Ah, the wind. Friend and foe. Seems like the wind is blowing extra strong this year. Suppose this is due to the early spring weather we’re experiencing. Whatever is causing this, it can be a bit annoying at times. Nothing worse than riding along, checking your watch, realizing it is time to head for home, making a turn to get yourself home and being suddenly blasted in the face with a fierce wind. This can be a bit deflating. Not only does this explain why you made record time and broke speed limits on the way out but it also means, the ride home will not be that much fun. I try to tell myself that a strong headwind or crosswind is like climbing a hill…

Thing is, I don’t really like climbing hills… And secondly, hills end – headwinds and crosswinds do not. But I suppose in the grand scheme of things that can be frustrating during the course of a day – a little bit of wind pales in comparison to long meetings, impossible deadlines, and performance reviews. Gee, all things considered – give me a headwind every day – I don’t want to be back filling out my annual performance review ever again!

All this to say, I’ve had some pretty darn good (but windy) rides these past few days. Saturday ended up being three hours of wind and rain. Could have been pretty miserable but luckily I had company on this ride, Skip of KingsBridge came out to ride, chat, and yell at the wind. Definitely helps to have company on longish rides. I have to admit that on Sunday, I chickened out. On top of the ridiculous wind there was a never-ending downpour happening. Luckily I was able to swap my Monday and Sunday training plans. Finally found a not bad core work-out – thanks to some poking around on yogadownload.com I bought a 45-minute core-focused yoga work-out. Pretty good – I had the quivers and shakes going on! Today was another windy day, but I had my trusty iPod for company and a couple of podcasts to keep me company.

Looking ahead, this is going to be super week of training. This week, I get to do some temp intervals. Still without a computer, SRM, or any feedback. These tempo intervals will be done based on rate of perceived exertion. Cool – never done such intervals without some kind of digital feedback. The week gets pretty good on Saturday – this is when I hop a plane and jet off to Florida for four days! I’ll be traveling with the KingsBridge crew to a trade show – we’re staying at a hotel at the Walt Disney World Resort. I’ve never been to Florida before – should be a good time. I’ll get some nice long rides in, get to experience a trade show, check out Walt Disney World, and there is talk of a trip to the Oakley Factory Outlet store. Pretty darn good four days indeed.

I just have one lingering question: “Is it ‘cross season yet?”.

I’m two weeks into training. So far it is going well. Admittedly, that first week was rough. Never before have I taken close to five weeks off. At first my body and brain fought the rest and recovery time. But after a week or so, I started to like this rest thing. And ultimately, by the last week, all I wanted to do was ride. Sign of a good recovery period.

I’ve had some really good rides this week. The legs are coming around. My body has started to remember what it feels like to power itself along. Most importantly, my brain is reacting well to the training sensations. I really didn’t realize how much fitness you can loose in a five week break. Maybe this only happens to me? This break definitely taught me that I’m an athlete who needs to train – not just to keep me sane but to keep my fitness levels up. I’m not one of those bike racers who can ride once or twice a week and then rip it up in the races on the weekends.

I’m looking forward to some longer rides this weekend. Continuing with focusing on riding with a high cadence and at an endurance pace. Next week the fun starts with some tempo efforts. But tempo efforts with a twist. Tempo efforts without an SRM or some kind of computer. That’s right – all done on feel. I’ve never done this. Actually, this entire month of training is being done without some kind of computer feedback. Just a digital watch so I can make sure my two hour rides don’t morph until four hour rides. It is actually a fun way to ride without being concerned with the numbers displaying on the handlebars.

What about you – how do you train in the early months? Do you go by feel and listen to your body or are you right back at it with your SRM, PowerTap, heart rate monitor, cyclocomputer, etc? Oh, I guess I should admit to one piece of technology I can’t do without on my training rides – the trusty iPod Nano. I need to have someone talking or singing in my ears. Without this, my brain goes wild and the ride gets very hectic for my crazy brain.

I’m off to find some core-centric yoga programs that I can download and do here at home. If you have any suggestions, post them up in the comments. I’m looking for the challenging, ab acheing, shaking, quivering core work-outs here – something to really fire up my abs and back muscles.

One little word. An innocent word really. But depending on where your head is, the word “goals” can be a tad unnerving. To step up and to really honestly set some goals takes a lot of guts. Honest goal-setting forces you to take a hard look at yourself.

These goals can’t be simply whipped off in a matter of minutes. Nope, you need to look at the complete package. That is – yourself and your abilities. What can you achieve? What do you want to achieve? What if you fail? There are lots of ways of setting goals. You can set one main goal for the season and then develop a plan to achieve this goal. You can set the main goal and some intermediary goals that you can use to measure your progress and hopefully develop your main goal. You can go so far as to set weekly goals, these can be super useful if you struggle with staying on track with your training. A dangling carrot can do wonders for motivation.

