March Training Diary

Date:	3/1/98
TTB:		?
Slept:		?
Evening resting HR:	54 BPM
Feeling:	4 really stressed about school - headache
Performing:	5 nothing special
Weight:		
	
Workout: Tempo ride on rollers
12:00 - 1:00
~45 minutes between ~150 and 176 BPM
Ave HR: 156
low resistance

Comments: I felt fine riding today, but nothing special.  I'm getting into 
a bind w/ school.  I measured my HR tonight and it got as low as 48BPM! 
I've never seen it that low before!  I've hardly eten anything all 
afternoon, though and I think that has something to do with it.



Date:	3/2/98
TTB:		1:00 AM
Slept:		7.5 hours
Evening Resting HR:	53 BPM
Feeling:	7 pretty good and relaxed
Performing:	N/A
Weight:		
	
Workout: nothing

Comments:
I felt like going and lifting tonight, but I didn't.  I got my lab report 
done and am feeling relaxed and for some reason not hungry at all.  Riding 
around school today I felt grate.  My trackstand is really coming along!  
My HR



Date:	3/3/98
TTB:		1:30 AM
Slept:		6 hours
Evening resting HR:	52
Feeling:	7 good
Performing:	4.5 decent
Weight:		165 lbs
	
Workout: Weights at the Nat with Dave & Ben
4:30-6:00 PM
stretch
Interval squats w/ 175 lbs and 1:30 rests
sets of 25, 25, 25, 20

               1          2          3
Bench press   8x155      8x150      8x150
Power clean   8x115      8x115      8x115
Situps        20         20         20
Back ext.     20x15lb    20x15lb    20x15lb
stretch

Comments:
I think I should have taken my body up on the offer to lift yesterday.  I 
wasn't exactly dynamite today, but I did go up in weight on the bench (sort 
of) and the power clean.  The pattern I've noticed with squats is that the 
first week of a new phase I'll have a hard time and the second week I feel 
great.  This time I felt fine in the first week, and this week I don't 
feel like anything special.  I've been using that goofy pulley machine all 
the time, though.  I did the power cleans differently, so that 
affected how I felt about them.  I used the bar & plates, and tried to go 
all the way down a couple times (didn't work) and locked my knees when I 
came up.  I felt good riding around school today.  I went up the twisty 
part of observatory right after lifting w/o much trouble (on my big bad 
flat rear tire cyclocross bike).



Date:	3/4/98
TTB:		1:30 AM
Slept:		6 hours
Post-workout resting HR:	66 BPM
Feeling:	7.5 good, relaxed but alert
Performing:	6 it hurts, but it hurts good
Weight:		
	
Workout: Sprint workout
6:15 - 7:00 PM
stretch
10 min warmup
2 sets of 5 efforts (~15 sec) on 3 minutes
9 minutes between sets
15 min cooldown
stretch
My HR would get up to ~200 for the efforts and drop down to ~zone 3 
between.  I kept a medium resistance on between efforts.
ave HR: 156 BPM

Comments:
Today was an easy day at school.  We got out of lab at ~3:00 and I came 
home and ate dinner early and did the workout an hour earlier than I 
normally would have and had time to sit around and relax.  I liked that a lot 
better.  I was struggling to climb Charter St. today, but by the time I did 
the workout I was doing better.  I held out almost all of the efforts for 
the full 15 seconds.



Date:	3/5/98
TTB:		11:00
Slept:		9 hours
Morning HR:	
Feeling:	
Performing:	
Weight:		165 lbs
	
Workout: Weights at the SERF
2:30-3:30 PM
stretch

Interval squats w/ 175 lbs and 1:30 rests
sets of 25, 25, 25, 25
                1           2          3
push press     8x105       8x105      8x105
dips            10          10         10
situps          20          20         20
back ext.      20x25lbs    20x25lbs   20x25lbs

stretch

Comments:
I upped my weight on the push presses and they were a little tough, but 
felt good otherwise.  I finally got to do my squats with the free weights.  
I still have this feeling that I'm not going down far enough on those, but 
i suppose with interval squats you're not supposed to get your thigh 
parallel with the floor.



