On Thursday January 9th, assuming
a road-closing blizzard or ice storm doesn't shut down highways betweenWest Texas and Colorado, I'll be in Boulder racing the 2014 Cyclocross
National Championships for my age category.
The 2014 championships take
place over a five-day period from Jan 8 through Jan 12, with male competitors
in age groups 60-64, 65-69, and 70+ racing together at 9:00 am on Thursday
morning.
I'll be joining 65-70 other old
cyclocross racers from across the nation who’ll be competing for the highly
coveted national champion's Stars and Stripes jersey in their age group.
Realistically, my goals will
be to just keep the fast guys in sight, not get lapped, and - most of all -
have fun in the process.
The weather on January 9 is
something that all racers will have to contend with.
January mornings on Colorado's Front
Range can be dry with nice
(comparatively speaking) temperatures in the 30s, but it could also be brutally
cold with sub-zero wind chills and snow.
Like all of the cyclists who'll
be competing in the various categories, I've trained hard for the event.
My training program for this
race started back in early July when I decided that the CX nationals would be my
primary goal for the 2nd half of the year.
Simply put, I've spent the
last six months preparing for one 40 minute race.
During July and August, the
workout objectives were base endurance and strength. I accomplished those by
riding a lot of miles on my road bike (including the 3-week, 560 mile Tour de San Angelo), doing twice-weekly strength sessions in the gym,
and doing a two-week block of altitude training during August by riding high
country mountain roads and trails in Colorado.
In September, the focus
shifted to improving my anaerobic threshold (the maximum heart rate I can
sustain for 30-60 minutes). These threshold workouts included moderately hard
efforts such as two times 30 minute intervals (after a warm-up) at a heart rate
that was at or just below my threshold at that time.
The threshold intervals were
done both at high pedal cadences of 90-100 RPM to improve pedaling efficiency and also at low 50-60 RPM cadences in a hard gear to build strength.
The training progression
continued in October with a shift to specific cyclocross skills, race
simulation workouts, and early season races such as the local Wednesday evening
cyclocross series. I also started doing most
of my workouts on my cyclocross bike riding mountain bike trails and rough dirt
roads.
The local Wednesday evening races
provided a real-world environment where I could test my fitness by chasing the
younger fast racers, and the race simulation workouts helped improve specific
skills such as sprinting up to speed after corners, dismounting and running
over barriers while carrying the bike, riding through deep sand, and (when
weather conditions allowed) going fast in slippery mud.
During the local races and
simulation workouts, I captured heart rate and speed data using a Garmin
Forerunner GPS watch. The data was analyzed post-workout to identify
improvements from past training sessions and also to determine "how hard
is too hard" for future reference.
In November and December, the
training program shifted to a combination of shorter but very intense intervals
at a heart rate well above my sustainable threshold and also racing selected
Texas Cup cyclocross series races.
I also added in twice-weekly
sessions of short uphill sprints, bleacher runs in a stadium, and short runs carrying
the bike through loose dirt and sand to prepare for the obstacles that the CX
Nationals course will have.
My goal of racing four or
five Texas Cup events during November and December didn't work out as planned
because of family activities and job duties on weekends. To continue building
race-specific fitness, I substituted hard 40-60 minute race simulations on each
of the missed Texas Cup race dates.
The past two weeks have been
spent "sharpening the sword" by doing a short but very intense
workout every third day followed by two days of easy recovery rides.
This final phase of
preparation is called "tapering" with the objective being to achieve
peak fitness by letting the body recover from the previous months of hard
training while maintaining a high level of neuromuscular stimulation via the
every-third-day hard efforts.
I've also made it a priority
to work out early in the mornings on cold days to get used to riding in the
cold and to practice dressing for those conditions. The odds are that the early
morning race time temperature in Boulder will be in the high 20s, so being
ready for winter conditions is a critical aspect of the mental and physical preparation.
Like all of the cyclists
who’ll be competing at nationals, I've done the hard work needed to prepare for
the event, so on race day it will come down to who has “good legs” that day and
who avoids mistakes such as going too hard early in the race or crashing on roughsections of the course.
The weather and altitude
(5,500 feet) will both have a significant impact on the race's outcome. Dry weather and moderate temperatures will
dictate a completely different race strategy than bitter cold with snow or ice
on the course.Given the higher altitude, it
will also be important to avoid going too hard and getting into oxygen debt
early in the race.
My expectations for CX
Nationals race are realistic, with the goal being to race as hard as I can and
hopefully place in the top 25% of my category.
Anything higher than that will be gravy and anything lower will be
disappointing.
Stay tuned - next week's post will be a recap and analysis of the race.
Upcoming Events
Feb 14: Funnel Cake 5K,
roadlizards.org
Mar 22: Crazy Desert Trail
Race, roadlizards.org
