Training vs. Racing

Skipped running yesterday.  The 4 hour nap I took told me maybe I was a little tired.  Almost went for a quick run last night but decided it would just be padding & streak chasing.  Got out this AM early, had to cut it short though since the rain was coming in.

Had an interesting thought while I was running.  Amber keeps asking what i'm training for.  Honestly don't know besides training.  That got me thinking about training vs. racing.  I used to be a huge believer in racing yourself into shape.  By shape I mean top end fitness.  Which for me takes about 13 weeks of training first.  Then I could cut back on the miles, be it running or riding, and race myself into top shape.  Now I lean towards racing gets in the way of training.  I like to race but I think I like training more.  Strange I know.

Another thought I had was about doping & training.  Doping has pretty much completely put me off on PRO cycling.  I don't get much enjoyment out of watching it any more since the cloud of doping is always there.  Suspensions are a joke since the suspended rider almost always comes back to racing.  The adaptation is made while on drugs.  You can't take that away from them by suspending them.  I would imagine most suspended riders train & recover.  If I was a suspend PRO racer I'd spend my suspension training huge volumes & focus on recovery for the whole suspension.  Then when I came back I'd have the benefit of the adaptation & racing I made while on the drugs & the benefit of all the quality training I was able to do while suspended.  Sounds crazy but I think this has become common practice.  Look at all the suspended riders that come back & win races straight out of the gate.

I think to remove Doping one of two things has to happen. Automatic life time bans or bans on training while suspended. Give the rider a two year suspension.  Ban training for the first year of the suspension.  The rider couldn't train for a year & would loose most if not all of the adaptation he made while training & racing on his drug of choice.  Then he'd have to train another year to get fit enough to maybe rejoin the peloton.  I'd say that go along way as a deterrent to using drugs.  Since right now a 2 year ban is a licence to train.

Neither of these will happen so PRO cycling will probably end up eating its self.

I need an HD Pro cam

Got this off Tumblr

BMC wheel change for Jeff Louder in Paris-Nice

Pro Cycling

Evans being aggressive at the Dauphiné Libéré 2009 - Climb of the Col de la Madeleine final climb of stage 7.

Part 4


Part 5



Also @ the Tour de Suisse

top 10 Stage 1 Look @ 9th place Lars. Also 4-7 for Columbia, wow! Yesterday was a big day for CX racers. Nature Valley the top aggressors are Crossers.

Results

1 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team Saxo Bank                       9.21  (50.053 km/h)
2 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas                               0.19
3 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana                                  0.22
4 George Hincapie (USA) Team Columbia - Highroad               0.24
5 Tony Martin (Ger) Team Columbia - Highroad                   0.31
6 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Team Columbia - Highroad                    
7 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Team Columbia - Highroad                0.32
8 Heinrich Haussler (Ger) Cervélo TestTeam                     0.34
9 Lars Boom (Ned) Rabobank                                      
10 Rui Alberto Faria (Por) Caisse d'Epargne                    0.35

I guess I'd better update to keep this thing active

It's either feast or famine with this damn blog. Truth is the new job has me going from 4:30 till after 5. Makes for a long day. The proclaimed 4 day work weeks are actually 5 day weeks kinda like I knew it would be. Training took a hit this week since Mia got another ear infection which I picked up a cold from. Amber got it so bad today she went & got a shot. Me I just have a persistent dry cough. Not a lot of fun for sleeping or even riding. Needless to say I skipped racing this weekend. Hopefully I can get some consistency back & get some kilometers in before the Sylmo revenge or that is going to hurt worse than any amount of free beer can help. I look at it like this I need the training so why not get some free beer after?

Mia is with the in laws watching Disney on Ice & JQH Arena. Explain this one too me? We have an ice rink in the SPR but they have an ice show @ JQH? WTF is that about? Great use of the assets we have. Though it doesn't really surprise me all that mutch.

Watched Amstel Gold this AM. Kinda of a snooze fest. Except for Fränk Schleck and Matthew Lloyd eating pavement. Schleck was one of my picks for the win so kinda lost interest in the race after that. Cleaned house instead to help out the ailing wife. She's feeling really bad. Actually I'd better go stick a mirror under her nose she's been comatose on the couch awhile now.

PRO!

Pics from Belgium Knee Warmers.


If you don't have one I highly recommend getting one. Does road tires no problem. Had to charge the battery once since the first charging XMAS day.