Weirdsville, Population: me

This is the first time I am dedicated to training through the off-season. Over the past twenty-two off-seasons, I've mothballed the bike. Sometimes I would maintain my fitness with running, more often I did nothing. Trying to maintain fitness with the bike will be a first for me.

Although the focus of this yearround approach is not really fitness, it's weight loss. Or at least weight maintenance. A quick review of the recent past for context: in May 2007 I weighed in at a career-best 283 pounds. By September of that year I was down to 242. In April of 2008 I weighed a shameful 276 pounds. The weekend of October 5th, last race of the season, my weight had dropped to 231 pounds, a nine-year low. Obviously, I want to avoid the yoyoing. I had set a goal of 200 pounds for March 1 of next year though I think it may be more optimistic to hold around 230, and attempt to lose the additional weight in the spring. The sad fact is that I have trouble saying no to food, especially in the winter. I know people will say that it's normal to gain weight through winter, but it's awfully hard to resign myself to that when I know the weight I need to lose if I want to be competitive in the spring road races. I know I need a goal but how do I challenge myself without giving myself an impossible task? This leads to a fundamental question: why can't I do the things I believe I want to do?

Over the years I tried to do a little introspection. I've found that I have two voices in my head, and in the past they've set expectations I can't meet. The primary voice is that of my father. No excuses are accepted; you either succeed or you fail. The other voice is one I don't really know. I guess it is probably my own voice; small, unsure, easily overridden. The upside is that this voice gains strength over time. Every time I experience something between success and failure that is acceptable, my voice gets a little stronger. It seems those voices mimic the relationship I have with my father. On some level, I'm still seeking his approval.

What I have realized thus far is that my voice needs to be stronger, but how strong? Should it balance my father's voice or do they need to integrate? One may say that I am overthinking this but I promise you if you spent a little time in my head you would agree it is a question that needs answering. The important thing is to keep experimenting.

Looking for a heartbeat...

With all due respect to Don Johnson, I hate looking for a heartbeat. Truth be told I hate listening to someone lament about looking for a heartbeat, but it can be equally frustrating to estimate my own heart rate in the middle of an interval workout. Enter the Heart Rate Monitor (HRM). I bought a Polar S510 years ago and the batteries finally died last month. After talking to a customer server rep at Polar I know that my T61-coded heart rate strap is useless. Begrudgingly I came to the realization that it was time to buy a new HRM.

At this point some of you may be screaming "SRM" or "POWERMETER" or something about measuring wattage. You would be barking up the wrong tree. There are many reasons why I have not, and will not use wattage to measure my performance. The most relevant right now is that I am a Category IV racer. Training with wattage is well down the "cost versus benefit" list. If you want a more complete list, I will return to this rant in future posts.

After a lot of research I went with the devil I knew versus the devil I did not. Yesterday I received my new Polar Heart Rate Monitor (HRM). It is a CS200. I've used it for one training ride so I'm still figuring out the details. With that caveat, I have to say I'm not all that impressed with the CS200. My main gripe is that I can't program workouts. My old Polar S510 allowed me to program 4 different interval workouts. The CS200 has some mysterious Timer function. It allows me to set two different time limits and they randomly beep at me during my workout. Also, the device only allows me to set up a single heart rate range whereas the S510 allowed three different heart rate ranges.

Now I should say that I'm slow to pick things up, so maybe it has all the functionality I'll need as soon as I figure out how to use it. Most importantly, I'm happy to have a working HRM for my off-season training. Look forward to my next post where I ruminate about a trainer that likes to eat tires.

Reasons for this blog.

1. To share my trials, tribulations, and occasional moments of bliss with the world at large. If any of my experience can help someone, I'm more than happy to lend it.

2. To assure myself that I am not the only person that has a bizarre love/hate relationship with cycling.

3. (Full disclosure) To prove to the world that I am good at something, that I must be paid attention.

Keep in mind number 3 as you read future posts, that one piece of truth will probably inform most of what I write. I think Tim Krabbe described it brilliantly in "The Rider." If you've not read it, it might be the best book on cycling ever written.