Training Update

Still following the loose Morris/Cross-training plan. It seems to be a good fit for now. Early on, the cross-fit alone was fine for general body fitness but I think cycling prowess fades naturally with no cycling specific efforts.

For the time being, I workout 2x a week in the Crossfit gym and then hit the trainer 3 days, barring travel, etc. With the weather we've been having there is no thought of going outside, but as soon as the weather holds above 40 and not raining and the at least sweep up some of the gravel on the road I'll get in some outside time. It has been over 3 months I'd say since turning the pedals any more than 40mins at one time.

I'm not as gung ho on the intervals as years ago, so if a particular workout feels too much I'll just bag it and not go to super human lengths to push through it. The power numbers are encouraging. Even up a tad from the last few years. So I wonder if the X fit has done some real good in setting up the legs to go into the SMSP intervals. What is missing this year is absolutely no endurance riding. It's going to be sort of a reverse taper in that if I get any at all it will come after the intervals.

The other thing that is unchecked is planned rest blocks. In the Morris plan there are planned almost complete weeks off that occur about every 3 weeks. About 10 days after them I feel really great. But in the current plan, these rests occur more randomly due to work travel, family travel or other life events that disrupt the schedule. The fact is there is more worry from over doing it in this current plan. Because the X fit workouts are intense, and the intervals are intense, so there is a cumulative fatigue that builds up. Which is fine and good because that is why training works. But it's the rest where we get stronger.

What I've seen is cycles of ups/downs occurring. Where I'll go into a crossfit workout and it will feel easy but I'm setting PRs in times or weights. Other days will be the exact opposite, tired lethargic with poor performance. I'm not tracking what is going on but I imagine I'm matching my known patterns for peaking. Hard efforts, back to back to create an 'over-reaching' combined with about 8-11 days buffer and you get a peak. In The 8-11 days it doesn't really matter what I do either couch or working hard. It just seems that the body recovers and comes out the other side pretty well.

But now with the interval training combined with the 2x a week cross fit it will be interesting. It will be nice to ride outside again. I miss it.