Yesterday, after riding tempo in the garage for 50 minutes, I started my usual Sprint 8 session. I cranked the CycleOps Trainer up the mountains setting and off I went. After 5 intervals I felt good, so I decided to deviate a little and try a “Tabata Interval Set”. I couldn’t finish 4 sprints!
I first read about these intense intervals on Velonews. They consist of eight 20 second intervals with a whole 10 seconds rest in between. Very challenging!
Try a set out this week!
Finding time to train is difficult….With a family, work, church and other time fillers, I find it hard to find the time to train. Since I am a schedule type person, I have created a great weekly schedule that fits all my time fillers into a nice neat package. Problem is….life and other people are not so committed to MY schedule. For instance, Allison (worlds best wife), has been sick for the past 5 days. She is a trooper and tries to continue as normal, but she must rest. This leaves me to do a little extra. This small extra, throws my whole perfect schedule off! Once I am off the schedule it is difficult to return to it. I then get very grouchy, feel sorry for myself and start listening to all the selfish thoughts that go through my head.
I have stumbled across a great way to combat this destructive cycle….this solution has been there sitting in front of me for many years. So simple and powerful, yet so hard to do….Prayer. We are taught to pray about everything. Yet the idea of laying my training at His feet never occurred to me. It is powerful, trust me. I encourage you to pray and share your training concerns to Jesus. I know, I felt like a selfish little school boy asking for a special favor, too. However, as I thought about it more, I realize God placed this passion in my heart. He takes delight in me training and racing.
The real benefit is that in prayer, my goals are better aligned with God’s goals for my life. When I may place too much importance on a particular race or build period, my time in prayer often eases my tension about the training/ race and helps me see the more clearly the big picture. Prayer also helps me deal with the disappointments, especially when I don’t get to see the big pictures. We all know our passion for this sport can become too big in our lives, this God will not tolerate! Prayer protects me from this idolatry.
I encourage you to pray about your training and racing and be ready to listen to your true Coach!
Sunday’s workout….
30 minutes easy ride on Trainer
Sprint 8
5 minutes of zone 4 riding (Heart Rate Zones)
Rest of the hour I cooled down
I have forgotten how difficult Sprint 8 is on a bike. I was finding my speed dropping around 25 seconds. It was painful to keep it up for the full 30 seconds. According to Phil Campbell, this indicates I was doing it correctly. Sprint 8 is trying to get you to totally work over the fast twitch muscles. Although it was painful and I was dead, it did feel good to blow out the engine.
Latter in the evening I did some foam roller work on my legs. My right calf has been giving my problems.
I was able to get up this morning and do my devotional. Today’s was on patients.
“A patient spirit is better than a proud spirit” Ecclesiastes 7:8
Pride derails me so much. I know as an athlete, my pride has forced me to ride/ run harder than my workout called, just so I could keep up. Then I would miss two or three work out recovering. Or my pride kept me from attending a training ride with a faster group because I knew I would get dropped.
This morning’s devotional reminded me to be patient with myself; God is not finished working out His plan in my life…or yours!
It reminded me to remain focused on the goals God has for me this year. To not push and try and make things happen by myself, God is faithful.
I have started the Sprint 8 challenge….I have used the Sprint 8 program before and found it useful. I recently had the opportunity to talk with Phil Campbell, Sprint 8 designer. I had some specific questions about using Sprint 8 with endurance training. I like the HGH increase, but realize I can not rely on this program to get through a 100 MTB race.
Phil suggested during my high mileage cycles to try doing only two Sprint 8 sessions a week. Fit the sessions in at the end of a normal endurance workout. I questioned that I would be too fatigued to muster up 8 good sprints. He said the point was to get anaerobic and concentrate on the fast twitch muscles.
I have used Sprint 8 through the prep phase and just for fitness maintenance. I will try Phil’s suggestions and let you know how it works. Currently I will be doing three sessions a week for 6-8 weeks
I will first apologize for being so lazy about my blogging! I will try and do better this coming year!
Indiana membership is growing. We have members all over the State, but no one area of strong concentration. This past summer we tried to do three group rides in different areas. We got one ride in. It seems that IC3 riders are dedicated cyclist and family members. We will try for a few rides this summer again.
God has given me this passion for cycling and pushing myself to the limit physically, I count every minute on my bicycle as a gift. It helps me stay healthy, mentally stable and I enjoy fellowship with other rides. I can not count the numbers of times I have been on a long solo ride and God has spoken to me about life. Cycling is a larger part of my life.
These are all great reasons to ride and join IC3, however, I am also a family man. I am a leader in my house. At no time should my cycling interfere with the relationship I have with my wife, kids, church and extended family. I will admit that this tough! This is one of the areas I will be blogging about this year….
Enjoy riding, most of mine has been inside on the trainer!
