1st Quarter 2013 Fitness Update

 

Current Training Schedule:

 

Profile:

Age closing in on 50
Weight 161

Current Fitness:

Current CTL 74 (was at 90 CTL this time last year)
Watts/Kg 3.0

Goal:

Continue to improve recreational cycling fitness and hold on to as much strength as possible. Continue to refine bodyweight and lean mass. Try to get in at least 10 hours a week for cycling training. Weight training has been the same for many years, which is about 45 minutes at a fast pace Monday through Friday.

Other distractions:

This spring has been rather difficult with life, weather and work interruptions. My training time and miles (CTL) is below last year at this point, but these distractions are far more important to our livelihood and staying employed is going to take precedence. Weather has also been much cooler and wetter than the last few years.

Nutrition Intake:

I no longer count calories, but whatever it is it is a lot of calories. I keep my daily protein intake near the same each day and fluctuate carbohydrate intake based on training or not training. I would guess as 90% of my caloric intake seems to be useful calories. There are some pleasurable calories (ice cream) involved once in a while.

Hurdles: 

I am a big believer in sports specific training. If I were a cycling purist I would focus entirely on cycling training and if I were still into powerlifting I would focus primarily on lifting, but in these post competitive training years I want to be more balanced between the two. Because of this there are certainly difficulties sharing or should I say attempting to be progressive in two activities that seem antagonistic to each other. Recovery is also difficult to balance between the two with training legs and being fresh enough to hit those treasured sweet spot or Level 4 intensities in cycling. However, it has also been a nice challenge to see if I can balance between the two. So far it has gone just as I expected. My strength has slowly declined, my body mass is reducing and my endurance has increased. Cycling seems to be winning out between the two and yet I am still very much at the recreational level of cycling. Meaning I would do good to hold the wheel of a competent Cat 5 cycling competitor.
Last Happy Moment:                                                                                                               
My last moment of achievement was on April 13, 2013
Blog Entry
Garmin Data
It was climbing Horn Mountain 40 miles into an 80 mile route. I felt pretty good on this climb considering I had 40 miles on the legs, several previous days of training and another 40 miles ahead. I was glad to see that even though my fitness is down due to reduced training that the watts/kg have improved some and I felt fairly good about it for being a recreational cyclist that does not seem genetically inclined for endurance sport.

Horn Mountain:

Duration: 16:13

Work: 200 kJ

TSS: 25.1 (intensity factor 0.964)

Norm Power: 212

VI: 1.03

Distance: 1.717 mi

Elevation Gain: 723 ft

Elevation Loss: 0 ft

Grade: 8.1 % (728 ft)

Min Max Avg

Power: 74 366 206 watts

Cadence: 50 119 64 rpm

Speed: 4.7 9.6 6.4 mph

Pace 6:16 12:42 9:27 min/mi

Crank Torque: 52 498 278 lb-in

Temperature: 62.6 68 65.6 Fahrenheit