Ready to race?
In the last posts before the break I wrote about my training progress and I was actually very pleased by the way my body responded to the gym and trainer exercise. This is how the progress W/Kg was developing from January to March:
W/Kg progress, blue line is the expected result and the red one is the actual progress
Due to the fact I don't have a Cycle Power Meter on my bike (these calculations were made by the indoor training software) it is quite hard to keep track on this development. That has led to the feeling I am making zero progress. I've now ridden 1000km outdoors (total of slightly above 2000km) this year, which is almost the same as last year at this time. So with the training I've made during winter and the fact that I've ridden slightly more, that should result in me being in better shape. Is that so?
During March I felt the overtraining creeping (read more about overtraining on Trainingpeaks). So I had to take a break in training. Probably that led to a drop in the "good feeling" about training and resulted in actual performance loss as well. It was a pity taking some time off, but that was a must. Together with high expectations that is probably the reason why I feel I am underperforming.
That's why I will be doing some serious change in my training, I'll let you know more about that later.
This week will bring the first race of the year, Giro d'Espoo. It was a great event last year, 111km of superb riding in great weather (you can read about last year's event here). The weather now looks quite the opposite, +15 degrees and rain. I also heard the roads are in quite bad shape at some sections, so it can become a quite dangerous ride. So maybe I'm not able to beat last year's time, but anyhow, just finishing will probably feel great.
The route will be the same as last year, as mentioned 111km mostly rolling hills. For all you attending, click here to see all the sections which are in bad shape. I really hope there won't be any big crashes, would be really disappointing to have the bike destroyed and a bone broken with the whole season in front of us.
During the spring we have had some rainy rides, which hopefully will help us now. I also bought some new waterproof clothing, that I'll review at a later stage, they've been working great.
Dirt all over
You should always clean your bike immediately after a soaky ride!
Rain creates happy cyclists!
Hope you stayed awake reading this!
Enjoy the spring!