Sharpening the Razor

If you've read Bruyneel's book "We Might As Well Win", you may remember a part about him talking about Iban Mayo getting out onto the 'razor' as he prepared for the Tour. In that spirit I will use the metaphor of sharpening the razor as I prepare for Masters Nationals in Louisville next week. Last year Nationals was my big goal, but moving to Asheville (which was the best decision we could have made!) threw a little wrench in the works since I had to devote so much time to getting my territory up and running, which left a less than ideal amount of time to train. Not that I have much more this year, but training for an extra 2-3hrs a week means an additional 30-50% to someone who can only train 5-10hrs a week! My result at Nationals last year was a 5th place in the TT, and a broken front derrailleur in the road race. I was happy with my TT, but not the road race (obviously).

My focus again in 2009 was the road race in Lousville. This year I decided to hire a new coach (Andy Applegate), and we've truly worked together seamlessly in planning my training this year. We set volume, race, and wattage goals which I have hit almost spot on at each checkpoint. In the 3 big road races I've done in the past month leading up to Nationals, I won the road race at McMinnville, got 8th in the Pro/1/2 at Roan Mountain, and got 2nd at the NC State Championships last week. My fitness and focus, as well as team work, has really seemed to come together over the past few months! At this point, only a week out from the race, the only thing left to do is 'sharpen the razor'. There really isn't a lot of training you can do at this point to improve a week out. My weight is ideal - 148lbs, my threshold power is at an all-time high, and I have some good results.

The week leading into Nats will look like this for me: Friday I did some TT specific intervals, yesterday I motorpaced with my mechanic Andy G on the river, and today I went out for almost 3hrs and did a 'punch ride' where I punched it over each climb, out of each turn, and basically tried to go at 90% effort. I felt so good and ended up setting new MPs for 1 minute and 5 minute power, and went up Town Mountain in under 22 minutes just cruising at about 10 beats under my threshold HR - perfect! The rest of the week will be rest, then the race at track Wednesday, some TT efforts on Friday, easy Saturday, preview the road race course Sunday, then kick butt.

It also seemed like I had a tailwind all day today, and even though I'd thought about it earlier this week it hit me on the way home: today is the 12 anniversary of my best friend's, Chris Strader's death. He really was out there with me today as I poured the power into my pedals - I felt like I had the strength of two men, and it was like Chris was giving me a push from behind as the wind was at my back all day. Happy Fathers Day to all the fathers out there - but especially my step father Marty, and Lou Strader. I love you guys.