2008 Season Summary

Last year I didn’t publish my notes on my 2007 season because I generally stay away from talking about my training. I think it’s boring to read about other than a few comments here and there. Maybe I will add a little more about training in 2009, but I thought this year I would at least include my season summary.

2008 was my second season in bike racing and I came into it as a cat 4. Technically I did do a race in July 2006, but getting dropped 6 miles into the Monson Road Race doesn’t count as a bike racing season. 2007 was rough, and I only had a very small degree of success in the flattest, easiest races.

In fall of 2007 I bought a Powertap and learned an awful lot about training. Over the winter I made a training plan for 2008 that was nearly the complete opposite of 2007.

The 2008 plan included massive base building miles from March through May, basically just riding as long and hard as I could every week. A typical week included a 2-3 hour ride Tuesday through Thursday, racing and long rides Saturday and Sunday, and rest or recovery days on Monday and Friday. This put me in the range of 200-250 miles per week and 12-14 hours.
One thing that I was very careful about was keeping power output no higher than threshold. Pushing up every hill at 150% FTP just resulted in shorter and slower rides. Racing during this period was the only intensity I got. I still raced every weekend and had fun doing so, but my results weren’t any good. A crash at the Palmer Road Race in the end of April totaled my Orbea Lobular and I took a rest week while I waited for my new Cannondale to come in.

In May I starting adding a small amount of intensity to my mid-week routine. One of my long tempo rides were replaced with either the Charlie Baker Time Trial, Wompatuck, or a hard group ride. My results were never good at the training races because I was almost always tired for them, but they served as great workouts.

It may have just been the nature of the races changing, but I started having much better results beginning in late May. The hilly spring classics road races were over, and there were more criteriums and flatter road or circuit races. I was suddenly finding myself near the front at the end of races. Even in a “bad” race I was much closer to the front than I ever was in 2007.
My training plan was structured to peak for Fitchburg. My goal was to make a strong showing in the time trial and to place well in the crit and potentially the circuit race. The road race finishing on Wachusett would just be a survival day.

In June my focus turned to time trialing and improving my threshold power. I did the CBTT more frequently and added at least one workout per week consisting of 4x10-minute intervals. Training on the weekends really remained unchanged and consisted of racing followed by long tempo rides. My long rides were about 90-110 miles and five to six hours, some of which included a race. I scored my first upgrade points with 5th place finishes at Cyclonauts Criterium and Heartbreak Hill. I also won a Thompson seatpost in a prime with a half-lap flyer at the Thompson Twilight Criterium.

I did a lot of experimenting with aerodynamics for time trials in June. I did not have a time trial bike, and instead modified my Six13 with clip-ons, a disc cover for my Powertap wheel, and a TT saddle. I also picked up a Giro Advantage aero helmet.

Initially I thought I could “buy” time just by throwing on all this equipment. I was disappointed when my CBTT times didn’t instantly drop by 1-2 minutes. My power data allowed me to estimate my aerodynamic drag coefficient to a reasonably accurate degree. I found that just throwing the clip-on aero bars onto my stock road setup resulted in my shoulders being way too high. By angling the aero bars I could lower my elbows and shoulders. At the next CBTT I took a big chunk of time out of my PR despite taking a big hit on my average power. Eventually I settled on a compromised position between comfort and aerodynamics.

Despite being an ‘A’ race and a focus of my training plan, Fitchburg ended up being a bit of a bust. In the time trial I almost had a good ride having great power for the first 10 minutes, but cracked hard about 12 or 15 minutes in not long before cresting the top of the hill. The road race didn’t go well either but that was expected. The circuit race ended up being my best stage of the race with a 24th, despite making a strategic error right before the finish. The crit was also largely disappointing and was the hardest race of the year for me in terms of normalized power (310 NP for 45 minutes).

After Fitchburg I took a rest week and refocused my goals for the remainder of the season. I was doing well in races with sprint finishes where I could make it to the finish line. Successive hills longer than 2 or 3 minutes were almost always a problem. For July and August I focused on races that would suit me as so. My next major race was Green Mountain Stage Race where I planned to go after stage wins and the sprinter’s jersey.

The weekend after Fitchburg I made a last minute decision to race at the Attleboro Criterium. It had been a rest week for me but I hadn’t felt well that weekend and didn’t think I would do well in a race. Once the race started that all changed. Compared to Fitchburg it felt like an easy group ride and I wasn’t under any pressure. I got into a great position for the finish and was able to win my first race.

Working Man’s Stage Race wasn’t one that I peaked for, but it was a flat stage race with a great time trial and really suited me well. I wanted a second shot at getting a good time trial result after blowing up at Fitchburg, and I had high hopes for this one. A series of mechanical failures right before the race got me flustered and I missed my start as a result. That may have been the most disappointing race of the season. After that I stopped making such massive changes to my road bike for time trials.

Around the end of July I started feeling a little burnt out. I continued to race but both training intensity and volume were down. In races I struggled to find focus and didn’t have the drive for results that I did in June. My fitness was good though, and I managed two more 5th place results despite missing a number of other good opportunities.

In the two weeks prior to GMSR I focused on sprinting for the first time. The pinnacle was doing 4x30 second all-out efforts with full recoveries in between. This workout ended with me on all fours puking my guts out so much that a neighbor asked if I needed an ambulance.
I felt great for the GMSR time trial. My taper was great and so was my power output: a season-high 313W (4.23 W/kg) for 17.5 minutes. Unfortunately 17.5 minutes was a really bad time and my result was awful, placing 54/58 in the cat4a field. The road races were both an adventure and I rode without a draft for all but maybe 20 or 30 of the 140 miles. My legs hurt so badly I could barely walk, but somehow they still worked well enough to place 5th in the Burlington Criterium.

After Labor Day the sun starts setting early and I can’t get many training miles. I started doing shorter 60-90 minute workouts with ~5-minute intervals and my base began to fade away. At Topsfield I managed to place high enough to get my final upgrade point needed for cat 3.
Volunteering at the Bow Road Race as a marshal ended up winning me a custom Maietta cyclocross frame. The frame was finished in October and I took a stab at cross racing. I had taken late September/early October as an off-season/rest month, and I did that really well riding maybe 3 or 4 times in the 4-week period. By the time I started racing cross I felt like I was in the worst shape of the season, and I got pretty much owned. Even during cross season I only did races and didn’t train other than 20 or 30 minutes of running here and there. Training in the fall with the sun setting at 6pm doesn’t suit me well.

For 2009, I’m not exactly sure what I want to focus on. I learned a lot about myself in 2008 as far as what my strengths and weaknesses are. Sprinting and pretty much any effort less than a minute long seem to come naturally. I don’t train these efforts very much at all, although I suppose racing every weekend does help a lot. Still, it’s far from being a focus. Threshold power was decent in 2008, although power to weight may have been a little low (at 74 kg).
My biggest weakness was hilly road races. That isn’t at all a surprise because they seem to require good repeatable W/kg in the 2-6-minute range, and I didn’t train that at all until September in 2008. I could hang for a single effort, but I had zero ability to clear myself of lactic acid. To repeat such an effort was impossible. This made me a delicate rider that could be dropped easily on climbs. I responded very well to hill repeat workouts in September and I improved by being able to repeat maximal efforts in 2-6-minute durations.

I have little desire to be purely a criterium racer. I like the adventure involved with long and hilly road races and the toughness needed to be a contender in a stage race, whether it’s a GC, KOM, or sprinter’s competition. In 2009 I will attempt to improve in road races and will likely participate in a racing schedule similar to 2008, starting with the Spring Classics in April.