On the contrary, the aftermath of 'the burnout' is still carrying its toll on my body. I'm a good 10lbs off my ideal race weight. Historically my weight has had more undulation than a sine curve. I think I was cursed/blessed with a volatile metabolism. If i eat bad for a week, I pack on 5lbs. I eat good for a week and ill lose a few lbs. Thermodynamically it doesnt even seem to make sense as my caloric excess/deficit will rarely equate to the 17500 kcal required to pack on/lose 5 pounds... I could attest it to sodium/water levels. But having seen my weight fluctuate, im starting to thing its a metabolism thing. Perhaps my body responds quickly to high fat/low carb diets and the digestion rates of various foods.
Right now im on the 'no fast food diet' pretty much means i try not to eat out while at work. this is mostly just to save money though...
The increased training load in the last few weeks has started to melt off some excess...
Speaking of which, its almost time for another benchmark. My 5x1omin LT intervals are starting to feel easy'ish again. As i mentioned before, i have an LT/VO2 test scheduled for the 12th. Last year i had an LT of 280w...this was coming off a rest week and 8 days in Georgia. That number might have been abnormally high for me at that time of year. Regardless, I would like to see if I can hit 280 again...
After the LT/VO2 test i will likely do a benchmark on my trainer as well.. since I feel as if the resistance on the trainer is more than the actual wattage...
Trainer wattage- does anyone feel as if trainer riding is harder than real riding? Like actually harder? The wattages I can push outside are 10-15% higher than on the trainer for any given time interval.
I could possibly attribute this to the lack of stored momentum in a trainer flywheel, the natural cooling of the wind outdoors, and perhaps the deflection of the tire on the small roller.... but who knows..
Back to training... Im also going to start bringing in some zone 5 work into the equation. I generally do well in the early season races. I would like to capitalize on that this year. I would like to hit the Paris to Ancaster feeling strong, as well as the first few OCups. By mid summer, there are few music festivals I want to check out and I want to do some cottaging... so I guess you could say Im aiming for an early season peak, and counting on residual fitness and lots of riding to carry me through the remainder of the year. Let me tell you, racing and training is so much easier when you;re honest with yourself.
Any other exciting news?
Mmm.. well the Toronto International Bike Show is coming up.. its a pretty extravagant name for a whole lot of nothing. International? Who are you kidding. I remember being 15 and stoked beyond the wildest of stokes to go to this show.. however almost a decade of working in the bike industry has made me realize how much of our industry is style over substance and how little it really matters that theres a new XX/XTR groupset.
However, if you;re shopping for a new bike then its a good place to go.. or if you want to talk to people you race with and havent seen for 5 months, then it is also a good place to go (thats why im going). Lastly I get to save 5$ on my 148$ race license. Great. Almost enough to offset the 15$ entry fee and 10$ parking.
ok time for some HIMYM and then bed.