Date:	3/6/98
TTB:		1:30AM
Slept:		6 hours
Evening HR: 75 BPM
Feeling:	6 stiff, nervous
Performing:	
Weight:		
	
Workout: none (driving to Indiana)

Comments:
That's the longest I've ever driven!  Those car seats kill my back when I 
have to sit up straight the whole time.  I put a pillow under my back after 
awhile, but it must not have helped too much.  When we got to the hotel I 
was extremely stiff, especially in my back.  I spent a while trying to 
stretch out.  I laid down for awhile to try and get a resting HR, but the 
lowest it ever went was 70, and it was mostly ~75.  I don't know if that 
was nervousness or tiredness or what.



Date:	3/7/98
TTB:		~12:00 (eastern time)
Slept:		6 hours
Morning HR: 70 BPM
Evening HR:	65 BPM
Feeling:	6 alright
Performing:	6 alright
Weight:		
	
Workout: Race!
Late morning road race in Indiana.
30 mile race (3 10 mile laps).  Hilly - hardly any flat areas.
avs ~18-19mph
Ave HR: 184 bpm
my back hurt like it hasn't in a long time (muscles i mean).

took a nap in the afternoon

Comments:
This was a frustrating race.  It was impossible to move around in the pack 
and the loons from indiana who were in blocking the whole road would brake 
any chance they got, even on a climb.  I wasn't climbing as well as I'm 
used to.  I couldn't stay in the saddle on the climbs and found myself 
doing a lot of wrestling my bike up hills that I should have been seated 
for.  When the pace finally got pushed I hung on but finished poorly.  The 
finish was a long climb and I pretty much gave up and finished last in the 
group I was in (21stoverall, still not bad).  I don't know if it was the 
cold weather or what, but I was having trouble breathing when we got 
going.  I don't know what was going on with my back - it hurt like crazy 
after 1 lap.  It made me just want to stop and give up.  
   This was the perfect opportunity to find out what I've lost since last 
season:  
  -The most noticeable was climbing.  I'm not really any heavier than 
  last summer, but was having a relatively tough time climbling.  I think 
  this has to do mostly with getting a feel for hills again and finding a 
  rythm, which was impossible in this race.
  -I was totally unmotivated for the race.  i just didn't care too much how 
  I did.  Already, after having done these races the desire to win is 
  coming back, as well as my motivation to train.  This is a really good 
  thing about doing these races, they give me something to think about 
  while I train.
  -finishing.  I finished as poorly as I possibly could have.  this is 
  partly due to my lack of motivation and not really knowing how close we 
  were to the finish and not conserving energy well during the race.  You 
  have to really want it to push yourself up that last climb.



Date:	3/8/98
TTB:		11:00 ? (eastern time)
Slept:		8 hours
Morning HR:	
Feeling:	7 good
Performing:	7 good
Weight:		
	
Workout: Race!
Late morning crit in indiana
~10 mile warmup
~20 miles race.  sprint every 5 laps
avs: 23 mph (includes walking bike after crashing and ridong around after 
the race)
Ave HR: 188 BPM (includes lying by the side of the road)
Sprinted for 2 of the sprints.  Tried (unsucessfully) to get off the front 
a couple times.  Crashed twice - didn't finish.

Comments:
I felt a good deal faster and more motivated today.  I took off right from 
the start to try and srting out the pack a little and mess up any plans 
the Indianans might have for clogging up the road.  One of the sprints I 
contested I nearly got in the top 5, but didn't, of course.  The first 
crach didn't hurt too bad - I landed on a pile of bikes and people, just a 
cut and bruised shin.  The second crash messed me up.  A guy's tire blew 
out in a corner and he slid out in front of me.  Nothing to catch me then 
but pavement.  It was wet, though, so no serious road rash, but mega 
bruises.  That was with less than 1.5 laps to go, so no free lap.
   I performed better in this race than the road race, I felt.  My 
sprinting has never been very good, so I was happy with myself just to have 
contested.  I couldn't keep up a pull for very long, but we were going 
pretty fast, so it was legitimately difficult.



