a sustainable rhythm.

Someone yelled, "GO!" and we were off.

I clipped in clean, and headed onto the fire road sitting top 10(-ish?), and tried to spin my way into solid position.

I don't think I was ruthless enough in passing. Several times, I let gaps form a wheel or two ahead of me, and had to catch the wheels of passing riders to get around, rather than pushing around myself. That might be smart racing (maybe?), but it felt like I was falling farther and farther back.

I'm reminded of a line from Sean Yates's book: "The field is going to split, and you're in the wrong half. MOVE UP."

By the time I hit the singletrack, I was sitting maybe top 15, felt, race stupid and my legs were toast. I figured the leaders were well up the trail and maybe I was hanging onto the back of the second group. I knew I'd have nothing left for the ridgeline if I didn't get my HR down, so I dropped a couple of gears, and tried to spin my way up the climb as easily as I could.

By the time I reached the ridgeline, I knew dialing back the intensity was a good call, but I also had no idea if there was anyone left behind me.

At that point, I got into the headspace that works for me in this situation: If there is anyone benind me, I want to hold them off. And if anyone ahead crumbles or has a mechanical, I want to be in position to capitalize. So I pushed on.

Right on cue at mile 5, the trail started down, and I let the bike run. It was really nice to be able to push over the top knowing I'd have a long descent to recover.

I passed a few riders on the way down through the canyon. One or two were completely shattered, granny-gearing it home, and most were coasting. In the past, the flats have been where I felt extremely weak, but I found that my recent training was doing me good. I didn't feel powerful, but I certainly had the gas to hold a fast pace down through the canyon, which was satisfying.

The final, short climb up to the ridgeline singletrack went easily enough. The trail was far more groomed than anything earlier in the course, which was nice, but I was well aware that I could push too hard, or I'd detonate.

The ridgeline singletrack was... not that much fun. It was loose and rocky, and several little downhills had become rutted, narrow funnels full of loose gravel. Throw in big prickly pear cacti here and there, and I found myself worrying far more about not getting hurt than about going fast.

Once I hit the fire road at mile 10, I just hit the gas and made sure to hold off anyone who might be close behind. I took a couple of looks behind me, didn't see anyone, and knew I'd probably be fine if I just held my pace.

The coast stayed clear all the way to the finish line. Final place: 9th out of 13 in Sport Men 36-49.

That's... pretty much what I expected. I was hoping for a solid mid-pack finish, but I felt like I rode better than I expected, and I see what I need to do to prep for future races.

First, I need to get leaner. I'm just carrying around way too much fat to be competitive. The single most obvious difference between the Beginners and the top of the Sport class is their body makup. Lots of bellies in the Beginners and slower Sport riders (myself included). Zero excess body weight on the podium.

Second, I need to continue the structured training I've been doing. I felt so much better after this race than any other race I've done, and I felt like I was much stronger later in the race than I would have been a few months ago.

And third, any prep for future races needs to simulate the classic local XC race start: 2 miles of fast fire road followed by steep singletrack climbing.

But I did a little number crunching, and I feel like moving up to a top-5 finish next year is doable. With a 1:05:00 finish, I was just 8 minutes off the podium, and just 10 minutes behind the winner. That's a big chunk of time, but getting 10 minutes faster on this course over the next year or so feels doable, and the math checks out.

Basically, extrapolating from my recent efforts on Coachwhip, I might be able to take a minute off my lap time each month. If I do that every month for a year, I'm on the podium. If I do any more than that, I win.

That definitely feels like something worth working for. I'd love to come back next year and post a top-5 finish or better.

So, today I did my endurance miles, and tomorrow it's intervals. The work continues...

Well, the training seems to be doing its job. I set a new PR on Coachwhip on Thursday: 9:12, down about 12 seconds from a two-year-old PR. That feels good.

So, I'll be continuing on the current training plan for another month, then going again. My long-time goal for Coachwhip has been to get under 9:00, and it feels like that's realistic to try for in a few weeks.

After a back-off week last week (week 28), I've resumed training this week with a modified schedule to prep for Limestone Canyon on Saturday morning. Yesterday's hill repeats felt strong, and the endurance-pace return leg home from the hill felt especially solid. I can feel that my endurance has kicked up pretty substantially.

I've officially crossed the Tahoe Trail 100 off my list. It was always, shall we say... aspirational, but with July just around the corner, it's time to either start logistical prep or acknowledge that a 14+ hours on the road and a hard day on the bike isn't a great fit for my life at the best of times. The fact that it's my wife's birthday weekend means it's time to get my priorities straight and call it.

I've been doing a version of Charmichael Training's Time-Crunched Training Protocol over the last four weeks. At the end of week 3, my legs were toast, and were sluggish and heavy for Monday and Tuesday of week 4, but they feel solid today. So tomorrow or Friday I'll take a shot at setting a new PR on Coachwhip. It's eluded me for a couple years, so we'll see how that goes.

And I'm set to start the Limestone Canyon Race in 10 days. Unfamiliar trails, plenty of climbing etc. I'm tempted to geek out about strategy, but I'm trying to internalize that in a one-hour race, the only real strategy is to stay with the leaders as long as I can. All I'm putting in my brain is to try not to blow up on the way to the high point at mile 7.7, and after that it's full gas to the finish.

So we'l see how this goes...