Autumn Focus

It's hard to believe that it's been 3 weeks since the start of the Ride to Remember.  After a big event I typically end up spending a couple of weeks trying to regain focus.  I don't find this to be a big negative, as it gives me time to reflect and determine what is important.  During the months leading up to events like RtR, AOTC and AOMM I find myself getting consumed in the preparation.  Training rides, ramping up efforts, making sure I am as ready as I can be to put out a good effort.  I can very easily get sucked in, and it consumes most of my energy and time.  The reality is that I cannot sustain the "ramped up" state for extended periods of time, as it just isn't healthy for myself or my family.  Having reset time always helps.

With Autumn quickly approaching, and most of the big events for the year now in the rear view mirror, it is a good time to look at where I am with my goals, and what I should be focused on.  Earlier in the year I wrote about my goals for 2014:

Events - I originally posted about 3 events:  The Assault on the Carolinas, Beech Mountain Metric, and The Ride to Remember.  I did not complete Beech Mountain because of travel conflicts, which was rather disappointing.  The Assault on the Carolinas was as awesome as I had remembered, and the Ride to Remember was an incredible experience.  I plan on having both of those events return for 2015.  

Goals -

• Complete a training plan - I completed the plan on Training Peaks earlier in the year, although I did not complete every workout.  This is going to be an ongoing goal, and working out how to mix trainer workouts with road workouts will be an important step.  The big improvement here has been learning how to utilize Training Peaks.  
• Quality over Quantity - the original goal for 2014 was to spend less time on the bike, and to make every workout count.  So far I am actually above the pace I set last year, although I'm still working on keeping from riding on both Saturday and Sunday.  
• Balancing Bike & Family Time - this is the area that I still feel is a work in progress.  Hopefully as the fall progresses I can make more of a habit on finding ways to mix my bike and family time, such that we can spend more time together on the bike.  

While I am not exactly on target for most of my major goals, I still do not consider them to have been poor choices.  Each of my non-event goals were specific, measurable, trackable and relevant.  They may have been a little bit off on "attainable", which leaves me room to grow in the process of setting bike-related goals.  It'll be interesting to see where I stand with in regards to these goals at the end of the year.

The best laid plans

As a part of 2014, I realized that I had to do something different than 2013 to meet the goals that I had laid before me.  For 2013 my big goals were to complete the Assault on Mt Mitchell and to ride at least 400mi/month on average (but aim for 100mi/week average).  I completed all of these goals, riding over 5,400 miles and completing the Assault as my first English Century.  What I realized is that without a comprehensive training plan, I was expending a lot more work than I should have needed to in order to complete the first of these goals, and by having goals that were distance-based I was setting myself up for always feeling like I had to be on the road gathering miles.  I signed up for 3 "major" events for 2014, which I will consider my "hard goals", and I'm working on the "soft goals" for additional requirements along the way.  The events that I've signed up for at this point are:

• The Assault on the Carolinas - 62mi ride in the early spring that was one of my favorites from last year.  Starts and ends in Brevard, NC and benefits the Rotary in Transylvania County.

AOTC 2013 finish line

• Beech Mountain Metric - this is a new event for 2014, and is a metric century event in Beech Mountain, NC.  Starts and ends at ~1mi above sea level, this is going to be a challenging climbing event.
• The Ride to Remember - this is a 3 day event where riders travel from Simpsonville to Charleston, SC.  Proceeds from this ride benefit the Alzheimer's Association. The lengths increase from 60mi to 80mi and culminating with a 100mi ride to the coast.  240mi in 3 days will be a real challenge, and will test my ability to recover and prepare.  This is also a fundraising event, so I will be working on creative ways to gather support for the ride.

Beyond the planned events, I have a few other goals I would like to cover in the process.  

• Complete a training plan -  This one sounds easy enough, but sticking to a 10-12 week plan is very challenging.  It means finding a way to ride when riding is the last thing you want to do.  It will mean NOT riding when I should be resting, and preparing myself mentally and physically for the rest of the year.  So far I am working my way through a training plan using Training Peaks right now that will finish right before the Assault on the Carolinas.  It is going to be very challenging, but I think it will ultimately be very beneficial.

  

  Feb 3-9 training log.

  
  
• Quality over Quantity - Instead of just putting in miles all the time, I'm focused on my rides having a purpose.  If this means spending an hour with The Sufferfest to get a workout to target certain aspects, or just following the training plan, giving my workouts a purpose should allow me to do more with less time on the bike.  

• Balance Bike & Family time - last year to meet my mileage based goals I ended up riding on both Saturday and Sunday ... a LOT.  This meant taking time away from my duties as a husband and father.  This year I am looking to balance that out, making sure to not rush out on the bike when I don't need to, and getting my other goals accomplished around the house.  I'm hopeful that this can extend to finding a way for the whole family to spend time on the bike together as well.

Taking a Water Break

With focused goals that are within my own ability to control and manage, I think 2014 will be another good year on the bike.  

Riding throughout the summer

Each year it seems that I'm learning a lot about what I didn't know about the previous year in regards to cycling.   This is not unexpected, but at some point I have to take a step back and look at where I am versus where I was previously and take stock of the changes.

