New Year, new focus, new goals

2015 saw a lot of changes. It’s only been the last few weeks that I’ve started to really understand how the changes affected my life, my training, and my goals.

The move was huge. I was expecting the move would be an instant shift, all of a sudden I’d be training full time and getting super-fast. And to a point that was true, I did see some improvement. But what I did spend a lot of time doing was looking over my old training files and organizing them, and learning from the. As a coach, this is what I do and it only made sense to do it for myself.

Looking at the data in new ways, finding new trends.

The most glaring trend I saw was that I respond well to big intensity. This point was a little murky until I was able to develop my own data software, because I was able to track certain metrics and compare them to other metrics in ways that I couldn’t before. Above all else, that flexibility in analysis allowed me to see search and refine trends to really target what works and what doesn’t. In doing this, I found that I needed more intensity, in more dynamic ways. I found that when I spent the right amount of time doing hard intervals, and hard intense rides, I was getting faster, I was able to transfer my power into speed much more effectively.

The word speed; that’s an important one for 2016 as well. I’ve got pretty good power numbers, better numbers than most riders I race against. But I’m not winning, why? I think it comes down to speed. I’ve learned to look at power as a very critical measurement. But heart rate isn’t better than speed by itself, in the same way that power is better than heart rate by itself. Where the real benefit comes from is using all these measurements together to build a picture of what you’re doing and what you need to do. So 2016 will focus on developing more speed, not just power.

more time in the gym is part of the new approach.

How is that done? It’s tricky, it seems to me. It’s a process of critically looking at the data, critically looking at the numbers and comparing them to how you think you rode, and matching up the slower times with the mistakes, connecting them and learning to improve. It’s about not being afraid to try new things, not being afraid to fail. Learning what works and what doesn’t. Not just guessing, knowing. With this will come a lot more time on the trails. Some call the trails dirt church, I intend to make them my laboratory.

The next big change is all about goals. Taking my fitness to the next level requires a fresh perspective on my goals. A big lesson I’ve learned looking at my data has been that the last 3-4 years I’ve been building to a plateau. On the one hand, that sucks. I’ve been getting faster, but at a slower rate each year. Improvements have become ever more difficult to find and to come by. On the other hand I’ve reached a high level. I’ve made it to a plateau that not everyone can make it to. I’ve had to realize both these things. I’ve had to learn to be proud of what I’ve accomplished and also understand where I am in the long road to my dreams. And most of all I’ve learned that the road forward is much like the road I’ve already been down in that it’s different than anything I’ve ever done before. It has to new and it has to excite me.

I’ll leave it there to pick back up next time.

Happy trails.

If you need me, I'll be putting in the work.