Date:	3/9/98
TTB:		12:00
Slept:		8 hours
Morning HR:	
Feeling:	2.5 bad
Performing:	
Weight:		165
	
Workout: nothing


Comments:
I am feeling really lousy today.  I am banged up from yesterday, plus I 
came down with something Sunday night and am all sick-achy today, 
especially my head and throat.  I slept a lot.



Date:	3/10/98
TTB:		11:00
Slept:		10 hours
Morning HR:	
Feeling:	4 better than yesterday
Performing:	
Weight:		165
	
Workout: nothing - I have big time repairs I'm working on on my bike

Comments:
I am definitely healthier than yesterday, but not completely better.  My 
injuries feel pretty much the same, but I'm not taking ibuprofen today 
either.  I would have done an easy roller ride today, but I need to tune up 
my bike in a major way.



Date:	3/11/98
TTB:		1:30AM
Slept:		6 hours
Morning HR:	
Feeling:	6
Performing:	5
Weight:		165
	
Workout: Zone 3 ride
Late evening
Rode for 1 hour w/ HR between 150 and 180.
relatively low resistance, high cadence

Comments:
Since I'm hurt and was sick, I did an easy workout.  My major hurt, my left 
hip, hardly bothers me at all when I ride.  I wasn't feeling sick anymore, 
and felt fine during the ride.  I was working on my chemistry stuff until 
relatively late, so I got home late and didn't get started riding 'till 
late.  My bike looks OK too, except maybe the back wheel.  It's 
super-clean.



Date:	3/12/98
TTB:		12:00
Slept:		7 hours
Morning HR:	
Feeling:	6
Performing:	7
Weight:		165
	
Workout: LT
Late evening
stretch
10 min warmup
30 min zone 4
10 min cool down
ave HR: 174 BPM
medium-low resistance, ~24-25mph

Comments:
My HR went up to ~190 fairly quickly and I kept it around there.  I did the 
last ~3 minutes at ~30mph in zone 5.  My HR only got up to ~200 then, but 
I was hurting (good hurt).  I was going pretty hard the whole time, harder 
than I have been going for those long LT intervals, and felt real good about it.
I only did the one interval because I didn't have much time, it was getting 
late.  I still can't walk right, but my hip doesn't bother be much when I 
ride, even when I went hard, nor did my back (my back often gets stiff 
during these long LT intervals.)
  I put air in the tires of my commuter bike, and it was much easier going 
up bascom hill.  I didn't even stand up today (I have been having to stand 
up all the time lately).  What a difference 30-40 psi makes!



Date:	3/13/98
TTB:		12:30
Slept:		7.5 hours
Morning HR:	
Feeling:	6.5
Performing:	5
Weight:		165
	
Workout: zone 2 ride
I rode for ~35 minutes, keeping my HR between 130 and 160.
ave HR: 144 BPM
low resistance, low gear, high cadence

Comments:
It was late again, so I didn't ride for very long.  I felt fine, but the 
ride wasn't very interresting, since it was just spinning.  I didn't eat 
dinner and intended it to be a fat-burning ride.  It makes me a little 
light-headed.  I'm walking almost normal.



Date:	3/14/98
TTB:		1:30
Slept:		6.5 hours
Morning HR:	
Feeling:	6
Performing:	7
Weight:		165
	
Workout: Hill repeats on rollers
stretch
10 min warmup
2 sets of 3 efforts on 4 minutes
5 minutes between sets, 30-35 second efforts
efforts were highest resistance, highest or second-highest gear, seated - 
hands on the tops of the bars (my normal climbing position), 30+mph (I wish 
I could climb that fast) lowish-cadence grind.
10 min cooldown.
stretch
ave HR: 150 BPM

Comments:
I liked this workout.  The efforts would hurt after ~25 seconds and my HR 
would get up to 188-195 by the end.  I never actually got above 200 this 
time, but probably would have if I hadn't been so relaxed.  I tried to work 
on my climbing form, keep my arms bent and relaxed and pedal 
efficiently.  I didn't eat much this afternoon or tonight, so that may 
have kept my HR low too.



