You can probably figure out what the Training and Taper stands for, but Temptation… that one you will have to wait on till the end of the blog. Actually, I’m not sure either what the “temptation” is for, but it seemed like it would make the title more sexy – what can I say, the competition for readers in the blogger world is fierce, I’ve got to do something ☺!

Since my last two blogs on Bonking & Cramping (you can read all the gory details if your morbid that way), I’ve been on a controlled Taper, slowing down before we leave for the event in Italy. So now is a good time to review how the training has gone overall.

I believe the Cycling Fusion training has gone according to plan, and I have a number of metrics to back up that statement. Let’s first look at some key Aerobic metrics as shown in the graph above – especially VO2 MAX (the rate of oxygen you are able to take in to produce energy). When I opened the Global Ride Training Center, I was in descent shape, often winning local MTB races in my age category, and generally in the middle of the rest of the pack, but I did not do “serious” training. At that time, my VO2 Max was just 50/ml/kg/min – as measured by New Leaf when we first got that testing equipment. After a year of teaching Spinning® classes and training others for local races, my own fitness took a nice jump, and I increased to 55 for VO2 Max. After training for the Giretto for 16 weeks, I got another nice bump to 57! I believe I’m starting to find my ceiling here, but even moving this one point (after the initial jump) shows significant progress.

New Leaf also created their own statistic they call Aerobic Base (see graph above). It is basically a way to measure how efficient your body is at burning fat – the longer you can burn fat, the further and faster you can go before you tap into your use of Glycogen, the other major fuel for energy in your body. They look at where you dip below 50% fat utilization with respect to your Threshold Heart Rate (where you cross over from aerobic to anaerobic energy production). Since November that point has moved from 129 bpm (zone 2) to 163 (zone 5).

I’ve used the Heart Zones™ point system to make sure that I consistently increased my stress and adaptation cycle. Frankly, I think it was a bit too aggressive over the latter part of those 16 weeks, but that was due to not coming up with the idea until March. Next year, a more “sane” progression should be able to be managed. The point system is quite simple as it multiplies the minutes you are in each zone by that zone number – so 20 minutes in zone 2 = 40 points, while 60 minutes in zone 3 = 180 points. Given the fact that your heart rate is an excellent reflection of the work your body is doing, or the stress that it’s under, the higher heart rates will reflect “workout intensity”, and thus higher numbers will reflect either higher volume of training or higher intensity, or in my case, both.

My only suggestion to this would be to add additional points for Elevation Climbed. There is no comparison to 50 miles done with climbing and 100 miles done without. The heart rate numbers alone will never produce an accurate reflection of the difference between the two. Naturally, power readings would be ideal, but we all know few people have power meters on their bikes, and thus some “credit” for feet climbed seems more practical. I’ll have to talk to Sally Edwards about that; she is always looking to improve her methods and systems of training. She is one of the most energetic, dynamic and inspiring individuals I know.

As the weather turned, I was then able to mix in 1 or 2 rides outside per week. This was in keeping with the objectives of proving the power and efficacy of indoor training; to wit – we wanted the bulk of the training to be inside. We didn’t have much of a choice anyway, given how bad this winter was, but the bottom line is we have prepared for the Giretto with 85% of our training done indoors. This was not indoor drudgery though. We enjoyed ourselves training in classes with others, with virtual cycling DVDs from Global Ride, and using solid cycling training practices throughout all the work.

OK, so I’m to the end of the blog, and no mention so far of temptation. Lest you think I forgot, there have been many temptations. I’ve been tempted to quit when I hit 2000 heart zone points – I felt like I was throwing myself under a bus repeatedly. I’ve been tempted to call the event off when we couldn’t get more than 5 riders, and one was forced to pull out due to the very thing we fight. I was tempted to lower our fund raising goal when one of our riders informed us that he could not raise any money at all – leaving the burden to just 3 of us. I’ve been tempted to walk away more times than you can know. However, I am not a quitter, and never have been. As God is my witness, I want to fight the good fight and stay true to myself, my family, my word. Our supporters and our cancer survivors are counting on us. I will RESIST the temptations and WE WILL PREVAIL!