Wow, this week ended up being my long-lost base period I've been lacking in '06. My hours aren't the biggest (13.5hrs this week/largest was 17hrs) but my Training Stress Score (TSS) for the week is my highest for 2006 because I did five days of big climbs this week. Today I did 5.5hrs and climbed a total of 8600ft, which was my biggest ride of the year. My highest TSS score prior to this week was 577 set in mid-April. This week ended up being a TSS of 671 and 9408 kj's.


Take a look at the WKO+ screen shot of my weekly Hours, KJ's, TSS and IF for 2006. I've actually had a pretty nice periodized program as you can see, even though I didn't plan it that way.

Also take a look at Friday's file which included 2 x 20' tempo efforts and I injected an hard CP20 effort every 5'. My intent in doing this workout was to build up more muscular endurance since I haven't done any real structured ME work since about February. This could be an issue entering the summer race season when I hit the local road races. There is no hiding when to the climbing races and of course I want to do the best I can on my limited weekly training hours.

This week of training may really help the second half of my season and really bump up my aerobic fitness. I know it isn't that big of a week as compared to most Cat 1/Pro ridersbut when you are mainly used to only doing 90 minute rides it doesn't take many long rides to bump up the form. Fingers are crossed and we'll see how the road races go the second half of the season.

Today's ride was epic. 5.5hrs(take a look at the screen shot), 81 miles, 3887kj, 260 TSS, 8600ft of elevation I rode about 30 miles on steep dirt rodes some of which are still closed for the winter. It is rides like this that keep me going mentally for another 6 months. I love exploring the mountains and trails around Boulder and can't believe I am still finding new roads after training here for eleven years. I didn't even get to the top of some of the roads today such as Caribou road and Ranbow Lakes Road. These are some amazing dirt roads up above 9,000ft and have the world's best views of the rocky mouintains.


Well that's it for now. I have hopes of one more long mountain ride tomorrow if I can swing it. My wife and I have plans to visit friends at a BBQ in the mountains tomorrow and I may be able to ride up to the party. Fingers are crossed!
Ciao

Dirk