2010 was a weird year. If I was going to describe it, I was just say "eh." No spectacular rides, and my only wins came as part of 24 hour teams. The knee injury put a damper on pretty much the whole year, and the first half of the year saw me train almost not at all (due to the injury and laziness). Once I found a temporary cure for my knee problem, I got back on the bike and got excited about riding again. This all happened about mid-July. My best race of the year turned out to be Lone Peak Revenge, something that I did not plan, and didn't really want. Capping the year with some sort of sickness at MTB Nationals and a ride that wasn't quite what I was looking for at Iceman, it was just a so-so year. Comme ci, comme ca.
The best move I made in 2010 was to start training with a coach and a structured training plan. It obviously didn't make me magically faster at the end of the year, but it did help me feel stronger, and it set me up for a good 2011. Now with my "rebuilding" seasons behind me, it is time to get serious and start winning again. Its time to get back to my form of a few years ago.
I ended 2010 with 376.81 hours of working out in some form. The most of these hours was spent on the road bike, with 143.3 hours, followed by time on the MTB at 123.39 hours. Time on the trainer was a distant third at 53.83 hours. The disparity between time on the road bike and time on the MTB was a little bigger this year, but that is likely due to not being able to consistently ride my MTB in Montana until mid- to late June. I rode 4046 miles total in 2010, about 500 miles less than 2009, and over 1000 miles less than 2008. Hopefully I can fix my knee and get back to my number of 2008.
In 2010, I competed in 20 races, up from 14 races in 2009, but down from 28 races in 2008. I only did one century way back in March, and ended with 139 days off- an average of about 12 days off per month or three days per week.
2011 already promises to be a much better year, as I had a very strong January. I trained for 39.83 hours. This is up from 33.1 hours last January, 9.6 of which I counted from skiing (almost all downhill). This year none of my training hours consisted of skiing. If I did do any activities outside of riding, such as skiing or playing hockey, I didn't include them in my training log, so I am not deluding myself or padding my training stats. I only rode outside four times in January, which means I spent way too much time riding the rollers, but I am sure it will be worth it later this year. I took seven days off last month.
The biggest difference has been having a coach. Accountability has been the reason for such a solid month of training. There were many days when I didn't feel like getting on the bike, but knowing that I would have to justify not training to my coach made me get off my butt. I have been on the rollers for 4 hour rides the past two Sundays, which have tested my mental fortitude greatly, but I have made it through both of them. I am desperately hoping I can ride outside more consistently soon, though.
So, anyway, I am sorry for not having written in so long and there is plenty I could write about from the end of last season, or vacation back in Michigan, but I really probably should get back to writing about [FeFe]-Hydrogenase maturation protein HydE.