Date:	3/15/98
TTB:		2:00AM
Slept:		6.5 hours
Morning HR:	
Feeling:	6 fine
Performing:	7.5 good
Weight:		165
	
Workout: Outside ride with Dave and Ross
1:00-3:00 PM
Ride to Paoli & back the short way
Started out trying to do some zone 4 riding, but it was too cold for that, 
so it was mostly a zone 3 ride.  Riding back was into a cold wind - brrr.

Comments:
I was feeling pretty juiced today, but it's always easy to feel that way 
when you're not pushing yourself very hard.  I deliberately stayed in the 
saddle on all the uphills except one (that one everyone likes to sprint 
up) and felt that my form was improving from last weekend.  My knees were 
achy afterwards, but you can expect that from seated climbing in such cold 
weather.  It was probably the coldest ride I've done this year.



Date:	3/16/98
TTB:		2:00AM
Slept:		5 hours
Morning HR:	
Feeling:	6 good
Performing:	6 good
Weight:		170
	
Workout: easy roller ride
30 minutes spinning on the rollers.  I wasn't wearing my HRM, but I was 
certainly in zone 2 or possibly below.  I also rode around downtown area 
for ~1.5 hours this morning, which was nice.

Comments:
I didn't have too much time today, but it's a day off anyway, so that's 
fine.  I probably should have done a real workout today since I didn't race 
this weekend and won't have any time tomorrow.



Date:	3/17/98
TTB:		1:30AM
Slept:		7 hours
Evening resting HR:	51 BPM
Feeling:	6 good
Performing:	
Weight:		165
	
Workout: nothing

Comments:
Once I get it together I'll be riding early in the morning on tuesdays, or 
rearranging the schedule so I get tuesdays off, but I'm not there yet.  I 
wish I had been able to do a workout because I felt good riding around school.
I did some sprint-type efforts on some of my commutes.  Skool sux!



Date:	3/18/98
TTB:		1:00AM
Slept:		6 hours
Morning HR:	
Feeling:	6.5
Performing:	7
Weight:		166
	
Workout: Sprint workout
4:00 - 5:00 PM
on rollers with my fork stabilizer
stretch
10 minute warmup
2 sets of 5 efforts on 3 minutes
~10 minutes between sets, ~13-15 sec/effort, out of the saddle sprint
10 minute cooldown
stretch

Comments:
My HR was very low today, I worked hard, but never got it above 200.  In 
the first set I had the fork stabilizer set up wrong and my tire wasn't 
making very good contact with the resistance roller - I fixed it for the 
second set.  I was sprinting relatively well today.  I was spinning my 
legs fast and usually held out the efforts for the full 15 seconds.  My HR 
would get up to 185-195 right after the effort and then drop to 
120's-140's between efforts.  It wasn't dropping so much towards the end, 
though.



Date:	3/19/98
TTB:		1:30AM
Slept:		6.5 hours
Morning HR:	
Feeling:	5.5 good, but tired
Performing:	6.5
Weight:		165
	
Workout: Hill Repeats on rollers
stretch
10 min warmup
2 sets of 3 efforts on 4 minutes
5 minutes between sets, 30-35 second efforts
efforts were highest resistance, highest or second-highest gear, seated - 
hands on the tops of the bars (my normal climbing position), 30+mph 
lowish-cadence grind.
10 min cooldown.
stretch
ave HR: 164 BPM

Comments:
If sweat and HR are good things, then today was great.  I had no trouble 
geting my HR up today, it didn't get below 140 any time I was on the bike.  
It would get up to the upper 190's during the efforts and above 200 right 
after I let up.  It would get down to 140-150s between efforts.  The 
workout felt hard today.  I don't think I could have held the intensity of 
an effort much longer than the 30-40 sec that I was doing, my legs would 
just not go (so I suppose I'm doing it right).  I was pushing a lot of 
resistance, though, and was doing the efforts at ~33mph, which is a little 
faster than I was doing them last time.  I didn't feel as smooth as last 
time, but it's been longer since I've been on the road, so I suppose one 
forgets.



