Friday, March 07, 2008

Yes, we're are still here!

I know it has been a while since the last post and shame on me for not keeping this updated. In my excuse we have been a little busy over the last couple of months.

We recently put our house up for sale and will be looking for a home in the twin cities (Eden Prairie, Bloominton, Minnetonka). If anyone is looking for a really nice home in Hutchinson, please feel free to give us a call.

MLS# 3500221

Although the move will put us closer to exerted family, the primary reason is to be closer to good mountain biking and the friends we have met the past few years while racing. The move will not be without any drawbacks, as the commute will be about an hour each way from the western edge of the cities to Hutchinson. It will be a small price to pay, however, to live in a place that we can call "home". Last summer we were home only 1 weekend the entire summer, the remainder were spent at either one of our parents or in a hotel. We are now playing the waiting game to see what interest there is in our house.

On the training front, this year is going much better than last year. The first week of base 3 has just begun and more intensity has been added to the steady diet of endurance and spinning. I like this point in the training because I start to get some indicators of performance. For example, earlier in the week I performed a set of low cadence intervals lasting 1.5 minutes each on the trainer at 360 watts. The important take-away from that session was the fact that I was able to hold or exceed the ave speed of each successive interval. In comparison last year I was able to start out a little over 23 mph but the speed of each successive interval dropped and I had difficulty completing the workout.

Tonight I have a set of cruise intervals (4 x 6 min). Last year I was able to hold 290 watts. This year I will shoot for 300+ watts and try to maintain that level on each of the intervals.
Andrea's training is going strong and she is confident that she will do extremely well racing in the sport class. The endurance is there and her technical ability is now very good. One thing that she needs to work on is her aggressiveness during the races. In the past she had made many comments about getting stuck behind slower riders and being held up. She needs to be a little more aggressive at times to push ahead and gain as many positions as possible when the conditions are right to make a pass. I think working on some short sprints will be beneficial.

4 comments:

Janet said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Janet said...

"Andrea's training is going strong and she is confident that she will do extremely well racing in the sport class. The endurance is there and her technical ability is now very good."

Oh crap. The 10% chance of being able to catch up with her just fell to 0.

Go Andrea!

Chris Van Ert said...

With wattage like that you should bike to work and back every day instead of driving ;)

Hope your real estate adventures go smoothly.

HEATH said...

dang, city folk soon huh. give us a call and well have a welcome to the city dinner for the whole fam. not kidding, Amy and kids all for it. 612-889-6535