Thoughts on Training

Well its almost October and its been a while since that I have updated the blog. Cycling has been put on hold for the remainder of the year, save maybe a cross race later on in the season. I am not retired, just taking some time off of structured training for a while. Foremost amongst my reasons revolves around the fact that I have very little time to sit on the bike and secondary is still this burnout bug that I still am dealing with. Burnout is something you can put off, and put off, and put off but you can never escape it. Like death, taxes, and hangovers, it always will catch up with you. I think I've been putting burnout off for a couple of years. The thing about burnout is this - when you are in a burnout phase all one can do is train to maintain fitness. Workouts/rides become work, they become stale and over time nothing could rejuvenate myself to be excited about riding for more than three days at a time. This is the part of burnout that is so difficult to manage, having a string of good workouts clustered in a short period followed by another short period where I became bored and uninterested in riding. This makes for inconsistent training, and thus mediocre results. Mentally this leaves a schizophrenic training paradigm where I was reflecting and excited about the few good workouts, believing that burnout was over and then falling back into the unmotivated trap once again only to repeat the cycle. All the while I was internally giving myself a hard time because I know I can train properly and get results. Racing is a blast but not meeting my expectations is not acceptable.

So in an effort to cope with this I've put cycling on hold and I started running. Don't get me wrong, I would rather be racing and cycling a lot I just can't get to it right now...next year is going to be my year. Running is far less time intensive than cycling. I bet that I can control my weight and improve as a runner on nearly four hours of running a week opposed to seven hours to achieve the same goals cycling. I know that I need to ride four days a week for at least seven hours minimum to maintain (and not build) any cycling form. Ten to twelve hours is what I need to race somewhat competitively (which is like 10th place for me) in gently rolling road races and fifteen plus hours a week is what I would have to do if I ever decided to go for broke and try to upgrade another category. I know I have to ride a lot to improve. There is no substitute. Furthermore, I know that each ride has to have a focus and that I am 100% committed to that focus every day that I ride. That is 100% committed...not 75%, not 90% but totally focused on training. Four hours of running a week for me is about 30 miles a week, give or take (probably take). This is my goal from now until the end of February. Along with this is my goal to lift weights 3 times per week. The hour run mark has been broken as of last Thursday, up next is a ten mile run. My first 5K was last weekend which was really a lot of fun.
Yeah, I was just looking at my last post about being sick, I'm not kidding, I was sick. I was sick for five days (100F+ fever for three, 99F for two) and had a cough for two weeks after. This is it for tonight, more news forthcoming...

H1N1? & far too detailed post about TV.

My TV and I are getting much more closely acquainted as I have alternated between the couch and my bed proper for the past day and a half. I've still got a 101F fever which I've had since yesterday morning. Honestly, I don't feel like doing anything (this includes moving more than one foot at a time) - I've got the worst sore throat I've had in years, slight nausea, I'm totally congested and I can tell this disease is now getting into my larynx. Last night I went to bed at 830PM and awoke at 0900. There was no dinner involved. I got a call earlier and I answered the phone but could not speak. I guess getting this on the long weekend isn't all that bad b/c going to work like this would suck. Last week I got digital cable because they were running a deal - only costs 10$/month x-tra and I get Showtime for 5$/mo. I have watched 4 channels on digital cable today: G4, Nat Geo, the extra history channel and the military channel. Occasionally I'll watch something else like sports. This on-demand stuff is new to me, so far today I've watched the latest Rambo movie and Rescue Dawn. I actually enjoyed Rambo, Rescue Dawn was good but a bit long. Right now, Lockup Raw is on.
Why is there so much stupid UFO shit on? Come on, this stuff is ridiculous! Anything with Nostradamus = a stupid program. 9/11 conspiracy stuff = really totally stupid & kind of offensive actually. There is actually a two hour program dedicated to 9/11 conspiracy nonsense.
Anyway, in two weeks I'm running the CVS downtown 5K. This will be my first running race - ever. Cycling is just too time intensive right now with my internship and my job. My last run was on Wednesday, I'll probably have a week off of running because I can tell I'll be sick for a few more days.