Well in less than 2 weeks I will be finished Day 4 of the 2009 Cape Epic. I am trying to figure out the best tires for DRY, WARM conditions. This is quite the contrast to the wet snow and low of minus 9 today in Calgary. Tires, Dry lube, 3 liter Camelbak, lots to think of before we go.
Even though the race is only weeks away there has been so much preparation. The training has been the biggest and most constant item. So what does it take to complete this race? My season started October 28th with the first of my spin classes. Since then it has been 3 days a week of indoor cycling. Tuesday night for 90 minutes, Thursday for 2 hours and Saturday morning for 2 hours. We have started with 20 minutes of E3/Tempo riding and pedaling drills and have progressed to 120 minutes of E3/Tempo riding last Saturday. Sundays are for long xc skiing or hiking. Add to this Core class every Monday, weights and a 1 hour run on Wednesdays. I did a phase of 1 hour extra workouts on Tuesdays and Thursdays to build some leg strength. It leaves me with Fridays completely off and time to wrap up some life things. When I get back I will do 2 workouts on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Weekends will be racing and long 4-5 hours rides.
My plan for this race is not to peak for it but use it as the final push in my Base building phase. My partner Greg is a very strong rider with a great competitive streak. We have been talking and agree to the following goals: 1/ Have Fun, 2/ Ride Hard, 3/ top 100 out of 600 teams, 4/ and if we are feeling really good go for top 60.
I feel that this year I have improved once again and now that I have year over year data, all the numbers support this improvement also.
With all the training and working it has been a real balancing act. I have to watch the diet and sleep so that I don’t get sick or run low on energy. I have dropped some weight but will not be down to race weight probably until June.
It is off to Phoenix this weekend to ride outside. Yippee!!! We planned this trip as a dry run for what we will need to bring and to get some bike handling skills. There are 14 Canadians going to the Cape Epic this year and 10 are our group from Calgary. There are 8 of us going to Phoenix this weekend so it will be good to meet, ride and socialize before we go to the big show.
Only 5 classes and 12 days left. I had better go do something productive like find my helmet!!
Jeff
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