Goal Setting

Last night I was starting to question my current training plan. Essentially, since I'm still very much a beginner racer, my plan is to build a strong aerobic foundation and gain race experience. If you read the Friel or Morris books, they seem to hint at this, saying that their programs are really designed for people who have been racing a few years. This makes sense to me, as I can understand that there is a lot of physical adaptation that probably needs to happen in order for the more structured and intense training plans to work effectively. These would include improving cardiac output, increasing muscle efficiency at extracting oxygen from blood, etc.

So, basically, I've been putting in lots of Zone 2 miles, with 1 harder effort per week. I also do a fairly general strength program (derived in part from Ross Enamait's books). I had planned to do 3 cyclocross races this Fall (spaced about 1 month apart) as tests to see how my plan is working. My concern, which has been building for awhile, is that my anaerobic capacity is declining from where it was in the summer (when I was doing more MTB rides and some anaerobic conditioning routines, again from Ross) and that this is having more of a negative effect on my racing than my increased aerobic capacity is having a positive effect.

I got thinking this way after my last cyclocross race where I got absolutely crushed. In contrast, in my first 'cross race, a beat a handful of guys and was fairly competitive with a few others. When making comparisons like this, I tend to conveniently neglect the fact that none of the guys I beat in my first race were at this last one, and a significant portion of the field had done a number of races in between, whereas I had not. Nevertheless, the gaps between me and my closest competitors (who were at both races) were significantly larger at the second race than at the first.

Then, last night, as part of my strength workout, I did a set of 25 burpees. Granted, that's a lot of burpees for me, but I felt that it tired me out more than it should have. Between these two experiences, I started questioning my plan and getting a little worried about the next 'cross race I'm planning to do on Dec. 4 (which is the last of the season). My anaerobic fitness was declining and I was going to get whipped in the race again, so I thought.

I started explaining this all to my wife, who usually offers good advice about this sort of thing (when she doesn't zone out because she's heard it all before). Her response, "Well, what's your goal, what's your measurable?" See, like I said, good advice.

I have some long / intermediate term goals set up that I think are reasonable and measurable. They mostly involve building my aerobic base, gaining race experience, and improving technical MTB skills. What her question made me realize is that I don't have good, measurable short-term goals. I think that this is a big deficiency. I think if that I had some concrete short-term goals, my workouts and races would have more focus and ultimately be more beneficial to me.

So, without further ado, here are my goals for the Dec 4 cyclocross race:

1. Pedal through the entire course, for the entire race. No coasting down hills!
2. Take good racing lines through the corners.
3. Make clean mounts and dismounts for the running sections.

I will have to put some more thought into what my short-term strength and conditioning goals need to be. Note that most of my race goals are all either technical and/or mental.