Back to Blanket's

For a number of weeks I was analyzing my current situation as to why I am in a slump. It amounts to several things, but what to do about it was more important. My wife and I discussed what I could do to regain some lost ground in conditioning this year. In January I was doing great because work stress was lower and my overall training time on the trainer using intervals in the L3 and L4 range was mounting up, but as the months went on this season my time in the saddle was reduced and my training became unorganized. Cindi and I looked at what I did last year and one thing that was missing was at weekly trip to Blanket's Creek mountain bike trails.

My time has to be efficient and prioritized with these things in order.

1. Abide in Jesus Christ and bible study time each day - (spiritual growth and serving)
2. Relationship with Cindi - (relationships take time and effort)
3. Employment - (because its essential)
4. Household Responsibilities - (part of life and important in keeping #2 in harmony)
5. Leisure Activities - (cycling is fun, but it is not my employment and cannot exceed the above)

After 1 through 4 it comes to how much time is left for training and lately there has not been much. We looked at what is the best use of minimal training time during the work week. Time is limited so drive time must be limited and training time will be limited. This naturally puts me into a position where I either need to do interval training at home on the trainer or go somewhere very quick, train very quickly and then get home to do my daily chores around the house before getting ready for the next work day, which includes cooking and packaging all my meals because I eat 6 to 8 small meals per day.

Using the Dwelling Loop fits in the best with me at this time. Based on perception, because I do not have a power meter for the mountain bike, I believe using the single track mountain bike trail is perhaps the most intense of all the training I have done in the past couple of years. The burst of effort of climbing short hills and coasting down the next I find my heart rate really high and at the end my legs every bit as tired as doing L4 intervals on the trainer. Plus it is way more fun than intervals on the trainer.

My weekly routine looks like this:

• Monday - Weights (legs)
• Tuesday - Weights (chest) / Dwelling Loop (mountain bike)
• Wednesday - Weights (back) / Spin bike or Trainer L3 or L4 intervals
• Thursday - Weights (shoulders) / Spin Bike or Trainer L3 tempo
• Friday - Weights (arms) / no cardio
• Saturday - Extended Road Ride
• Sunday - If possible a 2 hour tempo type of road ride between church services

My conditioning already feels a little better just the last couple of weeks for throwing in the mountain bike training and doing the Sunday ride. This is what I have to work with so I will give it a shot and see how things turn out in a couple of months.