As for me, well, I’ve learned that I need goals. Without goals, I’m simply going through the motions. No fixed plan. No real idea why I’m sitting on my bike seat and pedaling away. I’ve also learned that I need to set big goals. Almost unattainable (in some people’s minds) goals. These big goals really fire me up and get that “I can do it” attitude out. I’ve also learned that if I don’t achieve my main goal, it is not the end of the world. Because of this, I also set goals for each and every race I do. They might be small things like always keeping my head up and looking ahead or they can be bigger, such as winning the race.

Once I’ve set these goals, what do I do with them? I write them down on a piece of paper. I then take this piece of paper and make it waterproof (I cover it in clear packing tape). Then I carry that piece of paper with me – wherever I go. It is in the front right pocket of my jeans – when I jam my hand in my pocket, I feel this piece of paper and I’m reminded of my goals. I put this piece of paper in my cycling jersey when I go out to train. I read this piece of paper daily. It keeps me focused. It keeps me feeling confident. On the other side of the piece of paper, I write some key mantras that I use to maintain my self-confidence.

You might think this is a bit much. Maybe for you it is. But for me, this works. It helps. This is the thing about goals, they are personal. Goals are all about you and no one else.

Ah, the early season. The weather is unseasonably warm. The sky is brilliant blue. Perfect weather for us eager cyclists. Never have I been able to ride outside in March. Super spoiled. But this can all be a bit dangerous for us eager beavers….

The program reads 2 hours. It is your first week of training after a long break…. Your pal wants to ride for 4 hours. Ah, this is where the battle begins with the voices in your head. “Do it – you’ll be fine – you’ll ride super easy” “Don’t do it – stick to the plan – 4 hours is too much”

Sound familiar? I’m guessing yes. It is so easy to cave into peer pressure, even more so when you’re an athlete. You have a plan and you trust it. But then you hear of so-and-so riding for 6 hours on Saturday and then 8 hours on Sunday. Uh oh – you did 2 hours each day. You better get out and ride more. Ride harder. The others are doing it. So they must be right….

It is so hard to stick to the plan. But I truly believe the key to long-term success is trust. Trust in your plan. Trust in your gut instinct. I fully subscribe to the mantra of Tim Harris “the hardest thing a cyclist can do is not ride”. So true.

The weather looks like it will be fine for the upcoming week. Do your best to not give into temptation. Stick to your plan and keep your eyes on the goals you have set. Remember your goals are not necessarily the same as your friend’s goals – therefore you have different training plans.

I know, easier said than done. Such is life.

It is Friday. Normally this isn’t a rest day for me. Normally I ride seven days a week. But this is not the normal time of my training cycle. This is my first week back training after a four week break. I really really want to ride today. Especially since I didn’t get to ride yesterday. Thursday was a core/strength day – but no riding. Yikes – two days in a row with no riding.

You cyclists can appreciate how not riding for two days in a row can cause your brow to wrinkle a bit and your palms to sweat…. But I’m sticking to the plan. After all, the plan has worked so far. In fact the plan has worked really well. So today I rest. Besides Saturday and Sunday are looking darn good – 2 hours on Saturday and 2.5 hours on Sunday. No complaints here. Also some yoga on the schedule as well.

This rest day does give me time to get other stuff done. You might be scratching your head about this – since most of you know that I’m not “working” right now. Well, I may not be working in an office, but I am spending my days hunched over my laptop working on various writing projects. Some pay, some don’t, some might. Progress is all I can hope for. I’m pretty excited to be working with Canadian Cycling Magazine – I’m writing for this new magazine on a freelance basis and on a part-time basis I’m working with the editor to keep the web site up-to-date with the latest news of our fine Canadian cyclists. The web site should be live today (I’ll post the link when it is live). So if you’re a Canadian cyclist, don’t be shy – drop me an email and tell me what you’re up to.

Hopefully next week, I can post about the my team plans for the 2010 – 2011 season. I’m just waiting for the club registration to be finalized. Not really any big changes – if you check out my sponsor page, you’ll see I’m still supported by the same fine companies. Really just a change in my racing kit. Actually, if you poke around the site you’ll see I’ve made a few changes: new banner, updated the About page, updated the links on the right – general housecleaning work.

Alright, I best be off. I’ve got a few writing projects I want to get done this morning. Looking forward to riding outside this weekend. Tempted by a four hour ride on Saturday…. But this isn’t on the plan… Not sure. I best stick to the plan. The plan is the way to go. Right?