Another year...

... of commercial-free blogging here at solobreak.blogspot.com. That's right - I think putting advertisements on your blog is bad. It may seem harmless enough, but for most of you reading this circle of blogs, blogging is a social activity. Ads on a social blog are kind of like your neighbor the car salesman dropping in on your barbeque. Annoying. It's bad enough that we have to pimp ourselves out by wearing corporate logos on our racing kit. That's actually not that bad, because generic cycling clothes look so friggin' dorky. At least with a team kit, you may be fat (seriously, compare any photo of a master's race with a pro race), but at least you are dressed like a racer. If your blog is blinking like a porn site, it may as well be one. Just don't do it.

The 2006 training year wrapped up with just 354 hours on the bike, and another 56 hours running. This tallied up to just over 3 million heartbeats, and 180,000 calories burned. In total, I was up about 10% over 2005, but the cycling came in short of plan and just 10 hours more than the prior year. I had 79 "white days" meaning no training at all, but for full disclosure many of the so called training days were only 10-20 minutes spin on the trainer.

The running has been going OK. Sunday we did 13 miles in 1:46. I started out right on 8 minute miles, and held this pace like clockwork until mile 11, when the wheels came off the wagon and I fell apart. I think I'm going to need a hydration strategy for these long runs. This morning I did a longer than usual tempo run, covering 6 miles in 44 flat. This was a little slow, so I think I'm going to make an adjustment in my plan and skip the speedwork this week. This program was a big step up for me and I need a little recovery. I'll do a long run on the weekend, then next week just speedwork, skipping the tempo. Winter is supposed to finally make an appearance, but if the snows hold off, on Sunday the 14th my first running test will come up with the Raynham 15K race. This will serve as a long, hard tempo session.

Following the FIRST plan has been OK, but now I'm going to start treating it more like I would a cycling plan. By that I mean not following it so strictly, and instead viewing it as a "workout menu." Most plans and coaching programs you find are very specific. After all, if you're paying a coach a c-note or so every month, they feel obligated to do a little hand holding. The problem is that you and you only are living your life, and adjusting your entire existence to fit some training plan is a little ridiculous. Most plans come with a disclaimer or footnote about flexibility, but some people get carried away and try to live the thing like a blueprint. I may have been falling into that trap with the FIRST plan. In cycling, I know better. That is why I like Friel's books. He just lays out a menu of workouts and you make the choices. This is a far better way to go. Coaches should not try to tell a working person what to do in a week. A better approach would be to say "this is how much you should get done in the next two months. Here are some guidelines for how to go about it. Now go do it." Lecture over, thanks for reading.