Date:	3/20/98
TTB:		1:30AM
Slept:		6.5 hours
Morning HR:	
Feeling:	6 good
Performing:	7.5 well
Weight:		166
	
Workout: Circuit training at the SERF
8:00 - 9:00 PM
5 min exercycle warmup
stretch
                    1           2          3
overhead press     50x12       50x12
squat             196x12      196x12
bench press       108x12      108x12
situps              20          20         20
lat pull          100x12      100x12       
leg ext           130x12      130x12
seated row         80x12       80x12
leg curl           49x12       49x12
arm curl           40x12       40x12

5 min exercycle
stretch

Comments:
I didn't lift too hard.  Lifting felt good after not having done it for so 
long, just what I needed.  All the exercises and the exercycle felt pretty 
easy, but I wasn't doing anything too hard.



Date:	3/21/98
TTB:		1:00AM
Slept:		7 hours
Morning HR:	
Feeling:	6 normal
Performing:	7.5 good
Weight:		160 (not enough to drink?)
	
Workout: GDVC practice crit
11:00 AM
35 minutes + 5 laps ~~ 50 minutes
I set my HR zone to 30-220 BPM
0:20 above zone
47:20 in zone
ave HR: 191 BPM (a new record!)
distance: ~18 miles
avs: ~21 mph
Towards the end and after the race I got some major muscle cramping

Comments:
This was my first cat 3 race.  I got dropped midway through mostly due to 
some bad luck and stupid maneuvering on my part.  I stayed in the race, 
though, and rode the rest of the way with a group of 3 other guys.  I 
worked very hard, doing several of the laps by myself and doing (I 
thought) the majority of the pulling of the group - they were just going 
too slow.  I wonder if I was a little dehydrated because of how little I 
weighed this morning and, since were racing in the cold, I probably didn't 
dring much during the race.  That could have had something to do with the 
cramping.  Anyhow, I felt good about my performance anyway.  Click on the 
link above to read more about it.
I took a ~2 hour nap in the afternoon.



Date:	3/22/98
TTB:		2:30AM
Slept:		5.5 hours
Morning HR:	60 BPM
Feeling:	5.5 good, a little stiff
Performing:	6.5 well
Weight:		166
	
Workout: Group ride to Beleville
1:00-3:00 PM
~40 miles
Rode to Belleville with a big group of hammerheads.  Northwest wind made 
it fast going down, slower coming back.  At Beleville a lot of people kept 
going to New Glarus, I rode back to Madison with a bunch of old guys.  I 
ended up working a lot harder than I was planning to.

Comments:
On the way down Mickey's chain fell off and I waited for him with Collin.  
We tried to catch back up to the group, but Mickey kept dropping off.  
Eventually we just caught up without him because we were getting worn out.  
The ride back was into the wind.  We did a medium-hard paceline to Paoli 
and maintained ~20mph.  Then cruised back home.  I didn't wear my HRM 
because I wasn't expecting so many people and thought it would be an easy 
ride.  I ended up doing a lot of time in zones 4-5.  I rode pretty 
strongly, though, and felt good.  I got some outside miles in too.  I 
tried to stay relaxed and seated on hills.



Date:	3/23/98
TTB:		1:30AM
Slept:		6 hours
Morning HR:	
Feeling:	4
Performing:	
Weight:		166
	
Workout: Nothing

Comments:
I didn't feel very good physically today, so the rest day was very 
welcome.  I was struggling to commute around this morning, but felt a 
little better at night.



