Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Race Schedule, Trans Iowa and Stuff

I am trying to figure out my race schedule. So far it is looking pretty much the same as last year. Although I am 70% certain I am going to blow off TransIowa on April 29/30, too much driving AND riding for that matter (they made it longer, 337 miles this year, ouch!!).

I would like to hit up some March road races, OVR, Covered Bridge and the RATL races. The OMBC XC series starts April 22 at the Knob and then May 7 at Mohican. On April 30th, I am thinking of racing Wilkesville to Wilkesville which is supposed to be one of the toughest and hilliest road races around. The Cat 3/4 race is 70 miles!! That would replace TransIowa. Chippewa is for sure too.

Since cross ended, I have not been doing much intensity, by my standards. Lots of Zone 3 (Tempo, Fast Pedal, Muscle Tension), some Zone 4 (30 sec on/off intervals, Fast Pedal, Stomps) and minimal Zone 5 (have done some 5 min max intervals and outdoor climbing). Volume has been pretty good at about 150 hours in the 17 weeks since Nov 1 (8.8 hrs per week average). In that time I had 8 weeks over 10 hours with high of 15 hours compared to 2 weeks over 10 hours in the same period last year. The 4 weeks after cross I averaged 3 hours/week, so volume has been really strong since then.

Then on June 10/11 is 24 Hours of Big Bear. Hoping to do 15 laps which would be 180 miles on the 12 mile course. That should get me on the podium and in the money. Ernie did 15 laps last year and won by a lap over 2nd place. He could probably do 17-18 if he had to, he is an animal.

I'd like to think I could win Chippewa Cat 4 race, but I may upgrade to Cat 3 before May so I can do the RATL races with the Snakebite Cat 3 squad. Todd, Mike, Tom and Pat. I think we could do some damage in the Cat III race.

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