The annual training plan

Joe Friel's blog has a great series of articles to help one prepare an annual training plan. Part of the plan involves setting goals and training objectives as previously discussed. The part of the annual training plan that frightens me is the Annual Hours.

Annual hours can be calculated by adding 10 to 15% to the previous year's hours. Another calculation can be to multiply normal weekly hours of training by 40. Lastly a chart is supplied to help plan the hours needed based on the longest race planned to participate in. Given that I have set a goal to participate in LOTOJA again my longest race is expected to be over nine hours, which means the minimum I should train to "finish the race", not to compete, is 500 hours.

The way I see it others are likely using this method to train therefore this may be the reason I am not able to compete at high levels. That's why the guy's book is called "The Cyclist's Training Bible" not "Another training book".

Now for some perspective. I bike a lot. People around me, whether they are fitness nuts or not say that I bike a lot. I ride more than some and less than some on my race team. In 2009 I logged 239 hours on the bike. I need to double that number.

I need to become much more vigilant at logging my training off the bike, whether it's hiking, cross-country skiing, strength training, or whatever. Hell I need to log walks with the dog if I want to have a chance at this number.

500 hours annually is 12 hours a week. I spent one hour every day this week on the bike or strength training, and walked the dog once for 30 minutes. That leaves me with 6:30 of exercise to do over the weekend. I wish the weather allowed for a nice easy 100 miler in a nice quiet area.

Let's get serious.

At the end of the last season I realized I needed to either step up or get out of the racing scene because I am not thrilled with mediocrity. I decided to get serious.

I am committing to the Joe Friel Annual Training Plan approach with a little sprinkle of public humiliation. Here are my goals along with training objectives. You are welcome to use these against me anytime.

Season Goals:
1 Complete LOTOJA in 9:40
2 Complete an endurance mountain bike race (Park City Point 2 Point, 12 hours of Sundance)
3 Achieve 5 top 10 finishes in individual events

Training Objectives:
1 Average 400w for 5 minutes by July 1 (muscular endurance)
2 Average 700w for 30 seconds by May 15 (power / sprinting)
3 Train 4+ days per week by April 1

Bonus time

The last four weeks have been bonus time for outdoor riding and plenty of us have taken advantage of it. I even got to ride to work every day last week just for an excuse to use my new bike lights. I mean, I was working on world peace by reducing carbon dioxide production.

Saturday, November 7th

Spectacular day. Seven of us planned on showing up for some mountain biking therapy at the Draper Hang Gliding park, yet only four made it. Ryan got the "least likely to finish" award after the chain off his borrowed bike broke within the first 1/2 mile. We repaired it by removing a link but pressing the pin into the link caused it to warp a little. That repair lasted 1/4 to 1/2 mile so we repaired it again, the pin warped the outer link again, so Ryan headed back to his car quite disappointed to miss out on a ride.

Eventually Elton, Steve, and I got going on the Bonneville Shoreline Draper trail toward Corner Canyon, and quickly found the evil tunnel that barely failed to kill two of us although succeeded in wounding Elton's rear tube. We put a little air in and kept going until the road crossing a bit later where the tube got changed.

We made it to Corner Canyon, climbed up Clark's trail, went up Jacob's ladder, then bombed down Jacob's followed by Ghost Falls. What an absolute blast! On the Bonneville Shoreline Trail on the return trip Elton got another flat to give us a breather. Finally we realized Elton earned the "most unlucky ride" award once we returned and could not find the key to is brand new Acura MDX with a programmable fob valued at $160 replacement cost.

Sunday November 1st

What was originally planned as a Saturday mountain bike ride ended up a 50 mile Sunday road ride on Wasatch and Sego Lily, as I feared the precipitation at the end of the week would cause us to damage trails.

This was a pretty nice ride where the group (Jerry, Adam, Stephen, Chris, Elton, Liam) remained together the majority of the time, the pace was friendly, and no mechanical failures occurred. Unfortunately the group splintered during the top portion of the Sego Lily climb causing two riders to miss a turn, causing me to feel bad and turn around to go get them, and ultimately providing a time trial training opportunity for me.

Saturday October 24th

A decent autumn day allowed us to get together at Liberty Park and ride across the valley to Butterfield canyon. We were supposed to pick up Stephen on the way but had trouble finding him therefore Brent got in his truck, found Stephen, and met back up with the group at the base of Butterfield. Meanwhile Liam decided he had enough and headed back to the start.

After the pure joy that is Butterfield canyon we stopped at a gas station in Herriman, Riverton, or some town down that way. After much deliberation some of us decided to continue with the planned route toward Wasatch Blvd and others decided to head to Brent's house. The people crazy enough to continue (Travis, Adam, me) got punished with some rain, a ridiculous downpour causing us to go for cover in a Subway, followed by more rain, and finishing up with a little rain. Surprisingly it was still quite enjoyable, possibly because we were in bonus time for the season.

Saturday October 17th

Mormon trail was the site for the mountain biking therapy session that day. Reaching the trailhead is part of the challenge for this ride; the trailhead is five or so miles up a dirt road behind the Jeremy Ranch area.

The start of the ride was a serious water crossing, and the rest of the trail was more moist than I expected yielding a slippery ride. Elton, Steve P, Steve S, Jeremy were the riders which was a nicely matched group.

Though slippery, the downhill was awesome. The climb is a nice consistent grind as well, with enough flatter sections to catch one's breath. Overall it was a nice recovery ride after 24 hours of Moab.