Date:	3/24/98
TTB:		3:00AM
Slept:		5 hours
Morning HR:	
Feeling:	6.5
Performing:	7.5
Weight:		162 lbs
	
Workout:  Ride to Paoli with Ross and Kurt (and occasionally some women)
3:00 - 5:00 PM
Rode to Paoli, up Observatory Rd. and back home.
We did some sprints, two of them up hills.
Pace-lined occasionally, but not too hard.
easy pace most of the rest of the time
~2 hours
HR zone: 30-200
ave HR: 149 BPM
1:00 above zone
1:50:00 in zone

Comments:
Spring is officially here!  I was riding outside with shorts!!  Today's 
workout was rather disorganized.  I was supposed to do a sprint workout, 
but didn't really get that done.  I did get some real sprints against real 
people, though, which is something I certainly can use.
  Either I was really on fire today, or Kurt and Ross were feeling really 
lousy.  I was climbing particularly strongly, and pulling well.  My 
sprinting was nothing to speak of, but that's no suprise.  I just put air 
in my tires before the ride (I had been riding on rather low pressure).



Date:	3/25/98
Performing:	6.5

Workout:  Zone 4
about 7:00 PM
stretch
10 min warmup
30 min zone 4
10 min zone 2
10 min zone 4
10 min cool down
stretch

Comments:
My HR rose slowly today, and leveled off in the 1st interval in the mid 
190's.  I did the last couple minutes of the 2nd inerval in zone 5.  This 
was one of the hardest roller workouts I've done, and I'm happy to say 
that it wasn't that hard.



Date:	3/26/98
Performing:	6
	
Workout: VO2 Workout
late afternoon
Rode to highway M and back.
There was a tremendous south wind.
I did 6 efforts of a couple of minutes each
zone 5 efforts, though my HR never got all that high

Comments:
I was actually going pretty fast considering the wind and my lowish HR 
today.  I didn't feel very good while doing these intervals, but I supose
they're not supposed to feel good.



Date:	3/27/98
TTB:		1:00 AM
Slept:		7 hours
Performing:	5
Weight:		166 lbs
	
Workout: easy spin
I rode out on MidTown rd.  Ran into Bill Wildenberg and John Wilson and 
rode back in with them.  The weather was pretty nice.
~25 miles, ~16 mph

Comments:
Just taking it easy before the race.  Didn't wear my HRM.



Date:	3/28/98
Performing:	20 woohoo!
Weight:		165 lbs
	
Workout: GDVC spring crit
11:00 AM
dist: ~19 miles
avs: 24 mph
ave HR: 187 BPM

Comments:
Broke away with Dave 10-15 min into the race, Jeremey Donatell bridged up 
and we caught Ben Neff and Jason, the lead group.  I tried to give Dave a 
leadout at the end, but ended up leading out Jason and getting 5th, of 
course.  This was my 2nd cat 3 race, I am very happy about it!



Date:	3/29/98
TTB:		1:00AM
Slept:		6.5 hours
Feeling:	6.5
Performing:	6.5
Weight:		167 lbs
	
Workout: longish ride with a big group
10:00-2:00
Rode to Stoughton.  Went easy mostly, with a couple of harder efforts mixed 
in.
dist: ~60 miles (?)
ave HR: ~145

Comments:
Wanted a long easy ride and thet's pretty much what I got.  The weather was 
the nicest I've seen so far this year.  I was even a little sunburned!  I 
wasn't really asking my body for too much today, but I did feel kind of 
weak on the hills compared to when I'm doing good.



Date:	3/30/98
TTB:		2:00 AM
Slept:		5 hours
Evening HR: 48 BPM
Feeling:	4.5
Performing:	
Weight:		160
	
Workout: nothing

Comments:
I was determined not to eat anything today.  I have to get serious about 
loosing some weight before the saeson gets going.  I ate some fruit around 
dinner time because I was feeling prety light-headed and I needed to get a 
lab report done.  I felt good riding around school today.



Date:	3/31/98
TTB:		12:30
Slept:		7.5 hours
Morning HR:	
Feeling:	6.5
Performing:	6.5
Weight:		155 (in the morning, 165 later)
	
Workout: Circuit training at the SERF
9:00-10:00 PM
stretch
do 3 circuits of my favorite curcuit training exercises
5 min exercycle cooldown
stretch

Comments:
Maintainence lifting.  I felt good.  Not eating yesterday and then eating 
maybe too much today gave me an upset stomach, but it didn't give me much 
trouble lifting.  I'm worried that I'm losing strength that I built over 
the winter.