During 2012 my whole goal was to get stronger.  I completed my first big event (Wheels for Meals 2012), and was in the middle of my first big fundraising situation for an event (Stars and Stripes 2012).  By the summer I was into full mode of experiencing cycling from a group ride point of view, and trying to get stronger.  My routine was 3-4 group rides per week:  Donaldson/SCTAC on Tuesday, Bike Shop rides on Thursdays and Saturdays, and a local church ride on Sunday afternoons.   I'd go out with as fast as I thought I could keep up with at the front, working as hard as I could to stay with the group, getting dropped somewhere along the way, and working on my own back to the start point.  By the end of the season I was adding in additional days on my own training for the Hincapie Gran Fondo, but the routine was pretty much the same.

Over the winter and into Spring 2013 my routine changed a lot.  I was still going out 3 or 4 days a week, but the focus was all of the sudden on the Assault on Mt Mitchell.  I was working on base miles.  I was climbing Paris Mountain as much as possible to gain climbing strength.  I would go out for the training rides with the Freewheelers.  I had laser focus with a goal in mind.  By the time that the normal group rides started up in earnest I was already well into my established routines, and I really didn't enjoy going out as much.  I found myself in a strange location of wanting to ride with just specific folks, and not dealing with the group ride atmosphere.  The last month or so I've been riding mostly with friends and on my own, working on personal goals and needs, and just enjoying going out and riding.  I've found new routes out into the country north of the Swamp Rabbit Trail, and used older routes I have riden in the past to get in my miles for my goals.  The times that I've gone out on group rides, I've found them to be challenging effort wise, but not all that enjoyable because of the banter.  Instead of pushing myself into more group rides, I've been finding that place where I can ride a group ride when I want, but I get my workouts in when I need to.  

As the summer winds down, and many of the evening group rides fade off, the challenge of keeping up miles will continue.  By finding ways to keep my rides fresh, and new challenges to put myself through without relying on a ride leader to figure out a route each week, I think I can better meet my own personal goals, and be more prepared for a fantastic 2014 in the process.

Mitchell done, what now?

So the Assault on Mount Mitchell 2013 is completed, and I've had a week to rest and reflect.  I've spent the last 6 months laser focused on one goal, and I completed it with relative success.  The big question whenever I plan for an event is what to do afterwards.  All of my goals circled around completing the Assault, and completing the training to be prepared.  Now that the event is over, I have to re-shift my focus on new goals.  This is both a good and a bad thing for me.  Having a big goal always keeps me motivated.

Leg Check
I took a couple of days off after the Assault, and let myself just recover.  I had a chance to get my "victory wings" on Tuesday, and spend some time with the family.  Last weekend I got in a great solo spin and a tough group ride to test out the legs, and things felt good.  I then went to the weekly cycling event here in Greenville starting at SCTAC, and had a good strong ride.  It seems like the Assault didn't punish my legs too hard, so I'm going to start getting into a normal summer routine, if I actually have one.

Weekly Goals
My standing weekly goal for this year is to ride approximately 100 miles a week.  If I can average that over the course of the year, that gets me up to around 5,000 miles for the year.  This would be a 25% increase in miles over last year, and continue the fitness increases that I'm expecting.  This will become more challenging as the heat, summer trips, and weather impede my big riding days.  Early May was a great indicator of how weather can derail my schedule right now. 

Monthly Goals
My primary monthly goal is likewise mostly around miles.  I have a demand on myself to get at least 400 miles in a month.  This is lower than the 100 miles a week goal, but still keeps me on track for being near 5,000 miles for the year.  I feel that this goal is low enough to be attainable, even if weather messes up a weekend or two.  

Big Rides
Along with my standard mileage goal, I want to get in 1 big ride each month.  Whether it's going out on a charity event, or just planning some good old fashioned pain, I want to get in at least one ride of at least 60 miles.  Ideally by September I'd like to log in a couple more centuries, but this time maybe without 11,000ft of climbing involved. 

2013 Events 
I have plenty of events that I have on my riding bucket list, the problem I always have is working out which ones I can realistically do.  For example, the 2013 Bridge Challenge is the same weekend as the 2013 Preservation Ride.  The Jackson County Brevet looks really interesting, but I haven't really scheduled to do it yet and it's only a couple of weeks away.  There's the Hot Doggit 100 in July that looks interesting as well.  I'd also love to do a Beach Challenge, if I can find out about one early enough to plan it so I can realistically make a trip out of it with the family.  There is also the Hincapie Fondo in October to think about, along with the Leaf Tour in November.

Beyond
I don't have any "long range" goals that I feel like I can start scheduling at this point.  At some point I'd love to do a trip out West to ride in California, Colorodo or Utah to test my legs against higher climbs that I can do in the Southeast, as well as plan trips to do events up in the Northeast like the 200 on 100 challenge that Ted King sponsors.  There are also events in Texas, like the Hotter'N Hell 100, that I'd love to attempt sometime.  The problem with trips of this distance is budgeting for the family trip in both time and money.  I don't feel like I can realistically go do events this far away alone, and bringing all of us is a lot of expense.  

There are also multi-day events that look fascinating to me.  The Ride to Remember, Challenge to Conquer Cancer, and RAGBRAI all are events I'd love to take on.  These events have a unique issue of having to manage long rides on multiple days, as well as sleeping accommodations (camping, etc).  

Focus
The biggest issue for me is to keep focus on continuing to increase my fitness, and not get too big for my britches at this point.  With so many awesome events within driving distance, I could bankrupt myself (monetarily and fitness wise) trying to get them all in quickly.  I have to schedule and plan, and make sure the other facets of my life get proper attention as well.  I love to ride, but I need to remember that I don't have to do it every day.