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?

Last weekend there was a special ride for Erwin Vervecken and his fans. This was to be Erwin’s last ride as he officially retired from the sport of cyclo-cross. My friend Luc Van Der Meiren, participated in this race. Luc was generous to write a race report for us. Many thanks Luc for taking the time to tell us all what it was like.

Erwin Vervecken’s Retirement

On Saturday 27/02/2010 Erwin Vervecken said goodbye to cyclocross and topsport! For all his fans and cycling colleagues he planned a big mass-event in his hometown of Herentals (Belgium). Everyone who wanted to take part in this event was welcome. If you had a mountainbike or a ‘cross bike you could ride along with the greatest riders off cyclocross. (Participants: men elite: Zdenek Stybar (World Champion), Sven Nys, Niels Albert , Kevin Pauwels (my local hero), Bart Aernouts and Erwin Vervecken himself of course; elite women: elite Daphny Van Den Brand, Helen Wyman, Nikki Harris, Christine Vardaros, Joyce Vanderbeken and Nicole De Bie-Luyten. Even ex- collegues took part in this race! I saw Roland Liboton (7 times world champion), Danny De Bie and many others on the starting line!

But before we started our race there was a special race for kids, they really enjoyed their own race! After their race they got a package with all kinds of stuff in it, from lots of sponsors such as sports drinks and food.

At 2.30pm it was our race. The whole night and morning it rained a lot, so the track in the field and woods from Herentals was very, very muddy! We had to choose between two distances: 20k or 40k. (2 or 4 laps of 10k). There where 3 starting boxes: first box was for the elite men and woman, next box was for all riders with another license and the third box was for the whole bunch of freeriders. With almost 750 people it was not easy to have a fast start. The start was on a football field, but after 200m the road was only 3m wide so it was important to have a good start. My brother and I started at the rear of the pack, because he said he would do it on a slow tempo! But after 200 m we stood still, then we rode a few meters and back of the bike, walked a few meters and back on the bike again! First half lap was very muddy and all singletrack, if you wanted to pass then you must go trough deep mud and water. The Elite men and woman had a clear track so they started really fast!

Just before I ended my first lap I was passed already by the head of the bunch, they rode two times faster than me!!! I think I made a wise decision to do only 20k (2laps)! The pro’s did 4 laps and they had already taken a shower before I ended my two laps! They are really fast, when they passed me, I almost caught a cold!!! In my last lap I made a mistake on a little downhill and fell of my bike and bruised my ribs! Ouch!!!

At the end of the race it was Erwin Vervecken himself who won, behind him the other pro’s made a show of honor and applauded the man who stopped his beautiful career! Afterwards there was a big party for everyone! All the pro’s and fans enjoyed themselves with food , drinks and dance! Then Erwin hung his bike on a hook and that was the really end of his career! Now his new career as sport marketing manager can begin by Golazo Sports, focusing on cyclocross and mountainbiking!

I’m still recovering from my bruised ribs but I was glad that I was there!

(Thanks again Luc for taking the time to write a race report! Greatly appreciated.)